Shika’s new eyes flickered over to the bartender, memorizing his face. Flowers? Now where did he learn about that? They smiled nonetheless, blocking rather than catching the brown liquid. They didn’t drink, however, their eyes settled back on the motorcycling human with a strange preference for drinking things that were on fire. A cool party trick, but one that was still cringeworthy. The woman’s questions too, could be worked around fairly easily.
“Far-fetched for a human who had bought the DHA’s propaganda, perhaps. Honestly though, for most demons, it’s less a problem with survival and more a matter of gluttony. After all, plenty could subsist off mere a strip of flesh or two, and it is only by choice that they commit murder to sate their craven desires.” Shika sighed in disappointment, shaking their head. It was quite novel, feeling the weight of their curls. “Alas, they’re trapped in the past unable, truly, to see that the changing of diets must follow the changing of eras.”
Well, the hunter probably tuned out most of Shika’s performance after they justified this whole meeting themselves. The bramble-haired individual finally sipped at the root beer, enjoying the earthy sweetness on their tongue, and stepped aside to let the new trio enter as they slapped the hand statue. The ghost girl among them seemed particularly energetic in her efforts, and that enthusiasm, perhaps, was what allowed her to call forth a creature most void-like, most black. A vampire with a snake motif? Or just the specter of a lonely person? Definitely had all the social presence of an eternal wallflower. Shika smiled at their latest acquisition but didn’t call out. Having a phantom sixth could be useful, if this particular hunter was capable of causing a ruckus even without her weapons.
Shika remained at the entrance as the ‘Envoy’ began to speak up. The hunter had come with two demons herself, both of which had willingly led her into this den of devils. Whatever drink that the bartender had slid over to the hunter didn’t seem to be poisoned either, or at least didn’t have any immediate effects. Magical, maybe? Hunters were always so vulnerable to such underhanded tricks like that, being the mundanes they were. The snake-vampire-wallflower was an unknown, while the Envoy seemed to be having, fun, but what sort of fun?
“Well, we’ve scored quite a few newcomers this time around. Perhaps to welcome them, as well as our first human humaneater, I could whip up a quick dish, show them exactly how filling a low-meat dish can be? Of course, you two are welcome to partake as well.”
Shika decided, then, that there was no need to be hasty. Flowers didn’t sprout within the hour, after all.
If he was able to push through the tsunami of bronze at his wake, Ari would too see it. The misshapen, angered face of a scorned nerd, one that Lew had never sported before. And as he reached the standard-bearer, if he reached the standard-bearer, he would raise his shield in the air, lightning crackling as it instantaneously shifted into a blade once more, before swinging it down, screaming to the top of his lungs something... different from the incantation he had normally bellowed out.
But only if.
If it had only been one bronze guard, Lugh could have fought them to a stalemate, perhaps even come out on top. If it had only been four bronze guards, Lugh could have survived their attacks, broken through their efforts, and unleashed a blow that contained the entirety of his soul. If it had only been eight bronze guards, perhaps he could have lived even a couple seconds longer, could have blocked the torrent of violence that descended upon him, could have regained enough SP to unleash another skill. These were all hypotheticals though, only parallel presents, ones that Lugh would not have encountered otherwise.
For there were twelve guards, four of which had just awoken from their slumber. Upon witnessing the herculean efforts of the thunderclad warrior, they rushed to intercept, easily reading Lugh’s intent. His charge was stalled mere meters away from his goal, and then, just like that, the eight he managed to break out of caught up as well, driving their swords into his body. Even at 20%, even with more than one hundred END, the pain was agonizing, foreign objects impaling his virtual body at every angle, before being torn out and stabbed into other parts. Unable to move from the sheer mass of bodies pinning him down, Lugh’s superhuman body could not, for once, respond as his mind imagined it. All that surrounded him was pain, a pain that he could not thwart or mitigate by any means.
His body burst into a myriad of pixels, joining the glittering crystals above.
@Cu Chulainn As the warrior fell, his Resources graying out in the corner of Ari’s vision, the catgirl made one more attempt, sickle slicing through the air and striking the standard-bearer’s legs. It was swift, it was accurate, but, just as she had discovered by herself, it was lacking. Maybe it was technique. Maybe it was the quality of her weapon. Maybe it was her lack of strength. Maybe it was the sheer difference in their levels. For all it left was another hairline scratch. And all she had accomplished was to encourage the standard-bearer to raise their banner skywards once more, concentric rings of energy echoing out brightly, brilliantly.
Now, there were sixteen bronze guards, twelve of which had bloodied themselves with Lugh’s dying struggles, four of which glowed pristinely in the firelight of the standard-bearer. And how many more could this standard-bearer alone awaken, in this city of thousands?
There was a decision to be made here.
Trade her life away for the possibility of acquiring more information, or risk her life for the possibility of escape. Before her, the palace holding the ruler of this silent city stood. Behind her, the hole in the wall remained, sewer water falling torrentially into darker depths. @GreenGoat Though Ames’s approach had surprised the shapeshifting swordsman, his eyes widened as he drew in a quick sniff. Rather than being disgusted by the warrior’s bad breath though, he almost seemed impressed. His eyes flickered over to Ames’s equipment, and then swung his hand out, so fast that Ames’s eyes couldn’t track the movement. Finally, he let out a whistle. “Damn, this is just Shaman stuff, but like, seriously? I want to know how the hell you’ve managed to grab Soul Burner Animist as like, what, your first class?” He leaned in once more, sniffing her mouth. “Yup, that’s definitely the sorta mixture you’d only make out of a high ranking crafting class. Seriously how…oh.”
Ames had changed gears pretty quickly after his initial enthusiasm, after all, and the dogman looked off to the hammer-wielder, right as things were getting heated up real bad. “Eh…he’s usually not like that. ‘m sure Drokko’ll simmer him down though. Maybe?”
Droko did not simmer him down. Not before he could totally flip out, at least.
“Yeah, well maybe you fuckin’ are!” The man snarled, before his hand snapped out to grasp Magpie by the collar and raise her up off her feet. With his other hand, he dropped his hammer to the ground, the heft of it fracturing the ground in preparation for the uppercut of the century. “Listen up, ya shitfuckin’ cocksucker, I’ll be real fucking generous and give you a count to three before I turn you to paste on the ceiling, yeah? Now where t-”
A quiet cough sounded, as the mage of the party placed a hand on the vanguard’s shoulder. “Bortz, drop it. Please?”
“Well why the fuck should I?”
“If they’re covering for the onis’ escape, then they’ll be doing a pretty good job just stalling you through conversation,” she said, her voice dark and smooth. “If they honestly don’t know, then this is a real bad look for you.”
“Oh shit,” the firestepper chimed, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Angry snowflake destroyed by facts and logic?”
“Whatever. And fuck you too, Vator! Fuckin’ simp,” Bortz growled, then dropped Magpie on the ground. He spat off to the side, and hefted his hammer up onto his shoulder again and storming away.
“Sorry ‘bout that,” the bear cloak woman said. “He’s working on fulfilling a class that requires a buncha oni kills, so we’ve been doing this den-hunting thing for the last…twenty hours or so? No luck though, and following you two was our best lead yet.”
While the tattooed woman did damage control, Bortz had turned his attention back to the shapeshifter. “Oi, Mich! Stop flirtin’ and get back to trackin’!”
The shapeshifter’s attention bounced from him and back to Ames. “Well, you two should probably leave now, before he gets triggered again. Dunno what’s up with you two and the onis, but hey, wouldn’t be the first monster-lover ‘round these parts.” He sucked in a breath, bared his teeth, and barked out, “Yeah, yeah, just gimme a minute!” @OwO@Yankee Patches licked his lips, before dropping his own grasp on his corpse-sled, kicking it to the back of the blockade. Letting out a breath, the ephemeral youth’s body began to glow a foreboding red, his veins blackening underneath his pale skin while the stitches around his arms began to bleed. They dripped upon his chopper and ignited into purple flame.
“Alright, boss, let’s fuckin’ go.”
Positioned behind and granted better vision now that Patches’s crude weapon shone light in every direction, Amulak’s own magical energies began to circulate through his veins with ever increasing speed. At the apex of the inner storm, he thrust out with the Bonerattler’s staff, unleashing a maelstrom of metaphysical power that enveloped the entirety of the tunnel in neon-blue energies. Like waves, they slammed the collective of hungering ghosts, drawing them to the center as they wailed and tried to claw themselves out of the tides.
The first of the ghosts to escape the storm’s pull was cleaved in half, Patches leaping to join the carnage with wild abandon. The chopper burned with ever-brighter intensity as more of the ghosts fell, until the entire tunnel was lit up with malevolent purples and eye-scorching blues. But there were still so many, enough so that after a few seconds, the Arcane Vortex had been clogged with so many bodies that it was no longer possible for any more to be drawn into its center.
Three of the ghosts slipped around the blur of motion that Patches had become, hurtling towards Amulak with their leech-like mouths opened up, eager for a bite of the mage, while two more aimed for the corpse that Patches had maneuvered away from the bulk of the fighting, desiring an easier, if less fresh, meal. @Psyker Landshark As Klein continued to talk, there was a litany of ‘oh’ and ‘eh’ and ‘uhuh’ sounds coming from the young tree, all in that same childish tone, like a kid who was only pretending to listen. Maybe his latest obsession was a bit boring after all? Or maybe simple-minded creatures such as carnivorous trees really just didn’t care all that much? At the very least, the mountain man’s latest grand plan preoccupied him enough that the Thunderstruck Grove no longer looked very scary.
It was a bit weird, really, to even negotiate with a monster belonging to the same family as one that had just tried to eat him whole…but hey, all for the sake of science!
Maybe it was too convenient though, because right as he finished speaking, his right foot snagged on something, and Klein was flipped upside down, a corded vine wrapping tight around his ankle before pulling him five meters up into the air. Vision swimming from the sudden disorientation, the mountain man could only just make out tens of dozens of small pinpricks of light emerging from the branches of that young tree.
“Wow, that actually worked!” “Yeah!” “Great success!” “Huzzah!” “Do people really think trees talk?” “Dunno, but woo!” “Let’s try that again!” “After this though.” “Definitely beats berries!” “Hear hear!” “Alright, on my mark!” “No, mine!” “Ugh, does it even matter?” “Of course it does! Unity is the bedrock of good civilization!” “Now everyone, get in here!” “Fire!”
And just like that, Klein’s body was pierced by forty-seven tiny needles, doing a grand total of zero damage to him!
“Keep at it, comrades!” “Yeah yeah!” “Fire fire fiyaaaaa!” @Shovel Charlotte’s eyes travelled from the bouquet and chocolates, then to Raime’s face.
“What, no hugs and kisses?”
And that’s exactly what she did, embracing him tightly as she tiptoed up to bite his lower lip. The bouquet was crushed between their bodies and the box of chocolates dug into his ribs, but these sensations, this pain, had a pleasant warmth that didn’t exist, couldn’t exist, in Cacophony Concord. Yup, he definitely wasn’t in a simulation.
Breaking off forcefully, the dark-haired woman smirked again, sliding her luggage in front of Raime while taking the ruffled bouquet out of his hands, “So, I know you're an hour late, but you didn’t forget to make those reservations to the play tonight, right?”
Did he? Was that something else he forgot? Or was it something that was never a thing, and Charlotte was joking again? @Searat
Shika’s eyes widened at the sudden presence of a ghost, mere moments after they had slapped the hand. In the spirit of scientific curiousity, they slapped it again, and this time, applause sounded, an eyepatch-wearing devil announcing their presence from a couch. Despite not emitting any particular type of magical energy, this hand sculpture was filled with the awesome power of calling forth more devils, huh? The corpse-flower drew their hand back and, for good measure, slapped the hand sculpture three more times.
Seconds passed, then their eyes gazed towards the door.
And just like magic, except not any magic that Shika’s cells could feel, three more arrived. Another two devils of the strangely immaterial version, and…a human. In that instant between the opening of the door and the entrance of the human, the corpse-flower made a split second decision and remade their face. Straight, white hair became a dark brown, spreading downwards into bramble-like curls, while a soft, child-like face extended into one more angular, with deep-set red eyes. Their clothes wouldn’t fit if they changed their body too much, but Shika’s body had been average by design, capable of matching any head they deigned to use.
Flicking away a stray white hair off their shoulder like a piece of lint, they ascertained the lack of greenery in the room, rolled their eyes to get them accustomed to the new sockets they were in, and said, addressing the three new arrivals with her best customer service smile, “Welcome to Humaneaters Anonymous. Please slap the hand over there and turn off all electronics before entering. Though this is a safe space for us monsters to share advice on how to rein in our cravings, cannibals can join in as well. Can I have your name though, miss? It's a bit of a first, and I'd love to record this moment.”
No LINE? Otis explained the phenomenon of social media to Seirin as they walked, before gradually slipping to the back of the group and letting Lorelai do her direct contact thing. Well, there were other ways to achieve his goals. Seirin was sheltered and had some money, and the weather, though just pleasantly warm for the Strigidae, looked to be doing a number on the others.
Unlike Asta, however, Otis always made it a point to be prepared, and sat down beside her. There was basically a 100% chance that someone else would be volunteering to go get food and drinks anyhow. He plopped his backpack on the ground and pulled on a small tube, lengthening it until it could reach his mouth. Back in Arcanis, he’d have to pull out his waterskin, but thankfully, Earth-tech offered more eloquent solutions. Flexible straws were a wonderful thing, really. He sucked in a mouthful of cool water (tasted a bit plastic-y, but that was just how it was), and then offered it to Asta.
“Heat strokes are annoying. Drink.”
The afternoon heat would be worse, and taking into consideration Seirin’s existence, Otis said, eyes flickering from one face to another, “After we eat, let’s go visit an arcade. Air conditioning is nice during the afternoon. Seirin hasn’t gone to one, yes? Photo booths are there too. Crystallizes memories.”
“Its uh…” She blanked out for a moment, unsure if what she was going to say was going to be well received. Now that she actually sat and thought about it, she was basically going to ask him to infiltrate some yakuza gang for a deed that may or may not be worth it. But she also did give Fine Tung her words, so she might as well try.
“I’m going to sneak in some gang’s hideout and steal their stuff.”
“I… what?!” Lew exclaimed, taken aback by Ari’s plans. Forget Thunderstruck Grove. She wants to break into a criminal hideout in the starting city, probably the only city where they have a reasonably positive relationship with. Clearing his throat in order to calm down, Lew began to get to the bottom of why Ari wants to do this of all things.
“Where did you get that idea from? Is that one of your class requirements? I think you might be a bit too underleveled for that. If they’re a successful crime family, they probably are about as strong as both of us combined. Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Don’t worry, don’t worry!” Ari spoke confidently. “I’m not going to jump in their front door. I found another way in. I’m sure the old man will have a good reward for me- us, if we can nick the thing.”
“Besides, I found a large area under there that might have some good items too. All we need to do is stay silent, and not go uh… John Wick on them.”
Lew thought about the consequences for a moment. One of the main things he was worried about was reputation especially since many of the classes he was interested in required he was in high standing with certain factions. If they could stealthily accomplish their goals, it’s likely that such an issue wouldn’t even factor in. If anything, helping those less fortunate would be good for Lew’s reputation.
And then there was the matter of Ari’s health and endurance, or lack thereof.
Taking a deep breath, Lew sighed heavily, as if resigning to Ari’s demands… but not before flicking his finger mere inches away from one of her cat ears, demonstrating the full superhuman force that his fingers alone could produce due to his inflated stats.
“Your HP is so low, I could have killed you with just that alone. I’ll play along with your plan for now, but don’t run off too far and stay as close to me as you can. Feel free to use me as a human shield if you really need to.”
Once all that was established, Lew silently followed Ari towards whatever secret passageway she found.
“You worry too much, mya!” A nonchalant response with a carefree smile. Upward raised arms, and a sloppy reproduction of the technique she’s seen on an anime, but it worked enough to achieve its effect. For a normal human it would be a bit of a sloppy movement, but with her current stats, it was enough to move her behind him faster than he can move. “As long as I don’t get hit, I’ll probably be fine! Probably!”
Tugging at his arm, she dragged him towards the sewer entrance, going to the one she has entered before. She had died in one part of it before, but with Lew here, she might actually get through and get to the hideout. Then she can grab all the treasure and the deed at the same time.
It didn’t take too long before she got back to the place where there was a clean patch of floor, leading to where the slime was. “Ah right, that place over there has a slime in it, or something. It could be hiding something good.”
The scrolls on her arm unfurled suddenly, as she raised a hand, two fingers extended in front of her.
“Shin no Ippo..”-20mp
The scrolls wrapped around her eyes, as the world turned bright and monochromatic in color, though specific things were coloured differently. Perhaps she could try to see beyond the slime before Lew did anything to it.
After climbing up the slope once more through the smelly darkness, the two stopped at the point junction while Ari activated the ability of her Nuclei. At once, the world around her lit up, bright as if the sun were shining over head. Expanding outwards to a range of fifty meters, the catgirl could see that the cleaned path travelled down a slope for another thirty meters, before flattening out into what seemed to be a large reservoir that was only partly full with water of unknown cleanliness.
Strangely enough, however, no red outlines emerged within the range of Xu Fu’s ability. Whatever Ari encountered during her last escapade through the sewers of Nyu-Taro didn’t appear to be around this time. Maybe because it had already done its job cleaning this section? Or perhaps it was simply further along.
“Bleh. It's gone.”
Dispelling her nuclei, she grabbed Lew by the hands again. “Cmon then, the way in is this way. Its kinda a maze and very dark so don’t let go, alright?”
Without waiting for an answer, she moved again, quickly, seemingly oblivious to the height difference as she simply moved along through the claustrophobic tunnels. Faster than she did before, they reach the end, staring into the dark abyss that was the watery hole she died in.
A strange phrase for sure. And even stranger when she looked back at the darkness below, dread finally overtaking her excitement as she remembered how she died.
“H..Here we are! There should be a hole in the water there. Some sort of entrance we can get into once we get through the turbulent waters.”
Ari fidgeted for a moment. “Uh… You go first?”
Going through the crowded sewers was not what Lew thought he’d spend his day doing. Of course, for the first few moments, he was motivated to trudge on through due to the promise of slimes and potentially slime girls, but the damp air and putrid stench almost dissuaded Lew from following Ari further. Is she used to this sort of thing? Before Lew could begin to question Ari’s daily life, they finally reached their deep, dark destination.
Lew peeked at the wall for a moment, confused as to what Ari was talking about. He wondered if she just slipped from the water, slammed into the wall, and spent her last moments of her virtual life imagining such a thing. He sat down for a moment, tired of trudging through the filth of Nyu-Taro, and wiping some sweat away from his brow.
“Uh… what?” Lew asked, staring at the wall, then at Ari, then back at the wall.
“Myeh… Fine I’ll go first.” All of a sudden she had a determined look as she unfurled the kusarifundo, and secured the turtle shield on her back. It will at least be some degree of protection this time, and now she was stronger and faster. Hopefully she could throw the chain into the opening, and pull herself into it. When… IF, Lew came after, she can snag him with the chains from the opening.
Having already pushed everything else from her mind, she dived into the hole.
“Ari, wait-!”
Lew watched her disappear into the darkness, still relatively confused in regards to her sanity. At this point however, he more or less gets what Ari meant. For a moment, he considered equipping his shield like she did. At the same time, he did not want to lose such a rare item in the bottom of a sewer. Between that, Lew’s high END, and his impressively sticky armor, he at least felt like whatever was down there, he was prepared to face it head-on.
Following his ally into the darkness, Lew took the plunge as well. As he did so, he thought about the real world and what it had to offer. Maybe he’ll hit up Raymond and bug him to make some churro sandwiches, or whatever it was he was into at the time…
The undercurrent was more powerful than Lugh could have ever anticipated and, within the darkness, the warrior could only flail about as waters carried him past the wall, then into the drop. His body bounced against the stone walls over and over again, but even if his waterlogged armor restricted his mobility, Lugh was still tough enough to take no damage in every single instance, and after a few terrifying moments of being at the whims of gravity and water, his hand grasped onto the wall, slowing, then arresting his descent totally, until the underground river could only pound his body. If Ari hadn’t been lying out of her ass about whatever it was she sought down here, then it would be simpler to take it easy, wouldn’t it?
So, with a waterfall blasting him in the face, Lugh climbed down, his physical strength and his weirdly-designed sandals working rather well to stick him to the slick, stony walls. It was never a straightforward path, and his lungs continued to burn from the lack of oxygen, but suffocation was a slow death for an Immortal; by the time he spotted a light piercing through the dark waters, Lugh was still mostly healthy, even if he was also miserably cold.
All it took was a kick off the wall to send himself out of the water and rolling onto the marble floor, wet as a dog. And beside him? Ari, drenched as much as he, but sporting more than a couple colorful bruises. Though she had been prepared, her physical strength hadn’t changed nearly so much to trivialize the sheer force of the waters. Her chain had been dragged down before it could be hurled out, and the catgirl had managed to get into the opening only because of previous experience.
Still, both of them were alive, and could fully take stock of the area before them.
Behind, the opening that they had used to get in looked to have been a section of the wall that had simply crumbled away with time. Water, over the course of hundreds of years, must have carved its own path through the earth, until the marble of the wall gave way. In front of them, however, was still all the opulence that Ari had caught a glimpse of in the past. The cavern’s ceiling must have risen at least sixty meters above them, stalactites studded with some sparkling ores offering a starry illumination that bathed the area in a cool shine, contrasting with the hundreds of bronze statues lining the main paths. Every ten of them bore a pole rather than a spear or a sword, and from that pole a paper lantern hung, strange symbols painted on the screen in black ink. They exuded a warm, incandescent glow, but for how long had these fires been burning for?
These main paths threaded through districts of multi-storied buildings crafted from wood and supported by ceramic pillars sculpted to resemble sinuous dragons. The most opulent of these buildings laid at the far-western side, towering over the rest with a tower from where a great brass gong, apparently untouched by time, rested. And, as Ari and Lugh’s eyes started to drift away from the buildings, the streets, and the statues, they would see the embossed details within the massive marble walls that enclosed this circular city. It was a piece of art, how color and shading was brought to these walls through the interplay between the cold light of the stalactites and the warm light of the lanterns, depicting, as best as they could tell from a first glance, the history of some kingdom.
Beyond the pounding of the underground river, beyond the beating of their own heart, the place was completely silent, devoid of life. What they did now was up to them. Lew took a few moments to fully absorb his new surroundings, coughing up water as he had done so. He had wished he brought more talismans, still cold to the bone from being slammed by sewer water. Not that suffocation was the least of his worries. He glanced over to Ari’s body quickly, almost surprised to see she was still alive. Looking back towards the underground city, Lew could only wonder what kind of shortcut this was, or if Ari really knew what she was jumping into.
“Some kind of shortcut, huh…” Lew coughed, activating his Nuclei in order to summon his lotus shield, its shimmering silver petals surrounding a deep blue core. Hoping that the lightning from its effects were only aesthetic, Lew raised his shield as he slowly proceeded onwards into the main path, taking a closer look at the statues. Despite considering becoming a Blacksmith in the past, Lew was not admiring the craftsmanship of these bronze figures. Rather, he was trying to see just what sort of people they were modeled after… and if they were even human.
“Guessing I should lead the way from here?”
“Myurgh..” Ari slowly got up, stretching her sore body as her tail fluffed up, before shaking off her body vigorously, sending every bit of hair on her body standing up. Huh… So thats how cats feel when they shake off water.
She looked around at the area for a moment, taking in the lanterns bearing strange sigils, the statues, and the overall oldness of everything.
“Wait, this isn’t the gang’s hideout!” She proclaimed loudly. Taking a moment to rearrange her inventory, she took in a deep breath before almost exploding in excitement as she flitted about the statues, taking in their details and the flags.
“Look! Look, Lew, this one looks ancient!”
This was it. This was what she wanted. Adventure, finding something new and unknown, and the slight feeling of danger and risk.
“Wait, that tower looks important! Let’s go there first! We can have a look at the whole place too!”
Lew glanced at Ari jumping around all over the place, sighing once more. Assuming those lanterns were lit not too long ago, whatever might be down here probably isn’t too friendly. It’s because of this that Lew preferred to head deeper inwards silently. Still, he couldn’t deny the catgirl her excitement. She lived in the middle of the ocean, didn’t she? Probably not much to look at, and probably a shitty place to live in as well. Being a Canadian, Lew was already familiar with that feeling. It was only the allure of monster girls that made him as jumpy as Ari was, however, and Lew could only hope whatever terrors his overly excited friend alerted, it looked at least somewhat feminine.
“Huh… good idea.” Lew stated at Ari’s suggestion, continuing along the path towards the tower. His approach was still cautious, his shield raised and his eyes darting across each of the buildings they had walked past.
Travelling through the empty marble roads, Lugh and Ari could see more statues interspersed around the underground city, facsimiles of what the two Immortals could only assume to be ‘normal’ people. Shopkeepers, children, street cooks, old folks, all outfitted in clothing that seemed to predate what the modern Nyu-Taro resident wore. The buildings they were placed beside, however, were closed, and the windows were opaque, preventing either of them from easily peering into them.
Still, their journey through this strange place went unbothered, all the way until they reached their destination. Rather than simply being a tall building, however, this palace was elevated above other buildings with a wide, almost pyramid-like staircase that ringed all around it. Thick walls, five meters in height, circled it as well, and there stood only a single gate made of steel-reinforced wood that prevented outsiders from stepping upon the staircase. Two statues stood at attention at the sides of this gate, bearing polearms that gleamed with coppery brilliance.
Considering Lugh and Ari’s respective strengths, there were any number of ways to get through this meager obstacle. Would they though? Or would this arrangement require further introspection?
Ari’s enthusiasm was dampened a bit as they walked, the strangeness of the statues and the sheer silence pervading the atmosphere made her fur stand up. Even the starry lights from the cavern ceiling, which looked like glittering stars now seemed like the menacing eyes of a thousand fiends. Who had taken the time to model these statues so, then made the effort of dressing them, and even made small items to model what these shopkeeper statues were supposed to sell.
It was beyond fascinating to see what seemed to be a snapshot of this area’s history, but it was beyond creepy. Ari was glad to finally leave that area behind her and finally arrive at what seemed to be a large palace, with the sole gate of its perimeter walls flanked on either side by a guard statue, with beautiful metallic brown sheens on their weapons. They were certainly well made, though she would have thought they’d use the usual lion dogs like she’d see in real life at home.
“Ah, I think we’ve arrived. What do you think?”
“We should definitely check the rest of this place out before we go into the tower.” Lew stated, clenching his shield tightly as he eyed both of the bronze warriors carefully. Despite what felt like an obvious set-up for some sort of boss fight, Lew was also getting less-than-satisfactory vibes from the statued citizens as they made their way through the city. Were they made this way by some sort of eccentric craftsman, or were they turned into bronze? After his brief stint with medusa girls, Lew was overly cautious of the latter being a reality. And seeing that the weapons that these gate guardsman bore shimmered with a metallic sheen unlike the others they had seen before? Yeah, they should probably avoid those two.
“Try not to touch anything bronze. I’m going to see if I can piece together anything about the city.” Lew added, before making his way to the walls once more. Some sort of history was painted on them, perhaps a hint detailing the fates of whoever dwelled within the city?
“Ah, I understand!” She gave a mock salute before scampering into the city first. Exploring it should be fine right? Even if it was very very scary. If any of her books and movies have taught her anything it's that there might be some logs, notes or papers that might hint at what this place was. A diary would be the motherlode of course, but she doubted it was as easy to find like an old investigator’s notes on Cthulhu.
Though the vantage point was poor, and there wasn’t any clear indication of which portion of the wall he should start viewing all this in, Lugh nevertheless was able to identify each individual scene. The art, while gorgeous, was also concrete enough, simple enough, that whatever it depicted was fairly clear. The warrior’s eyes first settled upon the most striking image, that of a mass of shadows cast by starry light encroaching upon a firelit individual bearing a bow that shone gold. The firelit individual laid down in the next scene, but looked different in some way, larger, with longer hair, and were surrounded by lavishly dressed officials, all of whom were decanting a starlit liquid onto the firelit individual’s body. The scene following that was more abstract, a great city in construction, and the one after that was of humans of all ranks standing at attention before the city. Wealth and prosperity soon followed, symbolized by firelit carts crossing roads to a city different from the one in the previous scene, depicting, perhaps, the passage of time, and not a single portion of that frame was starlit. But, upon the final scene, the stars, and the shadows cast by bold engravings upon the marble, encroached once more onto the city.
What to make of it, would have to wait, however, for in the distance, Lugh could hear very clearly the splintering of wood, the echoes of a shockwave.
Ari, of course, would have experienced that up close.
The catgirl’s adventures through the underground city was both fruitful and fruitless. Though her initial attempts to pluck bronze wares off the carts and stalls outside were defeated by the fact that these objects were mere mimicries of a display, fused together in such a way that her item pouch simply couldn’t fit any of them, such flagrant displays of attempted thievery was unchecked by all the bronzen guards outside. Perhaps she could even go so far as to strip naked and run around like a hyperactive cat, and nothing would happen?
That wasn’t what she chose to do though. Instead, Ari approached one of the many buildings within the city, grasped the brass handle of a door, and pulled.
The smell of decay and dust struck her nose even before she could register the contents of the house. Large, cloth-sealed jars were stacked up on the far wall, and pieces of tableware were scattered on one side of a slanted table whose legs had given away underneath it with time. Clothing, fancy in a way that was precious enough to have only been worn during special occasions, had become naught but skeletons of their former selves, bitten to bits by insects and faded away with dust. A few jade ornaments, jewelry, perhaps, were placed upon a dresser, right in front of a faded mirror. Someone, maybe a family, must have lived here before; Ari could count three desiccated pairs of straw slippers in the entranceway. Whoever lived here, however, had also abandoned it for a long time.
Her ears tingled then, and through instinct alone, Ari ducked down, feeling a sudden heat on the tip of her ear as a blade sliced overhead. It shattered the door and part of the wall from its impact, and as she turned, the ranger caught a glimpse of what had attacked her.
A bronze guard, fresh-faced and wielding a longsword. Behind him, a standard-bearer watched, eyes filled with red light, as if gauging what threat Ari posed.
Lew observed the murals with interest, wanting to know the story of such a lifeless city. The story it seemed to tell was quite grim, and that final mural filled Lew with a grim feeling. Before he could really ponder on what these murals might be telling him, he was quickly alerted to the crashing of wood from afar. Between that, and the notification he received from party chat, Lew had a feeling Ari was in danger. Sighing once more at the turn of events, Lew turned towards the direction of the noise without a thought. As he made his way to Ari’s location, he looked up to the ceiling, observing and taking note of the shimmering stalactites once more, and wondering if there was another, more attainable source in this subterranean city…
“Ah I see! Your creator destroyed the populace to replace them with mere effigies of life!” Rather than rush them, she blew a raspberry at them as she bounded away outside, throwing an aimed knife at the reddish eyes of the watching sentinel. Anticipating the guardian to follow, she stepped to the side and leapt upwards, first by throwing then pulling herself by chain to the roof, then to the air, unfurling the kusarifundo to its full length as she did so.
Ari’s throwing knife whistled through the air, striking the standard-bearer before bouncing off. It had done no discernable damage to the construct, but the animated statue responded regardless, eyes glowing with even more intensity as it raised its flag up into the air. Concentric rings of light emanated from the top of the banner, rippling out to others around it. For that affront to their authority, three more bronzed guards were animated and they immediately chased after the fleeing catgirl.
The one who Ari initially evaded leapt twenty meters with a single bound, before slamming into the roofs and continuing their pursuit. Two more formed a human vault, linking arms together to form a platform for the third, a polearm-wielder, to leap up on. They drew their weapon back whilst in mid-air, and as the chains of Ari’s kusarifundo extended, the spear was hurled right at her, at a speed so swift that even Ari, who moved ten times the speed of a normal human, who experienced time at a pace ten times slower than ordinary folk, could tell.
These guards were fast.
Luckily, she was already prepared, perhaps not for this actual scenario, but prepared nonetheless. Her chains already unfurled, she twisted her body in midair, catching the chains around the spear and redirecting it even as she reactivated her nuclei.
“Shin… no IPPO!”
The red glowy eyes, that one must be important. It didn’t pursue her, so it must still be below. Utilizing her momentum, she flung the spear back down, aiming towards the blob of color inside the house.
The force it took to arrest the momentum of the flying spear was intense enough that Ari’s arms almost felt like they were being ripped out of their sockets as she forcefully turned it around. Just like that, 18 HP was lost, while the return throw of the spear scattered against the roof of the building that Ari had aimed at, unable to pierce when the catgirl’s strength remained lacking.
On rooftops adjacent to her, the swordsman leapt upwards, longsword drawn to slice her in half while her chains were extended and she remained falling. Down below as well, the three other guards awaited her landing point, ready to skewer her once their compatriot slammed her down, if not totally bisected her.
The blue of those things… They’re colored blue? Confusing, but considering she was working her mind overdrive to escape from this situation, Ari didn’t have the luxury of waiting around. The chains, extended as they were, would take a bit to retract and attack the swordsman already on her. But the chains weren’t primarily a weapon when it was in a ninja’s hands; it was also a tool. Throwing the spear was admittedly a failed gambit, but it also flung her chains further onto the house.
Ari(hp32/50,mp30/50,sp100/100)
Following through on her movement, she spun herself into her chains, pulling away from her attackers, at an acute angle away from the house and onto the ground.
The guard flew overhead, the blade missing Ari by a millimeter as she pulled herself out of the way. Before she could escape further through the air however, her pursuer twisted their own body around and hurled their sword. It spun like a golden disc, striking the chain that connected Ari to the house and slicing right through.
Her weapon, after all, had been only of common quality.
Links of chain fell from the sky, and so did Ari, landing on her feet right as the three guards waiting on the ground descended upon her, their weapons already swinging down to scatter her organs against the marble pathway.
Every bit of fur on her was standing on its ends by now, her heart beating like a drum at the sheer exhilaration of facing death at the edge. With her weapon broken, she took out another, the only other thing she thinks might be able to help against beings of pure stone. With a spinning dive she shot straight between the legs of the tallest as they swung at her, the evil looking centipede scythe flashing out as she spun, striking at the small of its back.
The marble shattered beneath the combined force of the trio’s blows, but Ari had narrowly missed getting her body turned into ground meat. The Maneater Sickle sliced easily through the air as she swung it and sparks scattered brightly at the impact. Yet, all that it left upon the statue’s back was a groove where the tip of the sickle struck.
And, unimpeded by that backstab, it twisted around and delivered a roundhouse kick that Ari could only block, the materials of her twisted weapon groaning under the force of the statue’s shin. Her arms were aching, and the skin of her palms had been torn off by her defensive maneuver, but the catgirl was somehow still alive. At the brink of death after having suffered 19 points of damage, but still alive.
As the pain became familiar and as the weightlessness of her body began to disappear, Ari could see the city spread out before her. She had been sent fifteen meters into the air, and at her landing point, there stood the guard that had initially pursued her, fist drawn back and legs coiled into what must have been the preparations of a flying uppercut.
Ari(hp13/50,mp10/50,sp100/100)
No more chains, no more tricks. It was all or nothing for her now. She could tie the rope monkeyfist onto the sickle to extend her range, but that took time she might not have. An all out attack. The shield on her back went to her hand instead, as she held it out further away from her body as she prepared for the inevitable punch. If the shield could take the brunt of its attack, even if it shatters, she could slice it in half. A small chance maybe, but better than nothing.
Lew finally reached the source of the crashing, watching the current scene in amazement. He wondered how anyone could mess things up so badly as fast as Ari did, but then he also remembered this was Ari they were talking about. Still, to get confounded by these now animated guardsmen so easily, especially with how many points she sunk into AGI? It must mean these were true threats after all.
Lew leapt towards the guard awaiting Ari’s descent, slamming into his back with his flowery shield with a Power Attack. As his shield began to connect to the bronze soldier, he also shouted aloud, his silver shield crackling with lightning.
“THUNDER!”
A blast amounting to ten of his Attack Talismans surged from his shield alongside his empowered attack in the form of a thundering blast. Hopefully the blast would knock this guard’s attack away from meeting Ari, if not incapacitating it outright. He still wasn’t sure how effective these talismans were, especially when against stronger opponents, but Lew knew he needed to just try and save his friend…
… As much of a headache that she was, at least, Lew did not believe in abandoning his friends in their need. Whatever it was she did to awaken these guards, he would do his best to draw them to him. He was built to be a tank, after all.
Ten talismans burst in unison with Lugh’s shield bash, and sent the guard sprawling five meters forwards with a cacophonous clang of metal against metal. It gave Ari, who had landed on the ground with her shield, some breathing space, but it was troubling too. Lugh had the strength of eight men, had charged with the speed of six, and had bolstered his attack with ten magical talismans as well. All that, and there was simply
a shield-sized dent in the guard’s back? All that, and they were only moved five meters away before grinding to a stop?
The warrior had felt it in his bones on impact; it was as if he had struck a brick wall when he rammed into the bronze guard.
And then, from a sidepath, stepped the standard-bearer, expressionless face turning to see two Immortal trespassers now. Once again, the banner was raised, and once again, concentric rings of light emanated from the object. As the quartet of guards advanced, four more statues, two on each side of the road that Lugh and Ari found themselves on, awoken, their limbs stiffly moving as they readjusted their grips on their weapons.
“Lugh! The banner!” She landed neatly on her haunches, tying the rope monkey fist to the sickle as she did so. “Keep them off me!”
Speed. Speed was the key. Her target was the banner holding statue. Shield in hand, she moved at full speed, her weapon hand gripping the rope and the sickle tightly, trying to dodge the other statues in her path, sacrificing the shield if necessary. Inhaling, she activated her skill. Throwing out a kama on a rope was a ranged attack, was it not? No time to really think about it, for the sickle was already unfurling and slashing towards the banner statue.
Lew looked around as they began to get surrounded, keeping note of Ari’s plans. Seeing that one of these bronze soldiers was durable enough to survive a charged up blow from Lew’s shield meant that they needed to play this carefully. Focusing on his shield, lightning struck Lew’s hand as it shifted into the kodachi.
The blade was useless. Disregarding the fact that it may have the durability of the rare shield also in his possession, it was still just a common weapon. Any head-on attacks against these minions would amount to nothing as well. Ari was already going for the killing blow, striking down the mob that seems to be controlling this soldiers. All Lew needed to do was hold them back.
Lew centered the blade on himself, moving forward ever so slightly to allow the soldiers to surround him. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Lew raised his silver blade, before swinging it twice.
“Ari… jump.”
And so, lightning struck the same place twice as Lew delivered two consecutive Sundering Blows within the area. Whatever the damage was didn’t matter too much to Lew. All he needed was to apply the stunned effect to these bronze automatons. With his blade plunged into the earth, Lew finally exhaled, standing back upwards as he opened his eyes to glance at the aftermath.
Twinned shockwaves resonated outwards in a flash of brilliant energy. Under the impact of Lugh’s sundering blows, the marble ground shattered, spiderweb fractures extending outwards from the epicenter that was Zeus. Three of the eight bronze guards were stalled by the impact, their forms shaken by the reverberations of the stone-shattering blow, but five more still descended, bronze blurs that launched a dizzying flurry of blows onto Lugh. If the thrashing that the centipede woman had given him could be compared to a car crash, this frenzy of weapon-assisted violence was like being curbstomped by a gang. Swords, polearms, fists and feet all slammed into his armored form, and all Lugh could do was withstand the torrent of devastating blows, 211 damage sustained through the merit of his incredible END and armor alone.
But through the agony, through the threat he displayed to all those guards, Ari’s flight went unimpeded, and what a flight it was. With Lugh’s warning, the catgirl had been able to reposition her shield mid-step, catching the brunt of the shockwaves to propel herself forward at even greater speed. Centrifugal force built up alongside momentum and her sickle flew through the wind without resistance, like wind scythes of a kamaitachi.
Clang!
It struck the pole of the banner, sparked against the metal and…clattered down onto the ground.
Once again, this virtual world made it clear: a sufficient amount of durability trivialized even the greatest efforts of an insufficient amount of strength.
The standard-bearer, his face locked forever into the alert neutrality that some ancient sculptor must have given him, raised the banner up in the sky once more at the affront of Ari’s actions, and around her, four more guards awakened, drawing their respective weapons.
@Cu Chulainn@GreenGoat If there was a button to doubt, the warhammer man would certainly be pressing it right now. While a couple of his party mates chuckled or smirked at Ames’s blatant bullshit, the warrior cocked an eyebrow instead, an exemplar of suspicion as he stared down at Ames, then at Magpie who tried to cover for the redhead. “Right,” he drawled, rested the head of his hammer on the ground. “Dunno if the pair of you’ve lost yer senses n all, but y’see, we followed you here. As in, saw you, with those big chunks of Kamuy on your shoulders, following three other of those oni down to where you are now. Had to figure out how to deal with the tree and all, of course, but…well.”
He leaned in a bit further. “Cut the bullshit, ya fuckin’ noob. Where did they go?”
While Magpie was currently being intimidated, Ames, provided a wider view of the rest of the party, could see the one with the lion head sword begin to sniff the air, his face shifting to take on more bestial features as he began to sniff out something that lingered in the air. If this kept up, perhaps that Warhammer man wouldn’t even need to wrestle the info out of Magpie’s mouth! Was there something that Ames could do to prevent it though?
Time was growing short, and it was still uncertain how far a whole tribe of oni could travel within the minute or two that had elapsed since their departure. @OwO@Yankee “Baby trap? Nah, saw some dumbass get eaten by a tree.” The stitch-marked youth accepted Amulak’s invite, and soon, his resources popped up in the corner of the mage’s vision. “I’m Patches. Nice to co-op with you, Amulak.”
Though it was still difficult to tell how powerful this particular individual was, his resources were certainly more lopsided than Amulak. With 755 HP, 2190 MP, and 535 SP, the fellow was either a good couple levels higher than himself, or had invested much more heavily into those three attributes than Amulak had. Regardless, with the formation of a party, direct murder was off the table between Patches and Amulak, and the two of them strode into the darkness of the Blasphemed Tunnel.
The edgier of the wannabe-necromancers took the lead here, Amulak having already memorized the safest path through the tunnels. It was a drafty place, the cool, damp wind seeping from cracks in the ceiling and unseen openings from distant locations. Bioluminescent moss, or were they will-o-wisps? lit the way, soft blue lights that reflected off the puddles that had collected from the low-hanging stalactites extending from the ceiling. Though echoes of battle could be heard reverberating through the walls, they were often short-lived, silenced by a mere shifting of the winds. Other than some small talk that Patches initiated, on topics from level, to who Amulak’s corpse was, to impressions on Cacophony Concord, their journey through the Blasphemed Tunnels was uneventful.
Under Amulak’s leadership, the duo continued down a long, narrow tunnel that gradually curved. After they reached the opening, it would be just another 100 meters down a slope to the southwest before they’d get to the end of this particular dungeon. They were making good time, certainly. But then, the two were forced to stop.
Rocks, made of shattered stalactites, blocked the way and sealed the passageway shut. This had to be something new; the map that Amulak checked out certainly hadn’t included this at all. Couldn’t have been natural either. He hadn’t encountered any such rubble yet, so this couldn’t have been caused by just an untimely earthquake or something. Which meant…
“Uh, Amulak, incoming…”
Seeping in from the walls behind them, stick-thin humanoids giggled, their bright eyes wide open as they leered at the four pieces of meat before them. Apparently unaffected by gravity, they floated in the air, their distended bellies inflated like balloons as they chanted in a sing-song voice, “Great success, great success, great success!” All the while, their small mouths drooled with a clear liquid that hissed as droplets of it struck the ground.
There were twenty, perhaps more, emaciated shapes melding together in the dim lighting.
"Well shit, guess it wouldn't be the Blasphemed Tunnels without a ton of these freaks, huh?" Patches swallowed, hefting up his axe with a wide, forced grin as he readied himself for battle. But perhaps with some quick thinking, there were other ways for Amulak to solve this predicament. @Psyker Landshark “Over here!”
As Klein wandered through the foggy forest, his feet stomping against lightning-scarred earth, a voice, child-like and guileless, answered his call. If the Mountain Man followed that voice, it would indeed lead him to another tree within the grove. This one certainly looked younger, its bark white and its trunk slim, branches shooting upwards diagonally. At a distance, it had yet to reach out with its roots and strike at him, but still.
A tree, talking? Was this a feature that all these demonic trees had, or was there something else that was going on? Maybe all this was just him overthinking things though? Certainly, it fit the bill of a ‘young’ tree, if it really was a demonic tree, but on the other hand…this tree only looked younger than the other trees in the area.
Thinking was hard.
Would Klein approach, or was a talking tree really that much scarier than a maneating one? @Shovel
A taxi pulled up to the curb of a quiet road, and Shika stepped out. The driver gave them a dopey smile, before driving off. Shika did not pay, and the driver did not mind.
The music continued to tug at their mind as they strode down the streets, green eyes glancing over the pedestrians as they passed by. A lure as effective as this felt like a new plot by the DHA to hunt down demons, but if that was the case, would they really have set those black crystals to explode while their own people were present in the warehouse too? Curious thoughts looped backwards and forwards within their mind, but if this was a problem that Shika could guess the answer to, they wouldn’t have been standing here. One had school to attend, after all, and clubs to participate in.
They continued, striding with confidence into an empty bar that had nothing going for it except for an uncanny sculpture of an open hand. Strange place. Empty, with no black stones in sight. Shika let out a slow, drawn-out sigh, then stepped up to the sculpture, drew their hand back, and slapped it as hard as they could in the center of the palm.
Yankee
Altered Tundra
Alisdragon911
stone
VitaVitaAR
Animal
LanaStorm
Ohm
Haha
Shovel
