Chapter 29

Ava pressed her shoulder toward the brilliantly blue surface inside the arch.

“Step back!” Leon shouted, sprinting toward her. A huge muzzle with a nose double as big as Ava’s head pushed her out of the way. Partway through the portal, the wolf’s jaw snapped open, and Ava stumbled on the steps, falling down onto the floor.

“I guess that’s the eightieth monster,” Hert said. “I hoped they counted wrong.”

“Me too,” Leon said. He took a few steps back as the wolf materialized. Even though it was several times larger than the arch, it came through in its full size. An orange “Level 5 Gray Wolf”-tag danced over its head.

“Was that the behemoth you talked about?” Hert swallowed so hard his Adam’s apple took a deep dive.

“Yeah. But this… this one looks even bigger.”

The wolf sniffed the air as it exited the portal completely. Ava, having gotten to her feet, ran toward the opening. The tail smacked into her midsection and she fell with a thud on the stone floor.

The beast spun toward her, and Leon rushed forward, huffing. He struck at the wolf’s front leg, and its head snapped to him as the blade pierced through the skin.

Ava shot up to her feet again and headed toward the portal. Hert followed her, and Leon ran toward the other edge of the room. Leon might be exhausted, but he’d ran all those days. He should be able to hold out long enough for the two of them to exit.

When he reached the end of the room, he spun around, just in time to see Ava’s fingers touch the blue light.

The stone room disappeared around them, and they were back in Ava’s father’s office.

Leon froze. They’d opened all the chests; why did another memory show?

Ava’s father sat at his desk while Hert and Ava crashed into the windows overlooking the garden outside. A man sat on the other side of the table.

The behemoth had caught up to Leon just as they entered the scene, and it snapped at him. Leon dove to the side of the bookcase, keeping an eye on Ava and Hert.

“Where did the portal go?” Hert asked, rising and rubbing his chest. The metal plate that sat imbedded in his shirt had cracked, just like the shield, but it was still attached.

Ava pounded at the window with her staff, but the hit seemed to stop just short of the glass. “Let me out!”

“Any news?” Ava’s father’s hair had streaks of gray, and he held a photo of a young Ava sitting on an elephant. Ava spun around at the voice.

The man shook his head. “Nothing.”

The room was big enough to house the wolf, but not much else. It stood with its hind legs toward the window, and the front paws were on the other end of the room. Seeing the advantage, Leon rolled up on his feet and dashed between the creature’s legs. He stopped just under its chest and stabbed the wooden dagger in its leg. It yelped and tried to reach him with its teeth between its legs, and Leon jumped back. Too bad it was too large for them to hit any sensitive areas.

“Now’s our chance! Hit it!” Leon said, and jogged to its stomach. He crawled onto the desk.

“It’s been more than a year since she disappeared,” Ava’s father said. “Someone must have met her somewhere.”

“It’s hard to say,” the man said. “She had a way to make people care for her. I’m sorry to say this, sir, but if she wanted to disappear, she had the means to do so.”

“I know,” he sighed. “She must live her own life, I suppose.”

Hert smashed his hammer into the creature’s leg, and Leon jumped to slash at the stomach. He barely reached. If he could get up on it…

Ava’s father opened a drawer and put the picture inside. “I doubt she’ll ever forgive me for cutting her off. But what else could I do?”

“Nothing, sir. She’s her own, and will probably remain that way.” The man knit his hands. “But how are things going with Maya? Is she settling into the role?”

“They don’t know I died?” Ava asked. “They didn’t look for me?”

Ava’s father smiled. “Yes, she is. Maya will become a good successor. I always wished Ava would show us the qualities to lead, but she never did.”

“She probably won’t. Not until she faces reality. I wonder where she is.”

“Me too. A father can’t forget about his daughter, even if I sometimes wish I could.”

“Dad!” Ava said, and walked closer to her father’s back.

Leon slashed at the monster’s thigh, and Hert drummed the hammer into its leg once more. The creature snarled and looked at them, stomping with its paws.

A blush crept up Ava’s father’s neck. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that.”

“Sir, we all know. I’m happy that you’ve found a new daughter. It might give you some peace of mind.”

The scene darkened, and a text shone in golden letters.

‘IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO CHANGE AND MAKE UP FOR PAST MISTAKES’

Both the room and statement faded as they landed back in the stone room.

“My father…” Ava whispered.

“Ava, look out!” Leon shouted, and Hert tackled her to the side as the wolf’s tail swept past, just above their heads.

Leon sprung to the side as the wolf spun around. “Try the portal again!”

Hert nodded and crawled up on his feet. He ran huffing to the portal and pressed his hands against it. “It won’t let me through!”

“Maybe me!” Ava said, and darted forward. But before her hands touched the surface, the scenery changed.

They landed in an apartment, which brown walls and doorway nearly split the wolf in half, but didn’t seem to harm it. The top part of its back got pressed to the ceiling, making it crouch, but not enough to easily reach the stomach or chest. The three of them stood in a room, where there was a small pantry area and two folding beds by a barred window, on which stood a photo of a smiling Hert with a large baby in his arms. A young boy sat in a blue hooded pajama with printed dinosaurs in front of a TV in the corner with crossed legs, watching a cartoon. The monster’s head and shoulders sat stuck in a hallway which size could be likened to a shoe box.

“If we want to beat this thing, these scene things are when we do it,” Leon huffed. “You guys have any energy left?”

Ava muttered under her breath and pointed her staff at Leon. It shot out a few sparks, nothing more. “I don’t have enough MP,” she said.

Hert walked between the creature’s legs and approached the boy. “Sam?”

Leon plunged the knife into the wolf’s hind leg, and it snarled, even though it couldn’t move. The muscles trembled under the fur. He stabbed it in again, and couldn’t lift his arms for a third strike. His fingers trembled as he opened the inventory and took out the mana potion.

“Here!” He pushed it into Ava’s hands.

“But we don’t need to fight it,” she said.

“We probably need to live through my part as well,” Leon said as the woman on the bed spoke into a phone pressed between her shoulder and cheek.

“I promise I’ll get the check to you as soon as I can.” She lifted a letter and held it up to the barred window. A red “OVERDUE” stamp sat on the top.

“You better,” a metallic voice said from the phone. “You’ve piled up a lot, and you’ve missed the last two payments. You don’t want to mess with us.”

“I know,” Tess, Hert’s wife said, kneading her eyebrows. “I’m doing the best I can.”

Ava gulped down the potion, licked her lips, and pointed the staff at Leon. “Buff Morale!”

Leon moved easier as he slashed at the wolf’s leg, piercing it over and over again. He popped open his status screen. 91% fatigue. His heart dropped. What would happen at 100%? Even though he moved more easily, he would stack up fatigue. Leon put the dagger into his inventory.

“What are you doing?” Ava asked.

“Just remembered something,” Leon said, and took a wide stance. He threw a punch at the creature’s leg. Then another, and another, dealing twelve damage each time. Less than his base strength and less than with the weapon, and even with his increased vitality stats, the added spell didn’t take down his fatigue enough to rid him of the exhaustion penalty.

The woman put down the phone and spread the paper stack on the bed, all wearing the same red print. Hert looked from his wife to the boy on the floor, his face tinted pink. He bent to touch the boy’s shoulder as the boy switched the channel. Mr. Gion, the guy Leon had seen before, sat on a talk show. Hert’s hand went through his son’s shoulder.

“Yes!” Leon said. “My fatigue rises, but much slower!”

“That’s going to take ages,” Ava said.

“Help me, then. Hit it with your staff, kick it, punch it!”

The wolf growled and stomped its front paws, trying to wiggle its shoulders and head through the doorway, but its own size worked against it. Leon continued punching, ignoring the pain going through his knuckles. Ava smashed the staff into its leg, dealing minor damage, but anything would help. They backed off a little as the wolf tried to lift the hind legs, but it couldn’t move more than an inch off the ground from its haunched position.

“Mr. Gion, you’ve continued stating that people can come back from death, but some people seem to not believe you. They’re calling you a hoax. What are your comments on that?”

The scrawny man shrugged. “It’s not my concern whether they believe me or not. You people asked about my story, and I told it.”

“You don’t feel any remorse for the deaths your story has contributed to among the believers?”

“Hert, use your hammer!” Leon said.

Mr. Gion clenched his jaw. “No. You decided to go wide with this, and I decided to tell you my story. If anything, it’s the network’s fault for shining so much light on the matter.”

Tess walked the few steps it took to get to the remote and switched over to the cartoons again. With a glance over his shoulder, Hert stepped toward the wolf. He swung, hitting its other leg.

“Mom,” the boy complained. “I don wanna. I wanna see fire man.”

“Well, we’re going to watch cartoons instead.” She sat down behind the boy and folded her arms around him. “Or do you want to read a book?”

“The fire is magic. Auntie says so. Dada will come back.”

Her grip around him tightened. “I’m sure daddy would come back if he could.” She kissed the hood. “He’d do anything for us. But the TV-people are liars.”

Hert stopped in the middle of a swing and wiped his arm over his face.

The boy wriggled in her arms. “No! Dada comes back!”

Tess sniveled and rocked him back and forth. “Oh, baby.”

Hert gritted his teeth and slammed into the wolf’s leg over and over. Leon stopped to look at his furious swings.

A knock sounded from the door, and Tess hugged their son, got up on her feet, wiped her cheeks, and took the remote with her. She passed between the wolf’s haunched legs, and Leon looked around the room. Soon, they’d be back in the stone room. If only he could get up on the wolf, he could continue hitting it even when that happened. But there was nothing.

Tess opened the door to a brown-haired man in a suit.

He stepped inside the apartment and sighed. “Sorry. Someone’s leaked information and we need to relocate you as soon as possible. We have a car waiting outside. Don’t use your phone.”

Tess put a hand over her mouth and looked at her son. Then she turned back to the man. “You still haven’t found who it is? It’s the sixth time in less than three years.”

The man sighed. “I’m sorry, but time is of the essence. You have ten minutes. I’ll stay here until you’ve packed.”

Hert stared at the man, his son, and then his wife. “They still haven’t caught up to the bitch who killed me?”

“Okay,” Hert’s wife said, and hurried into their living area. Hert’s son looked on with curious eyes as she pulled a suitcase from under one bed.

The scene dimmed and displayed a golden text.

‘YOUR FAMILY NEEDS YOU’

They came back into the stone room, and Hert sprang back as the hunched wolf stretched itself out and shook its head. It spun around, knocking Ava to the ground, and barely missing Leon. Leon huffed as he looked at the beast. It couldn’t be much more before it fell, right? He glanced at his percentage. 96%. He’d landed quite a few punches; same with Hert, but since the spell wore off, he could barely move his arms if his aim was to strike, and even in a relaxed mode, they were heavy. Ava’s staff had dealt five or six damage each time, but their combined attacks would soon finish the job. He hoped.

Ava sprang toward the portal, but just before her hands touched the surface, Hert grabbed her arm.

“Leon is left. We can’t leave him, even if it would be possible.”

“Let me go!”

“We have no right to keep her here,” Leon huffed, jumping away from the wolf. He ran to the side. “It’s her choice.”

The wolf launched at Leon, and he dove between its front legs. Its skull smashed into the stone wall. Leon scrambled up on his feet and ran toward Hert and Ava as the wolf shook its head.

“I don’t want to die!” she said. “I don’t want to fight the beast. I’m hurt! I only have a third of my HP left! If I get hit again—”

The wolf’s head turned toward them, and Hert pushed Ava toward the portal. “Then go, if that’s what you want. I won’t leave him behind!”

Ava pulled her arm from his grip. “Yeah, right. You’ve already broken that promise. Are you saying that you, Hert the Coward, won’t rush out of here?”

Hert spun around and ran toward the leaping beast, under its jaw, and swung the hammer into its leg, diverting its attention from Leon.

“I’m going for the portal!” Leon jogged the few steps to the stairs.

Ava bit her lip, looking from Leon to the arch. “Will you take me up through the tower?”

“Y—”

“No!” Hert swung his hammer and missed. “Why the fuck would he?”

The wolf flung its muzzle at Hert, hitting his stomach and flinging him into the stone steps. Hert groaned, and the wolf snapped its head toward the arch.

“Make your choice, Ava,” Leon said, his fingers inches from the light. “But you have to do it now.”

She took his hand and pressed it into the portal. “I trust you.”

Their surroundings changed into a hospice bedroom, with the front half of the wolf inside, its leap cut short as its middle part stuck behind the closed door. A mangled woman with silver-streaked brown hair laid in the bed, looking through slitted eyes at Jane, Leon’s sister. Jane stretched her hands forward to touch her, but stopped midway, pulling them back to her lap.

Hert crawled up and limped toward the bed as Leon watched from the snapping head to his mother’s bed from where he and Ava stood at the window.

“Where’s Leon?” His mother asked. “He hasn’t been to see me for a while.”

“He’s overseas.” Jane said in a trembling voice, but she still managed to smile.

Leon looked away from his sister to the front legs and head of the wolf. It snapped its jaw and tried launching forward, but its body was stuck in the door. The fangs were so close they almost snapped over Jane, and the head hovered a few feet off the floor. If he could get under it, he could reach its throat and should be able to deal more damage.

Leon’s mother inched her fingers toward the edge of the bed and winced at the linen moving against her skin. A red streak bloomed up over the arm. “Touch me.”

“Mom, I can’t. I’d hurt you.”

The mother smiled. “Jane, it won’t be more painful than knowing I can’t touch or be touched by my children again.”

“Hert, club the head!” Leon said, then turned to Ava. “Power me up!”

Both did as he asked, and as Hert’s hammer smacked into the jaw, the beast threw its head to the side and Leon dashed forward.

“But what if it causes internal bleeding?”

Leon’s mother looked at his sister with pleading eyes, and Jane bit her lip. A spot of red colored it and spread.

Concern colored their mother’s face. “It has already started for you? It isn’t time!” She bent her neck to try sitting, but her body wouldn’t listen. She stayed laying down.

Leon slid under the beast’s head, and the jaws snapped after him. The lower jaw hit his back, and he got shoved into the door. His body landed on the door and its handle, and something cracked in Leon’s chest. He yelled and sank down, holding a hand over the area and breathing heavy. His breath came in short bursts, and each inhale sent daggers of pain through his lungs. Leon grit his teeth and stumbled up on his feet. If this sickness, his family’s sickness, had done something for him, it was to withstand pain. He took a few steps forward, and Ava’s spell took effect. It was now or never.

“It’s just the starting stage for me,” Jane said. She touched her mother’s hand, and the older one winced as blood pooled under the skin, blooming out to color the entire hand in seconds. Jane drew back. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

“No. Thank you.” She gave a weak smile. “It’s amazing to feel a human touch. Especially when it’s from someone you love.”

The scene changed as Leon plunged the dagger into the beast’s throat. He grabbed the loose fur with a hand and stabbed again, and once more, and his body rose from the ground as the wolf straightened out. The pain splintered through his body, and with a last stab, he was forced to let go.

‘You have activated Splinter. Your enemy is now enraged.’

Leon fell on the asphalt, shoulder first, and a taste of iron splattered into his mouth. He spat red as the wolf raised its head to the sunny sky and howled.

Jane sat on a bench on a pier by the ocean, tilting her head up to let out a cloud of smoke from pursed lips. Sarah walked to her and sat down, stroking a loose strand of blonde hair from her face.

Leon curled up and held his stomach with an arm, gasping for air. He looked at the message in front of him about bleeding while the wolf’s howl ended.

“You come here a lot?” Sarah asked, trying to catch Jane’s gaze.

Jane leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, looking towards the sea. “I still can’t believe it. Are you sure it was him?”

Leon tilted his head to look at his sister. The wolf’s head came down, jaws wide to finish him. Leon rolled to the side and gasped as Hert dashed forward, hammer raised. The stone clashed with a fang, and the tooth broke off. It landed a foot from Leon’s head. The wolf yelped and threw its head forward.

Sarah clenched her lips together. “I’m sorry. He’s the one I saw. And that he didn’t come back to the cabin even once after that night confirmed it.”

Jane nodded. “Even though you keep saying that, I just…”

“He wasn’t the type to take his life. I know.”

As Hert stood his ground and swung at the beast’s head, Ava shouted, “I don’t have enough to heal you!” She took a step back as Hert’s hammer crashed into the wolf’s jaw, and the stone splintered into pieces and disappeared.

Jane threw the cigarette on the ground, stomped on it, and immediately searched for the package in her pocket for a new one.

“I mean, he loved Uncle Jerry. But he wouldn’t ki—do that because Uncle died.” Jane lit up the cigarette and took a deep breath. “I mean, I could imagine him traveling the world, joining the circus, or finding himself at some way off monastery, but this?”

Sarah lit up her own cigarette and sank back. “I actually came here to bounce an idea.”

Hert jumped aside as the wolf smashed down its head. It hit his leg, and there was a crack of bone. Hert shouted and pushed an arm onto the asphalt, dragging himself to the side. Ava looked from Hert’s broken leg to Leon under the wolf, breathing rapidly and hugging her staff. The wolf growled and launched toward her.

“Okay?” Jane said, still not looking at Sarah.

“You know the crazy talk on TV, right? Was Leon still a gaming nerd?”

Finally, Jane turned her head. Her cheeks were blotched with red, and her eyes were swollen. “He wouldn’t believe that. He’s too intelligent to believe something like that.”

“No!” Ava yelled and ran. The wolf caught up to her, and she dove to the side of the bench. The jaws clapped shut around the wood, but the bench and the two people on it remained unharmed. Leon spat out another mouthful of blood and grabbed the tooth, pushing himself to his feet. He roared as he gathered the rest of his strength and shot forward. The wolf spun toward the sound.

“But what if he was desperate—”

“Stop.” Jane stood. “I don’t want to hear it. Please, go away. Let me mourn my brother in peace.”

The scene faded, and a golden text showed up.

‘THEY WILL DIE WITHOUT YOU’

Leon barely saw it as the wolf opened its jaw and Ava cast her morale spell on Leon. It was too late to dodge the teeth. The wolf closed its jaws around Leon, its teeth biting into his legs and shoulder. Leon raised his arm and hammered the tooth into the wolf’s lip, and it flung its head up, flinging him up into the air. The red abyss of the wolf’s throat came closer, and Leon swung one last time, tooth lodging in the creature’s lip as Leon landed with his lower back on one of the fangs. His vision swam as the wolf sank down and disappeared.

‘80 of 80 MONSTERS SLAIN’