Part 1.
The Pope and high priest were sitting down in a well-furnished room. Dim lighting from candles and the heavy perfume of incense hung in the air. The pope was reclined on a lounge chair, while Eigel was relegated to a stiff armchair that had been in use for far longer than the forty-nine years that he had been alive, and he was concerned that the weight he had added around his midsection may finally retire it. The reason the two of them had convened in the private quarters of his holiness was to discuss the three heroes that they had sent into the tomb underneath Aquaria, and the possibility of them not coming out alive.
“What do you mean there are more than skeletons and ghouls down there?”
“What did you not understand?”
“Forgive me father, but that is where we send the new priests, is it not?”
“Of course not. It isn’t like they need any hands-on training; they get that at the college. No, that is just what you were told to tell them, and that is all on the matter.”
“What if they don’t come back alive?”
“Then we will have to work on summoning more of them. Do try to keep up.”
Eigel was speechless. Summoning one hero at a time was normally a once-in-an-age magic, this time they had been lucky enough this time to get three. While their stats, compared to the previous two seemed a bit lower than the two before, the fact that there were three of them more than made up for it. This had arguably been the most successful hero summoning in history, and the Pope was just willing to write them off so easily. On top of that, where did he plan to get the magic to resummon a new hero from? The magic they had used this time had come from a buildup of excess magic from monster crystals that adventures had brought back to the guild, all of that was now gone. He was beginning to feel distressed about the whole situation.
“My dear holy father, how to plan to acquire the mana for such a summon?”
“Hmm… well, the populace of course.”
Eigel was stunned again. He couldn’t believe his ears. The Pope was the guardian of people’s souls, their go-between with the gods, yet he was willing to so easily just wipe them out. He was lost in thought and didn’t fully catch the Pope’s next words.
“-tyrs...”
“I am sorry father; I think I misheard.”
The Pope let out a groan but spoke again. “As I was saying, in times of crisis, it is expected that there would be martyrs. They should be so happy that they are willing to give up their souls to save the world.”
“I see. You are right.” Eigel wanted to choke on those words. He was sweating profusely. He was terrified of the reality that he was living in. How could the head of the holy order be this… this monster. He felt that the Pope wasn’t even human.
“Did a demon infiltrate the church? Not only that, but did he make it to the very top? How is that possible? Did he have help?”
So many questions were buzzing around within Eigel’s brain that he could feel a migraine coming. He rose to his feet and bowed.
“Forgive me, father, I feel I have taken ill. I ask your permission to excuse myself.”
“Granted.” He replied with a wave of his hand.
“Thank you.” Eigel turned and walked out of the door, leaving the Pope alone in his room.
“He has grown suspicious of you. Time, we find a new high priest?” said a disembodied voice in the background.
“Not yet, he still has his use. After all, he is a genuinely good person and is well-loved by the people. So doing away with him now may hurt us more than help us.” The pope leaned his back over the back of the lounge chair, hanging it upside down. “How was your trip? Bring any fluffiness back for me?”
“How many times do I have to say it, I didn’t take that trip, he did.”
“Aren’t you the same?”
“We were, but we aren’t.”
“So confusing… anyway, where did you go?”
“North. Sloth has the blood now. He was more excited than I’d ever seen him.”
“He is lazy, but when it comes to a new discovery, his curiosity takes over and he becomes quite the fiend.” The Pope lifted his head and turned his head so a cracking sound could be heard throughout the room. He then lifted himself, exaggerating the motions so it seemed slow and tedious.
“I should be going then; I have a meeting to join.” Said the voice.
“Oh, that is a shame. I was just going to ask if you wanted to join me.” A creepy, hideous smile stretched across his face.
“No thanks. If you stuck that thing in me, I’d probably die. You would do better in the stables.”
“Tried that too. The poor mare ended up dying after a few rounds.”
“Why would you do that to yourself?”
“I like watching things squirm, it is the only real pleasure in life.”
“Out of all of you, you are probably the most twisted.”
The Pope smiled even wider. He was grateful for the compliment. He reveled in his sadistic desires, more so than anyone, and the fact that he was in the position he was in, which afforded him the ability, no, the power, to do so. After all, who would challenge the church when the fear of ex-communication, the fear of a demon coming from the nether and dragging you away, loomed over you?
“I do have my desires, but I always make sure that business is done first. You must save the desert for last, that is what mother used to say.”
“I see…” there was a moment when no one spoke. The voice wasn’t sure exactly what to say, and the Pope appeared lost in thought. “The plan for the summons is still the same?”
“Yes, yes. Once they make it through the dungeon, they will be sent to Greed. There they will make their public debut, and the end can finally begin.”
“Will they be enough?”
“Of course, they are Heroes. Their entire existence is about overcoming the impossible. It doesn’t matter how strong he is. They will break their limits.”
“…”
“You are unsure?”
“You weren’t there. They may be from the same place, but his disregard for life… it makes me wonder who the demon really is.”
“That is why it was so important Sloth got the blood. He can begin working on a counter. Greed is laying down the framework for our master’s return, Envy is building up our coffers, and Wrath is…”
“Uncontrollable. It is best to not work him into any plans you are making. Just point him in the right direction and send him off.”
“You don’t give him enough credit. After all, he did topple an empire.”
The voice gave an audible shudder, and the sound of air being sucked through teeth could be heard.
“Bad memories?”
“You can say that. He did kill two of me already. I can only imagine how many more he has done since the other me is out there.”
“As you said, they aren’t you anymore, the best you can do is focus on the present.”
“Huh…”
“What?”
“Who knew? You can give sage-like advice.”
“I am the Pope after all. I do have to act the part.”
For the second time, there was silence in the room. Not that either of them truly minded the silence, but for one of them, the company was a different story.
“Well, I am off.”
“Last chance?”
“No thanks. Your Lust is too much… for anyone.”
The presence that the voice belonged to disappeared leaving the Pope alone in the room and frustrated. He felt like he had just let prey escape, and the frustration and thought of making that prey suffer was stimulating him. He was reaching down, groping himself, but for a man that reveled in such pleasures of the flesh, it wasn’t enough.
“I should have him collect new ones the next time he goes out.”
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Part 2.
On the other side of the portal, Hina found herself inside a small square room of stone. In it was a sing torch which also emitted an ominous purple glow to it. The room was completely bare, with nothing on the wall, and other than herself, it was completely devoid of any life or un-life for that matter. She took a few steps forward before she heard a noise behind her.
“HINA! Uwaah...”
She turned to see the other two just now coming through the portal. They had come through at nearly the same time, so Tachibana, who had gone through last, had tripped over Furuya, and they were now laying in a small pile at the exit of the portal.
“Should I give you two some alone time?”
Tachibana was the first to look up and sneered at the comment, but then relaxed his face. He got up, shoving the smaller boy to the side.
“Not interested in that kind of thing. But, if you ever want some alone time with me, you only need to ask.” He flashed her an obnoxious grin.
“Not really interested in that kind of thing.” She said flatly.
“Does that mean you...?”
“I don’t know. Not really your business either way. Let’s go, Furuya.” She said before turning and walking down the only corridor available to them.
He got to his feet and stole a glance at the Tachibana, who had an irritated expression on his face. Choosing not to engage him, he quickly hurried along to catch up with Hina.
“I’ll get her eventually. I’ll watch her squirm. I’ll kill that arrogant attitude of hers.” He had to reel himself back in. He was worried that his thoughts were being projected on his face, and while the others had left him in the room and gone down the hallway, there was the chance that either she had some kind of magic that allowed her to see in the dark, or that Furuya, being a scout had an ability that allowed him to do the same naturally. He let out a deep exhale to relax before rushing to rejoin the other two.
They had now been walking for a while, occasionally running into undead, either a skeleton or an occasional ghoul, which were usually found inside rooms along the main corridor. The Skeletons were about as threatening as a sheet of soggy paper to them at this point, and the ghouls, other than their speed and slight intelligence, were also not much of a threat. They were grateful for the easy fights though, after each one they felt a surge of energy run through them, and every now and there would actually feel like they had grown stronger.
“Hmm… I am not sure how I feel about leveling up.”
“What do you mean Satō?”
“It feels good right? Like a rush of energy. I am just worried that it could become an addiction. Like how people chase endorphins.”
“What would be wrong about that?”
“Well… think about what it takes to feel that. You have to kill something. Right now, we are just killing monsters, making sure that we destroy their crystals. Who is to say that you wouldn’t get the same feeling after killing something other than monsters? What does it mean to destroy those crystals? I am just worried because we currently lack the most important thing right now.”
“What is that?”
“Information.”
“Right, Tachibana. We have no real information on this world or how things work. It is honestly frightening how we were summoned and then almost immediately thrown into a dungeon.”
“Well, they did give us some good gear beforehand.”
“True, but we weren’t even sure what kind of abilities we had. We are having to learn everything on the fly, in honestly, life or death fights with real monsters. That doesn’t raise any flags for you?”
“Hmm… you have a point. Though Eigel was really nice about it.”
“How are you so dumb when you wear such thick glasses?”
“Glasses have nothing to do with intelligence… and don’t call me dumb.”
“What Satō is saying is… is…”
“Is that everything is moving too quickly, it all feels rushed. Like we are trying to meet some kind of deadline, but at the same time, we are expendable.”
“Your point?”
“I feel like we are some kind of experiment. Like they are testing to first, see if we are really heroes. Two, test to see if we can work together, and three, if we do kick the bucket, test to see how quickly they can summon a new batch.”
“That last one is…”
“Just a feeling. I have no proof, but… If we are some kind of glorious heroes, summoned to save the world, why would they do things like this? The only thing I can think of is, product testing.”
“That is macabre.”
“That is quite the vocabulary, Furuya. Maybe you are smart, four eyes!”
“It isn’t that hard of a word, maybe you’re just dumb.”
“What did you- “
“Shut it, both of you! We have company.”
Down the hall, for the first time, there was a decent-sized group of monsters. There were three ghouls in front, running at a breakneck pace, followed by six skeletons shambling after them. While skeletons have no intelligence, ghouls on the other hand had the most basic reasoning ability, essentially meaning that they could make simple decisions or show some semblance of thought or emotion on their faces. Normally the face that was reserved for ghouls was one of hunger, a basic instinct, but the look that the three of them saw on the ghouls’ faces right now was fear. Something had put fear into the non-beating hearts of the undead, so much so that even skeletons were running away.
“They are… afraid.”
“What!? Undead don’t get scared right?”
“Normally no, and skeletons should lack the ability to feel fear.”
“So, what could be doing that?”
“Run.”
“What? Why?”
“Because whatever it is, caused undead to be afraid. What do you think will happen to us?”
The two boys at this point had come to accept that when Hina said to do something, they should simply do it. She had a knack, almost an instinct, for this kind of thing. So, without wasting another second, the three of them speed off down the hall. It would be nearly a straight shot back to the portal room, they had only made thee ninety-degree turns to get here, but Hina was worried that if they ran all the way back, they would find themselves at a dead end, and stuck having to deal with whatever the monster they were running from anyway.
“The room on the left!” She shouted while pointing. She ran right for it, slamming her weight against the door while pressing the latch. It flew open when the other two joined her and they all stumbled forward together. As if it was his reflex from his heightened dexterity, Furuya shot back up, slammed the door shut, and bolted the latch. The sound of the creatures on the other side moving past the door could be heard, first the ghouls, their claws scraping the stone floor below, and finally after some time, the clambering sounds of the skeletons moving.
They all breathed a sigh of relief, as they heard the creatures move past them. The sense of security that could only be found behind a locked door. The boys looked at each other and smiled before looking back at Hina, expecting her to join in. However, the look plastered across her face was intense, she was looking past them, directly at the heavy wooden door, specifically at the handle.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Wh-“
Furuya was stopped when he saw a finger shoot up in front of Hina’s lips. There was a terror on the girl’s face, a fear that couldn’t be compared to what they had seen last time in the first portal room. She had tears streaming down her face. Both boys then turned around and watched the door, and that comfort and security that they had felt previously began to fade away. The latch on the door was pressed down, and there was a presence that could be felt on the other side. Whatever it was, was enough to send chills into the hearts of the three of them.
Thankfully, it didn’t last long, and whatever it had been, hadn’t tried to get through the door. All of them were convinced that if it had, the door would have been nothing more than a slight inconvenience for the creature. The three of them now found themselves on the floor of the otherwise empty room, gasping for breath and trying their best to slow down their hearts.
“What… was… that?” asked Tachibana.
“Don’t… know…” replied Furuya.
“I was… asking…Satō.”
“Something to… avoid. We should leave… now.” She said as she wobbled up. Her legs were still somewhat numb from fear. Whatever it was, it wasn’t natural, but then again, this was a different world, and their concept of what was natural had no place here. Regardless though, she felt that there was no way that a creature could simply produce fear like that like it was some kind of stench it was giving off. It brought a new meaning to the phrase, “smells like fear.”
Once she felt her legs were sturdy enough she walked to the door, unlocked it, opened it, and peer out into the hallway. This should have been the scout’s job, but she had no interest in waiting for him to muster his courage, plus with her night vision spell that she could cast, it isn’t like she really needed his eyes. The thought at some point of abandoning the two of them had crossed her mind. While they each had some use to her, Furuya was a scout and could be useful in ambushes, and Tachibana was a knight, albeit rather unchivalrous, he served as a decent meat shield. The only problem was, most of the time, she felt like they held her back, that she was dragging dead weight along. She hadn’t figured out why she was really summoned here, but she had every intention of getting to the bottom of it, and unnecessary baggage would only slow her down.
“All clear, we need to move now.”
“Why?”
“Jesus Christ… Once that thing is done with those monsters, it will be back. Next time, it may just knock down the door. Then what?”
The two boys were just looking at her with blank stares. It took a second, but Tachibana got up and flung the shield on his back.
“Yes, ma’am.” He said with a playful salute.
“Understand this, the both of you. I AM getting out of here. I AM going to find out why they summoned me. I AM going to make them send me back home. I have a mother back there who is now all alone, and I refused to abandon her. If you slow me down, I WILL leave you behind. So, if you want to get out of here, shut up, follow my orders, and come with me. Otherwise, stay here and die.”
With that, she turned and stormed into the hallway, moving at a near sprint. Tachibana quickly followed behind her, not bothering to waste any words on the boy still sitting on the stone floor.
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Part 3.
Furuya Toshiyuki had lived his whole life up to this point on a designated path. One that would one day lead him to work at and eventually own the family business. He had gone through his schooling earning the highest marks in all his classes. He had a scholarship already lined up for K.U. with the eventual goal of graduating with a degree in business law. Since the day he was born, everything had been laid out for him on a silver platter, never wanting anything, never struggling to attain anything.
Now, he had found himself in a situation without a written script for him to follow. There was no precedent for this, everything before him was an unknown and he felt frozen with indecision. Ever since they had stepped into the tomb, the thought “What if you fail?”, had wracked his mind, and paralyzed him. Even now, sitting on the stone floor, he felt like a giant weight of indecision, of the unknown, was keeping him from standing up and going with the others. He hadn’t known the cruel fate of failure, he had never had a chance to, everything had always come so easy. His only real competition had come from his siblings, they were younger than him, so he had set up a cruel game for them. He had set academic records so high, that it had become impossible for anyone after him to break them. It was the way that he could show everyone just how superior he was.
But that was easy, this wasn’t. For someone who had never experienced failure before, to be thrown into a situation where failure meant death was the cruelest joke of them all. It is why he had found it so easy to follow Satō, she seemed to know how everything here worked, but most of all, she was confident in her decisions. She acted on hunches, never bothering to worry if it was the right decision, she simply acted and dealt with what came of it. She was walking an uncharted path, and he admired and hated her for it, for doing what he could simply not do. The fear of failure that kept him from moving, was causing him to fail by not.
She had become the beacon, the light shining in the dark torrent of the unknown, and now he was losing her. If he didn’t get up now, he would be left behind, left to fend for himself against the monsters of the world. That fear was now becoming the driving force, the motivation to fight against the weight that was keeping him down, to lift himself and move. Now, as if suddenly someone had turned the gravity up to 100, he fought, lifting himself, and getting his legs under him. One step at a time, one foot in front of the other he made his way to the door, each step he could feel the weight sliding off him. It was exhilarating, a relief that he had never felt before, even the weight of all the choices he had never had to make, the expectations of his family, his destined path, all of that seemed to just melt off his shoulders. He was free.
He got to the door, and thanks to his scout’s eyesight, he could see the other two in the distance. They weren’t so far away that he couldn’t catch up, again a benefit of his higher dexterity, but something pulled his attention back the other way. Something in the darkness, something he couldn’t see, was sending a chill down his spine, and the hairs on the back of his neck were on end. He gave a hard focused look, checking for any movement, but nothing. Yet he could feel something there, something terrifying.
He blinked, and then before him was a giant dark mass, he couldn’t make out any details, he didn’t have the time to. There was a large dark hand on his face, he could feel the pressure of the appendages wrapping around his skull, the pressure was building, and he could feel the pain of bone creaking and cracking in his head. It was unbelievably loud, and slow as if the creature was trying to take its time. He wanted to scream, but the force of the palm against his mouth was preventing his mouth from opening, he could feel the air moving through his throat and into his mouth but couldn’t make out any sounds over the cracking of his skull. He was losing consciousness, any second now he would pass out and probably never wake up, he blinked…
Then, there was nothing, he was looking down the hallway, and could feel something was not right. This time though, he didn’t wait to double-check, he turned and ran as fast as he could. He had realized instantly what had happened, the ring had activated, and it had shown him what would have happened if he had stayed there any longer. It had seemed so real, that his mind had believed it was happening, his head was throbbing, and his breath was ragged. But fear kept him rushing forward. He hated that he had failed to obtain any details of the creature so he could describe them to the others, but that didn’t matter, he had obtained the most important information of all, it was deadly, it was fast, and it was intelligent enough to enjoy killing. In his heart, he knew that it meant that that creature had to be the boss, the one whose dominion they had unknowingly entered. They would need to be careful if they hoped to make it out alive.
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Part 4.
Hina and Maru had walked a good way away from the room, assuming that the straggler was quietly walking a few steps behind them. Hina didn’t care to look back, she was focused on what was up ahead, and Maru… well Maru was more focused on Hina. It was the first time that the two of them had been alone, and even though any comment he had made to her was met with disgust and rejection, he was still determined to find a way to make it work. He was about to open his mouth and say some kind of witty one-liner when they heard the sound of fast-moving feet behind them.
“What is it Furuya, we need to be quiet-“
“SHUT UP AND RUN!” he screamed, interrupting Tachibana, as he shot with all haste past them.
Hina didn’t bother asking questions, Furuya Toshiyuki was their scout, his job was to view their perimeter for any threats and call them out. While he was a bit of a frightened and sheltered child, she judged him to be diligent in his work, he gave off the vibe of the full-marks workaholic type. Believing that, if he was running headlong without bothering to give any indication of what the threat could be, she believed that it was bad enough to warrant action over inaction, so she ran, not even bothering to spur on the other person. This world, this dungeon in particular was dangerous, very much so, and that meant a moment of sympathy could get you killed, she didn’t care for that outcome, she had plans to get back home. So, she ran, if he got left behind her only wish was that he would slow down whatever was chasing them long enough so she could escape.
The only other problem was, while she didn’t know what they were running from, they were also quickly coming to the end of the area that they had explored, meaning that she also didn’t know what they were running into. Her hope was that their scout still had enough of his faculties to look before he leaped, that if danger became present, he would call it out, at least to give her time to ready herself before a fight. That hope she had proved well found, up ahead, in the dark, she heard his voice.
“Skeletons! Big ones!”
“Plural… more than one. Big ones… variants? Warrior? Mages? Should I get close, or attack from far away? Damn, I hope Tachibana made it, it will help to have his shield.”
The thoughts rolled through her head, as her feet moved on below her. Shortly she could see the back of Furuya who had paused in the doorway ahead. He had already unsheathed both of his daggers and was holding them in a reverse grip. His face was a mix of annoyed panic, she could only assume that whatever he had seen was still fresh in the back of his mind, and was frustrated that the path ahead of them was blocked by a new enemy they knew nothing about.
She stopped next to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. She wanted to let him know that she was there, but she also used it as a quick respite to steady her breathing. She peered into the surprisingly well-lit room before them. There were bodies throughout the room, not just human corpses, but the bodies of ghouls and the remains of skeletons as well. Whatever ruled over this room killed indiscriminately.
Along the walls to their left and right were six torches, thee on each flank, and above them hung a large old chandelier that had parts of it missing. In the back of the large room, they could make out shelves which sat an assortment of items that they couldn’t determine, partially because of distance but mostly because their real focus was drawn to the two large skeletal creatures that were in the center of the room.
Both creatures easily stood twice their height and wore bits and pieces of tarnished metal around different areas of their body, as if they were trying to put together their makeshift suit of armor and didn’t have enough pieces so they both could wear one. One of the creatures had a large twohanded broadsword, while the other one, which had managed to acquire more scraps for his armor, wielded a large crudely shaped metal rod, that looked as if it was more rust than anything anymore. They had registered the two living creatures at the edge of the room and had slowly begun to activate, lifting their large frames, preparing themselves to intercept and destroy.
As the Hina and Toshiyuki were preparing themselves to engage, they heard loud and heavy footsteps coming from behind them. Dread crept over Toshiyuki, he knew that that sounds could only be Tachibana, and he only hoped that in coming after them, he hadn’t lured whatever creature he had seen to them. For the first time in his life, he had simply wished someone had died and taken one for the team. If he had done that, at least that would have given him and Satō a fighting chance at the two skeletons, so they could hopefully escape. But now, he felt like that opportunity was gone, and he was furious and terrified to the point of tears.
“Rarggh!” Tachibana screamed as he shot past the two of them and into the room. His shield was up, and he wasn’t stopping. Hina lifted a hand as if to say, “Hey wait… don’t do that!”, but the words never did come, instead she lowered it back down, and gripped her staff with both hands, pointing it at the less armored skeleton.
“Die!” she screamed, and after that, a bright shining light hit the creature. It didn’t stop moving, but it did slow. The larger skeletons, dubbed “Skeleton Knights” in her head, were faster than their regular-sized counterparts, but still not incredibly fast. Now Hina’s spell had coated it in holy light, slowing it and damaging it at the same time. “Furuya, do something!” she shouted, not bothering to look in his direction.
He gave a determined nod, not bothering to look and verify if she had even seen it, and then jumped into action. He made a B-line for the shining skeleton. They had both deemed this skeleton to be the softer target, their reasoning being the smaller amount of armor attached to its frame. It was simplistic, but in a situation like this, taking too long to reason would only get you killed, and as far as they were concerned, with Tachibana rushing in her, they were on a timer and had no clue when the alarm would go off, so every precious second counted, and they wanted to take down as many enemies as they could in that unknown amount of time. So, with both blades out, he made for the magically weakened enemy, first slashing out with his right blade, causing flare to ignite when he struck the creature’s collar bone. Then with his left, striking at the skull, his hope was to freeze it and make the creature top-heavy. A prone enemy would be even more defenseless, allowing Hina to move up and use her martial arts to crush the creature.
His left blade struck, but didn’t proc, he was surprised, but stayed focused, and lashed back out with his right, causing that blade to go off, igniting the jaw and he fell back to the ground. As his feet touched the ground, a tunnel of fire shot out before his eyes, engulfing the monster. The sound of crackling bones could be heard, but when the storm receded, it was still standing, with its empty orbits focused directly on Furuya, who quickly jumped to the side, trying to create distance between itself and the creature.
Behind him, the sound of metal-on-metal contact could be heard. Tachibana and the more heavily armored creature were going at it, exchanging blows as they each waited for the other battle to finish, the goal being that the victor comes in and assists their teammate. Furuya gave a glance back toward the door, nothing there, yet. The unknown had apparently gotten to Hina as well, as she had changed her location to an empty corner of the room, the bare wall behind her bringing a sense of security. With the locations of both of his party members established, he refocused back on his target. The giant creature was moving more sluggish than it had before, he took it as a sign that their efforts were bearing fruit and rushed forward. His target this time was the right leg, the idea to create a block of ice on the skeleton’s skull so it would become top-heavy and fall over was funny and cool, but it was also risky and stupid. Instead, he would focus on the creature’s foundation and compromise that, while his partner used magic to attack from distance.
He rushed past the right leg, striking out with his dagger, a chilling sensation filling the air around his hand, an indication that the enchantment had gone off. Using his increased dexterity, he stopped short, twisting his body around, and rushed for another pass. This time it was warm air he felt, and flames ignited above where the ice had appeared. He lifted his blade only slightly, as he made a sharp turn to the right, now cutting between the creature’s legs, then he scratched the bone with the tip of his blade, causing another eruption of fire in the spot. He could smell it, the smell of burning bone, which was very similar to that of burning hair, mix with the crackling sounds coming from his right, he knew his idea was working.
The other part of the attack came from a distance. Hina had been working her magic. After the firestorm she had caused, she switched back to trying to bless the creature. The idea was that since it was undead, it had to be susceptible to holy or blessing magic, and while she didn’t have a firm grasp on her magical abilities, she had grasped the concept that what she imagined while gathering her mana would influence the type of magic that would be cast.
So, she did her best to imagine images of saints she had learned about, deities from religions around her old world, angles, doves, the light of the sun, and anything else she could come up with on the spot, all while feeling the mana coursing through her body. Then, when enough had gathered, she channeled it into her staff, and the tip would glow. After less than a second of it glowing, the light would go out and the magic would activate. In the case of holy magic, the effect would be a light shining down on the target, engulfing it, flashing, and then disappearing, but not before leaving behind a shiny coating over the target. This was the only indication that her magic was actually working, the only fault being, she had no idea what exactly she was casting, all she knew was that whatever it was, was slowing the creature down, making Furuya’s job easier.
In Tachibana’s case, after the other two had run off and left him, he had stood there for just a moment, annoyed at being left behind. He clicked his tongue behind his teeth and smashed his large shield into the stone floor.
“Those sons of bitches… I’ll…” he paused. There was an ominous cold air behind him, he could feel a cold breath on the back of his neck, and there was an icy tingle that worked its way down his spine. He knew that whatever it was, it was evil and deadly. The hero part of him, the part that was installed when he was summoned, wanted him to turn around and face that evil head-on, but his instinctual, his human side, the part of him that had been with him since he was in the womb, was screaming to not look back and to run for his life. As he struggled with the decision, it stopped. The darkness, the chill, the evil foreboding, even his instincts all calmed down. Feeling this release, he turned back around to an empty corridor.
Feeling relief, and arguably a sign from some god of this world, he picked his shield back up and sprinted forward, in the direction of the other two. He would catch up to them, beat the hell out of Furuya, and if he still had the courage, confront Hina about leaving him behind.
He ran as fast as he could in the heavy armor till he saw their backs standing in a lit doorway ahead. At first, he had the idea of slamming into the back of Furuya, he was small and weak, and that would be more than enough to show his displeasure toward being left behind, and with that over so quickly, turning to Hina to give her a mouthful would be simple. He grinned at his quickly thought-out plan and raised his shield. Just over the top, however, he caught the glimpse of what they were starring at, there were two large skeletons, wearing patches of metal, and carrying large beams of mangled iron, well one had an actual sword, but both of them appeared to be more rust than it on at this point. Realizing that now was not the time to lash out, the primary focus was on defeating the new enemies and hopefully finding a way out.
“Rarggh!” he screamed, as he shot past the other two, initiating the fight. He glanced at both options, noticing the difference in armor, he chose to attack the more heavily armored of the two, the one with the rusty club rather than the sword. The idea was, if I keep this guy busy, the other two could finish off the one with less armor before coming to assist him. He didn’t bother to look and check, instead relying on the sounds of battle behind him to tell him that his allies had the same idea as him. After his dramatic shield bash, which had pushed his oversized enemy back a meter, he unsheathed his sword and readied himself.
When his opponent had steadied itself, it swung down with the large tetanus rod, which Maru blocked with a raised shield. The weight of the hit was nothing as he had felt before, not even the previous creature could manage a hit with this much force. The fact that it was coming from a skeleton surprised him, but he accepted it as this enemy simply being an evolved form of the other skeletons that he had grown accustomed to fighting. As if his hero powers were responding to the new threat, he took each hit in stride, each time growing more accustomed to the pressure, until he could simply deflect the energy back at the creature, and when the opportunity presented itself, he swung his blade, clashing against the mishmash armor coating the creature’s frame.
This exchange continued for more than a dozen exchanges until he heard a loud crash behind him. He lifted his shield, pushing back against the newest attack and sending the force back to the monster, causing it to lose its balance for just a moment, just long enough for him to look behind him. On the floor there was the other giant skeleton, its right leg had cracked under the pressure of its own weight and sent it hurtling to the floor. Now that it was practically defenseless, the other two had taken to attaching other parts of it, together. Furuya would strike an area, causing flames to roar, cooking the bone, turning it brittle, and then Hina would come up behind it, using her gauntlets that increased her strength, and her martial arts, and smash the cooked spot. It didn’t take them long to detach the sword-carrying arm from the torso, after which they went together and worked on the skull, breaking into it as a thief would into a wooden crate, making sure to smash, rather than steal, the precious gem that lay on the inside.
With one enemy down, the focus of all three of them was on the last knight. They were invigorated by the new rush of energy, strengthened by it. Tachibana, not wanting to be outdone, channeled mana down his arm and into his blade. There was a shining light that coated the sword. With his shield tucked in front of him, and his right arm, his sword arm, raised high, he gave a loud yell and brought his weapon down. Like a scene out of a movie, a sickle of bright light sailed through the air, crashing into the remaining skeleton. The sounds of bone cracking and breaking under pressure could be heard, and the creature, like his partner, fell onto the floor. In his case, the extra armor it had attached to itself had caused it to be too heavy, and it couldn’t manage to right itself. It swung its brown stick around, trying its best to find a target, but to no avail. The other two had joined in, and flames were igniting all over its body. From then, it was only a matter of seconds before its remains were nothing more than a pile of ash, its crystal falling victim to the but of Tachibana’s shield, and a last surge of energy filling them with a sense of hope.
“I can’t believe you guys just left me!” Maru screamed.
“I said run, that is all you had to do!”
“You didn’t say why!”
“If I had then we’d be dead!”
“What was that, anyway?”
“Did you see it? How are you alive?”
“No, I didn’t see it, I felt it… and then it… disappeared.”
He was looking disgusted having said it aloud. He could feel his skin crawling when he thought back to the scenario.
“Did you see it?” He asked Toshiyuki.
“No, it was the ring. It warned me before I could die, but I never got a good look at it.” He looked dejected.
“Tall, lean muscular build, a large, elongated mouth, with soulless empty eyes. The air of death and fear around it.” Said, Hina.
“That is a pretty apt description, but how…”
There standing in the doorway was a large creature, its skin was the color of a cooled corpse. Its eyes were empty dark orbits that seemed to suck in all light around it before extinguishing it completely. The mouth was four times as long as it was wide, yet there still appeared to be a smile across it. Its long tendril-like fingers fluttered about at the end of its long arm like it was waving at them. All around it hung the cold breath of death, its presence exuded fear, and it felt like its very gaze could kill them.
The three heroes held back their urge to run, not that it would do them any good, like a mouse trapped in a corner, there was nowhere to run, and their only option was to fight for their lives. Without a single word said, Tachibana lifted his shield and steadied his blade, Hina lowered her staff, pointing it directly at the new challenger, and Furuya unsheathed his second blade and lowered his stance as if he was about to sprint. Readied, they eyed their opponent, waiting for the first move.