"Holy..." Elegy gasped as he saw the field of dead bat roaches.
"Yuck..." Hats shivered, "T-They're 100% dead, right?"
Before them stood the giant valley which served as the battlefield for Migu and Energy versus the bat roach horde. Mere seconds after they fell unconscious from fatigue, these two entered the area to witness the horror.
"I only heard rumors of Energy's strength, but to think he's capable of all this..." Elegy felt his heartbeat increase, "We need to hurry, on the off chance that Migu is still alive, then she won't stay that way for long."
"Then let's go!" Hats pointed, "Ugh, but can we at least try to go around the dead bodies?"
This innocent sounding plea was ultimately what led the two of them to not run into the unconscious Migu and Energy and instead overtaking them. Be it fortune or misfortune, the senior/junior duo made it to the fourth floor without any trouble.
"This room is...?" Hats gawked at the splendor of its mystical design.
An empty half, barring a bed, and a food filled half to compliment Elegy's and Hats' Heavenly homes respectively. This is what the two saw once they descended down the final spiral staircase of the Shrine, but alas there was neither Energy nor Migu inside to greet them.
"Remain alert, check every nook and cranny." Elegy warned.
"Gulp, mhm..." Hats nodded back.
Despite this, there weren't many nooks and crannies to check in the first place due to the room's simple layout. If anything, just the fact that there were only two beds inside meant they were the only ones present on the floor. Deeming it safe, the duo were met with a dilemma.
"What do we do about the beds?" Hats asked.
"What do you mean by that, exactly?" Elegy raised an Eyebrow.
"The beds repair us, right?"
"Yeah?"
"But Vastoria and Sheep can't reach this area without dying before that." He explained, "We should bring it outside so they can freely use it."
The idea had shocked Elegy beyond words. On one hand, it's true that that was one of their objectives, but on the other hand Energy still hasn't been dealt with, and Migu is yet to be found. The question now was, who would they prioritize?
"If we take the beds now, we could bring them outside, and Sheep and Vastoria would be healed." Elegy reasoned, "But that could lead to Migu not getting the help she needs, which might get her killed."
"Your call. I trust you, Elegy."
They needed to find Migu as soon as possible, but they already searched the entire Shrine to their knowledge. Perhaps they missed them? Maybe the two were hiding from Hats and Elegy? What if they were already killed and eaten by the bat roaches? Or maybe they already ran outside of the Shrine? The more he agonized over the many possibilities, the more Elegy became unsure of his choice. In the end, he reasoned that doing something was better than doing nothing.
"I'm gonna go upstairs." Elegy announced, "Once the room removes my bed because I'm no longer there, you pick up your own bed and carry it up the stairs. Call me if you need any help."
"No problem. One arm is all I need!" Hats flashed him a confident thumbs up.
At this point, Migu's survival rate was practically close to zero, Elegy reckoned. Any further active attempts at searching for her would only be a waste of time, and though he felt bad, he knew that they needed to at the very least save Vastoria and Sheep first. Her safety was sadly out of their control, but theirs wasn't.
"Phew, just climbing up a single one of these stairs is tiring!" Elegy wiped the sweat off his brow, "Can't imagine how difficult it'll be for Hats. Heh, poor kid..."
Given that he had nothing better to do, he decided to look around the area close to the staircase, just in case he found some kind of clue. It was nothing more than killing time for Elegy, but what he ended up finding was something way worse.
"Bzzt!" A random roach bat appeared from inside the bushes.
"Whoa! The heck are you doing here, big guy?" Elegy unsheathed his serrated sword, "Got lost? All your friends went over there."
Just then, a stroke of genius hit him. He began to threaten the bat roach by swinging the sword repeatedly at him, causing minute bruises and scrapes to the body, but nothing too lethal.
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"Byahhh!" The beast cried out, flying away quickly.
"That's it! Lead me to where they went!" He chased close behind it.
From what he saw of his previous fight with the bat roaches, they have a certain appetite for golden parts in a Heavenly Being. In fact, the moment they deem one person too difficult of a target to kill, they immediately switch to the other nearest target in line. He saw this firsthand after the previous bat roach they fought went for Hats after juking him into the ceiling. Now, Hats wasn't here yet, so he had to assume it's going for the only other two logical assumptions.
"Migu, hold on just a little longer!" Elegy grinned, "I reckon I'll save you and bring you back before Hats even climbs up those accursed stairs!"
In the end, he reached the valley of the dead, rotting bat roaches. The one live one he used as a radar ended up hiding among all the dead bodies, so Elegy sadly lost track of him.
"Ugh, I knew I should've cut off its wings..." He frowned, ''Obviously it'd outrun me with them. Stupid, Elegy! ...Huh?"
This being the case, the search was still not completely cold. Turning to the right, he happened to spot another path leading to a previously unexplored area of the jungle layer, covered in vines and moss. This had to be where they went, surely. Elegy unsheathed his sword and quickly sliced open the covered path before moving forward.
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The area Elegy was currently exploring was, coincidentally enough, the very bat roach nest Migu and Energy would end up agonizing over how to destroy in the near future. What they didn't know back then, however, was that he was already dealing with them before they had even found out about it.
"Byahhh!" The entire nest lit up with loud screeches and buzzes, "Bzzzt, byahh! Bzz!"
"Oh, seems I was mistaken." Elegy glanced up, still maintaining his composure, "Those two can't be here, surely. This place stinks too much for anyone to want to willingly stay here for more than a minute!"
His sword was already primed and raring to go, but curiously, the beasts refused to attack him as he had hoped. No, they merely remained couped up in their individual hives. Some were empty, however, which revealed the underlying larvae hiding inside. There was no doubt about it, if he didn't singlehandedly destroy the entire nest right now, Hats would never be able to escape the Shrine with the bed.
"Killing kids, author? What has this story resorted to..." He teased me, "Well, I suppose that could fit my character, but just know that I'm not the type to do so willingly!"
Yeah yeah, whatever you say. A-Ahem, Elegy brandished his blade before running straight into the hive in front of him. Prioritizing the empty ones with nothing but the larvae inside, he effectively stopped the process of reproduction and left only the bat roaches that were already there. Even climbing up the walls posed no issue for him, for he masterfully used the blade to dig into them and spring himself up.
"That's the final one, I think!" He chuckled, only to get attacked by three angry mother bat roaches immediately after, "Gah! Ladies, one at a time!"
"Byahhh!"
Two of the beasts pulled him by the hands, and the third grabbed his legs. Pulling away from all sides was a painful experience, and it didn't help that in the scuffle he lost his sword. Alas, it fell down all the way to the bottom, leaving him with no other options.
"This is gonna be disgusting..." He closed his Eyes before shoving his left arm all the way down the roach's throat, "Mngh...! Bah!"
Now that he had a proper grip on it from the inside, he popped the vile beast's head open just like that by pulling his fist upwards. Now with one arm free, the rest would easily follow suit.
"Bonk!" He smashed the other's head in, "Whoa~!"
Given that the only one left was pulling him down by the legs, it would make sense that they both fell directly down to the ground. But that was alright, for that's exactly where he wanted to be.
"See, this is where the fun begins!" He smiled, pivoting himself on the ground as he just barely reached for the sword, "Say, wanna die quickly like your friends, or keep dragging this out? And yes, before you ask, these are the only two options available."
"Bzzt!"
"I see, such a shame..." He shook his head.
The rabid beast chose the latter of the two, meaning Elegy was getting dragged all around the nest as the other bat roaches stared on from their hidey holes. He let them stare, believing this to be his way of showing some sort of mercy for brutally killing their offspring. Eventually however, he got bored and thought to put a stop to it.
"Had your fun?" He smiled at the best dragging it around.
"Bzzt?"
He could have sliced its head open at any moment, killing it instantly, but he decided it would be more chivalrous to respect its choice of dragging its death out. So, instead of that, he slouched forward, bashing its brains in with the pommel of his sword with each sit up. The struggling bat roach refused to let go until its mouth was physically incapable of keeping itself shut. In the end, it died a very disgusting and inhumane death, even for human standards.
"Yuck, got my boots dirty..." He scowled as he stood up, "So? What'll it be, fellas? You gonna do the whole schtick of all the goons attacking the hero one by one or are you gonna be smart about this and attack me all at once?"
Hearing his provocations, the single largest bat roach among them descended from his hole to the center stage.
"Tch, just when I thought you were gonna break tradition..." Elegy rolled his Eyes, "Author, I know you love me and all, but you really shouldn't make things too easy for me! I could have handled all of them just fine, you know!?"
Huh? Why am I the bad guy now? You should be happy I made things just a tad bit easier for you. Not to mention, you're gonna need to fight all of them eventually anyways, so it's practically the same thing. Also, I never said I loved you."
"Oof, harsh!" He cried out, "Dear reader, boycott the author right now! He's abusing his characters by not abusing them enough!"
Ahem, immediately after the larger bat roach descended, all of the others followed suit.
"...T-Thanks." He gulped, "Dang, me and my big mouth, am I right lads? Ha-ha..."
"Bzzt! Byahhh! Bzzut!"
"Well, I guess I've got no other choice." He shrugged, bracing himself for the most fun fight he's had yet, "If only novels had music, 'cause the tunes right now would be absolutely killer!"
Hit it!