The SSS Beast King: Rebirth of the Legendary Predator
Chapter 55: Encroaching Abyss

Chapter 55: Encroaching Abyss

There was an eerie sound of water splashing as people moved around, one that kept you on your feet for hours on end. It echoed through the halls, making anyone it came across shiver. ’What if I was the first.’ that was the question everyone thought of, not only because it would mean their elimination but because it would hurt their pride.

Walking through the hallways, it was only a matter of time until you met another team. What matters is what you do when this does happen. The worst thing you can do is cower at the thought of a fight, hoping to talk your way out, only to fail. A battle is bound to happen, as winning is essentially almost winning.

The system said we could steal some of the light from others by holding their lanterns, but never that we have to give it back after. With this in mind, stealing a captain’s lantern meant total elimination for their team, but that wasn’t all. If taking from the same lantern twice wasn’t possible, then we could use it for negotiation. A bargaining chip, a tool of leverage.

The best part? People always look up to those who hold what they need—or what was once theirs. This meant I could use my skills, and if I was lucky, I could even kill one of these cockroaches crawling through the dirty water.

But that was a very hypothetical scenario. Something that only happens in a story, as it makes things too easy, and the real world... is much harder than some fairytale.

Though it was too early for me to think of all this, the game had just started and we needed to not fall behind in the early game, as it was the one that mattered most.

If I had to guess, because of my passive I was chosen as the leader of my team. This made things even better. There is a small chance of being eliminated. Only four teams and there were definitely more than that, so just surviving wouldn’t help me. In a way, I have to make my group dominate the game, making the others fear us, and being untouched.

With my skills, this could become reality. If I play my cards right, I won’t just survive I’ll make them fear me. Fear us. Only then, would people consider walking behind me.

But that was something that needed to be done when the time came, and now wasn’t the right moment.

So as the leader of the white team, as you can see by the bandana on my head, I navigated my teams through the hallways. Taking use of what firefly came our way, we tried avoiding the eerie sound for now. Though, I was hoping to encounter one deep down, only to test one of my theories.

When I first looked at the skill I copied, I deduced that it drains life force, as that is considered the light of humans. But I didn’t know if it was able to drain real light from an object that created it. So ever since I got it, I wanted to test it on something that produced it, like a lantern.

It was risky but worth it.

The air thickened at every turn, some hoarded the air from others, as it was quickly becoming a nuisance to breathe in these conditions. It wasn’t like it was clean in any way, and neither did my nose appreciate it, I almost wanted to throw up because of how bad it smelled. I’m sure this place was connected to fish in any sort of way, that was the only way to explain the intoxicating scent of fish.

It had been some time since the game began, and the water had made my feet numb with its cold temperature, and it wasn’t the only thing cold here. It felt like I was inside a freezer, this was the second game now I was fighting to keep myself warm.

My eyes had also gotten bored of seeing the same thing, and it didn’t make it better that someone had forgotten to change the light as they had started to flicker. It made things even more creepy, as at any time, a team can appear in the darkness created by the light, but I doubt that would happen.

But even in these tough circumstances, I still kept my calm. If a leader would break so soon, they were never meant to reign in the first place. If you can be a walking example for your people, then how can you call yourself one?

It would be a disgrace to those who gave their lives if someone weak stood among them.

Though, I can’t say I also don’t feel any shame, as even I, don’t consider myself worthy of being a leader at the moment. Not because of anything I’ve done as a human, but because of what I let happen at the last of my last life.

It makes my blood boil at the thought I let my subordinates fall only to protect me. Never have I felt such self-hatred as I felt whenever I thought of this. I wanted to cut myself into pieces and reassemble into a better version of myself I could never become on my own.

But if things were that easy, then everyone would be perfect. It makes me wonder, if everyone was perfect, then would being perfect even have a meaning anymore? Wouldn’t it just become the new normal? Also, would something that is now considered normal, be considered a flaw in a perfect world? And in a world where humans are flawless, would everything else be defective?

What I know is that the world would be more judging, maybe to try breaking this endless chain, and finding anything weird in someone as an imperfect characteristic.

A flawless world sounds like something you would dream of, but in reality, it is more flawed than the world we live in. The only reason it seems that way is because humanity is a perfectionist species.

But even if every human came together to create this world, it would still be of no help. It is impossible. It is a sad fact but in no way is it possible for everyone to become flawless. Someone like that doesn’t exist in the first place. So do we even understand what perfection truly is? I guess we’ll never know, as nothing in this cruel world will ever be without flaws, that is just something we have to accept.

Time had passed, and not one team had been eliminated. But with so many teams what was the chance of none of them meeting? Low, almost impossible. What was really the case was that people were evading fighting, something that would come to bite them later.

It was clear that the reserve of fireflies wasn’t going to last forever, so they basically went extinct, meaning the only way to keep your lantern burning bright was to steal it from others. Putting both of these together, you create a scenario of chaos.

People without any other way to keep their light going, will be desperate, causing them to act recklessly and irrationally. Also thinking about the fact that this is a death game, the stakes can only get higher.

We can’t see other’s lights, so we can’t compare how bright ours is to theirs. Meaning that if we get to the point where the fire burning inside the lanterns stops, we don’t know who will be the first, that solely depends on who has found the most fireflies. So survival isn’t guaranteed.

I can only imagine the tension running through the hallways, as the light dims. When your life slowly ends, and around you sit only strangers.

That is why, whenever you meet another team, it is better to steal their light. It is sad I haven’t had the luck to find one yet, if I did, I would have already stolen their lanterns.

"Um sir, sorry to bother you... but we have a little problem." The voice of my follower woke me up from the eternal slumber I was in. But what really struck me was the reason he had woken me up. ’A little problem?’

I turned to face them, only to see a bunch of figures lingering in the dark. Was this the little problem, no it could, since this wasn’t a problem at all, but a gift. I smirked, as I signaled with my hand for my team to say back, and I slowly removed my glove.

As the glove came off, the abyss was seen underneath. My arm until the level of the elbow was painted into a black color that lacked light. As black as the abyss, it was almost hidden by the darkness of the halls. But to those who were watching from outside, it could be clearly seen.

’Does this remind you of something, Eclipse?’ I laughed, as I ran toward the dark figures hidden in the sea of darkness that enveloped every gap left untouched by the light.