It's doing exactly what the old man said… Ciel froze on the spot. He never witnessed anything so gruesome before in his life.
The pressure in his stomach intensified, and Ciel who couldn't even get up fell back to the floor, vomiting water as his stomach remained empty.
The sight only made the Calamity's laughter grow louder.
Another set of pitch-black arms materialized out of nowhere, all of them went for different targets but for some reason, the main target was Ciel.
Almost as if his instincts screamed at him, Ciel lying on the round rolled to the right.
Ciel rolled over a sharp stone, the cut on his side beginning to bleed. He barely managed to avoid the first set of arms, but another appeared directly above him, aiming for his neck.
Before he could even react to the pitch-black arm, barely visible strings shot out, wrapping around it.
The strings drew blood as they tightened, and with one powerful yank, Toren severed the conjured hand.
"Get away from there!" Toren yelled at him but Ciel did not move, with a body that was beaten and battered, he couldn't run.
The calamity roared in pain, conjuring two pitch-black arms out of nothing and making them appear underneath Toren, both hands grabbing at his legs.
Right from behind him, a searing flame materialized out of nothing, and condensed into a miniature ball of fire before it was thrown at the Calamity.
The searing flame streaked through the air, racing toward the massive monstrous beast. It quickly called back its summoned arms, putting them in front of him together with his own grafted body's arms.
Using each and every one of his arms, the calamity braced for the ball of fire before a deafening explosion similar to a stick of dynamite, resounded loudly across the cavern.
The smell of charred flesh spread quickly and smoke spread all around.
"Gavin, did you kill it?" Asked Toren, still producing strings from his left hand.
"I think so," Gavin answered tersely.
The two of them had their weapons drawn, pointing it at the previous location of the calamity.
Meanwhile, Ciel slowly rose from the ground in excruciating pain, his body was bleeding and burnt.
The smoke irritated his nose and eyes, triggering a violent coughing fit, flecks of blood splattering from his mouth.
"Damn it…" His voice was rough and husky, even talking was painful.
Similarly to Ciel, another two people woke up from the rubble, they were all injured.
Seeing the raven-black hair of the limping man who stepped forward, a strange white bow in hand but no quiver or arrows, Ciel instantly recognized him—Cole.
The other one was a woman with green hair and sickly green eyes similar to Toren albeit a lighter tone of green, her weapon was a spiked whip.
Everyone's condition was grave but the smoke didn't subside so they had time to prepare for if the beast survived.
"Boy, if it's still alive, can you lead us back to the burial site?" asked Toren, turning his back to Ciel. His eyes never left the slowly dispersing smoke.
"Yes." Responded Ciel, the constant buzzing of his ears and a skull-splitting headache tormented him on top of everything, but he was confident that Unravel could still work until they got back to the burial site.
As the smoke slowly dispersed, everyone felt a mixture of shock and terror from the sight in front of them.
Nothing.
The Calamity was nowhere to be found.
Only the bloodshed it left behind and the terror that gripped everyone by its presence.
Did it flee? No, that's not possible, that fireball was powerful but nowhere near enough to take something of that magnitude down… this day is way too stressful, I am not even surprised by that bastard Gavin throwing fireballs, what the hell is this world? At least I have this power—Unravel.
The more he activated and deactivated the power, the easier it became to think about the word without activating or deactivating it; the trigger instead became an intention to call upon it.
But that was still something outside of his control.
I need to learn how to use it and that needs to happen fast, without Unravel, I am nothing. Hell, even with it I'm completely unarmed.
His vision was still blurred as he looked around the blood-soaked area—the remnants of a confrontation with that mutated, crow-like monster.
From the original team of five with Cole, only he and another remained.
Ciel couldn't help but shudder as he remembered the gaze of the calamity while it tore apart the intestines of the corpse, ripping the stomach of the corpse open.
The exact words that the old man said… exactly that. It was staring directly at him doing the exact thing Quin said… Was it following us? Did it hear us? It understands human speech…
"Can you track the calamity?" Toren asked him, still vigilant.
I have no idea…
Ciel didn't answer he only crouched down in great pain in front of the severed arm of the calamity.
Looking down at it, the first thing he noticed was the cleanliness of the cut. Those strings are sharp… if I ran into one, it would kill me instantly.
Doubtfully, he reached for the hand, ready to activate Unravel—but first, he picked up a pebble from the ground and tossed it at the stone, watching closely for any reaction to the blood.
Okay, at least it's not acidic.
Gently touching the hand, he attempted to activate Unravel. To his pleasant surprise, he felt a connection to the Calamity and could even sense its general direction.
Damn it! To his horror, he realized exactly where it was headed—straight toward Old Quin and Damian.
He didn't even have time to rejoice from his findings as he shouted. "It's rushing towards the burial site!"
Toren's emotionless expression appeared to be shocked as well while Gavin, Cole and the woman whose name Ciel hadn't heard before appeared confused.
"Burial site?" Cole asked, letting his bow down with a sigh.
"No time to explain, Quin and Damian are still there." Explained Toren with a frustrated expression, "Boy, lead us back. Gavin, give him light."
With a nod of acknowledgment, Gavin walked beside Ciel, helping the injured youth move while raising his left hand, producing a bright orange-red flame that was alone enough to illuminate the caverns.
With the rest of the group, they rushed through the tunnels under Ciel's guidance, who continued to rely on his only crutch—Unravel. But the more he used it, the more strained his mind became.
Waves of exhaustion washed over him periodically, his body still bleeding from various wounds, while his skin throbbed with pain from even the slightest contact with the flames coming from Gavin.
Ciel was familiar with him, the moment he arrived in this strange world, Gavin's spear was the first thing he saw.
Looking at the man who wore an iron sallet that hid his features, Ciel now somewhat saw the man, his eyes were blood red and his hair was of similar color.
Why does everyone have so strange hair and eye color? But mine changed as well… to black, the same color as Cole's hair, but my eyes turned grey, he is black, what can be the reason for that?
Seeing that his questions were not going to be answered for a while, he focused on the task at hand while bearing through the pain and exhaustion.
Gritting his teeth and pushing through the pain, they rushed through the tunnels, with Cole limping furthest behind yet still managing to keep pace.
We can't afford to lose anyone. I can't trust them, but after seeing that… that thing fight, even with attacking it all at once, our chances are grim.
Ciel knew that he had to remain useful, even as his body ached from every movement, he couldn't fall behind, he had to remain useful.
As they neared the burial site, everyone remained on edge, bracing for the sounds of battle or the menacing howls of the beast—but there was nothing, only the sound of their rugged breathing.
Rushing into the burial site from the broken wall, fresh air immediately filled their lungs, and to their pleasant surprise, both Quin and Damian seemed to be fine, as much as Damian could be called as looking fine.
His injuries were still grave, but he seemed to still be alive.
As soon as the full group arrived, Old Quin smiled warmly. "Thank the sun that all of you are still alive."
He smiled warmly, gazing up at the sky through the only hole in the cavern, tracing a slow circular motion over his heart.
But I could swear the calamity was here somewhere… I can still sense it with Unravel, what does it want?
"Everyone, be on guard." Said Ciel, with a firm tone even while he was terrified on the inside. "I can still feel it somewhere close."
"It won't attack us, we are no longer struggling for air and we are in formation. If it tries to attack us now, it couldn't possibly win." Reasoned Quin, attempting to Calm the others.
"If you—" Cole couldn't even finish his words as a blood-chilling sound echoed throughout the burial site.
It was still there.
It could understand them.
It was laughing.