The monsters were the size of small dogs, their appearance resembling that of a human toddler, but their sharp black eyes and the fangs jutting out of their mouths were different. Imps. They were hairless and corded with muscles.
My clothes were already covered in brown blood, and five of the Imps lay in crumbled heaps around me. "Not bad. I can already feel the essence in my core increasing, but it’s going to take time to fully get it filled."
I continued walking, my ears sharpened for anything that might jump out at me, my steps lightly echoing. I considered just standing there and waiting for the monsters to come to me, but I shook off the notion and continued more slowly. I didn’t want to go too deeply.
I heard scraping on the ground as clawed feet made their way toward me. I turned swiftly, but then I heard a sound from the wall beside me. Was that another from the roof?
I threw myself to the side just as a blur of... what was that? The air shifted strongly as something surged past, darkness and writhing flesh that flashed claws at me.
I moved backward and raised my weapon, my heart beating fast. This wasn’t like the normal Imps. It was like a wave. The Imps had somehow climbed atop, around, and into each other to form a wave of gnashing fangs and claws.
My eyes locked on the wave in front of me. Now that I was looking at it, I saw that the Imps’ wave almost reached the tunnel roof. "What was it they said? The Imps are weak individually, but together, they are terrifying enough to stop further exploration into the tunnel!"
I spoke aloud to keep myself distracted. Numerous beady eyes opened and blinked at me. Then the Imps’ wave wavered, entered the wall, and disappeared.
I blinked. "Oh, I forgot they could pass through solid objects. But really, how did the wave do that? Are they like a hive mind or...?"
I had only a moment. The slight vibration on the ground warned me, and I flung myself forward into a roll just as the wave of Imps exploded beneath the ground. This time, they didn’t just pass silently. The ground cracked, and sharp rocks were sent flying.
I got a cut on the cheek, but other than that, I was fine. The wave vanished again, and I finally understood that I couldn’t win, except if I used my Knight power, the power of the Squire.
Frankly speaking, all the Squire’s abilities involved shaping pure essence to a desired effect, unlike the other ranks that had to be specific about their aspected essence to create techniques.
"It shouldn’t be hard, right?" I grimaced as the wave surged forward like a tide. No time to do anything else, I coiled my hand and flung my pickaxe upward where the wave would move next. The weapon slammed into the wall and cracked it, throwing down stones.
The monsters were too engrossed in me to notice in time, and the stones smashed into them, making them recoil and buying me time. But they quickly reformed, throwing away the dead Imps, and their different eyes locked on me.
I shuddered. I regretted my decision to come here alone because now my weapon was gone. "And I’ve been starved of essence till recently. How am I going to get out of this?"
I was given no time to think about it as the monsters rolled toward me and surrounded me, their mouths opening toward me. I understood, they all wanted a taste of my flesh.
My heart was beating so fast it was the only thing I could hear, apart from the hiss from the Imps. I reached inside myself blindly just as the wave collapsed on me.
I crouched and tucked my head between my hands and legs, guarding myself. Then the monsters were on me, and I screamed as blinding, hot pain laced my body.
But my mind turned inward, gripping the essence I could clutch from my core. It was like trying to catch water with a knife. I touched it but couldn’t gather it together.
In desperation, I touched something. A line? Lines? Instinctively, I knew they were the lines that carried essence to the rest of the body to empower it.
I took those lines. I tugged and then pulled. My core reacted, and essence flowed out, tumbling like water from a dam. I didn’t try to control it and instead let it surge together in one place—my chest.
Then I flung it out.
The wave had covered me, and because they were Imps, they took their time in killing me. That split second saved me and became their doom.
I flung the wave of essence out, and suddenly my body was covered in blue-white light that blasted out in a ripple of shockwave. The ground and walls cracked sharply, painted in brown blood and pieces of flesh.
I raised my head, my eyes glowing. The essence from the dead monsters rose and settled on me, filling my core to a quarter. But my head screamed in pain, and I groaned as I stood up, staggering and resting against the wall.
Mental fatigue was a thing that happened when one used their powers. Even with essence in their core, they still wouldn’t be able to do much.
"I have to get out of here because this will draw more monsters." I hesitated. Should I continue or turn back? In the end, I settled for going back. "I’ll take some time to recover. I should make do with what I have for now. I’ll be back later for sure."
I picked my way over the bloodied ground, retrieved my pickaxe, hung it on my shoulder, and turned, quickly making my way back.
☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆
Silence reigned, but then something shifted in the air. The space took on a gleam, as if a great beast were breathing in. Air rushed inward, drawing blood and bits of flesh together with the little fragments of my essence that remained.
Suddenly, time seemed to freeze around the area, and things grew hazy. Then, just like that, things returned to normal.