Besides making sure Boris and Cherub had started moving, Lucian didn’t pay them any more mind as he ran.
Taking a moment to fumble his backpack on, he threw a glance over his shoulder at the same time; a shiver of fear racing down his spine as he met what looked like innumerable crimson stars in a pitch black sea.
He could have sworn the swarm, this time around, was far larger than the one before, but he wasn’t suicidal enough to stick around to count them out.
Eerily still black leaves blurred by in his peripherals as his booted feet kicked up small surges of water with each step. He caught up to the brown-clad man and bearded giant after several moments and started running alongside them; Transient Cardinal and Tsumiki just ahead.
“Dude, where the hell did the rats come from?” Unable to help himself, Cherub asked Lucian the question burning in his mind.
Lucian sent him a side-eyed look, annoyance briefly sparking to life in his chest. “They just appeared out of nowhere, but now’s really not a good time for questions is it?”
Though Cherub kept running, he couldn’t prevent his free hand from sheepishly rubbing at the back of his neck. “Sorry man. I know it’s not, but I just had to ask, you know?”
Lucian’s annoyance was doused at the short apology. “Don’t sweat it. Sorry for snapping at you, I get why you’re asking. But let’s focus on running the fuck out of here, yeah?”
“Watch out! There are Shadowborn Skullkers up ahead!”
Before Cherub could give a reply, Julia’s warning rang out from quite a distance ahead; dark blonde strands and crimson fabric peeking out from the dispersing mist like an ephemeral spectre.
The sound of crunching bones came hot on the heels of her warning, promptly providing ample proof of her claim to those further behind who had yet to glimpse the serpentine monstrosities for themselves.
“Fuck. Could things get any worse?” Lucian muttered under his breath even as he put on a burst of speed, five Shadowborn Skullkers—and Julia’s evasive form—appearing out of the fog soon thereafter.
As if someone had overheard and taken the raven-haired man’s comment as a personal challenge, a single tendril of Bloodthirst Briar struck out from the mists overhead and lashed at Julia’s back.
Seeing this happen in what felt like slow motion, Lucian’s lips parted, about to shout a warning, when ablur of white intercepted the vine; Transient Cardinal batting away the questing plant life with a deft flick from her table leg.
Perception of the world sped back up in Lucian’s eyes. Just as it did, Tsumiki, having been trailing a step behind the white-haired waif, jumped up before coming back down on the tendril with a double-footed stomp – grounding it with a splash.
Coming up on the ebony-haired girl moments after she landed, Lucian’s left hand slipped into his hoodie’s right pocket, pulled out a Bloodsucking Thorn, and came to a sliding, kneeling stop as he staked the tendril with a momentum-fuelled downward thrust.
Uncaring what became of the vine, he only made sure it was firmly rooted before springing back up onto his feet. Not needing any further encouragement, Tsumiki took off at the same time.
Meanwhile, due to the raven-haired man’s brief stop, Boris and Cherub had already overtaken him and were busy engaged in a four on five scrimmage; swiftly bashing in Shadowborn Skullker skulls alongside Julia and Transient Cardinal.
Of note was the white-haired waif’s more cautious approach. As a consequence of the Hungering Rodents’ sudden appearance, she hadn’t had the time to retrieve her impaled, jagged table leg, leaving her with the more rounded counterpart.
Even if she’d had the time, Transient Cardinal wasn’t sure if she would have been able to retrieve an intact weapon regardless. Recalling the Apostate Wraith’s fall even as she hopped back and avoided a lunge from a single Shadowborn Skullker, she was pretty sure her weapon had shattered under the humanoid’s weight.
Just as she was about to retaliate with a quick downward strike, Lucian dashed from behind her and landed an overhead smash with his end table, crushing the recovering monstrosity’s eyeballs and reducing its skull to smithereens.
“Thanks~!”
Aiming a thumbs up Transient Cardinal’s way, Lucian didn’t waste any more time and headed for Julia and one of the two remaining alive Shadowborn Skullkers; ears picking up the ever increasing volume of malicious chittering echoing from what sounded like only metres behind.
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After quickly dispatching the last two Shadowborn Skullkers, the party of six started off once more. The tide of dog-sized rats dogged their every weary step, an incessant symphony of chitters and splashes heralding their approach.
From time to time, an errant tendril of Bloodthirst Briar would abruptly snake out from the light mist; whether it be from the left, right, or above, the increasing rays of warm sunlight starkly contrasting against the sinister plant life.
The biggest issue wasn’t the occasional tendrils, however. Every few metres or so, another bunch of Shadowborn Skullkers would reappear out of thin air.
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Fortunately for the six-person party, they only ever appeared in numbers lesser than the fingers on a single hand. It allowed them to gang up on them, two-on-one, and rapidly dispatch the monstrosities.
Unfortunately, no matter how fast they did so, their speeds would fall, allowing the black furred tide to catch up, bit by bit.
Lucian threw another panicked glance over his shoulder as deep, heavy breaths left his mouth. At a glance, he guessed the van of the Hungering Rodent tide was three metres or so from his back.
Compared to the initial distance of at least ten metres, their current distance was a discouraging one.
“Do you see a break in the briars yet Julia?!” He yelled after facing back forward, faintly hoping her answer would be an affirmative one this time.
“For the umpteenth bloody time… NO!” She yelled back, clearly ticked off, obvious both through her words and tone.
To be fair, he couldn’t judge her for it. Ever since slaying the first swarm of Shadowborn Skullkers, everyone had asked her the same question at least once; some of them even asking her more than that, Cherub most prolific of the lot.
Just as Lucian was about to respond, rapid movement out of his peripherals got him to shut his mouth and glance Transient Cardinal’s way – just in the nick of time to watch her duck down while striking upwards, intercepting another ambushing tendril before it could slice her shoulder.
Before the plant life could recover and attack a second time, he hurriedly took out a Bloodsucking Thorn—the last one in his hoodie’s pockets, judging from what his fingers felt—and threw it at the vine. At the same time, Transient Cardinal, seeing what her Knight had done, didn’t try attacking the black-leaved tendril a second time and started running once again; confident his throw would be accurate like all the times before.
Lucian didn’t bother looking after his Bloodsucking Thorn, certain it would land on target based on his prior experiences with throwing projectiles.
Focusing back on the path ahead, he saw Boris swat another questing Bloodthirst Briar tendril aside, the bearded giant using his canvas-and-chain-attached end tables as proper close combat—if still makeshift—weapons.
Before it could recover, the behemoth of a man and Tsumiki ran out of its rough striking range; Lucian and Transient Cardinal following hot on the former two’s heels not even a second later.
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As the raven-haired man continued running, fatigue clawed at his thighs and calves, lungs burning from the lack of proper—even if short-lived—rest ever since leaving the first enclosed clearing what felt like hours ago.
While the dull throbbing in his side had disappeared earlier, it was now back with a vengeance and making breathing all the harder. He was tempted to ask Julia if a break out of the sixth concentric circle had appeared, but—only just—held off after a moment’s worth of thought.
It hadn’t been long since he last asked, for one, and anyway, it was better to save his breath and energy for when another swarm of Shadowborn Skullkers inevitably appeared.
Lucian also swore he could feel the breath of the innumerable number of Hungering Rodents on the back of his neck, so saving energy to get out of dodge was an attractive prospect right about now.
Although the tide should be further away based on his last check, he had a feeling the van of the swarm was scant inches away at this point. He was pretty sure they would catch up if the party experienced another significant delay, but he held out hope that an exit out of the maze would show up before then.
A blur of black and crimson seen out of the corner of his right eye caused Lucian’s corresponding arm to rise instinctively, intercepting another tendril of Bloodthirst Briar mid-ambush as it wrapped around his end table’s thin stand; crimson thorns a hair’s breadth away from slicing his fingers as it did.
Jerking his hand down, he tried to yank his improvised mace free as quickly as possible…
SNAP!
Only for the plant life to constrict in concert and dig its thorns all the deeper until his end table’s thin wooden stand snapped in twain with a sharp crack.
Lucian couldn’t help but gape at the broken off segment of jagged wood even as he ran, the circular top and the upper portions of stand falling into the remaining amounts of water with a loud splash. Thankfully, said splash knocked him out of his stupor and got him to speed back up.
“I see a break! Hang in there!” Julia shouted, cutting through the lingering traces of stupefaction still nipping at the edges of his mind.
Snapping his neck up and jerking his eyes away from his more-than-slightly halved end table, he saw what the honey blonde had; a larger than usual break in the righthand wall of densely woven leaves.
Moments after her shouted announcement, Julia disappeared around the bend while fending off a last thorny tendril of Bloodthirst Briar with a swift parry.
As Cherub went past, he lashed out with a backhand swing from his chair leg, knocking the plant life even further back and giving Boris and Tsumiki the chance to dash past; both disappearing around the bend a moment later.
Lucian reversed his hold on his broken stand, flat, circular base taking the place of its larger, topside counterpart.
“Cardinal, duck!” He gritted his teeth, ignoring the stabbing pain from wooden splinters digging into his palm as he abruptly spun to the left, broken end table extended out, and smashed its base into the still recovering vine.
Just before he started his movement, aforenamed young woman ducked as commanded; broken stand and flat base whooshing above her head and slightly ruffling the sodden white strands.
Following through with his spin, Lucian roughly transitioned back into a sprint while taking advantage of the opportunity to check on the Hungering Rodents current position.
Like he had feared, a distance no longer than his arm’s length separated the van of the swarm from his back; the raven-haired man easily able to see the mindless hunger gleaming in innumerable beady crimson depths.
A cold shiver raced down his spine while panic coursed through his blood. Sprinting around the bend, he was welcomed with an arched passage identical to the one he had entered after exiting Galaxia.
He felt as if he had just found a hope-fuelled second wind and put on a burst of speed. At the back of his mind, he hoped the swarm would finally stop its pursuit now that the way out was nigh.
…
The fact that the close-to-constant splashes coming from behind didn’t let up by even a touch instantly extinguished any such hopes.
Seeing that the others had fanned out slightly and were already a third of the way to the exit, he focused on the path ahead and intended to catch up as soon as possible; Transient Cardinal sprinting only a step ahead.
15 metres to the exit remained, before there was only 10. 9, 7, then 5 metres passed by in what felt like a flash, Cherub and Julia exiting only scant seconds before that.
As Boris and Tsumiki dashed out under the arched exit’s tangled threshold, Transient Cardinal was only a metre behind, with Lucian running only a step behind her.
Unbeknownst to the raven-haired man, the vanguard of the tidal wave of Hungering Rodents was a mere hand span away from his back.
Just as the white-haired waif flashed out of the maze, one of said dog-sized rats seemed to have had enough and jumped, maw agape and claws extended – straight on a collision course with Lucian’s unguarded back.
““KNIGHT! DUCK!””
Lucian instantly reacted at the duo of screamed warnings. Instead of ducking, as suggested, he pushed off the ground and lunged while bending his upper body forward, body posture making it look like he was taking a dive.
The moment he sailed over the shadow cast by the tangled, briar-made arch, he cast his broken end table aside and tucked in on himself, curling up into a ball and preparing to roll.
At the same time, he felt a strong gust blow across his back and ruffle his hair just before four lines of fire bloomed across the right side of his back, making him clench his jaw so he wouldn’t scream.
Even before his body touched down once again, sounds of combat had re-ensued, even if only for a brief moment – something he thought about while popping up from his roll in a plume of watery mud before scanning the area behind, rays of sunlight warmly caressing his face.
A thin film of pitch black energy, sporting crimson striations throughout its plane, had appeared and blocked off the entire arched passage’s entrance; all the sound from beyond having vanished in concert with the obscuring, opaque veil.
Before he could look away and start taking in the new area he found himself in, Lucian felt a gentle, delicate touch against his back even as Transient Cardinal’s pleasant voice streamed into his left ear, while an emotionless, mechanical voice, one he hadn’t heard for what seemed like an age, droned in his right.
“Stand still, my Knight. Let me look at your injuries.”
> Congratulations on reaching the centre of the Nightmare Dormitories, Player.
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> At this point in the journey, we here, at Nightmares Unlimited, are certain that you are aware of your final destination.
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> When the Sun sets and the full Moon rises, go Northeast and walk down the path illuminated by firelight. Things will become clearer when you do.
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> Rest assured. Your safety is guaranteed while you remain within this area.
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> In the meantime, we invite you to explore Heavenly Constellation Spire and take advantage of the facilities available within. You will need any advantages you can get for your last trial.
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> And who knows? Perhaps, the answers you have sought are closer at hand than you might expect.