Pillar of Yita

The mouse scurried past the two and headed straight for the elderly figure. Yet before it could get close, the old man suddenly bent down like lightning, claw-like hands seized the furry little creature. The gray mouse let out a sharp squeal but before it could struggle, was lifted up and brought to his mouth.

He opened his gaping mouth, revealing crooked teeth that were sharp and jagged, biting down hard. The gray mouse exploded like a blood bag in his hands. Instantly, blood flowed down his gray, loose hands, pooling into the shackles.

Then came the sound of chewing from within the darkness.

Elisa was unfazed by the initial scene, but listening to the sound made her feel nauseous, and she couldn’t help but retch, clutching her chest. But this retching attracted the old man’s attention and, suddenly, the sounds ceased—Elisa’s heart immediately recognized trouble.

A gusting sound whipped through the air—

Without thinking, she drew the dagger in reverse to block. But something struck against the blade with unexpected force, causing the dagger to fly from her grip, clattering against the wall and sending sparks flying far and wide.

Elisa focused her gaze and saw that the object was none other than a mangled and half-eaten mouse, making her feel queasy again.

Another heavy gust surged from the darkness.

Elisa recognized the threat, pulling the stunned Parker along while she rolled forward. A shadow with force swept over their heads, pounding into where they had been standing with a deafening crash.

Parker glanced back and realized that it was a wrist-thick iron chain.

The chain struck the wall, and the strong rock spawned a web-like pattern of thin cracks centered around the impact—

The sight sent shivers down his spine, what kind of strength was this? If they had been hit, wouldn’t they have been smashed into mincemeat?

”Run,” Elisa whispered softly, ”The opponent is at least Level 30 or higher.”

”But how do we run?”

Iron chain behind, blocked path ahead.

As a professional Nightingale, Elisa was naturally more perceptive than Parker. She glanced beside the old man, found a gap, pointed in that direction, and whispered, ”You go left, I’ll go right.”

”Are you really going past him?”

”What else?”

With that, Elisa dashed in the indicated direction like an arrow. Seeing this, Parker hesitated no longer—grabbing his crossbow, he chased after her with his little legs.

Miss Nightingale got close to the old man. The latter suddenly tilted his head and swiped a claw at her. But Elisa had anticipated this move from earlier and leapt nimbly, transforming into black smoke and weaving through the old man’s claws.

Upon landing, she immediately reverted back and saw Parker sweating profusely, running with his crossbow past the other side of the elderly figure. Missing his target, the old man twisted like a Poison Snake and opened his bloodthirsty mouth aiming at the little man.

Parker, having never seen such a thing, rolled clumsily in fear, screaming.

But Elisa was calm, raising her hand and shouted: ”Thunder Slash—”

A flash of light emerged from the direction where her dagger had flown, flickered into a bright lightning strike. The lightning pierced through the old man’s neck, causing him to emit a shrill scream before crashing into the wall. The electric light continued forward, steadying into her hand.

Parker narrowly escaped his fate, shouting in gratitude: ”You saved my life!”

Elisa chuckled, asking, ”Then how much is your life worth?”

”Uh...” Parker stammered immediately, ”...not worth much.”

Miss Nightingale scoffed at this, glancing back at the suffering figure rolling around in pain, she finally said, ”I don’t think it’s dead so easily. We should leave here first.”

Still shaken, Parker nodded hastily.

Without pause, the pair quickly ran forward. But after only a few steps, the urgent clanging sound chased closely behind, Parker’s face changed as he recognized the noise. ”Holy, how is this old creature moving so fast!?”

He couldn’t help but complain, looking back instinctively. But the sight nearly made him fall flat on the ground.

The elderly figure was not on the ground, but crawling with both hands and feet, inverted on the ceiling, at frightening speed. More terrifying was his head hanging at a strange angle on the neck, swaying with his vast movements like a lampshade.

Where eyes should be, there were no pupils, only whites—chilling enough to make anyone’s head crawl.

The chain hung on his ankle dangled downwards, dragging along the ground, sparking simultaneously just as he was already nearing their backs.

With a forceful leap, it pounced at Elisa below.

Parker shrieked in fear.

Without thinking, he raised his crossbow and fired. ’Bang,’ the bolt struck precisely into the old man’s chest, sending it screeching back.

But upon landing, it flipped over swiftly, seemingly uninjured, bouncing back up and prowling towards them with hands and feet coordinated. It was like a giant human spider, causing the Papalarians’ teeth to chatter with fear.