NOVEL WEB Chapter 374: BURN!
***
{Outside The Projection}
...That was intense.
So very intense.
And that was the Fifth?
THAT?!
The hall was still, shaken in a way it hadn't been in a while.
Many covered their mouths; others stared, unmoving, their eyes wide and their breaths shallow.
They felt fear, deep fear from that being.
But it wasn't just fear.
It was confusion and disbelief.
Al-Qa'ra, a name many had heard, but few believed was real.
A beast of myth used to scare children and humble talented seekers.
They knew that chancing upon Al-Qa'ra was Malik's bad luck, but the fact that it was in there in the first place made them shiver.
A Simurgh of such strength...
It was both a terrifying and incredible sight.
They didn't even know how a being that size could even function; it was simply too gargantuan.
And yet there it was.
Too large to make sense.
Too overwhelming to accept.
Even in memory, even behind a projection, its presence smothered the room.
The thought that Malik faced it alone…
Stood before it, unmoved...
Played with it...
It felt unnatural.
Wrong.
And this...
Again, this was only the Fifth.
A wave of realization passed through the chamber.
They had just crossed the halfway point.
The Sixth hadn't even begun.
There were five more Layers left.
More horrors.
Horrors they couldn't imagine.
The awe and admiration they'd once felt were slowly curdling into dread.
If he saw THAT in the fifth, then what the Hell did he see in the Sixth Layer?
The Hall couldn't wait to find out.
Excited and terrified in equal measure.
***
{Inside The Projection}
Another Splash! resounded.
No... not a splash; it was no liquid Aether.
It was thicker, like dropping into wet meat.
Malik broke through layers of something thick and oozy that rippled.
Whatever it was gave the feeling of something familiar.
And the smell...
It hit instantly.
Rot.
...Death.
Everywhere.
Pulling himself up from death, he stood in the dark.
His boots sank a little into the oily surface as he wiped the gunk off his clothes and looked around with his fire.
Yeah... this place was wrong.
It was too different from what was above.
Was it because they neared Hell?
Was it because the deeper he went, the more Aether there was, and the more Corruption manifested, fighting against this Aether?
Malik didn't know and didn't exactly care.
The sky was entirely black here and there...
In the distance, he saw what he couldn't understand.
It was as if God cut the heavens open, forever scarring reality.
A giant, upside-down crescent scar hung in the sky, bleeding violet light.
The little light it provided, alongside his own, allowed him to see the distance.
He was in another ocean, but this differed completely from the one before it.
This sea was completely solid, made of dead meat.
Right, it was made of corpses.
Human corpses.
Unrecognizable corpses, piled into mountains of rot that drifted lazily, bumping into each other like waves.
The closest of them was a wave of torsos, all stitched together; half of them still had eyes, mouths frozen in screams.
Malik stared at the scene for a moment.
He didn't know what to think.
This was the Sixth Layer?
A realm of nightmares?
Was it a realm that tested minds?
It sure seemed like it did.
Well, unfortunately for it, this was Malik.
He'd seen worse.
And so he walked.
The surface felt like stepping on wet, bloated skin.
It pulsed underfoot, even twitched sometimes.
Still, it didn't matter.
Malik's boots crunched down past the sludge and on... bones? Flesh?
It was hard to tell, but either way, it kept his steps firm.
That allowed him to steadily scan his surroundings, looking for the exit, the way down.
Always down.
But of course, a sound interrupted his search.
SHRIEEEEEEEEEEK!
Something massive shifted to his left.
Out from a hill of dead, it rose.
Zahhak's Spawn.
A serpent with several heads, each half-rotted, bones poking through the skin, maggots spilling out of hollow eye sockets. Black smoke pumped out from the mouths of every head, coiling into the air like poison clouds.
Malik knew of this creature; it was what the Zahhak Cursed Rank was based on.
Ironically, and thankfully for Malik, though its name was of the Zahhak Cursed Rank, the monster was actually a Simurgh, and not a strong one at that.
He could deal with it, no issues.
As if reading his thoughts, the thing hissed in anger.
All its heads snapped towards him at once.
Malik raised a hand.
FWOOOM.
A massive column of white fire shot out.
Instantly, one head exploded.
Boiled flesh and shattered spine rained everywhere.
Did the rest care? Hell no.
They lunged, now even more aggressive.
Malik slid back, boots skimming over the meat ocean.
Another jet of fire from his palm blasted one head sideways, splitting its jaw straight to the nape.
CRACK.
A tail swung at him.
He ducked, and it smashed a mountain of corpses, sending arms, legs, and ribs scattering.
Another tail went straight for his face.
Malik caught the gigantic limb with one hand.
He squeezed.
SNAP.
Its bones shattered and its flesh tore.
The monster thrashed, screeching in pain.
Not giving it a moment, Malik swung the tail like a whip, nearly flinging its entire body before the tail detached, unable to handle the weight of what it tried to move, and flew, slamming against a distant hill of corpses.
Casually, he pointed a finger at its middle.
And then, before it could even screech—
BOOOOOOOOOM.
A beam of white-hot fire vaporized it.
The Zahhak's Spawn turned into light.
Malik resumed walking his Path.
On the... 'shores' ahead, he noticed more movement.
Haramiya Al-Ajasad.
Corpse Thieves.
He read about these, too.
After a quick scan, he counted about a thousand of them scurrying about.
They were humanoid in shape and had long, stitched-up limbs made up of whatever random limbs they found that weren't too far gone and rotted.
One had three arms on the left and none on the right.
Another dragged itself with hands stitched to its knees.
But all were wrapped in a patchwork of skin—pale, scaled, and somewhat furred.
They moved low, hunched up, watching him, trying to surround him.
Malik's head tilted slightly.
He didn't move, waiting for them.
They lunged as if in response, a thousand attacking at once.
A thousand barely functioning Simurghs.
Nearly a second passed, and they were upon him.
They had crossed a kingdom's length in that second.
It seemed no matter the limb, a Simurgh was still a Simurgh.
SNAP.
Malik's fingers clicked.
The space around them erupted.
Pillars of light snapped into existence.
Flames shot out, piercing through legs, torsos, and necks.
Their bodies folded, bent the wrong way, and popped.
A thousand died just like that.
The last one tried to crawl.
BOOM.
He stepped on its back, and—
BOOM.
Pressed down.
Its spine caved in with a wet crunch.
Malik kept walking, its remains shooting off behind him.
More Corpse Thieves came at him, but—
BOOM.
They died before they could even get near.
He continued to walk and walk until something new came about.
"I hear..."
Singing...
"You're alive..."
He heard singing.
"How disappointing~."
It was faint, barely audible, but so soft...
"From distant sands you came with fire,"
And so damned familiar.
"A devil cloaked in false attire,"
The same song that damned him.
"A Stranger!..."
The song that once celebrated his death.
"No name, no claim..."
It came from below... deep under the corpses.
"Just ash in the rain."
Malik paused and looked down.
"BURN!"
Pale hands shot out, grabbing at his legs.
He jumped, dodging them, while watching as eyeless faces poked out above the surface.
Faceless Sirens, dozens of them, maybe hundreds.
Their mouths opened, not to bite, but to sing.
"Burn, Stranger, burn!"
Voices dripped with Aether.
"Let no mercy for him turn!"
A melody not made for humans.
"BURN! BURN! BURN! BURN!"
It twisted inside his skull and made his body forget how to move.
"BURN!"
Thankfully, Malik was in the air, so he was allowed a few seconds of thought, but still, he was falling.
"BURN!"
Falling directly towards them.
"BURN..."
Tentacles and mouths rose up to welcome him.
"Burn..."
Holes opening in the meat-ocean, filled with teeth.
"...burn—"
He blinked, his ears lighting up on fire, turning him deaf.
His body trembled, regaining control.
His left hand rose.
Snap.
A dome of white fire exploded outward.
The sea itself recoiled as flesh popped and skin boiled.
Sirens in their hundreds screeched, igniting one by one, their voices cracking into silence.
The holes still tried to swallow him, but Malik flew over them, not even bothering to land.
After a few seconds, his ears healed back to normal, thanks to his Aether, and by the time those Faceless Sirens were completely out of sight, he found another point of interest.
Even from afar, he could feel it.
Corruption.
It came in the form of a 'fog.'
Malik instinctively realized that that was where the entrance to the Seventh Layer lied.
Anyone else might have found that revelation to be a disaster, ending the expedition.
But not Malik. No, rather, he almost felt himself lucky... something he never believed he'd ever say about anything in his life.
After all, he, who was already Corrupted, was immune to Corruption and its symptoms.
He could go through this 'fog' scot-free, and that—
BOOM.
Was exactly what he did.
Rot clung to him, but he didn't stop, a dead man walking.
And yeah, his instincts were correct.
There it was.
A hole in the sea of corpses.
A spiral of liquid rot, black lightning flashing at its center.
The entrance to the Seventh Layer.
Malik walked to the edge.
He looked down and...
Jumped.