NOVEL WEB Chapter 57: Footprints
{SAINT CORMAC POV}
The rocky terrain of the Hollows stretched out before me as I navigated the jagged path. My eyes scanned the surroundings, catching sight of a crack in a wall to my left.
Curious, I stepped closer, inspecting it. Without hesitation, I clenched my fist and struck. The brittle rock gave way, crumbling to reveal an open area beyond.
The cavern yawned before me, dimly illuminated by an eerie, otherworldly glow from unseen sources. The air was thick and damp, carrying a faint, bloody tang that set my nerves on edge.
I stepped cautiously through the widened crack, the crunch of loose stone beneath my boots echoing unnervingly in the vast chamber.
Above, stalactites hung like jagged teeth, their surfaces slick with a viscous, dark liquid that dripped steadily to the cavern floor.
The droplets formed inky pools, seemingly alive, as if they resisted settling into stillness. I crouched beside one pool, inspecting it closely.
The liquid didn't behave like water—it clung and shifted, almost deliberately, as though it had a will of its own.
Behind me, footsteps crunched. I turned quickly, hand drifting toward my weapon, only to see the approach of a striking figure.
She moved with the poise of a predator, her silver armor gleaming faintly in the cavern's glow. Lustrous golden hair framed her face, and cold, amber eyes surveyed the scene.
Saint Tyris.
Her expression, as always, was unreadable as she stepped further into the chamber. Her gaze followed mine to a distant tunnel where faint light beckoned.
The cavern seemed to stretch endlessly.
"What's your sense of this?" I asked, breaking the silence as I began walking toward the light.
"It's too early to make sense of anything" she replied in her usual aloof tone, her voice echoing softly as she fell into step beside me.
We walked in silence, our boots crunching on loose stone. My mind raced with thoughts of the tremors that had shaken the Chained Isles months ago.
They had been felt across the Dream Realm itself, and the King had taken notice of course. Tasked with investigating their origin, I found myself here in the Hollows—alongside Tyris, the Saint of the Isles.
She, of course, had her own reasons for being here, though she hadn't shared them.
Stepping absentmindedly into one of the dark pools, I was startled when the liquid reacted violently. It surged upward, enveloping my foot in an instant.
Acting quickly, I summoned orange flames to my hand, driving them downward. Fire raced along my armor, burning the strange substance away.
The liquid retreated, slithering behind a jagged boulder with unnerving purpose, as though it were alive.
"It's alive" I muttered, standing and shaking my foot free of the residual fluid.
Tyris had stopped mid-step, her cold gaze fixed on the retreating liquid. She offered no assistance, merely observing. "Alive, yes. And hostile. Be wary."
Her calm demeanor grated against the tension thrumming in my chest. I flexed my foot, testing the damaged plating of my armor. Though battered, it still held.
"It's not just alive," I said, rising to my full height. "It's purposeful. That thing moved like it knew where to strike."
Tyris nodded faintly, her expression unreadable. "A rudimentary intelligence, perhaps. Or a fragment of something greater—a tyrant, maybe."
Her cryptic words did nothing to ease my unease, but there was no point pressing her. We resumed our trek, the tunnel's faint light growing sharper with each step.
"What do you think caused this?" I asked, breaking the silence. "The tremors, the liquid—any theories?"
Tyris's reply was measured, as though she had been considering the question for days. "Something was awakened. By something else."
"Something ancient," I said, glancing uneasily at the cavern walls. "Let's hope it prefers to stay buried."
A faint, humorless smile curved her lips. "That would be convenient, wouldn't it?"
The tunnel opened into a vast clearing, and the sight before us stole the breath from my lungs. The terrain stretched endlessly, the Hollows carved open by a massive force.
Far below, a ravine yawned, its depths littered with grotesque, mutilated nightmare creatures. Their monstrous forms lay in heaps, piled high as though some great battle had raged here.
On the walls of the ravine were deep gouges—massive, claw-like scratches that tore through stone. And then I saw them: footprints.
Each print dwarfed even the largest structures I had ever seen, vast depressions in the earth that filled me with a primal terror.
Nearby, to my right, lay the severed limb of a creature too massive to comprehend. Its bestial limb was covered in mandibles, and seven claws extended from each of its grotesque paws. The sheer scale of it was nauseating.
My gaze shifted to Tyris. Her face, typically composed, was tight with a grimace. Her cold blue eyes reflected the enormity of what we were witnessing.
By the looks of it, whatever used to have that limb was obviously attacked by a completely unknown source, and while the creature was wounded it likely had to defend itself from the piles of dead Nightmare Creatures that littered the floor.
So when it healed the monstrosity went and fled from its shelter… although fled might have been the wrong way to word it.
"The quake wasn't a coincidence," I said, swallowing hard. "Whatever this was, it was here. And it's gone now."
Tyris nodded, her gaze fixed on the ruined coral labyrinth in the distance. The structure, once immense and intricate, had been reduced to rubble by the creature's monstrous steps.
"And it's gone toward its attacker" I murmured.
The realization sent a shiver down my spine. Whatever had caused this destruction was still out there, still moving—and the thought of encountering it again filled me with dread.
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{3RD POV}
A cohort of fifteen moved cautiously through a labyrinth of coral, their weapons drawn, their eyes scanning every shadow.
The coral walls shimmered faintly in the dim light, their jagged shapes twisting like frozen waves, creating an oppressive, otherworldly atmosphere.
At the front of the group walked a striking woman, her grey hair catching the faint glow, her eyes burning with radiant white flames that seemed to pierce through the darkness.
She moved with an air of quiet authority, her attention locked on the sight before them: a monstrous skull, its twisted, dog-like shape embedded in a small hill.
Towering canines, each the size of a pillar, jutted from its gaping maw, the skull open to reveal a narrow cave entrance.
She let out a relieved sigh, her gaze lingering on the grotesque visage. The Slayer's Rest—finally, they had arrived.
Turning back to the group, her eyes briefly swept over the cohort. They were a mixture of tense and exhausted, their movements cautious but deliberate.
There was no time to linger. Her focus returned to the skull, its deformed structure like a silent sentinel.
Next Chapter: Slayer Extermination (1)
A/N: Time for the Slayer Extermination!! It took a bit but now it's time for an original arc.
Anyway be sure to leave a lot of comments to inspire me to write.
Hop everyone has a great day.