"Kehehe…Got you, pretty one…"
The long-armed figure continued to laugh, letting his tongue hang out as it dropped down, salivating in an abhorrent delight.
"Xiaodan!" He yelled out.
"--I can't get my foot out!" Xiaodan called out, glancing back.
Shit…! He thought.
Against his better judgment, he placed Eunji down carefully against the wall before drawing his daggers, rushing in to assist his comrade.
Even though he was charging towards the lanky, tongue-hanging man with his daggers drawn back for a strike, the player killer didn't flinch–shifting his eyeless gaze towards him as if welcoming the attempt.
"Come on…!" The maddened invader taunted him.
He gritted his teeth and closed the distance, swiping the sharp edge of his black-steel dagger against the man's throat.
Splash.
There was no solid connection; as if swiping his weapon through water, there was no damage done, and no impact felt.
"What the…!?" He let out.
"Kahaha! It's always the same reaction! You can't hurt me–!" The man cackled out, laughing with a twisted pleasure that filled the room.
While the man was laughing, he continued to try a few more strikes; slashing through his head, stabbing into his shoulder–nothing.
"Jeong-Hui…!"
Xiaodan called out his name through a painful wince, closing one eye before yelling out in pain as the peculiar body that engulfed the young man's foot seemed to be squeezing it now.
"I'll gobble you up! I'll taste your skin; each and every inch! Kahaha!" The lanky figure continued to laugh, drooling as his saliva dripped onto Xiaodan's outstretched, trapped leg.
All he could do was try in a futile attempt as none of his attacks had an effect on the non-solid foe.
Nothing is getting through…! He thought.
"Dark Edge!"
This time, he tried coating his daggers with magic, but immediately felt it was just as pointless as the slobbering man only laughed as they approached.
He unleashed a combination attack, slashing through the figure's head, neck, torso, and even his legs, but it still had no effect.
"Ngh…!" Xiaodan continued to wince, falling over as their leg was still held up, ensnared in the liquid body.
"Frustrating, isn't it? Kahaha! Watch as I eat your friend alive!" The man taunted.
Following his taunts, his rippling, non-solid body began to spiral around his abdomen, causing blood to spurt from newly engraved wounds on Xiaodan's leg.
"Gyaah…!" Xiaodan screamed out.
He only had moments to think, but his mind only arrived to one last option, though it was supported by his Sage System:
[Jeong-Hui.]
[If your opponent is boasting a liquid-like body, perhaps an icy vengeance will do the trick."
"Yeah…I was thinking the same thing," he muttered to himself with a resolved look in his eyes.
The hunched-over, crazed man noticed his new look, continuing to cackle, "What's this? Getting upset? Want to throw a fit, little man?"
He ignored the taunts, only invoking what was needed in that moment as he breathed out a frosted breath, "Cast: Hades' Touch."
[Spirit: -300. Remaining Spirit: 900/3600]
"Ngeuh–?!"
Witnessing the cold air that exuded from the curly-haired man's daggers, the maddened, lanky foe frowned in displeasure and shock, beginning to back away now.
Xiaodan was dragged across the floor by the few steps back that the man took, but he rushed forth himself, flipping his daggers into a reverse grip.
"No, no, no! Of all the luck–!"
He didn't hesitate to strike the man, sinking his frost-enchanted daggers into his non-solid body in a flurry of swift strikes.
Crnk…
From multiple spots of origin, frost began to stretch around the lanky, unnatural man's body, extending to Xiaodan's leg before it was freed from his abdomen.
"Xiaodan!" He rushed over.
"Ngh…"
The silken-haired, small-of-stature man's leg had been crushed and bruised near the ankle, bleeding out from a ring-like infliction that quickly shifted to purple from the internal bleeding.
"Crap…" He let out.
At the very last, the bit of ice that had reached Xiaodan's leg acted as a natural assistant, reducing the swelling and giving it room to heal.
"Kehehehe…"
"You–!"
It was assumed the coating of frost did the player killer in, but he looked up to find the man crawling on all-fours, sinking halfway into the ground as his hands wrapped around the unconscious Eunji.
He scrambled to his feet, nearly falling down as he dashed out with a powerful kick of explosive strength, aiming to kill the man in that single strike–but, it was too late.
"...I still got my hands on a pretty one, kehehe…"
Sinking into the ground itself as if it were a pool of liquid, the abnormal enigma of a man dragged Eunji into the floor with him, disappearing into it just as he reached the man, swiping his daggers in a missed strike.
"No–! Shit…!" He gritted his teeth in lamentation and anger.
With all of his regret and wrath, he slammed his knuckles against the wall, cracking and caving it in as he stood there, clenching his teeth with utter anger and disgust in himself.
"Again, and again, and again…! Why does it never end?!" He screamed out from the top of his lungs.
Before he could hit the wall again, he was stopped as his arm was held.
"Huh…?"
He looked back to see Xiaodan, giving him a stern look as he held onto his arm. By some miracle, he was standing on his bruised-and-battered leg, coughing out in pain.
"Hey–! You should be…!" He called out worriedly.
Xiaodan dissuaded his worry, giving him a small, but awakening headbutt that caused both of them to stumble back.
"What the…? What was that for?!" He asked, holding his throbbing forehead.
On the other hand, Xiaodan's forehead had been cut and started bleeding from the clash of skulls, "...Get it together! That girl wasn't killed, was she? There's still time to go and save her!"
"But…" He slumped his shoulders.
He knew well what the people possessing the GOETIA System were capable of; the dreadful memories resurfaced and played in his mind on repeat, serving both as a reminder, and as a punishment for his failures.
"But she's still alive–! You haven't seen a dead body, have you?! This is one thing I won't let you hang on, Jeong-Hui!" Xiaodan confronted him.
"What's gotten into you…?" He asked, perplexed by this shift in attitude.
Xiaodan grabbed him by the collar of his black coat with teary eyes, "--I know what it's like to give up halfway! To think it's all over...to think I'm too weak. Giving up when it looks over…only to find out if you just acted a second earlier, then maybe…! Jeong-Hui, are you going to do that?"
Being on the receiving end of those pearly, verdant eyes, he already had his answer. Reprimanded like that, there was only one path to walk:
"...Let's go. She's not dead yet–you're right," he nodded, watching as Xiaodan unhanded his collar, "Thanks, Xiaodan."
"Of course–consider it my way of paying you back," Xiaodan smiled wide, rubbing his bleeding forehead, "What's your skull made out of anyway?!"
Together, they moved out, aiming their sights on the basement once more–though a dark force could be felt bubbling from its depths now.
"Is it just me, or did it get a whole lot creepier?" Xiaodan asked quietly, staring down the staircase.
"Maybe…but, we still have to go," he said, taking the first step, "Let's prevent another death on this terrible night!"
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