Chapter 7

Teri moved upwards, following the path towards the sub-boss room. He made the right turn and hid behind the wall. As expected, there were no monsters there. His back was safe. Both his hands were shaking. But somehow, he’s grinning. Taku was willing to gamble his life on him. Better show him who’s boss then.

“Ready?” Teri asked, becoming more aware of the air flowing in and out of his lungs. He readied his weapon—a wooden spike. He gave his shield to Taku. His spiked wooden club is too slow. That ten seconds is going to be brutal. “Hey… Taku…”

“Something on your mind?” Taku replied, forcing a chuckle as he wrapped his shaking fingers around the doorknob.

Teri gritted his teeth. “This is fun…” He couldn’t find the right words to cheer him up.

“Yeah.”

Now, there’s no going back. Teri took a sharp breath. Taku kicked the door inward and jumped inside. Teri pulled himself back deeper behind the wall to keep himself hidden, silent, and ready; his vision sharpened, the smell of blood, it drowned him.

“THERE’S FOUR OF THEM!” Taku screamed. “Teri—” Doubt shadowed the rest of Taku’s words, as the thought of his friend leaving him here to die crossed his mind. He laughed. “Teri! I’ll bind the two dolls in the middle! The bet is still on!”

Teri’s gaze sharpened, his face frozen in focus. He heard Taku casting his spell. Bind. Bind. Then, he heard Taku neigh as he ran like the wind toward him with two dolls about to get his ass. His best friend made the right turn, grinned at him, and kept running towards the sub-boss’ door. It was now Teri’s turn.

Ten.

The doll was faster than what Teri thought. But his timing was perfect. He shot his body forward at the sight of its shadow, allowing him to drive the monster into the wall with his weight alone. The other one avoided him and made a break for Taku.

Nine. Eight. Seven.

Teri twisted the doll’s right arm and pinned it facing against the wall. He jabbed the wooden spike into the doll’s side, breaking its porcelain skin on the first and making sure that the next four would punch a hole into one of its lungs. The doll vomited a moan.

Six. Five.

Teri backed away to catch his breath. His stamina isn’t serving him well against monsters. Too slow. Still too weak. The doll attacked, drawing blood on Teri’s chest, arm, and face—just below his left eye. It was still too fast to follow, but it was weak enough for Teri to block.

Four. Three.

Puffing out a breath, Teri dropped his bloodied weapon and went to town on the doll’s face with his fist. Two left jabs. Right straight. He ducked under the monster’s attack. He counted with a right haymaker. The monster stumbled back into the wall, dropping both of its arms. Teri pulled out a fresh wooden spike and buried it deep into the doll’s neck. He didn’t allow himself the satisfaction of watching the monster go down.

Two.

Teri turned to Taku who was now in front of the sub-boss’ door with a crate shield on one hand and his staff on the other. The other doll is fast approaching. Taku should still have a window to cast his spell. Bind. Taku screamed, thematically extending his staff like a full-fledged wizard. But the strings of light didn’t come out. Taku’s nose started bleeding. Teri chose not to scream and ran.

One.

The doll picked up its pace. Teri kept running, his lungs about to pop. Taku smiled in disbelief. It would’ve been nice if the doll gathered all of its fingers to make a single, large spike. But they weren’t that fortunate. The doll made its attack. Two of its fingers were stopped by Taku’s shield, one pierced through his right shoulder, one speared through his chest, barely missing his heart, and one punched through his stomach.

Zero.

Taku coughed out some blood. He hung his head and fell to one knee. The doll moaned in delight. And as far as it was concerned, there’s another target just behind it. To add icing on the cake, this target was running towards it with reckless abandon. It groaned, gently, in anticipation. It turned—it tried to. For some reason, its fingers refused to leave the fat man’s body.

“Bitch…” Taku coughed again, raising his head to gift the doll a wide red grin carved on his face. “You don’t assassinate a fucking tank.”

Taku’s alive. The doll was immobilized. Teri was here.

“POOOOOOOWWWEEEEEERRRRRR—” Teri roared as he got the doll in range. He planted his feet, and with his strength rising from the ground, he twisted his body and slammed his spiked wooden club at the doll’s head just when it was about to face him. Feeling the nails breaking through its skin and digging into its meat, he firmed his grip with both hands and ripped the monster's flesh out to let it paint the floor.

Silence was all of what’s left as the doll was finally allowed to pull its claw from Taku’s body and fall. Finding his breathing ragged with the air biting through his throat, Teri had no choice but to rest his back against the wall. His confidence dwindled yet again, but the fight is not over yet.

“Woooh! That was so sick!” Taku screamed, his body glowing with a golden light due to his healing spell. “You were like—” Taku pushed an imaginary doll against the well and shanked it a couple of times. He also did some shadow boxing, screaming like a Chinese martial artist every time he threw a punch.

Teri let out a tired chuckle as he wiped the sweat off his face.

“A win is a win.”

Taku clapped Teri’s shoulder. He used his healing spell before he could say no. And before he could react even further, Taku threw his arm around Teri’s shoulder and urged him to look at the enemies they defeated. “We did not. And you know what? No one is gonna stop us from owning this shit. If someone asks, we tell them that we beat the shit out of 500 dolls today.”

Teri nudged his best friend’s side, laughing. “That’s too little.”

“Now you’re getting it!” Taku chuckled and pushed him back. “But speaking of which…”

“Yep…” Teri groaned and wiped the sweat from the bottom of his chin. “There’s two more. But they didn’t follow us.”

“Maybe we were just lucky?” Taku tossed the shield over to Teri. “It doesn’t change that we gotta do what we gotta do though.”

The trip back to the room was silent. Taku originally thought that there were three dolls in that room. Apparently, there’s four. And there could be five. Six. There could even be ten. But the coast was clear. The door was still open. No one was moaning.

“Taku…” Teri glanced at Taku over his shoulder. “Can you cast that spell again?”

“I think it’s only a problem if I cast it simultaneously—” Taku stopped, sensing a bit of worry behind Teri’s voice. “Yep,” he continued with confidence. Right. He didn’t need to explain to Teri everything.

Teri offered Taku a fist bump. “We’ll kick ass?”

“Hell yeah.” Taku met Teri’s fist with his.

Teri entered the room first with his shield raised. Taku followed closely, both hands on his staff and ready to sling some magic. But it was quiet. What greeted them was a room full of school trophies and broken cases. In the center stood a woman with an average height; she wore a bloodied long-sleeved white shirt, a pair of black fingerless gloves, a flowy skirt of the same color, and tight knee-high boots. Blood streaked her face, but it did little to stain her fierce eyes framed by a fluffy bob. Beneath her are two butchered dolls. She raised her head and glared at them.

“Taku, remember the 500 dolls thing?” Teri whispered, dropping his weapon and putting both his hands in the air.

Taku raised his staff, refusing to drop it on the floor. “Yeah?”

“Don’t you ever bring that up to her.”