Ethan stared unblinkingly at the little rat shuffling up to his party, its furry form matted in zombie blood.
“Theo…you son of a bitch. Level 150 and counting, huh?”
Theo squeaked in glee while the rest of Ethan’s party simply looked at the pair in bewilderment. For his part, Ethan was just glad to see the little guy again. He'd never been happier to see a disease-carrying rodent with a silver blade in its mouth.
“You…know each other?” Fauna asked.
“Me and ol' Theo here go way back,” Ethan smiled through blood-soaked teeth. “This little beauty was my very first Host in this world.”
“You know what?” Tara said. “At this point, I’m just gonna go with it. Even if this little furball’s a rotten kill-stealer.”
Theo scurried up on Ethan’s shoulder, sniffing at his hat form and hissing at the Minxit.
“Ah, don’t worry about her,” Ethan reassured his bloody friend. “She’s a soft kitty when ya get to know her.”
Tara, even through the blood she was drenched in, looked like she was about to explode with embarrassment.
“The rat doesn’t seem aggressive,” Klax mused. “I have no idea how he got here, but he is no threat to us.”
Theo seemed quite happy at this admission, and jumped down to the corpse-laden ground, pointing with his nose towards the exit door to the pit they’d all landed in.
“Looks like he wants to lead the way…”
Ethan let out a hearty laugh. Like a proud father watching his son riding his bike by himself, Theo had grown up.
“You wanna lead us to glory, Theo?” he asked the squeaking rat. “It’s only fair, I suppose. I led you around for so long against your will. No hard feelings, right?”
Theodore’s whiskers twitched in response. He scurried off towards the exit.
“I’ll take that as a ‘no’.”
“Faun?” Ethan then asked the Hopla. “How’s your mana reserves?”
“I’m about halfway drained,” she admitted. “But…it looks like we won’t have many more problems going forward…”
She nodded to the room that Theodore had exited through – another crypt that was emptied of loot and sentient enemies. The corpses of all sorts of creatures littered the ground – zombies, gargoyles, ancient living armor sets, and even what looked like a winged demon.
All of them had exactly one tiny, tooth-sized puncture in the middle of their heads.
So, this is what happens to the Archon’s freed Hosts.
They become true monsters.
Hey, I ain’t complaining, Ethan scoffed back at Sys. About time I had someone carry me.
“Come on…kitty,” Fauna shouted over her shoulder to Tara, who looked as though she was ready to fly at the Hopla with both her daggers.
“…that’s gonna fucking stick, ain’t it?” she whispered to herself as they all trudged forward. “I swear, Ethan, if you weren’t the Archon…”
----------------------------------------
The floor beneath Ethan’s many legs clicked faintly with each movement as he led his companions through the dim expanse of the final floor of the Twilight Sepulchre. The once grand structure had decayed into a cryptic labyrinth, the walls covered in ancient, faded murals depicting battles long forgotten, and the ceiling crumbled in places, leaving gaps through which cold drafts seeped in. As Rachneros, Ethan's spider form took up most of the room, his body massive, sleek, and deadly. His eight legs carried him effortlessly across the rough terrain as his companions followed closely behind, their eyes darting from shadow to shadow.
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Leading the group was none other than Theodore, the silver-toothed rat, who scurried ahead, sniffing the ground and navigating with ease through the oppressive gloom. Despite his size, Theodore seemed unfased by the lurking dangers around them, his sharp instincts guiding the way.
Theodore scampered forward, pausing at a corner where the hallway bent into darkness. His nose twitched, and he let out a soft squeak before turning to look at Ethan. With a quick gesture, the rat darted ahead again, confirming their path was still clear.
"The little guy's handy," Klax muttered, watching Theodore with mild respect. "Never thought I'd say that about a rat."
"Don't underestimate him," Ethan warned. “This little guy was, after all, my very first Host. I taught him well in the ways of Ratjutsu.”
Theo led them to a long, angular mirror at the very edge of the Sepulcher’s bowels. The party had seen darkness already, but something about the mirror’s reflective surface seemed darker still. As they approached, they saw shadowed versions of their own forms appear before them, flickering like dying candles.
“Faun?”
“It’s definitely magic,” the Hopla said. “But there’s something about its surface – the energy moving across it is consistent with teleportation magic.”
“And it’s not the exit,” Klax said, stepping towards the mirror’s dark surface. “Which means just one thing: it must be the way to the Boss.”
Theo squeaked in affirmation as the wolfman peered into the shadows, and Ethan could tell that the little rat was insistent, nosing the air just above the mirror’s surface.
“He wants us to touch it,” Tara said. “Listen, Ethan, if your little friend here’s trying to get us killed –“
“Never,” Ethan said. “Theo was a good, loyal host. Weren’t you, little guy?”
The rat spat a small globule of blood on the ground. Ethan took that as a good enough sign that he was ready to fight.
“But you can’t, can you?” he asked him. “Because this mirror needs the touch of a humanoid, I bet.”
“You might be right,” Fauna agreed. “Look how its reacting to Klax’s touch. All the collective energy of the mirror is converging on his paw.”
As the Lycae moved his hand and saw the spectral energies of the mirror follow it like a living liquid mass, Ethan tried out his Appraisal on whatever was behind the thing.
“Ok,” he said. “Yeah, I’m sensing something strong in there, alright. Something way stronger than what we’ve fought before. I’m gonna put us all in Hide mode just as we go through, alright? That way we’ve each got at least four attacks we can get off before the bastard in there even gets to move – assuming he doesn’t have a crazy perception score.”
Which he might, Ethan admitted. Fuck if I know – but still, can he truly match a Grade A Hider?
Theodore squeaked with tenacity, looking up at his old Master expectantly.
And with you on our side, we can do some real serious damage. This could be over in a single strike if we play our cards right…
The rest of the team nodded – except Klax.
“Klax?”
The wolfman was transfixed.
“Hey,” Tara murmured. “Yo, Klax? You there, man?”
Klax’s eyes had taken on a pallid shade of grey. Around them, small specks of onyx flakes danced as though keeping his eyes open by force. His mouth, now agape, struggled to find words.
And only when Ethan tried grabbing him did he feel just how much he was shaking.
“Jun’Ei…”
The name tumbled out his mouth like a curse. Whatever he was seeing in that mirror, it had gripped his heart and was crushing it like a vice.
“Shit…guys, help us out here! Somethings got hi-“
Before Ethan could finish his call, Klax reached out with one powerful thrust and launched his arm into the mirror, causing a ripple effect and a woman’s scream to wail through the entire corridor.
"Klax!"
The dogman was pulled through along with Ethan and the others, Theodore coming up the rear. Though Fauna had correctly assessed that it was teleportation magic they were dealing with, Ethan barely felt like he transitioned from one area to another at all. All that happened was that the last crypt of the Sepulcher was there, and then it was not.
On the other side of the mirror, they emerged into a grand, circular chamber. The ceiling was high and domed, adorned with murals of battles and victories, but the color had long faded into dull greys. At the center of the room lay a sarcophagus, cracked and ancient, with dark energy radiating from it. The very air was thick with malevolence, pressing against their skin like an unseen weight.
“I – I –“ Klax stumbled. “I’m sorry, everyone. I can’t –“
“Never mind!” Tara shouted. “Everyone – look alive!”
As soon as they had stepped into the chamber, the ground beneath them trembled. The sarcophagus shifted, and with a loud crack, the stone lid slid open. A figure rose from within, draped in tattered armor, its gaunt face hidden beneath a weathered helm. Its eyes burned with cold, silver fire, and in its skeletal hands, it held a long, jagged sword that crackled with dark energy.
The warrior from the murals above. The silver eyed champion of the Twilight Sepulcher.
And he was looking right at them.
---BOSS BATTLE INITIATED---
[Valgraiva, Lord of the Damned]
LVL 50
HP: 950/950
WILL: 1000/1000
“Ah shit…” Ethan swore as he quickly activated his Hide skill. “Alright people, time to light this grimy fucker up.”