It had been a few minutes since the trio had walked in a straight line through the darkness. What had happened to Serthar? It was as if he had disappeared. Marshmallow began to frown. He had no time to waste, the timer was still running and he could see it clearly in the corner of his vision.
Time Remaining: 00:42:03
He gritted his teeth. He was getting impatient, and the Goat Horse noticed.
"Marsh," the Goat Horse called him at this moment in humanoid form with a motivated attitude. "Are you upset? I know that Serthar is the most powerful opponent you have ever seen. But you have to face him and win. I know you can do it!"
That was not Marshmallow's problem. In fact, he was dying to face him, but how could he face him without finding that abomination? He shook his head and turned back to the Goat Horse.
"This is the ultimate challenge, but I have little time, very little time. Goat Horse, I must destroy it abruptly. I want you to stand back. You must stand back and watch, you cannot interfere this time."
The Goat Horse was stunned. It had never happened before that Marshmallow had asked him to step aside. But then he thought about it and decided to do it himself. The power of Serthar and Marshmallow was equal to that of two gods. A mere mount like him It would have been one too many.
Then the Goat Horse nodded slowly, looking serious and this time without his usual mocking air. "Then I will support you with all my might. But you will have to give it your all, you cannot spare yourself for anything!" He concluded, clenching his fist.
"I know it well," he replied with an uncharacteristic seriousness. Then he turned to face the giant Balor, who was walking on his right side with the titanic sword resting on his right shoulder. "And you, Immortal? Have you figured out what you need to do? Do you think you can do it?"
Balor snorted a thunderous laugh. "You mortal conceit! This darkness is nothing to me. I am perfectly capable of going along with your mad plans."
"They are not mad plans," Marshmallow replied vehemently. "It is the only way to bring down what lies beyond this darkness.
Marshmallow had just finished speaking when a deep, dark rumbling interrupted their discussion. Dark vibrations raced along the floor, increasing in intensity until the entire crypt shook. Balor froze and his eyes widened as an immense, unnatural presence approached inexorably.
An almost solid stench of decay saturated the air, strong enough to make even Marshmallow wince. From the shadows beyond the entrance, a massive, misshapen figure over five meters tall began to take shape.
The Goat Horse took a step back as his eyes widened in primal terror. "What... what... is this monstrosity?"
He was right to ask this question, after all, they had not been able to observe Serthar properly when they first met him. But Marshmallow did not answer, too busy staring at this living aberration against nature. It was a shapeless mass of rotting muscle and massive bone, held together by a black, slimy substance. Numerous tentacles covered with sharp bones sprouted from the amorphous pile of rotting flesh.
The creature had no real face, only a horizontal opening that looked like an abyss of absolute darkness. Yet within this obscene cavity, an ancient, conscious presence stared back at them. An unnatural stench of death emanated from this being, corroding and blackening the surrounding ground.
"By all the gods..." Balor muttered in a voice filled with awe. "It is... it is Serthar!"
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"Yes, the Ultima Lord has come," Marshmallow murmured. If Balor himself was afraid of him, this creature must have been a cosmic terror.
Balor shook his head and recovered. He felt that he was the king of the Survivor Game, not the pile of filth that was Serthar. He contracted his muscles with all his might, red smoke began to burst from his pores, and with a hideous roar he activated his eternal flames until they shook the earth. Tongues of crimson fire enveloped his massive body, illuminating every dark corner with a fiery red glow.
"Look around you, you worms!" King Balor thundered in a cavernous voice. "My flames will cleanse this place of its obscenity!"
The Goat Horse winced, narrowing his eyes to shield himself from the intense glow emanating from Balor. "Even too much light for my taste," he muttered with a wrinkled expression.
Marshmallow, on the other hand, remained impassive. "Do what you must, Immortal. But don't you dare distract me, or you'll pay dearly."
Balor snorted a mocking laugh. "You dare threaten me after begging for my help, worm?" Still, the titan backed off to a safe distance, then with a mighty gesture, he fanned his massive arms toward the sky and unleashed a whirlwind of swirling fire.
Balor's eternal flames erupted into an unstoppable vortex, casting their blazing light over the entire area. Suddenly, the darkness was pushed back and the misshapen outlines of Serthar appeared in all their horror.
Marshmallow's eyes widened as he realized two important things. First, with the darkness dispelled, his Lumokinesis could finally be used to its full potential. Second, beyond what appeared to be a horizontal, hollow mouth like the abyss, he glimpsed a thin segoma: it was the skull of a satyr, what must once have been Serthar's true face before his hideous transformation.
"So it's not 100% a monster?" The Goat Horse interjected, stepping forward to study the distorted form more closely. "What we see is but a distortion of its original form. A being corrupted and contaminated by dark forces."
"It doesn't matter what it was originally," Marshmallow growled, gripping the hilt of the Supernova Titan Hammer tightly. "What matters is what it has become. An aberration that must be destroyed."
"Stop talking like two assholes!" Balor roared, quivering with impatience. "He's coming! Get ready!"
A new unnatural rumbling seemed to shake the entire crypt, as if from the bowels of the earth. Serthar seemed to sense Marshmallow's offensive power, then a distorted roar came from the abysmal opening that was his mouth.
"He feels our strength..." the Goat Horse murmured with a shudder of fear. "He prepares himself."
The immense bones that made up the inner skeleton of this being began to clothe themselves in an armor of smooth black scales, as molten and tough as the purest obsidian.
Within moments, Serthar's entire misshapen mass was enveloped in this shield of bony plates, forming a seemingly impenetrable barrier.
"What a disgusting aberration..." Balor muttered with a hint of disgust.
Marshmallow wasted no time. He grabbed his Supernova Titan Hammer and unleashed a series of mighty blows against the monster. The fiery head slammed into the black plates with such force that it tore reality itself apart. But the impact did not leave a single scratch on the impenetrable armor.
"Fuck!" Marshmallow growled between clenched teeth. He backed away a few steps, sweat already beading on his forehead. He had to find a way to penetrate this defense. He created an extremely intense aura of light energy around his left arm and condensed it into a powerful beam of pure light that he hurled at the target.
The Lumokinesis beam slammed into the black plates, an explosion of blinding heat and light. For a moment, it seemed to break through, but when the glow faded, Serthar's dark defenses remained intact.
"No..." Marshmallow faltered at the sentry position. His shot had dissipated without even scratching the armor.
Balor puffed out a cloud of smoke, bored. "I warned you, worms. This creature is too powerful even for me even in my current form. How do you expect to prevail?"
"Shut your fucking mouth, Balor!" Marshmallow growled. "You just keep this place lit. Once I find an opening in its defenses, it will have plenty to worry about."
Balor huffed again. "As you wish. But prepare to fail miserably."
Serthar seemed to greet this futile effort with a kind of ghoulish amusement. He opened his jaws and exhaled a stench of decay, and from the abyss of those jaws a beam of solid darkness took shape.
It was about to reach Marshmallow.
Time Remaining: 00:34:58