Part Eighteen

“Kahahahaha! Squish the bug! Squish the bug!”

“Kohohoh! Crush the bug, crush the bug!”

“Kehehehehe! Splat the bug, splat the bug!”

Well, this is…something. Uh, can I like, go around them? No? Fiiiiiine…

I’d followed the tunnel that the Chimeras were guarding, which had led me to this very…odd spectacle. I honestly wanted to avoid it, but the only other way through was a large iron door. And since I sincerely doubt that I could open it without being noticed, I’d have to deal with the occupants before I could go any further.

Three Lesser Demons were standing in front of a large ant-like creature, though I doubt that’s what it actually was. Its shell seemed malformed, and it had extra limbs, so it probably wasn’t an ant. All three of them were kicking and punching it, all the while screaming and laughing. It was more noise than I’d wanted to hear, and since it seemed that I needed to kill them anyway, I decided to put an end to their merrymaking.

I dashed across the room, catching all three Demons and the ant off-guard. By the time they realized I was there, one of them was already missing their head. The ant took that opportunity to bite the neck of the second one, while the third Demon tried to take to the air, though it didn’t make it very far. I caught it by the foot and pulled it back down, where it was summarily executed by my sword.

That was eas-. Whoops! Sorry about this, but I’m not your lunch, pal. Stupid ant. Now, what the heck was this about?

Honestly, that ended a little too easily, even when you account how the ant tried to attack me at the end. I know I’ve gotten a lot stronger since the Demon Dungeon, but I’d expected more from a fight from three of them. Not for a surprise attack to basically kill all of them.

Guess I just got lucky? I mean, I really shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but something about this feels weird. Maybe I’m just overthinking it. Now, what’s through door number two?

Deciding to put my suspicions to bed for the moment, I went over and opened the iron door I’d noticed, though all I saw through it was a dark hallway. I almost expected an ambush as I went through it, but nothing happened. It was a bit of a letdown.

It wasn’t until I reached the other end that things began to feel different. Something about the atmosphere here was off. The air felt tense, like just before a storm.

Hm, a wooden door? Why iron one on one end, and wood on the other? This feels weird. Something’s waiting for me in here. I just know it.

I threw open the door, fully expecting for something big and terrifying to attack me. But what greeted me was a far sight from that. Instead of howling monsters, the gentle tones of a piano filled the air, and my surroundings were better off in a lounge, not a Dungeon. Leather chairs and couches sat here and there, and the walls were covered with satin drapes. It was rather confusing. And just as I thought things couldn’t get any weirder, someone spoke to me.

“Oh no, a dangerous brute has broken into my humble abode. Whatever shall I do?”

“What about this is “humble"? And where the heck are you!?”

“Above you.”

I hastily looked up, only to gawk in amazement. Someone had attached a grand piano to the ceiling, and was playing it like nothing was wrong. Honestly, there was too much to retort on here, so I’ll just let the scene do it for me.

“Wow dude, you couldn’t look more shocked if you tried. You feeling alright? Need a breather?”

“No…I’m good.”

“Cool beans. Though, I guess maybe they’re not all that cool after all. After all, we kinda gotta fight now.”

The mysterious piano player wasted no time dropping to the floor after that, landing with a small grunt of exertion. Based off his blood-red skin and strangely colored eyes, I figured he had to be a Demon, though he looked pretty normal aside from those two traits. Even his clothes wouldn’t have looked out of place in any club or bar. He honestly seemed pretty normal, but maybe that was the point? A Demon who stresses their normality had to be pretty odd.

“Maaan, why do I always get the shite assignments? Whatever. Listen up kid. In the name of Demonic King Vanaer, I challenge you to a battle. And unfortunately for you, you can’t refuse. Return to my side- [Beckon].”

Before I could respond in any way, the Demon began to cast a spell. Pillars of light appeared on either side of him, and when they faded away, a very familiar enemy was left behind. I felt an eye start to twitch.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. Death Knights? Really?”

“Hey, don’t hate the player, hate the game. You’re the one who chose to come somewhere that was very clearly suspicious. I’m just the poor schmuck forced to fight you. And since I’m not exactly all that good at the whole “swordplay" thing…Death Knights. Now, [Soul Shredder], [Soul Melding], [Soul Reflection].”

The Demon began to cast yet more spells, buffing the Death Knights. Sinister energy gathered around them, settling onto various places. And while the names of the spells were sinister sounding, I couldn’t completely determine what they’d do just from the names.

I’m gonna have to pull out all the stops. Realizing that I couldn’t afford to hold back at all, I immediately called all my familiars out to prepare to fight. They’d normally have the advantage against Undead, but those spells could overturn that. We’d all need to be careful.

“Mn-hm, guess this’ll do. I’d normally pull out all the stops, but the boss man said to test you, so that’s what I’ll do. Oh, and to make it more even, I’ll tell ya what those spells do. [Soul Shredder]’s an Enchantment spell that allows physical weapons to damage the immaterial. Your familiars are tough, but this’ll shred them faster than a blender. As for the other two, their effects are similar. [Soul Melding] causes two souls to share the same wavelength, meaning you’ll need to kill them both at the same time, or they’ll just come back to life, or unlife in this case. And [Soul Reflection] just amplifies the effects of the two previous spells by mirroring the enchantments on both of them. Though that one will also reflect debuffs, so it's a bit of a double-edged sword.”

The Demon spoke in a careless tone, completely unbothered by revealing his secrets. If I’d had to figure these things out on my own, I would’ve had a much harder time of it. That was true, and yet…

“…Huh? W-what’s going on? This mana, it’s like-. It can’t be! This ain’t good!”

“Don’t fuck with me.”

The moment I realized that the Demon was looking down on me, my vision went red. Rage filled my mind, and I felt strength flood my body. It almost felt like the time when Malignant Aura took over my body, but somehow different. Like it wasn’t a foreign power controlling me, but something from deep within. And yet, I still maintained my sanity.

“Uh listen. Maybe I was a little too rash with how I-.”

“Shut up.”

Faced with whatever was happening to me, the Demon began trying to backpedal and make excuses, though it was far too late for that. I dashed forward, both swords lashing out at the Death Knights in front of me. Each Knight used their sword to block my attack, but the sheer force pushed them backwards, giving me additional openings to continue pressing the attack. After several such attacks, both of their swords shattered into dozens of pieces. I didn’t even have time to process what happened before events continued.

“Aaah! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Uh, damn it! No choice! [Soul Armament]!”

The Demon cast another spell, causing two glowing swords to appear in the Death Knights hands. Each weapon gave off an otherworldly presence, which was enough to make me back off, though only for a moment. I already had them checkmated.

“Ash, feed.”

One of the Death Knights was caught off-guard as black tendrils climbed up its legs, stripping the Miasma from its body. It tried to bring its sword down on them, but I quickly intercepted the blade, knocking it free of the Knight's grasp and shoving it onto its back in the process. The other Knight stepped in to aid the first one, but it too was caught by inky tendrils as its weapon was torn free from its hands. With both Knights restrained and disarmed, I made my way towards the Demon, though he too had tricks left up his sleeve.

“Shit, where the heck is this coming from!? Gh, Life burns brightest at the end- [Soul Blaze]!”

Sparks of magic flared to life behind me, as did an inferno centered on the two Death Knight. My familiars all screamed as the flames licked at them, forcing them to release the Knights. According to the sensations they’d sent me, those flames were extremely lethal to beings that possessed a Core instead of a Soul, though it would likely also destroy the Death Knights in the process.

Realizing that I needed to kill the Demon as soon as possible, I turned and charged at him. Unfortunately, he was prepared for that.

“Relics of ages past, slumbering for an eternity, be reclaimed by thy master - [Soul Capsule: Release]! Neither here nor there, lost within the Abyss, caught in a web of threads- [Soul Transmigration]!”

Another flash of blinding light accompanied the Demon's latest spells, temporarily blinding me. And while my sight quickly returned, I almost wished it hadn’t. Not only was the Demon gone, but a massive fleshy thing was in its place. It looked like an inflated octopus, but with a massive grinning maw where its eyes would’ve been, as well as numerous tentacles flailing about. It was a good thing the room was so big, or I would’ve been crushed when it appeared.

Imperfect Charybdis

Rank: B

Description: A mass of fleshy tissues forcibly stuffed with multiple souls. Originally an attempt to recreate an ancient Abomination said to have devoured the seas of a now-dead world, this creature can only be called a failure, and is forcibly animated by Demonic energies. But while it is a failure, the creature's size and appetite make it a threat in its own right.

As soon as the thing realized it was no longer where it had been, its tentacles began snatching up everything around it, throwing it all into its mouth. The couches and chairs were first, and the crunching sounds it made as it chewed were just disgusting. And soon, its tentacles turned their attention to me.

I parried the first two, slicing large chunks of them off, only for them to regrow almost immediately. Even [Rot] barely had any effect, the necrotic patches simply fading away after a minute. Honestly, even this thing’s flesh was extremely tough, and it took every ounce of my concentration to cut through it.

Uh, how do I kill something that keeps regenerating? Does it maybe have a Core like the Dread Thralls? Oh, shit.

On a hunch, I used the Sense Weakness Skill I’d bought from Hagrick. Since it could accurately locate Ash's Core, I thought maybe it could find a weakspot in this thing, but no dice. If there was one, my Skill was too poor to locate it. And with that revelation, I decided to do the most prudent thing thing could think of: run away.

Of course, the Charybdis wouldn’t just let me run. I was the only thing left in the room that it hadn’t eaten (my familiars had already fled into the other room), and it wouldn’t let a single morsel escape. I has to continuously fight off its tentacles as I moved away from it, each exchange causing large chunk of flesh to fall away from it, though it snatched those up and ate them. Does this make it a cannibal?

I continued moving backwards into hallway I’d come through, and then the room where I’d fought the Lesser Demons, which gave me an idea. I used a few quick casts of [Rot] to drive the tentacles backwards, giving me time to put a little something in the mouths of the ant and Demons I’d killed earlier. Then, when the tentacles recovered and continued pursuing me, they predictably grabbed ahold of all four corpses, dragging them back to the main body.

*Fwo, FWOOOOOOM*

“KIGEEEHHHHHHHHhhhhhhh….”

The resulting explosion was so loud that I heard it from here. All of the tentacles that had followed me began to thrash in pain, giving me enough time to sever each of them and close the iron door, hopefully trapping the damn thing in there. Since it swung in towards the monster and it hadn’t had a handle on that side, it should have been hard time getting out.

Haaah, haaah, wow, that was…something. I feel like things just got thrown into a blender. My entire body hurts, and I feel extraordinarily tired. And yet, my mind's racing. Where the heck did that Demon go? And who or what is Demonic King Vanaer? And why am I so fatigued?

I was far more tired than I should’ve been. My legs felt like jelly, and I couldn’t get my breathing to settle down. Perhaps it was just an aftereffect of the battle, but I’d never felt like this after a fight. And honestly, I needed some sleep now. Like, right now. I was on the verge of passing out.