Do or Die

“So this must be one of the floor guardians you spoke of?” I ask.

The area we enter is incomparable in size to the previous narrow labyrinth-like walls, with hundreds of meters of tall gray carved stained glass windows plastered across the walls, and dead dwarf trees lined up along the edges of the open area with laughing bones decorated around them like ornaments on a Christmas tree. Thick linear lines filled with what could only be the blood of the Tori follow the path of all the windows, each leading towards the center. Standing at the centre of the area stands an elongated Tori resembling that of a crane, with a black veil covering its entire upper body and its feet dipped in the convergence of the Tori blood flowing through the area. I then notice a strange book by its feet, emerging slowly from the small pool of dark blood. The book’s open pages are matte black in color, but its texts emanate an aura of light similar in nature to that of the small bird I had rescued for my own merit.

Number, sixty six…interesting.

Christoph tucks his weapons back into his jacket, “Yes, that is it. But to be more accurate, it’s not just one of the floor guardians. It’s the only type of floor guardian here, meaning we’ll run into it every time we clear a floor.”

Suddenly, movement occurs from the guardian’s head, and its veil appears to open up through the middle. Even with the body of a Tori-like stork, this creature’s head appears to be missing completely, as only a black flame within a mirror appears where the head is supposed to be. My body suddenly feels much of its retaining heat leave, forcing me to curl up into a ball while shivering frantically.

“Oh! I forgot to mention, don’t look at its face! It’ll take away all the body heat you have left if you stare at it for more than three seconds,”

“Gee, perhaps something that important should be mentioned first before your ‘only guardian’ drivel!”

Christoph knocks his knuckle softly into his temple, and looks at me with a cutesy expression. “Oops.”

“I’m starting to get why people here want you dead so badly,” I reply while shivering more intensely. However, the trail of blood suddenly catches my attention, as I notice that the dark blood travelling along the lines across the center of the area isn’t flowing from the windows towards the guardian…but from the guardian towards the windows.

…just what have I gotten myself into with this place…

Suddenly, an extremely mellow and seemingly empty voice bellows deeply across the area,

“Praises to you. You have succeeded in reaching the sixty sixth floor landmark.”

My body instinctively attempts to look towards where the voice is coming from, but I then quickly retract and face the floor, not wanting to lose any more body heat in this already cold environment.

“Christoph Schmidt. Zadek Bashar. Kedaz Bashar. Access has been granted to the sixty fifth floor onset.”

Whoa, hold on!

“I think you’re forgetting someone, dear guardian?!” I yell out, with chattering teeth.

“In doing so, you have now been granted the material, inflammable leather.”

“I’m getting tired of all the leather, at this point,” Christoph mutters, unimpressed.

“The nestling, Nehman Ho. Access has been granted to partake in the sixty sixth floor’s trial point. Victory will grant you the material, inflammable leather. Defeat will grant you certain death.”

My spirit sinks to a great extent, “…certain? What do you mean by certain? Like that’s it? I’m finished forever?”

“May the winds blow in your favor.”

Suddenly, the area begins to slowly turn counter clockwise, similar to the starting point where I had first encountered the laughing bones. The thick lines of Tori blood scattered across the center of the area begins to simultaneously split and converge, until finally making two parallel lines that misses the area in which the guardian resides. As the guardian begins to fade away like smoke, my vision begins to morph into that of a hallucination, making the area seem distorted rather than clear. Christoph and the twins begin to slide further and further away from me by way of the now river-like line of Tori blood. However, even as they move further from my position, the three of them seem to still physically remain in the center area, while I seem to be diverging from it. I find myself on the opposing parallel line of Tori blood, realizing that the same vision I am having for Christoph and the twins must also be what they are seeing for me.

“Now, hold on!” I scream aloud while standing to my feet, “It looks like you forgot to mention something else, Mr. Schmidt?!!” I finish, making sure to pronounce his surname with an aggravated and insulting tone.

Christoph glances towards me with a puzzled stare, in the same way the twins turn towards me as well, “Huh? What did I forget to mention?”

My eyes swell up with rage, as I stare towards Christoph and point my longsword towards his head, “Don’t think I won’t kill you…”

Christoph begins to laugh, “Oh come now, Mr. Nehman. After all your bravado, I was sure something like this wouldn’t faze you. Now, considering everything I’ve seen and everyone I’ve seen attempt the trials…hmm…I would say you have at least a sixty six percent chance of winning.”

This man…he’s playing with me…

An aggressive grin appears across my face, as I adjust the sword’s edge to glisten sharply with the faint light coming from the gray carved stain glass windows. The vision of Christoph and the twins begins to fade in the same way the guardian had.

“I’m not one that likes to gamble. It’s either one hundred percent…or no deal.” I spit out angrily.

The fading vision of Christoph initially stares at me with a blank expression, before lifting up his index finger to signal the number one, and smirking confidently.

“Then be sure to turn the intervals to your favor, Mr. Nehman. I didn’t grant you my weapons for nothing,”

“Oi! They’re my damn weapons, you insignificant pissant!” I scream out, only to realize that those words have fallen on deaf ears. As I take a look around, I notice that the surrounding area remains equal in size. However, the windows, the trees, the thick lines of Tori blood…and everyone else, have all disappeared.

“Stuck in darkness, yet again,” I groan loudly, “Give me something new, would you.”

In saying that, I suddenly feel a large drop of a strange mucus-like liquid rest atop my left shoulder, prompting me to jump in fright. As I land, I trip atop a strange flesh-like substance near my feet, causing me to fall to the floor. However, as I land on the floor, I then feel a heap of the same strange liquid that had fallen atop my shoulder moments ago, and the more I wave my hand across the floor, the more of the substance I feel.

It’s as if the hollow sand of the halls has been replaced by this…liquid…

All of the sudden, a frightening call bellows, ringing deep within my ears and forcing me to cover them almost immediately. However, even after doing so, I slowly feel blood seeping out from my ears, creating a heightened sensation of pain ringing within my head.

Damn it! Where did that come from?!

After being previously aided by the strange lights emanating from the glass windows, my vision begins to adjust to the complete darkness once more. Quickly rising to my feet, I begin to use my hazy vision to frantically search around for the creature’s whereabouts, sure that it must be somewhere closeby, or at the very least, nearing my location. However, after remembering that the area’s size does not seem to have changed, my vision is then directed upwards, searching for perhaps a Tori that could fly like the swift bird I had encountered with Chen.

Ho-ly shit….

What I am forced to witness is easily the largest Tori I have come across in size thus far, perched up carefully alongside the liquid coated walls surrounding the area. The walls themselves seem to be swaying back and forth, as if I have been transported into the intestines of a whale, just without the gastric acid to disintegrate me. The smell of the area surrounding me now reaches my nose, causing me to puke instantly. Tears instantly well up and flow from my eyes, and a raging set of coughs erupts immediately after spilling everything onto the floor.

Why couldn’t I have been isekai’d properly, man?!

The creature bellows out its call once more, causing me to become irritated to the point I wanted to scream something, but couldn’t because of how my body was taking in the putrid smell and deafening noise. Blood seeps out from my ears yet again, and mucus swells up within my nostrils.

Unfortunately for me, the situation only seems to become much worse, as a second call bellows out from an even greater distance above, as if relaying a reply to the Tori my eyes have already seen.

…you’re kidding me…there’s two of them?!

I clutch my stomach, trying to pull myself together and stand up, but the process is slow. The extreme ringing coming from my ears turns to the point it feels like I am becoming deaf-

Wait a minute…could this be what turned that girl deaf?

Can’t be. She has died so often and returned to this place with her brother, and I doubt it’s possible that afflictions from previous cycles could remain in the current. Stop overthinking it.

After pondering for a short while, I begin to gather myself, and rise steadily to an upright position on my knees. In taking out my dagger with the black diamond blade, I then stab the floor below, and carve out a few small chunks of the moving flesh that covers this dark open area. After piecing out which could be useful or not, and even having to slice one of the chunks to become a perfect fit, I stick two of the pieces of flesh into my ear, attempting to use them as the best type of earbuds I could get.

If they are as adaptive to the flesh of humans as the hollow sands were, then I hope this works…

Yuck. How long will they still keep wiggling inside my ear?

However, after a bit of time, the movement of the pieces of flesh comes to a halt, and settles in perfectly to block out any sound.

Perfect. No more bleeding ears…although I can’t hear a single thing now.

I then carve out two more small pieces of the flesh floor, and stick them both inside of my nostrils. The same result occurs, with the flesh eventually settling inside perfectly to block off my sense of smell.

Looks like I’ll have to be a mouth breather for a while.

After blocking out the two senses that had been causing me severe pain, I feel myself beginning to recover rapidly, enough to stand up and face the two monsters I am trapped with. The two are now both gliding carefully across the air, making it hard to reach them and kill them quickly. My eyes then makeout the build of the Tori flying above, as their wings spread wide and their concerns focused on where or where not to land.

The head of a bat…but those look like the wings and tail of a stingray…all slimy and gross…no wonder they fit right in with this place.

A strange liquid drops from one of the Tori above, flying directly towards me. I groan quietly, not wanting to be hit with it, but also curious as to what the content of the liquid actually is.

However, as soon as the liquid enters my closest range of vision, I notice a strange gas protruding from the liquid, prompting me to dodge the liquid at point blank range. The liquid then seeps into the flesh-like floor below at lightning speed, disintegrating the flesh to a deep degree.

Sweat begins to protrude from my glands, and my breathing becomes erratic.

Acid?!

I then look around the floor area quickly, only to notice that there are plenty of similar holes within the flesh-like floor. I then turn my attention back upwards towards the airborne Tori, and realize that the Tori flying above seems even greater in size to the Tori I had previously seen. The larger Tori remains gliding in the air for ages, while plenty of its acid continues to rain down, forcing me to dodge all the drops of acid within my vicinity. The smaller Tori can only remain in the air for so long until having to rely on the walls to rest, but is also completely unaffected by the drops of acid that land atop its skin.

“What are you two, mother and child?” I ask with my hands cupped towards the two Tori.

Before I have the chance to lower my arms back to my sides, the smaller Tori immediately takes off from its perched position, and flies head first…towards me.

…I should have figured that would happen…

With no time to spare, I take out my longsword, and use it to carve out a chunk of the incoming Tori’s right wing. However, the Tori’s thin and long tail swings strongly in the process of its ascension back upwards, knocking me back by a great distance. My ribs across my right side feel like they had practically been crushed into ash at the moment of impact, causing me to cough out a large amount of blood after landing awkwardly on my back.

This isn’t good. Any more, and I’m dead for sure.

“Victory will grant you the material, inflammable leather. Defeat will grant you certain death.”

Regardless of whether it’s the end for real, or just a new spawn back into the sixty sixth floor like Christoph said…neither option can get me back to her in time…

An image of Chen dances within my mind. Shortly after, the image of the mark across her forehead and the form she had taken in correspondence with the mark dances within my mind as well.

I…want it…

With blood spilling from my mouth, I force myself to look up, only to see the now injured Tori glaring directly at me with its mouth wide open. I begin to laugh, amused by its effort.

So you’d rather kill me from up there now? That’s not fighting fair…

Rising to my feet, I swallow a bit of blood that had been coursing up my throat, and a sinister grin flashes across my face as I glare towards the injured Tori.

“Let’s settle this like men!...or would you rather get your mom to do it for you?!”

The Tori seemingly screams out even louder as it cocks his head back and opens its mouth even wider, lunging its body forward at full force. Its claws launch off from its perched position at an even quicker rate than before, enabling it to fly directly towards me at a faster rate. With my longsword at the ready, I then slowly take out my black diamond dagger, knowing that it blends in well with the darkness of the area surrounding the three of us.

It’s do or die with this one. But who’s gonna come out alive? You or me?

My sinister grin turns into a confident smirk.

“Obviously,”

I bend my knees closer to the ground, and clasp my black diamond dagger to the hilt of my longsword. With both hands firmly swinging my longsword at full force, I manage to cleanly slice the Tori’s head off before it could attempt to ascend back up once more, using the knowledge of its trajectory against it.

“It’s gonna be me.” I calmly finished.

However, even with its head now gone and crashing aggressively against the flesh-like floor, its tail’s motion continues to swing in the same way it had done so before, but at an even quicker pace.

An instinctive action taken even before you are ready to ascend, fainting with your head but swinging your head to strike the finishing blow…

You’re a one trick pony, kid.

I hold the black diamond dagger firmly in place to my right side, and the Tori’s thin and long tail becomes sliced into two as it makes contact with the sharp blade. The Tori’s body crashes against the flesh-like floor, along with the other half of its tail, causing an uncomfortable tremor that I am forced to deal with for a few seconds. I then look back towards the dead Tori, and see that my initial envisioning of its body, with the head of a bat, and body and tail of a stingray, were in fact, correct. Although, what catches my attention almost instantly is the hardened green crystallic content that glistens across the top of the creature’s wings.

…what the?…

Suddenly, another large tremor occurs at an even greater degree, causing me to stumble onto the flesh-like floor while struggling to regain my balance. At the same time, more heavy drops of acid rain down than ever before, as I look up to see the larger Tori now descended to the same field of air that the smaller Tori had previously been flying around. Upon closer look, I can tell that its makeup was precisely the same as the smaller Tori’s…but its size was even greater than double that of its counterpart.

“Looks like you’re also ready to play, then,” I mutter to myself, while smiling awkwardly.

Yet, to my dismay, as I see the larger Tori’s mouth open widely, a ringing sound begins to occur within my ears once more, and I feel such a heavy set of vibrations shaking my entire body to the point I feel like I have been paralyzed from neck down. I feel trickles of blood nestling against the chunks of flesh that are covering my ears tightly, and my head begins to feel so light that my vision, even in the darkness, begins to fade evermore.

That’s…just not fair…

The same aggravating sensations double as the Tori overheard continues to scream at full volume and at a closer distance than before.

I have to kill it…but I am losing too much blood…

Besides…how am I supposed to get up there…

The aggravating sensations now triple, to the point that I feel myself fainting while falling to the flesh-like floor. My consciousness continues to fade in and out of the situation, but every time it fades back in, the only feeling I can sense is pain.

Such excruciating pain.

“Then be sure to turn the intervals to your favor, Mr. Nehman. I didn’t grant you my weapons for nothing,”

In the midst of my fading consciousness, Christoph’s words begin to well up an intense sense of rage within me. However, it could never be enough to rescue me from my situation.

That damn German….I told you, this is why I don’t like to gamble…

“Then be sure to turn the intervals to your favor, Mr. Nehman.”

Impossible…you know damn well you only left me to die…

“I didn’t grant you my weapons for nothing,”

…come again?...

“I didn’t grant you my weapons for nothing,”

…I don’t…

“I didn’t grant you…those weapons for nothing,”

As my fading consciousness returns one more time, and turning slightly to my left, I faintly notice my emerald blade melting deep into the flesh-like floor, similar to that of the acid coming from the Tori situated above. It is only then that I realize that the acidic content that the Tori has been dropping all give off a crystallic shine once settled onto the flesh-like floor, similar to that of my emerald dagger’s blade. I also notice that the crystallic content on the now deceased Tori’s back that is currently in contact with the flesh-like floor has also seemingly melted, leaving drops of acidic like content on the floor in the same manner as the Tori above.

I see. Emerald has a weak melting point in comparison to other gemstones. And the flesh-like floor, perhaps similar to the large Tori’s wings, acts as a heat insert…but only for this gemstone, and not for other materials or flesh…

A weak grin spreads across my face as an idea pops into my mind.

I really do hate to gamble…

But…for once…it’s not a bad hand…

I begin to push myself upwards to a great extent, so much so that I clearly feel even more blood leave my body in the process. However, the pain I feel doesn’t compare to the motivation spawning from the idea I have in my head, sure to turn this so-called gamble into the one interval that will always favor me the most.

I take hold of the emerald dagger and slowly begin to slice open the flesh-like floor, cutting through it like a hot knife kneading through butter. Once I carve out a deep enough hole, I find myself digging through the hole head first, looking to cover myself from the airborne attack of the monster that flies above. The paralyzing effects of its screams begin to wear off as I plow my way through the deep flesh covering the open area. However, my actions wear me out even greater due to the increased motion of my already injured body. This results in my heart having to work at a faster rate to distribute blood, which also results in my body losing more blood in the process, and my consciousness fading in and out once again. Yet, even with the great degree of pain and vertigo occurring within my mind and body, I continue to track myself forward deep into the flesh…one push at a time.

Deeper and deeper through the flesh, I eventually find myself in an upwards trajectory, rushing at an even greater pace to complete my mission before I can completely pass out beforehand. The smell of the flesh-like wall mixed with the melting emerald blade begins to pass through my covered nostrils, as tiny drops of the acidic content manages to find its way onto the pieces of flesh covering them, melting holes into them as well. I gag, feeling a raging current flow from my stomach towards my mouth, but force myself with all my might to hold it in, to the point that some of it tries to pass through my nose as well.

20 meters….30 meters…40 meters…

Withholding myself from fainting, withholding myself from puking my guts out, and withholding myself from making too much noise, all takes such a great toll on my body. Death is the only answer that could be drawn from the situation.

However,

I refuse to let it be my own.

“Bonzai!” I scream aloud, as I dive out from the upper walls like a movie character crashing through the glass windows in an action-movie flick.

The head of the extremely large Tori glances towards me slowly with a shocked expression, as I fall directly towards it with a crazed expression. The Tori opens its mouth wide in my direction, causing such a reverberation that I instantly pass out as soon as it reaches me. However, I had already managed to instinctively grab my longsword, and cocked it back as I fell towards the Tori. At last, after forcing my consciousness to return for one last second, I look to see the head of the Tori become split in two, as my longsword carves through its insanely large head at point blank range, leaving us both falling towards our eventual crash against the flesh-like floor.