The weather got completely dark. They approached a place where a disgusting smell hung heavy. As they progressed, rotten trees with ivy and fallen leaves grew denser. Oxygen decreased. Fog thickened. Old carved stones on the ground began to be recognized.
Voices saying
"Get away"
started echoing everywhere.
As they advanced, skeletons hanging from trees and piled on the ground came into view. A huge terrain appeared. The surface churned with mud, swamp waters, withered and unwithered plants and rarely with carved, ruined stones. They had reached a large swamp.
After taking a step into the swamp, the heads of all the skeletons hanging or scattered around turned towards them. The pressure became very heavy. The feeling of being watched became very dominant. All the waters in the swamp started to bubble. Muraith, calmly but giving off an oppressive sensation, said to Yakoza.
"Listen well, you snot-headed fly. No matter what happens, don't cause harm…"
As he spoke, massive, numerous tentacles erupted from the swamp waters. They surged between the trees, aiming straight for Yakoza. Without hesitation, Yakoza threw the suitcase toward Muraith and sprinted to the left.
As he sprinted leaping between the trees, the massive tentacles reached him. As the tentacles tried to slash through him, Yakoza constantly dodged them. Trusting his father might know something, he kept leaping to other areas without harming the tentacles and kept running.
Since the surface of the swamp was filled with water, tentacles could emerge from anywhere. In fact, from the nearest patch where Yakoza was, new massive tentacles erupted from the waters. Because the tentacles were long, the places passed by them were not passed again. The tendrils zigzagged, adapting to his every move. He dodged all of them. When the forested swamp side became choked with giant tentacles, black-dark mists billowed from all the suckers of the tentacles.
The dark mists clouded Yakoza's mind, conjuring illusions. His steps faltered. He stumbled.
And soon, he was surrounded.
No space to move. No clarity of thought.
Far ahead, Muraith continued on. As he advanced, the entire surface of the earth with giant trees, water, and greenery began to flip. The sky started to become earth. And earth… sky.
Muraith stopped.
In front of him the sky and earth had swapped places. Leaves shook excessively, and plants rustled intensely. The surface of the swamp, which had swapped with the sky, was inverted. From the water, a massive, human-shaped being cloaked in vines and seaweed appeared. His facial hair and beard were vine-like. His eyes gleamed green. Strangely, with his appearance, water began to gradually flow downwards from the inverted lake, falling toward the sky.
The entity spoke, with a majestic and pressure-giving voice.
"Do you have permission?"
Muraith, unfazed, looked up at him and smiled slightly.
"So… you're one of them."
The being let out a strange cackle.
"Yiiihiihihaha! Stranger, That's right! And who might you be?"
Muraith's smile faded.
"Who I am is irrelevant."
He placed his case on the ground.
"Let's begin."
The man's face hardened. The green in his iris lightened.
A destructive pressure erupted from both himself and Muraith. Within seconds, the swamp began to tear apart.
Back amidst the tentacles, Yakoza's mind cleared. His body was still weak. Hearing the destruction, he smiled.
"Ahh… What da choco…"
As the destruction became visible from his eye, the pressure and devastation reached him. It suddenly knocked him unconscious. With the wave of destruction, the tentacles shattered and retracted, dissolving into the swamp.