Well Done

Exposed to the sharp, crisp air of the labyrinth, I heard its deafening cries of pain first hand at point blank, and I swore it drove my ears to bleed. It then began to violently thrash, smashing its head against the wall in an effort to remove me, each time narrowly avoiding turning me into a stain. I looked down and realized that I was close to the harpoon lodged in its throat, and realized that somehow I had ended up in a quasi safe space. It feared lodging that harpoon any deeper into its neck, probably because doing so would kill it.

I would've celebrated, had I not dropped to 200/720 HP. I had to hang on to not die, but it was taking all my strength to hug this monstrosity. But, this was also an opportunity. I could hurt it. I was hurting it. And that realization was enough.

My blood began to boil with the insanity I'd feared since I first noticed it. I welcomed it, the anger, the hatred, I allowed it to consume me. But more over, I carried the intent to destroy. I wanted to obliterate everything around me, raze it to ashes and leave no remains.

+++

-Fury: Active

-Hallowed Ground: Active.

+++

The name Hallowed Ground had always been a bit misleading. It didn't turn a section of the earth hallowed. It meant that wherever you stood was hallowed. I stood on an absolutely huge monstrosity. I watched in awe as its flesh was sloughed away, like how a woodchipper grinds anything it meets into mulch. My power flayed away its flesh, a layer at a time.

In Otherworld Online, -Fury had a few limitations for such a power buffing skill. The first, and foremost limitation was that the user needed to be attacking or otherwise harming an enemy every turn, or suffering external damage. There was a list of absurd strategies to maintain the Fury state outside of these instances, like lighting yourself on fire or having allies hit you with negligible attacks to stay angry. -Hallowed Ground was fulfilling that criteria, as by just hanging on, I was hurting it.

Furthermore, it boosted my strength dramatically. I no longer needed to expend HP to hang on, and despite its wild thrashings, I remained steady at 195/720 HP.

If I could outlast it, I would win. And that possibility alone was insane. Absolutely absurd. I couldn’t help but laugh. I laughed madly, maniacally, my laughter drowned out by the Wheezing Dragon's dying moans, but I laughed.

I kept laughing even as it gave up and launched itself into a blind flight into the labyrinth. It bounded across the maze, traversing it at dizzying speeds, and hitting nearly every rock it could on the way. It was trying to use flying debris to hit me, and each time I only just narrowly evaded it, contorting my body into absurd acrobatics while I somehow hung on. My reflexes had become automatic, as if the Fury state was directing the most optimal movement and guiding me to act.

It smashed through collapsed passages and ruined chambers. It trampled everything in its wake, killing who knows what and leaving their strewn corpses for the labyrinth scavengers. Despite my best efforts, I could not avoid everything. Again and again I was struck, until I had only 50/720 HP remaining. But I could also sense that the Wheezing Dragon was equally weak, equally on the verge of collapse. It would become a real war of attrition. Who would be the last one standing: Me, or it?

It ran and ran, until it crashed through a solid wall and emerged into the largest chamber I'd ever seen so far. It was a circular foyer with grand steps that led to a pair of titanic gates that could easily accommodate the dragon. Unlike the crumbling masonry of the rest of the labyrinth, this vast room had been carved from beautiful polished marble, only made ruinous by it crashing through the walls. But more miraculous, it was completely lit. I don't know if it was the sun, or some other source of light, but it came down from a ceiling that seemed to stretch endlessly upwards, and completely illuminated everything.

I could now see the monstrosity in all its naked horror. I could see how it's skin was never charcoal grey at all, but a translucent white that let us see all its muscles, veins and sinews. I saw how it was covered in festering wounds, made by dozens of weapons embedded in its flesh. It streaks of blood and pus from its countless open sores, and it suddenly struck me as a sickly, dying thing.

"Loiel!?" I heard someone yell my name, and up there, by the gates were Amparo and Jorge. Jorge had been set down on the steps, while Amparo was a few steps higher, at the gate itself, as if they were inspecting it.

‘Run away!" I screamed, my voice shrill.

"No!" I heard her yell, and then I heard Jorge yell in confusion, "No?"

Still clinging for dear life I watched in horror as Amparo loaded her sling with a gleaming stone, and launched it. I expected it to do nothing. It did far more than that. It exploded on contact, sending it sprawling and me flying.

I landed several feet away, sword still in hand, HP down to a meagre 29/720. Despite the pain, my blood was boiling. I could tell that it was so close to death, I could taste it. I leapt back up screaming my insane warcry, sprinting at the Wheezing Dragon. It recovered just in time to swat me aside like the insect I really was. I smashed into a pile of rubble, left with 1/720 HP and a dream to kill that thing before I died.

Struggling back to my feet, I roared at it one last time. Its bony skull was fragmented, exposing the pulsating brain beneath. With injuries like that, it didn't matter who won, we would both die. It reciprocated my challenge, giving a defiant roar in kind.

The final blow between us never happened. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another glittering rock sail through the air, right into the fragmented brain case of the wheezing dragon, puncture its grey matter and explode. It collapsed against the foyer walls, chunks of gore and brain raining all over me.

*ding! Level up!*

*ding! Level up!*

*ding! Level up!*

*ding! Level up!*

*ding! Level up!*

*ding! Level up!*

It was dead. It was dead. It left me shocked and numb and euphoric all at once. It took Amparo embracing me to realize I was still alive. I glanced over to see Jorge utterly shocked.

And then there came a great groaning. The mighty gates finally opened, and from there the huge woman who had thrown me down here a lifetime ago emerged. She was flanked by other warriors and unarmed monks.

"Missol!" I heard Jorge shout in glee as a pair of monks began to attend him, to which the huge woman gave a nod, and grinned at me.

She approached us, towering over me and Amparo. We clung to each other as support, too weak to stand on our own. Despite having conquered a literal atrocity, the huge woman terrified me in a unique way. My every sense cried out that she could kill us with a flick of her wrist.

"Who killed the Wheezing Dragon" She asked, appraising us with greedy eyes.

"Amparo did." I immediately said, "She's strong."

Missol's eyes turned to Amparo, who nodded in agreement, "I killed it. But we did it together."

"Good, good." She said, kneeling before us. Even so, she still loomed over us both. I couldn’t make sense of her. What was she going to do? Was she going to kill us? Imprison us?

She did neither. She embraced us both and said, "You've done well, my Chosen."