Dark Fate, Chapter 56 (Patreon)

Chapter 56 – Defender

With that kind of invitation, how could I possibly refuse the call? After all, when invading someone’s home or place of business, it is only polite to meet them head on, and relieve them of their head before you go ransacking and looting the place for everything of value. That was basic etiquette.

The temple looked like the Parthenon or something like it, if you squinted. It had that basic shape. Angled roof supported by a line of columns down each side of a rectangle. There were twenty-four columns, total, making the whole affair slightly longer than it was wide.

As we stepped into the temple, I noticed that six of the columns around the perimeter had enchanted iron shackles attached to them. Five of those shackles had occupants. Probably the five people who had gone missing.

They looked like they were still alive, but that was probably more due to the magic in the shackles than anything else. After all, when most people are bleeding enough that the blood runs along channels carved into the floor, tracing out an arcane sigil in the middle of this huge temple, that generally isn’t something they can live through. So, the shackles probably kept them alive, and kept them bleeding, using their blood to empower the guardian.

Ardor the Unyielding

Eldritch   Minotaur Male

Level 30   Barbarian / Warden

Market   Value: $245,000

And what a guardian it was.

Standing in the center of the array, soaking in the magic, was a ten-foot-tall minotaur, exactly like you would expect to see out of a Greek myth about a underground mazes. Tall, and muscular as hell, with chocolate-colored skin and black fur, the only clothing he wore was a loincloth that fought desperately to contain the bulge beneath it. There was a reason that the myth of the minotaur was one wrapped up in sex, after all.

But that was where the similarities to the myth failed. Or, rather, if there were myths like this, then the Greeks were kinkier than they let on. Out of the minotaur’s back grew four tentacles, inky black in color, that looked as though they were only partially physical. Some kind of otherworldly magical construct? Or perhaps something that was only partially in this plane of existence? Either way, I had a feeling it was going to be a problem.

Keeping my eyes locked on the minotaur, I whispered, “Aura, do you know any healing spells?”

“U-um, yes, but what do you want me to do?”

“Sergeant, Ranger, you two take Aura and cover her while she heals those people, and see if you can release them. I don’t know how, but their life force is feeding that monster, and that can’t be good. I will try and keep its attention on me.”

The two men took one look at the monster, and then nodded, though one didn’t need to be a mind-reader to see that their thoughts ran along the lines of ‘better you than me’. Hell, even I wished I could pawn this job off on someone else. The monster had over ten levels on me, and was clearly getting buffed by the array, after all! But the only way out was through.

With a sigh, I looked away from the monster for a second, turning to look at my pets. Hellfire wreathed my scythe’s blade. Without even being asked, Rachel cast her spell, making it holy hellfire. I had a feeling I would need that power. I nodded once. “Girls, back me up, but don’t let him get you. This guy is dangerous.”

When they nodded in reply, I transformed into my true form, since I would need every advantage that I could manage, and stepped forward into the temple proper, and then kicked off, charging towards the minotaur at my best speed. The minotaur, who had been simply watching us, impassive and motionless, now smiled wickedly. I didn’t like it in the slightest.

“GOOD! THE SIXTH MAGIC-BLOOD COMES TO TAKE HER PLACE AND COMPLETE THE CIRCLE, AND THE DEMON LORD COMES TO FREE THE FORGOTTEN ONE WITH HIS DEATH!”

To say that the monster was not impressed with my charging forward, scythe wreathed in holy hellfire was a bit of an understatement. Hurt my ego a bit, not going to lie. But then, when a ten-foot-tall minotaur creates a massive two-handed hammer out of living shadows in the blink of an eye, one so huge that it looks oversized even for that massive frame, that can usually be considered an impressive counterargument.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really have a chance to appreciate the aesthetics of the hammer before it hit me square on, moving far faster than anything that size had any right to do. But despite it moving like it was a feather’s weight, it hit me like a fucking truck. Of course, I only realized this when I found myself lodged in one of the nearby columns.

Groaning, I pulled myself out of the indent I made in the column. That attack had actually done over a thousand points of damage to me, despite my [Shadow Armor]! Thankfully, that wasn’t enough damage to dispel the armor, but I couldn’t take too many more of those hits.

The minotaur stalked forward, a vicious grin on his face, clearly intent on pounding me into the ground before I could recover from getting knocked around. Two blurs of motion caught my eye as the demon approached. Hibari’s twin wakizashi, which had been upgraded several times from the steel ones she’d gotten initially, slashed across the minotaur’s hamstrings, while Talia’s war fans slashed one of the creature’s eyes!

But even as the minotaur roared in pain, the tentacles on his back glowed with dark power. From the array in the center of the temple, lines of blood-red power began flowing through the air, towards the minotaur. When they touched the inky glow of the tentacles, red mixed with black, and the minotaur’s wounds began to heal. I could even see his lost eye starting to come back together!

I couldn’t let the bastard heal up completely, or I would be fucked. So, I did the only thing that I could. I attacked.

Darting forward, I slid under another sweeping blow of the hammer, and slashed out with my scythe as I spun to my feet, catching the minotaur across his stomach, and then again across his chest. My own wounds healed, thanks to the vampiric nature of Chimamire, but I was not expecting the scream of pain that came from the minotaur. I hadn’t hit him that hard, or in a critical spot, so why…

Of course! The creature had to have some weakness! Just like I, as a demon, had a weakness to Holy attacks. But was it a weakness to holy, or hellfire, or the combination of the two? One way to test it out.

“Rachel!”

“[Holy Wrath]!” My pet responded just as I hoped she would, summoning one of her attack spells. A column of holy power descended upon the minotaur, and he screamed in pain again, louder this time, as his entire body was smoking, scorched from that single spell.

But the red streams of power from the sigil continued, and the guardian began healing once again, though slower this time. That was fine. I could deal with that.

“Rachel, bless Talia and Hibari’s weapons. We can damage this thing faster than it can regenerate!”

The minotaur roared in rage, half feral from the pain. He attacked again, wildly, like a wounded animal. But I was too quick, and dodged the overhanded smash. Slipping around to his back, I slashed his right leg, cutting as deeply as I could.

He tried to turn, but I turned with him, keeping up the assault, focusing all my efforts on his right side, both his arm and his leg. Hibari and Talia darted in when they could, when it was safe, also attacking that same side. Didn’t matter if the minotaur could regenerate. His healing wasn’t instant, and that meant that if we stacked the attacks, we could take him down, make him vulnerable to something more final.

I thought about trying to use my blood magic to interrupt the streams of obvious blood power healing the minotaur, but decided against it. That would be just as stupid as fucking a truck stop hooker bareback. Never knew what kind of nasty shit you could pick up from something like that. And I didn’t really think tentacles went with my aesthetic.

“You think you can defeat me? ME? I AM the Unyielding! None can best me!”

The minotaur roared again as he fell to one knee, a bit of his mind breaking through the pain and rage to try and deny what was happening to him. And it wasn’t entirely untrue. He was already healing, and if the red power from the sigil restored his stamina as well as his health, then there was a good chance that he could outlast our reserves.

I was not going to let him start thinking again, however. If the current level of pain was not enough to keep him from trying to taunt us, then I would have to increase the amount of pain he was feeling. I surged forward, and swung my scythe, catching the minotaur by the throat.

The blade cut deep, but could not pass through the guardian’s spine. It was enough, however, to throw him to his back, as I withdrew my blade, leaving his throat torn open. Red blood stained with black ichor spilled from the open wound.

But the magic that was sustaining him would not give up so easily. The tentacles writhed, and the flow of power increased. How much, I couldn’t say, but the streams grew at least double in width, and I could see the creature’s wounds healing more rapidly.

There were shouts from over where the civilians were trying to free the captives. I didn’t have the time to figure out what they were up to. If I didn’t keep damaging this bastard, he would start regenerating enough to be a threat. And that just wouldn’t do.

I kicked out the minotaur’s good hand as he tried to push himself up, despite his injuries. Talia fell upon it, smashing the bone with a holy-clad fist. Hibari flickered through the shadows, stabbing the monster in his eyes with both her wakizashi, before flickering away again, just before his grasping hand smacked himself in the face, a moment too slow to catch the ninja.

Slipping around, to the fallen minotaur’s side, I swung my scythe again, this time trying to cut through the nearest of the tentacles. Unfortunately, despite my strengths, and the enchantments on my blade, it did not bite upon the tentacle, simply slashing through the space as though it were water. Cutting off the tentacles, and the healing they channeled, was not going to be that easy, it seemed.

Fine, if that was how it was going to go, I could do that. If I couldn’t hit the tentacles, and the minotaur hadn’t even tried hitting me or the girls with them, despite getting his ass handed to him this whole fight, then it was probable that they weren’t ‘real’ enough to actually be used in combat, but were instead part of what enhanced his abilities so much. So, I just needed to focus on his body, and kill him until the cop and the others freed the captives.

Moving forward, I swung my scythe again, but this time, in a swing that was almost like a golf swing. The blade connected, right between the minotaur’s splayed legs, and cut deep, splitting his loincloth, and the flesh beneath, before I met some resistance with his pelvic bone. Flipping the scythe around, I swung it down, stabbing under the minotaur’s ribcage, and up, towards where I knew his heart would be.

The tentacles went rigid, and the streams of power became larger than my head! But my scythe was still buried in the minotaur’s heart, twisting it and sawing back and forth, ensuring that the heart and lungs couldn’t heal. I wasn’t going to let up until I got the message from the System that this thing was dead.

The streams increased their size again, becoming nearly two feet across. But they only stayed that way for a blink of an eye, before they shattered with a sound that was felt in my bones, and a backlash of power that threw me back, reintroducing me to my divot in the column. But I got the notification I was hoping for.

Your party has defeated Ardor the Unyielding.

Zayn   Green gains 15400 XP.

Talia   Skinner gains 15400 XP.

Hibari   Kayumi gains 15400 XP.

Rachel   Adams gains 15400 XP.