Chapter 226: ...Autarch's Key (10)

The monster emerged, it’s eyes holding disdain for all things living. 

More correctly, all things that were allowed to exist in the light of the most holy.

Grade-2 Monster, [Fiend].

Leathery red skin covered the naked creature from toe to head, topped with two parallel curved horns running segment to segment which jutted out of its forehead.  Six eyes, three on each side –permanently scratched in a hateful bale that blinked out of order.  Straight out of some western folklore, the fiend carried a pitchfork with its six-fingered hands.

It’s eyes gazed at all of us.

My goal was clear: Survival for fifteen minutes.

The question was how?

The [Fiend] raised its pitchfork and I had to cut my thoughts short.

Don’t think, Act, Order, Command, and Survive.

“JUMP!” 

Even before my words had escaped my lips, my legs had already sent me shooting straight up into the air.  A leonine roar alerted me to Freier’s summon: The black-winged Lion.

Flames erupted turning the land into a veritable hellscape.

｢ [Fiend] casts [Hellfire] ｣

Scarlet burning fire in the shape of suffering human souls moaned in unholy cacophony as they came to life, reaching out with hungry hands.  More shapes were born out of flame.  Dogs, lying low and prowling before bursting into a shower of embers; each stray catch of ash turning to bats that screeched and wailed as they sailed by.

Creatures made of primordial flame turned evil incarnate that did not have grades, names, nor souls.

But that’s not all of Hell’s inhabitants.

Lesser bipedal humanoid creatures, four feet at best came flying out of the flames.  Carrying their own version of pitchforks and dressed in flames, their heads adorned with miniature horns compared to the ten-feet tall Fiend.  Their cackling filled the air.

[Imps] - Grade 5

In one second, the room had turned from a makeshift colosseum into Hell itself.

The wave of flame died down, leaving the ground scorched and burnt.

And the moment my toes touched the ground–

“Stole, shoot down the critters! Aurora, on Stole! Keep the Imps away from her!”

–I hurtled myself forward, feeling footsteps and paws at my side even before finishing the rest of my order.

“Skaris, Freier, on me!”

Skaris, I expected this.  He’s been with me for a long time and knew what I wanted.  But Freier reacting this fast despite the fact that this was her first time matching herself to our party?  With her only limited exposure being me and Stole?

God, it was good to work with professionals.

Stole’s arbalest thrummed as water-element coated bolts one-shotted the flaming creatures.  Aurora let out a cry as her shield blasted into the [Imps], drawing them towards her.

Skaris, Freier, and I ran straight towards the [Fiend] and stopped right in front of it.

“Insane.”  Someone’s voice came, but it blurred into the background as the imps began to scream for blood.

The Fiend’s eyes grazed us.

“Freier, my build works off of–”

“Reversing Debuffs, I know, Slaveborn.”  Freier commented as I felt a surge of negative energies settle around me.

｢ Freier casts [Fatigue] ｣

｢ Freier casts [Slow] ｣

｢ Freier casts [Hand Tremors] ｣

…

Nowhere enough to top me up, but it did the job.

And she kept going.

The [Fiend]’s eyes glanced at all three of us, one by one, and settled on Freier.

Of course.  She was part of the MSS Clergy.  And the Fiend…

…What about the Fiend?  There was no Satan figure in MSS mythos as far as I–

The [Fiend] reached towards Freier with surprising speed.

Skaris hissed, [Strange Antler] snapping out with equally surprising speed then exploding into [Necro-fire].

But Skaris’ flames did nothing to the [Fiend].  If anything, it pissed it off.  Narrowing it’s eyes at Skaris, it clasped its pitchfork –not a trident, but a real bona-fide witch hunting pitchfork– with experienced hands and got into a stance.

I heard Skaris gulp.

“Don’t be scared, Skaris.”  I said.

Skaris didn’t even look at me.

“This? Thissss isss not fear, Ssslaveborn.”  He said quietly, “Thissss isss Excsssitement.”

“SSHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Skaris screamed out, necro-fire exploding out of him in a bulbous wave and the red-scaled Lizard Beastman became the living embodiment of what it was to burn.

“...Don’t get hit.”

And we rushed into battle.

Battle clarity took over my brain, erasing all unnecessary thought as Skaris, my oldest friend now, and I engaged the monster together.

The [Fiend] twirled the pitchfork, spinning it wide and long, wading in between us.  With each swing, the pitchfork began to hum and sing, growing in pitch and rhythm –spinning faster and faster and faster. 

I ducked under the first spin, rolling forward and stabbing out with [Snow Scream], coating it with as much [Aura] as I could muster.  The Fiend didn’t even fucking look, never stopping its dance and simply stepped out of my thrust without even making contact.

The ten-feet tall giant evil lowered its body, its face stopping right in front of mine.

A sick smile spread across its face, the eyes flashing red.

Oh sh–

｢ [Fiend] casts [Optometrist’s Worst Nightmare] ｣

I backpedaled as fast as I could, holding my shield up and slashing out blindly.

“Ssslaveborn!”  Skaris cried.

“Ignore me! Support Skaris!”

Six eyes.  Six different effects.

A little dice appeared on top of my head with a ‘pop!’.

C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon–

Magical Damage Nuke.  Physical Damage Nuke.  Mental Debuff.  Physical Debuff.  Status Effect

And the worst one of them, [Reroll].

｢ The Dice has been cast! ｣

With a plastic clatter, the dice spun on top of my head like this was a craps table.

Skaris jumped up, using [Blooming Conflagration] to slam downwards in a colorful explosion of green flames that should’ve rotted flesh, bone, and sinew.  Instead, the [Fiend] walked out of the green smoke, casually sending scarlet waves of fire at the Lizard Beastman.  Skaris weaved through them, though they left much of his armor in smoke, and yelled in animalistic fury.

Three of the eyes were on Skaris.  Two of them on me.  One on Freier, who was healing Skaris for all she had.

The Dice stopped rolling.

｢ The result is [One] ｣
｢ [Reroll]｣

Immediately, the dice on top of my head doubled.

Fucking–

With another clatter, they began to roll.

｢ The Dice has been cast! ｣

“He’s starting to take wounds, Slaveborn!”  Freier yelled out.

The only reason Skaris hadn’t instantly died was thanks to the fact that he was a [Flame Walker].  The Beastman Racial trait that Skaris had chosen was [Fire].

Flames washed off of Skaris.

All this in the span of four seconds.

I launched myself back into the fight.

Fire licked at the tips of my fingers, toes, and anywhere that was an extremity.  The ground was on fire, a mixture of Skaris’ and the [Fiend]’s.  I ignored the pain, turning my dash into a baseball into the last second to stand in the Fiend’s shadow.

Please, Please, Please, Please–

If the Dice landed on [Magical Damage], my passives could eat the damage, as long as I was standing in shadow.  Two of the results were debuffs, which I could negate.

As long as I could avoid another [Reroll] or [Physical Damage] or a [Status Debuff]...

The Dice finished rolling.

｢ The result is [Four] ｣

｢ The result is [Two] ｣

｢ Lock Slaveborn’s [Physical] is Decreased! ｣

…

｢ Lock Slaveborn chooses to raise [Defense]! ｣

｢ Lock Slaveborn’s takes significant [Physical Damage]! ｣

The world became split two and I stumbled forward into the flames.

The [Fiend] kicked me out of the way.  Not on purpose, he was simply having fun toying with the miniature-dragon-wannabe that was Skaris.

I rolled hand over shoulder, slamming against the wall and struggled to stand.  Blood spurted out of my nose from the effort.

Stole fired off bolt after bolt, even using [Spring Rain] to create a monsoon with enough force to melt away the fiery apparitions.  But the [Imps] were nearly unaffected.  Of course, being [Wet] wasn’t enough to deal with a Grade-5 monster.

The Imps threw their pitchforks.  In return, Aurora rushed over to Stole, covering both of them momentarily with her cloak, and the sound of the flaming weapons being bounced off of her Tower Shield reached my ears.

On the other side, the Fiend punched Skaris.  Skaris dodged, but not completely.  The tip of the blow caught Skaris on the shoulder.

And sent him flying all the way to where Stole and Aurora were.

Delighted, the Imps dogpiled on top of Skaris.

“SKARIS!”  Stole shrieked.

I didn’t see more, as Freier’s robes covered my face.

“Slaveborn, how much more?”  Her voice was pitched, betraying the worry.

I closed my eyes for a second, reaching in the backside of my head where my buffs were.

“Almost.”  I said quietly, as her healing mana flowed through my body.

“Then take this.”

And Freier hit me with the last of the debuffs.

You see, during the entire fight, Freier hadn’t just been healing Skaris.

She’d been feeding me with Curses.

[Dual-casting].  A high-level skill for casters, which Kyrian barely managed during this expedition.

And like a lightbulb going off, I felt the buffs hit the limit of my body.

｢ Lock Slaveborn chooses to raise [Speed]! ｣

Blood surged through my thighs, and I felt like I could run across the world.  With a quick nudge, I shifted the buffs into a different mental compartment,

｢ Lock Slaveborn chooses to raise [Defense]! ｣

Cracks spread like spiderwebs across my skin.  My [Defense] was too high compared to my [Physical] stat.  Another mental exercise, shoving the buffs into yet another compartment of my brain.

｢ Lock Slaveborn chooses to raise [Attack]! ｣

My hands started to shake, my muscles straining against the already cracked skin.

I stood up.

“Freier.”

“Yes?”

“Get away from me.”

She didn’t ask twice, she ran off towards Aurora, Skaris, and Stole without further orders.

God, it was nice working with a professional.

And I reached inside my newest Core…

And a black snake, seething with wicked loathing for everything around the world answered my call.

｢ Lock Slaveborn casts [Ascension] on [Attack] ｣
｢ Lock Slaveborn’s [Physical] is too Low!｣
｢ Ascension breaks through [Physical] Stat!｣
｢ [Attack] ascends! ｣
｢ Lock Slaveborn’s [Physical] is too Low!｣
｢ Lock Slaveborn’s Body is Breaking! ｣
｢ Lock Slaveborn’s Soul is Breaking! ｣

And like a whip, the [Fiend] turned its head to look at me.

For a moment, the entire world stopped.

No one spoke.

No one battled.

Cracks spread across my body like fine porcelain.

Black liquid seeped out of every crack, including my eyes, nose, and lips.  My blood, saturated with so much power that it had condensed to muck.

I lifted [Snow Scream], my body screeching as my muscles –as hard as steel- grated upon each other.  The [Lunar Shield] snapped into position.

Pain.

But not as painful as losing a Comrade.

I’ve never won MSS without losing a comrade before.  Never.

But the ones left to me now… Aurora, Stole, Skaris…

I wanted to protect them.

A piece of my skin fell to the ground and shattered.

A minute?  Maybe less.

I rushed the [Fiend], praying that Kyrian could hear me, that he could see.

That my best friend would be proud of who I became.

The Fiend spread its arms, flames erupting and roared in joy, all six eyes alight with pleasure….

…And I leapt straight into his arms.