(A/N):

Drop a meme here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.

Guys I hope you put more comments and power stones... Which will encourage me...

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The scarred leader slowly tightened his grip around his spear.

His eyes swept across the tunnel once more.

"Enough games."

His voice echoed through the underground passage.

"Whoever is hiding..."

"Come out!"

His words had barely faded into the darkness.

Thud.

Thud.

Two dull sounds rang out almost at the same time.

The leader instinctively turned his head.

"...."

The two tribesmen standing beside him had collapsed onto the stone floor without a single cry.

Their weapons slipped from their hands and clattered against the ground.

For a brief second...

No one understood what had happened.

"Wha..."

One of the tribesmen hurriedly knelt beside them.

"They’re breathing."

"They’re only unconscious."

The leader’s expression immediately hardened.

"Everyone!"

He raised his voice.

"Return!"

The warriors who had gone ahead to search the surrounding tunnels immediately abandoned their positions and ran back toward the group.

Within moments, all twenty tribesmen had gathered once again, forming a defensive circle around Princess Indhumati and the unconscious child.

The atmosphere had completely changed.

Only moments ago, they had been discussing what to do with their captives.

Now...

Every one of them understood the same thing.

Someone had found them.

And whoever it was...

Had no intention of letting them leave peacefully.

The scarred leader slowly lowered his stance.

"Stay close."

"No one separates."

"Watch every direction."

Every warrior obeyed.

Some aimed their spears toward the tunnels ahead.

Others guarded the rear.

Several stared nervously into the darkness above, half expecting someone to leap from the rocky ceiling.

The underground passage became eerily quiet once again.

Even the mysterious whistling had stopped.

That silence...

"...."

"...."

"...."

Somehow frightened them more.

Then...

A cold gust of wind rushed through the tunnel.

It wasn’t particularly strong.

Yet it moved with impossible precision.

One after another...

The flames of every torch began flickering violently.

"No..."

One of the tribesmen instinctively shielded his torch.

Before he could protect it...

Whoosh!

Every flame went out.

Simultaneously.

Darkness swallowed the entire passage.

Someone cursed.

Another stumbled backward.

"Light the torches!"

"Hurry!"

"I can’t see anything!"

The only sounds remaining were hurried breathing and nervous footsteps echoing through the tunnel.

One tribesman immediately dropped to one knee.

His trembling hands searched the ground until they found two pieces of flint.

Click.

Nothing. Again.

Click.

Still nothing.

He gritted his teeth.

One more strike.

Clink!

Tiny sparks burst outward.

A moment later...

A small flame finally caught hold of the torch.

The tribesman let out a relieved breath.

"I’ve got it!"

He slowly raised the burning torch.

Its warm orange light illuminated his own face first.

Then...

The space directly before him.

His smile disappeared instantly.

"...."

Barely a foot away...

A face stared back at him.

Not a human face.

A terrifying wooden mask carved into the image of a snarling demon.

Its expression was frozen in an eternal grin.

Behind the narrow eye slits...

Two brilliant green eyes calmly looked back at him.

Neither angry. Nor excited.

Simply... Watching.

The tribesman’s entire body froze.

His heartbeat seemed to stop.

For one impossible second...

Neither figure moved.

Then the masked stranger tilted his head slightly.

Almost curiously.

The tribesman’s mouth slowly opened.

"AAAAAHHH!"

The terrified scream echoed throughout the tunnel.

The burning torch slipped from his fingers and crashed onto the stone floor.

Before anyone else could react...

A dark blur moved.

So fast that the human eye failed to follow it.

The scream ended abruptly.

Silence returned.

"...."

"...."

"...."

The remaining tribesmen desperately rushed toward the fallen torch.

"Hurry!"

"Light it again!"

Another warrior quickly lowered his own unlit torch into the small flame still burning on the ground.

Within seconds...

Light returned to the tunnel.

Every head turned toward the screaming tribesman.

Then...

Every face froze.

His body still stood upright for a brief moment.

Completely motionless.

Then... Slowly...

It collapsed to its knees.

A heartbeat later...

The body toppled forward.

A heavy splash echoed through the passage.

Blood rapidly spread across the stone floor beneath it.

Where his head should have been...

There was only an empty neck.

His severed head...

Was nowhere to be seen.

No one breathed. No one dared speak.

Even the scarred leader felt a chill crawl down his spine.

Whatever had entered these tunnels...

Was no ordinary warrior.

It hunted without warning.

Moved without sound.

And killed before anyone even realized it had drawn its weapon.

Somewhere...

Farther inside the darkness...

The soft, familiar whistle began once again.

Fweee...

Fwee... fwee...

Only this time...

It no longer sounded playful.

To the tribesmen...

It sounded like death announcing that it had finally found them.

The sight of their fallen companion left the entire group rooted to the spot.

No one dared move.

No one even realized they had stopped breathing.

The blood slowly spread across the stone floor, its metallic scent mixing with the damp air of the underground passage.

Every tribesman instinctively turned in a different direction, their weapons raised as they desperately searched the darkness.

"Where is he?"

"I... I can’t see anything!"

"Watch behind you!"

Their eyes darted from one shadow to another, but the tunnel remained empty.

Then...

A low laugh echoed through the cavern.

"Heh..."

It was soft at first.

Almost amused.

But as it bounced from wall to wall, it grew stranger.

"Heh... hahaha..."

The laughter carried no joy.

It was the kind of laughter that made a person’s skin crawl for reasons they couldn’t explain.

It echoed from every direction at once, making it impossible to determine where the owner stood.

Several tribesmen felt cold sweat trickle down their backs.

One tightened his grip around his spear so hard his knuckles turned white.

"What... what is that?"

The laughter stopped as suddenly as it had begun.

An uneasy silence followed.

"...."

"...."

"...."

The tribesmen remembered the face their companion had screamed at only moments ago.

Or perhaps... It hadn’t been a face at all.

One man swallowed nervously.

-Gulp!

"It wasn’t human... I saw it... It looked at me..."

Another quickly shook his head.

"No... It could have been a mask."

"But..."

His voice trembled slightly.

"...its eyes... I’ve never seen eyes like that."

Before anyone else could speak, one of the younger warriors suddenly pointed toward the darkness with a shaking finger.

"I saw it!"

Everyone immediately turned toward him.

"It was standing there for a moment!"

"It... it wasn’t a man!"

His breathing became rapid.

"It was a Rakshasa!"

"I swear upon Lord Pushpasura!"

"I saw it before it disappeared!"

The moment those words left his mouth, panic spread through the group.

"A Rakshasa?"

"Impossible!"

"No... maybe he’s right!"

"What else could move like that?"

"It has to be one!"

Several warriors instinctively stepped closer together, no longer caring about maintaining formation.

The scarred leader’s expression darkened.

"Enough!"

His voice thundered through the tunnel.

"Control yourselves! It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Rakshasa or a man."

"We outnumber it."

"It is trying to frighten us."

"That means it doesn’t wish to face us directly."

He looked around at the frightened warriors.

"So stop behaving like children!"

His words managed to steady a few of them.

The leader took a slow breath.

"Listen carefully. No one leaves the formation."

"No one..."

His voice suddenly stopped.

A strange feeling washed over him.

Something... Warm.

And unnaturally heavy.

Rested against the back of his neck.

His entire body froze.

"...."

Slowly... Almost mechanically...

His eyes lowered.

Out of the corner of his vision, he saw it.

A hand.

A human hand.

Resting casually on the back of his neck.

Its grip wasn’t painful.

Not yet.

But it was firm enough that he immediately understood one thing.

Someone...

Was standing directly behind him.

His heartbeat exploded inside his chest.

’How?’

No footsteps. No breathing.

Nothing.

The others stared at him in confusion.

"Chief?"

One of them noticed the change in his expression.

"What happened?"

The leader tried to answer.

Instead, he whispered,

"...Behind..."

His voice barely escaped his throat.

Every tribesman instinctively looked behind him.

There was... Nothing.

Only darkness.

The leader attempted to turn his head.

The hand immediately tightened.

His muscles strained as he tried to look over his shoulder.

Whoever stood behind him wasn’t particularly large.

Yet the grip felt like an iron vice.

No matter how much strength he used...

His neck refused to move even an inch.

Cold sweat rolled down his forehead.

He clenched his teeth.

With a low growl, he gathered all his strength, preparing to break free.

The fingers around his neck tightened once more.

Then...

Another hand slowly emerged from the darkness.

It reached around from behind him and rested lightly beneath his chin.

For the briefest moment...

Time itself seemed to stop.

The leader’s eyes widened.

"No..."

A calm voice, almost a whisper, spoke beside his ear.

"You should’ve stayed home."

Before the leader could react...

The two hands moved in opposite directions.

CRACK!

The sickening sound echoed through the underground passage.

The leader’s body went completely limp.

His spear slipped from his grasp and clattered onto the stone floor.

Without another sound, he collapsed face-first onto the cold stone.

Dead before his body even stopped moving.

The remaining tribesmen stared in horror.

None of them had seen who had done it.

All they had heard...

Was the sound of a neck breaking in the darkness.

A chilling silence followed the death of their leader.

"...."

"...."

"...."

For a few heartbeats, none of the remaining tribesmen moved.

They simply stared at the lifeless body lying at their feet, his neck twisted at an impossible angle.

The confidence they had carried only moments ago disappeared completely.

If even their leader, the strongest among them, had been killed without landing a single blow...

...what chance did the rest of them have?

One of the older warriors slowly lowered his axe.

His eyes drifted toward the unconscious Princess Indhumati and the young boy.

His lips trembled.

"Forget them..."

Another immediately nodded.

"Leave them!"

"Our lives come first!"

Within seconds, they abandoned both captives where they lay.

No one argued.

No one even thought about completing their mission anymore.

The orders of Pushpasura... The promises of reward...

Their oath...

Everything became meaningless in the face of whatever was hunting them.

The remaining warriors instinctively gathered into a tight circle.

Back against back.

Spears pointing outward.

Axes raised.

Every man covered another’s blind spot.

At least...

That was what they hoped.

One of them swallowed nervously.

"We stay together."

"If it attacks... We all strike at once."

Another nodded frantically.

"Don’t separate."

"Whatever happens... don’t leave the formation."

The underground tunnel fell eerily silent once more.

Then...

The familiar whistle returned.

Fweee...

Fwee...

It drifted lazily through the darkness like someone wandering through a peaceful forest instead of stalking terrified prey.

The men slowly turned in circles, trying to follow the sound.

"It moved."

"No..."

"It’s behind us."

"I told you it came from the left!"

Suddenly...

A soft laugh echoed once again.

"Heh..."

"Hehehe..."

The laughter bounced from wall to wall until it sounded as though dozens of unseen figures were surrounding them.

One of the younger tribesmen finally broke.

"I don’t want to die!"

The moment those words left his mouth...

A shadow darted through the darkness.

None of them saw what moved.

They only heard a wet slicing sound.

Slash!

The young warrior blinked.

He looked down at his chest.

A thin red line slowly appeared across his neck.

Then...

His head slipped from his shoulders.

The body remained standing for the briefest moment before collapsing.

Blood sprayed across the stone floor.

The formation broke instantly.

"Run!"

"It killed him!"

"It’s here! It’s everywhere!"

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(Author note:)

I hope you guys give me your opinion and idea’s.

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Don’t forget to review guys...

Guys I have a new fic which named: Karuppan: King of Openings.