Chapter 76: Solo (?) (Patreon)

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***

I was so going to die.

The archer with the ugly mug from before fired without warning, the twang of his bow reaching my ears at the same time I ducked my head, feeling the arrow whistle above my head.

“Stop!”  Gurran ordered, obviously their leader.  To their credit, most of the party seemed to listen, with Dorothy helping Gurran try and retain order.

But sometimes, us human beings don’t react well to orders.  We don’t have just one sense that our brain relays orders from, hearing, but a myriad of other senses.  Among them, we react extremely well to sight and it’s always always easier to fire first and feign ignorance after.

Before Gurran had even ordered ‘stop’, the earth rumbled and rusted chains exploded out of the ground, trying to find purchase on me.  A huge block of ice supernaturally condensed then froze in the air above me, hammering down on me like an anvil.  In combination with the two spells, I saw two melee fighters dash in towards me; one of them wielding a two-handed axe and another fighter wielding a sword and small scythe.

Taking out my Lunar Shield, I raised it up.  Instead of trying to take the [Ice Cube] spell straight on, I took it at an angle and the shield slipped it to the side; five hundred pounds of ice slamming into the ground with a resounding thud and throwing up dust.  The Ice Cube served to block the chains rising from the earth, most of them bouncing off harmlessly off of the slippery surface.  I wasn’t safe yet, there was still the matter of two fighters dashing towards me, splitting off to surround me.  

Trying to run, my knee almost buckled; I might have successfully mitigated most of the damage from the [Ice Cube] spell, but my body didn’t have the type of Cores to take that kind of impact and be ok right after.

But damage was damage, even if it was joint pain.

My feet surged with shadow and I felt the world go black; appearing more than thirty paces away from the group underneath the shadow of branch jutting out from a cliff.

“What! How’d he-”

“T-That’s a [Plurality]! I saw it in a book once! It’s [Lunar Shield]!”

“Who cares about that? He has the [Tortured Kris] you fool!”

“All of you! I said stop!”  Gurran started to step forward, taking out a Figure of Eight shield.  I saw him block a wayward spell that was fired towards me.

Something was weird.

The way Yousef spoke about the Parthenon made it seem like a powerful Clan with some of their adventurers being recognized as powerful fighters in the Colosseum.  Yet, Gurran was having difficulty controlling this wayward lot.  Sure, they were powerful –I could tell from their equipment– but this lack of discipline wasn’t something I would have expected from a Clan with a name like theirs.

From what I saw, Gurran and Dorocian were trying to instill order with futility.

Could it be because they were all Scions? With their own ways of thinking of and ideologies?

As curious as I was to see the drama, there was no reason to stick around and watch; waiting for them to turn their attentions back to me.  I had no interest in fighting against twelve adventurers, especially if they were all Scions –bastards or not– that were decked out with powerful Cores and equipment.

I managed to get the Core of the [Tortured Spirit] as well as a drop I had no expectations for; [Tortured Kris].  There was literally no reason for me to stay here, I turned to leave; hoping to give them some time to sort it out in privacy.  It also sounded like a god idea for me to be as far away from them as possible, so I turned around to leave.

“Move, Gurran! He’s getting away!”

Before the archer could fire another arrow, I was already sprinting away.

Boom

An explosion and another curtain of smoke.

Figures popped out of the smoke like assassins in the mid of night, their eyes fixed on me.

Damn it, I had dragged my feet too long; now I was going to turn into an actual chase.

On the bright side, this was good for me.  Without a coordinated effort, there was no way that they could catch up to me.  My build was built for speed and extreme bursts of damage; a guerilla warfare tactic was the best situation I could ask for.  Then again, I didn’t want to spill blood here.  If I killed even one of them, Gurran and Dorothy, the two strongest among them, might change their minds. 

It also wasn’t like I could bring this fight to the doorsteps of the Beastman Village either.  Never mind the distance, if a human brought a literal gang war into their midst, I could throw away any chances of forging good relations with them.  I needed them for Skaris’ [Evolution] and who knew, maybe I’d even end up recruiting a couple of them.  And… it was a village, not a war camp.  People lived there.

Just because I myself grew used to violence and death did not mean it was an everyday occurence for others.  Plenty of people in this world went about their lives without ever seeing a monster or walking close to death.  No, I wouldn’t be responsible for traumatizing a passing by kid or worse yet, the death of someone who was minding their own business.

I’d be no better than the Akka Xaluds if I did that.

So that left one option.

A Dungeon.

Somewhere along the Canyon, I knew that there was a dungeon opening.  Dungeons usually had a myriad of routes and paths, plenty for someone like me to sneak around and give them the slip.  It was definitely a risk though… the monsters in dungeons would be stronger.  Around grade 7 or so, maybe even higher.  In a one on one, I was confident of being able to slay even a grade 6 monster.  But it was the aftermath I was worried about.  Even if I somehow pulled off another miraculous solo-kill off a boss monster, I’d be spent; easy pickings for monsters.  

A risk for sure… but possible.  It would take extreme effort on my part to pull this off.

I leaped to the side as more chains exploded out of the ground, trying to tangle up my legs.  The air grew cold as the ice mage from before likely cast [Ice Mist], trying to hinder my movements.  Since it wasn’t a debuff but an environmental change, the frost began to cling to me and slowed my legs.  Redoubling my efforts, I ran faster.

They were… annoying.

“Should I just start killing them off one by one?”  I muttered under my breath.

I definitely could.  I knew that without a doubt.  Maybe not Gurran but the archers and mages?  At this point in my build, most of them were fodder; I knew it the same way that the sky was up and the earth was down.  But I couldn’t treat this like a game, killing someone just because it was the easier alternative.  If I started weighing someone’s life versus the amount of effort I had to put in… Again, I was no better than someone like… like Arione.

But at the end of it all, people’s lives mattered… especially if they weren’t trying to kill me but incapacitate me instead.  I know, my standards have grown real low after being a slave.

My mind made up, I ran towards the dungeon.

***

If I remembered correctly, the dungeon in this area was named [Burial Mound].

The moment I entered through the unassuming double doors hidden behind some large rocks, carved into the walls of the cliff like they belonged there, I could feel why with every inch of my skin.

｢You have entered a Special Field: Burial Mound ｣

｢ Field Effect - Burial Mound is now active ｣

｢ Field Effect - Burial Mound: -30% to [Mental] Stat] ｣

｢ Field Effect - Burial Mound: Monsters are harder to Detect! ｣

The dungeon wasn’t made of solid rock like the environment outside.  As I delved deeper into the dungeon, the floor turned to mushy, fertile soil; the type that you’d find on a mountain.  Despite being underground, the ceiling was way up high, giving me the illusion that I was actually inside a mound; not the side of a mountain.  I sniffed, smelling wet soil and the faint smell of alcohol –some kind of preservative, maybe an embalming fluid of something– and saw that the soil had spots of sparse grass growing among them.  The whole place was covered in this dim bluish-green hue, though there was no light to see with.

I thought it was just my good eye adjusting to the dark but it wasn’t.  Even when I got used to the dark, I could’ve sworn I saw shadows leap about, weird goo-like apparitions staring at me that seemed to be a trick of the mind as soon as I turned my head.  No matter how I angled my sight, the corner of my eye always seemed to be catching something.  The hem of a skirt, the fingertips of an outstretched hand and maybe even the shuffling of feet rushing towards me.

The laughter of a man and not quite a man echoed in the distance, carried over by nonexistent winds and sent a shiver up my spine.  It felt like I was being watched and stalked, not to become prey but for some other purpose that sent a primal fear in me.  That I shouldn’t be here and that this place was just wrong.

I never liked horror movies as a kid.

I told myself that this was just an effect of the dungeon, that it was playing tricks on me.  There shouldn’t be many monsters here that posed a threat to me; unless a stray Grade 6 happened to wander around.  Even still, with my abilities, evading monsters should be as easy as breathing.

The deeper I went, the stronger the foreboding feeling grew.  

“They’re just monsters.”  I spoke out loud, talking to myself.  Hearing my voice calmed my nerves; lessened the sense that things were spiritual and rooted here and the now, the physical realm.  The physical realm where I could cut things with my sword and smash them to bits with my shield.

I felt my body react to the fear like a scared animal, crouching and lowering myself to the floor.  A cold detached part of myself noted that I was a smaller target now, harder to see, harder to hear and harder to hunt.  My muscles were taut like a coiled spring, ready to explode into action.

It didn’t help at all when the monster’s tail coiled around my feet and pulled, slamming my face into the ground.

｢[Nure-onna (濡女)] casts [Shriek] ｣

The Nure-onna opened her mouth and expelled a high-pitched sound with so much force that the very air quivered; the space between us shaking in turn like a pile of dominoes being knocked over in slow motion.  I felt my mouth open to scream but nothing came out.  The ability had already reached me and I felt my eyes almost roll over in my head, giving over to the status [Fear].

All the previous experience I had with monsters went out the window.

The part of my mind that was still logical and not screaming in fear at the jump scare tried to convince me that this was just a status effect, that I wasn’t actual scared.  But Fear wasn’t just a psychological symptom; my muscles seized and I couldn’t take in enough air.  Looking into the Nuri-onna’s face –the face of an unkempt woman with make-up too heavy and wet hair draped around her snake body– made things worse.  

The sheer inhuman nature of this creature, the genuine joy in her eyes and the fact that something supernatural, something otherworldly had grabbed ahold of me and wanted to do things to me, made my mind turn into a lizard that wanted to do nothing else but cut off my leg and scramble away.

She smiled at me, her teeth neither fangs nor sharpened.  Just plain… teeth.

“Four… three… two… one.”  It wasn’t the calm part of my brain that was counting down until the [Fear] status wore off, it was the animal-brained scared rabbit part.

That same scared rabbit decided to bite.

I flipped my katana easily, it had been with me long enough to be a third arm by now, and with a reverse grip, I stabbed it into the Nure-onna’s tail.  The creature shrieked in pain, not the Ability, but a scream of pain that sounded just like the voice of two woman screaming together, underlain by the hissing of a snake.  But now that the [Fear] status had worn off, I only had plain old regular fear to deal with and those were usually accompanied by anger.

The Nure-onna tried to slither away, but I jumped on my heels and dug into them.  She screamed again as her momentum carried my sword through her tail like I was fileting an eel.  She snapped at me, her jaws coming dangerously close to my face and my reflexes kicked in; slapping her away with the flat side of my shield.  The monster recovered, much too fast, and sunk her teeth into my shoulder.

“FUCK!”  

The Nure-onna was a Grade 7 monster; neither boss class nor anything special.  But I had made two mistakes in this fight; I had failed to sense her approach and failed to keep my feet moving after striking her away with my shield.  I had overestimated my strike and underestimated the monster’s [Physical] stat.  Two crucial mistakes that I should never have made.

｢[Nure-onna (濡女)] casts [Rot Bite] ｣

She wrenched her teeth from my shoulder and I saw stringy flesh trailing from her chin.  Her eyes rolled up, curving like crescent moons in sheer exhilaration.  This time, I was the one to create distance between us.  Her tail lashed out, already starting to regenerate from her passive [Your Pain, My Pleasure].  The tip almost slammed into me but I leaned back at the last time, settling for a cut to the forehead which started to drip with blood.

Right into my good eye.

It would’ve been better if I had taken the slam instead.

Three mistakes now.

I was being dumb, letting the fear get to me.  I’d fought stronger monstrosities, living nightmares.  But the effect on my [Mental] stat wasn’t just getting me more susceptible to [Fear].  It was affecting my decisions, making my legs feel like jelly and causing me to lash out like a scared animal; not the calm swordsman I was trained to be.  Luckily, I had a string of new tricks up my sleeve.

｢Lock casts [Share the Load] ｣

The [Tortured Spirit] Core, that I traded with Gurran for, had an ability that was going to be my opening move for a very long time.

A manacle appeared around my wrist and the chain attached to it shot out towards the Nure-onna, another manacle clasping around her neck.  Share the Load was a horrible ability.  It bound the user and opponent together by an indestructible chain.  Then as the battle went on, the Chain started to place debuffs at various times.

Share the Load placed a debuff every five minutes: [Footwork], [Handicraft], [Smell], [Hearing], [Sight] and finally started reducing [Physical] and [Mental] in alternating order.

｢[Share the Load] decreases [Footwork] ｣

｢ [Arcane Masochism] cancels [Share the Load] ｣

｢[Arcane Masochism] increases [Attack] ｣

The longer we battled, the weaker we both got... except for me.

I chose this Core to replace [Coin Toss] which had been my opening move, which only had a 50% chance to hit [Arcane Masochism].

I also hadn’t forgotten to keep an eye on my Lunar Shield, which had a full stack now.  Clenching my fist, I opened my eyes ignoring the stinging sensation.  The longer this battle went on, the harder it would be to see.  As much as I wanted to prolong the battle and see how strong I could get through the combination of [Arcane Masochism] x [Share the Load] and [Lunar Shield], I wanted to end this.

Fixing my eyes on the Nure-onna’s head, I pulled with [Tidal Force] and the monster’s head came flying towards me, it’s snake body stretching so fast that it started tearing at the scales.

All eight debuffs from the Lunar Shield transformed into a combination of [Attack] and [Defense] stats.

My katana covered in gray Aura, I cleaved the creature in two and I really did filet her in half like an eel this time.

I fell to my knees, ignoring the loot that dropped from her corpse.  My lungs were heaving and I was gasping for breath, the adrenaline starting to wear off and my shoulder starting to ache.  My fingers trembled as I took out a health potion –dammit, I was so much stronger than everyone else but not good enough– and almost dropped it.  Uncorking it, I poured it into the shoulder wound and over my forehead.

“GGggghhhhhhkk.”  I shook with pain, muffling my scream into animal grunts as the potion reknit skin and destroyed infected cells.

I was infected with [Rot Bite].  I had to get out of this dungeon and find a Priest.  The nearest place was the Beastman Village.  I just had to pray that Parthenon did not follow me-

“Find them!”

I recognized that voice.

The Archer.

But… ‘Them’? Who was Them?

Regardless, I needed to make myself scarce.  But where?

“I could help you.”  A kid’s voice with extra emphasis on the word ‘I’.

I turned to see two… two fucking kids in the middle of this dungeon.

“So… what’s it going to be, Mister?”

***