Chapter 37

A hammer swung from above, sending one of them flying. Leon kicked with his free leg and hit the next one, which dropped onto the side of Leon’s body. He elbowed it, and then came another hammer strike. Leon tried pushing himself up, but only lodged his hand deeper between the fallen bodies. Two more wolves launched and got sent back by the hammer. Then two boots jumped onto the body beside Leon, and a shield covered his view.

“Get up!” Hert said.

“Can’t,” Leon said and pushed with his leg against the floor.

“Ava,” Hert barked.

The torturer spoke again. “Not that kind of shock. Septic. Blood poisoning.”

“Impossible. You cleaned the instruments, didn’t you?”

“Of course,” he said. “But look at this. Necrosis has started setting in.”

Slim fingers grabbed at Leon’s free arm and tugged. Leon pushed away from the floor and after a few tries, he finally got loose. The shield in Hert’s hand cracked further.

“I can’t hold them anymore,” Hert said as Leon drew up his feet and sat on the still warm but lifeless bodies beneath him. He pressed his legs against them, and his back to the cart, inching himself up. Ava grabbed the backpack and pulled. It came free, without Leon.

Hert smacked a wolf over the jaw, and it sank down. “Don’t grab the pack, idiot! Grab him!”

Ava didn’t answer.

Leon pushed his legs harder and even though the fur slipped underneath his feet, he gained enough steadiness to heave himself up on the cart.

Ava wants to trade Troublemaker for:

Nothing

Do you accept this trade?

[Accept] [Decline]

“Decline!” Leon panted as he came up on the cleaning cart. “I’m up,” he shouted at Hert. He snapped the backpack from Ava.

“Hey!” She tried tugging it back. “That rabbit could save us!”

“It’s not your choice to make!” Leon said, pulling it onto his back. Hert bounced back two more wolves, and stepped toward them, almost stumbling on the skin. Leon swung at the wolves coming at them again, and both fell down on top of Hert, making him stumble.

“Antibiotics?” the woman asked, tapping her nails to the folder.

“It would take hours to get it here. He’d likely be gone by then, and it’s not like we can take him to the hospital.”

Hert pushed the shield over him, and the coming two wolves jumped on top and toward Leon and Ava. She cowered as Leon swung wide. One wolf landed on the cart, and the other fell onto the shield, still alive. Noticing movement, it clawed at the wood. Leon stomped down his foot on the wolf’s stomach. The fur was warm and rasped against his wound.

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“Hert, you okay?” Leon shouted as he stabbed the sword into its throat. It wasn’t enough. It turned and bit his other leg. His knee buckled, but he leaned his back against one of the shelves. A message about bleeding popped up.

“Fine,” Hert’s voice said in a mumble.

Leon gasped at the pain in his leg and stomped his bare foot down again, as hard as he could. Something snapped inside the wolf’s body and it yelped, freeing Leon’s leg. Ava kicked at its head, but it seemed not to notice. Leon struck the sword into the wolf and it snarled.

The woman sighed. “Continue. Maybe he’ll tell us before he goes.”

“P-Problem?” Memory-Hert asked and coughed.

The woman smiled and patted his shoulder, making him wince. “Not at all. I think we’ve found a way to proceed.”

Another wolf launched up beside the other and hit Leon’s body, making him sit on the cart again. The caps burrowed into his muscles as he pressed the swords up toward the new one’s throat. His arms suddenly felt like they were made of lead, and they had five monsters to go.

The scene flickered and dimmed, and then they were back in the same room, but Memory-Hert sat unmoving in the chair.

Ava slapped the wolf over Leon as the other beside them launched at him, but it didn’t do anything. So, she kicked the head. The wolf scratched into Leon’s shoulder as it launched at Ava, and she ducked. It slammed into a shelf and sprawled back, landing on top of the one on Hert’s shield. A crack sounded beneath the cart.

“Shield’s done for,” Hert shouted.

Leon’s heart pounded in his ears, and his vision swam. Still, he stumbled up on his bleeding foot and stabbed both weapons into the wolf beside them, clearing the cart. It toppled over and landed on the two wolves standing on Hert. Even as Leon watched, the two split pieces of wood started to fade away.

Leon cast his eyes toward the memory scene. Hert’s mangled and bloody body didn’t move. They’d soon be thrown back into the stone room, where they could escape through the portal. They didn’t need to beat all monsters, they just needed to get out of here alive.

“Hold on for a little longer,” Leon said. “It’s soon over!”

“What now?” the henchman asked, holding his bloody gloves at his waist. He’d put away the tools.

“Leave him. I’ll get someone to get rid of the body.” The woman tapped her fingernails on her folder. “The department has helped his wife and newborn go into hiding, but I know someone who might be able to find their location. I’ll let you know.”

The man grimaced. “I’m not going to harm a baby.”

“I’m not saying you should. But it might work as a good threat to the mother.”

“What?” Hert screamed. “No, they can’t!” Hert’s hammer shot up, and a wolf tumbled back. He elbowed the other one from his chest and somehow managed to get to his feet.

“Ava, heal me,” Leon said, his vision flashing.

She muttered something about the rabbit.

“Please,” he asked.

A hand touched his shoulder, and the healing message popped up. He could only watch while Hert rammed through the wolves, their focus solely on him, and Hert swinging the hammer from side to side. A wolf bit into Hert’s calf, but he seemed not to have noticed anything except the delay. He flung the hammer into its head and barreled on toward the woman and man.

“Hert, you can’t hurt them!” Leon shouted.

Still, Hert swung, and the hammer went straight through them.

The scene disappeared as Ava’s heal finished, and both Leon and Ava sprawled onto the floor of the stone room. Hert looked around him with furious eyes, from one wolf to the next. The beasts circled him and took turns jumping at him.

Leon sprang forward, swords at his sides, and the stone floor cold against his foot. Hert swung the hammer and hit one, as another jumped up on his back and clenched its teeth into his shoulder, making him scream.

Leon’s body ached, but he pushed through, running into the fold and slashing around, hitting the wolves with less damage, but dividing their attention. He spared a quick look at Ava, who rushed to the side.

“My staff!” she said, picking it up. “Buff Morale!”

Energy filled Leon’s body, and a text popped up as he and Hert felled a wolf each.

‘12 of 12 CHESTS OPENED

76 of 80 MONSTERS SLAIN

PORTAL UNLOCKED’

The remaining chain over the portal rustled and fell onto the floor with a clang before it disappeared. Leon stood with his back against Hert’s, fending off two of the three remaining wolves. Hert pushed the hammer into his wolf’s stomach. It sank down, and he slammed the hammer into the side of its head. It stayed down.

“We did it! Let’s just get to the portal,” Leon huffed, his energy depleting.

“Yeah,” Hert said.

Ava sprang toward it as Leon and Hert beat onto one of the two remaining wolves, and they too ran. Then the other wolf chased them down, forcing them to stop. Leon swung the short sword, and with a clang, it split into pieces, and the wolf snarled at the cut. Leon shifted the wooden dagger into his other hand as Hert pounded the wolf’s head with the hammer. It fell down. Leon kicked at the last one, and Hert banged the stone weapon into its skull. It emitted a dull crack.

“Critical hit?” Leon asked as the wolf slumped.

“I guess,” Hert said. He also breathed heavy.

“I can’t pass through,” Ava said. “The portal won’t let me enter!”

‘79 of 80 MONSTERS SLAIN’