The Devil, The Witch, and The Hunt for Skin, Claw and Teeth (Part 2)

Somewhere in the exiled world of Delirith, somewhere in the endless desert of Kaandur, nearly a month had passed since the devil and the witch began their hunt for bigger skin, claws, and teeth. The game they’ve taken down grew bigger by the week since their failed attempt in stealing the Razesaurus’ carcass from Anubrax’s gang.

Week 1

Mako and Fyra tried their luck on some Razelings, the smaller omnivorous cousins of the Razesaurus. The Razelings are quadrupedal and live in a pack, opposite of their bipedal solitary and predatory cousins. They are basically bulls with crocodilia features (leather, small claws, teeth and all).

Mako and Fyra tracked down a herd of the Razelings, and found them gathered at a small patch of oasis. Sneak killing would be impossible without triggering a stampede, so they decided to just trigger the stampede with one of Mako’s handbrew bombs.

Chaos ensued next as the stampede shook the earth and threw the sands high with their mighty stomps. Mako and Fyra went after the stampede on their Silverbolt, attempting to pick off any Razeling that slightly strayed off from the group.

Fyra caught sight of one and immediately shot her chained crossbow bolt. Instead of taking it down however, the Razeling boasted enough strength to pull Fyra off Silverbolt alongside Mako who tried to grab hold of her. They end up rodeoed across the desert for two hours straight before the creature collapses from exhaustion, put out of misery by a point-blank shot of Mako’s Boomthorn.

For their hard work, Mr Ricky paid them double compared to the scorpex hunt, except for shotgun shells that still remained a single small box. Unsatisfied, the duo went for more.

Week 2

Their next target came to be a Skullruda; a seven feet tall skull-faced black-feathered bird with a wingspan of nearly 20 feet. They nested on high canyons and feast on leftover carcasses down to its bones. Mako and Fyra managed to track down a nest on one of the many canyons of Kaandur but the bird sensed their presence and flew away.

The duo immediately went after it with their hoverbike. Mako saw a conveniently placed ramp-shaped stone and accelerated towards it, sending Silverbolt soaring across the sky, merely inches behind the Skullruda. Both witch and devil jumped from their ride and grabbed the Skullruda; Mako riding on top of it while Fyra holding dearly at its leg.

The three of them flew across the cloudless sky for a while, with Mako constantly bonking the hard exoskull head of the Skullruda to take it down but it was neither hurt or budged by it. Fyra ended up burning both of the Skullruda’s wings and they immediately plummeted to the ground, and conveniently crashed right in front of Ricky’s supply stall.

The bald stall owner was caught off-guard without a doubt, but still gave the duo payment for their hard work; triple the sack, triple the fuel, and ONE small box of shotgun shells.

Week 3

A lone Scarab-rider stopped by near a dried lone tree to take a piss. He got off from his Scarab, answered nature’s call, and returned back to his ride.

*BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!*

Mr Ricky attended the knocks he heard coming from his stall’s shutter. Upon opening, his sight was greeted by a smiling Mako presenting a dead Scarab with Fyra sitting on top of it.

Mako and Fyra helped push the scarab into his store before receiving their payment; more sacks of food, more jerry can of fuel, some scrap iron-

-and one small box of shotgun shells.

“Come on boss…” Mako begged.

“Yeah you’re right. This one’s pretty big so you two deserve better-” Ricky retreated to his store to grab an extra reward- “here, enjoy your ammo.”

He tossed the “reward” to Mako which turned out to be another small box of ammunition, this time for pistols. Apparently, none of them used pistols and as Mako was about to point that out, the stall had long closed its doors.

“Gatdammit!” Mako threw the box of ammo to the ground but it bounced back and hit his face instead.

Week 4

Inside a cave, lying in front of Mako and Fyra, was a sleeping Razesaurus.

“Y’know, maybe we’ve gone too far,” Fyra spoke as quietly as she could. “We’ve gotten lots of food, fuel and resources from Mr Ricky. He may be stingy with his ammunition but we could easily loot shotgun shells from other people, right?”

“It’s not about the shells now, Fyra. It’s about the principle,” Mako replied. “We’ve been hunting bigger and bigger games that should be worth more than those puny boxes. He said at that time, ‘if ye kids want more Shells from me-’ and he still hadn’t kept his word to this day.”

Mako picked up a stone lying below him and approached the sleeping beast.

“If you want to ditch me for this then go ahead, I won’t be stopping you,” Mako commented, in which Fyra replied by standing at his side with a rock in her grasp.

“Naaah… It’ll be boring if I do that.” Fyra nodded at Mako, and they both chugged the stone they held simultaneously to the sleeping Razesaurus’s head.

The Razesaurus's closed eyelids opened, and its pupils instantly moved and gazed straight towards the two kids’ souls.

“RRRRUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGHHHHHHH!!!!”

The cave exploded gloriously into countless stones and debris, as an enraged Razesaurus burst out from it with two kids riding on its back. They rode off to the sunset with explosion and flame as the devil and the witch threw everything they got at the creature while rodeoing him across the desert of Kaandur.

****

Nightfall slumbered the settlement of Cratemouth, with many of its inhabitants retreating to bed while a small few remained up, either because they’re voluntary nightwatch or just good ol’ insomnia.

Those who’re still up were surprised to see our two young protagonists dragging with their hoverbike; a monstrous corpse that was the fearsome Razesaurus. Though there’s no central government and law, committing crimes such as thief, robbery and rape were taboo in most settlements (depending on how ‘civil’ the people there. Murder is still a thing regardless where you are but expect to be filled with holes by the people around). Therefore, none went after the two nor did they pay any heed.

As usual, Mako and Fyra went straight to Ricky’s stall without a care of the current time.

They finally arrived and the witch went straight to knocking the closed store. He called for Mr Ricky but there was no response whatsoever. It was then he noticed that the roller shutter wasn't even locked in the first place, thus he opened it and they both went inside.

“Hey Mr Ricky! Sorry for barging in your house-stall-store thing this late at night, but we got something you’d definitely like to see!” Mako called out and again, no response. They went on to venture deeper inside the store.

“Mr Ricky! Mr Ricky! Hmm? What’s this?” Mako and Fyra stumbled upon a half-opened iron door. Behind it was a stairwell that leads below, but the darkness obscured from revealing whatever that lies ahead.

Without much thinking, the two went through the door and straight down the stairwell while calling out for Mr Ricky.

“What the hell? How long does this go?” The duo noticed that they had been walking down the stairwell for some minutes now.

As the light from the floor above began to dim, Fyra lit up a fist-sized flame with her bracer and used it as a torch. They continued their journey downwards.

After a while, they arrived at a basement floor, still lacking any light source. Thanks to Fyra’s flame however, the duo got a glimpse of some of the stuff hidden down here.

They caught sight of dozens of tall glass vats filled with green liquid. Inside the liquid were huge grotesque piles of flesh attached to pipes that lead to outside the vat and who knows where (unseen due to the darkness of the room). Some of the piles of flesh had eyes growing randomly on it, while others had teeth, claws, and portions of exoskeleton covering random parts of the flesh.

To summarize, the duo find themselves inside a room filled with vats containing gigantic teratomas preserved in who-knows-what!

During this room tour of horrors, Mako caught sight of light some distance ahead. It was another half-opened door. Out of curiosity, the duo decide to approach it, and as they reached closer to the door, a murmur of voices were heard by Mako and Fyra. One of the voices belonged to Mr Ricky, though they’re still unable to make do of what’s being said.

“Yessss… My project… My children… They’re all coming together…” Mr Ricky’s voice spoke, coming from behind the half-opened door.

Mako and Fyra sneaked closer and closer to the door, until finally, managed to take a peek of what’s behind.

“My children of flesh... My bulwark of skin... My sword of claws... My might of teeth!!”

Ricky’s crazed laugh filled the atmosphere as he pulled a switch down. Shocks of electricity thundered the room, electrocuting whatever it is that lay in front of Ricky unseen by our protagonists. The stream of electricity not only went there but also flowed through the pipes that lead to the dozens of vats containing the preserved teratomas.

Light flickered throughout the basement room, small tremors shook the whole floor and maniacal laughter filled the air followed by a sudden ear-piercing inhuman screech. Mako and Fyra covered their ears, and continued to peek in Ricky’s room where they witnessed an abominable sight.

“RISE MY CHILD!! RIIIISSSEEEEEE!!!!!”

In front of Ricky stood a towering pile of flesh, claws, eyes and teeth. A moving, sentient and definitely disgusting teratoma, producing a sound which could neither be described as roar, meow, bark, growl or anything the kids had ever heard of. A truly alien sound, from a twisted abomination, of a mere supplier’s creation.

Not long after, the vats behind Mako and Fyra bursted out of nowhere. Just like in Ricky’s room, the teratomas kept inside the vats became sentient and moved on their own. There’s too many red flags for the kids at this point, so they decided to scram away from that place. Unfortunately, something grabbed their shoulders just when they were about to reach the stairwell.

“Well, well, well… If it isn’t the little witch and his on-horned devil-”

Mako/Fyra turned around and was greeted by the sight of the tall abomination from Ricky’s room, having formed an appendage that firmly grabbed their bodies. Moments after, Ricky himself emerged from inside the abomination’s body, a sinister smile beamed from his face.

“Wh- wha- you better have an explanation for all this Mr Ricky!!” Mako shouted.

“Explanation huh? Simple my boy. You and I know how this world works, how Delirith works. Only the strongest survive-” Ricky signaled a gesture, summoning the rest of the living teratomas to surround him and the two kids- “there’s no rule on how you become the strongest. Some used their bonds to form a powerful clan. Some prefer to go solo and rely on the sheer firepower of their guns-”

“But me? I use nature’s gift of flesh and bones!”

In a whistle, the teratomas began fusing themselves with the towering flesh behind Mr Ricky. Mako and Fyra, still stuck in the flesh’s vice grip, struggled panically seeing the abomination grow bigger and bigger.

“I must thank both of you though. If not for your constant supply of bigger skin, claws and teeth, I wouldn’t even be close to achieving where I am now!”

While Ricky was still monologuing, Fyra managed to release her right hand. She immediately clenched her fist as an orange laser blade took form from Fyra’s power bracer. With it, she slashed the appendage gripping onto her as well as Mako, freeing them both.

They wasted no time at running away from the scene, all the while the massive pile of flesh, too big to even fit the basement floor at this point, extended its formless body chasing after the two kids.

“Yaaaaawwwwnn….. Maaaan, I hate night patrol…” an armed masked man complained to his friend. “Imagine if something exciting happens.”

“Exciting huh? Like what, a giant eldritch monster suddenly popping from the ground?” his friend joked.

“Yeah yeah! And it’s chasing those two kids we saw earlier! Y’know, the ones dragging that Razesaurus corpse,” the man added.

“Hahah! And then and then, That baldy supplier, Ricky, riding on top of the monster like a Scarab-rider.”

“Aw maaaan, that would surely be crazy! Imagine if all of that happened suddenly at Ricky’s stall over there after the next 10 seconds.”

10 seconds later, a giant eldritch monster suddenly popped out from the ground at Ricky’s stall, chasing after Mako and Fyra, all while Ricky was on top of the monster like a Scarab-rider.

“RIIISEEEE MY CREATION!! RIIIIISEEEEE CHUM-BACKA!!!!”

[ CHUM-BACKA! ]
HE WANTS YOUR FLESH!

“SHUBHASHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Chum-Backa’s monstrous roar alerted the night patrollers of Cratemouth, forcing them to sound the emergency siren awakening the settlement’s entire population.

Without a time to waste, everyone grabbed their guns and rushed out from their homes, to be greeted by a 20 feet teratoma monstrosity. They unhesitantly opened fire at the monster.

Hundreds of bullets, rockets and plasma bolts filled the air like New Year’s fireworks, all heading straight towards Chum-Backa’s indescribable body. Despite that, none of it truly damaged the being as it effortlessly swiped a dozen men to the air and flinged one of the cargo buildings like a pebble.

Bombs and molotovs bombarded Chum-Backa as the monster cried in pain and anger. Though it managed to hurt the abomination, no major damage was successfully inflicted as it continued to wreak havoc to Cratemouth. Ricky was forced to retreat inside his creation’s body as people start to open fire at him instead.

“Damn, we can’t just leave this place like this. Especially considering it’s partly our fault,” Mako commented, as he and Fyra brainstormed a way to defeat Chum-Backa.

“Did you not prepare any special bullets- I mean, spells that Boomthorn could shoot to harm that thing?” Fyra asked. Mako unzipped his waist bag to check for his shotgun’s ammunition. A worried expression appeared on his face.

“It’s empty.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S EMPTY! ALL THAT SHELLS WE GOT AND YOU DIDN’T BRING EVEN ONE!?”

“I forgot, okay!” Mako defended himself. “Besides, I haven’t even enchant any of the shells. It’ll just be a regular bullet, and we know how well that does to that thing!”

A man suddenly crashed right beside the duo, reminding them of the monster’s presence merely meters away. They continued to brainstorm as Cratemouth, on the brink of ruins, continued to be ravaged and its people flung here and there by Chum-Backa.

It was then Mako and Fyra noticed a huge signboard that said Venom Store on one of the cargo-buildings right beside them. The sign belonged to a venom store that exclusively sold Scorpex venom, notoriously known for melting every organic material known in Delirith.

“....”

Organic materials such as flesh, skin, claws, bones and teeth, which just so happen to be the composition of Chum-Backa’s abominable body.

“...”

Thus making Scorpex venom a direct counter for Chum-Backa as it’s a being of 100% organic material; the very thing that are easily melted by the acidic venom.

“...”

“Yeah, let’s just ditch this place- Ouch!” Mako suggested, but a mysterious stone definitely not thrown by the narrator was chugged right at his dense head.

“I know!” Fyra exclaimed, “let’s use Scorpex venom in that store to defeat Chum-Backa! It could melt any organic materials afterall.”

Right at that moment, the Venom Store’s owner made a dramatic appearance from inside his store. The aproned man kicked open his store’s door, cocking a homemade minigun attached to a backpack vat filled with Scorpex Venom.

“Bring that sonuva b***h here! I’ll show him how acid tastes lik-”

The aproned man was abruptly interrupted by a tackle from Mako and Fyra. After taking him down, Fyra helped strap the backpack vat onto Mako as they both carried the huge minigun and rushed to battle.

“ALL OF YOU ARE WEAK! NONE OF YOUR BULLETS COULD MATCH CHUM-BACKA’S MIGHT!!!” Ricky taunted, continuing to guide his creation in annihilating the town.

Chum-Backa grabbed the Razesaurs corpse brought by our protagonists by its tail and swung it around like a nunchaku. Bullets and rockets were parried by the swinging corpse, and a dozen or so buildings were crushed by the violent attack.

In the meantime, Mako and Fyra climbed on top of a vertically placed cargo some distance away. They take aim at the monster once they’ve reached the top.

“HEY UGLY!!” Mako shouted.

Chum-Backa responded to the call and turned its gaze towards the duo.

“EAT THIS!!!”

With one flick of a switch and pull of a trigger, the minigun’s barrel spun in thousands worth of rpms. Hundreds and hundreds of venom droplets open fired by the weapon every second, as the monstrous abomination wailed in pain with smoke coming from its ever melting body.

In a desperate attempt, Chum-Backa threw the Razesaurus corpse at the duo who simply changed their target to the flying carcass. The Razesaurus’ whole body disintegrated down to its bones midair from the acidic venom before it could even reach the kids.

They continued to shoot down the helpless Chum-Backa until finally, no sentient pile of flesh remained in the face of Delirith. All that’s left was a devastated Ricky, crying hysterically on the ground for his irredeemable failure.

With that, the duo got down from the cargo, right as the Sun rose marking the beginning of morn.

“We did it Fyra! We saved the town!” Mako exclaimed, in the middle of a ruined Cratemouth where most of its population had either fled or died. Most of the cargo-buildings were crushed, flung and utterly destroyed throughout last night’s battle.

Suddenly, the apron-wearing Venom Store owner appeared before Mako/Fyra. He snatched the minigun they so kindly “borrowed” and walked away cursing and grunting. With nothing else to do, they decide to approach Ricky, currently on the floor wailing for his loss.

“So…-” Mako attempted to start a conversation- “About our payment-”

“F*#%k off!” Ricky grunted.

“Yeah- We’ll be taking two boxes of shells, eh?”

“Take ‘em all ye little shits! I don’t want to see yer faces ever again!”

Happily, the duo plundered Ricky’s store, taking his entire stock of shotgun shells and as much supply of food, water, and fuel they could fit inside Mako’s backpack. Once done, the witch digistructed his Silverbolt and the duo rode off to wherever their journey brings next.

As for Ricky, he was greeted by a crowd of angered survivors from last night’s battle. What happens next is up to the reader's imagination, but needless to say, his ending is quite-

-nasty.

“Y’know, I guess there’s a lesson we could learn from all this,” Mako remarked as they sped along the desert on their ride.

“Don’t play god and create ugly-looking abominations of mass destruction?” Fyra replied.

“Nah. The lesson here is that you should always fulfill your promises, and pay your employees properly for the work they’ve done.”

“Hmmm… I don’t know… I think my lesson works better in this context.”

“Yeah, I mean- well- Ah screw it! Lessons are booooring,” Mako concluded their conversation.

“Let’s just roll with whatever crap life throws at us, yes? After all-” Mako turned on Silverbolt’s radio, playing a music they both recognized and loved- “♪ This ain’t no place for a hero ♪”

“♪ This ain’t no place for a, better maaan ♪-”

They both sang along as the duo rode off into the horizon, to who knows where, awaiting who knows what. But one thing’s certain, there’ll always be adventure for the Little Witch and the One-Horned Devil in this wicked world named Delirith.