Depthless Hunger

Chapter 168: The Void Witness

One very restful week later, Kai was ready. When he examined his soul, the symbols said that he was literally one point away from fully recovered and he no longer felt the slightest pain while moving. Yet he wasn't going to trust either one of those, not before he potentially put himself up against the most dangerous people in the entire nation.

No, he had in mind a real test.

"I'm telling you, this is a mistake." Kraetius kept pace as they headed down the tunnels, gesturing with both hands. "I freely admit you're strong, and you can punch above your weight, but there's no way that you can fight that thing."

"If you want to convince me," Kai said, "at least give me some more information about it."

"There's not much I can say. First time I saw it, the thing killed people at a distance just by looking at them. The second time, I was stronger and thought I had a chance, but it froze me in place. Something like that is the worst possible match for fighters like us."

"Oh, so you do accept varying match-ups now."

"Kai, listen to me." Kraetius grabbed him by the arm and spun him around to face him. "You've accomplished amazing things here. Actually got me hoping again. You could easily break out on your own. Don't throw it all away fighting some monster that isn't even in your way."

"I'm sorry, but I have to do this." The words sounded meaningless to Kai, but they were the only excuse he could voice.

Truthfully, there was no strategic reason for him to attack the monster in the deepest mine, aside from the potential monstrous essence. But he needed it on a deeper level. He had been fighting weak opponents for too long, he wanted a challenge. If he could prove to himself, on a physical level, that he was back to 100%, then he'd be ready to leave and tackle all his other problems.

While the two of them were arguing, a small group of criminals emerged into the room. "Well, well," the first said, "who do we have here?"

Kai and Kraetius looked up at them.

"Oh, shit. You're the old... and that's Kai Clanless!" The criminal gave a queasy smile, eyes locked on them, and began clumsily slapping at his allies to back away. "Excuse us, we don't mean to bother you."

"I'll set them straight." Kraetius turned away but then glanced back over his shoulder. "I hope I see you again, Kai. But I probably won't."

Despite the warning, as Kai climbed down to the next level, his mood was buoyant. He'd been preparing for a long time, and that time was almost over. There were so many different concerns, so many details to balance... but down there, he'd face nothing but the pure necessities of battle.

When he reached the darkened pit, the smiles evaporated and he shifted to considering tactics. Kraetius had given him next to no information about the monster before, and even now only referenced two of its abilities. A monster capable of using different abilities was definitely a concern, likely a high level threat, so he needed to be cautious.

He first peered over the edge and tossed a stone into the darkness. When there was no response, he slipped over the side. The walls were slick, almost polished crystal, but his hands extended into claws and he kept his grip. That hadn't been the plan, but if his E-rank Physique was further adapting to his monstrous soul, he wasn't complaining.

Down at the bottom of the hole, the walls were still drained of qi, but it wasn't as pitch black as it seemed from above. Instead the light filtered down, more like starlight. He saw that one side of the pit opened up wider, into a cavern that extended further than he could see.

Fortunately he was prepared for that. There wasn't much need for torches inside the mine, but Kai had brought some of the brightest crystal ores with him. As he walked he threw them to the sides, gradually illuminating the chamber. The floor was rough and spiked, as if there hadn't been much time for mining. He remembered Nirka reprimanding him about not smoothing those down and smiled as he thought back to the previous night.

And that was when he saw the abomination and all other thoughts fled his mind.

At first it looked like some sort of monstrous worm, dark muscled bands ending in jaws. Yet those jaws were shaped strangely, splitting into four strips - almost like the Isulfr he'd fought long ago. Unlike that monster, each of these pieces had a large eye with a slitted iris, all four eyes staring at him.

Grotesque as it was, Kai took a split second to wonder if it was actually some other intelligent species, trapped down in the mine along with the rest of them, and he extended his spiritual sight:

Monster: Void Witness

Threat: VI (Zeta)

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Nope, pure monster. A Void Witness, ranked Zeta. Fighting such a serious threat was going to be a challenge, but that was exactly what he had been hoping for.

The monster twisted, one jaw peeled away from the others, and a bright red eye fixated on him... and suddenly the air was on fire.

Kai grunted in pain as the flames licked at his skin. They weren't being emitted from the monster's jaws, it was more like everywhere the eye looked, flames simply leapt into being. It reminded him more of Elemental Nations powers than a Class or anything else he'd seen.

After all his Physique work, the flames hurt him but they weren't crippling. Instead of falling back, he began to push forward, directly into the being's gaze. He knew he could dodge to the side, hopefully outside of its range, but intended to save that for later. First he closed in, step by careful step.

When he got close, Kai began to use a Tyrant's Claw... and suddenly the blue eye was staring at him.

The flames vanished, but he found himself bound in place. Kai struggled to move his arm and finish the technique, but the most he could do was flex his muscles a little and clench his teeth. So long as that blue eye was looking at him, he was locked in position. If he threw himself into it he might be able to move a little, but it wouldn't last.

As the eye remained fixated on him, the Void Witness rose overhead, its other three jaws opening. They could open surprisingly wide, as if they intended to swallow him head-first. As they drew closer and closer, Kai gathered his strength and waited for his moment.

Just as the upper jaws moved, he summoned all his strength and resisted the freezing effect enough to spit in the monster's eye. It flinched back and he swung. His plan had been to cleave it in half with a Tyrant's Claw, but his entire spirit was disrupted and the most he could manage was a physical punch.

That was enough to throw the monster back, writhing its worm-like body on the ground. It snapped back to face him swiftly, again freezing him in place with the blue eye.

Except it only held that for a second before twisting around. Next he saw a yellow eye and pure agony shot through his body. Kai cried out and fell back, only his extensive experience with pain allowing him to jump instead of fall. The monster tried to track him and the pain continued, until he grabbed several more of his glowing stones and hurled them at the eye.

They ended on opposite sides of the cavern, watching one another carefully. Clearly the Void Witness had started with its normal strategy and then stopped playing around. That yellow eye had not only caused direct pain, he felt as though it was trying to erode him on a spiritual level that his Physique couldn't block. A normal person would likely have died instantly. This thing was dangerous: its attacks were potent and he didn't like how he still hadn't seen what the fourth eye did.

His only advantage was that it seemed to take a moment for the eye to fixate on him. If he had been gifted with insane speed, he might have been able to dance around it, never being touched, but Kai wasn't much faster than the monster. Time to switch tactics.

Kai charged and was immediately frozen by the blue eye, like he expected. As the monster twisted to attack him with the yellow eye, during the moment of transition Kai leapt to the side. All four of its eyes desperately tried to track him, just catching up when his hand swung.

The Tyrant's Claw slashed across the long body and threw the Void Witness backwards. He'd hoped that he could finish it off with that blow, but the monster was too tough for that. While it was still wriggling, Kai swung another claw in its direction.

A white iris burned in the darkness and his claw disappeared. Kai blinked in surprise and got a jolt of yellow pain for his moment of distraction. Only once he retreated to a safer distance did he managed to pull together the presence of mind to decide that it must have neutralized the technique somehow. He wanted to see if it could do the same with qi, then decided he needed to keep that ability secret.

Instead of rushing at the Void Witness, Kai moved to one of the walls and struck it with his full strength. That dislodged a number of stones, including small boulders. He tried hefting one at the monster and it had to twist out of the way, but it was too agile, always ready to fix an eye on him.

Next he hefted the largest boulder and ran in holding it in front of him. He could practically feel the gaze descend on him, and the boulder suddenly became difficult to move, like it was stuck to the air. That left him close to the monster, protected on the other side of the boulder.

Not protected - Kai felt agony wrack his body again as the yellow eye hit him. He couldn't see it, but apparently it could see him.

Immediately Kai punched the boulder as hard as he could. It flew out, striking the monster in all four eyes. He lunged in, his mouth opening wide, ready to end it...

His jaws locked in place. He could feel that his mouth was shifting, a spiritual maw opening to consume the Void Witness, but all his force of will failed to close his jaws. Even when he drew back and tried to throw everything he had at it, he couldn't finish the bite.

Instead he formed a qi bolt in his hand and sent it toward the eye.

This time the Void Witness reacted instantly, neutralizing the qi before it struck, but Kai closed the remaining distance almost as fast as the qi. The white eye had only an instant to stare at him before he grabbed the jaw with both hands and braced himself with one foot. Even as the others tried to twist to fixate on him, he tore one of the jaws free.

Agony shot through his body and Kai was sent tumbling back across the chamber. He hurt all over, but as he rose to his feet, he held aloft the severed jaw. The white eye was still staring at him, powerless, right up until the point that he raised it over his mouth and snapped up the entire thing.

"That was a good start," Kai said, "but just an appetizer. I want the rest."

Of course the Void Witness said nothing, only staring at him with its remaining three eyes. It fixed the yellow eye on him and Kai struggled through the pain, curling one hand into a claw. The monster switched to the blue eye and he shuddered to a halt, but from a distance it couldn't bind him completely.

Abruptly the worm twisted, burning through its power at an incredible rate. Kai suddenly felt all three eyes fixate on him: fire, pain, and binding closed on him from all sides. But it was too late: Behemoth's Heart was surging in his chest, beating back the effects for just long enough.

Kai's hand swung down. The Void Witness didn't survive this one.

Afterward Kai slumped to one knee, catching his breath and recovering from the battle. For a moment he worried that the yellow eye might have been undermining him, rolling back his recovery, but in fact it was the opposite. The last trace of injury had disappeared and he saw only his true strength within his soul.

He eagerly moved forward and began consuming the monster's essence. As he chewed over its power, he realized that he wouldn't be able to replicate its strange four-eyed ability - just as well, since he didn't want to start growing extra eyes or making them change color or anything. Instead, he would have to find some way to distill a single ability from it, which could prove difficult.

At that moment, he didn't even care. It was the most delicious meal he'd had in months.