Beating the Gorgon Queen

Some hours ago, Vorn and I were dropped into ‘the ditch’ for the dwarven annual ditch games. A few hours ago, Vorn and I encountered some gorgons as we journeyed through the labyrinth that is the ditch. A few minutes ago, Vorn and I challenged the Gorgon queen to a two-on-two duel.

Right now…?

Well, right now we’re standing in another large circular room which I believe to be the gorgons own arena. Vorn and I are opposite the only entrance and exit to the arena—I thought it’s so we couldn’t try to escape or something, not that my pride would let me anyway.

“When the bell sounds, the battle shall commence.”

“Of course your majesty, we understand.” Vorn replied to the gorgon queen as smooth as could be expected of a prince.

The rules of the battle were simple. We could use any means to win, we could cheat if we needed to, we could attempt to escape, but the only way to leave without being pursued was to kill the queen and her right hand. We could kill the queen to win immunity from the gorgons or beat her to win three answers to any questions she could answer. The latter option guaranteed us immunity from the gorgons in that room only, the moment we stepped out, the moment our immunity ended.

On all four sides of the room was a long flight of stairs, almost reaching the wall. On the stairs, was about six hundred gorgons.

I assumed they were spectators since most of them were rooting for the queen. Cheering, hollering, hissing, and did I mention hissing? They hissed at us vehemently.

“Do you have a plan for this?” I asked Vorn.

“Hmm, well I know I can take the other one so why don’t you take the queen? I know you can handle it.”

“Sigh, sure…” at that moment a spectator got up from withing the others and rang a small bell. “Best of luck Vorn!”

“Aye, best of luck Yuki!”

“{Blur}!” With that, I tore off toward the gorgon queen. I had positioned myself so I would reach her without any extra movement.

I had never been as surprised as that day. With fluid motion, the queen caught me by the throat and threw me into a wall. The skill needed to do something like that needed to be extremely high. The gorgons that caught wind of what happened burst into laughter. A few seconds later, the others joined in.

“Did you really think you’re the first fool to attempt such a foolish act? Why don’t you drop dead right now?”

I landed on my feet and attempted to charge at her. Just as I was nearing her, I drew out my sword to block the spear coming from my left. I ducked under the spear immediately when my sword was shattered and jumped back.

The queen’s right hand attacked me while I was focused on the queen.

“Vorn?!”

“Right here lad! Seems they are focused on you for now, have fun.”

“You can’t think to help?!”

“Well if they kill you I’m dead anyway so I’d rather hang back and observe your skills.”

Hmm, I would do the same if I were he so I cannot hate him too much. Now comes the bummer.

“{Flight}!”

I took to the air, high enough that I couldn’t be reached.

“Well dang! Smart play kid.”

“Ecstelsia! We kill the flying one first as planned!”

“Yes my queen!”

The gorgons ignored Vorn completely and took to the skies after me.

Just as I predicted, some past challengers equipped flight skills into their gear as well. This could be tricky, I’d better land now.

I landed on the ground where I received a spear in my right thigh immediately.

“Aaaaah! Son of a—! Again?! Really?!”

I fell down then rolled to the side just before Ecstelsia landed where I was lying a few seconds earlier. She turned quickly, using her tail to whip around at me, knocking me into yet another wall.

“Bloody heck!”-Gleergh

I vomited blood as I fell to the ground face first.

“This doesn’t seem to be going well for you.”

“You Think?!”

I’m bloody, beaten, near death and I haven’t even laid a finger on them. I can’t use {Persistence} now since this isn’t even the final boss. Using my demon form now would be a huge gamble but it may be my only ch—

Glckk—I spat up blood. As I was rising, a blade ripped through the air and into my throat. The queen, still holding on to the sword in my throat, had a smile on her face. She looked like a child who had just won a petty dispute. My body started burning, then went cold, then the burning started again far hotter than ever before. I realized what was going on, I had activated my demon transformation on instict after the blade was embedded into my throat.

This is an average day if I think about it…but not really…haha…

Dead.

I was dead.

………………

…………

……

“Ello ther, m’ name’s Park, Park Bundridge. Son of Stark, Stark Bundridge and warrior ranked mercenary of the Mercenaries Guild.”

“…”

“What? You’ve never heard of me? It’s that adventurer’s fault right? Sigh…well, I guess I’ll have to take you back…”

“…”

“Alright, not too far back. You know what? I’ll summarize my epic tale. It all began forty seven years ago…”

“…”

“…I…um…sigh…fine. Forty-seven years ago I was born. M’ dad was a baron in the Kingdom of Lanburel, my mom died during childbirth, m’ dad blamed me so he shunned me for most of m’ life, yada, yada, yada, I grew up, killed the fool, used the rest of his fortune t’ buy me new weapons and armor, learnt new things, joined the mercenaries guild, met a woman, kicked woman’s ass when I was hired to kill her but couldn’t bring me self to do it.”

“…”

“What?! …Fine…she kicked m’ ass, so what? She’s the only beauty to ever beat me by the way so ha! Anyway, I leveled up gradually, killed some major figures of nations, joined the ditch games and here I am.”

“…”

“What? You’re the one that told me ta skip da major details. Its on you.”

“…”

“Ugh…fine, be like that. Anyway, I’ve been up ta some stuff here.”

“…”

“Ain’t ya gonna ask?”

“…”

“Drew y’all...hmm…why’s da writer censoring out all the juicy stuff? Ya scared boy? Ya wanna pi—…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…huh? Where was I? Ahh yes, grew up, became a warrior ranked mercenary, took a— huh? What’s that? Y’all don’t know about the ranking? Sigh…sit up, lemme explain.”

“...”

“The b-class c-class n stuff is all about the targets threat level. For adventurers, it’s the monsters’ estimated levels but for us mercenaries, ya know, the real men…n women. N women, yeesh. I ain’t sexist so y’all better relax with your…”

“…”

“Oh, where was I? That’s right! The class stuff have to do with threat levels. Rank is all about the mercenary’s strength and capabilities n neck linen is to show the rank. It’s that simple.”

“What you do—”

“SHUT UP!!”

The gorgon in charge of the prison cells screamed at him. The mercenary leader from before was imprisoned behind a steel gate, he looked to be drugged and rambling. The reason was obvious, the gorgon eye he ate earlier, digested sooner than expected and made him drunk…-like, drunk-like.

“I didn’tn’t expect so many…so many…what’s that?”

“…”

“Yes, I dididn’t expect so many gorgons all at once. I bet those stones I called my brothers are all feeling really stupid huh? Next time I say ingest a cyclops eye, they’ll ingest a cyclops eye. No more: nyehh, but it can cause poisoning or nyehh, it only lasts a few hours when ingested.”

“…”

Since time couldn’t be measured in the ditch, it was nearly impossible to know how long Park had been talking. In the real world, it could be a few hours, but in the ditch it could be days or even weeks.

“I know! …Right?!”

“…!”

“You know that adventurer is very weird right? I don’t get a pleasant vibe off that one, he looks evil. My job izz…izzzz…”

“…”

Snaps fingers-“Oh that’s it, yeah, ma job is ta take out threats to normal society. That adventurer is powerful so I wanted to confront him with ma boys down here…but…”

He stared silently at the guard for some time before continuing.

“Ya know, you guys killed ma boys, imprisoned me and captured the adventurer too. This is not my day.”

“Sigh, if you must know, we didn’t capture any other fools. There are two adventurers that were foolish enough to challenge the queen but they should be dead soon.”

“Ooh, yeahh… That’s the guy. I saw some of y’all escorting him somewhere but now I know, right?”

“Sigh…”

“Anyway, is there any chance that I could…ohh I dunno, maybe…watch the fight?”

“…”

“I also challenge your queen?”

“Sigh, alright.”

She unlocked the cell and grabbed him by the arm, jerking him along.

“Yaaayyy…I may die, I may win, you never know. At least I’ll see either your queen or that adventurer die.”

“Sigh…just please be quiet…”

She dragged him to the arena entrance to watch the duel but they arrived at the exact time that Masayuki was stabbed through the throat.

“Ha! Looka that, lookat it, ain’t that funny? We got to see the main event! That is a good thing…I hope? Hahah—huh?! What the heck is that?”

At that point, Masayuki had transformed into his demon form.

“He’s a demon? Wow, that’s so much power…too much for a lesser demon to handle. Does that mean their queen is that powerful? Oh no, I’m funked—ooh a butterfly. Wait a butterfly? I feel sick…”

Bleergh.

………………

…………

……

Four minutes back…

“Aww great, I ended up using {Persistence} too soon. Nng!” I groaned as I pulled the spear from my leg, pouring a health potion on my injury to speed up the healing.

“Wha—? What are you?!”

“Huh?” I looked up to find the queen staring dumbfounded. “Oh crap, I forgot to reroute the excess energy to my personal space. Well no harm done, I’ll just do it now. So how about we wrap things up now?”

I got in a stance, ready to spring at the queen.

“Incredible, with that much power you could pose a threat to dad. I see more benefit in controlling you than killing you.”

I shot straight into her, again. Since my current speed was still slower than the current level of {Blur} I had, I knew she would try grabbing me again.

“Just as expected.”

I said as I ducked under her arm and kicked her into the wall I was previously buried in. She got out in a rut with killing intent so dense that it could choke a person out. Before I had time to react, she was behind me. She unsheathed her sword and plunged it into my back, or what was supposed to be my back. At the last second, I side stepped her, dodging the probably lethal blow but sacrificing my cyclops eye which was in my left hand.

Damn, this could be worse than planned, but still planned for.

“I see, so you use your petrification on a really specific part of the body to slow down the information the brain receives to make it seem like you’re fast but in actuality, you’re arund my current speed.”

“Hmm, so you are smart, human. Yes, cyclops eyes have a limited ability on me. You’d need about four of their eyes to inhibit my power.”

“As expected of the ruling class of gorgons. Now I have a general idea of your power but since I haven’t really been using the cyclops’ eye, I know that your power doesn’t work on all races.”

“…”

That silence says it all. When she killed me earlier, I saw a hint of curiousity when she stared directly into my eyes. Her eyes had a faint glimmer in them whenever she moved too fast for me to perceive but when she stared directly into my eyes, her eyes glowed a fierce yellow. She was probably using her full po—wait, wait, wait, now’s not the time. I only have two minutes with this power, I have to end this quickly.

I charged forward again then just as I was about to reach the queen, Ecstelsia launched her ‘surprise’ attack again.

“So predictable.”

“…?”

The next second, I grabbed her spear from her hands and stabbed her under her left breast, right under her heart. I followed up by grabbing her by her head and smashing her face first into the ground.

These are the most elite gorgons, of course they’ll have nearly invincible healing abilities. The best thing to do is to incapacitate the weaker ne so I can have time for the queen.

“Indeed it was smart of us to try to take you out first, you are formidable. Judging by the power you have, I’d say you’re around a warrior rank level, am I wrong? How old are you?”

Obviously saw my badge but it doesn’t matter.

“if I answer, you’ll have t answer a question of mine.” After waiting for the ok from her, I continued, “I’m seventeen.”

“IMPOSSIBLE!” She screamed, obviously not believing me. “The youngest warrior ranked adventurer, mercenary and all other guilds is twenty one, to my knowledge at least.”

“I don’t care much for your nonsense, my question is simple: how does time work here?”

“…huh?”

“How does time work here?”

I’ve been in this energized form for more than two minutes so of course I want to know my limits.

“A strange question but sure, I’ll answer it. Time in here is frozen, but it isn’t. Let me reiterate, time is suspended in here but still allows aging and such. If you were to bring a watch in here, it would stop running but send it back to the top and it runs forward the time you spent here.”

“Ok, that’s good enough. Ask me more questions so I can ask you some more.”

“Hm. Hahaha, hahahahahah, AHAHAHAH!” The queen’s laughter seemed to surprise the spectators. “I’m starting to like you human. Alright then, we’ll settle for a trade then.”

She lowered her weapon and turned her back to me. “Follow me then.”, she said as she walked.

“That’s rather bold of you, aren’t you—?”

“Worried about a sneak attack? Not at all. That wouldn’t be too smart for you now would it? Not you in particular but your friend over there.” She gestured to the sleeping Vorn in the corner.

“I suppose not.”

“Mhmm, besides, I know how honorable you pride demons are, it would be a huge surprise if you used any cheap tricks now since I know you could kill me if you got serious.”

Following behind her with Vorn over my shoulder, I noticed the mercenary from earlier by the entrance. He looked just as angry as I remembered.

“Aye you, ain’t ya gonna pull the spear outta that snake woman?”

Okay, scratch that. He looked drunk as heck. He being held straight by a gorgon on each side, made it look as if he would fall to his death at any moment.

The gorgon stopped, looked at him then answered, “Mr Park, been quite a while. Here to ‘challenge’, me again?”

“Oyy, Ecstelsiana, been a while ain’t it. Ain’t ya gonna pull the spear outta ya spawn? Oh, and while yer answering that answer this: why the fact is that guy alive?”

“Sigh…bring him along…”

The guards bowed then dragged him behind us, us being the gorgon queen(Ecstelsiana), Vorn and I. We took a longer route than we did when we moved from the throne room to the arena. Still in my excess energy form, I felt almost unbeatable.

“This was a good plan. Aye, I believe it.”

“When do the symptoms pass?” I asked one of the guards.

“Symsims? What symsims? I dunno what yer talking about!”

Judging from the familiarity he seemed to share with Ecstelsiana, I figured this had happened before. From the answer I received, I knew I was right.

“It will last until he takes Buecho leaves.”

The Buecho plant is one of the four plants used to make health potions in the world. The unique thing about the buecho plant is that it can also be used to make cures, antidotes and elixirs.

“How do you guys know him anyway?”

“Please reserve all questions till we reach the throne room, you never know whose listening.”

The queen effectively ended the conversation.

A short while later, we arrived at the other entrance to the throne room. The journey was far too quiet to be normal and upon glancing back at the guards, I knew why. Park had passed out some time ago and Vorn, who I still carried on my shoulder, had stopped snoring.

Ecstelsiana walked elegantly up the few stairs leading to her throne then sat gracefully, waited a few seconds then addressed me.

“Ask any questions you wish to know, but before you do, let me ask my question: Is this really the best armor and weapon set you could buy? I mean the sword, boots and shirt all have powerful auras over them but the rest is uncommon down here.”

Technically speaking, I didn’t buy my most powerful equipment so I don’t have to show her that.

“No, the best equipment I have bought are all mythril.”

“Hmm, you are fun. Irritating, but fun. Alright, ask your question and I’ll try my best not to give too much information as well.”

“Hmm…yeah this is just my flare for drama. My question has been on my mind since I met those two gorgons earlier; explain to me in full detail how you reached this point from an ordinary gorgon..”

“Hehe, very well. It started almost sixty-five years ago, I was part of the first few challengers of the ditch…or so I think. My twin sister and I were dropped down here on flying horses.”

“You mean—”

“Silence!” She interrupted my interruption. “I said flying horses, not pegasi. Anyway, we were dropped here but as we ventured further into the labyrinth that is the ditch, we ran into trouble. After a fierce battle with some minotaurs, my sister paved way for my escape but she was captured before she could follow. I could only assume the worst. Injured, dying, without a healing potion in sight, there I was. I don’t know whether it was the adrenaline or my final willpower, all I know is that I was still moving through the ditch. Then I ran into a snake, with my last strength I managed to land a fatal blow but I was also bitten so we both just lay there waiting for death. Then I woke up, my memories were foggy at best and my hair felt weird. I could hear constant hissing but I couldn’t see where it was coming from, th—”

“Okay hold on! Give me a simple explanation. Take out all the useless information, please!”

“Sigh…works out better for me anyway. Back to the story, I think I merged with the snake because of the unusually dense mana cloud.”

“Makes sense.”

“Yes, so I got new powers then I ran into my sister some time later but couldn’t control my power so petrification started gradually. I had found an exit teleportation port so I had my sister use it. I figured that I would probably be seen as a monster so I stayed behind…”

Ecstelsiana noticed the glare I directed at her and hesitated to continue.

“Sigh, fine. I got stronger learnt how to change from tails to feet, mated with future challengers, began my family, took in some gorgons I found, expanded my family—all the while the minotaurs were doing the same thing. I explored the ditch some more, found my father—the source of the dense mana, and after almost being killed by him, he let me go after I quickly explained that he created me. We bonded, later my family and I started learning a lot from the few items and books some adventurers brought down here. We started a buecho garden, mixed the leaves with an extracted chemical from the poison of the snakes on our heads and took the new potions regularly. Everything we have, we got from past challengers. I believe I have answered all your questions in this one summary, wouldn’t you say?”

“Well almost all, but to make things fair, you can ask me any three questions. Before I ask a few more questions of course.”

“As expected of a demon of the pride faction, very well. My questions are…”