Chương 99: 12 - KILL THE BEAST

"You're not just any old beast, huh." The monster stared at him, but T'balt had to remind himself that it was indeed a monster. It didn't relentlessly attack like all the other demons. It stood. It calculated, and it adapted its own body to fit its needs. While they usually dealt with mindless, bloodthirsty zombies, this one felt like a true alien. Now it was in a human form with a human fighting stance. It was like it had learned it from a movie and copied it. Actively learning.

When T'balt took a step, so did the Wanderer. When he tensed his body, so did it.

"Be careful," German said in his head.

"I don't know what this new form means."

"It means it's done playing around. Haven't you ever played an RPG, German? The real fight never starts until the second phase."

"I was just thinking we might survive this until you made that comment." T'balt smiled.

"And I was just thinking you didn't have a sense of humor."

"It's coming." The Wanderer flash-stepped, thunder cracking as if they were its footsteps. T'balt braced himself. It appeared behind him. He swung the light sword, and it teleported again. He expected that. What he didn't expect was that it would teleport only a foot in front of him, right into the swing of T'balt's arm. It delivered a quick punch to his forearm, causing him to drop the sword's hilt. T'balt yelled as the hilt turned to smoke. The shot felt like it snapped his arm in two.

As he staggered, it push-kicked him, aiming for his heart. He blocked it and was flown back into the dirt. The Wanderer teleported above him, and he instinctively covered himself in earth. It struck down, instantly breaking his earth shell. Thankfully, T'balt wasn't in it, using the earth loot to move himself underground. The beast scanned the area with its violet eyes, suddenly finding itself surrounded by pillars of earth. Ten of them on all sides, having just risen from the ground.

Its instinct was to attack, breaking the pillar closest to it. T'balt broke free from one behind it, reforming the light sword and aiming it for its back. It teleported the instant the light touched it. Now, above him, he attacked it with the remaining pillars, flinging rock after rock. Of course, those missed too. Now, with its smaller frame, it seemed to be teleporting faster than it had been before, moving more precisely. It was hard for T'balt to get a read on it, so instead he thought to overwhelm it.

The beauty of the earth loot was that the landscape was solid rock, meaning T'balt had no problem turning the Wanderer's home into a bullet hell. Yet even as a hundred boulders and disks of earth bombarded it, it wasn't hurt by a single one. Some it dodged. Some it teleported away from. Some it broke with the precision of a karate master breaking a stack of cement blocks. It was able to grab one of the boulders, spinning and hurling it back at T'balt.

He leaped to avoid it, but while he was in the air, the Wanderer appeared underneath him, knowing he was near helpless in the air. T'balt tried to pivot, but he ended up taking a hard punch to the stomach. He crashed and slid into a pile of his own discarded rocks. He immediately felt like he wanted to vomit every fluid left in his body, but in the end, the only thing that came out was blood through his lungs.

"Where?" she said.

"Aim them at T'balt's body." The Wanderer appeared in front of T'balt in an attempt to put an end to the battle, but it was Ellie's arrows that met him there. They burned three small holes into the skin of its back. Though it didn't scream. It didn't have a mouth. It reacted as one would when noticing a sudden breeze. But T'balt could tell that it hurt it. If it didn't, he was sure he'd be dead. Instead, it disappeared again.

"German, where is it?" she asked.

"Gone for the moment."

"Okay. I'm going to heal T'balt."

"NO! BACK OFF!" When her hand was extended towards his wounds, the Wanderer appeared above her with a downward swipe that looked to cut her arm in two. Instead, she leaped back. But with the distance between them, it could turn to its true target. It sharpened its fingers and lunged at T'balt's chest. Only by the grace of his reflex was he able to avoid a shot to the heart, but its nails dug deep into his shoulder, causing him to lose his breath.

T'balt went to resummon his sword until he was thrown aside by his bloody wound, bouncing off the ground. He was left unmoving, leaving Ellie its only standing opponent. Cannon saw it all, hiding behind a rock formation. But he couldn't just watch any longer. He took a step out when the voice rang in his head.

"Don't do anything stupid."

"But—""The plan is still working," German said.

"Ellie, use number three." She chewed her tongue. She didn't want to use it. The wicked nature of these demons, these alien murderers, was something she always abhorred. To have one inside her felt like the most wicked of sins, but in the face of an even greater sin, she had to defend herself and her people. And so she summoned the Fury. The Redeemer had told her, "It's one of the strongest single pieces of loot that I've come across. Don't be afraid of it. It will fight for you."

And so she appeared with that ferocious ghostly body, its lightning-struck black hair, and its bloodied, disembodied claws. It screamed, and the Wanderer teleported against her, recognizing it as its new greatest threat. And they went blow for blow, claw for claw, as the sounds of thunder and screaming overtook the area. Ellie used the distraction to run to T'balt.

"Are you still with me? Please still be with me." She started to feel a deep dread in her chest before he meekly said, "Not… dead yet." She almost wanted to cry, but knew she had a job to do first, focusing her energy on healing his internal bleeding. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Meanwhile, in the background, their now sixth party member, The Fury, was damaging the Wanderer. It didn't need German's instruction to avoid its opponent's attacks.

Its advantage was that its body was only tangible when it was attacking or defending its host. Which meant the Wanderer couldn't touch it, despite how fast it moved, as long as it couldn't figure that out. It threw a punch into the Fury's body, getting thrown off balance when it connected with nothing. That's when the Fury struck, launching a slashing attack right into its chest. It hit the ground, temporarily immobilized. That's when The Fury screamed, summoning its violet beams of dark energy.

They connected when the beast was downed. Still, that didn't kill it. But it was heavily wounded. That meant the Fury did its job. The Wanderer clasped its hands together as the Fury was gearing up for another blast. Suddenly, the Wanderer's body began to twist and mangle, and parts of it began to blow up as if they were balloons. In only a few seconds, it went from human-sized to the size of a great oak tree, and its new bulky form resembled a statue of Buddha; hands praying, legs crossed, eyes closed.

Though its head resembled a giant grey gourd. The Fury fired its blast, but the energy only seemed to be absorbed by the gourd. A whirlwind dispersed the energy and sucked it inside. The Fury then resorted to its claws again, swiping and taking chunks out of the now large target. However, the Wanderer's arm flashed suddenly, and it grabbed hold of the Fury's claw mid-attack. While the ghost squirmed, it aimed a finger on its other hand.

Then the Fury's own beam of dark energy shot clean through its head, killing it instantly. Ellie panicked for a moment, but she wasn't done healing. She had to get the Redeemer moving again, at all costs. The Wanderer would be on her again soon, but she had to focus on healing. T'balt lightly touched her arm.

"Remember what you can do, my guardian angel." She closed her eyes, envisioning her Holy Bow. It wasn't just attached to her, but an army of guardians all watching over them, keeping them safe from the evil of this new world. Ten bows of light appeared around her, aimed at the spot where the Wanderer appeared back in its man form. They loosed, the first two connecting and the others being dodged. But at the end of the barrage, it staggered, hardly able to keep itself standing.

Before the second barrage, it teleported away. Cannon reached into his coat pocket.

"Finally, it's my time to shine. I'm not used to being benched this long." His handful of loot began to squirm and sprout their little legs. Nine of them suddenly started to crawl up his arm until they found their sweet spot at the tip of his spine. He remembered his phone call with the Redeemer.

"At some point, your group is going to encounter a bunch of beasts. When you kill them, coins will pop out of their necks. That's what makes them strong. Once the coins are free, they'll try to leap onto anything alive. Don't let the other wrestlers have any. I need you to get them all first."

"All for one, eh? That ain't exactly how I operate."

"Trust me. We'll need that loot one day." Today was that day. And so when the Wanderer appeared before him, removing the holy arrows from its body to lick its wounds, Cannon Valkyr was infected with the power of prophecy.

"SUPER… CANNON… BUSTER… TIMES TENNNNN!!!" He threw his fist with every inch of might within him. The ground crumbled under the sheer pressure of his new strength.

"Above you!" German called out. But that's where he was aiming the whole time. Even though the Wanderer was right in front of him, this Cannon Buster wasn't a hook. It was an uppercut. As soon as it appeared, it blocked, but this strength tore right through its defenses, cracking its arms and crumbling its body. It surged into the air above it, leaving a jet stream where it flew a thousand feet into the sky. Something like that should've been the finisher, but this was an extraordinary beast.

Its resilience couldn't be described as anything other than godly.

"Cannon, to your right." He formed the cracked remains of his forcefield. But what appeared was the monster's original form, cracked, burned, and injured, but still having its immense, beastly claws and strength. It tore right through the forcefield, shattering it like glass. Cannon reacted using his last loot, hardening. It stiffened his body, hard enough to have most attacks bounce right off of him. But not this one.

The beast's claws tore right through his midsection, causing an abrupt spray of blood all over the cracked rocks where he stood. Cannon tumbled over, unable to speak, unable to breathe, unable to move. His eyes were wide open, as if they were frozen in a moment of disbelief. But that was the final distraction. That attack left the Wanderer vulnerable enough for T'balt to regain his strength and deliver the ultimate blow with the God Slayer Sword.

The slash of light tore right through its body, and the beast crumpled over, clutching its chest, which seemed to be erupting with light. T'balt could see that all the fight had left it. So he watched it teleport away for the last time. He breathed a sigh of simultaneous relief and frustration.

"Damn it," he said. Ellie rushed over to Cannon, seeing all the blood and his insides spilling out of him. One look told her that no amount of healing here would save him. That didn't mean she wouldn't try with all her might. With tears in her eyes, she called his name and allowed her hands to glow above his body.

"Cannon! Cannon! Don't! Just hold on!" There was a croak in his throat, commonly referred to as the death rattle. The clear sign to any medical professional that the patient was not coming back. Not that it mattered. His body was nearly torn in two. There was never going to be any saving him. But with one final act of desperation, he put a hand on her arm. In that Cannon way, as if to say even through this immense suffering, 'you'll be okay.' She lost herself then. Unable to face death, she looked away.

T'balt knelt next to the man, cupping the back of his neck and whispering, "It'll be alright. Just a little longer." The whimpers of the man's breath gave way as he stared at his Redeemer all the way into death. T'balt laid his head down. And stood. German had emerged from his shelter underground. All the damage to the earth had unintentionally freed him.

"The beast is gone," he said, this time with his own mouth.

"It's unlikely that it's coming back this time."

"It's fine," T'balt said, rubbing his shoulder, which was still tender despite his wound being healed.

"All things considered, the plan worked out okay." Ellie stood, unable to believe her ears, and slapped him across the face.

"What about this is okay? Our friend is dead, and you think this is acceptable." Tears were streaming down her face.

"We believed in you. Giving you everything only for you to just throw our lives around like they don't matter. Death may not mean anything to you, but to us it's still the ultimate sacrifice. Why can't you understand that?!" T'balt paused, startled. For a moment, he felt ashamed, but German, the voice of reason, stepped in.

"Before casting judgments, one should always check their premises."

"What are you talking about?" He gestured towards Cannon's body. And when she looked, the man was sitting up, feeling over himself like the body he was in wasn't his. Because it was otherwise undamaged. All his loot was spilled on the ground behind him, and his torso had reattached itself.

"Is this what you feel every time, T'balt?" he frantically asked.

"What's the meaning of this?" Ellie asked him.

"How is he alive?" T'balt rubbed his face where she slapped it.

"The second chance loot. I usually avoid using it since I can only find the one, but… sorry, Cannon. I thought the hardening loot would be able to stop it." Cannon laughed.

"No worries. I felt like shit a moment ago. Now I feel like I just had a fresh spa day." Ellie could only stare as T'balt shrugged.

"Sorry," he meekly said. German stepped up.

"Regardless, we may have to come to terms with the failure of this mission." T'balt smiled.

"You could stand to have a little faith, German." The Wanderer appeared in a meadow, far away from the battle. It laid on its stomach in the tall grass, its body too damaged for it to stand and barely enough for it to move. The wildlife fled at its appearance as the sound of its thunder drove them away. Except for one. A boy, with his finger pointed, charged with lightning. Acelin appeared in front of the others, out of breath from running so far, so fast.

But when he caught his breath, he held up a coin between his fingers.

"Got it."