Chapter 75: Crude Realization.
The ice overhead shattered as the creature’s enormous beak crashed through it. Massive slabs of ancient ice broke free and rained into the oasis below, sending freezing water surging in every direction.
The underground oasis didn’t survive the impact. The clear stream emptied into the widening cracks as the frozen ground gave way once more. The entire cavern groaned before collapsing beneath Damien and Vincent’s feet.
"Shit, not again?"
Damien barely had time to complain before Priesty lost his footing. The undead priest, Damien still resting on his shoulder, disappeared into the collapsing ice alongside Vincent.
Damien could still hear the creature’s deafening screech as countless tonnes of ice crashed down around them. The weight pressing against his broken body made it difficult to breathe.
Fortunately, Priesty had shielded him from the worst of the collapse.
After several long seconds, the undead priest forced himself upright, lifting the shattered ice off Damien. Daylight or whatever passed for it down here greeted him once again.
Damien stared blankly ahead for a moment.
Then he leaned over and vomited a handful of tiny ice cubes.
"God this doesn’t feel good".
A massive ice boulder uprooted from the ground and Vincent’s figure emerged.
"That was a special one".
Damien once more ordered Priesty to carry him, the creature that just broke out of the ice could return at any moment, and Damien definitely wasn’t a superfan.
"Do you think she’s dead?". Damien asked as Priesty jumped onto an ice boulder and then another, Vincent kept up pace following right beside Priesty.
"She was torn in half by the creature’s beak. Most people would consider that fatal, but high-level Awakened rarely die the way you’d expect. She might still have a trick left."
Hearing that made Damien’s new heart sink. Murdering Naomi was proving far more difficult than he’d anticipated, and now there was some gigantic bird going around eating people. He was honestly starting to get fed up with everything.
After forcing their way through the rubble, Damien and Vincent eventually emerged into a long ice tunnel. It stretched far into the distance, wide enough that even Priesty could walk through it without needing to lower his head.
Vincent brushed the frost from his sleeve before glancing around the unfamiliar passage.
"Any idea where we’ve ended up?"
"Not really." Damien shook his head. "When we first fell, I think we landed beneath the frozen lake... or somewhere inside it. But after everything collapsed again, I have a feeling we’ve drifted even farther away from camp."
SKREEEEEEEEeeeeeeeee!
The creature’s deafening screech echoed through the tunnel.
Damien and Vincent didn’t hesitate.
They immediately bolted.
That thing sounded far too close, and neither of them had any intention of finding out what happened if it caught them.
They sprinted through the winding tunnel until daylight finally appeared ahead. Damien almost sighed in relief as the exit rapidly approached.
Then the ice behind them cracked.
A violent rumble tore through the tunnel, followed by another ear-piercing screech.
Damien glanced back just in time to see the creature burst through the collapsing ice, its enormous beak tearing straight through the tunnel as it charged after them.
"Shit!"
He didn’t waste another second.
"Priesty! Faster!"
Priesty surged forward with Damien on his back while Vincent kept pace beside them. The two of them threw themselves through the tunnel’s exit just moments before the gigantic beak slammed into the opening behind them, shattering the surrounding ice into countless fragments.
They fell onto the ice and found themselves in an enclosed space, with frozen three roots sticking out of the frozen ground and penetrating deep into the ice above.
Damien didn’t need a map to know that they were pretty close to the frozen forest, or at least beneath it.
The screeching behind them suddenly stopped. An uneasy silence swallowed them whole.
Damien frowned.
"That’s not good."
The creature had been pursuing them relentlessly only moments ago. It made no sense for it to suddenly lose interest.
Vincent slowly scanned the surroundings, his pitch-black eyes carefully observing every opening the creature could come out of from.
"It knows we’re here."
Before Damien could respond, a resounding screech rang out, The deafening cry exploded from directly above them.
SKREEEEEEEEEEEE!
Damien instinctively looked up.
Then, without the slightest warning, space rippled. The enormous white beak materialised less than ten metres away.
It didn’t burst through from any of the openings, It simply appeared.
The gigantic body followed a heartbeat later, as though the surrounding world had abruptly made room for something that was never supposed to fit. Its snow-white feathers rippled as it emerged, each one harder than steel, while two impossibly long black feathers trailed behind its head, drifting through the air like banners. Its icy white eyes immediately locked onto Damien.
"Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me."
The creature vanished again.
Damien’s pupils shrank.
"Vincent!"
Another distortion spread across the cavern.
This time, it reappeared beside one of the enormous frozen roots.
Its beak struck first.
The impact shattered the root instantly, sending countless tonnes of ice crashing through the cavern. Razor-sharp fragments exploded in every direction like a storm of frozen blades.
Priesty lunged forward, shielding Damien as chunks of ice hammered against his body.
Vincent disappeared in a blur, narrowly avoiding a slab large enough to flatten a house.
The creature was already gone by the time they lifted their heads, then another ripple appeared like a wave.
And it appeared behind them.
Its enormous wings snapped open, unleashing a violent gust that swept shattered ice across the cavern. Visibility vanished almost instantly beneath the blizzard of frozen debris.
Damien couldn’t even see it anymore, he could only hear its enraged screech.
Damien gritted his teeth.
"Hey Vincent, I highly suggest we run."
Before Vincent could respond, the giant beak suddenly appeared before them. It came crashing down like a mountain, the sheer momentum stunning Damien and Vincent.
That was when they made a crude realization, the creature is of the Awakened rank, just like the Eidolon chief.