Chương 107: What must be done

Herto swore as the bubble around the mountain shrank.

"Deactivate the traps and go inside!" he barked, slamming his array controller and sprinting for the entrance. There was no time to check if the others followed; if they wanted to live, they would. The bubble dropped fast, suffocating the mountainside, and he barely crested the threshold of the tunnel before it sealed behind them. No way back now. Only forward. It had been two hours since the beast disappeared into the mountain, and now the system was forcing them to follow.

This was the last place Herto wanted to fight. Inside, there would be no space to manoeuvre, no cover to retreat behind. He had no desire to face that monster in close quarters. Its strength was absurd, unnatural. But choice had been stripped from him, as always. The cursed system seed gave only one option: kill the beast or die entombed. He pushed deeper. The tunnel spat them out into a cavern braced with stone pillars, the aftermath of a battle painted across every surface. Pillars split by massive blades.

Scorch marks seared into the rock. Shredded webs clung to the ground like brittle ash. So the spiderwoman survived this battle. Yet she hadn't answered a single message in over an hour. Was she taken hostage? Eaten Alive? Herto growled and pressed on.

"It passed through here," Devro muttered, holding up an orb that glowed faintly, gesturing at the huge opening before him. Of course it had, fool. Where else could it have gone? Herto bit back the retort and kept moving, eyes locked on the yawning doorway at the far end of the cavern. The group started down the next tunnel when the mountain lurched. Herto slid to a halt as the ground shuddered beneath him, a tremor so strong it rattled the walls, sending rocks and debris crashing down around him.

Then came the roar… so loud it felt carved into the marrow of his bones. He clamped his hands over his ears, teeth bared as blood trickled down his neck.

"Was that the beast?" Shanks shouted.

"No," Herto snarled, voice low as the roar's echo waned.

"That was something much larger." The group faltered, eyes darting, fear bleeding into their movements.

"No one goes back!" Herto barked, forcing strength into his words.

"We press on!" He surged forward, unwilling to give them time to hesitate. The others' Auras followed reluctantly close behind. His chest burned with anger and unease. Nothing about this competition made sense. The body count was a disaster, more like a battle royale to the death than any previous Monster Mash. This competition was meant to be relatively easy in comparison to fighting demons like Kilch. But instead, they'd been thrown against an unkillable monster and driven into the dark, deeper and deeper.

And now this. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. As Herto dashed through another chamber and tunnel, the clash of battle reached his ears. They had caught up at last. The beast was fighting, but against whom? The spiderwoman? He hoped so. Otherwise… What else could possibly challenge that thing? The answer froze him in place. He burst into the chamber half-buried in frost, where an enormous Hydra coiled across the floor. Its many heads lashed and roared, spewing fire, ice, and earth in relentless waves.

And standing against it, impossibly, was the Harbinger of Demise. Blades of wood, steel and mana flashed as the Harbinger deflected each elemental blast with brutal force. For a moment, Herto could only gape. Then his eyes caught something else. Movement. Dangling from the beast's back was the spiderwoman, her hands frantically shooting out webbing across the runes covering the door behind them. Each symbol she shot flared and dimmed at the touch. Herto's mind reeled in confusion. Was she helping the beast?

Was it some kind of mind control? What in the system was going on? His thoughts shattered as the Harbinger's fangs slashed wide, releasing a wave of mana. Herto dove for cover, but Shanks beside him wasn't quick enough. The blade of mana severed his arm in a spray of blood. Herto cursed and rolled away, dodging another pair of arcs that split ice-covered stone pillars like straw. The Harbinger hadn't even slowed its fight with the Hydra, yet it was attacking them at the same time.

That was when the truth settled in his gut like lead. They were hopelessly outmatched. Another strike whistled by, close enough to singe the air. Herto steadied his breath. There was no escape.

"Mira… I'm sorry. Goodbye," he whispered, and charged headlong into death. __ Joe braced his back against the door as vines erupted beneath him, holding him aloft. Lola scrambled at the runes, desperately forcing her way through the pattern. The Hydra's magic flared again, twin blasts of mana tore toward him. Joe vaulted aside, letting the explosion rip past as he narrowly avoided slamming into Lola. She didn't even pause. Her hands flew over the last few symbols, eyes wide with frantic determination.

Then, with a final cry of triumph, the door cracked. A surge of air blasted outward as the stone frame shuddered and began to open.

"Thank fuck," Joe mumbled as he sealed Lola fully inside his barding and lunged at the three figures pressing him. His knives carved sweeping arcs, mana bursting outward in waves that even staggered the Hydra. He spun and rolled through their counterstrikes, answering with brutal shouts of Aura. A crimson spray followed as one fell, then another. The Hydra struck, a massive head crashing down, but Joe's blades flashed and shattered its fangs to splinters. The beast recoiled, but Joe didn't relent.

He became a storm of wood and fury, hacking through writhing necks until gore drenched him and heads thudded to the floor one by one. But exhaustion clawed at him. His pace slowed, breath ragged. When the door behind finally ground open, he disengaged and sprinted for it, only to find the last of the three that had attacked him, blocking his path. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. A towering beastman, golden mane bristling. Pity flickered in Joe's chest.

Then his knives cut twice, swift and merciless, and the body fell. He didn't look back. The Hydra's roar shook the cavern, but Joe was already through the doorway, running hard. Whatever awaited him, it was close. The final chamber sprawled out before him, heavy with moisture and shadow. Lola clung to his back, wide-eyed, as they gazed upon the monstrosity shackled within. A chained titan slumped against the wall, a warped minotaur with the head of a fish, its arms ridged with fins.

A steel muzzle bit into its jaws. Its bulk dripped with foul, stinking water that pooled at its feet, filling the air with a damp, acrid musk. Joe circled slowly, studying. Even chained and hunched, the beast loomed over twenty metres tall. Its chest rose and fell with a slow, unnatural rhythm, each breath rattling the chamber. Then hunger hit him like a blade to the gut. His vision blurred as the craving surged, gnawing at his mind until thought itself wavered.

His hand pressed to his temple, nails scraping wood and flesh. Sensing the shift in his Aura, Lola panicked. She vaulted from his shoulder, silk spilling around her as she fled to the edge of the chamber. Joe barely noticed her movement. His Aura flared uncontrollably, waves of mana billowing outward, then cut off as both his mana bars bled dry in an instant. Right on cue, a vine slithered from the void in his arm, and only then did he start to understand. The ravenous hunger tearing through him wasn't his own.

It belonged to the thing within. His suspicions, gnawing at him for months, solidified into a single terrifying truth: something alive lurked inside that void, and its hunger was endless.

'Step forward,' Uriel urged. He grit his teeth, forcing himself through the agony of his mana being devoured, and obeyed. His palm pressed against the chained beast's massive leg, skin hot and unyielding. The vine reacted, snaking from his fingertip around the knife grafted to his hand. It pierced outward and began to feed. Mana surged through him, flooding into the void as fire ripped across his soul. Joe screamed.

This was no pain he had ever known, not even the torments the system had inflicted, compared to this. Not even his months of torture in the bloodline gate. This was pure consumption, agony so complete it locked his body in place, denying even the escape of unconsciousness. The void churned and roared inside him, devouring without end. He didn't know how long he remained there, locked against the beast as it was drained. But after far too long, his muscles loosened.

He slumped, still bound to the titan by his hand, and slid down to sit with his back against its trembling leg, arm raised above him. His eyes found Lola. She was curled against the wall, watching him with the hollow gaze of someone who had already surrendered to despair. Joe had seen that look too often during this integration to mistake it. So he closed his eyes and waited. With a sharp pop and rush of air, the vine retracted into his arm.

Joe's eyes snapped open in panic, unsure if the feeding had ended or if something far worse had begun. He lurched upright, grabbed the unconscious Lola, and hauled her over his shoulder. She jolted awake with a gasp, convinced death had arrived. The mountain shook violently. The drained beast's vast body bulged grotesquely, then detonated in a cataclysmic blast that annihilated the chamber.

Joe sprinted through a tunnel as stone and dust thundered down, the passage collapsing behind him, sealing away all trace of the room and the abomination within. Joe ran until he burst back into the ice room, where the Hydra still writhed, though only two mangled heads remained. Both rose to meet him, hissing. He drew back his blades and unleashed two gleaming mana slashes, severing the heads cleanly as he sprinted past the collapsing body. Ding!

Class Absolute Space Farmer has reached level 153 - stat points distributed. Ding! Class Absolute Farmer has reached level 153 - stat points distributed. He ignored the notifications. The mountain shook violently around him. Joe pushed through into the first cavern, only to find the exit blocked by a shimmering blue wall of mana. A prison.

"Shit," he muttered, finally releasing his barding. His wooden armour crumbled away, revealing his true form for the first time. Lola slumped against a pillar, eyes glassy, a lone tear streaking down her cheek. There was no escape. No way out, except to end the Monster Mash. Joe lowered himself to the ground and drew out the stone-bound book. At that same moment, the curved blades grafted to his hands released with a metallic clatter. He flexed raw fingers in relief, savouring freedom from the hateful weapons.

He set the book in his lap and eased open the first page.

'Vosh, hue, sinto,' Uriel whispered.

"Vosh, hue, sinto," Joe repeated, voice steady. He turned another page.

'Kentara, vi, loko ti yuit varo corr, sentop lark forths stoo trav.' He listened carefully, repeating each phrase as Uriel recited. The words meant nothing to him, but her voice carried a strange calm, weaving through his mind. Page after page, he let the cadence wash over him. Whenever she nudged him, he turned another leaf of stone. Then, words he understood.

'Varsuff lar, entra de Devourer. For doth ist in eternal slumber,' Joe paused. His hands tightened around the book.

"Wait," he said sharply.

"Go back. What does that mean? The devourer in eternal slumber?"

'.... Think. Doth ist in. Varlara keth newee,' Uriel responded. Was she trying to guide him? Joe pressed his mind around the unfamiliar words.

"Lies in? Sleeps for? Rests in?"

'Close, vara vara, sin thorar,' Uriel encouraged.

"Lay… lies… rests… waits."

'Yes! Waits! kakakaka' Uriel cackled.

'Varsuff lar, entra de Devourer. For it waits in eternal slumber.' The world shook. Stop playing games and end it! The notification burned across his vision. Joe tried to shove the book into his storage ring, but it refused to move. His eyes flicked back to the final lines, burning them into memory.

'Got it! kakakaka,' Uriel crowed, her laughter echoing inside his skull. Joe rose, eyes shut for a moment. It was time. He hadn't wanted this, but there was no choice left. When he turned to Lola, she was already on her feet. Her eyes blazed even as tears streaked down her mud-stained cheeks. She bared her fangs at him.

"Goodbye, Harbinger of Demise," she snarled and leapt. A single tear rolled down Joe's cheek as he lifted his hand. Light flared. Lola fell. Congratulations, Harbinger of Demise. You have been awarded one million integration points. You have earned the title Slayer. You have earned the title Killer. Your bounty has increased. I am always watching.