World of Karik: A Game of Villains 88 Dungeons and...

The scene started to resemble some kind of a surreal conveyor belt. Neatly hitting the weakly wiggling tentacles and paralyzing them using my consciousness, I slowly made a narrow passage. Lena, Cyril, and Sergey were standing behind me and silently observing. They even seemed to be holding their breath. However, that wasn't surprising since I myself had to take a deep breath and stand still before each blow, preparing for the worst.

The visibility in the corridor was minimal, so we didn't know how many more of these living growths lurked in the dark. What if the whole corridor is full of them and we're about to get caught up in the swarming filth? I didn't manage to think about it properly because someone touched one of the creatures. It didn't matter who it was. Perhaps it was Lena who carelessly walked past it, and the tip of her lasso touched one of the tentacles. Or maybe it was me...

The corridor, quite literally, came to life in front of our eyes. A second ago the tentacles reminded me of almost harmless plants, but now I felt as if I was inside of some creature's stomach...

"Aaa!" the girl screamed in fear.

The situation was getting direr by the second as we had to act in almost complete darkness. I could only see what was in front of me, but the creatures attacked us from all directions. The lower ones tried to wrap my legs and make me fall onto the floor, while the upper ones reached for my neck. Their touch was cold and slippery, and a distinct smell of raw meat hung in the air. However, we had been lucky so far as the mysterious Paralyzing Touch hadn't occurred yet.

"Help!" one of the guys shouted, but I couldn't see who it was. Panic made his voice unrecognizable. Have I tempted fate?

I heard a gasp and strange sobs, followed by the sound of a body dropping to the floor. Damn, that's really bad.

"Go on!" I shouted. "Break through! Break through!"

There was a cleaning up ahead; same corridor, same walls and ceiling, but without the filthy writhing monsters. Forcing my way through them, I was frantically thinking about using my last chance weapon. Flame Flow would help me escape but I would reveal myself and create shadows. Therefore, I would either continue to squeeze through and hope for the best, or risk it. I really didn't like either option. Deep in my heart, I hoped that my last chance weapon would not only be able to cope with my comrades' perception, but also shelter us from shadow danger.

Arcobaleno

I remembered different versions of "myself" that others would see when I used this skill. I wondered how they would see me this time. However, it was almost impossible to see anything here... Or rather, it had been impossible until flames burst from my hands, lighting up the corridor full of tentacles. I almost threw up now that I got a better look at them. Glistening in the light, they looked like balls of stirring snakes. It was simply indescribable.

But what is that? The flames only made them undulate as they tried to evade it, curling into balls and moving away. It dawned on me that they were afraid of the fire. That made things somewhat easier, and although I could keep the flame burning almost indefinitely thanks to the healing effect, I still had only thirty seconds.

"Lena!" I saw the girl near me and shouted. "Come to me!"

Was saving her really worth the trouble? Probably not. I better stop wasting time and move on. I didn't know what had gotten into me; I just couldn't keep quiet. Maybe it was because I didn't want to be alone here. After all, we had just lost another member of the detachment; Sergey was probably in the camp now, telling Petrovich about what had happened. Cyril was still making his way to us; paralysis could happen at any moment, and we wouldn't have a chance to save him.

"Run!" He got lucky. All sweaty, with crazy in his eyes, the guy jumped out into the open space, and the three of us started running at the same time. Leaving the undulating mass behind, we rushed along the empty corridor until I stumbled and fell onto the wet, earthen floor. Lena and Cyril fell after me, tripping over my prostrate body.

"We did it!" the girl said, almost crying. She then got up and dusted her clothes. "And he... He's dead!"

She burst into tears. Cyril snorted and moved away from her.

"What's next?" Running seemed to have helped him calm down; he was much more emotional among the tentacles.

"What's next?" I shrugged. "There's no way back, no one would go through there for the second time."

"We'll have to go back anyway," Cyril said.

"What do you suggest?" I was getting annoyed. "That was no walk in the park. You should be grateful that you're still alive... That all of us are still alive."

"Sergey was eaten," he kept arguing. Was he blaming me for that even after I had saved both of them? Maybe I should have just left them there. Casting magic would've been easier then.
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"He was," I agreed. "Ripped apart. Killed. We also lost Anton, Stepan, Vlada and the others. What do you want from me?"

"Okay, Cat, calm down," Cyril suddenly eased up. "We're all a bit on the edge, you know? We went somewhere unknown, we risked... Yes, we'll get revived. But in this world… There are things worse than that. You know what I mean, right?"

It seemed that he wasn't about to stop talking anytime soon. All right, I'll let him talk, but I'll have to calm him down if anything goes wrong.

"They were turned into zombies," Cyril continued. "For good, I'm pretty sure. God knows where we are now... To hell with you! And with these ruins!"

He spat angrily but then calmed down.

Chapter end