Chapter 62: Fracture - Twilight Maze (9) (Patreon)

World: MSS - Loading...

***

Comparing the Neung-uh to a mermaid was doing a disservice to mermaids everywhere, especially the movie where a certain red-haired girl gives up her voice to be with her prince charming.

Because the Neung-uh was one ugly piece of shit.

Unlike the other monsters in MSS which came straight out of the nightmares born of folklore and myths, the Neung-uh was rather plain. It had a waxy complexion; gray and blue with greenish slime covering it from head to toe.  The face was humanoid, two double-lidded eyes, thick lips and two holes that served as its nose.  It had gills too of course, but due to the nature of this dungeon it was covered in frost and icicles.  Just like a human, it had two arms and legs, same color as the rest of its body which looked like a fish –complete with scales and fins.  Finally to top it off, it stood inside of a bubble like a kid who belonged to germaphobe chopper parents; staring at us stupidly until it opened its mouth to scream.

“KRUUUAHHHHH”

It was almost comical, turning on its stubby little legs within its bubble and running in place.

But it stupid-looking or not, the monster was a Grade 7.

The moment the Neung-uh turned around and began running, the bubble began spinning and started producing more iridiscent bubbles which started flowing over to us.  Before I could react, we were surrounded by them.

“Don’t touch them!”  I snapped, seeing Kyrian reach out a finger in wonder.

｢ [Neung-uh (능어)] casts [Bubble Trouble] ｣

“What do thessssse do?”  Skaris veered away from one.

“The bubbles explode on contact; it will explode into any random element or bestow a curse on you.”  I explained.  Luckily, the bubbles were slow and floated lazily through the maze.

Meanwhile, the Neung-uh was starting to make more progress, it was further down the corridor than before.

“Shit, I have to kill it.”  I debated whether Kyrian could shoot it down with his lightning spell without disturbing any of the bubbles.

“We have to move!”  Eltis cried out.

Just as she finished talking a monster came running out of the gates and skidded along the ground on its two feet, falling over and then standing up.  It shook itself like a wet dog, sending bits of snow and feathers everywhere, finally fixing its cold, inhuman eyes upon us.

[Inuho-oh (犬鳳凰)].  Grade 6.

A bipedal bird-monster standing twelve to fifteen feet tall; looking like a cross between a rooster and a terror bird from ancient history books.  It’s eyes were rings of yellow; crusted over with some kind of yellowish gel with a black pupil in the center.  It’s beak was curved and ended in a wicked hook, meant to rip apart flesh for swallowing.  The talons gleamed like kitchen knives, leaving shallow cuts in the snow.

The creature didn’t rush.  It didn’t scream.  It didn’t spread its thirty feet wing span to block off its part of the maze.

Instead, it continued to stare at us and started walking sideways, approaching us from an angle.  It took each step with purpose and deliberation, as if hunting rabbits that would spook too easily.

Our eyes met and it narrowed them, smiling like only a predator could.

I saw Eltis and Kyrian shiver.

There were only two paths; one through the Bubbles left behind by the Neung-uh.  The other, we’d have to fight Inuho-oh, close to the gate where other monsters could pop through any second.  It was an easy choice to make.

“Through the bubbles, quick.”  

Skaris waded through the bubbles first, careful not to let them touch him.  As hurriedly as we could, Kyrian and Eltis followed; Aurora bringing up the rear.  Aurora had wisely stored her lance into her dimension ring and held the shield between her and the giant avian monster.  It tilted its head to the side, seeing us approach the wall of bubbles and enter it.

I remained outside.

“Mr. Lock, what are you-”

“Go.  I know what I’m doing.”  I never took my eyes off of the bird.

I had to be the last one through the bubbles and only when my party had gone through.

If all of us went through the bubble all at once, Inuho-oh's prey drive would activate.  My instinct told me that as long as I kept its attention on me, it wouldn’t go chasing after the others into [Bubble Trouble].  I mirrored the bird’s pathing, sweating dripping down my face.

If it came down to it, I had a snowball’s chance in hell of beating this thing in a one on one fight; a particularly apt metaphor in this situation.

Damn.  This was the crucial weakness of my Core Synergy at the moment.  It required too much time to set up.

“We’re through!”  Kyrian cried out.

It was just in time because the Inuho-oh was next to the gates.

“RUN!”  I cried out and activated the stolen ability from the [Frozen Centipede], turning my head up and shrieking.  I felt the walls of my throat swell up then undulate; the unnatural sensation traveling down my chest and into my stomach.

｢ Lock casts [Centipede Call] ｣

A thick writhing mass of [Winter Centipedes] so tangled with one another that it looked like a blob of legs and clacking mandibles came rolling out of the Gates like a boulder and slammed into the Inuho-oh.

The Inuho-oh opened its wings and half leapt into the air, beating the air with its wings once and then twice.  The limbs of light sparkled and sent out small flecks of ember, like flint and tinder, and a moment later set the air aflame with a whirling tornado made of fire.  The centipedes naturally shied away from fire; their winter constitution plus the native biology of insects making them especially vulnerable to it.  The wriggling mass of centipedes split into two different paths, both heading for the Inuho-oh.

Letting the fight with the other, I slipped into the obstacle course made of [Bubble Trouble].  While I had been distracting the apex predator of this Fracture –barring the Fracture Boss Monster– the gaps between the bubble, both large and small, had decreased noticeably.  Even with the natural feline grace that my Cores lent me, I had difficulty navigating through it.  After moments, I saw my party mates waiting for me on the other side.  Only a few feet more.

“Mr. Lock! Behind you!”  

I chanced a look behind and saw Inuho-oh's eyes glittering with spite, the corpse of a [Winter Centipede] in its beaks.  The terror bird reared back like a pitcher about to throw.

I jumped through the last few bubbles remaining in my way, taking the risk.

Boom

Crack

Shhhhhhhh

The first one exploded into fire, the other into a web of electricity and the third into smoke that wrapped around me.  The bubbles were giving off too much light; I wasn’t covered in shadow and took the full brunt of their effects.  The moment I made contact with the bubbles, I ducked and bowed low to the ground trying to lessen the damage.

I grunted in pain as fire flashed across my back and lightning lashed it soon after; the cold soothing smoke tried to tangle itself around my feet but [Arcane Masochism] canceled it out immediately.  I felt [Arcane Masochism] redirect most of my blood flow into my legs; a [Speed] buff then.  I came stumbling out of [Bubble Trouble] and Skaris caught me.

“Let me heal your back-”  Eltis began.

“Go!”  I pushed Skaris towards the Neung-uh which was rounding the corner up ahead.

Boom

Crack

Shhhh

Boom

The Inuho-oh was throwing Winter Centipede corpses through the bubbles, clearing the path.  Each time a corpse was thrown, it flew through dozens of bubbles, creating explosions which shot out shards of rock, ice, fire, electricity and even more curses.  The Winter Centipedes in question –not always corpses– were thrown about and blown to pieces.  But the effects of [Bubble Trouble] didn’t reach the Inuho-oh; and with each throw the corpses were landing closer to us.

Dammit, why were the monsters so smart?

A piece of a still switching centipede leg landed near me, bringing all of us back to our senses.

We ran after Neung-uh, which was still running within its levitating bubble; making slow progress.  Luckily [Bubble Trouble]’s activation time had reset, now the skill was on cooldown.  But right as we rounded the corner, we came upon half a dozen monsters that had been lagging behind the main group; heading towards the gate.  Aurora and I didn’t hesitate, trudging into the monster group.  Everytime my katana flashed, I left one of two things; a corpse or a crippled monster not long for this world.  Aurora followed behind me, her shield slamming the corpses out of the way for the rest of our party to follow and her long lance finishing off the trembling still warm bodies of monsters.

Meanwhile, the Neung-uh increased the distance between us again.

“Ignore the loot!”  We all gave chase.

Dammit, at this rate we’d end up losing him.  I couldn’t speed ahead by myself either; I needed to be here to take care of the party.

Aurora was breathing fast, her shield dented but quickly starting to repair itself.  Eltis and Kyrian looked ok, but I knew that Kyrian would be running low on mana.  Skaris looked the worst out of everyone, bleeding from a dozen cuts all over his body.  If I hadn’t invested in his new armor, I doubted the beastman would still be standing.

Damn.  I’d been so caught up in my own personal bet with Dibo that I’d been running my own party into the ground.  The wounds on their bodies and tiredness weren’t represented by numbers, but by blood, sweat and ragged breaths

We needed to rest..

Looking towards the ceiling, I realigned where we were in the maze.  Quickly I changed our directions, away from the fleeing Neung-uh.

“This way.”

“Lock? I thought we were going to hunt the Neung-uh?”  Kyrian asked, as we took a path that took us away from the Neung-uh.

“Yes, but the first thing to do is rest.  We have to wait out until the monsters calm down again, they’re in a frenzy because of the Monster Wave.”

Aurora nodded.  “A smart choice, Mr. Lock.  It seems that the monsters were not only frenzied, but stronger than normal during this time.  Not to mention the Inuho-oh, which seemed to be hunting us in particular.  With its long reach and superior tracking skills, there is no doubt that it will catch up to us soon enough.  I advise moving with haste.”

“Is the big bird that intelligent?”  Eltis joined in.

Unlike Aurora and Skaris who had been brought up to be adventurers or Kyrian who actuall studied at a Mage’s tower, Priests and Priestesses weren’t trained to kill monsters.  They were trained to heal and save lives; spreading word of the deity whom they served.  Additionally, they were usually loaned out from their Church for a hefty fee.  It made sense that Eltis didn’t know a lot about monsters.

It also told me that Eltis wasn’t as experienced in adventuring as the otehrs.

“It has a hunterssss eyesssss.”  Skaris spoke with instinct.

“...Yes.  From what I saw of the monsters when the Gates all broke down, it’s likely the strongest monster as of now.”  I answered, seeing Eltis’ confused look at Skaris’ answer.  “Also the way it didn’t charge straight towards us through the [Bubble Trouble]... it’s smart.  Too much to risk fighting with it while you guys are tired.”

Though it wasn't worth comparing it to the Boss monster we’d have to face at the end of this Fracture.  The inuho-oh was a grade 6 monster and though I was confident of this party’s ability to slay it; we’d be too tired after.  Right now, it wasn’t worth getting into a fight with the flame-spitting monster and that wasn’t even accounting for all the monsters prowling around the maze right now.  Too many different factors were here.

We walked for a few more minutes, slaying stray monsters.  These ranged only from grade 10 all the way to 8, nothing we couldn’t handle.

Skaris took the skull off of a [Frozen skeleton], a grade 9 monster.  It dissipated into light and since there were no other monsters around we were able to loot the items that it dropped.  Lucky for me, it dropped a [Frost Covered Shield].  A Common grade shield in the shape of a small round shield.  Still, it was better than nothing.

I led our party for about half an hour more.  I even leveled up.

Then I found what I was looking for.

An Igloo nestled in a corner, part of the walls themselves.

It was one of the features of Phase 2.  While we were running from the Monster Waves, special shelters like these would pop up.  In it, not only would we be safe from monster detection; we’d all get some of our Mana Regeneration back.  If I remembered correctly, the number would change from -80% to -50%; not a life changing factor but definitely better than nothing.  Each of these shelters accomodated differing numbers of people, and lucky for us the igloo held 6.  But there was a catch: each one would be guarded by a monster.

The igloo was guarded by a measly group of five Frozen Skeleton.

“Tch… why are we getting so lucky? We saw the Neung-uh first thing out of the Gate.  Then we got away from the Inuho-oh with relative ease… and now only thing we have to do to get access to the igloo is beat these guys?”  Still, I stifled the growing unease and quickly slayed them.

“Oh it’s nice and warm here.”  Eltis stretched and remembering Skaris’ words from last night, I turned my eyes away.

The inside was a plain spherical dome made of ice blocks, large enough for us to lie down and sleep side by side if we wanted to.  The shelter was even tall enough for Skaris to stand up without hunching over.

“My mana is moving faster here.  Though not as fast as outside but still…”  Kyrian promptly sat down cross legged against a wall and began to cycle his mana with his eyes closed.

“We should be safe here for the time being.  Let’s rest here for an hour before heading back out again.”  I told them.

“We can’t just wait out the Monster Wave in here?”  Eltis began to cycle her mana as well.

“No.  Staying in one place isn’t too good.  Monsters will catch our scent.”  If we stayed in one shelter for two long, we’d attract more and more monsters.  Eventually, a miniature monster wave would come this way, demolishing the shelter and us with it.

The best thing to do was stay, catch our breath and leave once more to look for a different shelter.

Besides, now was the time to farm EXP, Items and Consumables to prepare for the Boss fight that would happen after this.  I was also itching to go after the Neung-uh.

“I just have to kill one.  Then even if Dibo kill the other two wandering monsters, I can come out ahead by finding the hidden two,”  The reason why Dibo had been mistaken was because the Neung-uh was a wandering monster, but only three of them wandered inside of the maze.  

The other two could only be accessed through Shelters like these.

“Mr. Lock.  I would like to ask a question.”  

I was in the middle of cleaning my katana and just nodded for Aurora to continue.

“Why are you so intent on killing the Neung-uh?”

I gave her my full attention, noticing that the others were listening in too.

“It seemed uncharacteristic of you.  So far, up until now, all your choices have been made in the name of progress and survival; two conditions for clearing this Fracture.  However upon seeing the Neung-uh, you insisted on hunting it.  You have not ordered this party to hunt a particular monster yet, only those that were in our way.”  Aurora’s eyes bore into mine.  “In the result of your decisions, we took on more risk than necessary.  I’d like you to explain why.”

“It issss of no conssssequence.”  Skaris interjected on my behalf.

“For you maybe, Mr. Skaris.”  Aurora continued.  “But for Ms. Eltis and I, whom are not official members of your party, we took a big risk in letting Mr. Lock, an unknown individual, take charge.  I was comfortable having Mr. Lock in charge because of the leadership skills he displayed during the First Phase of this dungeon.  But now I am beginning to have doubts and would like you to put them to rest.”

“Ms. Aurora, Lock would never-”

I waved aside Kyrian’s defense.  “Is that how you feel as well, Eltis?”

“It was very uncharacteristic of what I’ve seen so far of you dear and your two friends did talk you up quite a lot.”

I nodded.  It was only fair.  Perhaps I couldn’t reveal that I was a [Player] but… I could tell them a part of the truth.

“I made a bet with Dibo last night.  Whoever kills more of the Neung-uh will get the Fracture Splinter.  I’m sure you both know how crucial it is for us to get that monster drop at the end of this Fracture.”

Aurora shared a look with Eltis.  “Why did you not tell us?”  Aurora asked.

I shrugged.  “I didn’t mean to keep it a secret.  Just wrong timing.”  It was the truth, I was still learning how to be a party leader and separate what I could tell them and what I needed to keep close to my chest.

“That is… acceptable.”  Aurora relented, cleaning the inside of her greaves.  “Next time, I’d appreciate it if you gave us a heads up.”

“Ussss assss well, Sssslaveborn.”  Skaris punched me on the shoulder.  “You can rely on ussss.”

“I agree, Lock.  You’re good at a lot of things but I wish you’d trust us a bit more.”

I brushed them off, getting back to cleaning my katana.  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Awww what a heartwarming scene. Sweeheart, are you blushing?”

“Ahahaha, Skaris look, he’s embarrassed.”

***

L’teya threw the teapot so hard that it slammed against the wall and shattered into shards of glass that decorated the floor with the style of an avant-garde artists.

2000 gold.  Gone just like that.

“Now come on, Lety-”

“Only my friends call me Lety.”  L’teya took a step towards Arione.  “Get.  The.  Fuck.  Out.  Of.  My.  Sight.”

“But it’s my house?”

Lety didn’t do anything childish like reaching towards her axes.  It would be moot-point, she couldn’t kill the mage.

Both because she lacked strength and because it would break her only friend's heart.

“I only came to see how you were doing.  After our last dungeon raid, you’ve been cooped up in your room.  The others are worried.”

“I don’t want you in my room.”

“You don’t want me to call you Lety, you don’t want me to check up on you, you won’t tell me anything about your missing brother.  What can I ever do for you at this point?”  The elven mage swept his arm and picked up the shards of the tea set without touching them, his mana carried them to the table and set them down gently.

“Do you not get it? I want nothing to do with you, Magus.”

Arione stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowed.

Then broke into a grin.  “Then leave.”

L’teya didn’t answer.

“Oh you can’t, because Clover is with me.  And our kind little-”

“Don’t finish that sentence.”  L’teya growled.

She growled because that was all she could do.

Arione shrugged.  “Dinner’s at 6PM today.  Scarlet and Clover made beef stew.”  He waved a hand over his shoulder, closing the door with his mana behind him.  “I passed on the message! Make sure to tell Clover! Don’t blame me later!”

L’teya screamed in fury and threw a cup at the door, shattering it.

Once again, that was all she could do.

***