After thinning half of the branches he had brought and reducing their size, Aka used the remaining wood to fashion a lid that perfectly covered the opening. With the small amount of wood left, he crafted another ladder to descend once more, then carried all the thinned, reduced pieces down with him. Moving as quietly as he possibly could, he approached the area where the eggs were located. From the creature that had awakened earlier, he had already learned that the eggs were highly sensitive to fire.
Blindly, relying only on touch to determine their positions, he stacked the wood beside the eggs. Still, the amount didn't seem sufficient. Because of that, he repeated the entire process once more—thinning and reducing new branches—and added them to the pile. From a distance, he lit a fire and hurled it toward the stacked wood, then sprinted with all his strength to the ladder. He kicked the ladder down after himself, placed the lid over the opening, and lay flat atop the stone, pressing his ear against it to listen.
From below came what felt like an endless waterfall of clicking sounds. Even the noise alone was disgusting enough to churn Aka's stomach. Still, thinking of the Third Ritual, he forced himself to listen. About half an hour later, a single creature broke through the lid and emerged from the opening close to where Aka was lying—but its condition didn't frighten him. Instead, it filled him with excitement.
The creature was extremely weak and still burning. It seemed Aka's plan had been far more effective than he had anticipated. He immediately jumped to his feet and advanced toward it, hurling his throwing daggers in rapid succession at its head and severely obstructing its vision. Caught between the agony of burning and the pain of blindness, the creature clicked with all its might. Taking advantage of this, Aka climbed onto its head and, without retrieving his blades, smashed it apart with his bare fists as much as he could.
Just as he pulled the daggers from the creature's eyes, three more creatures emerged from the opening below. Without hesitation, they advanced toward Aka, who was still atop their sibling's head. Before they could reach him, however, one collapsed to the ground, clicking as it continued to burn.
Aka knew full well that the two remaining creatures were still capable of killing him with ease. Since they were already on fire, there was no need to take unnecessary risks. He fled instead, constantly evading them while waiting for the flames to finish the job. But something completely unexpected happened.
The number of creatures was far greater than Aka had estimated. He had assumed there would be no more than ten, yet even among those chasing him now—though he couldn't be sure of the exact count—there were roughly twenty spider-like monsters. All of them were burning, and their numbers were steadily decreasing. No new ones had emerged for a while. The chase lasted about fifteen minutes, and only when the final creature collapsed did Aka finally allow himself to take a deep breath.
This had been the greatest risk Aka had ever taken in his life. If the cube he stood upon hadn't been so large, his chances of survival would have been nonexistent—after all, defeating even a single healthy one had been difficult. Yet the reward he gained was enormous. Though he couldn't be completely certain since he hadn't counted the bodies below, he had acquired roughly a hundred corpses of creatures never mentioned in any book. Moreover, this cube could serve as a secret hideout no one had ever discovered. After all, no one ventured this close to the forest's center, and even if they did, most would avoid entering a structure this massive and imposing.
Aka first found a clean spot atop the cube and finally allowed himself the rest he had long been deprived of, falling asleep right there. He awoke without knowing how much time had passed, immediately went down to gather wood, reduced and thinned it, and built another ladder. This time, his hands were already accustomed to the work, and the entire process took only about ten minutes. He also crafted plenty of torches—after all, the lower level was now safe.
Carrying a torch, Aka explored the interior below and, for the first time, saw the entirety of the cube's hollow space. He counted the corpses as he went, confirming that his estimate had been fairly accurate. Yes, he was exhausted—but the reward for such risk was immense. He now possessed the corpses of eighty-seven creatures unknown to the world, more than enough for his Third Ritual. In fact, even a fourth or fifth ritual might be achievable with these offerings. On top of that, he no longer needed to fight Cerberan at all.
Leaving seven corpses above, Aka threw the rest down below and immediately retraced his steps in the direction he had come from, moving until he reached the long pole he had left behind. Nothing bad had happened—the corpse was still there, which meant there truly was no flying predator roaming the upper forest. That realization alone was deeply reassuring. Though his speed slowed significantly when he picked up the body, he returned to the cube a few hours later. Since he couldn't carry the corpse while climbing, he went down again, built a sturdier ladder, climbed back up, and threw the snake corpse below before turning his attention to the creature bodies above.
He meticulously removed every sharp part and cut the corpses down into extremely small pieces, memorizing the creatures' anatomy in the process. This both fascinated and terrified him. These creatures were likely juveniles—and if they were this strong already, how powerful would they become when fully grown? One detail supported this theory: between the creatures' heads and mouths was a hollow space, connected by vein-like structures. Aka theorized that as they matured, the web-like material he had seen below would fill that cavity, allowing them either to trap prey more effectively or digest food more efficiently. Still, it was only a theory—nothing was certain.
He formed another, far more disturbing theory. What if the flesh and bones he had seen atop the cube before were the remains of prey brought there by a single mature creature that had hatched and fed itself?
The thought genuinely frightened him. Even so, the chances of such a creature sensing its siblings were low—and if it had sensed them yet failed to appear after all this time, then it simply didn't care. That, at least, was good news for Aka.
Once he was done with the corpses, Aka threw the remains below and began examining the sharp parts more closely. The blades on the legs were roughly the same size, but the blade on the tail was always longer. He couldn't immediately decide what to do with them, but as a first experiment, he split the long tail blade into four pieces and sharpened one against the polished stone floor, successfully crafting a throwing dagger.
Even unsharpened, the handles of these blades were sharp enough to cut his hand if he wasn't reinforcing himself with physical energy, though their weight was ideal. More importantly, while working with them, Aka discovered something incredible: these blades could damage the cube, even if only slightly. That meant he could carve small openings to place torches below—an absolutely marvelous discovery. For now, however, he continued experimenting with the blades.
He went back under the leaves, gathered more branches, and returned. Though it looked amateurish due to his lack of experience, he managed to fashion a wooden sheath and turn the blade into a sword. Aka was extremely pleased with this idea. Even with a low-quality sheath, such a weapon could be sold to humans for a high price. Still, he set the thought aside and continued experimenting.
Using the throwing dagger he had crafted from the creature's blades, he broke the remaining blades into smaller pieces and examined them carefully. That was when a brilliant idea struck him. What if he combined smaller blade fragments with snake scales to create armor? The blades would provide durable sharpness, while the scales would add hardness and, more importantly, flexibility. With these two materials, he could create a perfect assassin's armor. The idea alone was enough to make his mouth water—but he continued his experiments regardless.
In just two days, Aka had not only survived a nightmare—he had become the nightmare of his own nightmare.
If you've read or taken a look, thank you so much. If you have any thoughts — good or bad — please leave a comment. I'll probably see and reply right away. Thanks again, and I wish you a great day.