Defeat

"Mutter"

"Mutter"

The sounds were slowly getting infinitesimally louder in Aldric's head. He soon realised the sound was not coming from the outside.

Being so distracted, He did not even register the signal from his [Insight] attribute warning him of above.

Lit by the green flames, a humungous spider was hanging upside down from the ceiling. This spider was as large as a house and as wide, too. It was completely black. With chitin-like armour covered by overgrown hairs, it was a formidable creature. 8 pairs of ghostly green eyes were split in two on either side of its head and 8 legs that were horrifically long and sharp. They could easily pierce through stone.

It had an open maw just as large as the Cave Spinner's that Aldric fought before. Besides its horrific appearance and size, the most noticeable part of the beast was its back. Spikes were etched on its back leading to behind its body where another mouth was. The mouth was twice as wide as the front and had 2 fangs hanging over the maw like a sabertooth tiger. It looked grotesque to anyone who viewed it.

"BOOM"

Aldric was brought out of his distraction by a large explosion in front of the statue. 

A horrific beast stood before him. 

With his mind distracted, Aldric recognised the threat and chose to fight. No strategy, no plan. 

Coating his sword in darkness, he met the beast head-on. His coated blade cut one of the 8 legs of the spider off.

"Wham"

Aldric's body was slammed off the ground and bounced across the floor. 

One of the 7 other legs of the spider took advantage of Aldric's tunnel vision and dealt considerable damage. Sweeping him off his feet.

Aldric stood up undeterred and got ready to attack.

The murmuring was getting louder. It was as if he could feel it in the deepest parts of his soul. 

Most of the impact was absorbed by his armour but he could still feel the damage inside his body.

He placed a hand on the cut above his brow to stop the blood from getting in his eyes.

'What the hell is wrong with me' 

'I need [Clear Mind]'

Aldric controlled his breathing and focused on his attribute.

What he didn't realise was that the beast would not give him a second of respite. Why should it?

The beast raised itself on its legs and contorted the back of its body forward towards the intruder.

"WHOOSH"

A white jet of silk burst out from the back maw of the beast at unimaginable speeds.

If Aldric was focused, he could have dodged the easily telegraphed attack. But he was not.

Only a sharp enough signal from [Insight] stopped him from being pierced in the heart. 

"AARRRGHH"

The silk jet burrowed through Aldric's shoulder and came out of the other end. 

Using his claymore as a cane, he clutched the wound in agony.

This was the second most painful injury he had ever received. The first was his eye burned with boiling blood and his arm dissolved by corrosive acid.

"I have to leave. I can't focus." Aldric gritted out. 

He dashed towards the exit as fast as he could. Dodging jets of silk the beast spat out now that he was completely focused.

The beast let the intruder go. After all, it could not afford to leave its territory.

----------

Aldric was livid.

The past 60 days were one of the worst he had ever experienced.

Forced to run with his tail between his legs. All his training amounted to nothing in that fight. His base instincts took over. 

Licking his wounds like a rat, he had spent the last 60 days healing, recuperating, and hunting. He constantly focused his darkness on the wound. It took a week of persistent focus to close the wound fully. It was the size of a fist that was in between the crevice of his collarbone and shoulder. His shoulder was completely destroyed as well as a small part of his back from the exit wound. 

It was pure agony. His darkness did not offer any relief to his pain. Just a cold heavy feeling on his searing wounds. 

Aldric had a lot of time to ruminate over his fight. He did so many things wrong. 

Overconfident, uncautious and too instinctual.

He could list a hundred and one things that went wrong but the crux of the issue was the murmurings.

It was not just sound. It was the effect it had on his body. 

Like eldritch abominations were speaking directly to his soul from a higher dimension. Speaking words that his mind couldn't comprehend. The feeling only got stronger and more disorienting as he stayed there. It was horrific. 

[Tarnished Soul]

His flaw reared its ugly head at last. 

Aldric was not one to take things as they came. So he thought.

Ever since his defeat, he theorised what the effects actually were and here were his preliminary findings.

"I am fine in the presence of creatures one rank above me. Anymore and I start to feel signs of corruption. It starts off with auditory hallucinations in the form of murmurings. These only get louder and more debilitating if I stay in the presence of the creatures. Who knows what the next stage is."

"What exactly was there that caused it?"

He knew that the rank of the spider was not above Awakened like his previous enemies. It probably had a higher number of soul cores. But it was still awakened.

"The statue. Something was off about it."

Aldric instinctively knew what triggered his flaw. 

After healing, Aldric was on a rampage. To get stronger. To prove to himself that his defeat was a mistake that never should have happened. 

 He did not leave a single beast alive.

Name: Aldric

Rank: Dreamer.

Dark Core: Dormant

Dark Sprites:[252/1000]

Memories:[Unwavering Spark],[Cragborne Armor],[Malice Of The Deep],[Cavedweller Garms][Water Basin][Charm Of Balance][...][...][...]

Attributes: [Insight][Clear Mind][Destined]

Aspect:[Made In Abyss]

Aspect Rank: Divine.

Aspect Abilities:[Dark Well]

Aspect Ability Description:[You can manifest the Darkness within.]

With his [Cragborne Armour] having been repaired in his soul core, his body was now recuperated and his mind was ready.

It was time for his rematch.

******

Thanks for reading.

Any thoughts or theories?