Lucian carefully ran his fingers across his trusty end table’s thin cylindrical stand, tongue clicking at the deep indents and accompanying cracks scarring the wood from the Shadowborn Skullker’s bone-shattering bite.
Rolling his shoulders while doing so, he temporarily relieved some of the pressure acting on them from the close to full capacity brown backpack.
Even in the heat of combat, he had known the damage done was extensive. Finally having some time to actually check over it now made it very clear how… extensive it truly was, however.
From what he could tell, one more bite like that landing on the same spot would result in an unusable end table from then on.
Done with his checks and certain his improvised mace would be able to hold up in the face of future, inevitable encounters—for now—he let his left arm fall and hang loosely by his side while snugly tucking his right hand back into his hoodie’s right pocket; tiredly waiting for the others as he listlessly looked around.
…
Despite the raven-haired man’s internal castigations to the contrary, things had gone smoothly for the others while he had been dealing with his own foes.
Even at a glance, such became clear when the others were alive and well; only the remains of Hungering Rodents and Shadowborn Skullkers floating lifelessly in the chilly, shin-high waters.
While injuries had been incurred over the course of the fight, Transient Cardinal had quickly assessed them to be light scrapes, at the very worst.
As a result, besides retrieving any items used during the fight, the sixsome had nothing else to do except wait for the spoils of war, as it were, to appear.
Once aforementioned loot had appeared more than a minute later, the party divvied them up—comprising a hefty 12 Shadow-imbued Bonedusts, 5 measly Hollow Vertebra, and 6 Runes of Insatiable Hunger [Shard]—before setting off.
If the group had hoped to face no further resistance on their trek, then the wave, after wave, after wave of hostile creatures that met them head on would have violently dissuaded them from such an optimistic notion.
Comprising a mix of Hungering Rodents and Shadowborn Skullkers, the third and fourth wave, each one consisting of close to a dozen monsters, were handled without much issue.
The fifth one, unfortunately, was where things suddenly diverged – and most definitely not in a good way.
While things had seemed promising at the start, what with there being ten monsters instead of the standard twelve they had encountered so far, a sudden ambush from a pair of Eyes around the Corner had nearly caused the situation to devolve into complete chaos – with fatal consequences, to boot.
The only reason it hadn’t was because one of those targeted by said creature was the white-haired waif.
With her Instinct implant, she had managed to get a split second’s worth of warning before a freezing ray of hoarfrost had been fired at her; more than enough time for the young woman to get out of dodge.
Cherub, the unlucky sod, had been the other target. On the bright side, the attack had pretty much announced the specific location of the Eyes around the Corner – which as it turned out, were sneakily hidden amidst the dense tangle of Bloodthirst Briars, one each to either side.
Due to their blood red sclera, the pair of eyeballs had camouflaged themselves far too well. Only their yellow irises would have given them away, and that was only if someone was actually trying to look for them to begin with.
Once their locations had been revealed, it had become a far simpler task to dispatch them – lethally.
Because at this point in the party’s journey, most—if not all—of them had already acquired a Bloodsucking Thorn – an item which, as Lucian had proved with Sacrificial Stakes of both the Cursed and uncursed variety, were perfectly shaped to moonlight as deadly projectiles and especially fit for piercing eyeballs.
…
“Are you sure that you’re alright, Sir Knight?”
Lucian was jerked out of his tired daze by Transient Cardinal’s concerned voice right next to his ears. Eyes darting down to the white-haired waif, he gave her his full attention even as his brain slowly digested her inquiry.
Finally doing so after several awkward seconds, he answered in the affirmative. “I’m absolutely sure Cardinal. It’s my body, you know?”
She huffed lightly, trying to act annoyed but only sounding fatigued as she did. “There’s nothing wrong with making sure, is there?”
“There isn’t.” He nodded, before looking her up and down concernedly. “But I think I should be the one asking you that. You don’t sound too good.”
She offered him a weary thumbs up, digit running parallel to one of her table legs. “No need to worry. I just want to be out of the maze as soon as possible.”
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“Don’t we all.”
So engrossed in their conversation, the raven-haired man and white-haired waif failed to notice the honey blonde’s unhidden approach until she spoke up.
Head snapping towards Julia, Lucian’s neckbones cracked loudly as a result of the violent movement. Before he could speak, Transient Cardinal beat him to it.
“I’m guessing the others are finally done with quibbling over the test tubes of Abyssal Vitreous then.” She asked sharply, tone of disapproval crystal clear to any who heard it.
Julia forced out a laugh while twirling a wet strand of dark blonde hair around her index finger. “Quibbling is a bit… too strong of a word, don’t you think? But yes, they’re done. The two healing liquids ended up with Boris and Cherub in the end, for your information.”
Knowing from past conversations that his white-haired partner had a surprisingly cutting tongue hidden behind her delicate visage, the raven-haired man jumped in and offered his two cents before she could rebut.
“Honestly, I’m just glad that they’re done. I think that we’ve stayed stationary for far too long as it is. I feel like we’re simply asking for trouble if we don’t get a move on soon.”
Transient Cardinal nodded firmly but remained silent, sodden mass of white hair loudly slapping against her waterlogged coat.
Julia nodded at the same time, but also responded back with a verbal follow up. “That’s very true. Let’s start moving first then? The other three are pretty much right behind us anyway.”
“Sure.”
“Okay~.”
----------------------------------------
Much like the honey blonde had said, Boris, Cherub, and Tsumiki caught up to them not long after they had set off; the trio slotting into their usual positions without a word.
Part of Lucian had expected the next wave of creatures to appear out of the mist while the party was separated. Luckily for him, his pessimistic thoughts didn’t align with reality – at least, this time.
Sweeping his eyes from left to right, he made sure to look out for any yellow irises hiding amongst the Bloodthirst Briars, fully intending to snipe them pre-emptively and before they could ambush his group.
While anything used in such a way could become irretrievable—as his lost uncursed Sacrificial Stake could attest to—he felt like it was a worthy sacrifice, considering how lethal an Eye around the Corner could prove to be at an inopportune, pivotal moment.
At least he had several Bloodsucking Thorns proverbially on hand, so it wasn’t like he lacked projectiles to puncture some eyeballs. As the thought flashed across his mind, he palmed one of the thorns in question; rigid plant matter feeling reassuringly smooth against his skin.
Letting go of said Bloodsucking Thorn after a moment, his thumb started rubbing over the four projectiles stashed away in his hoodie’s front right pocket even as he stopped looking from side to side and focused on the path ahead for a while.
As he trudged through the muddy waters, he repeated the cycle several times but failed to spot anything of note; whether beneficial or detrimental.
The monotonous repetition started wearing down his nerves by the sixth cycle, something he realised wouldn’t help at the back of his mind. Luckily—or unluckily—for Lucian, a gruff shout from Boris made it glaringly clear another wave of creatures had arrived.
“Enemies are incoming. Brace yourselves.”
Perking up at the call, he brought his end table up in a guarding position while palming a Bloodsucking Thorn in his right hand before slipping it out.
Instead of focusing on the creatures’ frontal assault, he carefully scrutinised the Bloodthirst Briars’ depths, looking for a splash of yellow amongst the sea of black and beads of crimson – knowing the others could handle the upfront attackers.
While doing so, he reminded himself to replenish his supply of thorns. If things kept up at this rate, he was going to run out of easily accessible ones, soon.
“There’s only nine monsters here! Look out for any Eyes around the Corner Lucian, and leave the rest to us!” Julia exclaimed, erasing any of his doubts about the potential existence of Eyes around the Corner nearby.
Based on the flashes of matted black fur he could see from the corner of his eyes, it looked like Julia and Boris had already begun engaging the frontmost creatures.
Paying it no more mind, he focused back on the dense tangle of black leaves, trying to pierce through the veil of light mists to find splashes of yellow.
His eyes darted from side to side, each square inch of the bramble’s depths scrutinised before he checked over the next. Close to half a minute must have passed before he spotted his quarry; dark blue shimmer of its pupil giving it away.
Panic shot through his system at the sight. Quickly tracking its line of sight, he realised it was focused right on Julia’s back. Only having a split second to warn her of such, he shouted. “JULIA, DUCK!”
Even as the pair of words left his mouth, his right arm was cocking back, eyes focused on the lone-eyed creature as he aimed. Less than a second later, he let the Bloodsucking Thorn fly with a forceful throw.
In the meantime, having immediately heeded Lucian’s warning, the honey blonde dropped to her knees and splashed down into the waters.
Almost in concert, a crystal blue ray of jagged energy zipped a hair’s breadth above her crown and froze a patch of Bloodthirst Briars beyond her frame.
While she was distracted, a Hungering Rodent lunged at her throat… only for Boris to bat it aside with contemptuous ease; Binding Chain-entangled end table punting it to the side with a chorus of cracks leaving its frame.
“Thanks!”
While Lucian took note of the honey blonde’s appreciation, he didn’t respond; too focused on watching his Bloodsucking Thorn fly and pierce his target, popping it without any fanfare.
He immediately restarted his scrupulous, inch by inch scrutiny of the bramble’s depths thereafter…
Only for Transient Cardinal’s cry to alert him to where the next one was hiding.
“There’s an Eye over here Knight!”
Twisting around to look at the white-haired waif, he ran over while his eyes followed her pointing table leg even as she fended off a Shadowborn Skullker that continuously sprung out of the waters with her other table leg.
“Got it!” He said, once he had found his target.
Hearing his confirmation, she stopped using her table leg as a directional marker and focused back on stabbing at the serpentine monstrosity harassing her.
While splashing over, the raven-haired man quickly surveyed the battlefield, taking in how everyone was faring.
Cherub and Tsumiki were tag-teaming a pair of Shadowborn Skullkers, the latter letting out wide, sweeping blows with her improvised flail while the former darted in and out during the gaps and landed quick thrusts with his splintered chair leg.
Judging from the corpses at their feet, their cooperation was proving fruitful.
In contrast, it looked like Julia was busy brutalising a Hungering Rodent while Boris guarded her back; pair of end tables whirling to either of his sides even as gentle raindrops were deflected off their spinning surfaces.
Much like the prior pair, the mix of ebony fragments and motionless, dog-sized rats made it clear that things were being handled on their end.
Even while digesting his observations, Lucian’s right hand wasn’t idle.
Palming his sole remaining accessible Bloodsucking Thorn—and making a note of such at the back of his mind—he drew it out of his hoodie’s pocket and took aim at the splash of yellow hiding in the lefthand wall of brambles.
Once absolutely certain that he was accurate, he threw the glossy thorn at it. Aligning with his expectations, the piercing projectile impaled the Eye around the Corner moments later, causing it to explode with ichor spraying outwards and liberally coating nearby black leaves with an obvious crimson sheen.
He spun away, hoping that two Eyes around the Corner were all there was, and quickly darted over to Transient Cardinal; seeing that she was exchanging blows with a solitary Hungering Rodent at the moment.
Before either could react, he swapped his end table back to his right hand and rapidly brought it down on the black-furred rat’s spine, bones arching inwards with a loud crack even as an agonised squeal left its snout.
Pouncing on the opportunity, the white-haired waif dashed forward in a plume of frigid water, pair of table legs held out in front of her like the tip of a spear.
With the momentum of her charge, the weapons were driven into the dazed vermin’s beady eyes almost effortlessly, each one nearly being driven up to where her hands grasped their wooden surfaces while a spray of blood and gooey mush exploded out from the dual points of impact.
In fact, the impact was so violent that a stray bit of burst eyeball landed on Transient Cardinal’s flushed right cheek; the gore sliding down her porcelain skin and leaving behind a slimy trail of liquid that was only washed away a beat later.
“Ewww!” She yelped instantly, reflexively dropping one of her table legs to swipe at the affected spot.
Lucian bit back a laugh at the sight but couldn’t prevent his lips from curling up in amusement; misplaced as it was.
Looking away so she wouldn’t see it, he focused on the others but realised they were done – or close to it, at any rate.
Sweeping another careful glance over the Bloodthirst Briars, he relaxed only after making sure there weren’t any more hidden Eyes around the Corner.
Knowing the drill at this point, the raven-haired man proceeded towards the front and took up watch even as behind him, Transient Cardinal finished wiping at her cheek and begun flitting from person to person, making sure all was well.
< End of Gauntlet Five: Blast from the Past. >