My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 794: Chapter 795: Cute Baby

This place was dreary and dull, and standing here almost reminded Damon of the ruined city of Lysithara. The atmosphere felt muted, dull and grey or maybe just deeply dark.

His ears picked up faint sounds of crying in the distance, thin and overlapping as if many infants were wailing at the same time.

He stood in what appeared to be a courtyard fountain. The grass around it was dull and brown, bent and dried without a hint of vitality left in it.

Damon glanced around. At his side, Matia held her great war mace, the spikes of it shaped from solid ice.

Lazarak, in the form of a toddler, stood near Damon’s leg with a calm expression.

If not for the crying babies, this place would have been quiet with very little noise.

He took a small step, then another. The ground crackled faintly under his boot.

”Let’s go.” He called to Lazarak, who nodded and followed with tiny careful steps.

They slowly walked toward the dark shadow of the buildings that rose into towers forming the grand castle.

”This isn’t what I expected.” Damon whispered softly, lowering his voice without quite knowing why.

Lazarak did not seem all that bothered by the atmosphere, even though the air felt deeply eerie and unsettling.

”Well that is because the wounded souls have not begun moving.”

Damon paused and turned his head slowly, raising one eyebrow at Lazarak.

”What do you mean by wounded souls.”

Lazarak scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

”Oh those guys. Those are the prisoners of this floor. They do not have physical bodies since they exist as mere souls. Each of them has long since become wrapped in one way or the other.”

”I really hate how you do not tell me these things.”

Lazarak scratched his cheeks with the same awkward expression.

”I forgot to mention the imprisoned souls.”

Damon exhaled sharply and stepped into the castle. He did not see anything yet. The halls were empty and the wails of babies were getting more distant.

He stopped in his tracks. The wails were getting more distant again.

That was not a sign of safety. If anything, that meant something was getting closer. Back when he had traveled with his party across the Duhu Mountains, one of the rules had been that if a sound seemed far away it was close, and if it sounded close then it was actually far away.

A small crunching sound echoed as Matia raised a shield of frost around herself as if anticipating an attack.

She glanced at him sharply, clearly reaching the same conclusion.

Lazarak did not fully understand what they were thinking or why their tension was rising. He sensed danger, but he still could not resist speaking.

”What why are you two looking at each other. Are you flirting when we are in danger.”

Damon felt a strong temptation to kick the toddler god into the nearest wall, but falling for that kind of ragebait was something a lesser man would do. Besides, Lazarak was trying to lighten the mood.

It was a trick Damon used himself, treating dangerous and existential horrors as if they were small trifles.

For the most part it worked. Damon did not feel as on edge anymore. He pushed open the large chamber door and stepped inside. As he did, deafening wailing sounds flooded the air.

He lifted his head slightly. In the chamber ahead stood a baby, a baby-like creature easily nine feet tall. It had dull grey skin like ash. Its arms were short with only palms attached directly to its shoulders. Its legs were the same, only feet stuck to its malformed body without knees or proper limbs.

Most babies were ugly bundles of joy. Damon believed babies were born ugly, then grew into toddlers who were the ultimate form of cuteness. The wait between ugly and adorable was probably why parents tolerated the reddish, wrinkled thing they brought into the world.

He was not going to say the silent part aloud. Maybe some other time.

The thought drifted through his mind to distract him from the mutilated creature before him.

The stillborn giant did not seem to notice them. It grabbed what appeared to be someone’s soul and pressed it into its toothless mouth, sucking on it.

The soul withered. Its shape flickered helplessly, fading in and out of existence until the stillborn finally let go.

It made strange giggling and wailing sounds, disturbingly similar to a normal baby, then continued its grotesque routine.

Damon dropped into a crouch behind a large pillar and pulled Lazarak into his arms. The tiny toddler god squeezed himself onto Damon’s lap, trying to stay hidden.

”What did I just watch?” Damon whispered with a sour expression.

Lazarak leaned back to avoid being spotted by the rampaging baby that was grabbing discarnate souls left and right just so it could suck them and release them again.

”Oh I forgot to mention they suck the souls of prisoners here but release them at the last moment so they can repeat the process again.”

Damon watched through the flickering reflections in the polished stone.

”You did not think to tell me that earlier.” He whispered softly, keeping his voice low.

Lazarak peeked again at the baby as it grabbed a few more hovering souls.

”Now you know what are you, I mean we, going to do.”

Damon gritted his teeth.

”You want to leave me with the work.”

Lazarak put on an unbearably cute expression, his eyes glittering.

”I’m a toddler.” He whispered back.

Damon had enough.

”No you are not you bastard. You are ancient. You are the first person to exist. Stop being lazy.”

Lazarak raised his hand to stop Damon, but Damon did not pause.

”I will have you know renouncing murder is not an excuse for sloth.”

”Erm Damon.” Lazarak tried to speak as he looked past Damon’s shoulder.

Damon continued berating him until he froze, sensing a faint pressure behind him.

”There is something behind me isn’t there.”

Lazarak nodded while keeping his eyes fixed on the faint discarnate soul rising behind Damon.

Damon reached out to destroy it with his sword, but the soul moved faster and released a sharp screech that echoed through the chamber, drawing the giant infant’s attention.

The stillborn turned toward them with a baby’s giggle. Damon felt a surge of pure evil. Not evil in the sense of malice or corruption. This was something worse. It was the capricious ignorance of a creature that did not know the difference between right and wrong.

It was not the devil. It was worse.

It was a baby.