Chương 31: Arena

Time until next Elemental Storm: 3 Days and 14 Hours In a pitch-black cell of obsidian deep in the earth, a man banged his hands against the wall. Sconces with flames dancing inside lit the cell. The walls were filled with lined brickwork, and only a single sliding door was placed against the south wall. It was near as thick as the walls themselves, but with a narrow viewing hole just big enough for someone to look outside. Not that there was much of a sight to find.

It was a similarly black glass hallway, with nary a sound to be found.

"Can you please stop that banging?!" Mia finally shouted. It had been nearly three hours since they fell inside the hole. Mia's drones helped slow their fall somewhat, but most still landed on hurt feet and their own asses.

"Do you have a better plan?!" Ethan barked back. His knuckles may have been bleeding, but that wouldn't stop him. For what was the third time, he readied DE Shotgun over his fists. Plates of bones formed over the spearhead, and death essence filled the inside. Ethan reared one leg backwards, and clutch the spear hard enough to stop the bleeding out of his hands. He wanted to launch it so badly, but someone placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Ethan, stop. We've tried everything. We're not getting out," Penny said, saddened.

"You don't know that. You can't! This is just another challenge. The shrine wants us to escape!" Ethan reasoned. But his own voice sounded foreign to him. But he didn't launch the Os-lance. He let it dissipate, converted the death essence back into life, and reabsorbed it, before sitting back down with his back slumped against one wall. The others were similarly spread out across the cell, quiet when they weren't silently cursing. They'd given up trying to escape after the first hour.

It didn't help that the quest objective was so vague it didn't provide any way forward. [Dungeon Quest: Dragonmount (Earth Shrine) Survive the gauntlet.] There was no gauntlet. Or if there was, they hadn't reached it. Ethan could see what the others thought just from the looks on their faces. If there was going to be a gauntlet, it was better to keep their strength until that point. Ethan was the only one who could afford to fire off his abilities so haphazardly.

He had a wealth of life and death essence to draw from. If they had any questions about where his new abilities had come from, they didn't ask, and he didn't answer.

"You haven't eaten anything ever since we got here. Have some water," Penny said, pushing the bottle towards him. Ethan was hesitant to take it.

"You'll need it more than me," he reasoned.

"Please, you do too. Especially after that workout," Bradley added, trying to keep his voice light. It still sounded hoarse and weak, but no one said it to his face. After some struggling, Ethan admitted his own thirst to himself and took the bottle. He nearly emptied it before remembering Penny still hadn't taken a sip.

"Here," he said, handing it back.

"Thanks."

'Is Unimart still not working?" Jeffrey asked in a gruff voice. His face was set in a permanent scowl now, and it seemed directed squarely at Ethan. Just knowing he was hated for no good reason made his blood boil, but fighting back would only prove Jeffrey's point. I can't wait to be rid of you either, asshole.

"No… Ever since we entered the hole, it's been off. Can't be just a coincidence," Bradley replied. That was the other thing. No more access to Unimart, which meant no more food or anything else. They were being slowly starved, and they had no way around it. No way… except the crystals.

"Should we throw in the towel?" Emma suggested.

"No. We've come too far to."

"Nothing's happening, Jeffrey. What other way is there?" Mia asked.

"You lot got a second shrine lined up to clear?" Jeffrey argued back.

"There's no guarantee the shrine we get after this'll be any easier, especially with the state we're in." He said we, but Ethan knew he meant Bradley. The man was just a crystal carrier now, nothing more. No one spoke up afterwards, and they all receded back to their own spots.

"At least it's colder than the last place," Bradley said, curling up into himself. In frustration, Ethan punched the door one more time. And this time, someone answered. Heavy metal footsteps alerted the entire party. They rose up, readying their Skills. Ethan bared his spear, with a shield of bone forming on the other hand. The steps continued down the hallway towards them, getting louder with every passing second.

As soon as the first sign of the monsters came through the bars, everyone let loose their strongest abilities against the door. Bone shards, arrows, knives and flames exploded against the door, kicking up a storm of dust that clouded everything beyond.

"Mark one against your party, Trial Goers. You will only be given two more marks before you are sentenced to execution," a robotic voice said from beyond the bars. The dust cleared, and a metal orb with limbs peeked through. This was no monster, it was an automaton of steel inside, with a burning core hidden in its chest behind a covering. Some bits of its core leaked from the various holes and vents around its body, orange-yellow light landing on the walls.

"What do you want?" Jeffrey asked, more knives floating up around him.

"You will be given a chance to fight for your freedom, Trial Goer. Choose to accept, or perish within the walls of our prison. It is up to you," The metal automaton spoke through a fuzzy speaker. Jeffrey glanced around at the others, pausing longer on Bradley's bruised form than anyone else.

"We just want to survive the Elemental Storm that's coming. We'll do anything you ask so long as you guarantee that," Jeffrey told the automaton.

"Negative. This is the only path available for you. Fight, and if you succeed, safety will be given. You have ten minutes to decide," The automaton told them. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. The party huddled up close so the monster wouldn't hear them.

"What are the chances it's telling the truth?" Ethan asked. No one had an ability to discern intent or lies, so they were out of luck.

"Even if it's lying, what other choice do we have?" Mia asked. Bradley shook the crystals when he brought the bag forward.

"These. Let's just get out of here, regroup, and do another shrine that's not as hard." He was sneering and angry, and Ethan shared that feeling. He hated nothing more than being prisoner in some locked off room, without a thing he could do to fix it.

"We still don't have another shrine lined up, and the time we've wasted is too much as it is," Jeffrey told them.

"We're going to keep going." The others agreed with him, and reluctantly, so did Ethan. The Trials were cruel, so it was better to take a risk he knew than one he didn't.

"How many battles are we going to face?" Jeffrey asked the automaton.

"We cannot give that information."

"What monsters are we going to fight, then?"

"We cannot give that information."

"This is completely unfair. How are we supposed to clear this shrine with such vague answers?" Jeffrey banged against the bars.

"We do not care. Choose now, or die," the automaton replied. Despite its cold and callous tone, Ethan felt like it was being especially cruel. Nothing in the last shrine was untouchable like these bars are. It's like they were specially designed to keep Designers at bay. If that's the case… they might be here to force us into a single option.

"Let's do it," Ethan suggested. If it meant being taken to another location, at least it would give them more information on the second level of the shrine. Jeffrey didn't like Ethan's tone, but he huffed and turned to the automaton regardless.

"Fine. We accept your terms. When do these fights start?" he asked.

"Now." The wall opposite to the door began to slide upwards slowly, shaking the cell as it moved. Ethan readied DE Shotgun over both of his knuckles, as the first signs of what was beyond came into view. It was a pure black hallway, at the end of which was a shining light. There were regular torches placed on the walls leading up to the end, and as soon as the wall fully slid up, they caught on fire. There was no sound at the end of the hallway, and the automaton didn't speak another word.

Ethan took the first step. Anything to get out of the prison and taste fresh air again. Bradley tried to get up after him, and Penny helped him forward. After that, Emma, Mia and Jeffrey joined in too, as they made their way to the end of the tunnel. The walls of the tunnel had engravings on them, of people and the automatons fighting each other. Sometimes there were flaming lizards in between, but most of the carvings were of the former.

When they reached the end of the tunnel, they had to shade their eyes against the sudden brightness outside. The tunnel exited onto a bridge suspended over a massive ring of lava. The bridge was connected at the other end to a large circular arena made of dirt and dotted with boulders and rocks. Some of the rocky formations looked like frozen liquid, like someone had shot magma and it had cooled.

The whole arena was reminiscent of an old colosseum, complete with seating above the arena where people could watch from. Except there was no one there, and the seats looked like they were in worse condition than the arena. There was no other exit around the arena. No place that Ethan could possibly escape from. The ceiling had holes in it, but neither he nor anyone else in his team could fly long enough to see beyond the deep blackness it encompassed.

No getting around it, Ethan lamented as he finally stepped onto the arena proper. As soon as he did, the bridge started to recede. The others jumped across the bridge and landed beside Ethan. Bradley immediately began chanting, and Mia summoned her drones to scout around the rocks. Penny brought out her Crag Serpent, and Jeffrey floated his knives above him. A domed platform started to descend from the hole in the roof, yet no one fired.

They didn't want a second offense on the record, and the dome was made of the same material as their walls, making it near impossible to break through. The domed platform lowered through means none of them could see, until it was twice the height of the tallest rock on the platform. Then one side of it opened up, just like the domes around the villages, and six more automatons filed out. They landed on the opposite side of the arena and barely bent their knees in response.

Half of them had a sword and shield, while the other half had guns for arms and wider, circular shields on the other arm. Once the domed platform had emptied its contents, it rose back into the air and disappeared into the ceiling.

"Emma, Ethan, go ahead. Me and Mia'll back you up," Jeffrey said.

"What about Penny, her new summon ca—" but they weren't listening. The others ran forward, so Ethan had to follow. The gunners were up front, and as soon as they raised their hands, Ethan summoned a sheet of bone to block the shot. It wasn't enough. The bullets tore through the bone easily, and Ethan had to Boost himself behind a rock to block the rest of the coming shots. Even Emma could only survive a few shots before taking cover behind rocks.

She was close enough for Ethan to analyze her life force, and the places the bullets had impacted were bleeding internally.

"Take out the gunners first, they're the biggest problem!" Ethan shouted at his allies. The gunners were moving forward slowly, keeping the party behind cover with consistent maintained fire. And although their firing rate slowed down, it never fully stopped. Their magazines must have worked like belt-fed guns, never running out until the final bullet was out. Which made their situation even worse. Not helping was the final issue Ethan found. They didn't have any life force.

Which meant that even if they did beat this wave of monsters, he'd have less life force to use on the next one. I can't just stay behind these rocks forever, Ethan decided. He kept his head down and circled around the boulder, keeping an eye out for the automatons the entire time. No life force also meant he couldn't see through solid rock to find their locations, keeping Ethan on edge the whole time. He changed out the spear head for a hammer while he moved. It'd do better against foes like these.

When he reached the other end of the rock, a metal foot landed in front of Ethan and he stopped. The robotic monster noticed him a moment later, levelling its gun to blast him apart. Ethan boosted out of the trajectory before the firing began. Death essence spread across his hammer and bullets carved up the ground. Ethan slammed the hammer into the automaton's arm joint, spreading essence over the metal. Though it corroded and squeaked, the effect was much tamer than it had been on every other monster.

The automaton slammed its shield into Ethan, but he ducked under it. He rose back up, bone plates forming over his hand before he finally slammed it down into the same joint as before. More death essence corroded the metal further, but the bone shards left barely a scratch on the metal. The automaton pushed Ethan away, before the barrel of its gun started to spin again. Boost. He had to drop the hammer to dodge it, but he closed the distance between him and the automaton once more.

This time, Ethan grabbed onto the arm joint with both arms, and placed his legs against the monster's steaming chest. Ethan pulled with all his might, but the joint came loose only slightly. He saw the shield hand coming down, and used it to his advantage. He pulled the arm joint towards the shield slam, placing himself behind. When the shield landed, it cut out the wires holding the gun arm in place, and severed it completely. Ethan fell to the ground with the automaton, the gun arm still in his hands.

The automaton was the first to recover, but before it was fully on its feet, Ethan pointed its own gun back at itself. Come on, come on, how do I fire this thing? He grunted, searching for a button or lever of some kind. But he was no mechanical expert, and the monster was already coming for him again. Ethan threw the heavy barrel gun to the side and backed away to his hammer. He picked the weapon back up, and began to beat away at the robotic monster.

He smashed legs and shield both, but the monster wouldn't stop its chase against him. If only it had a life force, Ethan would know what actually did damage, but he didn't. At least he had a place to start guessing from. The monster was keeping its core hidden behind its shield while it fought. Ethan thought of getting in through the vents, but they were too small and leaked steam.

He tried to diffuse some of his death essence into the environment, but the steam pushed it out of the vents, preventing him from reaching inside. He'd have to break in the old-fashioned way. The other automatons were being held off by the rest of his crew. Jeffrey was doing especially well against their metal frames, which gave Ethan plenty of time to form a new kind of Os-lance. This time, he shaped it according to the hammer head he'd slotted on the staff.

Death essence conducted through the shaft leaked out into the space between the hammer and a thick layer of bone above it. And when Ethan finished, he had a larger than usual hammer resting in his hands. Ethan closed the distance between him and his opponent one last time. He baited out another shield slam and dodged around it, leaving the monster's back exposed. Then, he raised the hammer in a two-handed grip and smashed it dead centre on its back.

The hammer caved in and broke through the metal plating, reaching the burning life within. Death essence scoured and broke whatever was powering it into multiple pieces, and the automaton's energy source poured out of the new hole in its back. It was a solid glowing mineral that came out, red-hot yet solid. With it gone, the automaton could only make one or two lazy moves against Ethan, before finally powering off. [+350 Credits] Now, he could go back and help his party.