The Second Mission: Enclosed Spaces

Hinako rushed through the door. She saw the two cultists just vanish behind a corner down the tunnel and accelerated. A magic bolt flew right at her, as she turned the corner. Hinako barely dodged by dropping down to the ground and sliding under the spell. She sprung up again and continued rushing down the tunnel. Hinako lost sight of the two cultists in front of her. She saw the opening into the cavern and slowed down, beginning to conjure up a barrier in front of her. When Hinako peeked out from the tunnel, she immediately got bombarded by spells. Luckily, she already had the barrier up and rushed out, lunging behind one of the numerous big stalagmites. Hinako looked for the caster of the spells and spotted one of the cultists behind a rocky pillar, the other she could not see. Hinako fired multiple firebolts at the cowering opponent in quick succession and simultaneously rushed to circle around. The cultist peeked out of his cover and frantically looked around trying to spot the woman.

“Gotcha!”, Hinako yelled appearing next to him and shooting a fireball at point blank.

The cultist got knocked back and smashed into another stalagmite. Hinako breathed deeply and watched with satisfaction as he lay on the ground and didn’t move any more. She saw movement in the corner of her eyes and instinctively put up a barrier, which might have saved her life, by dampening the following blow to her side. A massive hand hit her and knocked her off her feet and sent her flying. She gasped as she tried to get up and held her chest. A few ribs felt like they were cracked or even broken. With her other hand Hinako wiped the blood off her face, which came trickling down from a laceration on her forehead. A massive monster stood where she had been moments before. It looked a bit like an Akaname but ten times the size with weird growths all over its body. Additionally, to the head it had a second one, that looked like it belonged to a Tengu. The eyes of the monster shone green. Behind the beast Hinako spotted the second cultist. His hand was enveloped in a green shimmering mist, the same color as the eyes of the monster.

“Crush that bitch!”, The cultist screamed and pointed his glowing hand at her.

The monster began to lumber forward. Hinako dodged the next swipe of its clawed hand by lunging backwards. She shot a fireball right in the chest of the beast. Unfazed by that it continued the attacks and pushed Hinako further backwards. She continued to fire balls of flames at the beast, but they didn’t seem to do any harm. The relentless attacks made it impossible for her to focus and prepare a stronger spell. She grabbed her magical discharger and fired a burst of magical bullets. They connected and even ripped open the flesh of the beast, but Hinako watched with dread as the wounds immediately closed back up. The beast continued to attack and all that she could do was dodge away from them, since she knew that getting hit by another swipe of that clawed hand could spell her demise. Hinako continued to shoot fireballs and magic bullets at the monster, but it just would not stop and the wounds regenerated immediately. The cultist began to laugh sinisterly.

“That’s not going to work you stupid MDF whore! You are powerless against one of the creations of our Master!”, He screamed.

Hinako gritted her teeth and decided that it was time to change tactics. She discharged a fireball from under her feet, catapulting herself through the room and giving her some breathing room, until the monster could attack again. Hinako spun around and faced the cultist. She fired a barrage of fire spells at him. They all collided with a green shimmering wall around him and dissipated without causing any damage at all.

“Ha, you think your weak ass spells could touch me? Silly cow! I am blessed by our master, the almighty Morthos! Nothing can tou-“, The cultist screamed amused but got interrupted by a deafening bang, that sent tremors through the rock, cracking the floor and ceiling in places.

A few small rocks fell down on the ground in front of Hinako and gave her a warning of what was about to happen. She looked up and spotted some of the stalactites coming crashing down. She jumped to the side, barely avoiding them. The cultist didn’t had that warning or presence of mind. He looked up as well, but too late. The tip of the falling stalactite pointed right into his open mouth and pierced through it, before the rest of the rock formation smooshed him into a bloody paste.

“Nothing, huh?”, Hinako mumbled as the dust settled and she spotted the red splattering on the ground.

A wild roar pulled her attention back to the monster. It had been hit by some stalactites as well and was currently pinned to the ground by three of them. The green glow in its two pairs of eyes had vanished, but it hasn’t calmed down. Rather the monster was now really enraged as it flailed around roaring and trying to free itself.

Now’s my chance, Hinako thought and began to focus.

She started to pool all her energy in the palm of her hand producing a small flaming ball. The Monster had broken free of one of the stalactites, pinning it down. The open wound began to heal immediately. The ball in Hinako’s hand changed color to blue as she put more and more of her energy into it. The second stalactite was crushed by the monster. Hinako concentrated further. The blue began to fade into a whiteish flame. The monster grabbed the last remaining stalactite that had penetrated right though it’s belly with its now freed hands and pulled it out. The small flaming ball had now lost all its color and turned pure white. The monster got up to its feet, shook his two heads and spotted Hinako. Unleashing a monstrous roar, it grabbed one of the rocks lying around on the floor and flung it at her, before starting to move closer. The rock flew a few centimeters above Hinako’s head and crashed into another rock behind her. She didn’t even flinch but focused solely on her spell. The monster lumbered towards her. Hinako’s hair lost its blazing red color and went back to its normal black. The monster got into striking range and cocked its arm back for a devastating swing. Streaks of purple color appeared interlaced in the pure white of Hinako’s ball. The arm of the monster came swinging forward as she finally released her spell. A beam of white with interlaced purple shot out from the ball immediately growing in girth and enveloping the monster completely. A detonation and deafening bang echoed as the cavern was filled with a bright white and purple light. The ground shook as a second detonation occurred. Then a third. After that it grew silent as the light subsided. The monster was no more, and the cavern had about doubled in size in the direction where Hinako’s spell had been pointed. She dropped to her knees completely exhausted. It was silent for a few moments until the crackling and rumbling started. Rocks fell down next to her as she looked up and remembered something.

“Fuck… enclosed spaces…”, Hinako muttered as she watched the ceiling coming crashing down on her.

“HINA!!”, She suddenly could hear someone scream and a silhouette appeared above her.

In the next moment, the cavern was filled with purple light and there was another, many times more powerful, explosion, which deafened and blinded her.