Countless chains basking in an ivory light coiled around Old Quin's body.
Previously, he wore only a dusty brown coat; now, he wore a priest's white robe. A hood covered his eyes, but the joy on his face couldn't be concealed as the priest showed a radiant smile.
Where the broken wall stood, the only way in and out of the ancient burial site of the Priest in White, pith black hands bleeding dark red miasma materialized out of nowhere, waving at the priest who waved back joyfully. "Long time no see little crow~"
Ciel's grasp tightened on the paper that old Quin handed to him before the chains appeared around him, everyone else who witnessed the exchange between the two froze in terror.
Before, their only threat was the Mutilated Crow, but now another Calamity emerged.
The first one to shake off his daze was Cole, aiming his black-colored bow at Old Quin while he didn't have a quiver on his back or even an arrow, his shadow crept towards his hand, forming an arrow solely of shadows on the bow's string.
Releasing it instantly, the arrow made out of shadows flew straight at the throat of Old Quin who smiled radiantly at the incoming arrow, his outline began to glow with a white light.
A single chain appeared in front of him, breaking the shadow arrow without even receiving a dent.
"Now, now, Cole, that's quite rude, don't you think?"
Cole's figure began to fade before Old Quin could even send a chain at him, his form melting into the shadows.
But that didn't seem to bother Old Quin—no, not Quin anymore—The Priest in White.
Seeing Cole on the move, the others broke out of their gaze as well, not waiting for the two calamities to do anything.
Ciel was quick to act two, rushing to the two sticks of dynamite on the ground, he grabbed them both before putting the folded paper into the pockets of his pants.
Feeling a firm grasp on his shoulder, Ciel couldn't even react before his vision faded into nothing.
What the hell is going on?! Before his mind could have fully succumbed to panic, his vision cleared up on its own; he was no longer in the burial site but in a dark tunnel instead.
His confusion didn't last all that long as he heard the exhausted panting of Cole by his side before the former turned to him.
"You are a tracker type, aren't you? So get us the hell out of here." He urged Ciel before both of them heard the bloodthirsty roars followed by the bone-chilling laughter of the mutilated crow.
It was just right behind them, Cole barely took the two of them out of the burial site, "Go on, hurry!" he urged the youth once again before dissolving into the shadows.
Why the hell am I this unlucky?! Ciel cursed his luck before he put the two sticks of dynamite into his left pocket and took out a piece of folded paper from his right.
Quickly unfolding it, the paper revealed a throughout map of the tunnel's layout. This! This is why I felt strange about the other map, those lines seemed to be drawn by someone with a shaky hand, but in reality, the old bastard replicated the exact layout of the tunnels!
Even though the pulsating torturous pain assaulted his head, he activated Unravel while looking at the map, trying to memorize the exact layout of the tunnel system.
Finding the burial site on the map was easy, it was circled on the map with a red-brownish ink, Wait, this isn't ink, that's dried blood.
Seeing the layout of the tunnels made it eay to find the way out, he was right the first time, they needed to go even deeper into the mountains instead of trying to ascend.
If this was a mine, they would have been right. But this is a mountain, if we get out at the foot of the mountain who says that we won't face immediate danger, if that village was guarded by Quin… no, the priest, then who was that they are not affiliated with more monsters like this priest?!
He was doubtful, but seeing two monsters such as the Mutilated Crow and the Priest in white show up, he couldn't afford to waste time.
Putting back the map into his pocket, he started running in the tunnels, using Unravel to its fullest, he was able to traverse in the pitch-black darkness.
Appearing from the shadows back in the burial site, the first thing Cole heard was the mocking laughter of the priest in white as a set of chains rushed his way which he was forced to evade by dissolving into the shadows again.
"How humble of you Cole, racing us with your presence after you dropped off the boy." The Priest in white chuckled while staring directly at Cole, this time, the chains targeted someone else.
One of the chains slithering on the ground slowly towards the wounded and unconscious body of Damian, the iron giant.
As the chain coiled entangled his body, the tip of the chain pierced his chest, a loud thumping sound echoing through the cave, the sound of metal snapping.
Damian's iron body broke apart in a second as the chain broke through his ribcage and pierced his heart.
As it did, Damian's eyes snapped open—Empty, lifeless.
"Quin you wretched bastard!" The woman who was with Cole's group cursed at the Priest in White while picking out a spiked whip and lashing out at the priest.
"Now now, calm down Jess." Chuckled the Priest in White while walking up to the lifeless corpse of Damian.
A white ivory light enveloped them both before the priest in white embraced the giant in a warm hug.
Countless chains basking in the ivory glow of light wrapped themselves around the two before an even brighter light produced itself, blinding the four who still remained in the burial site.
"Toren, we can't stay here!" Shouted Cole before appearing beside him, grabbing him by the shoulder and both of them dissolved into the shadow disappearing from the burial site before he nodded at the woman called Jess.
She gritted her teeth in anger before rushing to the side of Gavin who silently glared at the priest in white where Damian previously lost his life.
He didn't even react when Jess grabbed his shoulder, and both of them turned incorporeal, drifting away like ghosts from the burial site, trailing behind Cole's shadow.
As the bright light slowly faded, the chains coiled away from the Priest in White, the body of Damian was no longer there, but the priest wasn't the same either.
His skin shone with a clear luster as if it was reflected from a metallic surface. The priest turned towards the Crow who was giggling while staring at him.
"What do you say little crow, want to hunt them down before we leave this boring place~?" The priest asked with a melodious cheerful voice while giggling the same way as the crow did.
This time, countless chains appeared beside him all of them flying towards the tunnels with unimaginable speed while the crow made its move and dragged its grafted body of corpses deep into the tunnels as well.
Deep inside the tunnels, Ciel was sprinting with all his might as his body got closer to giving up on him admits the constant pain.
His mind ached from the increasingly more painful pulses but he still had to rely on Unravel.
It's not far now… it's not far now. I just need to push through like I always did. He repeated to himself while gasping for air as his lungs burned.
As he sprinted alone, two figures suddenly appeared beside him, scaring the life out of him.
Damn it, you limping bastard! I almost died of a heart attack.
Ciel cursed in his mind but he didn't let that show on his face, even though no one could have seen him in the darkness. "We aren't far from the exit."
"Are you sure of that?" Asked Cole as they took another turn to the right, taking a tunnel that brought them even deeper into the mountains where the air was running thin.
No, I'm not, I'm literally following the 'voice' in my head, do you want me to say that you damned Paralympics champion, how the hell are you even running that fast while limping?!
"Relatively sure." He answered back with a polite tone.
Gavin and Jess who Ciel didn't hear the name yet appeared beside them as well, scaring the life out of him once again.
As Gavin appeared, he summoned a red-orange flame from nothing, illuminating their surroundings.
Thanks a lot, I felt that my head was about to burst. But Can't you bastards start appearing normally instead of scaring me shitless? Even as he Cursed, Ciel was thankful as he deactivated Unrave.
No one said a word but followed behind Ciel as he led them even deeper into the mountains, the only noise they could hear was the severe panting from the lack of air before another two kinds of noise echoed in the mountains as well.
Rattling chains and the chillingly hollow sound of cawing—both the Mutilated Crow and the Priest in White got closer to them while in pursuit.
My memory has defienetly improved beacuse of Unravel, or at least when it comes to things I study while having it active. I can still remember the layout, the only tricky part would be ahead of us soon, it's all a single clear path outside after that.
Ciel could still vividly remember the direct paths they had to take, but the longer they were running, the harder it was for them to catch their breaths with two Calamities breathing down their neck.
"I love playing tag as much as the next guy, but we are both really hungry now… isn't that right, little crow~?" The Priest's voice in White was no longer as playful—it was hauntingly empty.
The priest stopped in his tracks together with his chains as a bright halo appeared above his head while clasping his hands together in prayer.
"So tell me, when you are granted an audience with god… what will you confess?" As the words left his mouth, the sound of bells toll resounded all across the mountain.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
The tolling of the bells was deep and drawn out, each chime echoing at different parts of the mountain, so loudly that the stones rattled.
The orange-red light was nowhere to be found only the pitch-black darkness, the air also felt somewhat moist.
Is this a different place? Where are the others? As he thought about it, he came to a realization. "Quin… if he was able to… and I can't believe that this is the answer I came to, but he teleported us. He was the one who pulled us into the mountains… or at least the others. I don't come from this world, and if he is still in the mountains, I don't think his power is strong enough to drag me into this world…
His mind was racing, but his thought process was interrupted by an overwhelming stench—One of the rotten corpses.
It came from right in front of him.
His eyes weren't accustomed to the dark but he didn't need to rely on his vision. Ciel felt a warm breath from right in front of him.
For a second, his heart stopped beating and his blood turned cold.
Something was right in front of him, accompanying him in the darkness.
Mutilated Crow—Calamity of Terror.