Chapter 36: The Paintings Do More Than Look

Once I had made it to the bottom of the stairs, I quickly looked through the opening in the stairwell to see what I was working with. At a first glance, it appeared harmless. Paintings and sculptures lined the halls for as far as I could see.

It appeared that Mark was mostly right when he told me about this floor. I still hoped to not see the ‘security’ he talked about, but I think I would trust his words for now, as hiding myself away for the entire night wasn’t the end of the world.

As soon as I exited the stairwell, I felt as if all the paintings began to look directly at me. I knew there was an optical illusion that some artists liked to use to make it so that it always looked like a painting was watching you, but their eyes actually moved.

Not only did their eyes move, but some had also even moved their heads. This was to say nothing of the sculptures that would reach for me. They knew where I was no matter what. They couldn’t seem to move their legs, but the lack of a head sure didn’t stop them.

Everything on this floor was alive in some way or another, no matter the size. Even the smallest of sculptures would try and reach for me, despite being nowhere close to being able to grab me from their position on the side of the hallway on raised tables.

I was a bit worried about being captured by one of the sculptures, so I had my weapon out and ready to swipe towards any reaching hands and arms. I decided that testing my weapon against the sculptures would be a bad idea if there actually was ‘security’ down here.

It seemed that most of the art was relatively harmless as I quickly walked through the floor. That was until I rounded a corner and a particularly large sculpture had managed to grab my hair. Thinking about it, I really should have cut my hair a long time ago, as it had really grown out. I never thought anything would just grab it.

The sculpture quickly had me in a headlock pulled close to its body, restricting the flow of blood to my brain. This cold stone really was just trying to kill me, and not hold me. Due to the precarious position, I had no choice but to try cutting the arm of the sculpture off.

The right hand was still attached to my hair, pulling up on it, with the left arm around my throat. I turned the ax around in my hand so that it was pointing up and raised my forearm and wrist so fast a burning pain shot through them when it contacted my bicep. The ax kept going and sunk deeply into the arm of the sculpture.

A sound of vibrating rocks was all that I could hear, almost as if the sculpture was trying to scream as it let go of me. Its left arm hung limply as it covered the wound with its right hand. This sculpture didn’t have a head, but I would imagine it was trying to scream right now with how its neck was shaking.

As I was about to walk away, I noticed a red liquid flowing from the sculpture. The sculpture was bleeding, and it wasn’t a small amount of blood. If that were me, I would worry about dying from blood loss in a minute or less.

That was when I felt the floor shaking, and I knew I had to get out of there immediately. Something was coming for me, and it was big. I didn’t want to come face to face with something that came running when I attacked a sculpture. It was probably ‘security’.

I ran as quietly as I could away from the bleeding sculpture while maintaining a high speed. I was probably around a hundred meters away once what I could only assume was the security that Mark had mentioned had arrived.

The creature could be described quite simply: Big Spider. The security guard was just a giant spider that appeared to be muscular. It barely fit into the massive hallway, and as it turned towards me, I ran as fast as I could. I was no longer concerned about not making noise.

I tried to push the thought of a giant spider with muscles out of my mind as I looked for some place to hide. I checked my watch, and it wasn’t even night yet, but I think if I found a good spot, I would hide there until morning.

Running full speed wasn’t as hard for me as it used to be, but I felt a little off balance due to my missing arm. I was used to the sway I got when I pushed my arms back in sync with the opposite leg, but it didn’t appear to impact my speed.

I round a few corners without seeing the security guard behind me, but I keep running just in case, but I do slow my pace to conserve a little bit of energy. As long as I stayed in the middle of the halls, it appeared that nothing was able to stop me from moving through them safely, even when being careless at high speed.

I managed to find a small door on the side of a hallway, with only paintings on either side of it. I quickly entered the room, which I immediately recognized was just a supply closet. It would be perfect for hiding myself for a night. It was only halfway through the day, but I think I could rest a bit longer after running for a little while.

After around an hour had passed, I heard the ground shaking. I got close to the door and stared out the small crack in the door where it met the frame. I was fairly certain I wouldn’t be seen, but my weapon was ready just in case. Though with how many muscles that spider had, I’m not sure my ax would do much to help me win a fight.

I knew I should probably hide deep in the room and try to make as little noise as possible, but with the room just being a small square. There wasn’t really much for me to hide behind, so I may as well sate my curiosity in the meantime while I hide.

I had a very limited field of view through the crack in the door. I could see a single painting that was staring directly at me. I was worried that maybe the painting was going to tell the security spider that I was hiding in this room.

However, once the massive spider looked towards the painting, it pointed back the way I came, mouthing words that I couldn’t hear. However, it seemed that the spider trusted the ‘words’ that were said by the painting. The painting went back to normal for a bit while the spider walked away.

After the vibrations from the security spider had disappeared, the painting looked at me as I stared back through the crack and gave me a thumbs up. For some ungodly reason, I trusted it and slowly opened the door. I carefully poked my head out into the hallway to check it for anything that was going to try and attack me.

The hallway was as empty as it possibly could be with all of the living sculptures and paintings. It seemed like the paintings on this floor were actually going to help me get through this. I was still going to be cautious and use my head, as trusting them fully was going to end poorly.

I waved my thanks to the painting as I went the opposite direction that the spider had gone. I was hoping that the spider hadn’t looped around in these winding halls and would cut me off up ahead, but I would hear it coming probably long before it found me.

As luck wouldn’t have that, I felt vibrations around me as I got to an intersection. The hallway behind me randomizes, causing the door I hid behind to disappear. With no other options, I was forced to run where I hoped the vibrations weren’t coming from.

I kept running until I was out of breath. My lungs burned as I still felt the vibrations of the spider chasing me. It was hot on my trail, and I had no real way of losing it other than keep going. I pushed on as my head started to spin and my legs felt heavy.

I rounded a turn with only one other path to go, only to come face to face with the spider. It was sitting in the middle of a hallway, blocking it with its sheer size. It looked directly at me and without even hesitating started moving towards me.

Adrenaline was a hell of a thing. The pain in my lungs and legs had disappeared as I turned and ran the only way back that I had available. I was running for maybe only two minutes before the spider behind me had caught up. Using its size advantage, it charged me easily when I had nowhere else to run in the straight hallway.

I did my best to dodge as it slammed its muscular spider legs into the ground in an attempt to stab me. I noticed an almost knife-like point on the end of each leg. It definitely was noticeable when looking behind the spider as the knife-like points dug into the ground and tore it up, giving the spider incredible stability.

As it sticks one leg into the ground to my left, barely missing me, I take the chance to try and hit it with my ax, only to find I had to dodge again already as it stabbed at me with another leg. I was easily outnumbered in terms of appendages. I had three with only one being able to use a weapon while this thing had eight that were all weapons in and of themselves. It was easy to see who was going to win in a fight.

I had to keep running, but the strain on my body was getting to be too much, even with the massive amount of adrenaline pumping through my blood. I had to think of something quick, and fighting the spider seemed like the absolute worst choice.

I kept running while dodging the straightforward stabs by just zig zagging. Fighting the spider was a bad choice, but what if I injured it enough so that it stopped chasing me. The stacks were easy to dodge because they were predictable, but what if I swung my ax where the next attack was going to land instead of just waiting.

With nothing to lose other than my life, I immediately tried my plan. As soon as the leg on my left side was about to stab down, I did my normal run out of the way, only to add a small spin while swinging my ax towards where the leg had always stabbed.

My ax cleanly cut through the leg at one of the joints it had. I had to keep moving as the spider kept attacking me, advancing anyways despite just losing one of its legs. I was a bit surprised that removing a part of a single leg did nothing to slow it down.

I kept running and as I was about to do the same to one of the other legs, I noticed that the spider still somehow had all of its legs despite me cutting one mostly off. The spider had healed itself when I looked away for a moment. This was the absolute worst case scenario.

I either had to stare at the spider the whole time, and then walk backwards without ever looking at my surroundings just to get some distance. I had no real way to escape this spider now that it was on top of me.

With some quick thinking, I grab the magnesium fire starter I grabbed on the previous floor. I had gotten it so recently, I nearly forgot that it actually existed. I looked around for something I could light on fire with it. I was in an art gallery, something here had to be flammable.

Eventually, I spot what looks like a torch of some kind. It had a wick at the top, but it was very ornate looking. Well, let's hope this thing burns easily. While running by the torch, I grabbed it. I was unsure how I was going to do this with just a single hand, but an idea came to mind pretty quick.

While running and dodging the easily predictable attacks from the spider, I placed the torch under the stub that was left of my right arm. I positioned it in a way that the wick was just slightly away from my face. I then grabbed the fire starter and put the magnesium part in my mouth and held it with my teeth. One wrong move and I’d break my teeth, but that was nothing to really worry about.

I grabbed the blade part of the starter and started attempting to light the torch while dodging attacks from the spider that was still basically on top of me. My pace had slowed slightly, but the spider seemed to match my pace as it tried to stab me, so I could relax a little bit.

It took some doing, and a lot of swearing in my mind as the sparks nearly blinded me because of how close they were to my eyes. Though, the torch was now lit and was staying lit even though I was moving. I didn’t waste any time putting the fire starter into a pocket, then taking the torch in my left hand.

I wonder if spiders are flammable. As I turn to face the spider, I hold the torch to one of its legs. Amazingly, the leg caught fire instantly, as if someone had coated the spider in alcohol. The fire quickly spread as the spider started to panic and flail around, no longer caring about me.

I kept my eyes open and stared at the spider as it burned, thinking that maybe the fire would go out and it would be healthy again if I closed my eyes even for a split second. The brightness and heat from the fire dried my eyes quickly. I was carefully backing away, using the memorized layout of the hallway in my mind to navigate.

I backed roughly twenty meters away before I just stood there as the skin of the spider began to melt in the heat of the flames covering its body. Yes, it would seem spiders were flammable, at least these ones.

The fire stopped at nothing as it charred and ate away at the flesh and muscle of the spider. After about fifteen minutes, the spider stopped moving. The nearby paintings and sculptures were now also on fire, melting and charring. That section of the hallway was now impassable, but the spider was dead.

Involuntarily, I blinked. I nearly panicked once they opened, getting ready to hold the still lit torch in my hand to the spider. Thankfully, the spider was dead, and still on fire. I decided to turn around and continue my journey.

But, as if to spit on me, the floor had one more trick up its sleeve. When I turned around, I was face to face with another spider. Now, its attacks were predictable, but I had to be moving away to dodge them. The only option I had was where this new and healthy spider was standing.

I had no choice but to try and run underneath the spider that was identical in size and shape to the one I had just killed. Giving it my all, I sprinted. Even underneath the spider, it still tried to attack me by stabbing its legs inwards.

As I was about to emerge on the other side of the spider, it did something I couldn’t predict. It only slightly moves one of its legs instead of the long windup stabs. It catches my right foot, and I can feel wetness and heat immediately, but I don’t look down.

If I saw the injury, it would be worse, and right now, I couldn’t worry about that. I knew something was very wrong though, as I nearly twisted my ankle once I put weight on the right foot, but I resisted the temptation to look at it still.

I made it to the other side, and as the spider tried to turn around, I lit it on fire and just ran. I kept running, despite the spider no longer following me. I could hear it thrash around on the ground as I kept moving. I didn’t even have to look back to know that it wasn’t following me.

I almost ran straight into the exit door as I ran through the halls with a nearly empty mind, ready to light the next spider on fire. Without even looking at the door, I entered the stairwell and started to heat up the face of my ax in the fire from the torch. I had a wound to cauterize.

I finally looked down at my right foot to assess the damage. Now, I knew not looking at a wound could make the human mind ignore a lot of things, but what I didn’t expect was the massive amount of pain that hit me as soon as I saw the wound.

From my middle toe to the arch of my foot at about a forty-five-degree angle, my foot and even boot was just missing. It was completely gone, and there was a lot of blood. Nothing unmanageable, but I needed to treat it quickly.

While I let the ax face heat up in the fire, I forced myself to take off the boot. It caused some more bleeding to start as I agitated the wound. I took off what remained of my sock, seeing the full extent of the damage. I cleaned the wound with some ‘Clear water’ and grabbed my ax.

I screamed as I held the hot ax to my flesh as it burned nerves and blood vessels alike. The pain was almost unlike anything else I had experienced. Cauterizing was effective though, as the bleeding slowed. However, it hadn’t stopped yet. I began to heat up the ax a little as I downed a pill of morphine.

I would have liked to do that sooner but stopping most of the bleeding took priority. After roughly three sessions of the hot ax against what was left by the missing part of my foot, the bleeding stopped. I took deep breaths as the morphine started to kick in and take the edge off the pain.

This was awful. Why was I so fine on the other floors, and it's only now that I’m taking so much damage, both mentally and physically. Was it because it is the final push, and the floors here truly are just trying to kill me?

I had no way to know for now. The only way I could get those answers was if I made it to the bottom.

Three floors remained.