24 CHAPTER 24: THE DEMONIC MASK

'There is a beast in front of me and I couldn't even sense it. Damn, it has to be too powerful. I'm fucked up. I should have been more conscious of things around me.'

While thinking that Taylor walked to the centre of the garden and sat near the water fountain in a rock. His whole body started sweating. As he sat down, from the corner of his eyes he looked at the snake tunnel and his body shook,

'Damn, it's two tunnels, two snakes. I'm done.'

Then he thought about King Kong he saw before. He shivered,

'Am I also gonna face the same horrible dead, no these snakes look more powerful than that of King Kong?'

Taylor then looked into his inventory,

'Only three minor health potions.'

Then he saw the Gods blood potion,

'Damn if only I was level 10'

As he was gonna close the inventory he saw the black skull mask. This is the black mask that formed after that devil fled from the warblade.

'If the warblade is this much powerful won't this mask also be powerful. But that day when I looked at it, it didn't show any information it just said requires level 10'

Taylor took out the mask from the inventory. As he took out the mask the temperature in the cave dropped, even the snakeheads that were like a statue before showed changes. Taylor can feel anxiety in the snakes.

'Are they afraid of this?'

But before he could analyze the snake's reaction, he felt a deep will from the mask. It attracts him. He looked at the mask. The mask in his hand that had a full black colour now had a red hue in its eyes which was empty socket before. When he looked at those eyes he felt a longing feeling to wear the mask.

'Wear the mask, I will give you strength.'

Taylor heard a strong voice inside his head. He knows it was that devil, that came out of the warblade. He felt a tremor run into him.

'I can give you unimaginable power. You can get anything you wish. Just wear this mask.'

Hearing these mesmerizing words Taylor's heartbeat rapidly increased, it's not fear but a desire. He knows that the devil was enticing him, but he still had an urge to wear the mask. As he was gonna wear that mask, he heard a sound right beside his ear.

Hissss...

Taylor got out of the hypnotic voice of the devil, but still, he made a side roll on the floor and looked towards the sound. He was stunned because the sound didn't come from beside him, it came from the place of the tunnel or to say the places before were the tunnels existed.

Now on that place stood a snake that was 15 feet height and 40 feet long body, the snake body is rolled around the left side of the cave. The snake has twin heads, one silver colour, and the other purple colour. They both had golden eyes.

'Two head one body'

They had large wounds on varying sizes all over their body. It looked bloody. Some look like sword and blade wound, some look like big hand slammed on its body, but there was a huge injury on the silver snake's neck area. It was two deep holes made by a sharp tooth.

Looking at two holes Taylor knew what this is,

'This is the beast that fought with King Kong.'

The purple head of the snake doesn't have one fang.

'This snake is pretty much banged up'.

Then Taylor saw behind them, there was a tunnel. The original tunnel was actually in between the tunnels that were there before.

'These snakes can use illusion magic'

Both the snakehead's four eyes now looked at Taylor and the mask. The snakes looked a bit alarmed as their gazes landed on the mask.

"Boy throws away the mask, there is an evil force residing in it."

Hearing the words that came out of the silver snakehead's mouth Taylor was stunned. He was not shocked because a beast is talking to him, the reason for his shock was that the villagers said only a level 20 beast can talk.

'No way, they can't be level 20.'

Taylor denied it,

'If they were level 20 they can easily kill me, they don't need any ploy like this even if they were wounded. And that King Kong is only level 10, how did it battle with level 20 beast.'

As he was debating with himself Taylor heard the call again from the mask,

'They are not level 20 beast but they are level 12 beast, you still can't match their strength, I'm your only hope for survival.'

Taylor didn't wear the mask, he thought differently,

'It doesn't matter if I die here, it's only a 2 days penalty. After that, I will wake up in the village. I can come again with fatty after levelling up.'

But at that time a voice came from deep inside his heart,

'You can't die, wear it'

Upon hearing that voice everything around him felt like it has stopped moving, it felt like the voice belonged to him but not him. Taylor believed that its the correct decision. it felt like he was talking to himself but not.

'What is happening. It was same as when I pierced that coast wolf, with my shoulder in its jaw.'

Involuntarily Taylor looked at the mask. Seeing Taylor is looking at the mask the twin snake rushed to him while opening their mouth to swallow him as a whole.

But Taylor moved faster and wore the mask. His eyesight blacked.

In the next moment when he opened his eyes, Taylor was in a dark space. Here all Taylor could saw was red smoke swirling around him. It started to surround him. He felt like he was devoured by the red smoke. It's demonic energy.

Taylor felt pain like his head was splitting in half, then the things surrounding him changed as he stood around a battlefield just like the one he saw before in his dreams, but now he saw a big black dragon flying in the air. It was flying toward a man that is fighting a larger entity that looks like a human but it is not.

'The dragon is gonna attack that man.'

'But who is it'

Then an answer came to him, but he doesn't know who answered his question.

Taylor shouted,

'Fatty look the dragon is behind you'

But that person who is Edward didn't listen to him, he just continued his fight with that existence.

The dragon ambush succeeded.

The dragon bites Edward, crunching sound could be heard clearly. Edward shouted out in pain. That dragon devoured his left side hand with his shoulder, using this as the chance that the entity he was fighting, split him in half with its huge axe.

'Noooooo'

Shouted Taylor but no avail the surroundings changed once more and Taylor saw a lot of people die in a different manner like that. He didn't even know who these people are but Taylor felt a heart-crushing pain.

Taylor even saw his family members die one by one in horrible ways. His home was burning in red flames. He kept on hearing the wailing sounds of people in his ears.

Taylor felt despair flood in on him, he lost his sanity, the only thing he wished for is silence and death. He wants to enter the abyss of death and to be left alone. As per answer to his wish, he was surrounded by darkness and entered a never-ending slumber.