CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT: THE SLIGHTLY GREAT ESCAPE (PART 2)

Mouse with Irisa in tow sprinted up the stairs and came to a screeching halt at the top, that led to a closed door. Mouse finally let go of Irisa and walked towards the door but was in return had his outstretched hand caught by the female soldier. Mouse looked back to the woman with a perplexed gaze.

“Lord Luck, we need to be quiet from here on out and focus all our senses for any possible enemies behind every door. Not to mention this door is most likely locked, as it leads to the dungeon and the way outside.” Irisa explained with stoic face.

“Don’t worry Irisa, there isn’t anything behind the door and it’s unlocked, see.” Mouse confidently replied, as he opened the door before Irisa could halt him again.

There was nothing behind the door but an empty hallway, Irisa cautiously stuck her head out to check but the act was shortly ruined by Mouse, as he strode through the doorway. Not even looking forward as he held Bjorn’s map in his hand and was preoccupied by looking at it while turning it in different directions, like he didn’t understand which way the map was supposed to be facing.

“Bjorn maybe a talented Armsmith or whatever, but his drawing skills are equal to a child holding a crayon. Come on Irisa, we don’t have time to dilly dally.” Mouse muttered to himself as he fiddled with the map before beckoning Irisa into motion.

Irisa caught up quick, and was a step behind Mouse, while the blade in her hand was almost vibrating due to her taut nerves. She was currently scanning every nook and cranny along the hall and trying to make as little noise as possible. Mouse was doing the opposite as he muttered to himself, while looking at the map, the hall way passed many doors and split corridors before finally ending in the main entrance room with its big double doors that led outside.

“Ah! Now I know where we are. Come Irisa, it's not far now.” Mouse jovially exclaimed.

As Mouse and Irisa crossed the entrance room, which was a large open room, that had multiple exits and a large staircase in the middle leading to the second floor. The pair headed towards the dining area, with not a Witch in site so far and Mouse whistling, it appeared it was going to be smooth sailing. Irisa even started to regain a modicum of calm due to the uninterrupted nature of their current journey. ‘Maybe Lord Luck knows that the demons are elsewhere and he just doesn’t have the time to explain where’. Irisa thought to herself, while she looked at Mouse’s care free nature. Within moments of that thought though, Mouse’s over abundant luck appeared to run out. The large Demon, [Crytaox], made up of countless stitched together corpses came out of the dining room doors with a bang. Luck seemed to be in very short supply at that moment, as [Crytaox], besides [Mengrel] herself, was one of the worst possible enemies they could run into. Mouse and Irisa both froze when they made eye contact with [Crytaox] as did the Demon, who appeared to be picking his teeth with a small broken bone.

An eerie silence filled the hall, as neither of the two parties made a move, the Demon because he was confused and Mouse and Irina because they were terrified. ‘It’s like a T-Rex, if we just don’t move it can’t see us. If we just don’t move it can’t see us.’ Mouse kept saying inside his head. The stand off was short lived though as [Crytaox] appeared to come to a decision, he dropped his bone tooth pick, which clattered loudly on the stone floor. His long pudgy fingers began to grow claws that appeared more like short swords in Mouse’s eyes and multiple wide rotten tooth grins settled on the patchwork Demon’s faces. Mouse knew that smile, he had seen the same look on Gabriel when he was about to fight, he quickly turned to Irisa and pushed her to the side with enough force to make her fall over and slide on the ground a couple of feet to the right. A look of shock crossed her face as she looked back at Mouse in confusion, before gazing at the grinning Demon, ‘Is he trying to use me as bait to slow down this monster.... little prick... He is just like those other Travellers. If I die, I vow, I will crawl my way out of the underworld to haunt you forev...’ Irisa’s vicious thoughts of revenge were paused, when Mouse whipped out the crossbow that was behind his back and shot the Demon pointblank in its deformed and multi-layered face.

“Run Irisa. I will protect the children!” Mouse shouted far too loudly, as he ran past the stunned [Crytaox] and into the dining room.

Irisa looked at the fleeing Dwarf’s back, who was running in the opposite direction to the children in the cells. ‘Are there other children somewhere?’ Irisa thought. Her wide eyes looked at the Demon [Crytaox] as when Mouse ran through the door, they were left alone in the empty hall. Wondering if she was going to be slaughtered, Irisa tightened her grip on her blade, even though she knew with one glance, that she was not this creatures match. [Crytaox] however thought nothing of Irisa’s presence as the word “Children” had caught its full attention, it’s face sprouted an ever wider disgusting grin, with many of the lips splitting at their sides, as the moths filled with sharp teeth of all different sizes jutted out. The mass of oddly shaped flesh known as [Crytaox], whipped its body around at the direction Mouse ran, with its large footsteps sending cracks on the stone floor from its strength and weight. It barreled after Mouse and entered through the dining hall door with enough force to knock the door of its hinges.

Irisa sat there for a what felt like an eternity but was merely a few seconds, sword powerlessly left to her side, hands shaking and face pale. She thought for a moment to chase after Mouse but gave into her fear, apologizing in her heart, before fleeing back towards the direction of the cells. On Mouse’s side, after he entered through the dining hall doors, he was muttering to himself. “I meant to say YOU protect the children, damn this mouth of mine, the monster's scary faces had gotten me all turned around and confused.” He complained as he ran as fast as his little Dwarf legs could carry him. His height had its advantageous though, as when he entered the dining hall that held a large gilded wooden table, that looked like it was crafted for semi-Giants, he was able to quickly crouch underneath with only a crane of his head. The table was massive, being about thirty feet long and ten feet wide across, Mouse entered right under the middle of it and quickly tried to run to the other side of the shorter width. Due to the large footsteps of [Crytaox] and the sound of the door being rammed open, Mouse knew he was only moments behind him, as the demon’s tree trunk legs carried him across the room in moments. The demon didn’t bother to try to squeeze its girth under the table and merely jumped the hardwood dining table’s ten feet like it was nothing, and waited on the side it was sure Mouse would come out of. After a few seconds of inactivity, the dining room descended in silence, not even the pitter patter of Mouse’s little feet could be heard. The Demon kept all its eyes on the dining table waiting for its little meal to come out, after only a few seconds it let out an impatient huff and craned its massive form to look under the table, spotting nothing right in front of it, where he saw Mouse enter, its gazes then swept to the right, which revealed nothing but when the demon looked to the left he made out Mouse’s hunched over figure quickly but quietly making his way to the very end of the table. He looked like a cat burglar, as he was taking overly long steps, while placing his foot on the ground in overexaggerated softness, with his hands in front and his shifty eyes swing back and forth.

With a roar, that sounded as if multiple Demons roaring at the same time in different pitches. Mouse froze as if he was caught stealing and turned his head slowly to lock eyes with the Demon again, Mouse almost jumped on the spot and stopped his slinking movements, instead opting for a full barrel sprint towards the end of the long table. The Demon raised his body from his crouched position and jumped up on the table, issuing loud creaks as the hardwood table took the full brunt of the Demon’s considerable weight. [Crytaox] charged towards the end Mouse had just reached. [Crytaox] heavy footfalls, sent the array of half eating dishes and goblets flying off the table as it advanced to the end. Mouse exited from under the table, without even a look back, he was beelining it towards what he guessed to be the servant door to the kitchen. Once he was only a few feet from the door, he heard the sound of wood slightly splintering and finally looked back in shock at the massive encroaching form of [Crytaox] sailing through the air towards him, as it leapt off the dining room table. The door to the kitchen, that Mouse was still running towards as he was looking over his shoulder at the now flying Demon, unexpectedly opened, as a Witch came striding through in a huff.

“What is all the roaring about, I have already fed you [Crytaox] and we are low on prepared fleshhhh... ahhhh!” The Witch came out already complaining before cutting off in a scream of fright at the sight of the leaping [Crytaox].

The sudden entry of the Witch caused Mouse to jump in surprise, leading to him trip over his own feet and being sent into a tumble straight past the screaming Witch and into the kitchen. The Witch had no time to move, nor did [Crytaox], as it slammed into the Witch in its pursuit of Mouse, sending them both into the door frame. The Witch was dead on impact as the unbelievably heavy Demon smashed her body against the hard stone of the manor and further squished her once they landed on the floor of the Kitchen in a humble. Mouse and [Crytaox] were both on the ground and facing each other at this point. [Crytaox], in a half crouched state with the almost jelly like body of the flattened Witch under him, it looked at Mouse with its multiple eyes and let out another roar, this one filled with more frustration than anger. The roar appeared to be like a starting pistol, as Mouse leapt to his feet and took off through the kitchen. [Crytaox] took off aswell being hot on his heels again. Mouse, in his desperation to try to slow down the Demon, began to grab items that were in his reach to throw at the monster. He chucked pans, cutlery, utensils of all sorts and plates behind him as he ran. Mouse didn’t realise, as he was to focused on running and chucking, but the damage notifications were producing an odd sight everytime he chucked an item of kitchenware behind him.

[Critical Hit! -100]

[Critical Hit! -100]

[Critical Hit! -100]

[Critical Hit! -100]

[Crytaox] let out groans that were almost screams of pain, the last one sounding especially loud to Mouse’s ears, as he took a quick second to look behind him. What he saw almost made him tumble over his feet again, the Demon’s multiple eyes were no longer, as its head now resembled a porcupine. With a variety of knives, cooking spoons, forks and even a pan handle embedded in one of the Demon’s eyes each. [Crytaox]’s assortment of teeth was gritted in pain, as black bubbling blood leaked down from its many punctured eyes. The one remaining eye, that was located just near the middle of the forehead, was tearing up and scrunched into a pain filled glare. Mouse quickly recovered from his momentary half stumble and made his way past a large kitchen isle and towards a door on the other side from the one he entered. Mouse continued to grab anything in reach and chuck behind him. In fear of losing its last reaming eye, the demon would throw up its hands and dodge to the side of any of the throw objects now. Which in turn allowed Mouse to pull ahead of it slightly and exit through the door into the following hallway.

[Crytoax] was a demon in true form, as its very nature was filled, with violent and brutal tendencies, it quickly lost its mind in rage and pain. Entering into a berserk state once it appeared Mouse was about to get away. Its skin started to crawl and flex, like multiple snakes were slithering underneath it. [Crytoax]’s very muscles appeared to grow, and its multi limbed body parts bulged, as steam rose from its skin. The one eye on its head turned from onyx black to blood red and it roared loud enough to shake the manor slightly and send the kitchen utensils flying. With one large stride, the Demon appeared like flash of white and slammed through the door Mouse just ran through. Sending the door flying towards Mouse, who was currently paused as he confronted two Witches in front of a staircase leading down.

The sound of [Crytoax] smashing through the door made Mouse turn around, his vision was quickly filled with the sight of the kitchen door flying at him like a frisbee.

“Jumping Jesus Christ!!” Mouse exclaimed, as he threw himself onto the ground, narrowly missing the door as it flew over his head and straight into the two Witches barring his path.

The door was flying with such force, that it acted like a saw blade and cut the two Witches in half at the hip, before slamming into the stone floor and bursting into pieces. [Crytoax] let out a multi voiced roar again and sprinted towards Mouse. Who basically leapt down the stairs to his right and through the half open door. Mouse rolled to take some of the damage out of his fall, before he rolled into a hard metal object. ‘Ouch! Damn it! All I feel like I am doing at the moment is falling over. I don’t think I can put this video up.’ Mouse thought, as he rubbed his head at the spot that collided with the metal object.

With wide eyes and a goofy grin, Mouse looked upon a metal rectangular case that was planted firmly into the ground. From the description he was given he knew what this box was. The Mana Nexus was right before his eyes, it was about six feet in height and four feet in length. There were multiple dials with runic symbols on them that Mouse couldn’t understand and a large hole in the centre that Mouse guessed was for some sort of key. On both sides of the rectangular box was clear glass, that allowed one to see the volatile and rolling condensed mana within. Like a spider web, there were multiple metal tubes that exited the Mana nexus from the bottom and went into the floor heading in various directions. Mouse took notice of a great amount of rust and corrasion on many of the medal pipes, some so bad that they were leaking mana. ‘Now... what did Bjorn say again, because of the metal being decayed I need two or was it ten?’ Mouse thought as he remembered Bjorn was cut off from his explanation due to the knocking of the Airheaded Witch.

Mouse was left with no time to think, as another door was blown off his hinges as [Crytaox] came barreling down the flight of stairs above and into the Nexus room. His steaming skin, was filled with pieces of wood and leaked blood everywhere. Due to his berserk state, his naturally tough skin became thin as it elongated, once it missed his last leap at Mouse, when Mouse jumped down the stairs, it had smashed into the remainder of the kitchen door and all the splinters that went along with it. Mouse looked at the sorry state of the Demon and felt a little pity for it.

“And I was cursing that I felt unlucky for a moment. I don’t know how many mirrors you broke, or ladders you walked under but you have to be the unluckiest demon in this world.” Mouse announced, while he shook his head at the half dead Demon.

The pity party didn’t last long, as Mouse raised his crossbow at the Demon, which naturally flinched, as every action Mouse took caused it incredible harm.

“[Grappling Shot]” Mouse shouted, as his crossbow sent out a roped bolt that pierced through the demon's shoulder and into the door way.

With a toss of his hand, Mouse threw out a bag of round metal objects next to the Mana Nexus and sprinted passed the now incapacitated [Crytoax], who tried to claw at Mouse on his way under the Demon’s legs. Mouse crouched down behind the large Demon, who could only turn it’s multi faced head to look behind him and aimed his cross bow at the bag of [Firebombs]. ‘I can’t remember if it was two or ten, so better safe than sorry and go for fifteen.’ Mouse thought with a grin. He looked up at the Demon, who was staring down at him with its head twisted unnaturally far, the bolt and rope pinning the large body to the door frame could only last a few more seconds, so Mouse gave the demon a broad grin.

“Because you broke so many doors, your punishment is to become a door. Thanks for your help.” Mouse explained with a smile, as he used [Exploding Shot] and fled up the stairs as quick as his little legs could take him.

A gigantic, ear deafening ‘BOOM!’ was heard behind Mouse after only a second, the sound was soon accompanied by the frustrated and pain filled howls of the [Greater Demon] turned Door. The unstable mana and large amount of [Firebombs] caused a chair reaction that shook the dust off the manor, the force from the blast caught Mouse half way up the stairs and propelled him the remaining way and into the adjoining wall, before tumbling down the hall in a heap. The prisoners in the cells below that once held Mouse, all felt the ground shake, as dirt and dust fell from the ceiling. Bjorn and his family looked to the ceiling, along with the teary-eyed Irisa, in surprise. As Bjorn’s youngest, exclaimed, “I knew Lord Luck could do it!” Outside the manor, in front of the main gate was the Imperium army. They all felt the ground shake like a mini earthquake was set off, as the manor creaked and groaned. Several windows on the left side of the manor could be seen smashing outwards.

Gabriel watched this and heard a notification sound from his Quest log, with a quick check he broke out into a wide grin. All the Imperium soldiers, were on their feet and looking at the Manor in curiosity when they saw Gabriel walk to the front with a rock in hand. Gabriel looked back to the soldiers and Sergeant Titus, before he turned back to the walls, with his arm raised he chucked the rock. Which sailed cleanly through the air and smashed into the wall before crumbling to pieces. Gabriel made eye contact with Sergeant Titus, who also began to match Gabriel’s toothy grin.

“The [Mana Field] is down! Everyone into formation! It's time to clear out this scourge once and for all!!” Sergeant Titus roared, as the all the soldiers cheered and ran to get into formation. The final battle was about to begin, a battle that would end with something that would be talked about in both worlds and maybe even some beyond.