3 Mana Potions left to go. 3 more mana pots, and Diana’ll be on her last count. That’s only a measly approximate of 8 to 10 minutes in total. Crystal’s having her on check right now, but with all the chaos with the incoming monster horde, and the occasional giant falling eye, checking up on her was getting harder and harder.
Since Nestra’s completely focused on trying to hack the treasury’s giant door open, she left her belt with the 4 mana potions in Crystal’s good care. She’s also the one who’s (Forcefully)feeding Diana he potions when she needs it.
‘Damnit! Open, UP!!’
Nestra was on her edge! All the insane mechanisms she needed to work with was driving her mad! And the anxiety and fear of death wasn’t helping much either!
The deeper she went in, the more complex and difficult the systems got. And with more complexity, comes a need for more effort. And more effort, means more time invested!
After some point, she finally snapped and began to just grenade the entire area. It was a dirty tactic, and it was very dangerous, but hell, as if she could care right now! If Diana was able to corrode the stone with some effort, then her grenades should be able to do the same!
Problem is, after about 20 grenades, her pack was out, and she was now left with a room that was filled with little crumbs of burned and exploded machine-, hmm? There seems to be a big dent on that side of the wall.
“Tch. [Phantom Blade]!”
Meanwhile, on the outside, Crystal was having her share of monster hunting, splitting and stabbing the heads of each monster with her trusty [Phantom Blades]. Luckily, they died in one shot. Unluckily, the number of these bastards weren’t decreasing at all!
Same with Crystal, Rei was also tackling a monster, she was just fighting against the ‘Bigger’ picture. With her ingenious plan, and the help from the two judges below, she was now on her way to ripping out the beast’s remaining 2 eyes.
Her plan pretty much went like this, ‘Get the 2 eyes out from the head. Then, SMASH’ That’s pretty much it. A simple plan, but effective, hopefully.
There’s also the issue that the giant monster was getting more violent, actively trying to shake Rei off its head. Not like it’s going to work, since Rei’s iron grip wasn’t failing her any time soon.
Despite being the calmest of the big trio, even Rei was starting to get fed up with all the monster’s head bangin’. So, with her claws out, she stabbed it into the empty eye sockets, just to try and stop it from moving so much!
It didn’t work. In fact, it just made it worse, since the monster was now shaking around in agony.
*BOOOOOOOMM!!!!*
But, another eye goes down for the count, and only one eye left for her to rip out and throw into the air!
Down on the ground, Crystal was quickly feeding Diana another mana potion, which meant that her potion count was now down to 2! A quick [Phantom Blade] forms in her hand and severs the head of an incoming monster. Throwing said blade into another monster’s head, she returns to the fight!
And then, finally-
*BOOOOOOOMMM!!!!*
The final eye was ripped out, and the monster was unable to see!...Or that’s what everyone thought. But them, something magical, and very disturbing, happened!
The giant monster began to shake, and out from its belly, came a set of 20 EYES. 20!! What the hell!? You know!? No! She was not going to go through that process all over again and rip out those eyes too! Instead,
“Rei!! Come here and help me!”
She’ll jump down and help Nestra there, not before stabbing the guy several times in the eye socket and then jumping down. She also happened to make a nice Thor entrance and smash the head of a smaller monster that was getting a bit too close to Crystal.
“Ugh, just go help her already!”
“Un.”
Without further talking, Crystal continued to hold off the monster horde, while Rei gave up on the giant monster and followed Nestra into the area she had just blasted.
“You punch hard right!? Face this way, and go wild!!”
“Un!”
Feeling delighted, she readied her fists, and her somewhat broken gauntlets, and unleashed a full array of punches at the area Nestra was trying to break into!
It’ll take some time, since this wall was tougher than the one in the normal Tartarus, but Rei’s a monster truck, so she’ll get this done pronto! And also finally grab the Ultimate Potion and give it to Diana.
Of course, even though Rei was sending her swift myriad punches onto the area that seemed most vulnerable, as Nestra expected, trying to breach into the treasury with mere brute force was gonna be a hard task!
Not that some hard task will diminish their spirits! They had come this far, and they’re not going to let go of Diana!
But now that Rei was on bulldozing duty, the giant monster out there had all the time and effort in the world to have a nice meal! The two judges were still fighting back, but their attacks were nothing but little pricks on its skin. There was also one more judge, but he’s already knocked out.
Pathetic! Bring me more food! Bring a tougher challenge!
These were the things that the monster had constantly in mind as it rampaged around. Ever since that lowly human came and threw that black liquid into it, its power and energy rose to incredible heights, and its intelligence increased too! Which then, turned a single small fry into a Calamity Ganon level threat!
The two remaining judges, although their spirit was still flaring as bright as the damn sun, they couldn’t hide from the fact that there was no possible outcome of victory. Their strength, was trampled under the beast they had never expected to rise.
Actually, if we go by Rei’s or Crystal’s standards, this dungeon was quite easy, and so the bosses followed suit. But then, bam! Sudden threat appears, annihilates the entire population of monsters in the vicinity, and began their march towards a better and more potent meal.
*GGGGGGUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAUUUAAAA!!!!*
A howling scream of pain escaped from the monster’s mouth. It wasn’t due to the effort of the two judges, instead, coming from the flank, and piercing right through one of its eyes, a [Phantom Blade] was launched!
“Finally, the small fries are gone…”
From down below, Crystal muttered so in annoyance. All that cannon fodder was finally out of the picture, but she’s somewhat tired now, but as if she’ll let something as trivial as exhaustion stop her battle!
Although she may not look like it on the outside, she was extremely excited! For the first time in a while, she was facing against a monster of colossal proportions! Just seeing the beast cry in agony from her [Phantom Blade] was getting her blood riled up!
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I didn’t know Crystal was a battle maniac
Of course, the annoying thing about this guy was the fact that its regenerative abilities were top notch, keeping it alive even after Crystal closed off(stabbed) the remaining 19 eyes in a flash. It seems like it hurt for the big guy, but as if she gave a damn.
Now realising that sight was useless, it switched up its tactics, and instead enhanced its hearing abilities through the roof! The giant monster was now kinda like Daredevil from the MCU, but I digress!
However, now that it didn’t need to worry about eyesight, it leisurely charged up a giant beam attack, and launched it at the injured judges. Easy to say, they didn’t survive.
Looking ‘sad?’, the giant monster lamented the loss of its food, and turned its head towards the next target, Crystal. But unlike those puny judges that looked at it with fear, this little prey was looking at it with excitement!
It was time, to reveal her new trump card!
She didn’t have enough time to do this beforehand due to the constant enemy wave, but now that those weak monsters are out, it was time to test out her new powers she had gained in this pretty awesome dungeon!
Taking a serious stance, Crystal closed her eyes, and began to chant. The chant was long and boring, so the giant monster charged up another beam and fired it at her. The beam exploded, but no casualties!
This was due to some new equipment she got while exploring around. One of them, were her [Greaves of Hermes]. It was a nice pair of steel greaves she had found hidden in a secret room, and gave her a nice boost to her speed.
Besides also giving her increased speed, she was now also able to fly! Albeit under a time limit, but she could fly nonetheless!
So dodging something that was so easily telegraphed wasn’t a challenge for her, even though she was occupied by her chanting and all that. But, now watch in fear and awe, for her new power shall bring forth ruin upon the battlefield!
“-I call upon thy, the prisoner of eternal punishment. Come forth, [Ruin Call: Ixion]!”
A hurricane of dark magical energy surrounded her, forming into her newly acquired magic staff! The length of it was around her own height, and on the tip was a sphere of pure darkness. Around it, floated a pair of crystalline wings that shined a brilliant purple light.
This was, one of Tartarus’ special treasures-!
[Ruin Call: Ixion]
In the myths, Ixion was a king of an ancient tribe. However, due to his hatred to his father, was driven to kill him, tainting him in sin. Because of the god’s pity, he was brought up to the heavens, however, even there, he was consumed by his own lust, and from that came a being now known as the centaurs.
Driven by hatred and filled with lust. Tainted by sin but with no way out. His soul was forever trapped inside the prison of Tartarus, forever spinning on a wheel on his own burning lust. Thus, all those emotions, boiled down into their purest form, and this staff was made.
Being one of the special treasures, Crystal had to do some insane stuff to get this. First, she had to defeat a tough centaur-like monster that was on par with the judges. Second, she needed to supply enough mana to power seven different orbs. And finally, she had to bring down 157 spinning wheels in the span on 30 seconds.
Of course, being a cheat character, this was no big deal for a hot shot like her.
Also, despite being a staff, [Ixion] itself isn’t actually a staff. Instead, it would be more appropriate to call it as a skill, that allows her to summon a specialised staff that would aid her dark magic.
But more on the staff later, the giant monster wasn’t dead yet!
With the added bonus from her new staff, her already insane magic became even more insane! At a moment’s notice, a volley of 20 [Phantom Blades] were summoned at once, and then fired off and stabbed into the monster!
*GGGGGGUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAUUUUAAA!!!*
“Not done yet!”
This time, she went with 40 blades, and then fired. Next, came 60 blades, then 80, then 100, then she got tired of counting and just started firing it rapidly like a safety-off gatling gun. The monster’s audible scream continued on for quite a while…
Oh, and while she was at it, she might as well force feed Diana another mana potion, since she was about to run out there. With this, only one mana potion left to go!
Anyways, back with Rei and Nestra, they had finally made a breakthrough, literally!
*BOOOOOMM!!!*
The wall finally succumbed to the many *Ora!*’s Rei sent, and gave way into the treasure room. Now, all they needed to do, was find the damn Ultimate Potion, and feed it to Diana! The final act was coming close!
“Rei! Go outside and help Crystal! I’ll search around for the potion!”
“Un.”
With that, Rei nodded and ran back outside to assist Crystal. It was for the better really, since this whole place was like a badly managed warehouse, and Rei would just be standing there with a blank expression.
Normally, since the judges were the one who would enter and take out the prizes, they knew where everything is in this mess. But for some thief like Nestra, trying to fiddle around and try and find the potion would become her ultimate challenge!
With her hopes and dreams held up high on a pedestal somewhere, Nestra steeled her heart with Harden, and began to search for this damn potion!
She went searching around everywhere, pillaging through a pile of boxes, hopping around the huge mess, knifing her way through at times, and kicking things away in frustration. If anything, this felt more like Diana’s old gaming room than a treasure room!!
To make things even worse than they already are, because of the giant monster’s attacks, the entire dungeon continued to shake, causing some rubble to start falling down into the room!
*Boom!*
“Oh, come on.”
Now, she was playing Tetris. But instead of playing as the all powerful player controlling the falling blocks, she was the victim now, trying her best to avoid said falling blocks.
But then, in the midst of all her frustration, aid came!
*Boink!*
In the form of Slimey that is.
“O-Oh, it’s you-, h-hey! Wait up! Don’t go there!!”
But instead of feeling relief, her dread and frustration only piled up even further. Why? Because Slimey was jumping right into the mess, and sliming it all over the place! Muu~, this was the worst!!
Was what she thought, until she saw what happened next.
*Vuuushhh*
With the power of slimy magic, Slimey’s entire slimy body expanded over the entire group of items, swallowed them up, and then organised each item in a swift yet understandable fashion. Now, instead of a broken warehouse, the items were laid out cleanly! She could actually understand which item is what now!
Then again, her job wasn’t as easily done as that. Since every consumable items, I.E potions and special pills, were kept inside special green boxes. They were like loot crates, each box containing three random item.
And there was only one Ultimate Potion, which meant that, out of the 100 boxes, in which 3 are in each, she would have a 1/100 chance to find it now! What a pain in the ass!
Meanwhile, back outside,
*GGGGUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAUUUAAAAAAAAUUAUAUAAA!!!!*
It was just torture for both sides. For the giant monster, the constant piercings it was getting on its body was just…yeah, and for Crystal and Rei, their eardrums are just, suffering from this screaming nightmare.
Of course, this wasn’t going to last forever. Diana’s on her last mana pot right now, Crystal’s mana pool was being drained out, and the giant monster was taking a huge beating.
And since Crystal was constantly firing her [Phantom Blades] and [Phantom Needles] and stuff, Rei couldn’t just climb up it and start beating it down, since she’ll get caught in the crossfire.
Now, it was just a contest of who falls first!
“…Monsters.”
Just to increase this mess even further, now there was a large number of monsters rallying together and heading their way. They seem quite angry that their home was getting demolished, not that it matters though, since Rei’ll just bash down anyone who comes close.
Instead of the ‘sisters’ they’ve been fighting up ‘till now, the monster horde she was facing was composed of many different species. Some were actual living monsters, others were magical beings, and some were robotic.
And in the middle of all that, there was a stone golem, that was fighting its own allies.
“…?”
Instead of advancing towards her, it turned towards it’s brothers and started to attack them! It was a sudden betrayal! The other monsters were shocked at first, but quickly realised that the golem was an enemy and tried to attack it. Of course, knowing that it was an ally, Rei swooped in to help and destroyed the other monsters around it.
Rei knew that this golem was an ally, due to the particular mana it had inside its core. It was one that Rei knew very well! The golem core, had inherited some of Diana’s mana! Yep, that’s right! This was the golem core she had picked up before she got sucked into that black orb thingy!
Together with her golem buddy, the two readied themselves and sent a flurry of punches at the surrounding monsters! Well, I say ‘flurry of punches’, but all the golem was doing was launching parts of its rocky self into the enemy and quickly regenerating, and then firing again, and repeat.
It was pretty much an endless firing array of Danmaku!
Back at the main battle,
“Hah…Hah…Daammmnniittt!!! GO DOWN ALREADY!!!!”
Crystal was getting desperate. Her mana was reaching near rock bottom, she force fed Diana her last pot, which means it the last round for her, but the giant monster was still stubbornly standing despite its many injuries.
The giant monster was even beginning to make counter-attacks, forcing Crystal to start moving around and shielding Diana when needed, drawing her mana nearer and nearer to the dreaded zero.
“At…this point…!!”
And finally, after about 5 minutes of constant magic casting, *Poof!*, her mana dropped to rock zero, and her magic staff disappeared. Her energy was empty, but her willpower kept her standing. But, it seems,
*GGGGGGUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAA!!!!*
This, was it for her. The giant monster was beginning to charge another giant beam, and Crystal didn’t even have any mana left. Rei was far away, Diana was asleep, Nestra was out of ammo.
This, is it.
*GGGGGGGGGGUUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!*
*BBOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!!!!*
And her sight, was filled with light.