Chapter 357 – Terror

Chapter 357 – Terror

Kai let out a shallow breath and tightened the grip on his dagger. Ice stung his palm beneath the handkerchief of the frozen hilt. His eyes fixed on the pale monster, body wound to spring.

A black tongue lashed between the maw of jagged teeth with a wet clicking.

The cavern stretched wide and uneven, choked with stone protrusions. Voices yelled and sobbed in the background. He couldn’t spare the mind to make out more than a couple words, afraid to even blink, lest he miss a lunge. Behind him, the injured students seemed to have regained their wits once the Pale Stalker’s attention turned elsewhere.

Despite its eyeless face, Kai knew the creature was studying him.

A passing swipe had nearly gutted him. Spindly claws raked through his shattered shield, carving stone and ice as if they were pudding. Muscles rippled beneath the predator’s gaunt skin like spasming cords. Its movements came in fluid jolts and sudden lurches—each twitch a fraction faster or slower than he expected.

The disjointed gait should have looked clumsy. It was not. It sought to lull him into false complacency, but the dissonance only fed his fear.

A crawling whisper brushed his ear—a heartbeat of warning. Then the Pale Stalker lunged, its figure blurring with motion.

Kai released the ice spear he’d prepared and jumped into an Empowered dodge. Even as he leaped midair, he caught the monster twisting and contemptuously swatting his spell.

Claws whipped the air a hair’s breadth from his neck. He hit the ground in a roll, mindful of his poisoned dagger. His arms angled to cast Water Cannon. Mana rushed through the channels down his shoulders. Two spheres of pressurized water hurled from his palms toward the stalker’s maw and torso.

The creature drew deep grooves into the stone to arrest its momentum. Wiry limbs unnaturally bent below the spells, already coiling for another leap to intercept him.

With his profession skill on cooldown, Kai grasped his Water mana to form another ice shield, his body still careening through the roll.

Could he really fight such a monster?

Rocks grazed his palms where his coat didn’t protect his skin. Ignoring the beast’s twisted posture, he trusted his Intuition to aim his dash. Mana flared through his veins, ready to—

A whisper ripped his plans.

The glistening black tongue lashed from the stalker’s maw. His condensing shield fractured, unable to slow the fleshy appendage that blurred toward his head. Fast. Inevitable.

Dread locked his muscles and stopped his thoughts. His pulse hammered in his throat. Every instinct screamed to run, yet his limbs felt distant, the makeshift dagger forgotten in his grip. He’d already pushed his body and mana past their limit. What else could he do? He couldn’t dodge. Better he just—

The Pale Stalker flinched. Three blades whistled through the frigid underground—one to sever the lashing tongue, two to impale its torso. The beast jerked back. It didn’t withdraw its attack, but slowed enough for Kai to wrench his mind from its paralysis and scramble away.

Rocks and dirt scattered to his left where the tongue struck, before the creature’s retreating body forced it to recoil. The beast withdrew among the stalagmites of the cavern. Despite its wary stance and the menacing clicking, no mark marred its taut skin.

Wh—what…

“Mat, are you wounded?” Alden’s voice came from behind him. “Did it strike you anywhere?”

Kai didn’t dare avert his eyes from the threat. “I… No… I— I’m fine.”

He tried to steady his voice. Cold sweat clung to his neck and soaked through his shirt. He brushed the grit from his bloody palms, clenching his hands to keep them firm. His thoughts churned to grasp what’d happened—so close to having his skull burst like an overripe melon.

As the monster’s attention shifted to Alden, the terror stunting his thoughts ebbed like a tide. The effect weakened the more he focused on it—likely a trick to lull prey into overconfidence. It let people believe they’d resisted the skill, only for the fear to creep back the moment their focus wavered.

And I fell for it. Such an idiot.

A century would be too short to forget the humiliation if he’d died like that.

Kai rubbed his face. A cold tingle stung along his cheekbone. When he pulled back, a crimson smear glistened on his hand, smelling metallic—the graze he’d received in their first exchange.

Oh shit…

Icy water only dampened the itch for seconds. Horror wormed into his guts. This time, he couldn’t tell where his feeling ended and the Pale Stalker’s skill began.

“Uhm… Alden. Is that monster venomous?”

His roommate’s loud swallow did not ease his nerves.

“Did you get hit by its tongue?”

“I… Maybe. It’s barely a scratch. It tingles a bit. Can’t you do something with your Magic?”

“That’s not how it works. I need to study and test a substance before I can manipulate it. If I had time, I might slow the spread to let your body fight it, but…”

An eerie clicking reminded them of the creature studying them.

“Just how bad is it?” Kai asked snappily. “Am I already dead? Is my face about to melt off?”

“No, nothing of the sort. The venom is high-grade, but not especially potent. It’s not meant to kill. It makes the victim more susceptible to the fear aura. In all honesty, I’m surprised you’re able to speak coherently. Unless you have a skill for mental resistance…”

Kai ignored the inquiry. “Any idea how to kill that thing? Weaknesses to exploit?”

“I’m… not certain. I never deeply studied the Underground layers. Pale Stalkers shouldn’t prowl this close to the surface. The clicking it makes is a form of echolocation, so it’s probably sensitive to Sound Magic. Fire and Light spells could be effective too. Can you cast any of them?”

“Not to any useful degree,” Kai said, shedding his ruined coat. The flimsy protection wasn’t worth hindering his movements. “And I assume we can’t outrun it?”

“It’s called a stalker for a reason. Once it injects its venom, it can track its prey for miles. The only escape is the enchantment on our bracelets.”

“Do they work? What about the injured students? I thought something was wrong if they didn’t use them.”

Unless they were too paralyzed by fear to think. Or too stupid…

The cavern had been oddly silent.

Alden shuffled behind him. “The only way to check the runes is by triggering them. And also… the other students have already left.”

“What?” Kai nearly tore his gaze off the pale monster. Then flicked his senses to sweep the cavern. Empty. “Did they activate their bracelets?”

“Ran away through the tunnel,” Alden said tersely. “They left the moment the fear aura shifted on you.”

Motherfuckers.

His teeth ground with irritation. He would have understood if they’d teleported to safety. Using them as bait to flee without failing the Trials was another matter. For one petty moment, he was tempted to lure the monstrosity after them.

Could have at least left me a sword before running. Cowards.

A wet clicking marked the end of their talk. Instead of lunging, the Pale Stalker prowled with disjointed lurches and feints as if to test their reactions.

“We can still try the bracelet,” Alden said, tone tense.

“Do you want to?” Kai adjusted his grip on the poisoned dagger, eyes tracking the creature.

Something had gone wrong with these Trials—more than a sloppy mistake. Would a malfunctioning seal spare them from expulsion if they escaped? Could he afford that risk? Beyond wasting a year, the academy could deny the application of any reapplying student.

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It’s just one beast.

Taking Alden’s silence as agreement, Kai stepped forward. Someone had to take the front, and his pale friend didn’t look made for close combat. “Cover me.” He fought best alone, but right now he’d need every advantage if he hoped to win—and stay alive.

We should have rehearsed more scenarios.

“Mat, do you have a plan?”

“Of course—”

The Pale Stalker rushed, hooked fingers outstretched to disembowel him.

Warned by his skill, Kai vaulted over a boulder to his left and hurled a spray of ice shards into its flank. Pebbles rained down where the beast had failed to skewer him. A poisoned blade streaked to form a pincer before it could wrench its claws free.

The strike looked inevitable—yet missed.

The monster twisted as though bones were merely a suggestion, evading the flying knife and swatting the icicles with contemptuous ease. Kai crushed the tendril of fear worming through his thoughts, letting mounting irritation sharpen his focus. He had faced true horrors and foes with overwhelming power. What was one peak Yellow beast?

A hail of ice needles pelted the creature. Even if he failed to hit, the barrage would disrupt its movements. The provocation earned him another pounce—and a narrow escape through Hallowed Intuition.

It wasn’t his highest skill for nothing, a lifetime of calculated risks honed on the edge of a blade.

Kai circled the creature, careful to keep some distance. Knowing where danger would strike didn’t always mean he could avoid it, though the whispers meshed well with the stalker’s penchant for sudden lurches.