Chương 36: Dungeon Boss

Inside the mound of corpses something stirred again, stronger this time, more distinct, and the sound spread through the whole enclosed space, echoing off the rusted gates behind and ahead of Lloyd, amplifying again and again within this stone trap. Lloyd gripped his knife with both hands, waiting for the monster to finally emerge from its lair. Cold sweat ran down his temples, mixing with the dried green slime, and his breathing grew more ragged, more uneven.

The dim green light of the crystals trembled across the walls, making the shadows around him seem alive, crawling, ready to break loose at any moment. But then suddenly the entire mound of corpses began to move all at once, as if all those deformed, fused bodies had simultaneously begun to wake, rising from the long, dead sleep that decades of neglect had buried them in. And then a long green arm emerged from the mound — abnormally long, unnaturally thin, its skin more like rotting tree bark than human flesh.

This arm could not possibly have belonged to any human being. Suddenly another one emerged, just as long, just as wrong, trembling in the air as if tasting it. Then another, tearing through the clumped mass of bodies with a sickening, wet sound that sent a wave of revulsion down Lloyd's spine. And then a couple more like it, emerging from different parts of the mound, as if the pile of corpses itself had decided to grow new, alien limbs, reaching out in every direction in search of purchase.

And now there were a dozen of them — long, slick limbs covered in that same green slime, jutting out from the mound in every direction like the tentacles of some monstrous creature, twitching, groping at the air like blind worms surfacing for the first time. The stench of decay grew so strong that it caught in Lloyd's throat, and his eyes began to water from the acrid reek.

And then the entire mound of corpses began to shift, shuddering and settling under its own weight, scattering fragments of bone across the stone floor around it. Lloyd watched this spectacle with horror in his eyes, feeling nausea rise in his throat, though he'd thought he'd long since lost the ability to feel it after everything he'd seen in these tunnels.

"Just don't tell me the Boss of this dungeon is whatever's hiding inside this mountain of corpses..." That thought raced through his mind at the exact moment it became completely clear — yes, that was exactly it. Some swords fell from the mound with a loud splash, landing directly in the green slime and splattering it in every direction, leaving fresh streaks on the tunnel walls, and a few bodies followed them down — ones that hadn't yet deformed enough to fully merge with the rest of the mass.

They hit the floor with a dull, wet thud, leaving damp furrows in their wake. The green slime itself poured down in streams from the surface of the corpse pile, exposing something pulsing and alive beneath it, something slowly rising and falling like some monstrous lung, hidden until now beneath a layer of dead flesh. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The mound of corpses, bracing itself on its new limbs, began to slowly rise upward, tearing dozens of fused bodies from the floor with a creaking, sucking sound, their roots seeming to run deep into the stone of the tunnel itself. The sound resembled the crack of breaking bones mixed with the wet squelch of rotting flesh, and at that sound everything inside Lloyd clenched into a tight, cold knot.

"And the mound itself..." The thought never had the chance to fully form in his mind — the sight before him was changing too fast, the terror filling every inch of this cramped stone cage was building too quickly, pressing down on his chest almost physically. Lloyd could only stand frozen and watch, hoping for a miracle. What could he possibly do against a ten-meter monster — an ordinary knife, hands shaking with fear, and a desperate will to survive that seemed to grow weaker with every passing second?

And then the Monster rose to its full height, standing upright on its abnormally long green arms, looming over Lloyd as a colossal shadow that blotted out the tunnel's dim green light entirely. The air around it grew thicker, heavier, saturated with a stench of decay so concentrated that Lloyd's eyes watered and a foul, sour taste rose in his throat.

Thick green slime poured down the creature's body in streams, dripping onto the floor with a heavy, squelching sound that echoed through the hollow silence of the cramped space, like some separate, steady rhythm belonging to this nightmarish place. From the very mass of bodies that made up its torso jutted broken bones, rusted arrowheads, and the remnants of armor, like trophies fused permanently into the creature's flesh, having become an inseparable part of its hideous, shapeless silhouette.

Lloyd watched this ten-meter monster in horror, running through every idea that could possibly come to mind, desperately trying to think of anything that might give him a chance at victory. And not a single workable idea ever came. Lloyd kept staring at the Monster, feeling the air grow denser, pressing down on his lungs, while the silence — deafening, absolute silence, broken only by the occasional squelch of dripping slime — seemed to close around him like a tightening ring, leaving no room to breathe.

In turn, Lloyd could feel the Monster looking at him — though the creature seemed to have no eyes at all, only vague hollows amid the rotting flesh, framed by torn, ragged edges of skin. And yet that sensation of a fixed, hungry gaze never left him for a moment, sinking under his skin, making every cell in his body scream of danger. After a couple of seconds of this silent standoff, one of the Monster's arms slowly rose upward, unfolding with a creak at joints that bent in ways no joint should ever bend.

The last drops of slime ran off it, revealing sharp, jagged edges where human fingers had once been — now transformed into something resembling crudely sharpened blades of bone. Lloyd tensed to the absolute limit, feeling every muscle in his body draw tight like a wire, ready to snap at the first sign of movement.

Time around him seemed to slow, stretching out impossibly — he could hear his own heartbeat pounding dully in his ears, could hear water dripping from the ceiling somewhere far behind him, could even hear the faint creak of the rusted gates sealing him into this stone tomb together with the creature. And then the arm shot forward at full speed, straight at Lloyd...