Chapter 79: Rampage
It might’ve seemed like a crazy idea, but it wasn’t an unreasonable option. At least in his mind.
The others had expected Brandon’s flames to just kill it. That clearly wasn’t going to be the case anymore. Most of the flames were already gone, and the thing was still standing. Even if weakened.
If he did try to escape now, there was a chance it would attack him before he even reached the storeroom’s door. Sure, it was definitely weaker than it had been before, but that was still him alone against the beast.
He didn’t like the odds of a direct fight, much less being caught off guard by it.
But with one head already dead now, if he could find a way to ambush it, he would only need to take out the ’normal’ head. It was definitely connected in some way to the ghouls.
’A part of Niflheim most likely.’
The main dangers of its blade arms were mostly gone, with the damaged one having severed completely at some point in it’s ramage. The only functioning blade was partially burnt.
’I just need to find a way on top of it.’
With only a dull knife in his hands, he couldn’t even dream of using blunt force to take it down.
He blinked in the darkness, watching the monster draw ever closer to him, then made his decision.
’I’ll do it.’
There wasn’t much more risk in trying than not trying. It would give him points for doing so, much more than ghouls, he presumed.
And most importantly, perhaps, was if by some chance the monster escaped from the kitchen, it would likely find a place to recover—if what Gaia said was anything to go by—and come back whole, healthy, and very experienced with how they fought.
The thing had shown rudimentary learning abilities. Not intelligence per se; it was more comparable with the capabilities of a wild animal. But even that was magnitudes higher than the pure aggression from normal ghouls.
In short, it had to die, and he’d be the one to kill it.
With the decision made, his mind began racing on possible plans to execute, while he scanned the world through his slit for anything he could use.
His gaze stopped at a clutter of pots lying on some mangled corpses, at the end of the monster’s current pathway.
An idea came to mind.
He felt around in the darkness of the cabinet, letting out an internal sigh of relief as his hands brushed against a stack of ceramic plates.
Picking one up, he glanced out again.
The monster was still a distance behind him now, but it was inching closer. The clutter was in front of him, but not by much.
He pulled his knife out; it was still covered in the gore of the ghoul he’d killed outside. Then, he aimed the plate at the wall above the clutter, widened the opening he’d made to peep through a little, and then he threw it out.
It shattered against the wall, its pieces raining down and ringing against the pots below. The seemingly lethargic monster pounced at the sound, crashing into the wall and crushing the bodies below it.
It was his opening, and he wasted no time seizing it. Bursting out of the door, he found the creature’s back exposed to him. Its head perked up at the sound, but he was already sprinting then. Ignoring the squishing of the bodies below him, he jumped off a head and onto the creature’s pale back.
The creature stiffened immediately.
He wrapped his arms around the point both torsos fused together, feeling an alternating sense of warmth mixed with cold from the burnt and pale portions of its skin.
It remained still for a second before going apeshit.
The functioning head twisted its neck as much as it could, trying and failing to bite off his face. Its arms kept clawing and slashing at him, but they were far too long to properly reach him at this distance.
Frustrated, it rolled onto its back, pressing him against the corpses, its weight forcing all the air out of his lungs.
Miles wheezed, and luckily the monster rolled upright again.
It didn’t give him much time for relief, though, as it charged right into a set of cabinets in the central table, the very ones he’d been hiding in. The beast landed back first, using his body as a battering ram against the wood.
Pain arced along his back as it shattered the cabinet. The stone slab above partially collapsed, and a piece of it hit his head, adding dizziness to his pain.
Miles clenched his teeth, tightening his grip on the creature’s body and his hold on the knife. He had to make his move quick.
Activating [Delusion], he shut off the pain completely, but couldn’t get rid of his dizziness completely. Still, it was enough for his purposes.
He looked at the neck of the desperate creature, more specifically its nape. A knife could slip through there.
Pulling his knife hand away from its torso, he moved to stab its neck. Unfortunately, the beast chose that moment to start moving again, right when he only had a single hand grabbing it.
It crashed into the stove this time, back first again, shattering the glass that formed its cover and unleashing a rain of sharp particles on him.
Luckily he’d tucked his knife arm inward for protection, so it hadn’t been crushed in the impact. He couldn’t say the same about his back, though.
The pressure from [Delusion] spiked to the point that it became hard to even think clearly. The stiffness from earlier had almost hardened completely into a sense of rigidity.
It was hard to even move.
Still, he held on tightly to the monster, digging his nails into its flesh to help his grip. It began moving again, rolling onto its back and pressing Miles against the corpses once again.
It stayed there.
A crushing pressure built in his chest as he sank deeper and deeper into the corpses below. Rather than panic, his mind remained clear, ignoring his protesting body and pushing all his focus to his knife.
Cradled above his chest, it was much closer to the creature’s nape, so he pushed towards it. Even under the crushing weight, inch after inch, bringing his blade ever closer to his target.
Right when black dots began multiplying in his vision, he reached it.
Without hesitation, he stabbed, piercing through soft tissue, sliding under the skull, and jabbing it straight into the soft matter of its brain.
The creature went rigid, then slacked. It’s screeching slowly died out.
A notification popped up before him.