Chapter 34

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[Floor 5 – Day 1]

[Total Days in Trial: 118]

Ignoring the high-pitched complaints from below, I had done my best to quietly toss the luggage I'd been sitting on right off the back of the carriage. I saw clothing and trinkets scatter to the wind, and winced as they made an ungodly racket upon landing. Then, I winced again as the angry yelps from the cabin redoubled.

Those 2 extra Charisma... they were not going to save me. I just knew it.

Still, despite my efforts, it seemed that there was no getting away from the approaching danger. Even as we increased our speed slightly, the poor horses weren't nearly fast enough to outrun what was coming for us.

On the 5th Floor, it seemed that the enemies hunted in packs.

The fog set in as we dipped down into a valley, and the snarling howls lifted up to meet us. Over the stretch of road, there, a loud patter of paws which signaled another group of monsters was rushing forward. I watched as glowing eyes emerged from the shadows to reveal gruesome teeth and corrupted flesh. Dancing with the light of the torch behind me, shapes leapt across the terrain, sweeping in and out of the trees like ghosts.

Hellhounds.

Lesser Analysis soon provided me with a name, and I didn't much like the look of them. They looked like diseased wolves that were all drugged heavily with one hell of a nasty upper. Their breathing and pace, seemed supernaturally quick, and in no way healthy. As if they were burning their very flesh away, to chase down their targets.

Outside of the small amount of information that the Floor had dropped directly into my head when I'd first arrived, I knew very little about these monsters. Hellhounds were of the variety that had hardly ever been front-page in the news. I was learning quickly, though.

I suppose that any good Adventurer should know their monsters, and to my credit, I felt strongly that I knew more than most people. Ever since entering the [Trial], I'd had to reflect on just how dangerous a monster could really be. My arm-chair, keyboard-warrior, opinion on their danger level, was being humbled. It was easy to think "Oh, it's just a Goblin" or "Oh, it's just an Orc." But to actually try and fight these things? To know how to quickly and safely dispatch them without overwhelming firepower? To take a bent stick with a string, and try to launch an oversized toothpick at them? The questions of where to aim, what to do, what to avoid... It was a lot more fucking difficult than I'd ever imagined.

Even with the Archery Skill sitting as high as it was, I was far from feeling secure in my shots, and I only needed to waste a single arrow, before it became painfully clear that these monsters had extremely good reaction times.

Hellhounds were disgustingly quick, and their bodies were thin to match. As if they were sculpted only of muscle and tendon, their skin sat tight around their ribs, giving them a horribly starved look, and making them tricky targets. Each arrow I launched down-range needed to be perfect, or they would jump or scatter enough to avoid it, taking a minor wound instead of a fatal hit. In order to properly take them down, I realized that had to be my very best. Each of my shots had to be a perfect hit, in the heart or lungs, or they would just keep coming.

Which was surprisingly hard to do while barely remaining seated atop the quickly moving carriage.

As the hounds got closer and closer, I could also recognize that, with the speed and agility they seemed to possess, it would mean disaster for me if I had to fight them up close. They were just too quick and too clever. If one went down, the rest scattered, forcing me to space my shots in wide angles instead of straight down the road. I found I was waiting, and spacing my shots for turns in the road, just to force them into positions I could hit them. From this, I knew that fighting them up close and personal would not be a pleasant experience.

But what was a lot more worrisome, was the fact that some of these monsters had riders.

From the darkness, they rode in like a wild hunt of legend. Their pale skulls caught the light of the moon, as the cloud cover parted, and they burst from the fog with weapons raised in a silent scream. With every huffing pant of their hungry steeds, they came closer, glowing eyes locked onto the carriage.

Skeletons.

Fitting as this was for the horror movie vibes this Floor had been providing, I still didn't feel like they were a very welcome addition. Undead monsters were serious trouble.

Those, for better or worse, I absolutely knew about: Undead swarms had absolutely wrecked a few cities, and there had been talk of doomsday cults who prized them their obvious supernatural abilities. I'd read stories of people driven insane, who captured undead and worshipped them in secret. Blood cults that were surviving against the odds in the wreckage of land abandoned by militaries and common law.

While there was plenty of insane mystical bullshit out there, undead seemed to have a special niche. Dragons might be able to fly and breath fire, but undead were just something beyond mortal understanding. No matter what myths and legends had come to bring ruin to mankind, there would always be a morbid fascination with such concepts.

But, for me: Undead were just more bad news.

I had no way to deal with them.

I knew that shattering a walking Skeleton was done easily enough. All a person needed to do was hit them hard. With bullets or blunt weapons, the impact would break them to piece and they would fall apart. The danger, was that their bones would quickly reassemble and get right back up. Which meant that the only way to actually get rid of them was to destroy every trace, or bury them under something heavy. But, unless I wanted to take the time to grind their bones to dust, or melt them with acid, or burn them to ashes: They were going to keep coming for me.

Which was a problem.

Before the world militaries realized fire was the easiest response to these monsters, there were a lot of losses. Napalm and similar methods soon became common where they showed up, which meant a lot of destruction around the rifts they would appear from. Even if it could be handled with a few bombs, an undead rift was always costly because of the collateral damage.

Meanwhile: I just had arrows and a sword I would really prefer not to need to use. The only logical thing I could do, was keep shooting the hounds. Hellhounds were weak to arrows, and that the Skeletons weren't very fast on their own. So putting down the hounds meant dumping the Skeletons on the road, where they would need to get back up and run after us. They'd still be coming for me, but hopefully they wouldn't catch up...

I tried not to think about how they would never get tired. Or how they would never stop chasing...

"Oh shit." I ducked, just barely, as an arrow returned fire. I felt the wind whistle past my ear as a grinning skull in the distance set its glowing eyes on me.

It was riding with a bow.

"They have archers!" I shouted warning to the others. "Keep your heads down! Stay towards the front of the carriage!"

I heard a yelp below, paired with the sounds of someone shuffling underneath the roof.

As if it wasn't already difficult enough. The carriage wasn't armored, and I had no cover from where I was seated. Sitting out in the open, I was just rolling the dice each time one of those came flying towards me, praying it didn't hit. All it would take is one of those to the eye or chest, and I'd be done for.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out in a slow exhale, I lined up my return shot. Releasing an arrow, the grinning skull disappeared, as the rest of the body crumbled into pieces.

It was a hell of a shot, and a complete waste of an arrow. That Skeleton would be back up in no time, and I was almost on the last shaft in the quiver. Still, I needed to put a stop to the danger while I could. Hopefully we'd be far enough down the road that it wouldn't catch back up in time. Even if it got back on another Hellhound, all we had to do was get to town before it could find us again.

"Walk right into it, why don't you..." I muttered, as I drew another shaft. "Come on..."

The last hound was onto me. Faster, stronger, smarter... I could see it darting in and out among the trees, trying to find its chance to attack.

As it broke from the tree line, I was ready. My bow lashed out, limps releasing the energy I'd been holding in place. The arrow whipped forward, and I could almost imagine that I could see it flexing in the wind. That I could see the turns of the fletching as the air took my shot and gave it life.

The hound ducked- reacting to the sound. Yet, it wasn't quite fast enough. I heard a howl of anger, as it crashed into the underbrush, tumbling off into the unknown of the forest.

Finally.

"That's the last of them." I announced, checking over my gear, resisting the urge to curse.

The battle was over as quickly as it had started, but it was only a matter of time until another began and I wasn't sure how I was going to manage from here on in.

I only had two arrows left.

"Not good." As I let out the rest of my breath, the satisfaction at the nearly impossible shot I'd just landed a moment ago had soured. This was getting trickier. If I wanted to survive, I'd have to make a hard decision soon.

The horses screamed.

It happened quickly, and I tumbled, completely unprepared. My free hand grabbed the rope I'd been using to steady myself earlier, just in time to prevent myself from being thrown clear off the roof. The butler shouted something, as the wagon crashed overtop of something.

Had a Hellhound had managed to get around in front of us? Had a faster one run through the woods, trying to circle around and stop us?

No, I let out a sigh of relief as I realized that nothing was attacking. In front, I could see that the horses were still okay. It was just the carriage itself. We must have hit something in the road, perhaps a fallen branch or stone, and now one of the wheels was dragging. We were no longer rolling evenly, and I felt the carriage listing to the left. We were slowing down, the horses now struggling to drag us along.

It only took me a few seconds to recognize that this wasn't going to work.

"We need to cut our losses and abandon the carriage!" I made the call quickly, as I pulled myself back into position. "The town isn't much farther! We can ride horseback from here!"

"Yes, sir Adventurer!" The butler shouted, slowing the horses and setting himself to work on the leather strappings. From the way he was moving, I could tell he hadn't needed me to give the order. He'd already come to the same conclusion.

As we stopped, I made sure to sling my bow onto my back, before I jump down from the wagon and I drew my sword. Keeping an eye on the road behind us and the forest to either side as best I could, I knocked once on the carriage door.

"We need to move." I ordered, warily watching for movement. "Get ready."

"No! I won't leave!"

"Young Mistress-"

"If you don't come out, we're going to leave you behind. We can't stay here." I said quickly. "The horses are almost ready, hurry up." I checked ahead, the butler had a small knife and was cutting the straps that tied the horses down, grabbing the reins. The animals didn't have saddles, but I figured we didn't really have any other options. We needed to move, and if we stayed her much longer I had no doubt we would be swarmed.

The door began to move, and I stepped back just in time to avoid getting hit, as it was kicked open by a prim-looking girl wearing an... extremely puffy dress. She reminded me of a baby bird puffing out its feathers and chirping, only much louder. All around her, were pieces of luggage, and boxes.

I blinked. How much did they seriously think they could bring?

"You!" Said the rude human cotton-ball. "I will not leave what my parents entrusted me! The items in this carriage are of of extreme importance!"

"This isn't up for discussion." I looked towards the maid, who was behind her. She looked extremely nervous, but she nodded to me in agreement. "Kid, you can come back for the things here once this is all over. Right now, we need to leave."

"You utter brute! Do you even understand what you're demanding-"

I saw the puff-ball's eyes going wide, as I heard a branch snap behind me. My heart skipped a beat as my chest spiked with a suddenly rush of panic and adrenaline.

Oh, the [Trial] didn't pull its punches.

I'd been distracted for all of a minute- not even, but that was all it took. Instinct and practice combined, taking over my actions. I didn't have time to think as I stepped towards the noise, but I brought my free hand up in a guard for my face and throat as I swung my sword.

My form was rushed and sloppy. It was the kind of thing that probably looked just as shitty as it felt, but it was still somehow good enough to avoid the worst of things.

The blade caught, then wrenched to the side as a lunging hell hound let out a gurgling shriek, utterly impaled. Still alive though, its jaws found my forearm with filthy teeth, catching on the leather and metal with painful pressure. The scent of sulfur and rot rose in the air, as I felt my bones cracking. I screamed in pain, shoving it forward and twisting my blade.

Stepping back, I managed to throw the hound off, just in time for another to come for me. This one, I managed to kick, before diving into a stab as it landed, scrambling on the ground. It had a fucking arrow in its side: The very same I'd shot earlier.

"FUCKING MOVE!" I shouted, pinning the beast down as it tried to free itself. The blade worked itself, cutting deeper as it struggled. I looked up, catching sight of glowing eyes as they marched forward, stepping free of the treeline. "GO!"

A pair of Skeletons emerged from the shadows beyond the torchlight: Each carrying a rusted sword.

Just my luck.

I ripped my sword free with one final twist, grabbing the hellhounds leg and swung it with all my Strength towards the pair. The hound's body knocked them both to the ground, but it wasn't nearly enough to break them. I turned back to the astonished faces still standing halfway in the carriage.

"GO!" I shouted. "WE CAN'T STAY HERE! FUCKING MOVE!"

"Young Mistress!" The butler shouted. "To me! Quickly!"

Even on the ground, the undead were hardly slowing down. Methodical in the motions, they tried to stab at my legs with rusty blades, unconcerned by the corpse of the hound. They almost managed to catch me as I tried to deal with their attack, and I had to dance in order to take clumsy swings at their arms.

I didn't bother to try and kill them. There was no way I could, so my aim was to remove their weapons. I managed to do it with only a little awkward jumping. Two quick chops, and their arms and shoulders were sliced. Quickly, I kicked their swords as far away from them as I could, before sprinting back to the horses that were already starting to nervously prace forward. Sheathing my sword, I took a running leap and I almost fell off the waiting horse as my wounded arm sent shockwaves of pain. Turning back, I reached down and dragged the maid up just as the horses began to run.

What a mess this was. I gritted my teeth so hard, I thought they might break: The pain was that intense. What had to be multiple fractures and splinter of bones all through my forearm. Constitution was probably the only reason it wasn't flopping in the wind.

This was exactly why I hated close combat. Things went always wrong, and much too quickly. Fight up close simply wasn't worth it unless there was no other choice.

"Move!" I shouted to no one in particular, as the pain made my vision flash. I should have known the [Trial] was going to throw a curveball or two, but this was nerve-racking. I was not great with horses, and I was thanking my lucky stars that the horse seemed to know what it was doing in my stead. Barely holding on, we rushed away from the carriage and the light of that single torch.

Into the darkness.

I tried to breathe.

The Miracle... these stupid, frustratingly short, Floors... I didn't have time to prepare. Everything I did depended on preparation. I needed that Miracle, and I needed it now.

"Breathe." I whispered, sucking in another deep rush of air. "Hold." I thought. Over and over, I repeated the mantra.

The trees began to blur in the dark of night, as we left the wagon and the torch behind. The moonlight above was all we had, as the horses ran on, panic frothing from their mouths. The young noble and her butler's horse galloped beside the horse the maid and I had scambled onto.

We could make it, I realized. We were so close: We could make it.

"We're almost there!" I shouted, trying to clench my fist as we turned down another fork in the road. The pain in my arm was unbelievable. That hound had crunched down on my bones so hard, I was amazed my hand and wrist still attached. My bow would be impossible to use like this. All I could really do now was run.

Behind us, I could hear the howls of another pack approaching. The horses seemed to redouble their efforts, as they screamed. They knew death was coming for us, and they wanted nothing more than to escape it. The dark branches of trees flashed above our heads as the move flickered in and out, barely enough to light the road ahead. Ahead, through the trees, I could make out the faint light of torches. Like tiny candles, safety was getting closer.

"The town is just ahead!" I shouted. "Keep going!"

"Look out-" The maid shouted, as something lunged out from the darkness.

It all happened so quickly. Jagged teeth flashed into sight, as they took the other horse by the neck. Shaking wildly, the animal screamed in pain as it began to slow, them stumble, then was dragged to the ground. Turning, I watched its riders roll and tumble into the mud of the road, both of them scrambling away as the horse flailed in vain at the creature latched onto its neck.

"Young Mistress!" The butler shouted, his sword flashing in the moonlight as another hound emerged. He stabbed at the monster, quickly backpedalling as he began hacking wildly. The creature had no fear of him, as it darted back and forth, seeking an opening as the butler clutched the young noble to his side.

I felt it, then: A certainty.

This was the choice.