Aaron staggered to his feet, shaken by the sudden commotion. He settled into a fighting position and prepared to face the approaching enemy.

As one of the eyeballs got into firing range, Aaron picked up a stone shard from the ground and, lunging forward, lobbed it in an attempt to stop the attack.

Barely missing the iris, Aaron only managed to deflect its aim slightly, and the laser seared the skin on his left shoulder, leaving behind a stinging sensation. Filled with adrenaline, Aaron pushed through the pain as he charged toward the attackers.

Some would have chosen to run away instead, but he was fully aware that closing the gap would give him the best chance at victory. The tunnel was tight, meaning the eyeballs would struggle to deal with him without getting in each other's way. Sure, he was more likely to get hit at point-blank range, but he'd also be able to end the fight quicker.

Now that he was closer, Aaron counted six enemies. Four of them had a clear line of vision on him, while the two at the back were blocked by the others. He would have to do his best to keep them from surrounding him, or he would be under much more pressure.

As he came eye to eye with his first opponent, Aaron decided against punching. Instead, he grabbed the eyeball by its tendril, swinging it against the others and interrupting their attacks. Amid the chaos, one of the eyeballs at the back managed to find an opening, forcing Aaron to dive to the side to avoid a laser to the chest.

Gritting his teeth, he picked up a sharp stone beside him before getting up. Upon doing so, Aaron found that one of the eerie creatures had managed to sneak into his blind spot and started charging up an attack. Unable to react fast enough, his right leg paid the price when the monster landed a solid shot on it.

Furious, Aaron dove at it and dug the stone dagger into its pupil, which began to sputter black ichor everywhere. Seizing the opportunity, Aaron grabbed the bleeding eyeball from behind and pointed it at the others, spraying the ichor all over them and, hopefully, momentarily blocking their vision.

Aaron's improvised technique proved effective on four of his opponents, which started wailing and screeching. Unfortunately, one of them evaded it and quickly fired a shot at Aaron before he could move. The laser landed on the side of his torso, and Aaron had to bite his tongue to stop himself from screaming in pain.

Mustering all his strength, Aaron pounced on the eyeball, putting a quick end to its miserable existence. The other four were fortunately still blind and completely disorientated, allowing Aaron to deal with them before they caused him any more trouble.

As he pulled the sharp stone out of the last one, Aaron sank to the ground and groaned in pain. At least he was lucky the laser attacks also cauterized the wounds, so there was no need to worry about bleeding or infection. Though Aaron did realize his current condition wasn't ideal for combat. He opened his backpack and pulled out an apple, a ham sandwich, and a water bottle. While Aaron didn't feel particularly hungry, he now realized he would need as much strength as he could muster to get through this.

The messenger appeared to have been right about tempting fate.

That said, Aaron had no complaints. The enemy showed its fangs, and he was delighted to face them head-on.

But first, he needed a plan to deal with these wounds. Looking over at the dead bodies, he confirmed they all dropped the same amount as the first one. With some quick maths, Aaron figured he was now sitting at thirty-five soul shards, fifteen short of the regeneration core.

He was sure he could find a chest piece or leggings to heal the wounds in their specific sections, but Aaron didn't want to settle for half healing. If he were going to get something for healing purposes, it would be something that worked on his whole body.

There was only one path forward he would accept. Find some more eyeballs to kill and get the regeneration core.

But Aaron was not looking for a repeat of his last fight. This time, he would be the one surprising them.

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That meant no time for rest. Upon finishing his food, Aaron stood up and trudged along the tunnel, placing his hand on the wall for support. He could still move relatively fast if he ignored the pain, but Aaron decided not to, as he didn't want to worsen his injuries.

With every step, the burning sensation begged him to stop and take a break, but he pushed on, focusing on the light of the runes which guided him forward. After what felt like half an hour, the tunnel started to grow wider, and the beautiful spiraling runes disappeared, replaced by red ones that appeared to be in the same language, only they were clearly carved by somebody else.

In fact, there were multiple different segments, all carved in different styles. There was no rhyme or rhythm this time. They haphazardly spread out through the cavern with no sense or coherence, sometimes in groups of merely a couple runes and other times in extensive sentences. The red lighting further added to the chaos, in comparison to the calming violet glow Aaron had grown used to over the last hour.

He was sure there had to be an explanation for these runes, but that could wait. And, Aaron supposed, if it couldn't wait, it's not like he would know what to do about it anyways, so he put away the thought and decided to just be thankful for the light.

Eventually, Aaron realized that the tunnel wasn't simply becoming broader. It was the entrance to a much larger cavern with stalactites and stalagmites scattered all over the place.

In the distance, Aaron could hear the eyeball's screeches echoing against the stone walls. He couldn't pinpoint exactly where they came from, as the sound waves bounced all over the place, but that wasn't necessarily bad.

While the eyeballs might not have ears, there was probably some creature in this place with a way of detecting noise, and Aaron didn't want it popping up out of nowhere if he was in the middle of combat with a loud opponent.

Casting glances about the cave, he also noted multiple side passages lining the walls. While Aaron didn't mind fighting in the large cavern, as it offered plenty of cover, he figured most enemies he might encounter here would probably be part of a larger group.

Prowling along the wall, Aaron decided to peek into the side tunnels to try and find an isolated opponent. Passing through the first one, he found only darkness. There were no runes or monsters inside that he could see, so he moved on to the next, a few meters away.

Bingo.

A spherical figure hovered in the distance, with a tendril hanging from it. Aaron had been hoping for three but one by one would be fine too. He darted from cover to cover, lurking in the shadows to avoid detection. Finally, he was only a few meters from the creature, and that's when Aaron realized something was off.

Instead of a single thin tendril, there were three. There was a large central tendril, accompanied by a smaller one on either side. Though what shook Aaron the most was the size of his opponent, with a diameter that measured around trice as long as that of the previous eyeballs he had encountered, Aaron couldn't begin to fathom how he hadn't noticed sooner.

Taking cover behind a large rock and considered his options. He knew nothing of this creature, and he was injured, but it hadn't spotted him yet. So there was time to come up with a plan.

The sharp rocks had definitely come in handy against its smaller brethren, but Aaron hadn't brought one with him, and the stone in this place was infuriatingly smooth, so there wasn't a single shard on the ground. The only way he'd get one was by going back or getting this creature to fire at the wall, but then he'd lose the element of surprise.

Aaron felt frustrated. He didn't want to plot and scheme. He just wanted to punch shit. 'Why does it have to be so fucking complicated?' Aaron raged internally.

Then a light bulb lit in Aaron's barbarian head. 'It doesn't have to be a sharp rock,' he thought to himself, 'I can get something that will give me plenty of sharpness.'

It was risky, but he closed his eyes and entered meditation.

As soon as he appeared in the lobby, alarms started going off. It made sense since a monster was only a few meters away from him, but Aaron ignored them.

Not bothering to say hello to the messenger, he rushed into the weapon shop and put on the gauntlets that made his punching attacks do piercing damage. They were called 'Piercing knuckles.' Aaron didn't know how to buy them, but he figured that since this was his soul, he just had to focus on the concept of doing so, and it would work.

He heard a chiming noise coming from the door, and for the first time, Aaron spotted a sign that read:

Soul Shards:

x35

It quickly ticked down to 0, and Aaron felt a strange connection form with the gauntlets. He didn't have time to dwell on it, so he instantly opened his eyes.

To his horror, Aaron hadn't managed to stay hidden during meditation, and the giant eyeball now floated over him. Its pupil was turning red, and its veins pulsated, indicating to Aaron that staying in place wouldn't lead to a good time.

Miraculously, Aaron managed to roll to the side a hundredth of a second before the rock he'd been hiding behind got blasted into oblivion.

Pushing through the pain of his wounds, Aaron surged towards the mega eyeball. It was still recovering from its attack, giving him a much-needed opening. As soon as his fist landed, a wound appeared on the creature's side, and black ichor began to leak, eliciting an eldritch scream from the demonic monster.

Somehow, Aaron felt more comfortable against this opponent than when he'd been ganged up by the little ones. Sure, the new gauntlets were a big part of that, but he only had to be wary of a single threat. He could dive and roll comfortably without worrying about getting shot in the back, allowing Aaron to deliver quick jabs against the monster in between laser shots.

Despite his injuries, Aaron consistently avoided the beams fired toward him and slowly bled out his opponent.

As the eyeball readied to fire another shot, Aaron jumped, ignoring the pain in his burnt leg, and delivered a decisive blow against the creature's pupil.

With a final shriek, the eyeball fell to the ground as ichor continued to gush out of its body, covering Aaron in black.

A green light rose from the creature.

x50 Soul shards

Aaron smirked. "Well, that's a convenient amount."