The Last Circle-Chapter 6: Hellbound

Nameless stared at the beast with clenched jaws, bulging eyes, and raised brows. If his heartbeat was a timpano before, now it was a freight train announcing its arrival. His legs quaked as though he stood atop wooden stilts, and his shoulders rose and fell with each drawn out, ragged breath.

'It hasn't looked at my eyes yet.'

That was true, but only for a few seconds... or so that's what he assumed. The beast that once hunched under the archway calmly—if its naturally bloodlust-desiring mind could be called calm—gasped a few times, as though it made a terrifying discovery, before it broke out into a monstrous bellow that made Nameless feel like he would pass out.

What he could once call a quiet chasm was now filled with the reverberating roar, travelling to every nook and cranny, an invite to whatever hid down here to join it.

Nameless didn't need to think twice. With adrenaline coursing through his veins, he ran with haste. His [Gaze of the Cleansing Fire] attribute may have been able to hold the beast at bay for a bit, assuming that's why it yelled, but one thing was for certain:

'Something else is surely on its way now!'

There had to be. After all, the flying gargantuan above had swooped another one of these space-black giants. With that in mind, his legs carried him faster than before, dashing around corners, paying the jagged protrusions that scarred his shins no mind, and searching for a place to hide.

What's worse was that the beast was not making it easy for him to escape. Its now rapid rumbling steps echoed throughout the chasm, sharp rocks broke off the walls high above, and the tremors sent through the ground made Nameless lose balance.

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'Can't go back to the narrow area either,' so he thought, looking back for a split second. His gaze sent the beast into a frenzy. Its boulder-like black frame crashed against the sides of the walls, wailing in pain, sending more rocks to splinter and crash down.

He struggled to hold himself up, thanks to the rumbling, nearly ending up with a weathered, protruding rock impaling his chest.

'That would be a very bad idea... But where do I go?'

Great question... One that only God knew the answer to. As far as he was concerned, each corner he turned had only two outcomes:

'It's either I run into another one, or I get to run a bit longer.' He took a look back once more, noticing that the beast was gaining on him with its arms for legs. 'Shit!'

The bell rung.

Nameless shook his head as he snarled, for the absurdity of being blamed for such a simple reaction in this situation was infuriating. Was it not enough that he already had a hundred-trillion sins already, or was it God's way of spiting him?

Whatever it was, it didn't matter. The thought quickly fled his mind as he turned another corner and saw a roundabout across a long, crooked passage. An idea fluttered over and rested on the tip of his mind, though he wasn't sure if it would truly help his predicament.

'Whatever! We've got to try at least!' he told himself, doing all in his power to keep himself running at top speed. The pointy rocks his grazed against painted his once white shins in a dark and rich blood, making it harder for him to maintain his footing in the tremors.

With enough diligence, however, Nameless would near the roundabout's entrance. The beast was just shy of grabbing hold of him, reaching out with its three, club-like fingers. It was a couple of centimetres away, and Nameless could've sworn he felt his bouncing, medium-length hair touched by something.

But that's when all went downhill for the beast as it watched Nameless make a sharp turn by pivoting off the base of the pillar ahead. With not even a fraction of a second to react, its entirely stretched out arm crashed against the pillar, letting a popping and cracking sound resound through the chasm, followed by its body weight toppling it down as well.

Nameless, who was about halfway through the next passage, turned back and found that the pillar had been reduced to pebbles, burying the monstrosity. A bright grin flickered across his face and he raised a fist to the sky, remembering to whisper as he celebrated and slowly walked away.

Poor Nameless. His celebration halted as he listened to rocks rolling down on one another, along with more thunderous tremors coming from behind. Slowly he turned his head, watching as the beast groaned and howled at the frenzied sky in pain.

Thanks to the pillar being reduced to rubble—letting the brightly coloured sky shine some light—he took notice of two notable features:

First, the creature did have a mouth. It was simply obscured by the shaggy fur. Second, the mouth bore razor sharp, white teeth that looked like a shark's, where a thick drool dripped down.

Nameless gulped, slowly backing away as he crouched, taking notice of the beast's singular broken arm.

'It still has eight more!?' he yelled internally, nearly choking on his breath. 'I thought that would've at least broken another arm...'

The beast's cry came to a halt, its echo the answer to its call through not just the chasm, but also the empty sky. Slowly, the beast looked at Nameless and was ready to leap at him. Before it could, however, it stumbled about as though intoxicated, groaning in pain as it laid its eyes on its prey's.

Nameless stared back, his eyes brimming with the cleansing flame that shaped them. 'If he keeps looking at my eyes, then maybe?' he wondered, creeping towards thick and sharp rock splinters on the ground.

'Alright, monster,' he reached for a handful of the splinters, before whipping them at its eyes, 'take this!'

He closed his eyes as he turned away, letting the beast recover from the debilitating burn on his soul. Interestingly enough, however, he chose to stay put, listening to his intelligence rather than his instinct. The bellow that followed, with the sharp stones piercing the many eyes across the beast's spherical body, was a sustained one that shook Nameless's body as though the air rippled.

On top of its powerful voice, so long as the beast could keep moving, it continued to do so even when mostly blind. It would often crash into the pillars, though with not enough force to send them toppling, though more sharp fragments scattered on its body.

Seeing that the blow to its eyes was most effective, Nameless grabbed a pointy fragment about the size of a dagger, and he ran over to it as he thought:

'This is risky, but I can kill it here.'

He quickly maneuvered around falling rocks and the ones scattered about. Though the beast shifted around the room, it could not keep itself away from Nameless. The young man knew what he needed to do to put an end to this fight, not to mention that he desperately needed to end it before anything else found its way over.

And so it was that he began stabbing what remained of its eyes, watching as black smoke puffed out from each wound. At some point, the beast accidentally helped Nameless by trying to swat him away, though that ended up with the young man atop its body.

"Thanks, idiot!" he yelled aloud with a growling voice of his own as he stabbed away, sick of the beast's constant wailing.

A couple minutes of making sure he didn't fall off would pass by, greatly slowing down the stabbing process, but Nameless was determined. This time, he was going to be the hunter. This beast, no matter how ferocious or powerful, was going to die by his hands today.

And so, after another couple of minutes of struggling to hold on and stab, the beast dropped to the ground with not a single eye remaining.

With trembling breaths, aching ears, and a quaking body, Nameless felt an uneasiness spring within his chest. He knew it was dead, but not because the beast laid on the ground, but rather by the notification banner he stared at.

[You have slain a Sinner Hellbound Beast!]