Jaws Of Death

Fear.

The kind that causes one's heart to race without pause. It turns one's limbs to jelly, yet freezes the self in a stiffly solid trap.

Unmoving… unstopping… this overwhelming sensation brings about an even worse concept into reality.

—Despair.

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"A-ah… ahhh… t-that… that can't be…"

Des muttered as he witnessed the demise of the strongest man he had ever met in his entire life.

Now, the Adept was nothing but mashed meat and drying blood. 

"A-ahh… ahh… haaa…"

Right as Des was still recoiling from the shock of all of this happening, the loud voice of his only female companion rang into the air in heavy panic.

"What should we do? What the hell should we do? I don't want to die here! I can't die here!!!"

He couldn't answer that.

No one could.

Dredd was the most level-headed one in the Party, and he was the strongest too. In addition to all of these qualities, he was also a valiant man.

As someone who fought in the Scavenger Wars, he was a brave warrior.

Yet… YET…!!!

"W-why did he run… just like that…?"

Dredd was pathetic in his attempt to flee and survive. He did not even bother fighting the Horror, or giving any sort of instructions. He did not employ any strategy or attempt to utilize the many tactics he had picked up in the Military. 

He simply ran.

Why?

Everyone in the room knew the answer, but they must have been too afraid to think about it.

"I-it's impossible. That Horror… it's too strong…"

The one who spoke this time was Levi. He was usually very upbeat, clinging to Dredd without saying much to the others. Seeing the death of his mentor-figure must have broken him somewhat.

"W-we… we are all going to die…"

They were all on the ground, kneeling, sitting, or completely laying there, thanks to the explosion that the mere movement of the Horror caused. 

Fear did not let any of them move a single inch.

"M-maybe Beck was right. If we don't move… m-maybe we won't… h-huh? Where's Beck?" Philip murmured, looking around him in a panic.

Des' eyes widened as he also searched up and about for the only person who had been nice to him on the team—the one person he could call a true comrade. 

'W-where? Don't tell me he… n-no, I saw him just moments earlier!'

Before any of them could even have the luxury of panicking, though, all of the eyes of the Horror before them shone brilliantly causing the skins of everyone to jump in sheer fear.

Then—

~BOOOOOOOM!~

—A loud explosion echoed less than a hundred meters from where they all stood.

"Guaaarrcckk!" Other than the deafening eruption, the fading scream of a man in pain echoed into the air, and everyone witnessed the silhoutte of someone burning in the fires of the explosion.

A few seconds, the figure dissolved into dust, lifted by the fierce winds within the room.

'W-was that… B-Beck?' Des' eyes widened as he watched it all in silence. His eyes could not believe what he had just witnessed, and his thoughts tried to make sense of it.

It was only a matter of time before he woke up to reality, though.

'Ahh… so that's what happened…' With bloodshot eyes and a gaping mouth, Des stared at the wreckage, seeing through the smokey remains of the man he once viewed as a comrade.

He understood it all immediately.

"What the hell just happened?!"

"Was that Beck? How the hell did he get that far away?"

"I don't want to die! Please save meeee!!!"

The cries of the remaining survivors rang in Des' ears, almost like a sickening melody that wouldn't end. It seemed none of them realized it, but…

'He used a Rune to cloak himself while we paid no attention to him, leaving all of us here to capture the Horror's interests while he fled.' That was the conclusion that Des arrived at, and he already had more than enough reasons to suspect it to be true.

The first was that Beck had an artifact that gave him the skills of an Adept Runecrafter—making him the most capable member of the team apart from Dredd. He also seemed to have figured out the Horror's method of determining prey—movement.

If no one moved, the Horror wouldn't move as well.

Des had seen this play out a myriad of ways, and he was convinced of that.

The fact that Beck had figured it out before him meant that he was also a remarkably intelligent person; enough to have a goal in mind after using a rune to hide himself and flee.

'So that's how it is…' Des' eyes narrowed as he set his sights on something far beyond the dissolving plumes of smoke a distance from him.

It was the only way to survive.

"Everyone, look! There's a cave over there! I think it's a Safe Zone!" Rey raised his voice, completely certain that was not going to agitate the Horror behind him.

Every Horror has a somewhat set pattern of movement, and while it was possible for there to be irregulars, the one before them didn't seem to be that way. Irregulars were rare, anyway, so chances were very low to encounter one.

Even with that, Des' heart pounded with immeasurable fear.

'Will it move now? Will it kill us? Will it kill me?' Those thoughts constantly resonated in his mind as he spoke to the remaining three in the group.

Philip, Lisa, and Levi looked at where he pointed at, and sure enough… there was a small cave there. It was quite obscure, as well as very small—enough that anyone would miss it in such a massive room.

If not for the fact that the cave was just beyond where the explosion was sent to, Des reckond he would have missed it himself.

"The Horror only reacts to big movements. Like running and walking. If we move very slowly, I'm sure it won't notice us."

Everyone turned to look at Des—the newbie that didn't even know how to wield a dagger, talkless of navigating his way through the Dungeon—and found profund confidence in his eyes as he stared at them.

They were in the jaws of death, and everything they had experienced was enough to let them know that they were out of options.

None of them could fight that thing.

They also didn't know if there were more Horrors lurking around, so staying in such an exposed place for too long wasn't ideal.

They had to find a place to hide—and fast.

"O-okay… okay, let's go with Des' plan." Levi muttered, his words emerging in a slight stutter.

"Okay…" Philip murmured.

"...." Lisa stared at Des with a stunned expression on her face.

For a moment, it looked like she was completely bamboozled by his display of calmness and intelligence in such a precarious situation. 

Then, a second later, she smiled and nodded at him.

"Thank you, Des."

At that moment—even if it was just for a moment—Des forgot the immense fear within him, instead feeling a warm sensation swirling through his heart.

"No problem!"

The Party of four decided to begin their risky voyage, and so, like pathetic snails, they crawled very slowly on the ground.

None of them hurried. They all stuck to the plan that Des set before them, and they slowly advanced forward.

It took time, but they passed Beck's grave.

The further they went, the smaller their object of fear became. The Horror stood still, at a distance where they all felt safe enough to exchange smiles with one another.

They were almost there… almost safe.

Then—

~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!~

Within a split second, Des witnessed the entire body of the smiling Lisa get engulfed in flames.

'E-eh…?'

She was just smiling at him, whispering "Thank you" once again, yet the bright embers that tore through her skin and reduced her to ashes caused the grin on her face to vanish faster than Des had ever seen.

A look of absolute horror formed on her face, and a loud screech pierced the air before she was reduced to ashes.

That was the last he saw from Lisa—horror and pain.

Once the explosion claimed her life, everyone gasped and screamed in absolute shock. 

"It can still spot us!"

"How? You said it wouldn't be able to!!" 

Des was dumbfounded. The death of Lisa still played in his mind, leaving his blank face and wide open eyes fixed on the point of explosion.

"I… I…" He didn't know what words to utter.

He couldn't properly think, as he was already getting overwhelmed with tons of thoughts that threatened to cause his brain to explode.

"I can't die here! I can't die in this fucking place!" Philip didn't even cast a second glance at the smoking remains of his lover before crawling much faster than the usual pace.

He gritted his teeth and held back what appeared to be tears in his eyes as he struggled to get to the goal much faster.

"N-no! Don't do it! You'll explo…de…?"

Surprisingly… there was no loud boom.

No eruption came.

The moment Des witnessed this, he felt his body freeze once more. The fear he had long forgotten was beginning to return, and he felt chills running through his entire body.

"He's not exploding! T-then… that means you were wrong!" Levi yelled, and then launched himself away from where he and Des knelt.

~WHOOSH!~

Like a gust of wind, Levi left Des in the dust and charged towards the goal—even faster than Philip.

Even while this was happening, Des didn't move. 

Rather than keep his gaze forward, his neck slowly began to move. Almost mechanically, he turned to the figure behind him… absolutely afraid of what he would see.

His fear was not unfounded.

Almost like cracks on a massive rock—as if it was divided into two—the lips of the Horror appeared on its monstrous face.

The line that separated them was curled upward, and the jagged teeth of the creature was on full display for Des to see.

This Horror… it was smiling.

'A-ahh…' Des realized it at that moment.

He was wrong from the start—about everything.

'... It is an Irregular!'

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[A/N]

Thanks for reading!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I know I enjoyed writing it.