Steps of an unhuman being echoed in the nightmare realm with each second coming closer to his location. They were not steps made by human legs or paws of beasts but sharp objects tearing wood under their might.

With each second they were closer until the steps stopped before the doors that led to the room he resided.

Hildebrant stared at the door his eyes flickering with uncertainty and his flames raging him to do something.

But what should he do?

In impenetrable darkness, he observed the keyhole of the doors that reflected the dark unholy iris of the creature observing him the same he observed it. It watched the weak light of a candle falling on his body and his soft, tender face with calm and madness.

None of them moved and it didn’t look like a monster would enter but then the door exploded, turning into shrapnel and the creature on the other side rushed in.

Its body formed from countless centipede legs and a big belly was unable to come closer, but its long neck stretched up with monstrous speed and it took Hildebrant all his strength to grab a terrifying head that looked like a hybrid of horse and spider into his hands.

Eight eyes stared at him while the creature's mouths kept opening and closing trying to get a bite of his flesh and blood. With wild determination, it kept twisting its head and long neck with strength that pushed him to the wall, and unable to move further back the pressure it created began to crush his bones slowly.

Without choice Hildebrant poured his flames into his hands and with a slight push they turned white but even while white light illuminated the room showing more details of an unhuman head and countless amount of legs trying to tear their way in, the head stayed still and the heat was unable to thaw exoskeleton or flesh of being.

Hildebrant mind spurred with ideas and then he used his augmented strength to forcefully open the being mouth. His fingers grasped its jaw and inserted themselves between its teeth pushing it open for him to observe its human-like tongue and slimy spits.

The creature used the chance to try to take a bite, but Hildebrant used all his strength to hold them open, even forgetting about augmenting other parts of his body and just pouring all he had into his hands.

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When he was done, he channeled some of the flames into his lugs and blew them into being mouth.

There was a moment of calm before the small spark traveled through its mouth illuminating its neck before exploding in it, making part of its neck expand and then return to normal.

Hildebrant observed it all with a calculating expression and even as blood poured out of the monster's mouth onto his white burning hands, he did not let go being that now glanced at him with furry.

Monster's mouth then made a weird sound, and its head began to twist and try to free itself but Hildebrant did not want to give it another chance to attack. The night was still young and if he let this monster escape, he would surely be ambushed by it later.

Taking his chance, he blew another spark into being mouth and this time he closed them before the spark could even explode.

When it did flames that should have poured out were stopped by the creature's mighty flesh and traveled back through the neck that now shined in yellow light back to its body. Black blood flowed out of its pores on its long and harrowing neck and furry in its dark eyes kept rising, its legs slowly tearing the walls that held it back from attacking him with its full strength.

He could not allow it to move further and before it could recover from its harrowing wound, he inflicted he raised his marble blade that manifested into his hand and stabbed it into one of its eyes while his other hand still held its jaws together.

Pouring his flames in, he fuelled flames that remained in being and pushed them deeper and deeper through its neck into its giant body but before he could do more monster unexpectedly twisted its head and freed itself from his grasp.

Moments later monster lunged at him with a horse scream and opened mouth.

Dodging its jaw, the creature took a bite of the steel frame of a bed, and its neck then like a snake twisted back to him and attacked again. Rolling under the bed and then back, head followed him stretching around the entire room without any problems with a marble blade still stuck in one of its dark eyes.

Curse it all!

The room was small and there were not many places to dodge so thinking deeply Hildebrant dodged again and then faced the monster head-on.

Lunging on his head of hybrid monster did not care and its open mouth attacked at him with ferocity and brutality. There was a small opening and using this chance Hildebrant grasped the sword stabbed in the eye while dodging on the side.

Then he took it out and the monster screamed while black blood poured out.

As blood fell being stopped moving and when its head turned back to him the remaining seven eyes looked at him with intelligence, fear, and also furry. It was madness including gaze holding all of being emotion.

Hildebrant was prepared almost for anything but then being head came back to its body that was already pushing itself out of the frame of the door and a second later it began to run away, its legs pushing it out and sending tremors through the entire vessel.

All Hildebrant could do was stare blankly at the place the monster once was and at the gaping hole it left behind.

Gazing at it he knew this night would be long and harrowing.