Chapter 44 – Floor 5: Part 5

Mathew ran as fast as he could, but even with his enhanced ‘Body’ stat, he could barely keep ahead of the crowd of ‘Gibbering Mouthers’. Ken had provided the name as he shouted for them to run. Mathew had no idea where the teen had heard about these creatures, and he didn’t have time to ask.

Without any other option, Mathew and the others retreated back the way they had come just as the first of the massive creatures made its way into the chamber of bones.

He could understand why the floor was so smooth now. As the creatures pushed themselves across the floor, their skin made a screeching, grinding noise as they travelled. This movement was the source of the shrieking they had heard when Alivia killed the first of them with her card.

“Do something! Use another one of those Fireballs!” Mathew shouted as he snapped his fingers to create a fire behind him. The creatures were much larger than his conjured flames. The one in the lead merely trampled it, smothering the bonfire instantly.

“I can’t! It’s random! I don’t get to choose what card I draw!” Alivia replied, her face white with fear as the grinding noise from the creatures drew closer. Oscar spun around, his hammer ready as he yelled.

“Just hold them for a moment! I need to get Bertha ready!” Oscar bellowed. He was taking pieces of an object out of his inventory with his left hand, placing them on the ground and tapping them into place with his hammer.

“Shit!” Alivia cursed, stopping her run and holding up her deck of cards once more. Ken flung a knife at the creature, where it buried itself into its spongy flesh and disappeared. The teen was a Burglar and wasn’t cut out for front-line combat.

To be honest, none of them were prepared to fight these creatures. The ‘Buzz’ was pounding in Mathew’s head, telling him to run away as fast as possible. At least three of the monsters were in sight, but there were likely more behind them, blocked from his vision by their bulk.

“Please, let it be something good!” Alivia prayed to the deity in charge of her Discipline’s Demesne. The god of Arbitrary Fortune granted her this discipline after she won a challenge on the first floor by pure luck.

Drafter was powerful, with limitless potential. It was one of the few Disciplines that had no set limit for levels, meaning she wouldn’t have to change to another unless she wanted to. But there were also powerful downsides.

Cards were expensive to purchase and only came in three categories: Defensive, Offensive and Support. She had no choice in what card she pulled. It was random. Alivia could only control the number of cards in her deck from each category, which was limited to a maximum of one hundred.

“Circle of Protection!” Alivia called out as she drew the card.

A line of runes surrounded her, glowing a bright blue as they expanded. They met the charging Mouthers with crackling energy, stopping them in their tracks for a second before the circle cracked and lost its mana. The Mouthers recovered in a moment and resumed their charge.

“That didn’t do anything!” Ken yelled, and Alivia cursed again.

“Then you do something!” She replied. Mathe was already opening his inventory, taking out a large pottery jar of black tar and placing it on the ground. Activating ‘Catapult,’ he sent it flying toward the creatures. It shattered on impact, covering the lead monster in sticky and flammable tar.

With a snap of his fingers, Mathew ignited the mixture, and the Mouther began to scream in agony as the flames travelled quickly over its bulky mass. Unlike the bonfire that Mathew conjured, this fire stayed in place even when he took another put of tar from his inventory and sent that sailing as well.

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“Nice work. Bertha’s ready! Everyone stand back!” Oscar shouted, and Mathew finally got a good look at whatever the large ‘Forger’ had been constructing.

Bertha was a cannon made of black iron and built on a large swivel. Oscar had stuffed something inside of it and ignited a fuse now inching its way toward the back of the cannon. The man was huddled behind it, his fingers in his ears comically.

Mathew would have laughed at the sight if the Mouthers hadn’t chosen that moment to begin rolling their bulk forward, smothering the flames that were covering the exposed flesh beneath them. Now, it was Mathew’s turn to curse.

The Mouther’s didn’t travel far before the fuse burnt out, and Bertha fired.

The subsequent explosion made Alivia’s Fireball seem like a simple firework to Mathew. The detonation was deafening; the noise and shockwave knocked Mathew off his feet. He skidded and slid on the smooth ground until he slammed into a wall.

The heat wash was so intense that he felt his hair burning, and he had to shut his eyes against the light. The Coward’s Mark began to burn on his chest as the explosion pushed him into the wall from the force.

The Mouthers were obliterated, not just the three in the lead but the half dozen in the rear as well. When the fire and heat died down, Mathew was further impacted by globs of flesh and splashes of blood that rained down around him.

Cracking open his eyes cautiously, Mathew was stunned by the detonation. Only bits and pieces remained of the Mouthers, while the tunnel floor, wall and ceiling were cracked, scratched and missing large chunks. He was surprised it didn’t collapse and could only thank whoever had constructed this place.

Bertha, Oscar’s Cannon, was missing and in its place was a smoking crater. Evidently, the explosion had been too much for the weapon to contain, and it had been destroyed in the process.

The Forger himself was dozens of feet away from where Mathew had last seen him. His hair was completely gone, as was most of his clothing. His ‘body’ stat had protected his flesh but not his equipment.

Leaping to his feet, Oscar began to laugh wildly. Pointing at the devastation, Mathew could see his mouth moving, but no words could reach the Trickster’s ears. He could only hear a loud ringing noise.

Turning to look for the others, he found Alivia sitting on the ground with a stupefied expression on her face. Her deck of cards was still in her hands, but strangely, her boots were missing. He could see her painted toenails, the explosion must have blown off her shoes.

Ken seemed to be in the best condition of the four of them. He had been the furthest away, ducking down as soon as Oscar had lit the fuse. Brushing the dust and dirt from his clothing, the teen replied to something Oscar was shouting, but no one aside from the Burglar could hear it.

Blinking her eyes slowly, Mathew could see Alivia come back around. She tried to stand but fell backwards on her behind. Reading her lips, Mathew thought she was cursing wildly as she pulled out another card from her deck.

Looking at it for a moment, Aliva tucked it back into the deck. Drawing more cards, it took her nearly a dozen before she found what she was looking for. Finally, she tossed it out in front of her with a muttered word.

A wash of mana swept over them, driving away the ringing in Mathew’s ears and healing the minor scrapes and burns he had. It was generally weaker than any other healing magic he had seen; even a potion was more effective, but it was enough.

“-Worked! Bertha, you beautiful monster! You were worth every scrap of iron in the shop!” Oscar yelled, and Mathew could finally hear him.

“Oscar, what in the hell was that!?” Alivia asked angrily, finally able to climb to her feet now that the healing magic had helped her ears. It had been making her off balance.

“Bertha. I told you.” Oscar replied, not understanding the question.

“You could have collapsed the whole tunnel!” Alivia shouted.

“And we could have been eaten by those things. I think Oscar made the right decision.” Mathew interrupted. His clothes were looking ragged, and his jacket was shredded and slightly smoking. Pulling it off, he tossed it away. It was warm enough without it, and he had spares in his inventory.

“See, Mathew appreciated it. Good iron is better than a flimsy card, in my opinion.” Oscar said snidely.

“How many more of those things do you have?” Mathew asked, and Oscar shook his head.

“Just Bertha. But don’t worry, I’m a ‘Forger.’ I have a few more surprises in store. I made sure to stock up before we headed out.” Oscar assured them, and Mathew shared a look with Alivia.

“Guys, whatever was down here definitely heard us. I think we should head back.” Ken suggested, only for all three of them to shake their heads.

“We can’t. There’s no going back now. We fight our way through.” Mathew responded, and Oscar nodded at the words.

“Don’t worry, kid. We’ll keep you safe.” Oscar said, slapping the teen on the shoulder.

“Or you’ll kill us all first.” Alivia muttered, and Mathew agreed. Bertha had been terrifying. What other kinds of surprises did the Forger have in store for them?