The rocky earth beneath Sezel and the beast fractured with a thunderous crack, then gave way, disintegrating beneath their weight. For a split second, Sezel hung above oblivion, eyes wide, heart battering against his ribs.
'Shit'. The earth below him disappeared, his body fell down together with the rocks, the beast still above him.
Panic surged. He clenched his jaw, mind spiraling 'What the hell is happening?'
The beast was also in a frenzy, not being able to see made it even more frightened, from all the sounds of rocks breaking and falling around him, he panicked. Sezel seized the moment, slamming a brutal kick into its hind legs. The monster's balance faltered, and with a second strike, it tumbled sideways, shrieking as it fell from him.
Darkness deepened as they plunged from the forest's maw. He tried to peer into the void below, but all he saw was moving shadow and the glimmer of falling rock. 'Damn it. What is even this place.'
From what Sezel could see, they fell from a higher place 'That forest was on top of the ceiling of this place.' The thought sent chills down his spine, the realization burned through him, a place so big that it had a whole forest of such ginormous trees above it, and looked like a mountain from the sky.
There was no doubt about it, giants, they lived here.
But the more important thing right now was to save himself, the ground—wherever it was, would not forgive a direct landing. If the rock he was on would hit the ground, there was a zero percent chance he would survive, his body would be torn apart along with the rock the moment it touched the ground.
His gaze darted to where the beast tumbled just below his rock slab, the moment of impact could be any second, so he needed a soft thing below him that would absorb the shock from the fall.
He looked at the beast with a vicious grin, 'You will be my cushion.'
With gritted teeth, Sezel lunged. He snatched up two heavy chunks of rock and let gravity pull him down faster, angling his descent until he collided with the beast. He wrapped his arms around its bristly hide.
Its stench of rotting flesh and coppery blood clawed at his throat, nearly triggering nausea, but he clung tight.
A cacophony of impacts erupted from below. Loose stones shattered first, thunder echoing through the massive chamber. Seconds stretched into eternity, then.
THUD!
The beast slammed into the ground, a sickening shriek erupting as its bones splintered, tearing through flesh. The impact and the beast's shrieks rang out in the silent chamber, echoing all around.
The force nearly wrenched Sezel's arms from their sockets. Pain detonated along his side, something sharp gouging his abdomen. But it was not a killing blow. His body was in one piece and with no broken bones or anything. Just a bone had pierced the side of his stomach.
He loosed his grip, rolling away and sagging to the stone. Blood seeped between his fingers as he pressed a hand to the wound, blood stained his white shirt in crimson.
He barely had time to gasp before more rocks and beasts, living and dead, rained down from above. Dazed, Sezel forced his battered body to safety, tumbling clear and collapsing on the ground as another massive stone detonated against the floor with a booming echo.
The chamber was a vault of darkness, save for the frail shaft of light beaming down from the hole overhead.
'That damn snake bastard' Sezel cursed.
He realized he was always on the top of some kind of building, or something, and not on solid ground. The previous attacks of the Leviathan had made that area weaker. Then, as those several monsters fell into the pit, it strained the ground even more.
And finally, when the beast jumped on him, the ground broke and he fell inside this hollow building-like space, engraved in darkness.
He crawled toward the nearest wall, propping himself upright. His breath came ragged and raw.
"Now this is something terrible, I can't see in this dark for any monster and with the blood seeping out from the side of my stomach I will be just like a walking bait," he whispered, the words swallowed by the vast hush.
His fingers probed the wound at his stomach, hissing as he tried to slow the bleeding. He took a few heavy, heavy gasps, forcing himself up. He stumbled through the wreckage, boots crunching over stone and bone.
The corpses of White Hunters sprawled everywhere, paws twisted, jaws slack, black blood already pooling beneath them. None of them survived the impact. Somewhere in the dimness was his sword, a glint of light caught his eye, relief rising as he scooped up the katana, miraculously undamaged and unscratched.
A mournful whimper broke the quiet. Sezel spun, muscles tensing, sword ready, but saw only a single beast pinned beneath a slab of stone, hind legs crushed to ruin. He crouched at the animal's side, feeling its trembling.
"You must be in pain, poor thing."
He didn't know why but he felt like he understood the beast's feelings right now, his heart shuddered. He stood up, lining his blade upright, "Sorry," he breathed, and drove the blade into the beast's heart. A shudder, a wet gasp, and it lay still. For a moment, Sezel knelt there—lost, exhausted, heart hammering as if it might shake loose from his frame.
The beast's pain had ended, its life extinguished.
"So, I can kill them."
Suddenly, a voice rang out in his head.
[Congratulations You have Slain a White Hunter]