8.

The Hall of Justice had broken down doors, shattered splinters of wood strewn about the entrance. A corpse lay draped over a metal rail, the black robes of a Justice wet with blood as her bloodless face peered up sightlessly toward the smoke choked skies. Erak walked past the Justice and into the dark halls, Nevia and her platoon lagging behind as the two professors, Adjudicators, and commissar fell behind.

Erak didn’t wait for them to rally their courage as he bulldozed into the depths. As a child he had always been weary of the Halls of Justice and the grotesque gargoyles that had lined the entrance. Old superstitions that they could see the sins of the defendants as they walked into the depths had propagated even into the far North. Now they were nothing more than broken masonry, littering the ground.

Adjudicators, Justices, and defendants alike littered the ground in a thick carpet, guilt and innocence caring little in death’s embrace. The only thing that cared was the toad-like demon perched on a Justice’s still form, jaws wet and extended as it ate noisily.

Hellspawn Scavenger lvl. 7

Erak stabbed it as the wide eyed demon looked at him, its luminescent green eyes glowing as it smiled toothily at him. It ducked to the side, six hooked legs dragging it off the dead body quickly to avoid spear thrust. Erak didn’t hesitate, lifting his boot as his momentum carried him closer to the scavenger. He stomped down, boot crushing the spongy flesh as the scavenger popped in an explosion that drenched his legs.

A pungent aroma arose as it died, sulfur and rotting flesh mingling in an unholy stench. All around the dim hall, more and more eyes rose up, the quiet sounds of their feasting fading away. Erak shook his boot, trying to dispel some of the dead carrion eater’s innards off of his foot.

Caster fire lit the hall, shadows dancing as the few remaining gargoyles leered above them. Erak marched forward, dragging Essence around him to project his aura as he speared down at one of the other scavengers. The hall descended into chaos as the soldier’s fire burnt away the scores of scavengers before he could reach them.

Nevia’s voice rang over the screams of the dying scavenger screams as she coordinated her fire lanes to cover every inch of the welcoming hall. Erak felt a bolt caress his pauldron, the heat tickling his flesh as he kept moving. Every now and then he would stab a scavenger, but he left the little monsters for the soldiers and Adjudicators behind him.

“Adjudicator Gregor! Front and center!” Nevia bellowed as the firing finally stopped and the smell of cooked meat now mingled unpleasantly with the monster’s odor.

The Adjudicator who had talked to them outside of the hall came forward, towering over Nevia as he scanned the hall, clutching his baton tightly. Erak looked back toward them, waiting for Gregor to give him the directions to the back loading bay.

“We have to go through temporary holding, then the bullpen, and down a maintenance corridor. Take the first right and then follow the hall, plenty of signs.” Gregor emphasized his words with his baton, stabbing it in the way they needed to move.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Excellent. Gregor, stay next to me. Polroy, your squad on rearguard. Adjudicators, Professors, stay in the middle of the formation. Commissar, I request that you position yourself there as well. Sergeant Constance you have lead behind Lord Bloodsworn. Do not shoot him again.”

A series of affirmations came rattling through, all of the non-commissioned officers agreeing while a young woman looked ashen faced as she stared at Erak’s singed pauldron. Everyone slid into their positions and Erak’s foot began to tap impatiently while he waited.

“We are ready, Lord Bloodsworn,” Nevia said. Erak burst into motion treading over corpses as the dark grew deeper and deeper until his eyes strained to see anything more than shapes. The ragged breaths of the soldiers behind him heightened as they grew more nervous as they lost their fields of vision.

Erak turned the corner and all light fled, darkness surrounding him. He froze for a second, hoping that his eyes would adjust now that his senses were stronger. They didn’t.

Erak lifted his spear in front of himself like a cane and kept moving forward. Something shuffled ahead of him, moving flesh hitting the ground, talons scraping marble. Erak moved, lifting his spear to waist height and charging forward with his shield protecting his neck and head.

A bestial roar filled the hall, a scream dredged from a primordial time as something large shifted in the dark. Electricity tugged his guts, fear and excitement thrusting him forward as he roared at the monster in return.

Weight smashed into him. Pressure crushed him as he lost his feet and felt a wall crater beneath him. His spear dug into flesh and that thing screamed again. Erak grunted as he was pushed up the wall, out of the crater that had formed underneath him.

He hammered down with the shield, the tip of the bottom of the kite shield stabbing. Blood sprayed across him as he lifted the shield and struck again and again. In the darkness he could do little but keep hitting, striking with shield and fist, spear lost in the shuffle of the fight.

Talons shrieked across his rare grade armor, sparks flickering off him to die inches away. A bolt from a caster lit the hall, burning Erak’s eyes as he got a firm glimpse at the monster pinning him to the wall. Green pebbled skin, long teeth, red claws grasping at him.

The caster bolt hit the monster and the light disappeared as fast as it had come. Erak punched at where he had seen the monster’s beady eye had been. Something squished under his fist and the resulting scream was pain and not a challenge of dominance. Erak smiled even as his ribs groaned as the beast continued to squeeze him.

Erak straightened his fingers, forming a dagger hand and stabbed straight down. The dull metal around the gauntlets met malleable flesh and Erak scooped outwards as the beast began to thrash, finally releasing him to fall from the wall.

Bolts filled the hallway, one after the other as Erak saw the hunched over monster reeling backward. It bounced off a wall as yellow blood flowed down its stubby snout. Erak’s spear was pinned into a thick thigh, the creature’s bent knees were wide as plates and its two long arms were disproportionate to its body, easily long enough to scrape the ground as it walked.

Erak charged as his heart sang, finally challenged by something. He tackled it, wrapping his wide arms around the creature’s waist as he drove his legs toward the wall. They struck with a teeth rattling impact and Erak grasped the spear protruding from the thigh. He pulled at it, wrenching it free in a twist and spray of blood.

Teeth bit at his shoulder and neck, pain flaring through as the armor was pinched down and tore at his skin. Caster fire was being extinguished all around him as soldiers fired into the ceiling or down the hall rather than risk hitting him. Each flicker of light let Erak aim as he jammed the spear through the center of the short torso of the monster.

It trembled and shook, gasping as death began to claw it free from the material plane. Erak tore and twisted the spear free. The continual screams died as the monster slumped to the ground.

Abyssal Hunter lvl. 10

A decent fight. Erak wished it had been longer. He stepped over the dead creature and kept going down the dark hallway, hoping that there would be another challenge waiting for him.