Chương 23: The Blue Horn’s Playground

The deeper we ventured, the wider the tunnel became. Wet droplets fell from the grotto-like ceiling, mixing with the sweat that poured down our faces and bodies. The air grew thick and humid, heavy with heat that pressed against our skin like an invisible hand. Every step echoed louder than the last. We finally reached a mid-section of the cave, an open chamber where scattered food lay abandoned on the ground: gnawed bones, half-eaten meat, and strange fruits. And by end of this section there he was.

The blue-horned monster lounged in a playful, almost childish position, leaning back against a large rock as if it were a throne. Five satyrs, the same horned creatures we had fought back in Kikindo, danced around him, playing eerie, melodic tunes on their horns providing him entertainment. The monster himself stood roughly the height of a young man, but far more imposing. He had one long elongated horn stretched upward from the top of his skull like a stylized, side-swept hairstyle.

He wore extremely heavy armor that looked like it weighed at least 250 kilograms, clearly designed for brutal training rather than mere protection. The moment we saw him, Larina began shivering violently behind me, her small body trembling against my back. Galer and I immediately prepared for a strategic attack, scanning the pantheon-like cave system around us.

We had no idea how many more satyrs or other creatures might be roaming these tunnels, so we forced ourselves to stay calm and wait in the shadows, hearts pounding. After a long, tense wait, the satyrs finally wandered off, their haunting melodies fading into the darkness. The blue-horned monster stood up slowly. He turned toward the strange door we had seen back in the castle, staring at it with idle curiosity. It looked as though he were awaiting someone. Are those doors somehow connected? I thought.

Right after i finished my thought, his voice boomed through the chamber with magnificent, evil grandeur: "I can feel your presence from that pillar in the back line. Come out. I have sent away the satyrs… so we can fight it out." He cracked his monster knuckles loudly, the sound echoing like breaking bones, and turned fully toward us with a peerless, childlike smile, the grin of someone who had just received brand-new toys to play with.

Thick saliva dripped from his large mouth as he licked his lips in pure excitement. We stepped out from hiding. Larina was still shivering, but she mustered every ounce of courage she had and stayed right beside us, even though we had told her to stay back. She wanted to witness this. She wanted to participate. We all knew the stakes. Standing before this creature felt terrifyingly familiar, like facing Wutta all over again. He was close in raw strength, yet our hard-won experiences had made us calmer than before.

Galer approached with caution, ready to throw his knives. He peered deep into the shadows, making sure no satyrs lay in wait. I stepped forward and asked boldly, "Why did you know we were here? And why send away your partners? Isn't that a disadvantage?" The monster tilted his head, his smile widening into something almost innocent child-like.

"Ohhh… you don't understand what pleasure you bring to a young one like me. I was told to stay put and wait like a good little boy… so boring. But now you finally arrived... taking the boredom away.. Hahahahaha! Now… let's battle!" He stamped his foot and rushed forward at blinding speed... easily achieving 150 km/h. His punches shattered those strengthened stone pillars with heavy, thunderous sounds, even at that velocity. His power felt greater than the mantis we had fought long ago…

perhaps even stronger than Wutta, though not by a massive margin. The battle exploded into chaos. Galer activated his light techniques instantly. His legs glowed with bright, crackling energy, granting him faster reflexes and razor-sharp dodges. He moved like a living shine of light, weaving between the monster's devastating punches while launching precise counter-strikes on its legs. I channeled my inner Heart flame with everything I currently had under control, fueled by the thought of the lost children.

When I reached it and attacked with my longsword, trying to connect, I was still like a mere child in this battle; two of the monster's punches smashed into my armor and torso, cracking plates and sending brutal shockwaves through my body. But my Animo had been steadily rising since all our previous combats i had experienced. My inner Heart flame moved like living blood across my arm, slowly closing the gap and cushioning the worst of the damage.

Then, shockingly, even with my growing power, the monster deflected my longsword with a casual block, jumped back several meters, and laughed with genuine delight.

"Good, such good warm-up! We already fought hard and…" He paused, tilting his head with a playful grin.

"He's saying he's only just warming up to our attacks???" We were stunned into silence. He tilted his head again, eyes gleaming with playful curiosity.

"Let me see your Animo…" His gaze first landed on Larina.

"500…" We both immediately turned to her in shock. She looked so weak… yet this was royalty blood at work. Then he looked at me.

"788… rising slowly… now 793." He shrugged, clearly unimpressed.

"Nothing special here." Finally, he looked at Galer whom he was the most satisfied with.

"2, 255… hmm, equal to me. That's why it's so fun to play around with you. Hehehehehe~" He proudly declared his own current Animo: 2, 000, clearly enjoying the shocked looks on our faces. His ego was massive and unashamed. We charged again. He was now so much stronger and faster than me that I could barely keep up with his barrage of attacks. My cunning moves did little to no damage.

Galer managed to destroy part of his armor with a series of precise light-enhanced strikes, but the monster just laughed in his egotistical state of how fun this exchange was.

"Ahhhhh! You can actually make me go serious! These training weights stay in the way!" He ripped off the rest of his heavy armored clothing in one violent motion, standing nearly naked (with no visible genitals, as he had none). His Animo surged to 2, 300. The raw power he exuded was overwhelming... not to be underestimated. Finally, my Heart flame flowed correctly for the first time, channeling into my arm and driving my Animo up to 810. But it was a pebble's strength. To him, it was nothing but a mere joke.

The loud shockwaves and constant quaking from Galer and his exchanges echoed through the tunnels, alarming the satyrs. They came rushing in to support their master. I, who had been punched away too many times, decided to handle them. There were now six of them, stronger than the ones we fought in Kikindo. They used their horns to create melodies: one horn boosted their physical strength or speed, the other broke the opponent's rhythm, making movements sloppy and slow... but i already had my experience with that.

Then they rushed in with active horn boost and body attacks. Against them, I finally understood my Heart Flame's true potential. When fighting the blue-horned monster earlier, I could not truly " feel" a difference... my newfound strength felt almost the same whether the flame flowed or not. But against these satyrs, who tried to slow me down and disrupt my rhythm with their eerie horn melodies, everything changed.

The moment the flame surged from my heart down into my arm and through my blade, my attacks became explosively potent. Each swing carried far more force, cutting stronger, hitting harder, and blocking with effortless ease. When one satyr tried to slow me with its blue horn melody, I swung my longsword with perfect timing. The blade struck the horn cleanly, it snapped off with a sharp crack and flew away like a broken twig.

Then my thrust went in smoothly, sinking deep into the satyr's chest like a spoon sliding into thick stew. Also blocking their desperate counterattacks felt almost trivial now. Their strikes, which should have rattled my bones, were absorbed with shocking ease. I withstood their pressure completely better and fought with smooth, flowing precision, my blade singing through the air as I dispatched them one by one.

Meanwhile, Galer was slowly losing balance against the blue-horned monster and got flung away like a ragdoll. The monster turned to me, salivating heavily, and attacked with terrifying force, as he saw how i killed his subjects. He slammed his legs onto my back, pounding me up and down while laughing in a high-pitched "kikiriki" voice that echoed through the cavern tunnel system. Larina could no longer stand by. She went berserk. Her power suddenly boosted dramatically.

She struck the blue-horned monster with surprising force (though it still did little damage), then bit him hard. He felt almost nothing. Her powerlessness was painfully real, even her royal blood's full potential, released after being held back for so long, couldn't match his monstrous strength yet. The satyrs slowly regrouped. Galer came back into the fight with his loaded knives, cutting off part of the monster's arm in a flash of light.

The blue-horned monster, a prodigy in fighting but terrible at omni-directional awareness, kept ignoring the "weaker" opponents. Galer abused this flaw perfectly with his slowly turning Animo-reading eyes. The monster's arm began healing slowly, but Galer stayed relentlessly on the offensive. I endured the damage on my back. Larina helped me up. We entered a second round with even more satyrs, now 15 had joined the fray from another location. I counted 9 kills in the chaos.

Larina, in her awakened animalistic state with bites and claw attacks, destroyed several more, launching them into the air with powerful kicks. I felt a sting of jealousy at the difference in our current power, but I was determined to fight through my broken condition and surpass her in numbers defeated. Galer lured the increasingly angry monster further away, controlling the stage like a master. The blue-horned monster was now covered in cuts, but his Animo kept rising in his rage.

All of a sudden he caught Galer and beat him so hard that my friend was flung back toward us, dropping his weapons altogether. The monster stood there, bleeding heavily, yet his lost hand had already healed. He grinned wildly.

"That was fun! Time for the round to gear into the next stage!" He walked slowly toward us, death looming in every step. In that moment, I realized the painful truth: We were not yet ready for revenge. We were not yet ready to keep our promise. With that desperation gnawing at my heart, the flame surged with even stronger power. A small flicker could be seen on my vein, flowing down to my arm as I released this hot power, destroying the reinforced upper part of the inner cave.

Massive sections of the ceiling collapsed in a deafening roar. The blue-horned monster evolved slightly in response and understood what was happening. He raised his open hand... a sharp "zishhh" sound rang out as red lines of hardened energy smelling strongly of iron cut deep into my shoulder and legs, slowing me down. Yet I pushed through the pain and brought the entire cave section down involuntarily. Larina spread her wings, grabbed me, and flew us out through the newly created opening with desperate strength.

Galer, who had regained consciousness after 22 agonizing seconds, jumped out as well, leaving his knives behind. His determination to slay the beast burned stronger than ever, yet he also understood we needed to retreat. It was still a bit too strong for us right now… but soon, he felt it deep in his bones, he would be able to kill it. But it was not over. The moment we reached the surface, the ground shook violently. We knew the monster would reach the surface soon.

"We need to go back down," I said urgently.

"He won't suspect that."

"Down again?!" Larina asked in disbelief.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Galer understood immediately as he gradually came around, bit by bit. The monster was still not fully utilizing his power. He treated this as training, blinded by his young, playful ego. He definitely wouldn't expect us to go back underground. So we did. The monster crawled up with terrifying speed and let out a furious "ARGHHHHHH!" more mentally exhausted than physically damaged.

He ran off downward in what we would later learn was a complete "blind rampage," killing soldiers in his blind rage. We remained hidden deep below, our only exit now being the passage where the satyrs had come from. Our situation was dire. Our approach had been naive and unprepared. This mistake would shape us forever. After bandaging my wounds with strips of cloth from Larina and receiving quiet encouragement from Galer ("We can get through this… we just need to be on our A-game from this point forward"), we walked slowly deeper into the cave system. We had no idea what might happen next.