Arthur’s eyes looked down as a deep, primal fear struck his heart out of nowhere. Rare were the moments where he had felt true fear, and one of them was when he saw that giant under the lake.
That moment was something he will never forget for the rest of his life. He thought it was the worst he could see and there was nothing else that could strike that much fear into his heart as that lake giant. However, in less than a week, Arthur was proved completely wrong.
Out of the seemingly clear and beautiful river water emerged a gigantic hand, so big it dwarfed the ship they were on. The hand looked very human-like with a grey, stone-like skin and large cracks riddling every inch of it.
It looked like a large ancient statue that was brought to life by some unknown force. Its sheer size made Arthur’s body freeze. It had emerged out of nowhere, out of a seemingly peaceful water. That notion alone gave Arthur a shock of a lifetime.
Then, he quickly realized that this hand was moving right toward him as he was trying to pull the mercenary before he fell down.
‘SHIT!!!!’ Instinctively, Arthur yanked his hand back to pull the man up and get away. But, the hand was simply way faster than he was.
Like a flash, it reached them and clasped the man from his torso as it slowly pressed him under crushing pressure. At that moment, the man’s eyes flickered back to reality as if he woke up from his daze.
It didn’t take him a moment to start screaming at the top of his lungs as he felt his entire body slowly getting crushed. He tried to wiggle his way out or even hit the hand, but he couldn’t get himself out.
“AAAAAAGH!!!! WHAT’S HAPPENING?!! SAVE ME!!!! AGHHH!!!” He screamed so loudly that he lost his voice very quickly. The sound of bones cracking and twisting filled the ears.
“Let go!!” Arthur’s hand was still holding on to the man as he tried to pull him out. But, no matter how much strength he put into it and no matter how much he pulled, the hand didn’t budge.
‘Dammit! Dammit!! What the hell is this hand?’
*CRACK*
“PLEASE!!! GOD!!! NO!!!”
The cries of immense pain filled Arthur’s ears and made him get more and more frustrated. He didn’t know what he could do.
Then, as if it was trying to make it worse for him, the hand started slowly descending down to the water again. Arthur arched his back forward trying to make it top. But, it was all pointless.
In a matter of seconds, the entire hand completely vanished under the surface, never to be seen again. Along with it, the man’s cries drowned and all that was left were a few bubbles reaching the surface.
Arthur stood there, in a complete daze as he stared at the water. He was breathing audibly but his mind was completely elsewhere. Nobody knew what he was thinking about, but it was very much a very unpleasant thing.
Then, out of nowhere, Arthur snapped out of his daze and looked over his shoulder. His companions had completely stopped moving as they lost that doll-like dead look on their faces. Still, Arthur put ice walls around them quickly before they could do anything else. Then, he focused on another matter.
‘The monster! Where did she go?!’ He mused as he looked left and right. However, surprisingly, the monster was nowhere to be seen. Arthur spread his senses quickly and then realized that it had all came back to normal and he could easily sense his surroundings. Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire
The woman’s presence couldn’t be felt at all even when he walked to the point where she was standing earlier.
When that thought settled in his mind, Arthur sat down with a blank expression on his face. Then, he slowly wiped his face with his left hand.
“What the hell is going on, man? I don’t get it anymore. What is this nonsense?” He asked himself under his breath. Arthur felt a headache purely from thinking about it. It happened and ended so quickly that it still didn’t get into his head.
“A large stone hand, and that seductive woman. What was I even fighting?” He cursed.
The situation was too confusing to even question it. On one hand, there was the river itself with all of its mysteries, and the fact that these creatures were most likely not from this floor even.
Arching his head back, he exhaled a small breath.
“Huh? Where… are we?”
“Why are we trapped?!”
“Did something happen? I can’t remember anything!”
At that moment, he heard the confused voices of the group. Shifting his gaze down, he realized that they had all woken up from the illusion they were under. The boy frowned for a moment before he stood up again and approached the ice walls.
“Don’t panic, you’re all fine. I have put you inside the ice wall to stop you.” He said as he put his hand on the wall and then punched it with some force, the ice immediately burst into pieces, letting all the mercenaries out.
Walking outside with confused expressions, they stared left and right. That was when they saw the signs of battle all over the ship’s deck.
“What happened here, Arthur?” Deka asked with a frown.
“…” The boy pursed his lips. “So you really don’t remember, huh?”
‘It seems that ability also erases their memories. What a terrifying thing.’ He thought to himself. The idea sent a chill down his spine.
“Sigh, well, you lot were about to die if I didn’t encapsulate you in that shell.”
“Wait, what?! How?!”
Staring directly at Deka, Arthur started recounting everything that happened from the moment the woman appeared and everything that ensued after that. The mercenaries had been out of it for no more than 5 minutes and yet what happened during that short period of time was simply ridiculous.
So much so that by the time Arthur reached the conclusion, everyone was completely shell-shocked. Their expressions were comically distorted as if they heard the worst story ever.
“I tried to save him, I really did. But, that hand didn’t budge. I couldn’t do much.” Arthur added at the end with a sigh. He would be lying if he didn’t feel regretful that he couldn’t pull the man out but at the same time, he knew that if he kept trying, he would’ve been brought down with them.
“No… You have got to be kidding me…”
“Felix… It can’t be…”
The first reactions were of complete disbelief. They looked around them, wishing to see Felix amongst them. Yet, the truth was there, he was no more.
“*Sniff* Goddamit, man. What is this? He died just like that?” Slowly, tears welled up in their eyes.
“We keep losing more and more people! I can’t bear this anymore!”
“…”
Nobody could speak or retort to that. It was true, they had been constantly losing companions every day since this cursed trip started. It was soul-crushing and a huge blow to their sanity. They have never seen this many dear friends die in such a short time. One loss would be devastating, several could easily destroy someone.
“… Is that so?” Deka muttered. “The rumors about this river were true, after all…” As she spoke those words, she looked up and closed her eyes before sucking in a deep breath as if she was trying to calm herself down.
“I’m sorry but… What kind of excuse did you just spout out?”
At that moment, and during everyone’s silent moment grieving their friend’s death, one angry voice spoke. Immediately, everyone looked up and it was Sergi who stepped forward.
“You could’ve not saved Felix? Why the hell should I believe that, huh?! Did you really try hard enough or even try for that matter?” He asked as he glared daggers at Arthur. Rage could be seen flickering in his eyes.
The boy knitted his eyebrows as he stared back at the mercenary. “Do you think I’m going to spout lies?”
“We have all been under that monster’s illusion. I cannot believe there was no way of saving him! You’re lying!”
“Serg-” Deka tried to speak to him.
“No! Shut the hell up, Deka! Don’t get into this! I’m sick and tired of this monster! I’m truly sick and tired! You keep trying to side with him when all we got from him was death and even more death! Do you want me to believe this little monster with that much strength and couldn’t pull a man out of his demise?!”
“…”
“You can believe that all you want, I’m not. He’s clearly here to kill us! He is using every opportunity to murder us! Have some shame and admit it!” As he said that, the man stepped forward to grab Arthur by the hem of his clothes.
“He saved our lives, you idiot! Stop being unreasonable!” Deka retorted.
“I am the unreasonable one for prioritizing us?! You lost your goddamn mind, Deka! Truly!”
A//N: Thank you all for the gifts, golden tickets, and PS. Let’s keep it up!