35 Despair (2)

'Blarg!' How many times has Van puked until now? He didn't know and didn't care, because the scene in front of him is literary something described only in those Chinese novels and horror movies.

When Akka dragged him inside the door that leads you deep inside the dungeon, he was dizzy at first.

When Van opened his eyes, he was surprised to see that there was light. He should've had felt happy, but that wasn't the case this time. It would have been better if there was no light. In that way, he would have just thought that beneath his feet was just water.

In front of him was a long corridor that he doesn't see where it ends. It was similar to the first floor that they cleared, but this time it was completely different.

The hallway was overwhelmed with blood, and as far as Van could see, there was only blood and pieces of flesh.

Some monster's bodies were missing their heads or their limbs, but mostly there were only leftovers pieces of flesh and bones.

The blood was also splattered about horrendously on the walls, forming a gruesome sight like some kind of graffiti.

Van was frightened at first, but only when his nose began to smell the air around him that he couldn't hold it any longer. Akka was not better than him, but because she has a much stronger constitution than Van, she at least could control herself. Akka looked around vigilantly while not looking at Van, otherwise, she also might follow suit.

"What's wrong with this world?" Van screamed after he finished wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

"Shhh! Be quiet." Akka put a hand at Van's mouth while whispering at him and also dragged him at the sides of the wall and used sneak skill on both of them.

But Akka couldn't blame him for screaming because the scene in front of her was something that she saw only once in her lifetime. And even that can't be compared at all with the view before her.

Akka wasn't angry at Van for screaming but a little grateful instead. Because she would've had the same reaction as Van if she was alone, and that is not a good reaction to have in this God-forsaken place.

Directly after Akka used her sneak skill to hide, shadows came from the corridor and moved directly at the place where they have been seconds before. Seeing that there is no one, they slowly made their way towards the first floor.

Akka didn't let her guard down this time and followed the shadows with her eyes until they left, only then did she sighed in relief.

She wanted to reprimand Van at first after the shadows left but stopped after seeing his face. A look of concern flashed deep inside her eyes but disappeared shortly. And then she continued to walk forward as she said to Van who was still in a daze with a cold and commanding tone:

"Let's go!"

Van unconsciously moved forward and can only see the back of Akka in front of him. Her back right now to him looked big like a mountain and cold that freezes your heart. For a moment, Van thought that he saw her as a shadow of death with a scythe in her shoulder.

As he began to feel his stiff body again, that was moving forward. He felt something warm in his cheeks and eyes. Was he crying, and why was he? Van didn't know the answer to that question, but he knows that it's impossible for him to cry for these wild animals. Then why was he crying? Even though he asked this question to himself, no answer came out. Not even that inner voice that always whispers to him from time to time.

As he moved forward, Van could feel his socks and shoes soaked in blood. Even though he tried not to look down but to focus only at the back of Akka, but hearing the cracking noises of the bones when he stepped on them was enough to elevate that sickening feeling inside of him.

(This is the place that every monster has come to leave towards the first floor, but also has become the clashing point. Well, understandable!) Van could hear the voice of the system talking to him, but, at the moment, he couldn't hear completely what the system was saying.

His all attention at the moment was at Akka's back. Her back has become like a lighthouse to him that guides him forward. He never thought that he would become so weak after seeing something like this.

To Van, every second continued to feel like an eternity in this dim red light corridor. He didn't know how long he had been walking as his body felt like it is being sucked out of stamina. His mind was muddled and felt like someone hit him with a baseball bat in his head. Not feeling any physical pain, but only feeling the aftermath of being dizzy and muddle-headed.

Looking at Akka's back, quite a pellicular view enters Van's eyes. She looked like a shadow of death that walked fearlessly in the land of darkness and death.

'Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness? These words entered his mind while he looked at Akka's back. Was that his inner voice playing tricks on him again? Or was that Akka's or the system's voice? For the moment, he didn't think too much about it and only cared to walk forward.

After he didn't know how long had he been walking, his mind began to feel some clarity. He found himself leaning against the wall and taking rapid breaths.

"Are you okay?" Akka's voice came to Van, looking up he could see Akka that has blood all over her and was cleaning herself with a towel.

"What happened?"

"Well, I think you handle it yourself well in this situation."

"Situation?" Van also understood that his condition didn't become like that because he saw a 'river of blood.' But because of something else?

"Well, I expect nothing less from a country bumpkin not to know this. I will be explaining it, so listen well." Coughed Akka once as she began to explain while also keeping an eye from any danger.

"When corpses after corpses gather in one place, their aura that they had when they were living still linger around for some time and join with other auras and form an absolute pressure zone."

"The strength of an absolute pressure zone depends on the number of corpses and also what level did they had when they were still alive. This absolute zone can be dangerous for low-level people..." Akka didn't finish her words, but he can understand what she was trying to say.

(With a soul that is in pair with the heroes and being from the high human race, it would be a joke if you would have died. But what this woman didn't tell you is that the absolute pressure zone will not kill you. It will just break your mind and your spirit. Your body hereafter would have been just a puppet with no soul inside, but it will keep breathing.) Cold sweat appeared at Van's forehead as he wipes it with his stiff hands.

"That is..." Van discovered that close to them was a weapon platform and placed there were all kinds of different weapons. Seeing all this weapons in front of him, he walks forward to take them inside his inventory. After all, this was no the first time he did this, and he can admit it that it has become a habit by now after doing it continuously.

But before he can take the second step forward, a hand patted his shoulder.