Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Eerie Ice Mist (4)

After reading the three words Skanoli had written on his own hand, Will's heart gave a sudden jolt. He frowned, and an inexplicable sense of danger rose in him.

That old man Skanoli was someone who had even dared, against the odds, to try forcing his way through more than two hundred Garo fiends. Yet the instant he heard that thing's strange howl, his face changed at once, and he signaled for them to prepare to slip away quietly. If even Skanoli feared it so much, that alone showed how terrifying that creature's power truly was.

"Mmph!"

At the sound of that creature's roar, the Garo fiend beneath them began trembling violently all over, while mournful cries poured constantly from its mouth and nose. Skanoli realized they could not stay here any longer. He hurriedly let out a strange nasal hum, and to everyone's surprise, after hearing Skanoli's hum, the Garo fiend still trembled faintly, but at least it no longer gave those pitiful cries. With one heavy step of its enormous foot, it slowly retreated toward the edge of the fog.

"Waaah-haaah!"

At that moment, another earthshaking roar burst from behind them. The savage howl struck like thunder, making the ears ache. Will turned back on instinct, and within the dense fog he saw a monstrously tall black shadow appear all at once. Stretching out a huge claw, it snatched up several Garo fiends from around it and shoved them straight into its mouth.

At first, they could still hear the anguished cries of the fiends it had seized, but in the blink of an eye those cries were cut short. In their place came a series of sharp, cracking bone breaks and the grating sounds of furious chewing!

That thing had actually eaten the Garo fiends!

At the sound of that chilling chewing, the Garo fiend that had been calmed by Skanoli let out another faint cry. Will's heart sank. He turned to look, and in the thick fog a black skeletal claw of absurd size was already reaching toward them in a ghastly way.

"Bad!"

Skanoli's heart tightened. The situation no longer allowed them to keep hiding here. If they wanted to avoid being devoured by that fiend, the only choice was to fight back.

But if they struck here, it would mean plunging into unprecedented trouble. Not only would they be unable to continue deeper into the fog, they would also be surrounded by a vast number of undead creatures!

What now?

Skanoli was desperately searching for the best solution, a way that could both get them out of this predicament and still let them go deeper into the fog. Yet in his panic, he failed to notice that the black skeletal claw had already reached to within less than two meters of him.

"Old man!"

Will bellowed. His hand had already tightened around the short spear Na Sa had given him, and he took a step forward, ready to thrust it fiercely into that claw.

At that very instant, Na Sa suddenly flashed in front of Will, seized the short spear from his hand, and roared. The muscles all over his body swelled by a full measure, cords of blue veins rising like coiling serpents. Then he stamped down so hard that the fierce force beneath his feet actually forced the Garo fiend beneath him flat to the ground, and his whole body shot forward like a loosed arrow toward the black skeletal claw.

The short spear screamed through the air, a beam of light in Na Sa's grasp as it stabbed straight down toward the claw.

With a deafening crash, the spear collided with the black skeletal claw. The slender shaft was snapped into several pieces at once, and Na Sa himself was flung far away. But the blow had not been in vain. It had driven a fist-sized hole clean through the massive black bone claw, and strange green blood began seeping out little by little through the breach. A thick, bloody stench instantly spread through the air.

In an instant, the whole space seemed to freeze. A suffocating stillness crashed down, so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

Na Sa coughed up several mouthfuls of blood before the scorching heat in his chest eased a little. He wiped the blood harshly from the corner of his mouth and barked at Will, "Get down!"

"Huh?"

Will froze, then came back to himself. He turned at once, about to call Skanoli down with him, but when he looked over, he saw that the old man had somehow already jumped off the Garo fiend and, with a few agile leaps, had reached Na Sa's side.

"Hey! Kid, have you been scared stupid?" Skanoli shouted at Will.

Will cursed inwardly and cast another glance over his shoulder. To his shock, the black skeletal claw pierced by Na Sa had already been withdrawn at some point, and at the same time a hideous, terrifying massive head was suddenly looming closer to him.

Will swore he had never seen anything so disgusting in his life. Even the zombies and undead skeletons of dark magic looked adorable by comparison.

Its face, in black and white, looked as though it had been scalded with boiling water. Its already hideous features were twisted together beyond recognition, making it all the more ghastly. Its eyes were enormous, like two round plates, and its murky yellow pupils always seemed to flicker with a strange, cold light. At the corners of its eyes, disgusting streaks of red and green mucus continued to ooze out.

It just stared at Will.

After a long moment, the corner of its mouth suddenly twitched, as though it were sneering.

Damn it. This thing could sneer?

Will was filled with terror, and just then the creature suddenly split its mouth open wide, revealing bloody teeth, and let out a ferocious roar. The stench it gave off made Will's eyes roll back in his head.

Today I had to go out to take care of something, and when I sat down to write tonight I couldn't get into the right state, so there is a little less than usual. Please forgive me.