Chapter 6: Spirit Of The SadMan Lake (2)
Spirits, when descending upon this world, manifested themselves in a physical body through the essence that was tied to it.
The body they were created in will not only give them abilities but also superb physical traits beyond logic.
Through Liam's daily observation, he had seen its keen sense of detecting even the slightest tremor in the water, and even though it may seem like it took three to four seconds to materialize those water arms, that is just for the arm state to be stable enough to move around.
It has already counted as a water arm the moment the spirit thought about it.
Combining those two traits, the lake became an impossible fortress for intruders to even come close to it.
But Liam had done it; he had entered the dark water without dying, and now, he could do the finishing blow to the spirit.
The weakness of the ability [Water Limbs] is that it would crumble before it could even manifest into a proper hand inside this water.
He had proven this theory by dumping a lot of small fish into this lake and, through it, seeing how it hunts when creatures are inside the water.
If the creature was perfectly fine, then Liam wouldn't have a chance to kill it, but it had received a major wound on its neck, so all he needed was to open up the wound to tear its throat to kill it.
Pulling out a rather long knife strapped to his back, Liam's cold eyes clashed with the abomination's furious ones.
An axe would be useless in this high-density environment, so stabbing something would be much easier than swinging it.
But for him to stab it, he needed to be near it first and seeing that it isn't moving despite prey entering the water, it is quite troublesome.
But he believed in its idiocy as a foul beast; he knew that it wouldn't be able to contain its anger and would burst at him like a stupid creature.
… He shouldn't have picked up these habits from Thomas; they might one day bite him in the ass.
Like the one in front of him right now.
Liam could feel the water around him stirring, and those yellow eyes were becoming much closer to him at a rapid pace.
But instead of backing down, Liam stood still with his eyes unwavering.
He couldn't fight this thing in water, nor could he run away from it; the only way for him to kill it was to inflict the wound he had made before!
But there is only one possible way to reach that spot…
'If I fail, then I will become shit to that thing, but it's the only way for him to kill it.'
There are probably many other ways, but this is the only one he had in mind now.
That is to be eaten by it.
So he's just going to let it eat him... The thought of it made his skin crawl, his arm shake, and his face turn pale.
This would be the first time he had been eaten by something, so he is indeed quite scared of the experience.
Nonetheless, Liam still stepped forward; he refused to fall under such a cursed path ahead of him.
Just when the maw of the creature dawned upon him, he could faintly see the head of the spirit for a moment.
And he had to say
It truly is an ugly head.
Chomp—!
In a swift movement, the spirit swallowed him whole.
He no longer felt the cold water of the lake anymore but instead the feeling of being stuffed inside some narrow, sticky place.
This is the feeling of being swallowed, and he had to say it's like you're on your deathbed with a warm blanket covering you as you accept your fate.
Aside from the sticky surroundings, of course.
But not now; he didn't want to die yet, and he sure won't die to this thing, not when he is about to defeat it!
He stabbed at the throat while trying to grab it too so he won't get dragged to the creature's stomach, but its muscle was too thick and too slippery for him to get a proper grip on it.
And to make matters worse, its muscle begins to squeeze Liam, forcing him down to its throat to be devoured by it.
The spirit may be a being without emotions or flaws, but now it is a monstrous beast that seeks destruction through its ability and its uncanny physical trait.
But in the end, it's still a beast; it could bleed, it needed air to live, and most of all, it needed to eat.
That's why he believed the creature would swallow him instead of biting him to death, for it is a stupid beast that didn't know the danger it was in.
Feeling a bulging part inside its throat, Liam smirked as he plunged the knife toward the swelling spot of the creature.
And he just kept doing it while using his other hand to open the wound further.
"Gr—"
The muscle in its throat tightened and squeezed Liam out of his breath, but he still brutally attacked its throat.
The moment he stabbed through that spot one last time, he could feel something else aside from blood leaking out, a cold liquid he was all too familiar with.
The entire surrounding quaked, and he could feel the spirit trying to scream something but unable to, for the lake water was flushing down to its throat, choking it to death.
Now, he just needed to persevere through this situation and not get caught in the creature's stomach.
'Finally, I have—'
But before Liam could triumph over the situation, he felt something was wrong when the spirit was swimming upward at such a high speed!
Then, he felt his body was airborne for a moment before he felt the muscles of his throat shift and spit him out.
Falling and rolling to the ground, Liam widened his eyes as he dodged the descent of the spirit falling below.
It seems that it would take him more than planning to kill it.
To not get itself drowned, the spirit lunged out of the water and spat out whatever water was left in its throat.
But the smell of blood was in the air, I could feel it getting thicker and thicker over time; the injury was fatal.
He only needed a couple of minutes for it to die from blood loss.
Inside the darkness, despite not seeing the full view of the spirit, he knew how large it was and how ugly its face was, so it's going to take quite a while for it to bring its heavy ass to its lake.
And it's not like he wouldn't be here to prevent that from happening.
Grabbing the axe that was stuck on the spirit's throat from before, Liam raised it toward the spirit and declared himself.
"Your days end now, foul spirit."
"D-d..."
But what he didn't expect was that there was going to be a reply from the monster, and definitely not one that just got its throat ripped open.
But the eerie voice still reached Liam's ear, and just hearing it alone, he felt his throat turn dry and his eyes become itchy.
"dO YoU WeEp?"
"..."
Liam was readying himself for whatever may happen from the ability [Weeping], but his eyes only stopped at itchy, and that's it—
Then Liam felt something cold streaming down his cheek, and then more and more.
But those aren't his tears, for he doesn't have eyes all over his body.
Liam looked up at the sky and was shocked to see the starry night was already gone, replaced with dark clouds that appeared out of nowhere.
"You have got to be kidding."
The ability didn't target him, it was in the night sky!
And now, the night sky is 'weeping,' giving it all the water it needed!