LOTM: Seekers

43. One after another

My left hand—was in its beak.

Instinctively, I glanced down at my arm. Everything below the elbow was gone.

And the moment that realization struck, the pain finally caught up. My brain screamed as the nerve endings reconnected with the agony.

"AAAGHH!!"

I howled in pain, clutching what remained of my arm as blood gushed out in torrents.

Thanks to Occlumency, I didn't lose myself to panic. It dulled the chaos just enough for me to not let the griffin-like creature flying out of my line of sight.

I didn't hesitate. My Evil Eye activated with a snap, blasting the beast away.

In that brief opening, I launched myself toward the nearest patch of solid ground not yet claimed by the black sea.

As soon as I landed, I extinguished the flames under my feet, plunging myself into darkness.

Wasting no time, I summoned a thread and wrapped it tightly around the severed end of my arm, forming a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

Thanks to Night Vision, I had no trouble seeing in the darkness. A few creatures shared this protruding coral with me, but none had vision as sharp as mine.

I refrained from using Uriel's Stigma—there was no need to become a glowing beacon, another firefly in the endless dark.

Instead, I swept them away with a burst from my Evil Eye, hurling them off the ledge and into the black sea below.

Sensing no further threats, I collapsed onto the ground with a ragged breath, my body trembling.

Still holding my breath, I endured the searing pain in my left arm—what remained of it.

It finally dawned on me—I had simply been lucky last time, back in that warped version of the modern world.

This place… wouldn't show me the same mercy.

After a few minutes of rest, I began weaving a thick cocoon of thread around myself, layering it to prevent even the faintest sliver of light from escaping.

Once safely inside, I activated Uriel's Stigma.

"Please…" I murmured, barely above a whisper.

'The Constellation "Demon-like Judge of Fire" averts her gaze and grants you permission.'

"Ghha!!" I gritted my teeth and endured the searing pain as the white flame cauterized the end of my severed elbow. The thread alone wasn't enough—this was the only way to truly stop the bleeding.

Once the wound was sealed, I immediately unraveled the cocoon and scanned my surroundings. Even with the thick layers, it had been impossible to contain all the light.

I exhaled in relief—nothing was approaching. Not from the sky, the ground, nor the sea.

I let out a breath of relief when I saw nothing. Just to be safe, I activated Detection.

…

"What—AGHHHH!!"

A scream tore from my throat as I collapsed to the ground, pain ripping through my skull like it was being split apart from the inside.

I had sensed something I never should have—the Sea itself.

"Gghh…" I clenched my teeth, doing everything I could to endure the agony and keep from crying out again. My vision wavered, the pain distorting everything around me.

I kept my eyes shut tightly, only daring to open them in brief moments to check my surroundings through the haze.

Damn it…

Did they wash ashore again? I thought, watching as familiar creatures began creeping toward me—similar creatures with the one I'd already dealt with. I'm not sure if it's the same one

One after another, they came. I cursed under my breath.

I tried to blast them away with the Evil Eye, but the throbbing pain in my head made it nearly impossible to focus.

Even when I finally gathered enough concentration to activate it—

Nothing happened.

I had pushed it too far. I've used it too many times already.

I needed a few minutes of rest before I could invoke it again.

But time... was the one thing I didn't have.

I stared at the approaching creature through blurred vision and forced myself to stand.

If this thing had shown up in Backlund, it would no doubt be classified as a mutant.

It walked on four razor-sharp legs, its upper half shaped like a humanoid torso, but instead of arms, it had two massive, grotesque pincers.

It looked like some twisted version of a centaur—only instead of horse and man, it was crab and your nightmare.

Its entire body was encased in an armored carapace, with dull, jagged spikes protruding from its limbs and back.

Its face was the stuff of horror: a narrow slit where eyes should be, and a grotesque, insectoid mouth that twitched unnaturally.

If someone had called it an alien, no one would dare argue. It was that bizarre—utterly, impossibly otherworldly.

One, two… three.

I counted their numbers. The first two skittered side by side, slowly closing the distance, while the third lagged farther behind.

As I observed them closely, I noticed cracks running along parts of their armored carapaces—some areas even completely shattered, revealing soft, vulnerable flesh beneath.

As expected, they hadn't emerged unscathed from the black sea.

"Let's see how tough you are…" I muttered with a dry laugh, letting a bit of the built-up stress bleed out.

I stood still, watching their movements closely.

They were slow—far slower than the griffin-like creature from before—and clearly less intelligent. Even after spotting me, they didn't react. No sudden charge, no cautious retreat—just mindless advance.

The two in front extended their pincers toward me, almost like someone reaching lazily for a ripe apple hanging from a tree.

I ducked under their clumsy swing with ease. A thread stretched taut between my right hand and the crook of my left elbow. As I crouched, I yanked both pincers downward, unbalancing them.

In one smooth motion, I looped the thread around and pulled tight—binding the two pincers together in a single, clean knot.

Kiii!

The two creatures shrieked in alarm, clearly startled. But with their pincers already bound together, they couldn't move as they wished, just for a few precious moments.

And that was all I needed.

In those brief seconds, I manipulated my threads with precision, wrapping them tightly around each of the creatures' joints.

Then, without hesitation, I turned my body in one fluid motion and pulled the main thread—from top to bottom, back to front, far to near.

It was a clean, decisive swing—from above my shoulders down to my waist—cutting through the air like a blade.

Snap.

A clean cut sliced through the air. What remained were two bodies stripped of limbs—no neck connecting head and torso, which made decapitation tricky, but this was more than enough.

Without hesitation, I dashed toward the last creature. Using my momentum, I delivered a powerful kick to a cracked section of its armor along the side.

The impact pushed it off balance, exposing the vulnerable flesh beneath.

I seized the opportunity, plunging my right hand deep into the soft tissue—then, in an instant, white flames erupted from within, burning it from the inside out.

KIIIEKKK!

The creature shrieked one last time before collapsing, utterly motionless.

A few seconds later, the small, impromptu island fell into silence once more.

They were… weak.

That was my clear impression as I sank down, letting my body rest while the pounding headache gradually began to fade.