'Gru… uurghhhgrlgrlgrlgrl…'
A humanoid creature of a horrible green-teal color struggled to breathe—each and every breath it took was labored. It was as if the air particles were navigating through a maze to get to its rotting lungs. As he breathed out, liquid jumped out of its disgusting, gaping mouth. The creature struggled to take another breath in as it gargled on its own disgusting mucus.
Coral sprouted from different parts of his body, mainly his head. In fact, the coral on his head had grown so much to the point where it covered the vision of one of his beady black eyes. Oh well, he didn't need it anyway…
Staring blankly at rough stone, his fingers twitched as he just… stood there. He wasn't deep in thought—rather, it was the opposite. His mind was utterly devoid of any critical thinking. Any thoughts that had even the smallest chance of blooming were extinguished immediately.
He was once human—a long time ago. So were the other mudskippers who stood beside him. However, he didn't remember how long, nor did he even remember he was a human in the first place. He had no memories—they disappeared.
His body had become a host for a parasite once he 'died'.
He didn't die, of course, he drowned. However, the composition of his soul was weak after it was separated from the corporeal vessel of his body.
The depths reaped any and all wandering souls within Lumen, naturally. So, right after the man's death, the depths took a hold of his soul and mercilessly dragged it beneath the tides. Unable to handle the violent pull down into hell, the poor soul was torn to shreds.
That was what a true, definite death looked like in this world. When the soul was ripped apart and destroyed, there was no going back.
'Grglrglrlg… grhruuuuuhgh. Ghrlgr—ugurh gruhgurghl… ghrl?'
Life was quite boring as a mudskipper, at least, that's what he assumed. Just standing around doing nothing. He felt the heat of the sun, and also the frigid wind of the night. Seasons passed like leaves blowing in the wind. Nothing concerned him.
His emotions never stirred. He never really felt bored of standing around… or any other emotions, really. His mind really was that empty.
Slit.
'Khoogoghghghhgh! Ghr- grhoohllhlhlhlhlhllhlhlhlhlhllhlhlh…'
His clawed fingers reached for his throat. Purple blood and translucent green mucus seeped from the fatal wound.
'Khkhkhkkgh…'
He dropped to his knees. What… happened? He was just standing around when all of a sudden his neck was sliced open by… something.
Ah, he was pretty sure he felt this feeling before—the feeling of death. The feeling of blood seeping heavily from deep wounds, his mind aching from the pain and blood loss, his vision beginning to blur…
But of course, the dumbass reanimated host corpse of a parasite wouldn't remember.
Quies didn't feel a single ounce of regret as the body tumbled sideways, crashing down onto the stone surface of the cave.
'Since when did they infest the cave I was living in…'
His thumb bled his cursed crimson blood once more. One of his canine teeth was smeared with that exact liquid—his tongue tasting the hard metallic flavor of his own blood as he licked it away.
His lusterless blade of crimson grew in length as more of his blood poured out. The edge he had used to kill that pathetic excuse of a 'monster' had a thin, leading edge of purple blood. Incorporated into the sword, it writhed and pulsated, trying to escape Quies' will.
'Bad blood…'
Badump…
Ba- Ba- Ba- Dum- Ba- Dump Ba- Ba- Dump- Dump- Dump- du-
Quies could hear the chaotic cacophony of monster heartbeats around him. Unlike Evengarde's, these hearts sounded weak, as if struggling to circulate blood throughout a body which was already on its way to rotting. The best way to describe it would be a sort of mushy sound…
He had to work quickly and calculated. There were more than a dozen of those mudskippers in this cave.
Usually, one against twelve weren't great odds. In fact, those odds were utterly dismal. However, these poor creatures were mindless idiots, lacking any sort of teamwork or cohesion to work as one unit. If he could do some crowd controlling and pick them off one by one-
His sword pierced the chest of another mudskipper as he dashed forward. Purple blood coated his crimson blade.
It dropped lifelessly to the ground. A moment later, the mindless horde of mudskippers trampled over its corpse as they marched towards Quies.
'One by one. Learning to control crowds was useful in situations with actual people too, so I might as well…'
As he was saying, this fight would be a breeze if he could pick them off one by one.
Unless…
He eyed the pools of purple blood growing on the ground. He would need a few more to execute this idea of his, but it would save him a lot of time.
He dashed forward again, aiming for a mudskipper overextending from the crowd. Partly isolated, it swung its claws at Quies. However, its pitiful swing only met the deep-violet tainted blade Quies wielded.
Thud
Parrying his arm away with ease, Quies hastily sliced off its other arm, which was preparing to throw another swing at him.
Despite their idiotic nature, Quies still had to take this fight somewhat seriously. He himself wasn't even close to being able to utilize the full potential of his attunement and song in a fight.
Falling to the ground, fetid liquid poured out of both ends of the injury. He had sliced off the arm right under where the shoulder muscle ended.
Quies looked down and saw the sliced muscles of the fallen arm still moving and twitching, even after being cut off from the body. That disturbing sight combined with the putrid smell of rotting flesh nearly made him throw up.
"Bleugh…"
The one armed mudskipper took another step forward, seemingly disregarding the fact that one of its extremities was no longer attached to its body. It was still alive, but it wouldn't be for long with that amount of blood loss.
Blood loss… Bleeding…