“We should have left while we could,” Erin grumbled as she waded through the pile of debris in her path. She was not treading through shallow waters, but she wished she were. It would have been easier than making one’s way through debris.

Their surroundings had undergone a drastic change. It was worse than Erin had expected, but well within Aedan’s prediction. It had been nothing but narrow hallways and tight corridors. Now, the dungeon was a vast, open hellish landscape, and that was not in a proverbial sense. It was truly hell. The ceiling had turned dark and pale, with flashes of crimson glow, making it resemble a cloudy sky with red lightning.

“You’re the one who wanted to keep going,” Aedan pointed out. He was following behind, peacefully treading on the path that was cleared by Erin.

Erin glanced behind, scowling. “You should have stopped me.”

“As if I could, sweetheart. I am currently barely a shadow of my prime. I can’t even make you budge at your weakest. I was completely at your mercy.”

Erin grimaced but offered no retort. There was no retort to be had. Aedan spoke the truth. He was completely at her mercy. Her memories were still vivid and she wouldn’t forget them any time soon. As much as she hated to admit it, she was more aroused than ever before just because she was committing the deed in an inappropriate place and time. Even now, she was still being reminded of the experience by the numbness of her legs and the soreness in her hips.

“Regardless, it would have been foolish of us to leave without getting some rest at the very least. We wouldn’t have been able to outrun this situation even if we had left earlier.”

“Rest?” Erin scoffed. “You have the gall to call that rest?”

“Well, it’s surely a rest for you, and it’s nothing to me.”

“Nothing to you?”

“Dragon’s constitution.”

Erin sighed. “That thing again? Sure is convenient.”

“It’s quite literally how I am. I require little rest and strenuous actions take little out of me.”

“You made yourself sound so perfect.”

Aedan smiled wryly. “I was perfect. I was supposed to be the best. The apex predator…”

“...What made you decide to throw it all away for a mundane life? You don’t strike me as someone who would forsake a chance to be… so much more than whatever you are right now.”

“I can ask the same of you. You were so desperate to reclaim your title as the best swordsman. But now, you are very… liberal.”

“Excuse you, but I still do wish to reclaim my title as the best swordsman.”

“Well, you certainly don’t appear to be in a hurry for that title.”

Erin smirked. “The title isn’t going anywhere. I will claim it. It’s not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’. It’s different from your circumstances. You already had others vying for the throne. If you don’t claim it now, someone will take it from you, with the runner-up being the leader of the radical counterpart of your… faith.”

“It’s not fun and games, Erin.”

“I didn’t say it was.”

“But I did. I assumed it was. I-I… I was who I was because… I thought it would be fun. And it was. For a time. God, I enjoyed it so much. I revelled in it. I did what I wanted and there was no one to tell me no. There was no one who could stop me.”

Erin stared. “Then, what happened?”

Aedan shrugged, though his gaze didn’t carry even a hint of ignorance. “I grew out of it, I suppose? I got bored of how perfect I was. Or maybe I grew a conscience. Whatever it was, it made me feel guilty and embarrassed of all the things I have done. I went mad. I became… suicidal.”

“Suicidal?”

“I challenged every strong entity I came across. Well, you know how it went after that. I met my match. I got humbled. And I exiled myself into a mundane life of the everyday man.”

“What about now? Do you still feel suicidal?”

Aedan smiled. “Not with you around. They say dragons are solitary creatures. I’m inclined to disagree with them.”

“Who’s they?”

“Scholars, especially the pompous ones. Now, I’m beginning to wonder just how much more of their studies are just complete hogwash.”

“We can worry about that later. We got incoming.”

Aedan sighed. “It seems that we do. Will you be needing my assistance?”

“Just stay here and try not to get in my way.”

“You don’t think I can help?” 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Erin ignored his question and advanced forward without humouring him. She manifested her sword as the demons emerged from the cracks and fissures that riddled the ground. These were lesser demons and they reminded Erin of Imps and Demi-goblins, though neither of the latter was as deformed as the lesser demons swarming her. She laced her blade with Essence Flare, the flames of the Spirits. The lesser demons paused in their tracks upon witnessing the blooming of the cyan flames. Evidently, they recognised it as their weakness even if they never seen Spirits before.

Erin didn’t wait for them to approach. She went to them, her sword flashing and flourishing. The demons perished before they could understand what had transpired. The remaining ones stared at Erin with fear after seeing their brethren being massacred with such ease. If they didn’t know fear, they sure as hell do now. Erin lunged at the remnants, cutting them down before they could rein in their fear. In less than a minute, she had eliminated all of the demons in the vicinity.

“They’re not much,” Erin muttered as she assessed her surroundings. There was no more immediate threat in the vicinity as far as she could tell. “I expected it to be more challenging.”

“It’s a good thing, is it not?” Aedan questioned.

The two continued with their escape, trekking through the landscape that seemed to be stretching on for miles without an end in sight.

“Is the seemingly never-ending distance the trial here? If it is, I’d rather face an opponent in whom I can engage in physical combat.”

“Be careful what you wish for, my dear Erin. These little shits are just appetisers. But given our situation, I would be rather content with just having appetizers. The main course can wait, or it can just fuck right off.”

“What is the main course exactly?” Erin asked, sheathing her sword, though it was only a superficial performance, as her sword was made completely of magic and will.

“A feast of the most bizarre dishes, which we would be unable to stomach any of them.”

“This is no time to be vague and witty.”

“There are no specifics that I can give. We can only be broadly prepared. There’s no telling what this place would throw at us next, if it isn't the appetisers.”

“Then, what would be the most likely encounter that I need to be extremely wary of?”

As he walked, Aedan tilted his head in contemplation.

Hearing no answer, Erin glanced back. She frowned upon seeing Aedan’s complicated deliberation. “Is it that difficult to answer?”

“As I said, it’s difficult to know what we will encounter in hell. But… there is one that you need to be very cautious of. The Soul Eater.”

“The Soul Eater? Sounds ominous.”

“As its name implies, it eats souls. For the most part, it is quite the dullard.”

“What about the least part?”

“It eats souls. Simple as that. It may be the only thing, besides the divines, that can kill you for good. No second chances. Naturally, the Soul Eater is no different from every other monster out there— well, it’s no different to everyone but you.”

“Should I be concerned?”

“It’s slower than a child swinging a sword twice his size, and it is as fragile as hastily forged iron.”

“If you put it like that, it doesn’t sound threatening at all.”

“Oh, I forgot to mention that—”

A blaring noise interrupted Aedan’s words. The two immediately stopped in their tracks.

Erin glanced around. She couldn’t see anything clearly past a few yards. Winds were blowing from every direction, carrying dust and sand with them. Simply put, it was a sandstorm, but not as severe as one. “Was that the sound of a horn?”

“No, it’s not, unfortunately. Speak of the fucking devil…”

“Speak of the what?”

“It’s an idiom of a humorous manner. The subject in question appears just when you're talking about it.”

“...Are you joking?”

Aedan shook his head.

“That was the sound of the Soul Eater?”

Aedan nodded.

“Does it have a horn for a mouth?”

“That’s a very comforting image to have.”

“Having a horn for a mouth is comforting?"

“Relatively speaking.”

Then, the ground began to shake along with the sound of heavy thumping echoing across the lands.

“The thing you forgot to mention… does it have something to do with its size?”

Aedan nodded with a wry smile.

“And how big is the Soul Eater exactly?”

The thumping became louder and the ground trembled more heavily. Aedan pointed behind Erin.

Slowly, Erin turned around, letting her gaze and mind gradually adapt to the gigantic twisted figure that was roaming the hellish landscape in front of her eyes. She couldn’t understand what was looking at. It had a vague humanoid figure, as in it had a torso and it had limbs sprouting from the usual four corners. It also had something that was in the position of where a head should be, but she couldn’t be sure if that was its head. Its entire body looked as if a soul was desperate to have a physical form and it made do with whatever it could get its hands on. The Soul Eater was an amalgamation of debris, organic or inorganic, put together in a heedless and tasteless manner.

“No sudden movements,” said Aedan. “It doesn’t register a presence unless you move too much or too quickly, or if it gets too close to you, which is ironic for a being that feeds on souls.”

“It’s slow,” Erin observed. The Soul Eater moved haggardly as if it were dragged down by its unbalanced form and its heavy weight. It was bipedal, but it would occasionally use one of its front limbs to help with its movements.

“It may be slow, but you won’t want it chasing after you. You won’t want to be constantly looking over your shoulders. Did I mention that it is also very persistent?”

“You didn’t.”

“Well, now I did. So, don’t move. Let it pass.”

Erin didn’t argue. She simply stayed still beside Aedan while hiding behind a pile of debris. There was a lot of debris here.

The Soul Eater would glance around once in a while after taking a few steps. It seemed to be searching for something, or it could just be its natural behaviour. Then, a demon appeared, the kind that Erin was familiar with. The kind with a much more proper and defined form. The demon crossed paths with the Soul Eater. Erin could finally understand just how large the Soul Eater was. The demon was only a head taller than the Soul Eater’s foot.

“This is going to be interesting,” Aedan said as he chuckled inwardly.

“What’s going to happen?” Erin asked.

Her question was immediately answered in the next question as the Soul Eater raised its leg and stomped down. The demon tried to dodge, but the shockwave of the stomp sent it flying and tumbling away. “Why is it attacking other demons? Is the Soul Eater not a demon?”

“It is a demon, just not one that’s friendly with other demons. You can say that it’s neutral— well, neutrally hostile to everyone and everything. It attacks anything that moves or breathes.”

“It attacks plants too?”

“Yes.”

“Wait, really? It attacks plants too?”

“As absurd as that sounds, yes, the Soul Eater is also hostile to plants. Which is why this thing cannot be allowed to leave this place.”

“...We have to kill it, don’t we?”

“It will die if it doesn’t consume any souls for one whole day, but that’s not a very realistic expectation to have. Therefore, we must be the ones to do it.”

Erin sighed. “Of course. How unexpected.”