Chapter 54- Bloody Stone Bridge

The sounds of a guitar began to play near Drunks Landing. The three passed out drunks from before, were now up and dancing to Hammer’s song. They looked more like shambling zombies more than men. It was entertainment for the rest of tavern as everyone else began to clap and cheer the drunks on. Hammer being the most enthusiastic of the whole lot.

Morpheus switched on Mana Sight and saw mana laced sound waves being focused into the drunk’s ears.

“What a cheap bard.” Lucifer muttered, it seemed he also saw what Hammer was doing.

“That’s Hammer for ya.” Big Sam said stuffing the last of his food into his mouth.

Morpheus had barely finished his, the dagi ate so fast.

“Where are you from?” Lucifer asked Morpheus.

Morpheus began to become wary of this level two hundred named Lucifer.

“Port Atwood, yourself?” The young chimera asked.

“Northcross.” Lucifer responded, taking a sip of his second orange juice.

“Cold up there?” Morpheus asked, trying to divert the conversation.

Lucifer nodded. “Doesn’t have the beauty of Port Atwood though. Did you grow up in the city?” The man eater asked.

Morpheus shook his head and took a swig on his ale.

“Fishing village, north of the port.” He lied.

“Didn’t you say you were from Citite Jack?” Big Sam asked.

‘You fucking idiot’ Morpheus thought. Even though it wasn’t the dagi’s fault, he was still angry.

Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

“You have to travel through Citite to get to the South.” Lucifer said.

Big Sam shrugged his shoulders and faced the bar while taking a sip of his ale. Geography was not his most knowledgable area.

A round of applause echoed around the room as Hammer finished his performance. The drunks slammed back down on the benches in the corner. The eccentric bard then skipped over to the duo.

A woman barged into the tavern.

“Monster Horde!” The woman screamed.

Big Sam and Morpheus both jumped off their stool.

“Vultures?” Big Sam asked.

The lady nodded violently. “Grey Goblins too.”

“Shit.” Big Sam said.

They both ran out of the Tavern, Hammer being dragged out by his collar.

The young chimera looked up to the sky, hundreds of giant black vultures were blocking out the sun. Flickering shadows casted down on the Kronos’s Keep. People were screaming and hurrying into the closest buildings. The sounds of deep horns echoed over Kronos’s Keep.

(Vulture, Level 95)

(Vulture, Level 102)

(Vulture, Level 106)

(Vulture, Level 98)

They weren’t the highest level of monster but there were hundreds of them, possibly thousands.

He looked down the street to see chaos, someone people had been torn in half. Others had been completely ripped apart, intestines were spewn out across the cobblestone street.

One of the vultures swung down and grabbed a women by her shoulders. Morpheus didn’t hesitated and teleported over to her, he grabbed onto her leg and held her down. The vulture instead grabbed her head and ripped it off shoulders.

Other vultures swung down and began to fight over the head.

“Fuck!” Morpheus shouted.

Big Sam ran past him with Hammer just behind.

“Move! Guild now!”

Morpheus snapped out of it and ran with them. More and more people were being picked up and carried away by vultures but Morpheus ignored them. He knew if he flew up there and tried to help them he would be torn to shreds. The young chimera knew his healing capacity.

He glanced behind him at the tavern and saw the man called Lucifer casually walking out and stretching his back.

“We should ask him to help.” Morpheus said.

“He’s not an adventurer, not his buisness.” Big Sam said sternly.

The young chimera nodded and they headed towards the guild.

As they were approaching a large group were piling into the guild, some civilians but the majority were adventurers.

“Red and above follow! All below stay and hide in the city!” A voice boomed out from inside the guild.

Deja vu hit him from the previous monster monster horde, a murderous itch developed on the back of his neck.

Before they could enter, a large demon-kind man rushed out, pushing everyone out the way.

(Mage, Spirit Tamer, Level 195)

A vulture swung down and the demon kind blasted it with black and red flames. The vulture was cooked form where it was and ash fell from the sky.

“All civilians in!” He shouted while waving his hands to the guild.

“Guild master?” Morpheus asked Big Sam.

“I.”

“Again! All reds and above to the walls! All below stay inside or the vultures will get you.”

The demon kind man began running towards the walls, the trio followed behind in a group of fifty people.

Vultures began to dive towards the group, they were either deflected by barriers or burnt to a crisp.

The adventurers climbed the stairs up to the wall, metal armour clanged against the stone steps.

Along the bridge was thousands of grey skinned goblins, at the far back was the goblin shaman with death magic swirling around it. Carts were tipped over and left, a few bodies including the creatures that drew them were sprawled everywhere. The goblins were sprinting towards the gate.

The guild master grew black and red pixie wings and flew high above the wall.

“Ug’nark brite u’nt ahh.” Big Sam shouted up to the guild master. It roughly translated for Morpheus as ‘The Bright Light’.

The guild master looked down in worry at the dagi.

Morpheus took a look around, roughly a hundred guards and adventures stood at the wall. At the bottom of the wall, Morpheus spotted Lucifer with his arms behind his back and whistling a tune.

“Are you gonna help or what?” He shouted down to man.

Lucifer put a finger to his lips and walked down an alleyway.

——————————————————

“He is very interesting.” Melissa said to Lucifer in the alleyway. She was naked still and had her arms folded.

“Must you pry?” Lucifer asked.

She looked at her nails. “There’s no harm in a lady looking.” She said with a small smile.

“He’s very handsome underneath that disguise.” Melissa said.

He ignored the comment.

“Perhaps I could have a little talk with him?” She suggested, still trying to antagonise him.

“No, it’s my poi not yours.” He firmly said.

“You’re poi? You’re not on a job are you?” She asked while smirking.

His right eye bulged again and he quickly covered it with his hand.

Melissa giggles, she liked to tease Lucifer, even when he was a young boy.

He took a deep breath and his eye returned to normal. He took off his blazer and began to unbutton his white shirt.

“Oh Lucifer, now is not the right time.” She said sarcastically.

A vulture flew down to grab Melissa but it fell dead as soon as it came a few metres away from her. Lucifer looked up in curiosity as he took his trousers off.

“That’s new.” He said.

She smiled again, impressed with herself.

He was now completely naked, a large black tatto of a skull was on his back. Worms crept out from the eye sockets and flies were in its jaw. It would be a terrifying sight for anyone who he never seen seen it before.

“Can you leave?” He asked.

“I haven’t seen you transform in a while, I want to see your improvements.” She said snarkily.

Lucifer huffed, it wasn’t a pleasant sight. He took a deep breath and soon his eyes eyes rolled to the back of his head.

The black skull on his back lit up and his head bent all the way, touching his spine. His collar bones shot out of his skin forming into bone blades from his shoulders.

His stomach split open, his ribs growing twice their size and they protruded to form a casing around his split open stomach. His skin began to turn a dark grey, and the tatto glowed brighter.

More bones sprouted from his stomach, creating an a enormous mouth with bone for teeth. His head snapped back, twice it’s usual size. All his hair had fallen off, his eyes became enlarged and his teeth were all growing out of his mouth.

He had grown a few feet and gained triple his muscle mass, for he had turned into, The Abomination.

The abomination looked towards Melissa and let of a deep grunt.

“Faster and more controlled Lucifer, good improvements.” She said, Melissa was obviously used to seeing the man-eater.

Lucifer’s ribs opened out, exposing a deep bottomless hole. His stomach let off a deep roar as he turned away from Melissa and headed over to the wall.

——————————————————

The itch was getting worse, much more worse. Morpheus began to look at all the adventures and guards on the wall, thinking about how he could kill them. He tried to push the thought outside while pulling out his axe.

“Support mages! Barriers! Archers take out vultures! Warriors prepare to… “

Morpheus turned his attention to the guild master floating in the sky and wondering why he stopped his orders.

Arcane Pulse picked up a large figure beneath the castle wall.

He turned but it had jumped up above him.

“It’s The Abomination!” Someone shouted.

Morpheus looked up into the sky, The Abomination had just jumped over the guild master.

Morpheus was terrified, the bulgurs were no match for how petrifying The Abomination was.

“The demon has come to help us!” Big Sam shouted.

The Abomination landed on the bridge, the stone platform cracking beneath him. Lucifer began running to meet the incoming grey goblins, his ribs outstretched and began to tear into the grey goblins.

“What the fuck is that?” Morpheus asked.

“The legendary Scarecrow. The demon known as Baka.”

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Baka- This is a demon commonly referred to as a supernatural man-eater. It is known by other names such as Bakāsura or Vaka. The demon may choose its host, it lives almost like a parasite would. The host has to control the demon, otherwise it will take over. Rumours say that in Arios it chooses those who would take evil paths, and the demon would help them.

Scholars say the mouth placed on its stomach is a directed pathway to Tartarus where their bodies are feasted by undead Titans. They cannot confirm where the unfortunate beings go, whether it is Hel or someplace else.