Chapter 378 - Unwelcome Guests (Patreon)

Zeke reached out to the door, and for once, hesitated before opening it. “There’s probably going to be something horrible inside, isn’t there?” he said.

“That seems likely,” Jasper, who was positioned just behind him, said. Eta and Silik stood back a little further, clearly intending to leap into battle if the situation demanded their intervention.

“And there were no other ways in, right?” Zeke asked, peeking back at his friend. While he’d recovered from his wounds, the other three had explored the courtyard, searching for alternative routes. But they’d found nothing.

Jasper shook his head.

Zeke sighed and said, “I really don’t like this. Going through the front door just feels…wrong.”

“You could kick it in if it makes you feel better,” Eveline suggested.

“Why would that make me feel better?” he asked.

“You do like to smash things,” was her answer.

He gave a mental sigh before responding, “I don’t like to smash things. It’s just that smashing things is usually the best way to accomplish my goals.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“And I’m good at it,” he added.

“It’s okay to enjoy your work,” Eveline said sagely.

Zeke just shook his head and pointedly reached for the door’s handle. However, when he tried to open it, he quickly realized that it was locked. “I’m not doing this because I want to. I’m just doing it because it’s the only way inside,” he said to Eveline, backing up a little. “I want to make that perfectly clear.”

“Sure, sure. I believe you.”

She clearly didn’t, as evidenced by her sarcastic tone and the little giggle she’d added at the end. But Zeke was in no mood to argue with the demonic spirit. She’d clearly made up her mind about him, and there was nothing he could say without seeming defensive or needlessly argumentative. So, without further ado, he reared back and kicked the door. It flew inward, tearing free of its hinges as it went tumbling through the room on the other side.

“Okay, so maybe I kind of do like smashing things,” Zeke allowed. There was definitely something satisfying about seeing something – be it a door, a wall, or a monster – fall before him.

“See? You should listen to me more often.”

Zeke just shook his head and gestured for the others to follow. Jasper beat his fingers against his hip, sending a jolt of energy coursing through Zeke. He had no idea what song the dark elf was playing, but it was clearly meant to enhance him in some way. The other two followed silently, though Zeke could feel the mana gathering around Silik. At the first sign of danger, he would wreathe himself in light. Meanwhile, Eta seemed the calmest of the group. Zeke knew how quickly she could spring into battle, though. Even without her plant skills, she was a furious combatant who’d proven herself countless times in the fighting pits beneath Min Ferilik.

Secure in his companions’ combat abilities, Zeke pushed through the remnants of the door and into the room beyond.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Eveline said.

Zeke couldn’t have agreed more wholeheartedly. From the exterior – as well as past experience – Zeke had expected to find a dark cathedral or a blood-soaked lair, but what he encountered was more akin to what he saw each time he entered his own manor. Pristine white tiles, engraved with esoteric patterns that, when Zeke looked directly at them, made his mind spin, covered the floor. The walls were paneled with dark wood and decorated with various portraits of stately men and women.

There were a few small busts standing on isolated plinths, but the space was otherwise empty.

As she entered, Eta said, “It’s so clean…”

The moment she stepped inside, though, a shimmer of mana swept through the foyer. A second later, the double doors at the other end of the room swung open, and a creature out of nightmare stepped through the opening.

Zeke had seen enough period dramas to recognize that he was dressed like a butler, but other than that, there was nothing normal about the man. He was rail thin, with desiccated skin and sunken eyes. Each of his fingers, which were partially covered in pristine white gloves, ended in six-inch claws that looked like they could slice through solid steel. Zeke used [Inspect] on him:

Pestilent Butler – Level 51

The monster took one look at the mud and blood the party had tracked into the room, and he let out an unholy shriek before screaming, “Filthy!”

Then, he raised his hands high into the air, clenching them in balled fists before screaming, “It must be clean!”

At that moment, another wave of mana swept through the foyer, splashing against the walls and enveloping the entire room. A second later, the subjects of the paintings began to move. Zeke clutched his hammer, backing away so he could keep his back to the door. Predictably, Silik burst into light and aimed a [Spear of Memories] at the pestilent butler. The unfortunate creature swept his hand forward, knocking the skill away.

That’s when Zeke saw a hand jutting from one of the paintings. That would have been disturbing enough on its own, but even more troubling was the fact that it was no normal hand. Despite the fact that the subject of the painting was a normal-looking, middle-aged woman, the hand that escaped the painting was anything but natural – primarily because it appeared almost two-dimensional and composed of painted canvas.

Those flat fingers wrapped around the frame, and a moment later, the owner tumbled free. And she wasn’t the only one, either. Each painting in the room had come alive, and the subjects had all begun to climb free of their framed prisons.

What’s more, even the busts had been affected. However, because they had neither arms nor legs, they simply floated in the air. When one of them light up with teal light, Zeke knew he and his friends had a fight on their hands. So, he used [Triune Colossus], and by the time the floating bust sent a beam of aquamarine lightning his way, his body had transformed into the metallic golem that came from fueling the skill with pure mana.

It was just in time, too, because the teal lightning crashed into him only a moment later, gouging a deep groove in his chest before dissipating.

Zeke didn’t waste any more time before leaping forward and aiming a long, sweeping attack at the butler who seemed to be the source of it all. As he flew through the air, three more disembodied stone heads let loose with their attacks, bathing him in aquamarine lightning. Each one tore a chunk of metal from his body, knocking him sideways. However, as he flew off course, Zeke used [Center of Gravity] to yank the butler in his direction.

The resulting collision was momentous, sending the pestilent butler flying back towards the wall as the shockwave tore through the room and knocked the living paintings from their feet. The floating busts didn’t escape unscathed, either, and they were sent crashing into the walls as well.

To Zeke’s surprise, though, nothing died.

He landed on the floor, his own momentum knocking him off briefly off balance. However, he didn’t let that distract him as he embraced [Weight of Two Worlds]. He couldn’t exclude his companions, which made the skill a bit of a liability, but he reasoned that, because none of them needed to fight hand-to-hand, the effect wouldn’t be quite as detrimental to them.

Still, he knew it wouldn’t be comfortable.

But surrounded by enemies, Zeke’s back was against a metaphorical wall. So, he’d chosen to go all-out. With that in mind, the moment [Weight of Two Worlds] took effect, he summoned his golems via [Colossal Legion]. The trio of living statues hadn’t completely recovered, but they were intact enough to act as a distraction for the painted people. In the meantime, Zeke, who was the only person who hadn’t been slowed by [Weight of Two Worlds], dashed forward.

When his next attack fell upon the butler, the creature managed to deflect it in the same manner he’d blocked Silik’s [Spear of Memories]. As a result, Zeke’s hammer hit the floor with a thunderous impact that shattered the pristine tiles. That sent the butler into a rage, and the creature launched himself at Zeke with eviscerating claw strikes that sent shards of Zeke’s metallic body flying through the air.

Though the unattuned version of [Triune Colossus] wasn’t quite as sturdy as the earthen form, it was still incredibly durable. However, it did nothing to mitigate the agony of being ripped to shards. Some of that pain was countered by Zeke’s racial traits, one of which gave him enhanced tolerance for pain, but it didn’t completely stop it.

Nothing, so far as Zeke knew, could do that.

Still, he was an old hand at enduring pain, so he pushed through the butler’s barrage and went to work. His next few attacks were blocked, much as the first had been, but he persisted, pounding the monster with increasingly furious swings of his hammer. And soon enough, his power overwhelmed the creature.

Even so, it was still a level fifty-two monster, which meant that it wouldn’t fall to the first few attacks. Instead, Zeke continued to pound the increasingly defenseless creature with machine-like inevitability. The creature tried to fight back, but its efforts were useless in the face of Zeke’s power. The moment it had been put on its back foot, the fight was over.

Because that was how Zeke fought. He didn’t beat enemies with skill. Nor would he outsmart anyone. Instead, he was a force of nature who simply kept coming until he could overwhelm his opponents.

He was indefatigable and unstoppable. He was inevitable.

While Zeke tied up the butler, his companions – as well as his golems – were freed to fight the painted people as well as the floating busts. Out of the corner of his eye, Zeke saw two golems literally rip one of the painted people apart. It exploded into a cloud of dust, and the pair of living statues turned their attention toward the next nearest enemy.

Meanwhile, Eta’s vines had tied up two more creatures, which Jasper dispatched with a piercing scream that tore them to pieces. At the same time, Silik made the entire area look like it was under the effects of a strobe light as he aimed one [Spear of Memories] after another at the floating heads. He only hit about half the time, but when he did, the odd things were scorched and sent spinning into the walls. Two had already been dispatched, and they lay on the ground, unmoving and missing huge chunks of their faces, but Silik continued to pepper the remaining heads with one beam of sizzling light after another.

Soon enough, Zeke’s efforts bore fruit, and the butler went limp. It still managed to moan, “Filthy…” but it perished only a few moments later.

Then, everything went quiet as Zeke’s victory coincided with his companions’ triumph. He stood – at some point, he’d lost his hammer, and he’d proceeded to pound the monster with his bare fists – and asked if everyone was alright. To Zeke’s relief, they all were.

“Can you release your skill, please?” asked a strained Jasper.

“Oh…sorry,” Zeke said, cancelling [Weight of Two Worlds]. He’d forgotten it was even active.

The others clearly hadn’t, and the moment he let the skill fall away, their postures straightened, and both Jasper and Eta gave twin sighs of relief. Silik, as was his custom, remained stoically silent. However, he did look a lot less strained.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard about anything like that,” Eta said. “The butler was…he was strong.”

“Very,” agreed Jasper. “I fear that without Ezekiel, we would not have been victorious.”

“You all contributed,” Zeke pointed out as he leaned forward and looted the butler. As the corpse dissipated into dust, he only received a single item. He summoned it from his storage and added, “I couldn’t have taken them all by myself.”

“I disagree, my friend,” said Jasper.

“He’s right, and you know it,” Eveline said.

“Doesn’t mean I have to say it,” he replied in his own mind. The fact was that his friends, for all their abilities, were incapable of keeping up with him. The battle wouldn’t have changed much if he’d have had to fight it alone; the only difference was that it probably would have taken a bit longer, and he’d have likely picked up a few extra injuries.

Speaking of that, he drained a little earth mana from his golems, fueling [Cambion’s Awakening]. He would keep them summoned for only a few minutes, then he planned to dismiss them back to the tower where they would slowly renew their cores.

While he healed, Zeke held up the item he’d taken from the butler. “A key,” he said, turning it over a couple of times. It didn’t seem magical in nature; instead, it looked like the sort of old-fashioned, brass key he might’ve seen in movies. “Wonder what it unlocks.”

Eta pointed to the end of the foyer, which was about forty-five feet long, and said, “That seems like a good candidate.”

Indeed, there was a large, wooden door that looked like it led deeper into the building. So, after he and the others recovered from the battle – no one had been hurt, but everyone needed a few minutes to regenerate their mana – he approached the door. However, when he tried the key, he discovered that it didn’t fit.

“Guess that would’ve just made too much sense,” he said. Turning to the others, Zeke asked, “Any ideas?”

“Why ask? You’re just going to smash it down anyway,” said Eta.

“You do seem to enjoy breaking things,” Jasper added with a slight grin. “Not that there is anything wrong with that.”

Silik only grunted, but Zeke just knew it was a grunt of agreement.

“See?” Eveline said. “I’m not just making things up.”

“I hate you all,” Zeke muttered before turning to the door and kicking it off its hinges.