The Cipactlis

"HURRAY!!!!!"

Everyone in the village cried. They all hugged each other as 3 years of terror has just ended.

"Thank you, Mr. Noctem."

"You have avenged my family. I truly thank you."

"How can we ever repay you?"

Everybody came up to me, giving me compliments and thanking me and asking questions on how to repay me.

I was starting to feel sick. Oh god, I can't deal with this. Everybody is too close.

"Please step away from Mr. Noctem!"

Luna yelled as she got in front of me. Everybody calmed down and slowly backed away. Luna then turned to me, glaring at me.

"Mother wants to talk to you."

Hmm, she didn't even try to hide that Rox was her mother. Is she trusting me now?

"So..."

I tried striking a conversation.

"So... how old are you?"

I said. The reason I asked that was that when I compared Luna and Nozomi's height, she was a bit shorter than her.

"18..."

"18, huh? I see..."

HUH?! 18?!

So she's the same age as me, huh? Well, not in this world, I'm like what, 3 days old?

Wait... If she's 18, and she's older than Nozomi, then that means-!

"And Nozomi's 15, if you were going to ask."

She said, interrupting my thoughts.

She's really sharp-witted, I must say. I think I like her.

Not... like... in that way, I mean like the acknowledging way. Though she is cute.

***

Instead of going to the chief's house, I was brought to an underground lake. I heard a waterfall coming from the left. Then, I looked up and there was a huge hole in the sky that led to the surface.

It was currently night right now, but at least I finally get to see the sky.

The walls were pretty high. I don't know how high, but pretty high. Maybe like 1000 feet.

Then I remember that I was supposed to meet up with the chief. Why was I brought here?

"Aren't we supposed to go to the chief? Why am I being brought here?"

Luna then threw me a towel.

"Mother said you should take a bath. After all, you did just come out from the insides of a centipede."

She said harshly.

I feel offended. But she is right, I did just come out from the guts of insect sh*t a few minutes ago. So a bath is what I need. I still feel sticky.

I attempted to take my clothes off until I realized...

I had no clothes...

...

I've been naked this whole time...

I looked down at my crotch, and my head started spinning.

D-do demons not have-

"Go take a bath already!"

Luna yelled as she kicked me into the water spartan fashion.

Splash!

Cold!!!!!

I swam up and started shivering. Could this water be any colder? Why wasn't it warm? What the hell...

"Be careful of the Cipactli. They don't go after lizardfolks, but they do go after others."

She said with a grin.

"Cipac-what?"

Swish~

Huh? What was that?

I looked around, and a wave of water had just hit me. Did something just enter the water?

Ring!

A quest?

[Quest: Eliminate the Cipactlis (0/5)]

Five?

Then out of nowhere, 5 monsters which looked like crocodiles with sharp mouths all over its body charged towards me.

Oh c'mon, I just wanted to take a bath.

I used [Leap] and hopped into the air. Since my [Leap] skill was only level 1, I could only jump up to about 5 feet into the air.

The cipactlis opened their enormous jaws, waiting for me to come down so they could catch me with their wide mouths and have me for dinner.

Too bad.

3 flashing lights came out of me and crashed into the water beside them.

Then out of the water emerged two gigantic ghostly centipedes and one angry-looking bear. 4 of the 5 crocodiles or cipactlis noticed them, and they charged toward them. There was now only one left below me.

Guess I can kill this one myself.

Shing!

Claws out. Now let's get to business.

The mouths all over the cipactli's body were wide open, waiting for me to land wherever on the body as they could just eat me as soon as I land on any part of the croc.

I thought up of a move that I learned during a certain cutscene in a game.

I flipped around in the air till my legs were at the top and my arms were at the bottom. Then I started spinning around with my claws out.

[Lacerate]

I came spiraling down into the cipactli's jaw, which tried to crush me. I used my legs to stop them and then I started attacking. My claws first sliced a part of the inside, then another, until it was bleeding internally.

Gash-Slash-Rip!

Boosh!

"Here, take some fire too."

I said as I blasted fire into the cipactli's throat. The cipactli made what sounded like a shriek, but due to the flames, it sounded like a dry and dusty groan.

I jumped away, it's jaw snapping. Then I threw fired another storm of flames.

Bwoosh!

It wasn't affected by the flames as its skin was hardened.

Hmm, let's try using a sword.

I used [Leap] again and jumped into the air. Then I pulled out the mithril longsword and came falling down.

[Lacerate]

"Die!"

Slash!

Splash!

I landed in the water with my sword still intact. I got up and the cipactli that was just alive a few seconds ago, was cut in half. The two parts slowly slid apart from each other and landed in the water, its blood clouding the lake.

Are my spectrals done?

I thought as I turned my head. The two large centipedes had devoured two cipactlis while the bear had decapitated the other two.

[Quest: Eliminate the Cipactlis (Completed)]

[Level up!]

[Leap level up! (Lv2)]

[Rewards: Distorted Key]

Distorted... key?

"That was... impressive."

Said Luna, who was watching. I turned towards her and shook my head.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?"

"I just wanted to see if you would be able to handle five of them. Sadly, I didn't see the summons coming. But I like how you fought, I've never seen any demon fight like that."

The way she said demon sounded a little sarcastic. Guess she still has a grudge on demons. Can't blame her though.

[Souls are nearby]

I looked around, and there were five blue lights floating around the river. I waved my hand and slowly the souls floated towards my hand. Then I absorbed them one by one.

[Souls: 10/36]

So if I do the math, I have 8 spectrals right now. Heh heh, the bear is all lonely. Well, I'll eventually find more soon.

I looked around to see the floating corpses of cipactlis. Eww...

Maybe I'll just walk towards the waterfall and take my shower there.

Now, about this distorted key...

I pulled out the gray, distorted key, and it had a crack that looks like it leads to space. It was glowing and flowing with energy that gave me the chills. Or maybe I'm just getting the chills as I'm nearing the waterfall.

Is there any info on this thing?

[Distorted key: This key allows you to open the gate to The Tomb of the Distorted One. The location of the tomb is: Waterfall]

Location... waterfall?

Suddenly, as I neared the waterfall, the falling water coming from the top of the hole started shifting away like curtains.

"???"

Looming in front of me was a large gate that measures to about 50 feet. It had cracks all over, and to my guess, it was probably more than 100 years old.

"Whoa..."

"What is this?"

Luna said as she was walking across the water. I tilted my head as she walked closer.

"You can walk on water?"

"Yes, if I want to."

Maybe I can do that... but what skill or effect do I need...

Anyway, I turned around and inspected the old gate. As I walked closer, I noticed that there was a tiny hole that fitted the distorted key.

"Where d'you get that key?"

She said as she looked at the key closer.

What should I say... from my spatial? This world must have spatial magic, right? I've seen it in some animes.

"From my spatial."

"So you know spacial magic, huh? How long has that key been in there?"

"A week."

I lied. If I said I just got it, she'll get all confused since she was watching me.

Back to the gate and the key. I slowly inserted the key and then the key turned by itself. Slowly, the gates started opening outwards, so I had to back up. As it opened, water flowed into the gaps.

Creak~

Bam!

The gates made as they hit the walls. As soon as the gate fully opened up, I felt a frigid chill go up my spine and felt goosebumps appear all over my body.

I walked closer into the gates. Then I noticed that the air seemed to look distorted. Like it just didn't look right.

Tti-ring!

[Enter The Tomb of the Distorted One? (Y/N?)]

[Note: If you don't enter, entry into the tomb will be negated.]

I think I'll enter it later. For some reason, even if I wanted to enter it, something was holding me back. I can sense multiple hostile energy signals coming from the inside.

"What is this?"

Luna said with a horrified face.

"What is this power?"

I scratched my head until I also felt it.

I slowly turned my head back into the darkness, and I heard what sounded like someone exhaling.

Glow~

My body suddenly started reacting. It was flashing brightly, multiple lights came out of my body, my spectrals wanted to come out but I restrained them.

"I should report to Mother."

"You should..."

I answered no for now. This energy level, If I entered now, I would die. I won't be able to defeat whatever is in there by myself.

As I got out of the water and followed Luna, I heard a voice coming from the gates. That voice said:

"Massacre..."