Horrors are Feasting

Minutes slowly passed, eventually turning into hours. Before he even realized it, the sun was high in the sky, marking midday.

This would be his new time system as having proper hours wasn't possible inside the Layers. He would give himself a time scale via sunrise, midday, sunset, and in-betweens.

Since he began following the void trail everything remained calm, no more ravines closing or opening, and strangely, no Layer Beasts.

He was grateful for not encountering any Layer Beasts in this situation but it also set fear inside his mind, as he didn't know what he would face. He was praying for some easy First-Rank Mindless or somewhere around that range.

He didn't doubt his abilities to battle against a Second-Rank Layer Beast, but if he could avoid them everything will turn out easier.

'It's amazing that I can still go at this pace... though I have no idea where I'm going.'

Zenon swiftly moved in between edges, sometimes even jumping between the ravines while following the Void trail.

Sometimes they were wide enough to make Zenon nervous about jumping, and other times they could be so narrow he needed to rotate his body to not get stuck.

This went on for the past three hours. All this time, however, the canyon has been... strangely quiet.

The water seemed to have calmed down a little bit even though its current was potent enough to potentially rip off one of your limbs. The surface was uneventful as ever, with no other sight but the vast plain landscape.

And it became so repetitive that Zenon quickly developed the habit of talking to himself to cure his boredom. His Familiar was more focused on analyzing the territory and scouting, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

After some more minutes of intense hiking or whatever the hell you call walking between ravines, Leviathan stopped on his trails while carefully looking to the right. There a wider ravine opened up.

Knowing that his Familiar wouldn't stop for no reason, Zenon tried to muffle his steps while getting closer to him. After being just at the corner, he took a small peak to the side and... could've sworn to see his soul fly out of his body.

*Munch, munch!!*

'One, two, three, four... five... fucking hell, how many of them are!!'

Blocking the right path, a vast amount of crushed Layer Beasts lay in between the rocks. And he meant it, the mountain was so big it probably reached fifty meters in height!

They all had four wings with a mesmerizing pattern engraved on them. Zenon could only see one eye, even though it was already taken off their body.

Their chests were wide open with a pool of larvae that a sudden movement would make most of them drop into the violent river.

But that wasn't the worst part. There were countless... Layer Beasts eating...

Feasting on it.

Spider-like Layer Beasts were the most abundant, taking most of the space with their big bodies and mobility. They were brown in color with little hairs emerging to the outside. Their fangs were so sharp they could effortlessly tear through the butterfly's flesh.

They used two of their legs to grab the meat and tore it off for more efficient eating.

There were also little scorpions, and beetles inside the body, eating its insides.

The smell was so potent that Zenon had to try his best not to puke. Combining the dense air inside the canyon with this, made breathing extremely difficult.

Knowing that this path was already blocked, Zenon did his best to leave without being noticed.

Before he could, however, he managed to take a glance at a spider Layer Beast.

'... please tell me I've seen wrong.' Zenon snapped his neck toward Leviathan and thought with distressed eyes, 'Please! Tell me it's not what I think it is!'

Leviathan however could only shake his dragon-like head, bringing anxiety all over his body. In a fraction of a second, while he moved away, one of the spiders changed positions and Zenon was able to count its eyes.

Lucky of course, now Zenon had an idea of what the most abundant species of Layer Beasts he managed to see yet was like. Well... two red eyes. In other words...

Second-Rank Mindless.

'No, no... no no no, this is so fucked up! I need at least around five hundred Sacrifices to properly go against one!' Not wanting to stay there any longer, Zenon started walking back to where he first came from.

His Familiar went to the surface and found an optimal path to walk around the banquet of Layer Beasts. It will cost him a lot of time he was willing to lose.

You may be wondering, "But he has the Solis Vines! That's enough to handle them, right?"

Well, you are correct.

First of all, he did have a Tier-II Carapace available. But just because they are stronger doesn't mean they'll tank every attack directed at them.

Zenon estimated that at much he'd be able to handle two or three direct blunt hits, no more. He could work with some scratches and such, but even a sharp weapon would pierce his armor.

He had to treat them as armor and not as indestructible ore.

'Of course, I need to go against strong as hell Layer Beasts. Just what is this place, I'm dreading to kn-! THEY WHAT?!'

His Familiar, who was up on the surface scouting while invisible, happened to catch a glimpse of a spider going from one ravine to another... from the top.

And he spent no time communicating this to the poor and unfortunate Zenon.

Just great! Not only was Zenon worried about a random Layer Beast suddenly appearing from any intersection between ravines he encountered, he now had to watch the surface as well?!

'Fuck off!!'

---

After two hours, Zenon's pace reduced greatly. Not only he was beginning to feel somewhat hungry, but the paranoia assaulting his mind was too considerable to ignore.

After all, he had to periodically look upwards - as if he had some sort of tic - just to reassure his mind that nothing would pop from the opening.

His Familiar, however, decided to be compassionate about him and decided to stay on the surface as long as Zenon was walking inside the canyon.

This also gave him some seconds to prepare himself if anything came down.

'Another intersection.'

He quickly looked left and right to be sure that no Layer Beast was waiting behind a corner or something similar. After confirming that nothing was there, Zenon jumped toward the ledge in front of him.

*Screech!!*

Suddenly, an extremely sharp leg missed Zenon by some centimeters at much but completely broke his focus...

"Oh fuuuuuu-!!"

... and fell down to the river.