Chương 30: Into the Depths

Time until next Elemental Storm: 3 Days and 20 Hours Flames and lava coated every edge of the platform as Ethan began to dodge. He didn't have much of a choice on moves, so he just did his best to survive and come up with a new plan. He was glad that the attention was on him instead of Penny. If she got her falcon back into the air, he could use the drowsiness it provided. A tongue lashed out from the backlines to grab Ethan, and he formed a tiny wall of bone to block it.

The Volcanic Frog in the backlines swallowed it and started to choke, taking him out of the fight. The flyers were the main issue right now. Ethan formed a small shield of bone in his hands to block their flashing lights, but it also blocked his view of the other monsters. He broke shield after shield as they met lava and flames, tiring him out with each new one. One of the Komodos rushed forward to meet Ethan, and Ethan raised another shield to block it.

The Komodo slashed its claws over the construct, breaking through and carving up the armour on his forearms too. Ethan stabbed it in the neck and backed off, healing the wound it left and the armour above. Another Volcanic frog shot its tongue out and Ethan sidestepped it. Before the tongue receded, Ethan pinned it to the ground with his shield and cut it off with the spear. The tongue wiggled around, and Ethan felt hot flames on the other side of his shield.

He let it go and jumped away, narrowly avoiding the assault of flame and magma. He summoned another shield and more close-ranged monsters broke the line to reach him. They must have thought shooting at him wasn't working.

"Penny! Is that monster of yours ready yet?" Ethan shouted.

"It's hurt. I-I can't send him flying!" Penny shouted back. Damnit!

"Give me cover! A smoke grenade or something, just buy it off the market!" Ethan ordered her. He dodged more slashes and slams from the monsters, growing sweatier from their combined radiating heat. The heat and the fight were both making him lazy, and he could barely summon the strength to raise his shield for a block. A Magmizard slammed its head where Ethan was a moment ago. He thought he was free, but then it started dragging its head across the floor, and batted him in the chest.

His chestplate shattered, and Ethan was sent flying backwards, rolling until Penny caught him. She pulled him up with one hand while shaking the other to bring the falcon to life. This isn't working! Ethan grunted inwardly, and sent life force into the monster's core. Wings and branches snapped together, and Penny's monster finally opened its eyes once again.

"He's alive!" Penny told him. Ethan pointed forward with his spear, at the rapidly approaching wall of monsters.

"Get it in there and slow them down!" Ethan shouted.

"Right!" Penny nodded and sent her monster flying. She threw Zeke into the air, and the bird caught flight. Ethan placed a hand to his chest, and a new chestplate formed to protect him. Just need to keep pushing against this, and we'll win! He rushed back into the fray while the bird floated overhead.

"Zeke! Powder them!" Penny shouted, and the bird dove. It weaved between the tongues of Volcanic frogs, covered itself against the blinding flashes of the snakes, and spread a thick pollen in the air that reached even the backlines. The Magmizard opened its mouth to shoot magma at the falcon. Ethan came in, hands coated in bone and essence, and blew a DE Shotgun through its neck. The magma died in there, but some got on his hands. The flying snakes took it as an opportunity to reach down and bite him.

When they came close, Ethan covered the top of the spear in more essence and swept it outwards. It went a small distance in an arc, warding away the monsters and doing nothing more. Before the flying snakes could dive in again, Ethan fired death essence directly into their wings. He blew holes in their wings and watched them fall to the ground, while the other monsters tried so desperately to fight off the sleep taking them.

Ethan raised his spear again and rushed back in to stab the fallen snakes, but he was stopped. Another of those giant serpents that could cover the entire platform appeared, and rushed past its sleepy allies to bite down on Ethan. He turned and ran, and Zeke squawked, unable to get close to it. It's the heat. All that heat radiating off of it is burning the sleep powder away! Ethan reached Penny and they continued to run together.

"What do we do about him!?" Penny asked. The other monsters were recovering too, and they'd give chase soon enough. Sooner or later Penny and Ethan would get caught out of breath, and killed.

"I took one of these on before! How close can you get Zeke?" Ethan asked, hoping for a positive answer.

"He's burning up alive, Ethan! He'll die if he gets any closer!" She replied. Shit! Before, he at least had to deal with a single monster. Now it was the same monster, only with a dozen others keeping him on the move. He couldn't pull the same trick.

"You need to get him to powder the other monsters again. I need an opening!" Ethan said desperately.

"O-okay, I'll try! Zeke, back in there, stop them from getting any closer!" She ordered her monster with a wave of her hand. Zeke let out a screech and jumped in between the monsters, while Ethan coated his spear in layers of bone. In the heat of battle, adjusting his DE Shotgun to cover a weapon was hell. But he'd had constant practice over the past week and a half dealing with death essence.

Day and night, he'd slaved away getting it under control, because he'd started off on the backfoot compared to everyone else. And deep in his heart, he didn't just want to surpass them. He didn't just want to be good for a cripple, he just wanted to be good. The first layer of bone fit over the spear perfectly, and the second layer expanded from it. Once formed, he shut out all of his senses and let his will gather around the life force in his body.

He converted it rapidly to death and, once he had enough, pushed it all through the spear. This DE Shotgun wasn't the same as the others. While he had to leave spaces open along his hand to fill it with death essence, he only needed to keep a part of the spear exposed so the essence could conduct through it. Penny was shouting something while firing bolts into the horde, and the feeling of heat was rising at his back, but Ethan shut them out.

A river of essence came flooding into the spear, until it was thick enough to push against the wall. The spear became heavier in his arms, and yet he still lifted it above himself as he pivoted. Behind him, open-mawed monsters were rabid to feast on him and Penny's flesh. But Ethan wouldn't let it come to that. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Os-lance.

His arms filled with life force, and he flung the spear straight into the giant serpent's heart. One instant it was above his arms, and the next, he saw it come out the monster's back, spraying massive shards of bone at the same time. It caught one or two of the monsters behind it as well, and Ethan saw notification after notification pass through his vision in an instant. The entire line of monsters broke apart. Penny let out a shout of exhilaration, only to stop a moment later.

The last of the monsters were still gunning for them, and even Ethan's ultimate move didn't seem like it was going to stop them. Ethan wanted to move out of the way, but his legs wouldn't obey. What the hell is happening? He sent healing through his whole body, fixing up the fatigue in an instant. But somehow it still lingered. It's not my body, is it? He'd overused his soul stamina, and now he was paying the consequences.

A deep aching and weariness spread through every part of him, refusing to let him take another step.

"Ethan, move!" Penny shouted.

"I can't!" He said, fear leaking into his voice. Damnit, I'm not dying to some frog after I killed that thing twice! Ethan slammed his fists into his legs, and felt the feeling in them return. While he tried to jumpstart the muscles again, Zeke the falcon was out there kiting around the monsters and spreading more powder among them. They were shooting him with fire and magma, but the bird was too fast and kept away from them. It was just the distraction that Ethan needed to get himself moving again.

He ran and rejoined Penny, who was shooting the stragglers of the monster group with more bolts. She landed a few good shots on their hide, but that didn't deter their chase of Zeke. Seeing Ethan return, Penny shouted a new order.

"Zeke, get back here!" The bird squawked in acknowledgement, and Ethan took deep breaths of air as he scanned the life force of the dead monsters. They're converting into life force, but… oh no.

"Penny, no! He's still alive!" But Zeke was already on his way. As soon as he passed by the serpent, its head snapped up and caught the falcon between its jaws.

"Let him go!" Penny shouted, shooting another bolt into the monster's eye. But it only angered the serpent further. The serpent looked at Penny, almost deliberately, before crunching down on the morsel between its teeth. Penny shouted in anger, and more powder began to leak from between the serpent's teeth. It let out a few more coughs, and with Zeke's last attack, fell asleep. It's still not dead? How tough is that thing? Ethan grunted, but he had more immediate worries to take care of.

The rest of the monsters were still coming, and Ethan had just thrown his weapon away. Penny, bless her, didn't break from losing her monster. She loaded up more bolts, and fired them into the remaining monsters. Ethan covered his arms in DE Shotguns. It strained his soul further, but he smashed his hands into the frog and Komodos remaining, taking them out fully. Only then did Ethan lay his knees down on the floor, and his hands as well.

"Are you good?" Penny asked, placing a hand on his back.

"No, it's… thank you for that. But your falcon…" Ethan said. She looked back over to the serpent and snarled.

"Stupid monster killed him. But… you're alive, and the others too. They need my help now," she said. A rude thought crossed Ethan's mind. Do they really? When you don't even have the bird anymore? Shut the hell up? Who says something like that? He reprimanded himself. He'd bear that kind of insult, but Penny had given it her all. She didn't deserve any portion of it. Penny lifted Ethan up, and they fished his spear out from the mass of corpses. Jeffrey had rescued Bradley, and they were going after Emma.

Mia was still responding, so he was sure she was still alive, and Ethan and Penny indulged a little in their spoils. They'd earned almost fifteen hundred credits each, and that was without all the essence they could harvest. They were still on a strict timer though, so they did their best to harvest the monsters as quickly as possible. A full point and a half just from that, Ethan thought after finishing up the last monster's essence.

He snuck in a bit of jerky and water too while he was harvesting, and now they could finally leave. Only, Penny looked like she still had something left to do. She stood over the sleeping serpent's corpse, its life force so close to death.

"What are we waiting for?" Ethan asked.

"I lost my last monster. I can't help you or the others without it," she said.

"But this one… if I can tame this one." She reached out a hand, but Ethan stopped her.

"... How does this go?"

"It's my willpower against the monsters. The stronger I get, the easier it'll be to tame a monster, and the more hurt they are…" She looked at the hole coming out of the back of the serpent.

"I can tame it," she said.

"And if you can't?" Ethan asked.

"You haven't explained that part."

"Well, then I die," she said with a bitter smile. He wanted to say no immediately. But that was just coddling her. If she stuck through these trials, she'd definitely lose a few more monsters, and need to tame even more. Who was he to stop her, when she'd chosen to enter the Realm Trial herself?

"Go ahead, and don't die," he said, and Penny nodded. She placed her hand against the serpent's and their eyes and mouths beamed with light. The serpent's was red and cruel, while Penny's looked like a cool blue breeze. Nothing else happened for a few moments, until the light around Penny's eyes started to shift their shade towards that same red look. Ethan wanted to pull her away, but he didn't know what'd happen to the taming process if he did.

He watched the reddish hue progress across her eyes, but eventually, it began to recede. At the same time, Ethan saw Penny let out a long sigh. Her blue light fought back against the red, and even started to shift the light coming out of the monster's eyes too. In only a few seconds, all the light across the serpent's eyes turned blue, and it rose into the air. It turned into pure blue energy, swirled around Penny, and then etched itself across her left arm like a tattoo.

When the process finished, Ethan supported Penny's legs, and she breathed out.

"That burnt… a lot. Wouldn't recommend it," she said, before pushing off Ethan. She sat down beside Zeke's corpse and closed his wings and eyes together, before rising back up.

"I'm ready now."

With Ethan and Penny back in shape, they ran past the rest of the monsters, reaching the centre of the shrine in record time. Penny didn't even give the elevator a second look before asking Ethan for Emma's direction. They found her only halfway through the hallway. She was much better off than Penny had been. Her armour was scorched and bent at various odd angles, but apart from that, she looked fine. Ethan applied more stealth healing to her body while they walked her back to the centre.

"New tattoo? What's with that?" she asked, her usual shyness all but burnt away.

"Why don't I show you?" Penny replied. When they came upon twin Komodos again, Penny let her new summon loose onto them. The Crag Serpent appeared out of thin air and tore the first Komodo with its fangs. The second could barely approach the Serpent's hot body, and so it tail-slammed it back into the channel.

"It's…. way tougher than your last one," Emma admitted. What caught Ethan was that it had apparently healed all the wounds it had taken, and yet it still remembered him. The Crag Serpent stared down at Ethan with its fangs bared, but without Penny's word, it couldn't do a thing against him.

"Come back now, you," Penny said and the Serpent snorted. Oh, it's like that, huh? Why don't I blow another hole through your stomach and we'll see how you feel? Thankfully, the Crag Serpent kept most of the other monsters from attacking them, and their little group returned back to the centre of the shrine unmolested. Jeffrey, Bradley and Mia were already there waiting for them, and their group looked much worse for wear.

All of them had different levels of burns across their body, but among them Bradley was the worst. The man had half of his face scorched, and one arm up to the elbow. He winced even while he wasn't moving it, but he kept a smile plastered on his face.

"Babe, what happened to you…" Penny asked.

"Just a touch of fire. It's fine, I-I'll live," he said, but his voice was fragile and hoarse. Jeffrey stared at Ethan hatefully, as if the wound had been his fault. But instead of starting another argument, he just stood up and started walking.

"Let's get to the elevator. No knowing when more monsters will show up," he said. But Ethan could tell Jeffrey just wanted to be done with him as soon as possible. Still, he had no objections, and followed after the man. All six of them piled into the elevator, and Jeffrey clicked the only button on it. Ethan kept his wits about him as soon as their little box started moving. Knowing how the shrines operated, they would open up to another challenge that'd take everything to beat.

But the ride continued smoothly, and everyone nursed their wounds. Ethan snuck in some healing to Jeffrey's wounds, but found that they were too badly burnt to ever heal fully. Oh, what did you do, Bradley… Ethan wanted to say something, but he couldn't without raising suspicion.

"Keep staying on the backlines, and use one of these if yout think you're about to die," Ethan told Bradley as he handed him back the return crystal. Now that they were together, he didn't need to keep it on himself. And Bradley was probably the most trustworthy among them all. The elevator kept descending in silence after that, until finally, it came to a stop. But they didn't see an exit outside open up.

"What's going on? Did it get hitched somewhere?" Jeffrey asked.

"I don't see anything it could catch on?" Emma said, pointing a flashlight outside of the windows. Before anyone else could question it, they heard gears turn in the elevator once again. Only it didn't turn to move. The ground itself opened up, and the entire party fell into the deep dark below.