"Y-You! Y-You?!" The man stuttered as if he had a cold and he slowly moved his legs towards Marichi.
"A-A fellow me?!" He pointed at himself and dragged his feet against the ground while his guts that looked dry and like they were about to spill out while his body was enveloped in a fluctuating black dust.
"Hey…Step back!" Marichi shouted as he readied his dagger.
Why am I still talking? That's definitely not a human being…At least anymore.
He thought while he shifted backwards.
"Step back? No! No! No!" The man charged straight at Marichi while he frailed his bony hands around in the air.
"Hmph." Marichi took a short sharp deep breath and lunged straight at the man, his dagger out in front as he ran.
The man widened his jaw which revealed a fully black tongue and black particles that fell from it. Marichi's hand shuddered, but still gripped his dagger tightly.
I can't die here!
He said to himself as he slashed against the man's neck and ran past him, the man's neck spilled black blood all over and some even got on Marichi.
Black blood?
He swiped some off his face.
What actually is this place?
He looked at the man as he fell towards the ground and grabbed his throat while more black blood flowed from it.
Have to keep moving on…To wherever.
At least far from who this!
He looked at the man's lifeless corpse before he then faced his front and was about to run.
"No! No! Come back!" A voice from Marichi's back erupted.
"What?" Marichi gasped while he quickly faced the man's direction.
There he was, the man slowly stood as blood still flowed from his throat and some of his dried guts spilled on the ground.
What the…I just slit his throat?
How is he still alive?!
Marichi's legs felt like broomsticks , sweat flowed from his forehead and then to his shaken lips.
"It's been so long…So long!" The man turned his body, he gave a smile with his deformed look as from his guts, long hands about three in number protruded and his eyes turned a milkish white.
He ran towards Marichi, but this time he was much faster in speed and quickly reached him. Marichi blocked the man with his dagger, but the extra hands tugged on his body.
They didn't tear or do anything, they just tugged on his body, Marichi slightly faltered from this but snapped back together and then stabbed the man straight through the head as his black blood sprayed on his face.
The man's head recoiled back as the wound on his head was covered in black, but the hands from his gut still moved, each one trying to rip his clothes apart.
"What the---" Marichi's skin crawled then he stabbed the three hands which released him. Without wasting a moment further, he just looked at the corpse below and then ran off.
Who or what was that?
What kind of contract did he make?
Is he even a man?!
Marichi hyperventilated as he ran, but he didn't stop, he still pushed on past the bubbles and the stalagmites seemed to grow taller from the ground with each passing second.
Already some distance between him and the corpse, the man then stood up again, the wound on his head still bled as it let out a loud shriek. Marichi momentarily heard the sound before it came to complete halt, he ignored it and still ran.
He then stopped to take a breather as he rested his hand against the wall.
Where am I going? I've asked myself this so many times, but where's the actual answer?
He panted while he cleaned the sweat off his face.
I've just been running and running as if I had a destination in mind.
Do I? I don't even know anymore after being here.
He slightly moved forward and stretched his arms, he cleaned his dagger on the cloth on his lap.
And I need to get back to them!
He clenched his fist on the wall as he continued to move.
…
Meanwhile in the same area, but different places, Jorel laid on the ground in a wrecked carriage, his hand slowly moved as he raised his head which revealed an injury in which he was bleeding from.
"Ahhh…" He groaned and tried to get up but his back was interrupted by the wreckage of the carriage with something heavy above it. Then nodded his head, his vision still blurred, he crawled his way outside through a small opening in front of him.
He fully crawled out while his head was still hazy, he then laid on the ground trying to collect himself.
"What…happened?" He asked himself while his eyes were barely open as memories of the crash.
Damn…could those people in the air be the reason we crashed?
He groaned.
They didn't come close to us, did they?
But they were already flying, so perhaps a god contract?
He forced himself to stand up and stretched his body.
He turned around and saw pieces of the carriage all over, the corpses of the horses as well with blood all over then also the corpse of the right stagecoach as it laid there with red shards that protruded out of its face.
That stagecoach…
Hmph!
But the red shards though…
Jorel walked closer and squinted his eyes.
Definitely a god contract!
But who exactly attacked me?
A rival clan?
The bandits?!
He then walked to the side as his foot lightly kicked his sword on the ground.
His eyebrows slightly raised and nodded his head a bit to the side and bent down to carry it, he dusted off all the wood chips and dirt on it.
"Ahhhh." An all too familiar voice shouted while the sound of howls and grunts soon followed after. Jorel then unsheathed his sword, his shoulders slanted as he gulped.
And who could that be?
Jorel slowly walked towards the source of the sound already in his stance with his guard up.
As he got closer, the sound of rusted metal clanking and an older man's grunts became louder, while the snarls of a creature ran through Jorel's bones.
Jorel stopped for a while to think.
Why am I going towards that direction? They should be other paths?
But that voice, that snarl…
I can't help myself but to go towards it!
He resumed walking.
Then he turned at the corner and what he saw made him shudder as he almost gave out a slight shill.
---The end of chapter 24---