Even with lungs burning, heart hammering in his chest, Nolan ran. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him. The open field stretched wide with structures he could hardly make out at this moment.
Behind him, the monstrous monkey was still chasing. The concerning part, it had picked up its pace, and with nothing to block its way, the monster tore across the field like a storm.
Shreeekkkk!
Sheeekk!
It shrieked—a loud, shrill cry that made Nolan flinch even as he ran. He could feel the monster gaining on him. A meter at a time.
One saving grace... if he could even call it that. Up ahead, he could see the river glistering in the sun, getting closer faster than the monster. He just had to reach it and hope the monster hadn't taken a swimming lesson.
Just a little farther.
Nolan pushed harder, legs aching, but the monkey was nearly on top of him now. He could hear its breath, rough and animal.
15 meters... 14 meters... 13… 12… 11…
The riverbed was just meters away when he felt something pinching in his leg. He tilted his head a little and looked at the leg. There, he saw the reason for the pinching.
'Motherfucker...' Nolan found a feather lodged in his leg, blood trickling from the small wound.
Somehow during the case, the monkey had plucked its feather and had attacked with it... fortunately, the wound wasn't deep enough and was instead more like a nuisance.
But it was enough as the nuisance had cost him precious seconds.
'This little shit...' Nolan cursed, feeling that the few meters weren't close enough anymore.
The hair stood on end as he braced himself to sustain an attack from the monster. The attack… it was unavoidable this time.
Then the monkey leapt.
It launched into the air with a scream, its claws ready, feathers spread wide like wings. Nolan stumbled, his hand moved, making a cross around his chest and face, bracing for the impact.
But before the monster could land, something erupted from the water.
A flash moved in the corner of his vision as Nolan almost missed what had happened. Looking at the monkey, a smile formed unintentionally.
The last few seconds repeated themselves as he recounted what had happened.
The moment the monkey had jumped, leaving itself open, something had moved out of the water.
A dark, slimy tentacle shot up with a wet snap, faster than one could register. Its dark, sharp, pointy tentacle speared straight through the monkey's stomach, punching out the other side with a sickening sound.
Screeeeeeeccchhhhhh!
Blood, along with bits of flesh, spilled on the floor as the monkey screamed. Angered by the sudden intervention of a third party, seemingly made the monkey go berserk.
Screeecchhh!!!
Screeching, it brought its mouth close to the tentacle and bit it with the razor-sharp jagged teeth.
The teeth—which Nolan guessed would take a whole chunk of flesh if they bit him—did nothing to the tentacle. Only a little black blood oozed from where the canines had lodged themselves.
'Let's get the hell out of here...' the thought appeared in his mind, but Nolan didn't move his leg. Even when the blood was trickling, he didn't move to remove the feather.
While the two behemoths battled, he remained standing still, lest it brought the tentacle's attention to himself... which, surprisingly, until now had paid no attention to his meaningless existence.
Still, the monkey and the tentacle fought among themselves, and Nolan moved very, very slowly, trying to move away from the fight.
Another tentacle appeared from the depths, and now the monkey truly became helpless. Seconds ago, it could still put up a fight, but now it had begun to tilt in the favor of the tentacled monster.
Scrreeeeeeeeeeechhh!!
The monkey screeched. Feeling its end near, it opened its mouth to the limit and bit down. This time the wound went somewhat deep... but it didn't stop there.
While the other tentacle was trying to hold one of its hands, the monkey moved its head... beginning to tear the tentacle.
Scrreeeeccchh!!
It had taken some time... but the monkey was able to tear the tentacle apart.
Seeing it, Nolan almost forgot to breathe. A hint of unease appeared along with a question:
'Will this bastard be able to win?'
But he was concerned for nothing, as the moment the monkey tore the tentacle apart, a few more appeared from the depths of the seamless, endless water and moved with haste.
The number—it was three... four counting the one which was already wrestling with the monkey. The monkey tried resisting, but it was to no avail. Soon, all four of the tentacles attached themselves to each of the monkey's limbs and lifted it into the air.
Each pulled from their direction, and soon a screech left the monster's mouth. It felt the same, but Nolan knew this screech was different from all the others.
A smirk appeared. Nolan stared into the monster's eyes, and the monkey did the same—both of them almost realizing their true value at the same time. They were nothing but prey at the bottom of the food chain.
Still, Nolan was happy this time.
Screeccchhh!
Blood poured on the ground in liters, all of its limbs torn apart from its body.
Thud!
With a thud, the monkey rolled on the ground... its seemingly towering body was nowhere to be seen. Instead, it was replaced by a pitiful one which wasn't even worthy of being called a monster.
'Now what...?'
On it whim, Nolan waited... waited... and waited, but nothing happened.
The tentacles that had slain the monkey returned to the water instead of claiming the body for themselves. It was as if they had just appeared there to save him from the monster. But he knew that couldn't be true.
'This is the perfect opportunity...' Thinking, he was about to move but stopped, remembering something.
Bending down, he picked the feather that was lodged into his leg and moved toward the monster.
'How could I forget to return this...'
A smirk appeared, and Nolan moved. A single step brought him to the half-dead monster. Gripping the feather with all his might, he lodged it deep inside the skull of the monster through the gap between its eyes and rotated it vigorously.
Whatever light remained in its eyes... snuffed out. The monster was dead... as dead as it could be.
He was about to celebrate when the true master of the corpse appeared. Without paying any attention to him, the tentacle moved, wrapping the body in a tight grip and returned to the ocean. It had brought its broken limbs back as well.
Staying still, Nolan looked as the monster—in the form of a patch of blood— moved away and away from the shore.
Sigh! 'This place is not safe either..." he thought, looking at the deep, dark water in front of him.
Sighing, he was about to move from the pool of blood when something attracted his attention. A familiar whisper sounded in his ear, only this time it meant something different.
[You Have Realized Your Path.]
[Your Desire Has Begun To Exist...]