Mizuoni [88]
~ Billy, Kagami Sea ~
The mild wounds incurred during the fight aren't enough to force us to use a healing potion. We move on after everyone has caught their breath, leaving behind the chamber filled with the gooey remains of the slimy monsters. Candlelight guides us down the hall. Sliding doors line the corridor's walls, each one hiding a room. Some of them look to be sparsely furnished bedrooms. Others resemble a study or private library.
"This place gives me the creeps..." Kingsley murmurs.
I believe most of us share the sentiment. The flickering candles do little to dispel the darkness, so we're forced to use our dungeon-made light sources to banish the shadows. Each time we're met with silent and abandoned architecture. This place looks as if it should no longer be occupied, yet every surface is clear of dust and oddly clean.
We step into the third small room of the passage when something finally moves. There is a figure hunched over a desk at the back of the room, wearing robes that hang loosely off their body. The way they rock back and forth gives me goosebumps.
"Hello?" I call out.
"What're you doing, boy? That's a monster."
Drist's words are proven true when the monster turns to look at us. It is one of those strange slime monsters. Why it had adopted such a strange rocking motion at the desk I do not know. I don't bother unsheathing my blade, instead opting to use my fists to attack the gooey blob.
It lunges for me much like the ones we fought earlier in our delve. I grab its odd gooey limb, squeezing in an attempt to crush the slimy thing. Its arm is squashed flat beneath my grip. The thing's forearm falls off in a gooey blob before attaching itself to the thing beneath its robe.
"Damn, these things are gross!"
Kingsley looks on with disgust as I wrestle the slimy monster. Squeezing and crushing its body is the best I can do, yet it isn't enough to kill it in a one on one fight. Thankfully Drist decides to pitch in and help me turn the monster into a fine translucent paste.
With combat finished we start to wring the goo out of our clothes. As we're doing this Miss Hawthorne rifles through the room's drawers in search of anything worth noting. She finds a great many sets of robes matching the monsters here.
"Ah hah! I knew there had to be something."
Miss Hawthorne's victorious exclamation draws the eyes of everyone in the group. Looking over reveals she has just found a small wooden box. She unclasps the lid before tilting it open. Inside is a collection of coins, all copper. Miss Hawthorne looks a tad let down by the low value prize.
"I'm sure there will be a greater reward ahead, Rebecca," Drist assures her.
"I know that. Doesn't make this box any less disappointing..."
We do a cursory search of the room just in case there is something else to find. Our efforts yield nothing but a few unlit candles stashed in the drawers, and a single copper coin left discarded beneath the set of drawers. Kingsley's crew looks antsy after all the waiting. For their sake we don't bother going back to check the other side rooms.
Moving ahead yields more of the same small unpopulated chambers. More of those little wooden lock boxes are in each room, hidden away in some corner we might have missed. There are a few standout rewards, such as a healing potion in place of coins.
After what feels like nearly an hour of searching we reach the end of the lengthy corridor. Here there is another sliding door, yet there is an unsettling aura about it. I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I listen. The faint sound of voices is coming through the doors. I can't make out the exact words, but it sounds like a bastardization of prayer.
"There's something inside."
My words have the others readying themselves for combat. While they're doing that my eyes widen in fear. The sounds I was hearing have all but stopped, as if those inside heard my voice through the thin sliding door. I swallow my fear as I too ensure I'm ready for combat.
I silently gesture with my hand once everyone is finished fiddling with their gear. Nods of agreement come to communicate readiness. I start the encounter by carefully gripping and sliding aside the thin wood and paper door.
The spacious room which waits for us on the other side is deeply unsettling. Flickering candlelight illuminates a few parts of the large chamber. At the back of the wall is a massive round metal disc hung from a wooden frame. The disc is carved with depictions of the sea, sea serpents, and a mermaid at its center. The whole disc shimmers with a blue hue. It glistens as if wet by some unseen rain.
There is no obvious source of the voices I heard earlier. The room's occupants are all monsters, with the vast majority being those gooey robed blobs. Nearly a dozen of the odd goo monsters are present. What throws me off is how each and every one of them is kneeling in prayer on thin mats on the floor. They're prostrating in reverence to the gong at the front of the room.
Two figures unlike the others stand above the rest. Each one is tall and thin, their robes as black as shadow. Their faces are covered by strange masks. The one on the left's mask is a deep blue with a pair of horns and strange curved teeth. On the right, the monster's mask is a bright red with bushy eyebrows, wide eyes, and a long nose resembling a sausage.
"What the hell is all this?"
Kingsley's words break whatever spell is holding the room in its current state. Each and every one of the slervants turn to look at us with their gooey faceless heads. With the amount of enemies here there is no way we can win the fight without Kingsley's group pitching in.
The mob of slimy beings start to move like a tidal wave. Each one lurches forward with unsteady steps, their bodies nearly falling from their robes as they advance. The two tall masked figures at the back of the room don't move from their positions. I can feel their eyes on us as the mob of goo monsters attack.
"Shit, that's a lot of them!"
"Kingsley! We need you to fight, there are too many here!"
"Damn it, boy, fine! We'll help for now."
Kingsley's men follow his command. Weapons are drawn, some modified by wrapping cloth around the blade to make it more of a club than a blade. Others keep their weapons sheathed in favor of using their bare hands as weapons.
The mob makes contact with us all at once. My hands are both hit with two goo monster's transparent faces, their robes nearly falling off their slimy bodies. Kingsley's group shouts as they fight their own group of adversaries. I can't make out what's happening to my right, where the rest of my party is fighting.
This encounter is so much more of a struggle than the last. I fight like hell, squeezing and smashing the monsters that grapple with me. Several times I find my neck being clamped down upon by the monster's tendrils. Each time I have to fight to squish and break their gooey limbs before things get dire.
When I finally kill one of the gooey robed beings another two take its place. The battle is an uphill one. By the end of the fight I have to throw myself down to the floor, squashing the monster strangling me beneath my body.
"Everyone okay?" I call out as I rise.
Unfortunately not everyone is okay. Henry is unconscious, while Leah tends to him with wide worried eyes. Kingsley's man, Davis, looks ready to turn tail and run. Everyone is adorned with quite the set of bruises on their bodies.
"There's no time to rest. Look."
Drist's words grab my attention and direct it to the two final monsters of the room. Each one has finally started moving. They silently watched the whole of the battle unfold, and now they're grabbing two odd looking hammers from beside the grand metal disc.
Strange whispers I don't understand fill my ears. The others hear it too, their eyes darting around the room as the sound originates from everywhere at once. The two masked monsters swing their hammers, striking the metal disc with enough force to make my ears ring. The object produces a deep brassy hum that fills the chamber. My vision swims from the sound. I can hear the others groan and cringe at the sound.
What kind of noise can make a person feel this way?
Dark shadow casts over me just before I hear the grunt of a man. I look up through the strange ache in my head to see Drist standing between me and the red masked monster. His bare hands are the only thing stopping an entire chest of drawers from landing upon my head. The masked monster has many appendages, each one a strange rubbery tentacle. It is trying to smash me with the piece of furniture!
I quickly backpedal to get out of the way before shouting to Drist, "I'm safe, Sir!"
"Better fucking be! Damn, these things are strong!"
Drist rolls aside to let the piece of furniture slam down into the ground with a crash. Splintered wood flies and the monster recoils slightly before lifting the item back into the air above its head. Those strange whispers war with the ringing sensation in my ears as I stare at my masked adversary.
"This thing isn't like the others. We need to act fast."
Another crash of wooden furniture being thrown to the ground stops us both in our tracks. All eyes turn to the side to see the blue masked monster has just thrown a cabinet onto Leah's back. The poor girl is slumped over Henry's unconscious body, and she isn't moving.
"Get back, you demon!"
Miss Hawthorne shrieks angrily, her face red with rage as she roundhouse kicks the monster's mask off its face. The thing leans back as if surprised. The creature is faceless beneath the mask, its gooey body opaque. Miss Hawthorne doesn't let it recover before she continues attacking. I watch in surprise as she rips one of the doors off the cabinet and uses it to slap the monster back even further. She's panting afterwards, but the monster is on the back foot.
"Look out!" Kingsley snaps.
I have to roll to the side to avoid getting crushed by the red masked monster. It just brought the same chest of drawers down again in an attempt to crush me. Kingsley's underling, the biggest and toughest one, helps out by tackling the monster when it has the furniture on the ground.
Unfortunately the attack isn't enough to stop the monster from grabbing hold of the man. The big guy groans in pain as his limbs are coiled with tendrils, spread and stretched like a torture device one might find in a prison. Kingsley clenches his jaw at the sight of his companion being pulled apart. If someone doesn't do something fast the man will be torn limb from limb.
"Fuck this, I'm out!" Davis, Kingsley's underling, turns tail and runs.
There isn't anyone available to stop the man from running away. He leaves through the corridor whilst I'm taking up a discarded chunk of destroyed furniture as my weapon. The flat half splintered board feels rough in my hands, but I have no room to complain. Several of our number are in peril.
I swing the weapon at the monster's head with the intent to destroy it. The thing moves strangely, its rubbery body contorting at the last second. My strike doesn't land on the monster. Instead it makes contact with the big man's head and knocks him out cold.
"You fucking dolt! You've hit Dick!"
"It wasn't on purpose, Kingsley, it isn't easy to hit!"
Memories of Henry and his death by my blade come to mind. That infernal frog that swallowed him and the following beating I got from Captain Dirk make my heart ache now. I can't let another incident like that happen again.
I have to save this man.