'Just one more time…'
Gwin huffed before hunching over and vomiting into a stone basin. He wiped sticky mucus from his mouth and stood up straight. He rubbed his tired eyes while scanning the walls. There in each of the alcoves were basins carved into the stone with strong claws.
'I swear…I need a break…'
And in each of those basins were knee deep pools of clear mucus. After what had been a painstaking process of carving the basins, filling them with mucus, and keeping Vlad's attention from his trap he had not slept in a very long time, by his estimates it had been several days. He simply didn't have the time to. If he was going to kill Vlad he needed to be quick and secretive about all of this. That meant if Vlad even suspected this might be a trap he would not give chase and all of Gwin's effort over the past few days would be for naught. Vlad was cunning like that.
'More like a damn coward! That bastard is a freaking demon! Why is he afraid of a sleeper! If he's scared of me he should just leave me alone!'
Of course if all things went to plan he would not have to worry about Vlad anymore. Soon he was hopefully going to be little more than a pile of ash! Gwin had not been filling these basins for the fun of it, no, he had been creating a fiery death trap! Dozens of these alcoves have been dug into basins and filled with the clear mucus of the sun seeker. All it would take is one spark for an entire swath of the sewers to become an inferno.
'Maybe I should keep my distance…'
Since his masterpiece of death had been complete Gwin now had to plan as to how he would lead Vlad here. Truly it should not be too hard since that awful bat seemed to have it out for him. There had been many close counters with him since he had first started hunting Gwin and yet he just barely managed to scrape by by using one of his key advantages. While it was true demons were as smart as humans, that was not entirely accurate. Like all nightmare creatures they suffered from an inexplicable plague of frenzy dulling their critical thinking and making them easier to predict and out think. Well predictable in the sense that they were unpredictable and more often than not will throw themselves entirely at the prospect of devouring humans. With that in mind leading Vlad to his trap should be a piece of cake!
'Man I haven't had cake in so long… I'm kinda hungry.'
Despite his dire odds and the impossibility weighing on his mind at the thought of killing an awakened demon, Gwin actually felt confident for one reason only. Well two reasons actually. The first was that for the first time he had actually planned a way of escaping in case things went wrong. Currently his plan was to lead Vlad to the trap, watch him go up in flames, and finish him off if the raging inferno doesn't. In case that didn't work he could use his escape route and get out even if it was a little dangerous. Even if he failed to kill Vlad he would be severely weakened to the point he might be slain by another abomination however that idea didn't sit right with Gwin.
'If I'm doing all the work I should get the kill! Being able to use an awakened demon sounds nice…better than a useless devil at least.'
The second reason was in contrast to the first. Despite having secured an escape route he didn't plan on using it. He was prepared to do anything to kill Vlad and end his hunt. He had been desperately struggling to survive because of Vlad for so…so….SO long! His pride couldn't handle it anymore and if he wanted to ever see the sun again he'd have to get rid of him. However by no means did Gwin plan on dying to accomplish this.
'If I die it's going to be in a crazy big battle for the sake of the world and not in a dirty sewer in a remote part of the dream world.'
Well at least that's what he wanted to believe but the chances of him becoming a cave dweller were becoming greater and greater each day.
'No way! I've gotta make it back to Yura and Verene so I can brag about how cool I am! I'm gonna rub it in uncle Gareth's face! They can never tease me about anything ever again!'
The thought of seeing them again warmed his heart a little giving his situation the smallest spark of hope. Even if he made it out of here there was still an entire region of the dream realm as well as a tyrant of a man and not to mention a fallen terror in his way. He would worry about that once he got out though.
First he had a date with a very ugly bat who really wants to kill him.
'The feeling is mutual.'
With that he summoned toothpaste and began heading towards where he last saw Vlad. Toothpaste led the way in case Vlad suddenly jumped out at him. They wandered through the dark until coming across a surefire sign Vlad had been nearby. The smell of blood was thick and dozens of severed and bleeding abominations lay dead on the ground in an open intersection leading to several different tunnels.
'Jackpot!'
He collected the shard with haste not sparing any thought to being quiet. He let out a couple of tired and dramatic sighs and groans. When that didn't work he began making strange and random noises with his mouth. After a bit of doing that he fell silent with a perplexed and nervous expression.
'What is taking him so long?'
Just as his nerves were beginning to feel unbearable something massive lunged at him from behind. He evaded quickly, only narrowly dodging a scythe-like wingtalon. He did a backwards summersault to avoid the second one and landed.
'There you are, you bastard.'
Gwin smiled ferally and got ready for the fight of his life.