Change: New World

The Things That Lurk in the Dark

The jet black monster fell with a tremendously fast velocity. It’s tail had boosted its initial falling speed by pushing off against the ceiling. It headed directly towards us, its pincers reared back while mucus green liquid coated the inside of its mouth.

In response, I prepared to take the predicted hit. I raised my boken above me while my knees slightly bent, in preparation for intercepting the creature. Unfortunately, that was my miscalculation. The night clad beast completely overlooked my presence as it landed directly down on Hina.

They fell down together onto the floor with a deafening thud. Hina, who was caught off guard and with fear running through her veins, instinctively screamed- a scream loud enough to cause me to cringe. Hina struggled against the beast’s abnormal strength, flailing about while she tried to desperately kick off with her legs.

Due to their proximity, Hina could not retaliate fast enough with her fire magic, unless she wanted to damage herself in the process. In contrast, the xenomorph-rip off was undeterred by Hina’s fruitless struggle, as it once again flashed its pincer directly in front of her face while that 5 feet long tail of his flicked across the floor.

Just as I was about to help Hina out, from both sides of the corridor, a series of threatening hissing sounds began to reverberate. As Cielle frantically waved her light around the corridor, hints and brief flashed of those night clad monsters could be briefly seen. They were hunched over, their tails flicking off into the distance while they slowly approached.

“Tsk!” I chided myself, frustrated at the current situation. Having made up my mind, I quickly approached Hina, instructing myself that the first thing I needed to do was get rid of the monster that broke through our ranks. I retracted back the wooden club in my hand, and briefly entered into a batting position.

“Get off of her, damn it!” A low growl escaped my throat as I focused a glare onto the creature’s back.

With a shout, the oak brown edge of my club almost blurred as it zoomed through the darkness, only to hit the monster square in its carapace covered stomach. Their was a bit of initial resistance at first, as the monster’s claws almost drilled through the basement floor, before its body was sent flying to the side.

Unfortunately, it didn’t remain on the floor for long. It quickly regained its footing, balancing itself with the assistance of its overly long tail, before it scampered about as it fled back into the darkness once again.

I helped Hina up, while I glared at the pitch black darkness before us.

By this point, the hissing had grown tremendously in volume, hinting that either more of those things had gathered or that they were getting closer and closer… probably both.

“Guh…” I scrunched up my face as I briefly deliberated within my mind. “Tsk, it can’t be helped- Everyone, get into the first room to your right!”

I practically screamed at the others, just as another one of those things zoomed through the corridor. I was able to dodge by hairsbreadth, just as it went over my head, bearing its pincers and claws in full hostility.

It landed back over onto the other side of the corridor, lost within the dark.

We desperately ran forward. Hina was endlessly bombarding the front with fire magic. The light radiating from her spells illuminated the room briefly, showing me brief glimpses as the monsters either dodged or took the brunt of the force with their tail.

There were about 4 of them in front of us, two were crawling across the ceiling while the rest tiptoed forward. Cher, who was desperately guarding the firecover assistance from Cielle’s skill, confirmed more than 10 behind us. With no other option but to fight, we forced back the ones in front, until we reached the unpainted door of the first classroom.

With desperate franticness, I pushed open the door, only to reveal, another one of monsters guarding the entrance. It hissed low, before it striked out with its carapace tail. I barely dodged the blow by twisting my neck to the side, before I retaliated with a heavy strike to its neck.

It’s legs sort of wobbled as an unearthly squeal escaped its throat. Unfortunately, even with all my might, it did not go down with my initial blow, confirming that these things were much stronger than the cyclops. Right now, with these creature directly in front of me, I was able to catch a quick glimpse of its erratically flashing window panel.