The Path of Ruin

Chapter 4: The Struggle for Survival

Kael froze for a moment. He could see out through the hole in the plants, yes... But it should have been impossible for those outside to see him. He was right next to this little hole and the people on the other side were not. On top of that, it was quite dark outside. After all, the moon and the stars were not in the sky... or were being blocked.

So why... was there... something beyond the door of the greenhouse... looking in his direction?

In the distance, in the very center of the palace garden, he could see a tall silhouette. It was impossible to see its whole body because of the darkness, but he could more or less make out that it was quite hairy. Another thing he could make out... was a pair of red eyes staring at him.

Kael just stood still. He didn't move a muscle.

'That thing... it doesn't see me. It's only looking this way, it's impossible for it to see me... Even I can barely see it.'

He was sure that if he didn't move, this creature wouldn't see him. The only reason it was looking here was coincidence.

But then he saw the creature move. It was walking towards the greenhouse, never once taking its red eyes off Kael. It was a little slow at first. But as it kept taking steps, it seemed to... speed up.

'Oh...'

Kael paused, his eyes widening again and again.

'This thing... it can see me!'

Terror gripped his whole body, fear began to override his thoughts.

Was he going to die here? Was he going to die in the safest place in the kingdom, in the king's palace...?

He swallowed, trembling with fear, and looked again at the creature approaching him. The closer it got to the greenhouse, the clearer it became what its body was.

It had a human-like appearance and was indeed quite tall. However... it was very hairy. On top of that, its skin color had turned gray, almost black. The brightness in his red eyes continued to increase every second.

Kael clenched his fist. The creature's steps continued to quicken. In fifteen seconds, at most, he would be inside the greenhouse.

His death was closing in on him.

This time he clenched not only his fist but also his teeth. His whole body trembled once again at the thought of dying. He was not sure what to do.

'Damn it...'

Finally, he let go of his clenched fist, his teeth stopped chattering. His eyes left the creature and wandered around the greenhouse. He looked at the plants. Some he had grown with his own hands, others had been grown by Elsin or long before.

But the plants were not his main focus. Instead, he looked towards the table where he had worked before he fell asleep, and then at the bags there.

The bags were full of medicines that he had prepared for future use. And also bowls with materials that have been pulverized but not all of them have been used.

"Tch."

With a click of his tongue, he darted out of the plants and approached the table. He opened one of the bags and took out a bowl. He then took one of the pulverized herbs and mixed it all into the medicine from the bag. He covered the bowl and began to shake it rapidly, turning around and looking at the creature.

The creature's body was now easier to see. It was almost two meters tall, but it looked as if it had been forced to grow taller. As if... it had previously been the size of a normal human being. Its body hair was definitely much longer than it should have been, and its extremely dark skin color made it look like an overly tall monkey that had tried to transform into a human being, but the transformation had been interrupted. But it was wearing clothes, so... it was probably the other way around.

And its eyes... they were much redder than they had just been. Each of its fingers was strangely elongated. The tips were bloody and they had what looked like the claws of a wild animal. Its footsteps, inaudible before because it was so far away, now rattled the ground.

It would be five seconds at most before it reached the greenhouse. It was much faster than before. A little more and it would start to run.

Kael finished shaking the bowl in his hand. He pulled aside what he had covered himself with and ran towards the plants. He uprooted one with purple flowers and dipped it into his bowl. Just then, the sound of footsteps reached inside the greenhouse.

~bam! ~bam! ~bam!

He heard the sound of the creature approaching him. Each step sounded as if it weighed hundreds of kilograms. Yet he did not turn around. Instead, he gripped the bowl tightly with both hands and waited only a second or so.

'Now!'

In an instant, he turned around, finding the creature literally right in front of him. He had a huge, black, and bloody palm coming towards his face. Each of its five abnormally elongated fingers was spread out, ready to grasp the skull, as if preparing to crush it.

The creature's face was right in front of him, behind the claw pointed at him. It did indeed resemble a human face, but it was anything but human. With its black skin and emotionless face, it was like an emotionless puppet programmed to kill.

Kael threw the bowl with all his might at the creature's face. At the same time, he threw himself to the side.

The bowl shattered in the creature's face. But the creature did not make a sound. Its claw tried to follow Kael as he darted to the side, but only half succeeded as its vision narrowed. It only managed to create a long scratch on Kael's back with the sharp piece of bone at the end of its index finger.

Kael felt his back burning, yet he did not stop. He had thrown himself so suddenly that he landed unbalanced on the ground, but he quickly got to his feet, glancing behind him out of the corner of his eye.

The creature was right behind him, staring at him. On its face were the broken pieces of the bowl and traces of the reddish liquid inside. It trickled down to its chin and fell drop by drop to the floor. Its lips were flat, completely emotionless.

After locking eyes with Kael, it tried to take a step towards him again, but then... it paused. It almost fell to the ground, as if its entire balance had been thrown off, but it managed to stay standing, even if only barely.

Kael couldn't help but smile when he saw the creature struggling to take a step. His plan had worked. He had multiplied the dosage of the anesthetic used to relieve the pain of the soldiers several times over and thrown it directly into the creature's face with a plant that would amplify its effect even more.

Even if it wasn't a normal human being, a drug of that intensity should at least have had enough effect to disorganize its movements. And it did.

Kael quickly jumped to his feet, grabbed one of the bags on the edge of the table without thinking, pulled out another bowl, and prepared to throw it in the creature's face.

But the creature was already on the move again, this time using both hands to grab him by the shoulders! And Kael had no chance to dodge it, the creature had less than half a second to grab him! As a fifteen-year-old slave, with no blessings or curses whatsoever, it was impossible for him to react!

But there was one detail that Kael did catch. And that detail... was that the creature's hands were shaking. It was not as if he was facing a creature that could easily cut a man in half... but an old man who had difficulty moving due to old age.

But it was still a creature. The force behind those hands must have been much greater than he thought.

So... Kael took a gamble. He didn't try to run, he didn't try to dodge the attack. He simply threw the bowl into the air, right back into the creature's face, and let it catch him.

The bowl shattering again in the creature's face with all its contents happened at the same time as Kael felt fingers on his shoulders. He fell on his back, the creature on top of him, and together, they found themselves on the floor. The only difference... Kael was on the bottom while the creature was on top.

Kael quickly held his breath, not inhaling the smell of the drug dripping from the creature's face, even as it dripped down his face. The creature... raised one of the claws on his shoulders, prepared to tear Kael's face off. But then... it paused, looking down at the hand it was trying to raise.

It could barely keep its hand in the air, trembling uncontrollably. It couldn't even lift him up the way it wanted to. As if... it couldn't feel its arm enough.

Kael took the opportunity to quickly try to get out from under the creature. With his skinny body, he really could do it, all he needed was a little time... but the creature noticed. It aimed for Kael's face once again, not caring how much force it could transfer to his arm.

Kael moved his head to the side as fast as he could. If the creature's movements hadn't been slowed down, this would have been certain death... But thanks to that and the small size of his body, he managed to dodge the creature's claw, just barely. There was now a cut on the right side of his head, extending from above his ear to the nape of his neck.

Kael was locked in place thanks to the hand on his right side. He could move nowhere, and so... he turned to face the creature. There was still uneasiness in his eyes, but thanks to the adrenaline, he was still almost conscious.

Turning back to the creature, he waited for it to attack him again. In that case, he would no longer be able to dodge any attack, but that did not happen. The creature just waited. And Kael... finally met its eyes.

The creature had a tired expression on its face as if it was forcibly resisting sleep. The glow in its red eyes had faded a little, but not completely. Its lips were still straight, indicating its lack of emotion, and its nose moved slightly, showing that it was breathing.

Kael realized that the arm on the right side of his head was shaking. The creature was trying to keep itself upright with the support of its arm. It didn't seem to care about Kael anymore, just trying to cope with the sleep and the overdose of medicine... in this case, though, probably poison... that had entered his system.

But it failed. After a short time, it just collapsed on Kael's skinny body. And even though it didn't succeed in killing him... it took all his breath away with that one act alone.