Penultimate Push

As we moved closer to the false evil Overlord, it remained still, confidently sitting on the overwhelming throne that graced the room.

“How come it’s not moving, Ren?” I whispered, confused.

“It’s just like with some other missions: we have to get within a certain distance before we activate it.”

We took a few more steps. “Give it a moment,” Ren said in a low voice. “Just a few more steps, and I think we’ll be close enough.”

Ren was absolutely right. Approximately four steps later, the beast leapt from the huge, blood-red throne and slammed onto the floor in front of us, shaking not just the ground but the entire room and its walls. It subsequently squealed in an overly unsettling manner, revealing its long and four chomping teeth — two at the top, two at the bottom, both at the centre of its mouth.

As the noise of its twitching reverberated around the room, its horrible breath swept through the air and forced Ren and me to turn away out of disgust, wishing that it would never unleash that stench from its mouth again. If that wasn’t going to be the case, it seemed as though we didn’t only have to worry about the physical capabilities of the beast.

All three of us suddenly sprang into action as the beast began to skitter along the floor, pacing towards the two of us with a determination unlike the other monsters previously.

Ren and I clearly had the same idea. We both thought back to the tactic we…well, Ren, had employed in the cave and mutually agreed it was worth trying again. Therefore, Ren circled around the beast to its left, while I circled around to its right, hoping that it would fixate on only one of us, leaving it vulnerable to the other.

Despite our fruitful idea, the beast did not fall victim to it. Instead, it shut us down through a defensive move. The beast scampered backwards, its head constantly jolting in every direction possible. It kept rapidly changing where its closed eyes looked — every couple of seconds it switched between looking at Ren and me. It sat waiting for us below the throne, deciding not to attack again, merely waiting for us to move closer.

Clearly, this beast was more intelligent than any that came before it. It was evident that it had a strategy of its own. It was trying to force us to stay close together.

“Damn that bloody thing!” Ren shouted angrily. “I guess we have no choice but to conform to its stupid way of doing things and attack it head on together.”

Though slightly overcome by his anger, Ren was still making sense. After all, we were the attackers in this scenario and we desperately needed to win the battle. If it continued to run away, who knew how much energy it had compared to us. If we fell into an endless game of cat and mouse, we had no way to know if we could last longer than the beast. Despite the confidence that brewed within ourselves, we couldn’t take that risk.

So we did exactly what Ren proclaimed.

We both charged at the beast, priming our weapons and swinging for the kill with every attack we could throw at it.

Both of us were pushed back at times, sometimes even having to take turns at fending it off while the other rested and regained their stamina. The fight dragged out for much longer than we had desired, which made me start to think that perhaps one of us taking a Pink Strawberry wasn’t a bad idea at all. Yet Ren had demanded we not use one now, so I let that thought quickly slip from my mind.

Our swords were clearly doing damage, but, simply, they weren’t doing enough. Though the damage accumulated, each blow barely scratched the beast, tiring our muscles the more the battle prolonged.

The injuries sustained over time, however, not only applied to the beast — they also applied to us. The beast wasn’t large and lightning quick for no reason. We exchanged blows, at times even having to take several without hurling one back.

If we wanted to win, we had to think of something fast, otherwise our worries about gassing out were certainly going to become a reality.

While we weren’t theoretically against a clock, it unquestionably felt like our bodies were — upon which once the timer had run out, we would collapse and have nothing left to give.

“We have to stay on our toes, Taro!” Ren bellowed.

Ren and I, for what must’ve been about the twentieth time, squared off with the beast, prowling around slowly as we steadily sought opportunities to attack.

“Taro, I’ve got an idea. You jump up and attack from above…and I’ll distract it from down here. Maybe we can do more damage that way if you use the force from dropping to hurt it.”

I simply nodded at Ren and awaited further instructions. Anything was worth trying at this point.

Ren shot a bolt of lightning towards its nose, the crackling beam connecting with the beast’s face and creating a small and brief smokescreen in front of its eye.

That’s when I took my chance. I sprung into the air, positioned myself to directly hit the beast in the back of its neck on my way down.

Ren kept to his promise. He distracted the beast from the floor, ensuring it didn’t move from the spot it sat in.

As I dropped from above, my sword scorched with flames, while the beast’s neck was left exposed, waiting to be torn apart.

I plunged towards the back of the beast, remaining quiet as I drew closer so as not to alarm it to my presence.

That didn’t matter, however.

Somehow, although evidently fixated on Ren, the beast had read our attack. Its winding tail straightened, before whipping around its body and slapped the side of my body away to the side.

My body skidded across the floor, armour screeching as it saved my skin from being torn raw by the ground.

The pain was awful, but I couldn’t leave Ren to fight alone. I lifted myself up onto my knees, gripping my left shoulder that had softened the fall for the rest of my body as my eye just about opened.

I could barely move.

I needed time to recover, but it didn’t look like Ren was going to last long either.

Shortly after, Ren, too, was thrust backwards by the beast. Its neck swinging viciously into Ren’s stomach, propelling him into a wall far behind me.

My neck hurt so much I couldn’t even turn to check on Ren. That would’ve been a bad idea, anyway. Keeping my eyes on what was in front of me was far more important as I found myself in a position I wished to never find myself again.

Much like earlier, I was left frozen, hopelessly looking on as yet another monster crept towards my devastated body.

This was it. Surely I couldn’t be miraculously saved three times in a row.

Though imminent death was upon me, I didn’t close my eyes… because I wasn’t scared. At least, this time, I’d die knowing that I had done everything I could.

But that was when something extraordinary happened…something that revealed what I believed to be the key to us completing this level.

The beast, as it began to tower over me, ignored my still and silent body, walking over me as if I were just another tile on the floor.

“Taro! Get out of there!” Ren exclaimed as I could hear his feet darting along the floor.

For the first time, I consciously ignored Ren’s command, feeling that, this time, my intuition was correct.

I remained still, refusing to give in to my body that needed to take just a single breath. It finally moved away from me, reigniting its feud with Ren and completely forgetting I existed.

That was it.

The beast, I thought, could only track us if it could hear us moving — albeit in the air or ground. That’s why its eyes were closed — it wasn’t just for show, it was because it was genuinely blind. It must have been using the sound waves along the floor and from above to ‘see’ us moving around. That’s why it could calculate its attacks so well.

But what about now? Having figured that out, or, more realistically, thinking that was the solution, we had no choice but to test it out.

I didn’t waste any time letting Ren know of my potential discovery.

Ren immediately took note, instantaneously coming up with a plan to put the theory into action.

“Taro, you stand there again like before. Don’t move, don’t make a sound, ok? Give me some time. I’ll make it chase me and loop round this room. We’ll charge at you at top speed, and when it gets close to you, quickly ignite your sword and use its speed as leverage to slice through it.”

“But what if it catches you, Ren?”

“Come on, Taro. Can’t you trust me here without worrying,” Ren said. Although playful with his words, he didn't like that I sounded doubtful of his plan. “Get over there and just wait, I promise I’ll be quick. Now go,” Ren grunted as he collided with the beast once again.

I scrambled to my position, calmly waiting to see if Ren’s plan was going to succeed.

Ren’s plan unfolded exactly as he said. The beast thundered after him, crashing across the floor in pursuit as he bent around the corner of the room.

Then it was my turn. They both came dashing toward me, Ren taking a few glimpses behind him to check the distance between himself and the beast. I held my ground, heart pounding, waiting for the precise moment.

When it lunged within reach, I ignited my blade and swung.

The strike tore across its neck and, almost in an instant, through the rest of its body. The creature shrieked, its own momentum punishing it more than my weakened arms.

And with that, the long and penultimate battle was all but over.

We could rest, but for no more than a minute.

I panted heavily, turning to Ren and getting out as many words as my body let me. “Good job.”

“No, I should be saying that to you,” Ren replied. “Good find…it really helped us out here.”

The praise felt awkward for some reason, so I asked him something I was yearning to know instead. “How come you weren’t aware of that? Surely you’d know everything if you play it so much, right? Maybe even through tutorials online?”

“Don’t underestimate me, Taro,” Ren chuckled as he gasped for more air. “I’ve learnt everything about this game on my own, so don’t come at me when there’s a few things I’ve missed out. Reasonable, right?”

“I guess,” I gasped, still desperately trying to catch my breath.

We turned in the direction Ren pointed — to the place where the final boss was known to usually appear.

And so we waited in silence, the quiet broken only by the weight of our breathing, as we braced for our last and greatest hurdle.