Chapter 12

Kiyotaka never had any reservations against killing when nessecarry. His cold heart never ached at the thought of betraying poor youngster. But this time he felt something. It was somber feeling that made him think deeply.

'If not for my Flaw, i would have kept the boy alive. Alas, ...this Flaw reminds me how limited i am under its influence . '

Looking at the lifeless body of sleeper Ayanokouji kneeled down and closed his eyes . Scavanging the body for resources like bottles of water and food took only few minutes . After that, he burried the body in the dark corner of dead end.

He summoned the tier 1 memory torch and continued his exploration of the seemingly endless tunnels . The torch proved itself to be usefull as it helped him to navigate through passages . Before, despite having full 3d modulated view in his mind, he couldnt mindlessly run. Now, with the constant source of light it was easy for him .

The time taken to explore and analyze various passages shortened significantly as he began making some progress in climbing upper and upper .

Soon , the dim reflected light began to appear in the tunnels, which indicated that he was on the right path . The natural heat was also good indicator as the closer he got to the surface , the warmer it became .

Surely , soon enough he exited the underground tunnels . The twilight blinding him for a second . After few moments, he gradually adapted to it and opened his eyes fully.

The area itself seemed to resemble strange place , like a Labyrinth of some kind . There were many crimson coral pillars all around serving as walls. As he patiently looked around he noticed that he was actually on top of a hill within Labyrinth .

Carefully climbing downwards he suddenly noticed something strange. The dark soil under him...semed wet? Clearly, there was certain differences from soil on top of a hill and near towards the middle . Looking around he saw that it was pretty much the same in other places. The ground itself seemed wet .

'Water...how can there be so much signs of water? where does it come from?'

Surely, soon enough his question was answered as the sun settled on its nest, water started magically appearing from the ground, flooding everything and rising in level .

Promtly returning to the top of a hill ,Kiyotaka silently observed how it affected enviorment. From afar, he saw a strange creature making its way towards him.

A creature two and a half meters tall, looking like a weird mix of a demonic crab, a centaur, and a nightmare. it had four pairs of long. segmented legs that ended in scythe-like protrusions. At the front, a human-like torso was protruding from the carapace, also clad in thick chitinous armor. The head was situated directly on top of the torso, with no neck in between. It had two narrow eye slits and a viscous-lookin mouth with several slimy mandibles. Instead of hands, the monsters had two enormous pincers.

'Its running away from water...towards here. Based on the relative speed and overall outer appearance this crab-like abomination is surely Awakened Beast'

As the horrendeous crab made its way towards the safe place from rising water levels , Kiyotaka made his presence minimal and hid behind the rock . The Crab soon reached near him and relaxed, clearly expecting to end the day here and sleep . What it didnt expect was sudden thrust of sword to between its ribcages towards his soft insides .

Shrieking in fright it jumped away from the sudden attacker . What it saw was monolith-like face of human looking directly at it with predator like golden eyes. The nasty wound made by sword bled profusely, making insides of crab fill with its own blood.

Screaming in anger it desperately attacked the human . The creature has battled many of such humans a day ago and easily triumphed against them, it would be the same for this one.

Or so did it thought....No matter what attacks it made , the elusive human was always able to dodge, as if seeing through the its moves before they were even made . The human always counterattacked with its bloodsword when seeing an opportunity, making more cuts on its carapace and areas in between them . Gradually , the bleeding effect intensified and creatures movements became slower and slower untill it didnt move ever again.

* * *

[ You have slain Awakened Beast , Carapace Scavanger ]

[ Your war spirit grows stronger ]

[ You have received a Memory ]