NOVEL WEB Chapter 36: A simple plan, but nothing is ever that simple.
"Welcome everyone! The auction will start soon." A magic-enhanced voice announced from the top of the stage, behind a black curtain.
Despite his serious and energetic demeanor, the man had beads of sweat running down his absurdly tight neck. He was always nervous no matter how many times he did this.
The sight of people who most likely had enough money and power to buy his entire house and even his life made him uneasy. A few words out of place, and his head would roll, and his daughter's life would be miserable. It scared him, but the few minutes where his heart pounded loudly against his chest for the reward of enough gold to last months was enough to make him swallow the lump in his throat.
Sighing, he took a step back and extended his arms in a flourish toward the audience. "The new products will be available soon; in the meantime, please enjoy our beautiful exotic dancers," Announced the man with mock excitement.
A misty spell extinguished the already dim lights, revealing the colored stones in their place. Giving the gloomy place a slightly more relaxed look.
The man who stepped aside sighed, and a lady from behind the curtain brought him a glass of water, complete with the typical shackle on her left foot indicating her bondage. He relaxed, after all, his shift was over, or at least for a while. The dancers would buy time while the organization cleaned up the first slaves, and then the real work would begin, but he couldn't help but frown.
What about the dancers? The curtain was now completely open, revealing an empty stage with basic scenery and flashing pink lights. The previously silent onlookers were now uncomfortable, and he knew it was only a matter of time before they began booing. So, with no other choice, he jumped on stage, hoping to appease the befuddled but also irritated guests, and maybe even get a bonus if he was lucky.
"We apologize for the delay, but tonight's dancers are shy." He let out a small laugh, but when he was met with silence, he uncomfortably cleared his throat. "Well..." Something strange stopped him before he could continue.
Everyone's expressions, or at least the ones he could see, were horrified; people screamed, though he couldn't hear them for some reason. Now that he realized it, he couldn't feel anything either, just a wet sensation in his body, as if he was dressed in wet clothes.
When he looked down at his clothes, he saw that his once expensive suit had been bathed in blood, wait, blood? Fearful, he patted himself, but the blood transformed into a black substance that burned like fire, clung to his body, and rose up like a living animal to consume him.
The animal, if he can call it that, formed a slimy body and growled before lunging at his face; however, when he closed his eyes expecting to be eaten, nothing happened.
He opened his eyes slowly and cautiously. He found himself in the same place, only empty.
“H-hello?”
His stomach churned with fear as he was surrounded by an oppressive aura. But, before he could fully process his fear, he heard a whisper from behind him. The voice was human, but unsettling, a cross between a wet gurgle and a blood-curdling shriek. Despite his gut instinct to remain still, he found himself slowly pivoting towards the source of the noise, his heart pounding with fear. The unknown terror behind him made him so nervous that he couldn't resist the urge to look.
And there it stood, motionless, the embodiment of his worst nightmares: a monstrous creature towering on two curved, razor-sharp legs. Its hairless skin was an unsettling mix of human and inhuman, and its elongated, humanoid head was twisted into a grotesque smile with rows of razor-sharp teeth.
The beast's eyes glowed with a sinister intelligence, and its massive claws were stained with the shards of previous victims. Its presence was overwhelming, instilling fear and hopelessness in the air. The sight of it made him shiver, and he could feel terror coursing through his veins.
Moonclaw. He thought with terror.
Now everything made sense to the man, he was under its spell, who knows if even the auction was true, the only thing he knew was that the moonclaw was going to kill him, he was going to die. A captured beast that he was about to offer to exotic beast buyers would pay him back the cost of selling its freedom.
Only one thing he thought before the monster blinked and his world went dark. I should have listened to Mary.
(***)
Nathaniel's point of view:
That thing... it's definitely scary.
The Moonclaw, as Apophis called it, finished tearing apart the presenter before leaping up and snarling at everyone, its eyes narrowing as it relished the terror it instilled.
I couldn't believe we hadn't noticed it earlier. It could make itself invisible, so it wasn't entirely our fault, but seeing it slaughter all those people so easily was terrifying. Even Novem was hesitant to release it because it had escaped her senses, indicating that it was more powerful than her.
My strategy was quite straightforward. To create a distraction, release the exotic beasts. It was a simple plan, a little risky in terms of attracting them to the teleportation stone, but with Novem's shadow dimension, she could escape if things went wrong. However, that beast known as Moonclaw took us by surprise; I had only expected a few dangerous beasts, but that thing exceeded our expectations.
Fortunately for us, it appeared to have reasonable intelligence and was cautious about attacking Novem, allowing her to guide it to the teleportation stone in a relatively safe manner.
Still, it was a dangerous beast.
When its head turned in my direction, even though it was in the shadow dimension, my breath caught in my throat, but it just growled, disappeared, and reappeared right in front of someone else. The other beasts we released didn't even come close. That was how overpowered its strength was.
"It didn't go bad at all." I commented to Novem, who started walking to the other side of the fight against the beasts taking advantage of the distraction.
Novem gave a nod. "Freeing the beasts was a brilliant plan." She admitted it. "However, that beast is something I haven't seen before, so I'll have to warn Lady Lilia of its existence."
"Mooclaw isn't so bad, it tastes yummy." Commented a sleepy Apophis on my shoulder.
We both gave her a strange look.
"Did you eat it?" I asked.
She shook her little head. "I just know it."
I was going to respond, but instead I faltered. I took a wobbly step before balancing myself with effort. I clicked my tongue in annoyance. At this point, the shadow dimension had made me dizzy enough that I had grown accustomed to it, and I promised myself that in the future, I would try to avoid entering it.
"Are you alright young master?"
I waved my hand and just sighed. "Yeah, just a sudden dizzy feeling."
Novem nodded and moved quickly away from the distraction, grabbing my hand in hers. Novem's warm hand relaxed me, but I didn't let down my guard. I didn't want to appear pessimistic, but despite scanning the entire area the moment the beasts we released began to form chaos, I never saw the man who was blocking our exit.
After a few minutes of walking, we came across a door, which was locked due to the way one of the cooks was trying to open it in his desperation to get out of here.
Novem saw this and took the opportunity to sneak inside. After scanning the place, —which was similar to a meeting room decorated for the nobility.— pulled us out of the shadow dimension. "It must be safe around here." She said, "Now we just need to use the teleportation stone and get out of here."
I nodded, but we could still hear explosions and screams, so we weren't that far away from the distraction, we should keep walking.
I was about to say that, but someone cut me off instead. "Nice try."
I cursed in my head, because things can never be simple.
