Labyrinth Expedition #14

“What the fuck—” Akiro shivered, an ominous feeling creeping up his spine– a feeling he has felt a few times before, all of which were lethal intended to toy, instead of kill. The feeling of being attached to strings and peered through a stage did not do wonders for his stomach, because it gave the impression of even a greater threat looming in the distance– a puppeteer with his tower of toys.

“I-Is this monster fucking with me?!” The assassin grit, crawling like an injured bug. He thought to himself angrily, “Am I entertaining you?!” his lower lips bleeding from his teeth.

He felt ashamed almost, too weak, too helpless in the moment to stop himself from pirouetting atop the abominable monster’s hand; but at the moment, all hope was not lost yet.

Akiro held his right hand to his mouth, with space in between his index and ring finger; while his left hand touched the base of the collapsed spire. At his touch, a window appeared, but only his thoughts processed the motion, his body jerking away with the last ounce of power it could muster.

“Your hubris will be the death of you. [Greater Vials of Instantaneous Destruction]!”

Boom!

“Oh? Ehh!? Where’d he go?” The monster hiding behind the bowels of the artificial world wondered, looking through the monster's eyes, his feet where the hero’s feet should have been– instead, was a creator of his own making.

Thu-Thud!

“Oh! Behind me! Slimy little fellow.” He exclaimed the footage relayed on the mirror in front of him, “To think that he would attack the magic brain, nearly severing the connection. What wonderful Dark-elemental magic, it is quite unfortunate that his inferior intellect can’t fully grasp the potential he wields. Shame– truly.”

“Anywho– I needn’t waste more time and accidentally harm my tribute. Hopefully the Demon King will forgive the harsh treatment needed to subdue him.”

Akiro squinted even further, the five-volley of [Raindrop Arrows] penetrating deep into the monster’s limbs, in between the sockets of its shoulders and hips, and one to the head. Although he didn’t know it yet, a small trace of black mana was mixed in as well.

Just as the blow came crashing, Akiro swallowed the contents of the first bottle by sucking powerfully and swallowing quickly in one swift motion. The instant rejuvenation of his body allowed him to slide underneath the monster's stout frame and counterattack consecutively afterwards.

“W-What?!” He cursed, the monster shrugging off the attack, the spikes of water slowly dripping down as they lost their shape. “That did nothing?!”
“No! It should have–” Akiro blinked, “N-no blood?”

Grr….

The monster glared, its hulking arms being raised high over its head. “Fuck…” Akiro realized, “It’s undead.”

Boom!!!

The tiled floors of marble and cut stone crumbled, stones and pieces splattering into shrapnel being thrown at high speeds, enough to cut through the buildings and decorative stalls filled with small hand-made gifts– pulverizing a wide cone-shaped area.

“This match-up could not get any worse.” Akiro bounced on the tips of his toes, a tile away from the blast radius, small nicks and scratches on his left side, “Just the debris alone could kill, what an optimized monster.”

He had the head of a Troll, his nose blunt, eyes bloodshot; he had the legs of an Orc King, stubby and short compared to the rest of his limbs, but strong with incredibly bones and joints, joined by dense muscle fibers; and his is arms were that of ogres, the knuckles brushing the floor as he walked towards the down assassin.

Skin pale like snow, dirty like gray, cracked and dry from the lack of moisture, a hide thicker than monster leather, eyes more violent than any other creatures, and bearing the pressure of the colossus sandworm.

“A troll, incredible intelligence with some case even able to cast magic; Orc King, second-greatest evolutionary state of an orc, blessed with dense fast-twitch muscle fibers; Ogres, one of the sturdiest monsters alive, with muscle and bone density twenty-times greater than that of humans proportional to its size—” Akiro thought about the information he had read from the journal. “Damn it, these things only appear in the later floors! What the hell is it doing here?!”

Grahhh!

The monster stomps the ground, reaching forward as it extends its arm, swiping with its rough fingers– clawing the air and surrounding ground.

Swish!

Akiro stepped back, the rough fingers inches away from his nose. He leaned forward as the arm arched away from him, holding both hands where he would hold his weapon. At that moment, the scythe appeared in his grasp, and within his reach was the abomination’s eyes.

Shing!

Grahhh!!!

“Ha!” Akiro cheered, “Dead or not, you still need your eyes too see—”
du-Dum!

The air froze solid, the density of the atmosphere doubling, the raw magic particles in the area around the assassin pulsated, reverberating harshly against his core. Like drums, the sticks thundered against it, and with each beat, wave after wave was sent around with the blind monster as the origin— decimating, corroding and destroying.

Akiro’s body shook as each passing wave made him collide with absurd amounts of magic power, the damage accumulating slowly with each passing beat. At the end of the murderous symphony, only then did he fall to his knees, blood pouring from every pore, every wound he had.

“Gahh—W-What the hell—” The human fell on his knees, but the throbbing did not subside, so Akiro screamed, the waves of power bouncing around inside his own body, dealing relatively harmless damage but excruciating pain.

The demon smiled in delight, relishing in the suffering he had caused, “Oh dearie me! I might have gone overboard with the dosage. I hope you won’t die now— come to think of it! I didn’t quite catch his name.” He stroked his chin and fixed his hat, inspecting the crumbling specimen. “Bah-Humbug! I can just ask later.”

His vision pulsed, his body leaning back, head thrown back, and his eyes staring at the blue sky. No strength could be gathered in his limbs, muscle fibers torn and bone structure left cracked— his being fragile, about to fall apart if touched incorrectly.

“I-I have one more vial– I just need to d-drink—”

Thud!

The human fell on his back, the bottle strapped to his side, rolling just in reach of his mouth, but his body was too battered and broken to move, and not even his lips could quiver or his tongue move to complain. Thus, Akiro was left alone with his thoughts.

“I can’t move….Fuck! Fuck! Is this it!?” He seethed in his mind, adrenaline coursing inside his body. Akiro’s eyes twitched, eyelids shooting open to glare at the monster in the corner of his eye. “Is this my end!”

“Grah-Hah!-HahaH!”

“Fucker– you’re laughing at me me!? I swear– when I get my ass off the ground I will cleave that smug jaw of yours and use your teeth to clean my shoes!”

“My my!” The demon laughed, his joy being transmitted to the monster he controlled. Amidst his celebration, an interesting item appeared within view. “Such insolence! Such pride! I will enjoy breaking your spirit!”

“Let’s test it out shall we? Will your pride stop you from begging—” The demon waved his hands, strings of black magic power attached to his fingertips. “---For this child’s life!!”

The puppet master coils his fingers, stretching them with wild motions incorporating his shoulders and elbows. At those physical commands, the hulking abomination of sewn parts and mismatched internal organs began to march over Akiro’s body.

“Huh? it’s moving?” Akiro groaned, some motion returning to his limbs, but they were still too weak. Nonetheless he forced himself to lift his back, allowing his head to look behind him, his eyes straining to see where the monster was headed.

“No!” To his horror, the monster marched to the civilian buildings connected to the market-place, the surrounding horse next to the untouched road obliterated by chunks of rock. “You stupid kid! He’s coming for you!”

By one of the largest boulders on the sidewalk was a small child, dressed in a flowing dress, a toy crown over her head. She tugged on something trapped underneath the rock, Akiro squinting to see what it was– a large teddy bear about her size, caught by the legs under the debris.

“This monster bastard!” Akiro’s heart fell to his stomach, his body falling down from the lack of mobility. He forced himself anyway, moving towards the vial, his shoulders crawling as his arms were too limp to do anything. “He wasn’t just aiming for the tower, he was gonna kill everything in this town!”

“C’mon Mr.Teddy!” The child pleaded, pulling with all her might, the fabric holding the toy together resisting strongly, “All of friends went away! Princess wants to play! Please Mr.Teddy.”

In the distance, ahead of her was a woman frantically looking about, panic and fear stretched on her face; but as she found peace in finding her daughter– it was overcome by an even greater shock, the monster towering over her child.

“Tilly!” The woman shrieked loudly, catching both their attention, “Run to mummy! Tilly! T-There’s a monster!”

“Mumma? What is a munster?” Tilly innocently questioned, a shadow growing by her feet. She turned around with a beaming smile, her small figure met with it towering over her. “Ah! You’re Munster! Wanna play with Tilly?”

“Disgusting, wretched spawn!” The demon howled with laughter, his index finger rising, controlling the giant’s rising arm. “To think that you would ask to play, in the face of your end!”

Her mother’s eyes shot open, her legs running after the girl, crying her name desperately “Tilly!” She screamed, as the child only laughed, raising her own right arm.

“High five, mister Munster!”

Whooosh!

The mother fell on the ground, her legs losing strength as the sight of the giant hand came barreling down for her child, and she closed her eyes– heart stopping, tears falling quickly like rain. “Tilly…” She groaned, looking up from the road, afraid to see what would have remained, but still compelled to do so.

But her sorrow was overshadowed with awe as the giant’s hand suspended in the air— thick, chains piercing his entire arm, glowing blue and reflecting the sunrise above them. An anchor had lodged itself into his arm, chaining it, his arm suspended above the child.

“Hehe! Munster is very, very big!” Tilly smiled, jumping up and down as she repeatedly clapped her hand against the finger the size of her head. “I like you, Mister Munster!”

But the monster in question could not heed her, its head spun around to the source of its bindings, which was the hero he had crushed--- Standing was  on his feet— glaring with freezing fury. A fury he only had experienced once before. 

"H-How---!? How can 'His' gaze be used by a Human!?" 

Akiro held the chain in both hands, his feet digging into the soil uncovered by the damaged tiles. His eyes were crying blood, jaws clenched around a glass vial, shards of which piercing his mouth and tongue, knuckles turned white from the tightness of his grip.

“Your fight—” Akiro growled, sending tremors up the Demon's spine. “Is with me!!” 

"I'll kill you! I'll tear you to pieces! Limb from limb!"