Author's Note: There is a poll this chapter, but please only participate after you have finished reading this chapter. Thank you.

Team Work

“This is…” Cher trailed off while wiping the sweat away from her forehead. She had a tired look in her eye, understandable, considering she wavered on the brink of death for the last 5 hours.

After walking a vast expanse of land without coming into contact with anymore Cyclops, we arrived at a set of innocuous stairs that led to the first floor. Along the way, we had killed all the monster we came into contact with. Close to about 35 met their end. The collected wooden clubs were currently stored away in the last classroom we rested in. In the end, Cher was able to reach level 12.

We glanced at the set of seemingly harmless stairs. The railings were stained with various splotches of blood, while the steps themselves, looked chipped and trampled on. If you looked closely enough, you could distinguish individual hoof prints which vaguely resembled a boar’s.

“Then…” I uttered a single word, which conveyed hidden intention.

While I didn’t say it out loud, the rest of the group fully comprehended what I meant, as they simultaneously tensed up. I raised the boken over my head, just as Cher moved to the front. As the tank of the group, it was obvious that she would play the role of vanguard. As she began treading down the steps, I followed closely, standing more beside rather than behind.

Cielle and Hina quickly followed, the overly tall bo staffs looking incredibly out of place in their tense hands.

As we reached the bottom of the steps, an incredibly eerie silence filled the hall. Not a sound was heard, with the exception of our own individual heart beats. Several doors were opened, while some of them were completely ripped out of their hinges and destroyed.

With trepidation interlaced in everyone of our steps, we moved forward, towards the east. Our goal was the Observatory which was connected to the East Building through a small skyway. The Observatory was a small, circular building which had state of the art technology. On Top of the possibility of a working radio, there was also the chance that a telescope might still be functioning. Such an instrument would definitely prove beneficial when it came to gathering information on the outside world.

We traveled deeper and deeper, more intrigued rather than scared at the lack of monsters. Even the normal sight of human corpses was nowhere to be seen, although on occasion, I could see blood trails, as if somebody had dragged something particularly red away. These trails of blood all led to one place, and coincidentally, that place was the one we were headed too.

As we followed the trail of blood, we quickly reached a small skyway. Ceremoniously, besides the entrance to the skyway, were a row of steel pipes, stacked up into various formations along the walls. It looked intentional, a sort of ceremonious appearance, although the occasional rust ruined its gruesome affect.

Peering out into the skyway, we could see the tightly shut double doors that led to the Observatory. Those doors were also stained with blood, much like everything else that we saw as we got closer and closer. While the others couldn’t hear it, I could hear a low grumbling sound, similar to the sort of noise those Cyclops made, although this one was distinguishably more feral.

“Okay…” I breathed out a heavy sigh. “This is it guys, that thing… the Elite is probably there.”

Upon my words, they all nodded tensely, a shade of white dotting their faces. They all probably came to the same conclusion, but my words sort of confirmed their fears.

Actually, before we even arrived here, as we were walking through the first floor halls, a strange… feeling overtook us. It wasn’t some effect of a special skill or something, but rather, the eeriness of it all. The whole first floor… the fact that no other monster was here, its unexpected cleanliness… it was as if the whole first floor was being treated as someone’s house. The other cyclops had been moved to the 2nd floor, while this whole expanse of land was being hogged and ruled over by what lay beneath those blood stained double doors.

Aside from me, the others have never really encountered an Elite Monster. There was that time with the Werewolf Alpha, but in the end, only I experienced the pleasure of actual combat with it.

Their anxiousness was understandable.

After one last word of caution, we proceeded forward. Each step we took, the shorter our distance became, the more and more vocal those grunts became. To me, to the others, it was readily obvious that something big… that something monstrous lurked beneath.

We stopped directly in front of the doors. Judging by the unchanging sound of low grunting, our presence had not been detected yet. I signaled to Cher, and pointed at the double doors.

At first, her head tilted to the side in confusion, before her face instantly paled and she helplessly shook her head. Although she was clearly unwilling, she did not dare utter a single voice, for fear of what lurked behind. Getting frustrated, I glared menacingly at her before lightly japping her in the side with the tip of my boken. As a result, she lurched forward before unwillingly trudging towards the door.

With deep, almost shaky breaths, she pressed the surface of the shield on one door, while pressing her open palm on the other. On my signal, we all tensed up, just as those blood stained doors were pushed open, revealing a rather gruesome scene that superseded all our expectations.

Directly at the center of the room, stood a hulking beast. It was a one-eyed half giant that resembled an overly muscular body builder. Its disgustingly large muscles flexed and veins erupted forth from almost every layer of exposed skin.

Its upper body was covered in what looked like crude armor. Plates of metal lustered as they were fastened together by flimsy rope. Instead of traditional weapons, it had a pair of gauntlets. Gauntlets that looked overly large, even to this hulking giant. I had the impression that just from that pair alone, I could probably reforge that down to at least 3 human sized gauntlets.

While its very presence itself was quite overwhelming, what adds to its pressure was its very surroundings. A scene straight from hell itself.

Well, rather than hell, the scene reminded me briefly of my time in a certain bathroom filled with certain green midgets.

The bodies were literally littered with rotting corpses. The blood was smeared all over the windows a long time ago, giving the light that flowed freely through the room a reddish hue. Some of those corpses either lay sprawled along the floor, or hanged onto the varying telescopes, like some kind of human laundry.

What was most shocking, out of all these corpses, was the one that was directly behind the giant cyclops. A corpse that was obviously not human. An animal whose gut had been plundered, and whose body had been mostly devoured, the only trace of its existence being the occasional white fur that remained and its exposed ribcage.

After spending a bit of time dissecting one of them, I could instantly tell that carcass was from a boar. Moreover, the size of its rib cage was undeniably larger than the others, at least twice as big. It wouldn’t surprise me if that desecrated corpse ended up being the Elite of the tusk boars.

A low growl brought me back to reality, as I glanced up at the hulking giant before me. It was currently sitting crisscrossed, in the middle of the room, while a rotting corpse was crushed under its hands. Its crunched its mouth twice over before I realized it had been chewing on a decayed arm.

Named Monster:

Lesser Cyclops: Gunther the Desecrator - Level 43

HP: 1000/1000

-Eh? A named monster?

I had expected a regular elite, not something different like what stood before me. Licking my lips intense agitation, I confirmed what was clearly written on the blue panel above the giant.

Named Monster.

A new term which I’ve only seen now. Something that might… something that was probably stronger than an elite. On top of that, it looked as if this thing also killed the Elite Tusk Boar, so, if monsters worked the same as humans, then this thing was probably stronger than when it first arrived on earth.

The others also probably glanced over its panel, as they too stiffened up and took an instinctive step back.

While the monster continued to wordlessly stare at us while it continually chewed on its meal, Cher’s shaky voice whispered desperately besides me.

“T-that… it says ‘Named Monster’... isn’t that a little different from what you said?” She directed the question my way while shooting a quick glance in my direction.

I paused briefly, thinking over her words, before I unconsciously nodded. “Hah…” I sighed out. “That- yes, it is a bit different. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a named monster…”

“Then isn’t this situation really dangerous?” Hina asked from behind, all the while a small mist rose from around her. She kept a vigilant eye on the giant, cringing every time it chewed.

“...Yeah…” I agreed. “At the very least, I don’t think Cher will survive a single on of its hits.”

“Eh?!” Upon my sound evaluation, Cher instantly paled. Her flushed cheeks were nowhere to be found, as she shivered in primal fear.

Although her sudden outburst drew a raised eyebrow from the Cyclops, it made no intention of attacking as it leisurely continued chewing.

I heard a tense gulp from the back, right before a small whisper spoke out and said, “D-don’t worry… Hide is… strong…”

While Cielle’s whole hearted confidence in my abilities was refreshing, it was still quite a fearsome thought, fighting against something like this.

Cher’s involvement would probably be miniscule at best. While I could rely on the others for help, and there was also the fact that the boken in my hands probably brought me close to the giant’s level, the fact that it was a named monster, still caused trepidation in my stride.

It was always important to be cautious, especially during unforeseen circumstances.

As I thought things over, I heard another gulp. This time, this gulp was a bit more vocal, and it originated not from behind me, but from in front. I looked over at the monster. Its ear to ear grin was directed directly towards us at it eagerly rose from its position.

With a bellowing roar, the battle had already begun.

***

The first thing the creature did was throw two nearby corpses at our direction. I managed to dodge the one directed at me with a quick sidestep, but the Cher took a corpse full frontal, sending her tumbling backwards with a loud thud.

In an instant, the Cyclops ran with unexpected speed directly towards us. That constant grin of his only widened as it licked its lips in future prospects.

“Tch! It’s coming,” I grimaced, while I bent my knees and leaned slightly forward. “Scatter!” I yelled as I ran forward, hoping to intercept it.

Behind me, I could hear a flurry of foot steps moving to the side, while I jabbed the boken towards the monster’s exposed stomach.

The monster was a bit too slow to block, as my initial strike stopped him in its tracks. I heard a low grunt of pain escape from its throat as it took a staggering step backwards.

Its playful grin soon disappeared, as a look of slight confusion filled its face. It prodded slowly at the spot I hit with an open hand before its face quickly morphed into anger. Its primal growl filled the room as it once again rushed forward.

This time around, I did not confront it directly, instead jumping backwards. The fist that was initially aimed at me flew helplessly through the air, while the giant itself staggered forward due to its excess momentum.

Before it could recover, two distinct shots flew threw the air.

One of them was a lick of red, which soared past and burned into the giant’s single retina. The other was an arrow shaped black liquid which flew through the decayed air and landed directly next to its exposed earlobe, missing its target by only a couple of millimeters.

These two attacks hit simultaneously, causing a primal wail of agony to erupt forth from its vocal chords.

Not one to miss an opportunity, I ran to its back, and jumped forward. With a single arm gripped onto its fur like back hair, I latched on, while simultaneously dealing blunt attacks onto the back of its neck.

Each successive strike diminished a portion of its hp, but it wasn’t nearly enough. I would have used [Dissect] at this point, but it was less effective without a bladed edge. In fact, my initial attack’s power would go down if I carelessly used it during the wrong circumstance.

I continued to attack, each hint sent the Cyclops's head rocking forward, as the low growl in its voice quickly escalated. Its arms tried to grasp at me, but due to a combination of rapid movement on my part, and continuous flurries of attack magic from the girls, I was able to stay on.

Unexpectedly, a single figure dashed forward. Shooting a quick glance downwards, I could see Cher approach the giant’s legs while a pale expression filled her face. If I looked closely enough, I could see a line of yellowish liquid trickling down the side of her thigh.

Despite her obvious fear, Cher still ran forward, determined at what ever endeavor she wanted to do. With a running jump, she bashed the monster’s left knee cap with the base of her shield. While the blow itself wasn’t all that powerful, it had enough momentum, to buckle the creature's knees. With my added weight forcing the giant to lean forward, the monster tumbled to the floor face first.

Cher rolled helplessly to the side, her body sprawled along the floor like another one of the corpses.

The giant that fell, crushed many of the corpses underneath its weight. A few splintering bones punctured its skin, causing an additional unruly tremor to escape from its lungs.

As it continued wailing, I stood up, and winded the boken in my hand behind me. With a synchronized breath, Let loose a hard strike aimed at the base of the back of its head. The blow sent the creature’s head shooting forward and into the ground, further muffling its cries with a dead corpse.

By this point, more than half its hp was gone, but our subsequent actions only seemed to further anger it. With unexpected strength, it rose to its feet with a fearsome roar, sending the unprepared me, sprawling across the ground.

As it got up, it swiveled its head helplessly in all directions. Its large eye was red and inflamed, and clearly now nonfunctioning. Taking trepid, anger filled steps forward, it scanned the room helplessly, relying more on its sense of sound and smell, now that its eyesight had left him.

Thanks to the permeating smell of corpses, it could not detect us through smell, and as a counter to the sound, we remained stock still and quiet.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Cher had feigned death. She laid on the floor, perfectly fitting in with the rest of the corpses. I didn’t chide her on this too much, since with her current strength, she’d be nothing more than a burden. In fact, her previous actions were more than enough assistance.

As I continued silently looking across the room, I saw that both Hina and Cielle had simultaneously moved. They were slowly encircling the room, sometimes exchanging glances with each other, while other times shooting a glare my way.

Looking over where they were headed, and at the expressions on their face, I soon understood their intentions. Given that, I also prepared myself. Positioned directly in front of the Cyclops, I held the boken with my right hand, while I took hold of Efhermet’s handle with my dominant hand. I could feel the flow of synergistic power in me as my body grew lighter and the stat boosts took their effect. I knelt down, one hand on the floor, like at the start of a marathon, and waited, ready to attack once the given opportunity presents itself.

Slowly, Cielle and Hina continued circling the room, taking caution not to make any noise. Eventually, they were directly in front of each with the Cyclops in between them. The Cyclops was faced away from them, its face a complete 90 degree angle from Hina and Cielle’s current position.

With almost eerie synchronicity, the two fired off simultaneous magic attacks directly aimed at its head. A arrow shaped blob of dark liquid flew towards its right ear lobe, while a flaming lick of fire darted towards its left ear.

At the same time, both spells hit their mark. A loud wail escaped its throat, at it unintentionally hunched forward, while it gripped at its ears helplessly.

-Now!

At the instant their attacks landed, my feet were already moving. I quickly dashed forward to cut our distance, with my dagger held before me. The boken swayed helplessly to the side, my grip on it the only thing keeping it from flying across the room. I was an amateur at dual wielding, but I needed the strength boost from the boken, thus I chose to hold on to it, rather than discard it to the side.

As I neared two feet, with a single foot, I propelled myself upwards, directly moving towards its exposed throat.

-[Dissect]!

With a horizontal slash aimed at a particularly large vein that buldged out from its neck, I used [Dissect] on the giant. A critical hit landed, and while I did not sever its neck completely, I was able to manage a [laceration] effect.

The blade itself, lodged into the Monster’s neck, keeping me from completely falling to the ground.

As it wriggled in pain, I hoisted myself over its shoulders before I removed the dagger. With the dagger’s departure, a spray of blood shot out from its new wound, cascading my face in red. Following up, a sudden shot of dark liquid surprised even me, as it hit the newly formed wound, causing another round of wailing. Just as the liquid completely seeped into the giant, another shot of magic erupted from my left.

A palm sized fireball quickly landed, and cauterized the wound.

With each successive critical hit after another, the monster's total hp was dwindled down to barely 10%.

With the monster on the brink of death, Cielle and Hina continued to bombard it with magic, hoping to secure the kill for themselves. Not one to lose in both greed and determination, I also endeavored to be the first to kill it.

I used a continuous set of [Dissects] on the newly cauterized wound. My attacks carved out a good chunk of its neck, but I still continued to persist. Eventually, after what felt almost like an eternity, I managed to cut through half its neck, before its hp dropped to zero and it toppled forward.

In the end, within our race to kill, I was the one who managed to land the finishing blow. A new window panel flashed before my eyes as if confirming it.

Achievement: You have slain a named monster.

The named monster: Cyclops Gunther the Desecrator was a species leader. No more new Cyclops will spawn within this dungeon.

Reward(s):

10,000 exp

+35 Unallocated Points

Breathing out a tired sigh, I plopped myself onto the ground. The additional experience was enough to boost me up to level 25, making me strong enough to fully utilize Efhermet’s bonuses. The 35 unallocated points, would go well in further disproportionating my stats from my actual level. Despite that, what was more important was-

“Hina, Cielle, look for anything that dropped.” I called out while I stood up and dusted myself off.

They quickly followed my instructions, and the three of us were now busily searching around the corpses for anything that might look out of place.

It took a couple of minutes, but Cielle found something peculiar. By this point, Cher had recovered, and walked over to us. All four of us peering curiously at the object in her hand, a sense of poorly hidden enthusiasm welling up within us.

The item was a familiar looking book. It was something that resembled the skill book I received from the Werewolf Alpha a while back.

Skill Book - Magic Reinforcement

An old archaic record depicting the ability of the damned monster race known as the Cyclops. This book allows one person to learn the Cyclops active skill [Magic Reinforcement]. Despite appearances, Cyclops were creatures with innate talent for magic. In fact, due to their weird physiology, they relied on a constant flow of magic in order to live and move their larger than average bodies. Along with it, is a brief description of the Cyclops tribes damned existence.

Effects-

New Skill - Magic Reinforcement

Equip Skill Bonus -

10 strength upon learning

10 defense upon learning

100 HP upon learning

“Uwaa…. this is the first time I’ve ever seen a skill book before…” Cher awed while her eyes slightly sparkled.

“So… what Hide learned previously… it was something like this?” Hina tilted her head while she redirected her gaze up at me.

“Cool…” Cielle simply said as she maintained her fixated gaze in her open hands.

“Damn, it’s a magic skill…” And finally, I dejectedly muttered while rereading over the skill’s name with depressed eyes.

““‘“....”””

We continued to silently stare at the skill book with curious eyes, each of us relishing in the previous victory and unexpected pleasure from an amazing item drop.

After a few more seconds of silence passed, I was the first to break it.

In this stagnant room, filled with numerous corpses, with a dejected sigh, I asked, “So… who’s going to learn it?”

****

Author's Note: I decided to add in a poll this chapter as well, mostly due to boredom and curiosity. Please only participate in the poll after you have finished reading the chapter. Also, let me be clear on this, I've already decided who the skill will go to, but I was also curious as to what every one else preferred. The results of the poll will not change my decision.

As always, thank you for reading. If you liked this chapter, or like this story in general, please take some time to rate and review. I appreciate the feedback.