The author most likely uses the words sinister and panic to convey to the reader a deep sense of
mystery.
humor.
anxiety.
creativity.

the answer is c) anxiety!

anxiety.

explanation:

the word sinister conveys evil, suspicion, lurking, and general negativity.

the word panic conveys a racing heart, a sense of unrest, and also negativity.

if you want, you can imagine a horror story where someone is racing away from a scary monster. the monster is sinister and the character is panicked. would this scene be humorous? mysterious? creative? no. for the most part, it would fill you with anxiety, worry on whether or not this character would escape.

the present continuous is a verb tense which is mainly used to indicates that an action is in progress at the moment of speaking.  

it is formed using: person + verb to be (am/is/are) +verb + - ing form  

example: i am studying at this moment .

in addition, the present continuous is also used in order to express things that will or will not happen in the near future.

example: i am having dinner with some friends tonight.

the speaker sometimes   uses it   to express that an action is repeated and it causes irritation on the part of the speaker

example: my sister is constantly complaining about everything.