The sight of a tall and bulky man covered in what appeared to be a bronze age armor made of clay would be odd on its own but combined with a troupe of over half a dozen armed men going from a simple thug with a basic gun to a pair of men wearing bulletproof vests and holding rifles it became terrifying. And it wouldn't be good to forget the three mutants accompanying them, a small ratkin, a large lizardman, and a humanoid slime entity, containing a black skeleton and wearing black leather clothes. Many who lived in the slums have fled from this group. Even now, in the tunnels of the sewers, the wildlife surrounding them knew better than to approach.
And yet, the men weren't confident in their victory. They had lost contact with half of their original force and were now on their own. The two animalistic mutants were terrified by what they were hunting and their fear spread to many of the thugs. What kind of monster could take out so many armed men so quickly and terrorize mutants so thoroughly? Even a tribal orc had seemingly disappeared as soon as it encountered the beast.
"Those idiots were useless."
Grover, the tall armored man, looked at Soluble, the humanoid slime who was walking next to him.
"They helped locate our target's location, at least."
"Sure, but we could have done it ourselves. If that thing isn't at least a little injured when we find it, I'm gonna kill them."
"Insubordination is the plague of the modern age."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm just surprised Guy couldn't find anyone better than that."
"Oh, I'm certain he did, they just refused the contract. It wasn't really rewarding, considering the risks taken."
"What?"
"A raid into the sewers to eliminate an entity without any information on it? The genuinely competent hitmen and mercenaries didn't bother. Too many unknown for relatively small pay. I cannot blame them, my main objective isn't the money, it's the safety of getting rid of that silhouette. Those who made this their profession are used to letting dangerous creatures rampage to up the prices."
"No, I know how scamming folks to kill their problems work, what I don't understand is what makes you say the reward ain't good. Guy said he had a sponsor and he would pay every survivor 10000 Xerins if that thing was dead."
One of the thugs' eyes almost budged out when he heard those words.
"Wait what? I ain't heard anything about 10000 Xerins. It was only 2500!"
"This man is right. Guy only offered to pay me 5000 Xerins, and that was due to my expertise and Core. The price you mentioned, Soluble, might have attracted some better men."
"Why would Guy lie to me? I'm the first one who wanted that thing dead."
"Maybe he didn't lie to you, but us. This may be an attempt at pocketing our rightful reward, which we would have never known without your honesty and honorable nature. Thank you, Soluble."
Mark and Jeffrey, the lizardman and ratkin, eternal minions and companions of Soluble, exchanged a look. Guy wasn't known for double-crossing anyone. His whole network was based on the fact he was one of the most trustworthy information sellers, relying on quality over quantity. Why lie for such a small operation?
"Uh, sure, but-"
"Hush now, Soluble. I think we reached it."
As Grover spoke he raised an arm to signal the thugs to stop marching. They had entered the infamous tunnel with a black wall, and the sight they witnessed made more than one of them nauseous.
Blood. So much blood. One wall of the tunnel may have been covered in black, but the one on the other side of the canal of refuse was covered in red. Liters of blood had been spilled, and yet there was no corpse. No lost limb. Nothing but silence and scarlet marks of violent deaths, as well as a spot of shattered stone where a detonation happened roughly in the middle.
One of the thugs gulped, but both Grover and Soluble ignored it. Instead, they both stared at the black wall, made of perfectly pristine and cut bricks of black marble.
"Skuller didn't mention seeing blood, so either he lied or Brutus' team and his were taken down differently."
"Weren't you the one who said he was going to betray us?"
"Yes, but I didn't hear any lie in his voice. I'm certain this carnage is what remains of him and his men."
"So, what happened?"
"Judging by the crater in the ground in the center of this bloodbath, I believed he tried to throw a grenade, and it was thrown back."
"Sure, or that shadowy thing could have just tossed a grenade first."
"It could have, but then why not utilize the same tactic against Brutus? His team was taken down silently and without a single hint left behind, whereas this... This is more eye-catching. So, why change?"
"Alright, let's say orc guy used a grenade and got blown up, but a grenade ain't strong enough to do any of that. And there'd be pieces left anyway."
"You are correct. So, the grenade was a distraction, or maybe to take down Skuller so that his team would be ripe for the picking. Then, it removed the bodies."
"Why remove bodies but not the blood?"
"Time, most likely. It must have heard us coming and chose to retreat in its lair, which must be hidden behind this wall."
"What if it was a message?"
Soluble and Grover both turned to stare at Jeffrey, the small ratkin trembling madly as the two Cored's gazes fell upon him.
"L-like, we thought it didn't like to kill because it let us go, but what if it was warning? L-like, an 'I let you go once, leave now or you won't leave at all' kind of thing?"
Both the slimy humanoid and the clay armored man pondered about Jeffrey's words for all of a second before making their decision.
"Perhaps, but it doesn't matter."
"We're here to kill that thing, we ain't leaving. What's the plan now, Grover? Brutus wasn't strong enough to break it and a grenade didn't work either. So, what now?"
"I brought something specifically for this kind of situation."
Grover signaled for one of the men to come closer and began to search in his bag, pulling out a small round object with a bulbous center. He turned the round thing's main body around the bulbous part three times clockwise and seven times counterclockwise, the dome beginning to glow red as he finished. He then approached the black wall and began to lightly tap it with a knife, listening to the sound the impact produced. When he reached a part that sounded hollow, he continued to tap around it, trying to find out the shape of the thin surface. Once he was satisfied with his examination, Grover knelt and stuck the strange object to it, the red glow going green.
"Everyone, take your position. Be ready to shoot down anything that tries to leave."
Stolen novel; please report.
Grover pressed the glowing dome, and it went blue. He jumped over the canal, landing in the remains of Skuller's assault, and raised his arm to protect his face, the clay on it suddenly growing and spreading to form a small round shield that looked oddly similar to the device he had just placed.
The device beeped once. Twice. Thrice.
And then exploded.
The entire tunnel shook, the thugs shambled left and right and some of them even fell. Jeffrey the ratkin almost slipped into the canal, being successfully caught a few hairs away from the water by Mark's scaly arm, clutching his razor-sharp claws on the collar of Jeffrey's shirt. Soluble's slimy mass wobbled left and right as their skeleton stood unwavering, looking directly at the explosion, ignoring the pieces of black that flew and embedded themselves into them.
Soon enough the cloud of dust brought by the explosion fell and all could see a gaping hole in the wall. One vaguely shaped like a doorway, which led to a long dark hallway.
Grover slowly lowered his arm, the shield of solid clay retracting back into his armguard. He stared at the hole for a few long seconds. Nothing moved. Not a sound was made.
"Men, we found our target. Be ready to engage. We enter now."
The group gathered and stepped into the darkness of the hallway one after the other, the thugs entering first, followed by Soluble and his goons before Grover closed the march. Their steps echoed against the walls, disturbing the otherwise silent place. Quickly enough a voice addressed them.
"Intruders, stop now."
The men at the front stopped, but Soluble began to push them forward.
"I'm offering you a chance to leave with your life. Surrender now and no harm will be done. Continue, and mercy shall be denied."
"I'm here to kill ya, shadow thing, so I ain't surrendering!"
"Soluble. You failed to do anything last time, what makes you think you will succeed now?"
"I have guys with me. With guns. And I know what you can do, so no nasty tricks this time!"
"If that were true, you would have never returned. Not as an enemy."
"Shut up!"
"You who came here in search of violence, look at the one who led you here. Do you truly wish to risk your life based on the words of such a volatile person? One prone to anger? One who ignored the deaths that already occurred?"
Some of the men looked at each other, but before they had the chance to make their choice Grover spoke out.
"What is your name, you who dwells in shadows?"
"You may call me Silhouette, warrior of clay. Do not think I did not have my eyes on you too."
"Oh?"
"You ordered your men to kill those that came here, no matter their fate. You had no intention of bringing everyone back."
"Such is the life of a soldier. You're ready to lose some men."
"Maybe, but there is a distinction between being prepared to lose allies and ordering your troops to exterminate them."
"How would you know, Silhouette? I do not see you leading a troupe against a hostile force."
"Because I value my people. When the risk is too great, I face the threat alone."
"Truly? Then face us."
"As you please."
Countless black tentacles emerged from every surface of the hallway, grabbing every person's limbs, slithering around their torsos and necks - or at least attempting to. The men resisted, struggling to pull off the tentacles, those who had their weapons at the ready shot into them, Mark and Jeffrey ripped them to shreds with their claws and teeth while Soluble melted down everything they touched and Grover formed blades of clay to get rid of them.
Before long the sound of snapping bones and necks echoed in the hallway as bodies fell to the ground, Grover and Soluble kept on advancing disregarding the deaths surrounding them while Mark and Jeffrey tried their best to follow after them and escape the forest of tentacles that sought them out.
The four of them arrived in an empty hall, leaving behind all those they had brought with them, uncaring of their fates. Only the ratkin and the lizardman looked in terror at how easily the creature they had come to hunt dispatched a group of armed men, seemingly without a care.
Soluble's black leather clothes had been dissolved when they had increased their acidity, leaving their body bare for all to see. Now that it was uncovered, it became evident their skeleton wasn't a perfectly normal one simply tented black. It was too smooth, not detailed enough, there were even some bones missing. Now more than ever, as they saw their friend's and leader's furious face, Mark and Jeffrey wondered if Soluble was a humanoid who had mutated to become slime-like or a slime who had mutated to become humanoid and intelligent.
Grover dusted his armor, removing cut pieces of black tentacles that had stuck to it, either due to their odd composition or the shape of his armor. It didn't matter. What mattered was that they had found their target, and it was willing to fight.
"Is that all? Getting rid of untrained men is not an incredible act, Silhouette."
The sounds of choking and struggling men slowly stopped, and a figure emerged from the darkness of the hallway, joining the four in the hall. It was humanoid, somewhat, it had a head resting on a neck connected to what appeared to be shoulders, but its body was too angular, too thin, as though the thing before them was a shadow projected on the air instead of the ground.
"Mark and Jeffrey do not appear to share your apathy, Grover."
"Those two are not important."
"Yeah! What's important is that you're done!"
"Oh? What makes you so confident, Soluble?"
"I know your tricks. I ain't gonna sit back and let you shoot me this time."
"And I will not be taken down with a mere bullet. From what I've seen you are a trickster, Silhouette, not a warrior. You have no chance. Surrender."
"Wait, what? We're here to kill it!"
"Silence, Soluble. This is a unique opportunity to recruit a rare specimen. Can you imagine how good of a thief that creature could be? Your vengeance is not our priority."
"REPEAT THAT TO MY FACE YOU OVERGROWN BRICK!"
"DO NOT INSULT ME, PEST. We have an opponent to incapacitate first."
"I find your overconfidence inappropriate. How many of you were sent down to eliminate us? Only four remain now. Oh, actually. Mark, Jeffrey. Despite your troublesome past with Barry and Larry, you are free to surrender, and I guarantee you will be treated fairly."
"Mark, Jeffrey, don't."
The small ratkin and the large lizardman shared a look, and...
"Sorry, Soluble."
"You've gone too far thisss time. We sssurender."
"YOU IDIOTS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
"We give up, Soluble. If you want to get yourself killed, fine."
"But you do it without usss."
Soluble looker at their companions, their best friends since childhood...
And promptly rushed on them to pummel them with their acidic fists.
A wall of shadows rose between the slime and their old goons, forming a few tentacles to quickly open a hidden door in the wall before closing it back, just in time to retract into the wall to avoid being cut off by a glaive of clay and for the wall to reform into the humanoid figure of Silhouette.
"I did not expect much from you, Soluble, but to try to kill Mark and Jeffrey? I see now that, even if you hadn't threatened my employees, we would never have been able to see eye to eye."
"SHUT UP!"
Soluble raised their fist and threw it at Silhouette, their arm lengthening like an elastic jelly to increase their reach and hit him but he formed a hole in his body through which the arm went through before the momentum shortened it back to its regular length, destabilizing Soluble in the process.
Grover took this opportunity to try and impale Silhouette with a spear of clay, the shadowy entity bending at an impossible angle for a being with bones and nearly touching his "foot" with his head before he melted into the ground to avoid another assault of Soluble, their form growing less and less humanoid as they just pounced at where their opponent had stood barely a second ago.
Silhouette reformed in the dark of the hallway, holding a pair of guns in a couple of tentacles and aiming them at Soluble and Grover, the mass of grey translucent slime containing a black human skeleton and the clay armored warrior looking warily at the shadowy entity.
"Do you remember our last encounter, Soluble? You should be familiar with my weapon."
"I told you, I ain't falling for that twice!"
Grover quickly formed another shield of clay and thickened his armor, effectively covering all of his skin - except for his face, hidden behind the shield.
"And my clay won't lose to a bullet."
Silhouette didn't bother answering and simply pulled the triggers.
Soluble lunged to the side to avoid anything that might have been fired at them but... Nothing came.
They immediately turned around and got to witness the horrifying sight of Grover's body being filled with black electricity, it entered his every pore and left them just as quickly to reenter into the next again and again. His body was plagued by spasms, his eyes rolled back in his skull and he foamed at the mouth as cries of terror and agony escaped his throat until it become too sore and damaged to let any sound out. His armor of clay solidified and shattered, falling into pieces and dust on the ground. His body soon followed, landing with a resounding thud.
Soluble looked from the body of the broken man, still wrecked by black electricity, to Silhouette as he came out of the darkness. In his left tentacle, the one aimed at Soluble, there was the black he had used before but... His other tentacle. His other weapon. It was something else. Just as black, but... That nightmare of a weapon didn't fire bullets, based on what happened to Grover.
"I must admit, Soluble. I am heavily disappointed. Both in you, and your partner. I expected more."
"I... I surrender!"
"No, Soluble. You don't."
"W-what?"
"You had your chance. Twice. The first when I let you go, the second when you entered my home. Now? Now there are no prisoners."
"You... You can't-"
"I can, and I will, Soluble. The last time I chose to show mercy. This time? I'm finishing what I started."
"Wha-"
"Let's continue where we left off if you please."
Suddenly pain overwhelmed the humanoid slime. Their bones didn't itch, no, it was something far worse. It was like someone had stolen their bones and replaced them with molten lead. It spread through their gelatinous form, uncaring of the acid that made it up.
"If you're lucky, Soluble, there will be nothing left of you when I'm done."
Soluble screeched.