The figure standing, or more accurately massacring, all of the Origin minions was Noel? I guess if I looked closer, I could see that familiar frizzy hair, but between the black flames that consumed her, the two blood-red orbs where her eyes were, and the goddamn wings of oily, burning tar on her back, it certainly could have fooled me!
Then again, her class did mention flames, but the fire that coated every inch of her body didn’t behave like the inferno that Noe caused earlier or even the normal fires produced by our torches. It seemed to move like it was in slow motion, gently flickering and floating in the wind. It had this lazy movement that was completely contradictory to the movements of the woman herself.
Worse still, the way that the flames burned her foes, if you could even call it that, was disturbing. Anything that touched that lightless blaze seemed to melt. Their bodies would fall apart in a horrible gooey sludge, leaving nothing behind but a sickening stain on the ground. Strangely, the weapons that they used to fight back were unaffected by the flame, although that didn’t do her foes much good since Noel was equally unaffected by the weapons. They would simply pass through her.
She stopped what she was doing and turned her gaze towards us. I felt an uncontrollable shudder as those red orbs glared my way.
“Holy shit,” Vadeem muttered, “And I thought Walter’s transformation was bad. At this rate, our whole party’ll transform into nightmare creatures!”
“You’re not much better, you know.”
“Stay focused,” Jae-Hyun muttered, “We’re not in the clear yet. We break through and head towards the Temple.”
“Wait,” I said, “We go through the creepy flesh-melting fire?”
“It won’t affect us,” the Regressor stated simply.
Even Vadeem looked unsure, “You’re sure? I mean, Noel hardly seems like she has any brain functions left in that state, not that she had much brain function in the first place.”
As if to prove him wrong, Noel glanced over at Vadeem and flipped him off before returning to her slaughter.
“Never mind,” he replied with a sigh, “She’s still in there. At least she can’t talk.”
“Can you hold on to Yoona?” The Regressor said, ignoring the insults, “I need both hands to clear us a path forward.”
“Of course,” Vadeem assured, pointing to the girl on his shoulder, “Ana will make sure she’s safe.”
“That’s Eva,” I corrected.
“Of course,” Vadeem said again, “Eva will make sure she’s safe.”
I rolled my non-existent eyes.
Jae-Hyun gave a quick glance at the two girls riding on the giant and hesitated for half a second. Ultimately, he nodded and gently handed over his sister to Vadeem’s care.
“You can trust the twins,” I said, “They’ve been with us close to the start. And it’s better than having Vadeem holding on to Yoona; he almost turned me into paste when he grabbed me earlier.”
“I told you it’s because you’re too slimy!”
Jae-Hyun sighed and ignored our banter, “Alright, stop wasting time, we’re going now.”
Without waiting for our reply, the Regressor took out his spear and bolted towards the enemy, running into the flames without hesitation. Vadeem followed soon after.
Now that Jae-Hyun was unburdened, he started to carve a path through the remaining foes, never slowing down despite the various brainwashed minions getting in his path. His spear-work was exquisite, and I just wished I knew more about fighting to be able to really appreciate what he was doing. Instead, all I saw was a blur of movement followed by the collapsing bodies of the mutants. I’m sure there was a whole other level of footwork, technique, and whatnot that I was missing out on.
What I could see was that the damn Regressor managed to get a new weapon, and it was awesome looking. It was black, as was everything related to our Party now that I thought about it, but this weapon seemed to absorb all the light around it.
Looking closer, I could see that faint sparks of ebony electricity were periodically surging along the wicked-looking point, and his swings left a shadowy afterimage that seemed to linger in the air. It seemed that even the slightest wound inflicted by his spear caused the foe to fall, and I could swear I saw some wisp of energy enter his weapon with each kill. Compared to my broken sword and slimy tentacles, I might as well have been using a pitchfork to fight. How was he able to look so cool in everything he did?
Now that I think about it, Vadeem’s able to turn into a literal raging titan, I became some kind of tentacle monster, and Noel looked like she stepped right out of Hell. Coupled with the Regressor’s decidedly vile, soul-sucking weapon that made him look like a spear-wielding grim reaper, was our guild just… evil?
Vadeem nudged me, “Walter, you’re losing focus again. Careful now, we’re almost at the end. Just have to hold out a little more, my friend.”
I forced my focus back on the battlefield. Damn, just when I thought I was getting a good handle on my emotions, I started drifting into needless thoughts again. What would have happened if I had-
No, stop. I almost did it again.
I took a deep breath.
“Wall’s just over there!” Jae-Hyun shouted from up ahead, “Since we don't have Walter's army of followers, we're going with plan B."
"Sorry about that!" I apologized, "Things got a little out of hand near the end."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"It's fine," he answered quickly, "you still have the explosives I told you to bring?”
My enhanced perception allowed me to see a few ambushers sitting on top of a tree, aiming their guns at us. I took care of them with a quick swipe of my feelers before replying to the question.
“I used some of them, but I got about half left.”
Another couple of foes hidden behind trees fell prey to my tentacles.
“Give them to me when we reach the wall!”
This time it was Vadeem who eliminated the next few idiots who got in our way. His massive boot crushing the poor people underneath.
“Are you planning to blow up the Temple?” I couldn’t help but ask as I watched the twins expertly let loose a volley of arrows. Every shot hit its mark.
“No, we need to make our own entrance since we can't take the direct path without more men. It’s why Noel and I couldn’t get in. But we did manage to secure a clearing near here in case things went wrong.”
I saw a few more tasty foes to impale, but the Regressor’s spear was faster than my feelers.
“Why can’t we just Vadeem through the walls?” I asked.
“And risk collapsing the whole building?” Jae-Hyun answered, “We do that as a last resort!”
Vadeem chimed in, “Hey! I can control my strength!”
I recalled the scene of him exploding the last fortification and doubted that he was telling the truth. Right, caution was probably the safer first option.
The Temple was approaching fast, and the titan had to slow down our advance before he ignored our leader’s instructions and actually did Vadeem through the exterior. I threw the leftover explosives over to Jae-Hyun when we came to a stop, and he quickly went about setting them up. He was damn fast at it too. Noel met up with us a short while later, having cooked her way through a swath of enemies.
“Buy me some time,” the Regressor grumbled.
We did. Vadeem set Yoona and the twins down and took out his hammer. Every swing managed to pulverize any poor souls who came near. Noel entered the fray once more, doing her best to melt the suckers who were closest to the Regressor. All I had to do was make sure that anyone who slipped through the cracks was subsequently impaled and dismembered. It was light work all things considered, but then again, the other two were doing the brunt of the work.
“Ready!” Jae-Hyun’s voice echoed between the screams of the dying, “Brace yourselves!”
I didn’t even have time to do that as the shockwave of the blast slammed into my back. I didn’t fall over given my enhanced strength, but it was very uncomfortable nonetheless. Nor did I have the time to complain before Vadeem dragged me and the three girls into the newly created entrance. Once again, Noel was on our heels, and once she entered fully, Jae-Hyun set off another set of detonations which caused some of the roof to collapse, sealing off our entrance.
There was the sound of rushing footsteps and angry shouts as the enemy hoard slammed into the blocked-off passage, but after a few seconds, it was clear that the rubble was holding off their advance. We were safe for now.
Once the last of the outside noise subsided and our foes realized that they couldn’t break through the blockade, at least with their current equipment, everyone in our party slumped down in exhaustion. Vadeem had returned to his normal size, and Noel had turned into a human puddle of fire by the side. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was jiggling a little now and then, I would have thought she died. Even the Regressor was slouching a bit… maybe.
Jae-Hyun was tending to his sister when he asked, “Walter, you said your halo could alleviate some of the corruption?”
“Yeah,” I answered, “Does bugger all for me though.”
“Can you stand closer to Yoona,” he said gently, “See if you can help her?”
I nodded, “Sure, and I also got a lantern that can help.”
“What do you mean?”
I took out the Promethean light and showed it to him. I could tell that the Regressor instantly recognized what it was as he gripped it tight.
“I found it in the first Trial,” I lied, “Lost my original light, and found this one on the side, saw it was a bit brighter but I didn’t think it could help in here of all places.”
“It’s…” he started, but quickly composed himself, “This is more valuable than you can imagine. I don’t know how you found it in the first Trial of all places, but you have my thanks. This is exactly what I needed.”
He unscrewed the top of the lantern off, exposing the fire under it, and then slowly dipped his finger into the flame. I frowned, not sure what he was doing, but on closer inspection, I saw that there was a faint blue glow emanating from his fingertips.
“It’s mana manipulation,” he explained as if sensing my question, “I’m transferring the essence of this flame into Yoona, if this is what I think it is then she should recover quickly.”
He took the tiny flame and pressed his fingertips on his sister’s forehead. Immediately, the fire shot straight into the unconscious girl, and her pale complexion improved visibly. The Regressor did this a few more times, and eventually Yoona started to stir from her slumber. We all crowded around the high schooler, wanting to see if she did improve.
A few more seconds passed, and a faint smile appeared on the Regressor’s lips as Yoona’s eyes fluttered open. We were all about to cheer when her eyes widened in shock, and I felt an impact on the side of my frills. She quickly scrambled away, her bow out and ready, as she faced me with grim determination.
Right… I was still in my Xollon form.
“Brother! Kill it!” she screamed and let lose a barrage of arrows.
I avoided them narrowly.
“Yoona, it’s me!” I said, putting up my tentacles in surrender, “It’s Walter.”
A look of understanding flashed through her eyes, “Oh my god, what have they done to you, Walter?”
“No-”
“Don’t worry,” she continued, “I- I’m sure that my brother can think of something to fix you. I knew this place changed people, but… I’m sorry. And why are you glowing?”
took us a while to explain the whole situation to Yoona and the others, but they accepted the news quietly. It was nice to see that they were so quick to uptake new info. Everyone understood that now was not the time for sharing.
“If your new title does as you say, then Noel,” Jae-Hyun turned his attention to the still smoldering woman, “You can turn back to normal now. We’re safe from further corruption as long as Walter’s here.”
With a puff of smoke, Noel extinguished herself, and practically fell on the ground from exhaustion.
“Oh thank god!” she muttered, “Do you have any idea how tiring it is setting people on fire 24/7?”
Yoona looked at her in confusion.
“Not people people,” she quickly corrected, “I mean those mutant monster things.”
“Sorry,” the other girl said quietly, “I wasn’t of much help this time.”
“It’s all good, bestie” Noel said with a smile, “We all made it, no harm, no foul.”
She turned her attention to Vadeem, who was still busy stuffing his face, “Also, fuck you Vadeem, I do have a brain, thank you very much.”
The big man just shrugged before eating some more.
She continued, “And when are you going to introduce us to those two?”
“Oh, sorry,” I said, “That’s Ana and Eva, two natives we met, they’ve been helping us out the whole time.”
“Hello!” Noel said with a wave, “Nice to meet ya!”
“Hello and thank you for the help,” Yoona added.
I addressed the twins and translated, “They’re saying hi.”
The two nodded and turned towards the others… then flexed their muscles in various bodybuilder forms.
Noel and Yoona looked on in confusion and I could only bring my palms up to my face in exasperation. Vadeem was laughing nervously in the background. I had forgotten who taught them the basics of human gestures.
“I uh…” Vadeem started, “I might have taught them that. They’re mute, so I thought they should know how best to communicate.”
“Through flexing?” Yoona muttered.
“Bestie, it’s best you learned that Vadeem’s always been a very special boy.” Noel added, “You can’t use common sense when dealing with him.”
“I see…”
The Regressor interrupted our little banter and reminded us of our situation.
“Introduce ourselves later,” he said with a serious tone, “Get as much rest as you can now, we’re heading to the source of all this darkness.”