Single Wish: Rise Of The Omniscient Paragon Chapter 7 7: Corey's Fragile Heart

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! I'm so fucking dead!"

Corey spat out curses as he sprinted, terrified that the creatures in the room he just inspected would smash through the door and hunt him down just like that first unsettling monster.

He glanced over his shoulder, checking if the four monsters were tailing him, as the silence was far heavier than he anticipated.

However, the moment he turned his head, a look of pure confusion washed over his face and his feet came to a halt.

"Wait… where did the monsters go?" Corey scratched his head, scanning the area. None of the four monsters were in sight, and even the original one he had encountered was nowhere to be found.

"Did they actually die?"

The words had barely left Corey’s lips when a low growl vibrated through the air.

Grrr!!

Standing at the far end of the hallway was the creepy, grinning monster, wearing the exact same smile it had shown from the start.

"Nope. Smiley is definitely alive and kicking."

Corey shifted his gaze between the doors on his left and right, then back to Smiley, who was slowly advancing toward him.

Gritting his teeth, he lunged for the door on the right and shoved it open.

Even though he vividly recalled the horror of the first room, he desperately hoped that it had been an anomaly and that not every room was a death trap. At the end of this corridor was a staircase leading to the roof.

He was certain that if he didn't lose Smiley in this hallway, the rooftop would be his grave; there would be no place to hide and no way to fight back.

Despite his desperate wishes for normalcy, Lady Luck was clearly not on Corey's side.

As soon as Corey swung the door open, he was met with a thick mist. In the center of the room, shrouded by the fog, stood a creature with a four-horned goat skull for a head. It wore a tattered black robe over bits of armor, clutching a pair of swords in its grip.

The monster, which had been looking down, suddenly snapped its head up to stare directly at Corey.

"Oh fuck me."

Corey cursed and, without wasting a heartbeat, slammed the door shut.

Bang!

Boom!

A massive force struck the other side of the wood, causing the door to shudder and sending Corey stumbling back several paces.

Rooaaarrrr!!!!

A furious roar echoed from the room into the hallway, making Corey tremble instinctively.

He backed away further, staring at the door with intense fear and dread, terrified that the beast inside would burst through and slaughter him.

Several seconds ticked by. When the door remained intact and no monster emerged, he finally let out a shaky breath of relief.

Remembering Smiley, he spun around, only to be stunned. Smiley was shivering, rooted to the floor in apparent terror.

Corey looked at the door on his right and then back at the trembling Smiley.

A thought crossed his mind—should he open that door again just to see what it would do to Smiley?

But the moment the idea formed, he dismissed it, terrified by the sheer power of whatever resided behind that door.

Corey watched the frozen, shaking Smiley before turning his attention to the left door. He gritted his teeth and reached for the handle.

He needed to find a normal room; it was his only chance, even if opening doors felt like a gamble with his life.

As he pulled the door open, he tensed every muscle, staying fully alert and ready to slam it shut at the first sign of danger.

However, when he peered inside, Corey’s face went slack with shock.

The room was completely submerged in water. Corey expected a flood to pour out, but it didn't; the liquid seemed held back by an invisible barrier. The interior was as dark as the deepest ocean floor, making it nearly impossible for him to see clearly.

He was about to close the door due to the sheer strangeness of the environment, but curiosity won out as he spotted something moving.

He narrowed his eyes, trying to focus through the gloom.

Two seconds later, the shapes in the water became clear.

He saw two monsters that looked identical.

They possessed human upper bodies with beautiful faces and long white hair, but their lower halves were a mass of tentacles. They were positioned facing each other, and the creature on the left was cradling a human skull.

As Corey gazed at them, the monsters—initially unaware—eventually turned their heads and stared directly back at him.

Corey blinked twice and slammed the door shut instantly, not waiting for a single movement or word.

Even with the door closed, a piercing, deafening shriek erupted from the other side.

KREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

"Arghhh!!!" Corey staggered back, clutching his ears in agony. The door before him vibrated slightly, though the impact was less violent than the previous one.

It took Corey a few moments to find his balance as his head and ears continued to ring painfully.

Once he recovered, he looked back at Smiley and saw the creature on its knees, trembling violently. Its hands were pressed against its ears as it shook its head back and forth incessantly.

Corey felt a slight sense of calm and surprise. He wondered why the cries of these monsters affected Smiley so drastically. He was tempted to open the doors again, but he refused to take the risk.

What if the monsters were waiting right behind the wood?

If they were, he would be dead before he could even think about closing the door.

Corey backed away, keeping his eyes fixed on Smiley. He had no idea when the creature would recover and resume its attack.

He reached the next set of doors and considered his options. This time, he decided to open the one on the left.

'Please, just let it be a normal room, or I’m eventually going to die.'

Corey offered a silent prayer, took a deep breath, and pulled the door open.

Once again, he froze. This time, pure terror gripped him as he saw what lay within.

The room contained an entire forest, and within that forest was a monster with a human torso as large as three men combined. It boasted three sets of arms—six in total—while its lower body was a serpentine tail so long that Corey couldn't see where it ended.

What truly terrified Corey was the sheer volume of corpses and bones scattered around the beast.

In its lower set of arms, it held a blood-soaked teenage boy who was missing a leg.

The missing limb was held in another of the monster's hands, while its top two hands gripped trees to keep its body off the ground.

The creature was currently preoccupied, chewing on the severed leg, seemingly unaware of Corey's presence.

Corey wanted to shut the door immediately, but before he could, the boy in the monster's grasp looked at him and spoke in a trembling, terrified whisper.

"Plea- Please help me. Save me."

Corey went cold, cursing the boy a million times in his mind.

He looked back at the monster and found it staring straight at him. He swallowed hard as he met its golden eyes.

"Is the meal tasty?"

He blurted out the question and slammed the door shut. An instant later, a massive force from inside hit the door, sending Corey flying into the opposite wall.

BOOM!

Bang!

ROARRRRR!!!!

Corey spat and coughed, his body shaking as the monster's roar thundered from behind the door.

He knew deep in his soul that this entity was on an entirely different level than the others.

He watched the door with trembling fear, waiting for it to shatter, but it remained shut without a single crack appearing.

He let out a breath of relief and turned his gaze toward Smiley.

He found Smiley on its knees, head twitching crazily.

Corey watched with apprehension, and then Smiley stopped moving. When the monster looked up at him, Corey felt his heart sink.

The smile was gone. Smiley’s face was filled with nothing but pure rage and hatred.

They locked eyes for a brief second, and then—

ROOOAAARRRRR!!!!!!

Smiley’s jaw unhinged unnaturally as it let out a roar far louder than before. It surged to its feet and sprinted at Corey with a speed and killing intent that left him paralyzed with fright.

Desperate, Corey glanced at the door behind him—the one on the right. He knew he couldn't outrun Smiley, and even if he reached the roof, there was nowhere to go.

How could he escape? Could he even kill it?

The shut-in from earlier had literally crushed Smiley's head into a pulp, yet the thing hadn't died; it had simply possessed the boy.

He couldn't bank on Smiley staying dead even if he managed to land a fatal blow.

From his position on the floor, he reached up and yanked open the door behind him, praying that it was either a safe haven or home to another monster that would terrify Smiley.

As the door swung open, Corey looked inside hopefully, only to be met with a long, dark, and incredibly narrow hallway.

"What the fuck?"

A growl sounded to his right. Corey’s breath hitched as he saw Smiley was barely two meters away.

Just as he prepared to leap into the dark corridor out of pure desperation, a laugh echoed out. It was a bizarre, unsettling sound.

"Kekekekekekeke."

"Kekekekeekekekekeke."

"Kekekekekekekeke."

"Are you here to play with us?"

Corey looked into the corridor, and his heart skipped several beats.

The once-empty hallway was now filled with impossibly long hands. They packed the narrow space, thrashing around erratically.

Petrified by fear, Corey forgot all about Smiley, who was charging at him like a madman.

Normally, Smiley would have been just as terrified, but Corey’s repeated opening of the doors had driven it into a mindless rage. Its desire to kill and eat Corey for the terror he had caused outweighed its own fear.

As Smiley reached Corey, it leaped through the air with its mouth wide open, letting out a guttural roar as it prepared to swallow him whole.

At that same moment, the hands in the corridor surged toward the entrance, and the voices within shrieked.

"Come play with us."

"Come play with us."

"Come play with uuussss!!!"

The entities screamed, and the hands shot toward the door with such velocity that they reached it in two seconds.

In a bizarre stroke of luck, Smiley—who was in mid-jump toward the seated Corey—flew right into the path of the reaching limbs.

The hands, originally reaching for Corey, seized Smiley instead and tore the creature in half.

Blood, organs, and bone fragments rained down on Corey, drenching him in the gore of his pursuer.

"Toy! Toy! Toy! Toy! Toy! Toy!"

The entities seemed delighted with Smiley, dragging the remains back into the darkness and leaving the corridor empty once more.

Dazed, Corey stared at the vacant hallway and then at the door.

A few seconds later, he reached out and softly clicked the door shut, terrified of drawing the monsters' attention.

He stood up in silence, his only thought being to escape. But as he turned to leave, he spotted three glowing, crystal-like objects on the floor where Smiley had been ripped apart.

They looked important, so he scooped them up and shoved them into his pocket.

He didn't stop to examine them; he wanted nothing more than to get out of this building immediately.

His heart and body had reached their absolute limit.