Karla smashed the last of the golems to pieces with a single kick, stomping a red crystal among the rubble so it wouldn’t reform. She glanced over to the party with a questioning look as they stopped in place with Donny at the helm.
“Open space is good. Blow the house up if they don’t show in a few seconds.”
“How many are there?” The house destroyer in question asked Shin.
“Can’t tell.” A veil of foul energy coated the manor, preventing even his prismatic eyes from seeing through.
“Wha-?”
A horned red skinned demon blurred right behind Karla. She spun underneath its giant cleaver into a backhand to its wide open side. Blood spurted from its fanged mouth from the rupturing force of Ravage, but immediately he grasped her arm with a clawed hand. Karla lunged forward, deflecting a second swing before it could reach its full extension and carved in its skull with a vicious headbutt. A kick to the knee broke its leg and a stomp reduced the oni to ash and fleeting smoke.
A second oni’s spiked club stopped on Donny’s Greater Bastion as a hold locked it in place for him to cleave through its neck. Three others blurred next to Kamala with particular aggression and were skewered in tandem by giant roots, blooming thorns piercing them all to ash.
Basem nocked two arrows and fired, the two arrows swerving around Donny as he bashed a demon away, one scraping his pauldrons, the other nicking his ear as they curved into the heads of two lunging oni. Chameleon blended the hunter’s body with his surroundings as his presence vanished, and he jumped away.
Jean summoned a new puppet, one with a wide body and large barrel for a mouth, which shot a buckshot of needles from above at the same time Yen cast a barrage of dense balls of mana, denting the bones of some demons and blasting away most of the needles, which peppered Donny and Karla at the frontlines.
Mujin blitzed through the chaos towards a lone oni and thrust at the demon’s head, only for it to dodge. He shifted around the blade and struck again, this time with a flicker. The oni sneered as he let the spear pass through his torso to send Mujin crashing through the estate walls with a mighty swing of its arm, the sparks of static electricity left on his arm a mere annoyance.
Mujin burst back, draconic scales covering part of his body. His spear spun rapidly in his hand like a drill and he raised the other, a wave of watery lightning surging over the demon and passed in Donny’s direction. Shin flickered to his side, and blinked them both out of range. Shin off to demon and Donny to another, suppressing anything he had to say. Mujin’s target barely twitched from the attack and swung its fist at the charging spearman. But Mujin was faster and Greater Impale reinforced with the piercing power of the rotation bore through half its chest and face.
Another oni blurred beside him, catching him off guard. His eyes followed and his body snapped around, but before he could respond, something decapitated the demon. Three more followed in its wake until a black scythe cut through empty space, undoing Ashley’s invisibility.
“Too bad~” She turned around completely unharmed as blood splattered from a deep gash in Amir’s throat, one that quickly healed.
Amir’s arm flickered, catching an arrow with his bare hand. He gripped his scythe and slashed a massive blade of wind that carved through the wall Basem stood on, almost too fast for him to react and blink away from. Two more slashes hurled at the young hunter as he fled across the walls, before Dante appeared behind.
Amir slashed in an instant but hit nothing as Dante blinked away as suddenly as appeared. The slayer’s eyes darted around before jolting up just in time to avoid a thundering crash as a giant cannonball crater the ground like a comet from above, far heavier than it seemed.
He glanced up at Dante standing in midair but Mujin, Karla, and Shin forced his attention. A massive infernal fireball appeared in the sky, channelled by the red haired mage and Amir teleported away as it shot towards them. Yen focused her mind, but dispel vanished in failure.
A giant mystic shield spread over the party just in time as it crashed down, the sheer power starting to crack the shield immediately. Shin took on his masked kitsune form and Overshadow grew his power threefold, casting golden holy fire at the infernal flames. The dark fireball was more potent, but the holy fire snuffed out enough of it for Kamala’s mystic shield to bare the damage.
The mage channelled another attack, and an arrow sunk into her head. Amir watched in stoic disbelief as his lover fell lifelessly, shock which quickly turned to rage. A roar of pure hatred thundered the estate, infernal energy surged over his body, and he flickered next to Basem.
Basem startled back at the speed. Mana shattered around him as his blink failed and the black scythe flashed. A sharp clang sounded as the pole of the scythe struck the metal bracers Shin donned, the walls shattered beneath them from the impact. Shin grabbed the handle and flipped it around, so the blade no longer faced himself and Basem.
A Quake clad foot struck Amir’s chest before he could react, sending him crashing along the ground. His body hit a bump and skipped up into a rupturing kick from Karla right on his face, sending him crashing another direction. His scythe slipped from his hand as he soared, finding the hands of a smiling reaper who took his head. As Amir’s head fell to the ground, slowly it seemed, his last hazy thoughts were of his lover. And as they were, her name failed to come to mind. Confusion took hold but then the darkness came, and he had no more time to think.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Everyone good?” Donny asked as the party rejoined in the center, save for Ashley who remained where she was twirling the scythe in her hands with an innocent smile, quite enamored with the weapon. He pulled out a needle from his neck, letting regeneration heal him and glanced around. No major injuries, Mujin a little worse for wear but Kamala was healing him in no time. But that wasn’t his concern at the moment. “We suck right now.”
“I did my part~” Ashley argued as she played with her new toy.
“The enemy is dead, we’re not. Stop whining.” Basem snapped.
“That’s right.” Mujin voiced, though he seemed more to be in opposition with Donny’s assessment than agreement with Basem.
“Oi, listen yeah.” Donny’s words took a sharper tone. “These man only got done in so easy because they’re weak, and you lot are out here acting like big fish.”
“I am no fish!” Mujin strangely taking offense to that part specifically.
“Booooo, gangster innit, bruv.” Yen heckled for no particular reason.
“Alright… We’re the type that needs to feel.” Donny rubbed his head briefly as he walked towards the leader’s body, and pointed at Yen as he passed. “Setting a bad example for the younger. Fucking irresponsible.”
“It’s already the 8th day. We should rest up and prepare for the third stage.” Kamala suggested.
“Yeah.” Yen agreed wholeheartedly. “It’s definitely going to be the most bullshit so far.”
Shin glanced off to the distance silently, as the party decided their course of action, thinking he should probably check on Flutter.
---
Flutter sat on her flower throne, more than thoroughly uncontent. It had been nine wretched days since the evil human made her big and she felt nothing but disdain every minute of it. She had filled her tree trunk palace room with all the pleasant and little things she could find but it had given her no happiness. Rather it only served to remind her of her bigness. Her own room mocked her.
The sidhe queen took a large swing of her cup of honeydew and scoured at her pixie maids playing in the distance, blessed with the righteous gift of small. Her face flushed slightly beneath her frown, watching the little idiots frolic around without a care in the world, no idea what it’s like to be big.
“Why can’t you be better?!” She snapped at them.
The pixies stared over and at each other with innocent confused faces, and their bodies burst with light, shattering to reveal new forms.
[Fairy Handmaiden (uncommon) - Greater Lord]
The three fairies took to the air in celebration, letting out cheers and giggles of joy as Flutter looked on in frayed disbelief.
“Tulip!”
“Lavender.”
“Daisy~”
The fairies greeted her in turn, an energetic orange short haired one, a long purple haired one, and a curly blonde one. Disdain welled inside Flutter at the sight of her idiots enjoying what was taken from her. What’s worse, they all had nice names, nicer than hers even.
“You are now Pumpkin, Mash, and Beans.” She ordered for no other reason than spite.
They looked at each other. “Beans!” The orange haired one exclaimed, pulling the other two into a dance.
“Mash.”
“Pumpkin~”
Flutter watched the pleasant fairies circling in the air, hand in hand, on the verge of losing her mind. Not only did the little idiots get the order she named them wrong, but they were actually happy with those ugly names. What little kindness remained in her started to die, as she considered ‘releasing’ them and getting new servants.
But after that brief thought, she merely slumped back into her throne with a scowl. There was no point. Every fairy besides her were all idiots, the new servants would just be the same. Flutter downed the rest of her honeydew and her annoyed expression became a bit sloppier, her thoughts turning to the evil master of hers.
She had made sure to keep track of the days this time, so that creepy human wouldn’t sneak up on her again. Nine her minions assured her. That was at least half what it took the last time he left, she was sure of it.
“Honeydew!” She demanded with slightly slurred words. The handmaidens stopped their circle dance and rushed off to fill her cup which she downed in large gulps all at once. Her body started to sway with tiny hiccup.
“Shtupid big human… I hope he-” She cut herself off with a gasp and looked around, the eerie human in question nowhere to be seen. She managed to trick him when he sneakily snuck up on her before but that might not work again. She reminded herself not to let down her guard again. That’s what smart people do, and she was smart, the dungeon master thought to herself as she drank yet another cup.
“Ugh… it’s even worse now…”
Flutter looked across to the wicked words of the she-witch glancing around her palace. Even more big people than before followed her, including her eerie eyed master. She burst off towards him unleashing a hail of pitter patter fists upon him.
“Shtupid mashter, change me back!”
“Can’t.”
Flutter fell still, tears welling up in her eyes and she broke into a crying fit. “I don’t wanna be big anymore… I wanna be small again!” She wailed, more annoying that sympathetic to any normal observer.
“I’ll find a monster that can shapeshift. You can look how you want.”
“...really?” Flutter sniffled.
“Yeah.”
Emotion welled in her face again and she slammed face first into a hug as she cried again, this time in relief. “Sank yooouu… I’m shorry for calling you names. You’re a good mashter even if you’re big. And you’re not that creepy or scary. Better than ugly gnolls and lizardmen…” Flutter wailed, tacting on more insult than compliment as she blew her nose on his clothes.
“No, seriously, get a new dungeon boss…” Yen said.
“Shutup, dumb ugly!” Flutter snapped back. “Fixsh more trapsh, shtupid shervant!”
Yen’s passive disapproval turned to direct contempt. “Fix them yourself, you useless idiot.”
“I’m not shtupid, I’m shmart!” Flutter countered. “I don’t need you! I’ll make better trapsh! Nashty trapsh that kill ugly gnolls and she-witches!”
A notification appeared in front of Yen far more important than her annoyance with the idiot dungeon master.
[Blood Island]
‘Enter the third and final trial (optional).’
‘Accept / Decline’
‘23:59’
Yen let out a casual groan, her annoyance turned to wary disdain. She had prepared herself for what hardships she imagined the tutorial would throw at them next, but if it was outright optional, that meant it would be even worse than she expected. The name certainly didn’t help.
“Is the countdown when it starts or the limit we got to enter?” Donny asked.
“The former, most likely.” Kamala reasoned. “Each break has been ten days exactly so far.”
“That could just be a trap.” Yen held absolutely no trust in the system or tower’s benevolence.
A talisman flashed in Shin’s hand, shimmering his clothes clean, and he chose accept without hesitation. “When it starts.” He informed the others.
“Even canaries have to be dragged into the mines, you know…” Yen lightly criticized as she too accepted. The rest of the party all accepted in quick succession to no event. Yen glanced around. “Alright, guess we have another day to prepare for deadly death island...”