Path of the Slayer B2 15. Flesh Floor

We had three months and twenty-six days remaining.

My Path of the Slayer was still Level 50.

Merlin’s Path of the Owl had gone up from Level 44 to 45. His Path of the Dragon remained at Level 47.

Thumper’s Path of the Perfect Rogue had gone up from Level 52 to 54, drawing closer to the coveted Level 61 milestone. It would’ve been worth celebrating if we weren’t being pushed to the extremes, Thumper most of all.

As the Epic Wolf Shade prowled forth with cautious steps, I looked over Merlin’s head while at the back of the shadowy mount. Thumper was subtly shaking at the front as he clung tensely to his mount’s head.

All of that transfusion from Merlin while dodging Rank 4 monsters and enduring their Suppression nonstop had chipped at Thumper’s soul considerably. If it wasn’t for the energy diffusion in our power armor, he would’ve already collapsed.

Yet, I kept my concerns to myself. Merlin did the same. Despite the double-edged soul pain, I was glad we had our Path Energy topped off while drawing deeper into danger.

The Flesh Floor Death Arena greeted us with quivering pork-like meat that made up the floor, the walls, and the ceiling that suddenly appeared above us once we entered. There was no way back, just another wall of meat.

The smell was rotten and metallic, thickening the air with every breath. Flesh bubbles expanded from random spots around us before popping to release splatters of pus-like ooze. Merlin was quick to use his telekinesis spell to push away the pus splatters before they touched us.

Then, with no other directions to follow, we reached the end of our path.

There was nothing but a meat wall in front of us for a few seconds. Then a large bubble the size of a man pushed forward, but unlike the others we’d seen, the bubble took on the shape of a silently screaming face.

What followed was a ripping sound as the flesh tore open where the mouth and the eyes should be, except there were none, only more oozing blood and pus.

The fleshy wall face bellowed with a hoarse voice: “There will be no mounts on the Flesh Floor! Remove your mounts or suffer the consequences!”

My companions looked at me to decide. I’d studied about arenas back in my guild adventurer days, even though they weren’t a popular topic. It was highly unlikely to find them.

But from what I knew, it was best to follow the rules.

I made my decision known with a gesture, and the Wolf Shade faded away from under us. We landed on our feet while braced for action.

The fleshy wall face carried on with its hoarse shouting. “There will be no acts of escape on the Flesh Floor until you are victorious! There will be no mercy on the Flesh Floor! There will be no teams on the Flesh Floor unless you accept the hardest difficulty! There will be no flying on the Flesh Floor! There will be no cheating of the rules on the Flesh Floor! There will be some likelihood of the rules changing without drawing negative System Karma on the Flesh Floor!”

That last part was interesting. Apparently, System Karma wasn’t just for Ranker folks and Pathwalkers.

How many Arenas and Dungeons and Realms had attracted negative System Karma and suffered the consequences?

“Proceed to the Flesh Floor!” roared the face before it split directly down the middle.

What remained sagged like it was deflating. Our fleshy surroundings shook as the way forward became open by splitting apart the former face wall.

A harsh orange light beamed at us. The scent of rot and metal grew stronger as a humid gust blew against our fronts.

Following that was the roar of thousands of voices, maybe even a hundred thousand, becoming one rush of noise that nearly took me by surprise.

Staying strong and confident, I strode forward, taking the lead with no hesitation. Merlin followed behind me, and Thumper pulled in last as the best person to watch our rear.

The meat hallway opened up to the Flesh Floor, a different pocket dimension that was both separate from and connected to the chasm.

It was a wide arena that span miles in all directions. Immense walls made of hard flesh surrounded us. Undistinguishable creatures shouted and screamed from the stands that kept going upward at a curved angle without a clear end.

The Arena itself was grotesque. Almost like the last place Paige had taken me during our Slayer Intent training, but worse. It made me think of the most rotten lasagna anyone had ever seen fused with uncooked ribs, while all shaped into a battle setting.

There was blood everywhere, and structures of bones that stood out like large thorns, and tons and tons of flesh, some fresh, some very rotten. There were fleshy mounds, fleshy blocks, fleshy castles, fleshy moats, fleshy pits, and fleshy other things.

“Bleeders and needlers! We have ourselves a special event!” shouted an unseen announcer with a charismatic voice. “Three Pathwalkers enter our dear arena as a team! But only one of them can leave victorious at the end of our main event on the Flesh Floor!”

Okay, fine then. I’ll break the rules and find us a way out.

I kept that to myself, knowing the others were probably thinking the same.

The announcer carried on. “Don’t worry! We won’t get to the climactic showdown just yet! For the next three days, we’re going to make it rain blood! We’re going to make it thunder with the breaking of bones! We’re going to feast on tasty and meaty flesh!”

The audience responded in thunderous unison. “FLESH FOR THE FLESH FLOOR! FLESH FOR THE FLESH FLOOR! FLESH FOR THE FLESH FLOOR!”

“That’s right! Now let’s get started with a few warm up rounds!” shouted the announcer. “Unleash the vampire goblins! You have one hour to eliminate the vampire goblins or suffer the consequences!”

A timer popped up publicly and in my notifications.

[Kill 10 vampire goblin constructs in 59 minutes and 58 seconds.]

Constructs, huh?

Lame.

We wouldn’t get much Levels out of that.

I felt Thumper needing my attention. I looked as he requested to lead the way. On face value, sending a rogue to find a vampire sounded right.

I rejected the notion with a shake of my head and pointed at myself. My Slayer Intent sharpened my Path of the Slayer, and my senses became even more fine-tuned.

It was more than just the physical senses, too.

The Slayer in me needed to be satisfied after days of running.

My Path took me straight to where I needed to go.

Five minutes later, something small and screechy lunged from behind a leaning tower of meat and bone spurs. It dove upon Merlin, and neither me nor the wizard did anything about it.

Thumper moved like a half-giant bolt and kicked the vampire goblin away from Merlin. A bloody gash appeared on the construct’s chest where Thumper’s toe blade struck.

Landing in a gangly tangle next to me, the five-foot and merlot-colored creature scrambled to get up and return to the fight.

Sch-Schwinkt!

The twin forearm claws came out past my knuckles, and I beheaded the construct with one smooth left-handed slash. I felt some dissatisfaction from Hellion, telling me plenty without saying a word.

There was no Vitality in the construct – only Aether. And going deeper than that, I felt small traces of cursed energy. It was a small amount, but it was still notable.

I relayed the discovery to my companions, and they came to a simple realization. It was best that nobody other than me lingered around the kills.

By the 45 minute mark, four vampire goblins jumped down at us while we walked under a meat bridge. Leather skin stretched between their arms and legs, catching the foul air as they glided smoothly toward us.

I waited until the last split second before taking a step to my right. The vampire goblin’s long teeth snapped at the air where my neck had once been, with the creature getting two forearm claws through the chest for its trouble.

Aether-fueled blood splattered over my armor from the impact as I punched the creature down and ripped my forearm claws free. My boot came down next and splattered the construct’s head like a hammer to a melon.

I turned and found Merlin standing unharmed and unengaged. Two vampire goblins were on the ground in separate pieces. One more crawled across the floor with a gem-made throwing knife lodged in its chest.

Thumper stalked it with his arms folded across his chest.

Rippling darkness from his Path element covered his form. A tendril wrapped around the handle of his Super Darkness Nodachi extended the weapon toward his prey.

After stalking close enough, Thumper’s dark tendril swept the black blade around. Off went the vampire goblin’s head.

We found the last five vampire goblins at the 12 minute mark. I killed two with my forearm claws. Thumper was quick to dispatch the other three with his darkness tendril and nodachi combo.

The audience roared incessantly. They shouted “FLESH FOR THE FLESH FLOOR!” repeatedly, as if our display was impressive. It really wasn’t, but I cared little for their amusement.

The announcer seemed to care more. “What an excellent first round for our trio! Though, it would be better if the short one there would actually lift a finger and do something! When on the Flesh Floor, we do love all our participants … to participate!”

“PARTICIPATE! PARTICIPATE! PARTICIPATE!” roared the audience.

Ignoring them, I kept leading my companions around the giant arena as I observed every nook and cranny directly. The announcer made his announcement, “Now let’s go on to the second round and face the horrors known as the infected hobgoblins!” and the next round began.

[Kill 20 infected hobgoblin constructs in 59 minutes and 58 seconds.]

There was no need to track down the infected hobgoblins to their hiding spots. We heard them right away, and they were drawing closer as they kept hollering at the top of their phlegm-drowned lungs.

I took a sharp turn into a bone tower, and my companions followed.

The ground floor had sharp protrusions pointing up randomly at odd angles, each one reminding me of waist-high stakes. We had about half a minute before the infected hobgoblins reached us, and I was contemplating if Merlin should use his Draconic Warding magic.

The wizard didn’t seem pressured to abuse it, so I didn’t bother tasking him with it.

The first few infecteds made their arrival at the 57 minute mark. They were taller and thicker than the vampire goblins, but they were clearly sick.

The eyes to their curved skulls were bloodshot and sunken. Black welts covered their naked, orange-skinned bodies. They had no weapons, only their fists and their teeth, but they looked rabid enough to swing, kick, or bite at us.

I pointed my Rare Rank 4 Double Arm Cannon forward and activated the trigger with a pulse of energized intent. The thunderous retort from the long boomstick was deafening, my arm flying up as I was forced to step back.

While regaining control of myself, two of the infected sprayed the wall around the entrance with meat and bone. A third dropped an arm. A fourth teetered on shaky legs after parts of its skull were scraped away.

I had to admit the scatter shot rounds might be more useful than the solid ball shots.

My opening salvo had made quick work of the fodder, and the ones that remained suffered precise nodachi beheadings from a distance – Thumper extending his dark tendril as far as a dozen feet. Merlin remained a passive observer as more infecteds entered the bone spur tower.

Six were already dead. Another eight replaced them in one rush. I wasn’t keen on getting their infected fluids on me, so I took a step back as I summoned another Double Arm Cannon.

Before I fired, Merlin stepped forward, snapped his fingers, and incinerated all eight.

Instantly.

Nothing but cracked bones and ash remained of them and the other corpses caught in the wake of his fire attack. I would’ve whistled if it wasn’t for our vow of silence. Thumper nodded in approval, and Merlin returned to his spot behind us.

The last six infected arrived.

I splattered five of them with my second Double Arm Cannon. Thumper beheaded one with a swing of his tendril-held nodachi. Then he threw a gem knife at an infected I’d shot down that was still alive, scoring the last hit of the round.

Cool kill, but he had to request for Merlin to sterilize the throwing knife after safely securing it. I pointed at him with silent ridicule, and he shrugged at me.

The audience roared, they cheered, they repeated their line, “FLESH ON THE FLESH FLOOR!”

The announcer smoothly talked over them. “Now we’re really warming up! Apparently, I shouldn’t have called the little wizard out. He showed us what that short fuse of his can do! But there’s plenty more to throw down on the Flesh Floor! And we’re still in the early stages! How about sending our trio some love from the zombie orcs?!”

[Kill 30 zombie orc constructs in 59 minutes and 58 seconds.]