Chapter 166: The line drawn between Deviant and Summoner

Words : 1230 Updated : Oct 10th, 2025

Chapter 166: The line drawn between Deviant and Summoner Kairos held his breath, heart pounding like a war drum in his chest. With deliberate caution, he kicked at his makeshift stove, scattering the rocks that housed the weak flame. His foot pushed against the embers with just enough force to snuff out the fire, the soles of his shoes doing their best to smother the last glowing hints of heat. Smoke hissed faintly as it met the dampness of dirt. He dared not breathe too loudly—every sound, every motion, felt like a betrayal in this desolate, dangerous pit. No matter how quiet he was, it didn’t matter. The scorpion beast, that monstrous deviant from the abyss, was far too perceptive. It could feel the vibrations in the ground. And it was closing in. Fast. Kairos heard it before he saw it—the rapid thump of its multi-legged dash, claws raking against the earth as it surged toward the very rock he crouched behind. The air turned heavy, filled with the primal dread of prey sensing a predator too close for comfort. Something deep within him whispered an unwelcome truth. There was no use in hoping it had missed him. ’I can still surprise the beast and make a run for it with Shadow Swap,’ he thought grimly, sinking even closer to the cold stone. He pressed himself into the narrow space between the wall and the boulder, the one reason he had chosen this spot in the first place—it could conceal him entirely if he made himself small enough, if he could become just a breath in the wind. This gamble—this breathless waiting—was his single hope. The soft footfalls abruptly halted. Silence swelled like a drum stretched too tight, seconds thickening into eternity. And then it appeared. The massive scorpion’s body loomed directly above him, casting an ominous shadow as it perched atop the boulder. Dust crumbled down the side, pattering over Kairos’s back like the tapping fingers of death. Its many eyes twitched independently, scanning in every direction. Its mandibles clicked together in a chittering sound, unnatural and dissonant, like bone scraping metal. The sound sent a cold pulse down his spine, causing his arms to tremble uncontrollably. Of all the places it could have gone—why here? Why directly above his head? Kairos’s throat tightened. He didn’t dare move an inch. One misplaced breath, one twitch, and he would be done for. He was sure of it. If it had seen him earlier—if it had already marked him—the outcome was death. Plain and simple. He wouldn’t be fast enough. Not fast enough to Shadow Swap. Not fast enough to live. He swallowed his fear and prayed. ’Please let it be unable to see me or sense me, oh Lord.’ The moment hung frozen. Then— {The Blind Child Sees No Path has received a new Aspect} {Seen by no Beast} The glowing text flickered across his vision like a divine whisper, and just like that, the creature snarled—low and confused—and dismounted from the boulder. Its legs skittered as it turned away and began retreating into the distance, back toward the direction of its dark and cavernous nest. Kairos waited. And waited. Just to be sure, he invoked the Eye of Clairvoyance, calling upon its vision-enhancing clarity to follow the beast’s movements. His eyes burned with ethereal light as the world shifted to reveal what normal vision could not. The scorpion was truly leaving. Its rage sizzled in the air, but its attention had been diverted elsewhere. "Thank God," Kairos whispered, letting out the breath he had dared not release for far too long. He sank against the boulder, limbs sagging with exhaustion and silent relief. The ruined remains of his cooked meal—if it could even be called that—lay in the dirt nearby. The egg he had risked so much to obtain had been singed, then spoiled by dust, rocks, and scattered ash. Its yellowed, half-cooked contents oozed out like lost hope. No longer edible. He grimaced, eyes narrowed in frustration, stomach still growling. ’They say a good meal can kill... who would have thought it was so literal,’ he mused, lips curling into a humorless smirk. Shifting his attention, he opened his status screen, eyes falling on the newly updated title. {The Blind Child Sees No Path} Aspects: 1. Eye of Clairvoyance 2. Seen by no Beast His eyes narrowed as he focused on the new aspect, calling forth its description. {Seen by no Beast: You are likely to be less detectable by beasts, deviants, or any living entity that relies on primal instinct. However, once you are detected, this skill deactivates entirely until the target loses sight of you for five minutes.} Kairos frowned. The words echoed in his mind—but one word in particular gnawed at him. Likely. That single word turned promise into possibility. It meant the skill wasn’t guaranteed. It was a chance. A coin toss. Fifty-fifty. The difference between life and death, and all determined by probability. In situations like this, Kairos had no choice but to treat the aspect as a liability instead of a reliable gift. Trusting it too deeply could lead to ruin. Then the world screamed. KRIEEEKKKK!! A blood-curdling shriek echoed through the cavernous pit, loud enough to shake the stones and drown out even the relentless howl of the wind. The scorpion had discovered the truth. One of its precious eggs—its unborn children—had been taken, cracked, cooked, and wasted. The beast was enraged. It shrieked again, the sound vibrating deep into Kairos’s chest. Night was almost upon them, and with the setting of the sun, the sound grew even more piercing—amplified by the creeping cold, bouncing off the pit walls like a siren of vengeance. But Kairos, still hidden, merely closed his eyes. The deviant had no idea who had done it. And for now, that was all that mattered. The monstrous creature flailed and struck at the walls in fury, its thick tendrils lashing out, tail carving gashes into the stone. The force of its tantrum shook the very boulder Kairos leaned against. He tensed, praying that the ceiling wouldn’t collapse, that debris wouldn’t rain down and bury them both in a tomb of stone and regret. But then, the noise stopped. The beast’s instincts kicked in. It realized—if it kept thrashing like this, it might damage the rest of its nest. The remaining eggs. It could lose more than it already had. And so, silence returned. But silence, Kairos knew, was never peace. The beast was merely conserving its wrath, storing it like venom in its stinger, waiting for the next fool to walk blindly into its domain. Kairos, too, learned something vital in that moment. Just because a monster wasn’t striking out didn’t mean it wasn’t still hungry for blood. Just because he had survived this time didn’t mean he had fed enough on luck to be full. His hand brushed his stomach, the hunger still there, gnawing at his insides. He looked again at the half-ruined egg and scoffed. No... he hadn’t had nearly enough of omelets. The dark venom of hope and the Blind Child who sees no path had only just begun their strange communion. Their twisted dance of survival in a world where madness and monsters ruled. And at the end of this bond, only one would live to remember it.

Chapter 166: The line drawn between Deviant and Summoner

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