Chapter 64: The Light
The undead rose with a primordial hunger. Moved only by a primitive instinct.
More than a dozen shrieked in unison, their pale eyes completely bulging.
They were creatures alien to life, driven solely by a sick desire for destruction.
Their wet bodies left the pool like cursed fish.
Every corpse knocked down was replaced by another.
Gabriel understood that that battle would never end as long as the source remained intact.
He barely turned his head.
"Can you survive more than three minutes?!"
Bella had just split the skull of an undead when she heard the question.
"I will persist, even if it costs me an arm!"
Her answer came accompanied by the clash of steel against a rotten jaw.
The rigid shrieks of the undead covered the entire room like a curtain of death.
Gabriel took a step forward.
"You can’t die!"
At that instant he activated his skill again, Bloody Blur. The room seemed to be dyed an intense red.
An unbearable pressure exploded behind his eyes. His pupils burned while functioning at full capacity.
It felt as though a stone had been dropped onto his chest.
For a second his vision became blurry. Even so he did not stop.
It was pure carnage.
He pushed bodies with his shoulders, hit faces with his elbows and opened huge wounds with both daggers while the corpses remained momentarily stunned by the effect of his skill.
His intention was to open a path while killing as many enemies as possible.
The undead fell on top of each other. Gabriel pierced their formation like a spear.
When he reached the edge of the pool he did not even reduce his speed.
"Don’t wait for me!"
And he jumped into the water. The impact was icy, with the temperature dropping violently.
He opened his eyes underwater.
An immense celestial light illuminated the depths. It was so intense that he could barely distinguish the shapes around him.
He tried to descend, but was intercepted.
Something or someone had grabbed his wrist.
Then another hand grabbed his ankle. Another more surrounded his neck.
Dozens of arms emerged from his blind spots.
The corpses remained hidden under the pool. They waited motionless like hunters patiently waiting for their prey.
Now they all pulled on him.
Gabriel spun violently on himself and the movement created a current that agitated the entire pool.
The hands began to let go. He sank a dagger into a face, with the other opening a neck.
He kicked a chest and hit another corpse with his elbow.
He continued descending, but there were still too many.
Every meter he gained meant receiving new wounds.
The blackened nails tore at his arms, several bites reached his back.
A corpse managed to cling to his waist and another to his legs.
They dragged him slowly upward, trying to prevent him from reaching the bottom. His oxygen decreased with every second.
Desperation appeared for the first time.
He could not allow himself to fail at this point.
Dark veins surfaced beneath his skin. Something was beginning to awaken inside him.
A different energy slowly enveloped his body.
It was not elegant or luminously sacred.
It was bloody and possessive. As if a primordial beast breathed from his entrails with a voracious desire.
Gabriel gradually stopped fighting with technique, beginning to thrash like an animal.
He sank his pristine nails directly into the face of a corpse.
With a soft tug, he ripped off its jaw.
He hit another with such force that its face exploded. He pushed bodies using only brutality.
The undead began to break under that uncontrolled violence.
He continued descending, closer and closer.
Until he finally reached the bottom. There rested the origin of the light.
It was not a rock or a crystal.
It seemed like a strange spherical core, completely covered by bluish veins that pulsed slowly like a heart.
The corpses protected that thing with desperation.
Several bites tried to pierce Gabriel’s clothes, with their black nails sinking deeply between his ribs.
"Bastards!" he cursed underwater with his mouth closed.
He felt the pain.
He immediately released the first punch, which caused the core to vibrate. But a single blow was not enough.
He struck again, with cracks beginning to spread. The corpses increased the force with which they held him, piercing his ribs.
The cracks grew with each desperate blow, splitting his knuckles against the core.
Until finally... The celestial light exploded in all directions.
***
"Shit...!" She murmured panting.
Bella could barely stay on her feet. Her breathing was weak, with each movement of her sword slower than the previous one.
Her previous wounds had opened again, causing her agonizing pain. With new ones being added.
The corpses did not stop surrounding her. She was no longer fighting properly, she was simply surviving.
Almost two minutes had passed. She felt her arms numb and her legs trembled.
She retreated another step.
There was less and less space.
"Please... Get out of there."
Another undead appeared in front of her. Her sword managed to make it retreat, but another immediately took its place.
Then it happened. The entire pool trembled, with the intense blue light beginning to fade.
The corpses hesitated in their steps for the first time. Many remained motionless and others began to collapse weakly.
A huge splash shook the entire room.
Gabriel emerged from the water. He could not distinguish his surroundings clearly, with his hair completely soaked.
His breathing was chaotic and desperate, but he kept moving. The remaining corpses seemed fatally weakened.
He knocked them down like a force of nature. Each blow shattered their rotten bones and each kick shattered their remaining defenses.
The corpses no longer rose again. In less than a minute everything ended.
Silence returned.
Only the agitated breathing of both remained, like two butterflies that had found peace.
Bella was crouching. She held herself up only thanks to her sword.
Gabriel walked slowly toward her and extended a hand.
"Can you continue?"
Bella raised her gaze.
"I was made for this."
She immediately accepted his help, rising tiredly.
When she managed to stand up she observed the pool. The light that had previously shone had practically disappeared.
The water remained dark and completely still.
"Did you do that?"
"Something like that."
Bella observed the pool for a few more seconds.
She did not insist, instead she opened her inventory.
She took out two small vials that contained a thick deep green liquid.
"The mutants were not enough to force me to take out my babies."
She handed him one.
"One is for you."
Gabriel shook his head.
"I’m fine."
Bella frowned slightly. His clothes were evidently torn, with numerous bites and bruises.
And yet he rejected a recovery potion.
It seemed strange to her, but she ended up storing it. She was only still alive because of Gabriel.
Everyone had the right to keep their own secrets.
***
Gabriel clenched his fists slightly.
He remembered perfectly the instant when the core had broken. Not only had it exploded, it had also released a strange substance.
It had been absorbed directly by his body before he could react. But Leviathan’s Gluttony consumed it instinctively.
As if it had recognized an exceptional food. Since then he perceived a very small change.
Something inside him seemed to have strengthened silently.
At no moment had there been any notification.
Bella broke the silence again. Her expression had recovered part of its seriousness.
"The next challenge... is the most difficult." She paused.
Gabriel slowly turned toward her.
"More difficult?"
Bella breathed deeply.
Her gaze remained fixed on the tunnel that continued at the back of the room. A completely black tunnel.
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
Up to that moment Bella had never revealed too much about the dungeon and her information.
"What are we facing?"
Bella squeezed the sleeves of her outfit. But she finally spoke.
"A Tyrant."
The silence that followed weighed much more than any roar of the monsters.