Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in Another World
Chapter 57. Below the belfry
While Gray starts walking back to the mayor’s office and Rosemary continues to help fight off the last bit of Spirit Beasts, Soku’s still taking on the zombified creatures. The beasts are slow, but they’re attacking blindly and don’t go down easy, so they’re quite the hassle. Soku speeds across her part of the city, flying around on her glider, and dropping down the slice up a few of the monsters.
Though every once in a while she finds a few big ones or more humanoid ones, but they still go down, just not as easily. She tries to find people in need of saving, but with the hundreds of people running for their lives it’s difficult, but for some reason, she sees people start to flood back onto the streets. She lands on a nearby building and watches as a large crowd of people runs from the direction of the mayor’s office as if they’re leaving it.
Soku: “What the hell? Good going Gray, you’re letting everyone leave.”
They try to fly over, but a flying creature quickly attacks her. One of the pink monsters with wings grabs onto her, trying to bite into her shoulder with its downward-angled mouth. Though before it can she creates a quick gust of wind, pushing it off of her. Then while in mid-air, she takes out her butcher knife-like blade, launching a quick wind slice, spitting the beast in half.
Thankfully she lands safely but notices something a bit strange. She watches as a few monsters walk out of a bell tower, looking freshly made. She runs off the building, flying over the once well-kept streets and into the top of the bell tower. She then opens a small trap door, leading inside, and at the bottom of a long stare well, she sees something horrifying. Civilians are dragged in by a cloaked Anarchist, and given to an Anarchist wearing a bird mask.
The Anarchist wearing a bird mask removes her glove and pulls up her sleeve to reveal the wrinkled skin of an elderly person.
Anarchist: “NOW, YOU GO FROM USELESS, WEAK HUMAN! TO ONE OF MY BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN! PRAISE ME! LOVE ME! LOVE ALL!”
The Anarchists' voice reveals them to be a woman, and the woman puts her hand on the young boy's face. He screams in fear, but before Soku can do anything, his skin begins to turn pink and bubble. In just a few seconds, the man melted down into a cocoon-like state. His bones are melted down while every fluid in his body mixes to become one, and fuses together. Then, the beast begins to stand, using its body only made of muscle and skin to do so.
Soku stumbles back, going so far as to throw up as a result of viewing such horror.
Soku: “A few seconds…that’s all it took…to become a monster…”
The enraged Soku blasts herself at the two with her wind magic, using her Mark of Providence to make her already great power even greater. The wind is so powerful, she only has a few seconds to flip mid-air so she can catch herself with the large ever blowing wind that’s surrounding her.
Anarchist: “WHAT IS THIS!?”
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The other Anarchist creates a large dome around Soku, so when Soku expels her wind, all it does is free her from the dome. The monster then lunges at her, and she’s forced to cut it to bits right in front of its so-called mother.
The male Anarchist rushes at Soku with a spear in hand, trusting it to her. She easily dodges, hitting him with a wind slash, but he creates a shield just before it reaches, saving his life. Then the female Anarchist tries to touch Soku, but she screams out, blasting wind from her feet to save her life.
Yoru: “YOU REJECT MOTHER YORU’S GIFT! HOW DARE YOU! Dante HELP ME!”
Soku {Dante? Wait…Gray said something about some dude named Don that had the ability to create domes…is this the same guy!?}
Yoru starts running away, holding her hand up in the air, and causes it to glow purple. Then, two large monsters burst through the door with their large tentacle arms, roaring at Soku. Yoru runs past them as if she’s headed somewhere, but Soku can’t follow after. Dante creates a dome that traps Soku in with the beasts, and they’re the strongest she’s ever faced.
They try to pile onto her, bashing their arms over and over, but she narrowly avoids them all. She has to charge up a bit to use a large amount of her power, but they won’t give her any time. To counteract this, she uses five percent of her mana to fuel her Mark of Providence, and once she does she creates a wall of sharp air, blowing it towards them. This deeply wounds the monsters, but they regenerate, getting closer once more. Dante begins shrinking the dome, but only a bit, seeming as if he can’t change the size once it’s made.
Soku looks at the monsters, watching as the bits of bones are still floating around, dissolving, making them seem incomplete.
Soku: “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO PEOPLE!?”
Dante: “BECAUSE I HAVE TO! IT’S MY REASON FOR BEING BORN! AND YOUR DAMN FRIEND KILLED MY BROTHER, YOU GUYS MADE IT PERSONAL! NOW I’LL KILL HIS FRIEND! NOW YOU DIE!”
Dante takes off his mask, looking like a normal man with short black hair. He slams his spear on the ground over and over, chanting for the beasts to win.
The hulking monster's stubby legs make it difficult to move fast, and its large tendrils cause it to be even more sluggish. But they’re damage sponges, seeming to be able to regenerate from most attacks unless they’re cut to shreds.
Soku {I’ve been fighting for hours, and I’m worn out…and I wasted mana on my entrance, I only have about forty percent left…even if I have a large amount of mana, it’s not infinite. BUT I HAVE TO LIVE!}
Soku’s long green hair begins to float in the air. The elemental spirits around her begin to sparkle green, catching the monster's attention. Soku stands tall, flowing her hands around, sliding her feet across the stone floor, like she’s dancing with the spirits. They grow even bigger, coming to a head when the spirits circle Soku, and she pushes her hand forward, forcing all of the spirits to pull all of the air in the dome and send it toward the beasts. Standing beside each other, it blasts through the middle, taking out one tentacle on each of their bodies, and destroying the dome.
As the dome shatters, Dante begins to panic but is confused right alongside Soku, as the monsters begin growing. Instead of healing, they sprout small tentacles that connect to each other, slowly fusing together. Their mouths connect, creating a large open mouth stretching across their heads, while their legs remain untouched. The large body of the monster, using its large tendril arms as well as its four stubby legs to move, slowly gets closer to Soku.
Dante: “YES! ATTACK! KILL HER! KILL THE GIRL!”
Soku: “SHUT UP WILL YAH!”
Soku, aggravated, turns around to face Dante, slamming her sword down with all her might. It pushes a large gust of wind toward him, so he blocks him with a dome. But, this was faint, so while Dante thinks he’s safe, she actually used the short amount of time given to burst behind him. She then continues her momentum and throws a large blast of wind at his back, slashing it open and sending him tumbling into the monster.
Soku backs off, not knowing what the beast will do, but Dante is proud of it.
Dante: “Yes…RUN, FEAR US DAMMIT. NOW BEAST GO GET HER!”
The beast turns its head, looking at him even though it lacks eyes and Dante squeaks. The monster opens its large mouth, trying to eat him. Dante reacts quickly, making a dome block to chomp while he rolls away, groaning from the pain of Soku’s slash. He escapes, and Soku’s forced to face the large monster.
The monster stumbles towards her, and she’s completely focused on it until the ringing of the bell tower scares her. She looks up, watching it ring, and it gives her an idea. She lets the beast stumble toward her and begins leaping wall to wall until she’s reached the belfry and attacks the wooden pole holding the large bronze bell. She looks down, watching the bell fall straight to the bottom, crushing the thoughtless monster. The once bluish-stone gray walls become coated in the pink oozing slimy fluid that holds these muscle creatures together.
Soku: “Wooh…now where’s Don…te…”
Soku looks over the belfry’s balcony, watching as all of the creatures begin walking toward the mayor’s office. And even if she wants to go stop Dante and finish their battle, she decides it’s best to find Yoru and stop her from zombifying the civilians of Constal
End of Chapter Fifty-seven