“GRAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”, screamed the giant creature before them as it released one leg from the ground, sending stone fragments flying everywhere while at it.

“Wha… What is this thing?”, muttered Zeke, terrified at the sight before them. Without a doubt, it was a stone monkey like the rest of the creatures they had faced up until now. However, this one was on an entirely different scale than the rest of them.

“Run!” was all that Reizel could say before he turned around and dashed off towards the exit. Being the scaredy cat that he was, Zeke’s figure was already a few feet ahead in the distance. The courage to fight he showed earlier was all but lost as fear got the better of him.

Roaring in anger, the stone giant grabbed a boulder lying by its side and, just like the smaller fellows, with a wide swing of its right arm, sent it flying in their direction. The boulder whizzed through the air as it passed right above Reizel’s head, aiming for Zeke.

“Dodge!”, he shouted in an attempt to warn him as cold sweat flowed down his spine. Zeke wasn’t an idiot; as soon as he heard the letter ‘D’, his figure, just like a rabbit, had already dived to the left.

*Crash!*, the massive rock crashed directly onto another boulder, resulting in both of them shattering into countless pieces. ‘F*ck! No wonder there are so many boulders in here. They are his throwing stones…’, inwardly cursed Reizel as he fell on the floor in order to escape from the rock fragments flying everywhere from the collision.

There was less than 100 feet distance between Reizel and the stone creature as well as over 500-600 feet from the exit. Not to mention, the way towards the tunnel was riddled with rocks and boulders making it even harder for them to reach. Alas, what choice did they have? Turn around and fight? Ridiculous! Having been ambushed by the creature and fighting in its home ground, they had no chance against it. The best they could hope for was to make a run for it.

Standing up from the floor, Reizel ignored the stone chips and dust particles on his body as he made a sharp turn to the right. “We’ll meet up at the tunnel entrance!”, he shouted and motioned for Zeke to split up. With a slight nod of his head, Zeke, who was once more back on his feet, started running diagonally towards the left.

Watching them split up, the stone king roared angrily as it too started running. ‘Now then, which one will you follow?’, Reizel grinned and slowed down his steps. If he was going to chase one of them anyway, then at least let it be him.

After all, between him and Zeke, Reizel believed he was more likely to escape from the stone king’s assault.

With that being said, he glanced behind him to check up on whom the stone creature decided to chase after, only to grimace in disbelief. From the looks of it, It turned out he had underestimated the monkey king’s intelligence as it completely ignored them both, rushing straight towards the exit.

‘Motherf*cker!’, he couldn’t help cursing in his mind while saying out loud. “Sh*t! It is trying to block us in!” The giant creature’s snout transformed into an evil grin as it destroyed anything and everything in its way. Madly running on all four limbs, its aim was clearly set on the sole entrance to the cave as it knew that, should it make it there before them, there would be no escaping for the little invaders.

“Don’t delay! Go straight for the exit!”, Reizel said and made a swift turn to the left, aiming to intercept the creature as it ran. “What about you?!”, worriedly asked Zeke from the other side of the room to which he answered. “Don’t worry, I‘ll be right behind you!”

Biting his lips hard enough to draw blood, Zeke couldn’t say anything as he hastened his steps. Deep inside, he knew that Reizel was planning to delay the monkey king’s approach all by himself. It was an act of suicide but what could he do? The moment he recalled the stone king’s eerily red gaze, he couldn’t help trembling in fear.

‘Tha… That’s right. I’ll only be in the way, right? If I stay, I’ll only be in the way…’, he disillusioned himself in believing he was dead weight and kept running. Fear worked in strange ways, one of them being the loss of rationality which clearly seemed to be the case now.

Back on Reizel’s side, he had already closed the distance between him and the giant stone monkey to less than 30 feet. The stone king’s perception was high enough to understand what the creature before him was trying to do and decided to ignore it. After all, was there even anything it could do against him, the ruler of this cave?

Seeing the stone monkey’s reactions, Reizel sneered inwardly. ‘Humph! Your arrogance will be your doom one day.’, with those thoughts in mind, he scanned the surroundings and, without stopping, rushed towards the nearest boulder. The puzzlement in the stone creature’s eyes could be seen from his expression alone as it must have thought. ‘What is this monkey doing?’

Ironically enough, Reizel’s plan wasn’t flawless as he stepped twice on top of the boulder before awkwardly jumping on top of the giant monkey’s shoulder. Now, the stone king wasn’t stupid enough to let something like this go through as it tried to move to the side. Its giant figure however, due to inertia, refused to turn to his liking.

Reizel’s hands latched onto the stone monkey’s head like a basketball and didn’t let go. Roaring in anger, the stone king raised its massive arms towards its head in an attempt to bring him down. Alas, who was Reizel to let an opportunity like this to pass?

Dodging left and right on top of its back, all the creature managed to achieve was hurt itself as it tried to shake him off. Alas, was there anything it could do about Reizel? With a body made entirely out of stone, the creature couldn’t rotate its limbs freely. That was the price it paid for having such a massive strength and that was also what Reizel aimed for.

‘I knew it! Even if you run fast, you can’t do sh*t when I am on top of you!’, he thought and dodged another flail of its arm. As the fight went on like this for a little while, slowly but surely, visible fissures started forming on the creatures’ back. ‘I can do this!’, he thought while dodging yet another attack and pulling at the creature's ear. Sadly, now that the stone monkey's irritation levels seemed to reach an even higher level, it decided to take a more radical approach to the pesky problem on its back.

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‘What is it doing?’, Reizel thought as the creature rushed straight towards an enormous boulder. “F*ck”, cursing outwardly, he hurriedly tried to jump off of its back. Alas, the stone king had already predicted this course of action and turned its massive body towards the boulder forcing Reizel to miss the best opportunity to jump off as it smashed hard on the boulder.

Pebbles and stones flew everywhere as a dust cloud arose from beneath the rumble. Reizel’s figure stumbled as he grasped a boulder by his side, trying hard to pull himself up only to fail and fall back down.

“Cough!”, coughing out a mouthful of red blood, he breathed roughly while checking for injuries. The small grazes and bruises on his arms, legs, torso, and pretty much everywhere on his body, were the battle scars he got when fighting against the group of monkeys. As for the more alarming bruise on his stomach, it must have been caused by the monkey king’s tail when he jumped.

‘That fuck*r got me well!’, he thought and recalled the last moments before the crash. Right as the giant monkey turned around, Reizel managed to balance himself well enough to jump off of it. Alas, the moment his feet left the creatures’ back, the massive rock tail that had been absent from action up until then decided to swipe him to the left, effectively sending him flying through the air.

‘Is this how I end?’, he thought and stared at the ceiling as the rumble began shaking once more. “Sigh… At least Zeke made it out of here…”

‘Well, this might not be a bad way to go after all…’, he thought and closed his eyes before jolting them open in disbelief.

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

“Haah… Hah… Phew… I made… I made it…”, Zeke huffed and puffed as he finally made it to the tunnel’s entrance. “Haha…”, laughing dryly, he clasped the entirety of his face with a hand before adding to his words. “Ha… What have I done? How… How could I…”

They say, realisation hits like a punch straight to the guts when the adrenaline rush is over. And that is exactly how Zeke felt right now. ‘I left him back there all alone to face this monster while I was running for my life…’, he thought, sweat droplets flowing down his forehead unceasingly before falling on the cold ground.

“Rooooaaar!”, the distant howls of the stone king were still audible from where he stood, making him turn to look back. Sadly, even though he could hear it, the darkness engulfing the cave was too heavy for him to see anything.

“Reizel, o’ Reizel… I told ya your recklessness would get ya killed one day…” he whispered and turned his back to the fighting behind him.

Taking one step after the other towards the exit, Zeke couldn’t help but hesitate. His feet felt heavier with every step and his heart beat faster with every passing second.

‘Is this fine?’, he asked himself.

‘Are you fine with this?!’, he looked back with tears in his eyes.

“LIKE HELL AM I FINE WITH THIS!”, he screamed and heard his voice echo in the distance. Stepping hard on the stone-cold floor, he made a sharp 180 degrees turn and gazed straight into the darkness.

And, as if sensing the fire in his eyes, the darkness was no longer as intimidating as it used to be. At least, that’s what he felt. ‘I swear, once I am dead, and if God exists, he better turn me into a f*ckin’ ghost! So I can beat the livin’ sh*t out of yer sorry *ss!’, laughing at his silly thoughts, Zeke left the tunnel’s safety and once more became one with the darkness. This time though, his purpose was completely different compared to before.

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

‘It’s over…’, Reizel thought and indignantly closed his eyes as a hand extended to grab him by the shoulder. Jolting awake, he turned his head to see Zeke’s trembling figure by his side.

“What are you doing here? I told you to run…”, he said with a frowning expression as he glared back coldly. “Yea, yea whatever ya say… C’mon, up you go! Hngh…”, Zeke answered while lending him a shoulder to hold on to. “F*ck, you are… Heavy!” and even though he tried to crack a joke, Reizel still noticed Zeke’s trembling feet.

‘This guy… Even though he is scared sh*tless.’, he thought and appreciated Zeke’s actions even more so.

*Rumble…*

The pile of rumble moved slightly as the stone king tried to release himself from its bindings. Reizel and Zeke didn’t hesitate for a single second as they slowly edged towards the sole exit of the place.

*Rumble… Rumble!*

Stones and gravel kept falling out of the pile as a low growl surfaced out of it. ‘Faster!’, Reizel thought and tried to hasten his steps. With Zeke’s assistance, the two moved at a semi-running speed.

*Rumble… Rumble! ROOOAAAR!!!*, the stone king finally released its body from the earthly confinement and shook off the remaining rock pieces, along with the dust particles, as its gem-like eyes glanced around in search of the missing prey.

“Grrrr!!!”, it growled as soon as it spotted the stumbling pest alongside its friend, and then instantly began sprinting.

*Crash! Crash!*, rocks were sent flying everywhere as its heavy limbs touched the ground alarming them in return. “Cough! It’s closing in…”, Reizel muttered and turned to see the expression on Zeke’s face. Fearful as he was, the red-haired giant (by human standards) didn’t soften his grasp on Reizel’s side; he tightened it instead and moved even faster, dragging him along.

When the creature got up on its feet again, Reizel and Zeke had already crossed most of the distance. The tunnel couldn’t be any more than 100 feet away from them as they edged ever so close. Alas, with a quick calculation, Reizel knew they wouldn’t make it in time.

“Leave me and go! I am already done for, anyway…”, he said and tried to remove Zeke’s grip from his side. ‘Hmm?’, looking down he couldn’t believe what he saw. The grip of his hand wasn’t strong enough to remove Zeke’s. ‘How can that be…’, he wondered and glanced at his trembling hand.

The blow dealt to him by the monkey’s tail turned out to be even more serious than he first thought. “I am just dead weight! Look! I can’t even tighten my grip!”, he shouted in Zeke’s ear while showing him his trembling hand.

“SHUT YER TRAP ALREADY!” with a vein popping on his forehead, Zeke was unable to hold it in anymore. His shout reverberating throughout the cave. “It ceased being your choice the moment you told me to run. I already told ya! If we die so be it! My life, my choice!”, grinning like a certain devil he knew, Zeke sped up, dragging Reizel along with him.

“F*ck, and you call me a madman!? Cough” he said jokingly before coughing out another mouthful of blood. Wiping it with the corner of his sleeve, Reizel’s usual grin emerged on his face as he heard the monkey king closing in from behind.

‘Think, Reizel, how do we escape this predicament?’, the blood rushing in his head allowed him to think faster as he looked around. ‘There has to be a way! C’mon!’ Left, right, up and down, his gaze wondered everywhere as he took in the surroundings. The distance between them and certain death less than 50 feet away. As for how far away the tunnel entrance was? A mere 30 feet away, a distance they could cover in less than a breath’s time should they be at their peak condition!

“Haha… Wanna make a bet?”, Reizel asked as a crazy idea flashed by his mind. “Sure!”, Zeke’s response came almost instantaneously. He knew Reizel had something crazy in mind and if there was even a slight chance of them making it out alive, then they should bet on it.

“ROOOOOAAAR!!!”, screamed the giant monkey a second later as it jumped behind them.

“Now!”, Reizel screamed as a glint flashed through his eyes.