They both sat in silence watching the cataclysmic wave rush forward from the horizon annihilating any abomination unlucky enough to be caught by it.
'Where do the feeders hide? Do they go into the bottom of the obelisk? No, that wouldn't work. I saw what happened to that other one…'
They repeated their routine of taking watch. The next morning Gwin was feeling eager to get started. Although they had plenty of drinking water from an expertly crafted looking waterskin memory, they had not eaten for a few days now and it was starting to make him feel desperate.
Gwin headed down into the labyrinth but not before sparing a glance at Elena who seemed to be in better shape now. With any luck tomorrow would be there first hunt. He quickly made his way down to the point where he had stopped making sure to focus on his sense of smell to locate any possible threats. He then began exploring the other tunnels, finding many large gaps that had several more tunnels leading from them. The whole thing looked like an ant colony he had studied in school. He imagined himself as an ant crawling through his tunnels before coughing in embarrassment, happy that no one could read his mind.
He reached the area they had fought and crawled into the tunnel the feeder had come from. He would follow its faint scent trail to find where it came in from. He crawled through the dark and damp stone until eventually he saw light. He froze immediately as his eyes adjusted to take in the colors of black mud and red coral. He had reached the ground. Carefully backtracking he moved silently all the way back up where Elena was currently looking at the horizon. She noticed him coming without him having to make a noise.
{I've got a good idea of what most of the tunnels look like. If you are ready we can start hunting soon.}
She took in what he said before turning her gaze outward towards the crimson labyrinth.
"Did you notice anything strange about this obelisk?"
{Yes…There isn't a single nightmare creature living in it.}
Suddenly the mood turned grim.
"And yet we don't know why…"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today was the day. Gwin was feeling equal parts excitement and fear. After their tense conversation yesterday they had spent the rest of the day gazing at the landscape below before Elena had finally told him that she was ready to start. Today they were going on their first hunt together. Their target was a singular remnant feeder they had spotted from their vantage point. Gwin had moved through the tunnels until he reached the exit. From here on out it was going to be extremely dangerous for the both of them. While Gwin lured the creature Elena was going to be waiting in a large cavern for it. As soon as she saw the base of its tentacles she was going to use her aspect to kill it quickly before the rest of its body could ever make its way through.
Gwin was feeling nervous as he slowly peaked his head out. He had to make sure to only get one or else their plan was ruined and they would be in deep shit. Looking around he finally saw his target in its entirety. It was long and had a red leathery body. It looked much like a squid Gwin had seen in a textbook beside its bladed tentacles and the multitude of webbed human-like arms that sprouted along the underside of its mantle pulling it through the mud.
Normally Gwin would have felt disgusted and never even thought about eating something so nightmarish but unfortunately for it two starving and slightly crazed sleepers had set their sights on it. It was a little over 20 meters away from him and was moving parallel with the side of the stone.
'Come here fishy fishy!'
"RA RA, RARARA!"
Thankfully he could still make noises from his mouth. The long body of the feeder tensed before it darted in his direction, plowing through the mud like it was nothing. Its tentacles spread out revealing two sets of gruesome looking beaks.
'Oh shi-'
Gwin had already started crawling as fast as he could even bear crawling when there was enough space. Behind him he could hear the squelching body of the feeder as it moved in. He absolutely had to stay in front of those tentacles. In a narrow space like this getting caught meant becoming a smoothie if caught. He maneuvered through the tunnels, barely managing to keep a distance between them. Luckily nightmare creatures did not have a concept of effort versus reward so he did not have to worry about it losing interest. All nightmare creatures burned with the unquenchable desire for human souls after all.
After a few minutes he emerged into the cavern where Elena was waiting. She stood in the cavern with a light-creating memory floating above the tunnel Gwin had come from. In her hands she held a mismatched pair of sabers. One was silver and had red leather wrapped around its regal hilt, the other was black with white leather wrapped around its cruel hilt. They looked like polar opposites and utterly deadly in her hands. Gwin turned to face the tunnel as well, his job was to stay out of the way unless Elena needed his help.
Soon the sounds of squeezing flesh could be heard as eight tentacles crept their way into the cavern. Both of them held their breaths and remained completely still waiting for their chance. More of the tentacle's length entered into the cavern and began moving around as if searching for them. Gwin nearly flinched when one of its tentacles almost brushed against his leg. Finally the beaks emerged and with that so did the base of its head. With no time to waste she launched into a silent attack however the feeder immediately reacted to that, flailing its bladed tentacles around blindly. Gwin dodged a tentacle that almost took his head off before getting ready to summon the Disciple of Kesh's blade from the top of his fist.
Elena expertly evaded the barrage of tentacles however Gwin could tell she was in a tough spot. He had to act now.
He moved in from the side to avoid the tentacles and jumped towards it when he got in range. Just as he leaped over it with the help of his aspect its two bulgy eyes emerged as well. He only had a moment to see his scared reflection in its glossy iris before he was upon it. He landed on its leathery head with a thud and scrambled to pull his fist back just as a jagged blade emerged above his knuckles.
He plunged it deep into its tough head like he was forcing it through stone and held it there. In the moment where the feeder's muscles began to spasm Elena used her aspect to dash in and sever half of its tentacles in one swing, she quickly pivoted and severed the rest with another dash before retreating to dodge the beaks as they almost snapped shut around her. Gwin forced the blade in even farther and felt relieved when the spell whispered into his ear.
[You have slain an awakened beast: Remnant Feeder]
[Your understanding develops.]