Chapter 27: A Hope in Hell
10 Months Earlier
“Oh… You’ve been… busy.” Hope mumbled as she walked down the stairs, holding a flagon in her hand.
“Oh!? Hope! Hope finally, the first monster girl, you saved me in Mountain Keep and you’ll save me now!” Utarou exclaimed, his cell becoming a curated moss pit, with ramps and holders of moss being made thanks to the limited ambilitation provided by a half melted candle stick.
“It’s been so long, I learnt how to read ink in the darkness!” Utarou rambled as Hope stood just across from him.
“I… I don’t know what I’m doing here… I should go.” Hope mumbled as she turned to leave.
“W-w-wait! Why did you come here?! Please tell me!” Utarou begged as he hopped over with his cage. Hope looked back, looked at the flagon and sighed.
“It’s… Julia. I think she’s still… a-alive…” Hope stammered, placing the Flagon on the ground for Utarou to see. Utarou knocked his book down to act as a platform, hopping up to look down into the flagon.
It was nearly overflowing, clearly larger.
“Yep… Yep she’s definitely growing… She can 100% still get XP like that then.” Utarou nodded confidently, smirking for the first time in months.
“R-really? I knew she was still in there!” Hope exclaimed.
“What does Henrek think?” Utarou asked.
“H-he hasn’t looked… This has been hidden in the look out tower since they locked you up… I check in on it sometimes and share bread with her…” Hope explained.
“Tell him! I’m sure once he see’s that she’s growing then he’ll let me go and all will be well!” Utarou declared confidently. Hope shook her head.
“Henrek can’t stand to look at her… He didn’t even want to hold a funeral.” Hope stammered, clutching her chest.
“He’s barely hanging on, for me and Lilly… I don’t think he can handle this all… The church doesn’t look like it’ll forgive us and… and…” Hope began to sob.
“Wait, who's Lilly?” Utarou asked, unbothered by the church’s threats. He knew he had what Templar Adam wanted; he just needed to figure out how to unlock it from Julia.
“Heh, you don’t know? It’s our daughter… She’s beautiful, you know.” Hope said softly.
“She doesn’t even have a cool legacy skill does she…” Utarou grumbled. Hope shook her head and laughed.
“I always thought you were strange… but funny. Thank you for everything. I’m putting her back now, in the back of the storage room, behind the curtains.” Hope said, choking back tears.
“Hey you could try and free me you know!” Utarou shouted, before the door shut again.
“She’s got a plan, surely… hopefulfly… Oh god Hope please tell me you have a plan.” Utarou thought desperately.
…
9 Months Earlier
“Shhh, c’mon Rhiney lets go!” The now 6 year old Barney Junior whispered as he snuck into the watch tower.
“HEY! Oi! BJ! RHINOPLASTY!” Utarou shouted, hearing the young boy and his dragon wandering into the watch tower. Junior stopped in his tracks, deathly afraid of the mysterious voice that he thought was dead.
“R-Rhiney there’s a ghost! Gettem!” Junior hissed, petrified that Uncle Utarou’s ghost had come to haunt him. Rhiney obliged, kicking open the door and making his way into Utarou’s moss pit, where he’d been left to mold away.
Rhiney looked at Utarou and cocked his head, the pink, black and white dragon was now the size of a large horse, with a variety of spectral flourishes.
“I-Is it safe?” Junior whispered, looking for Rhiney’s approval.
Rhiney let out a bored snort and laid down by Utarou.
“Hey! It’s Uncle Utarou! You remember me right?!” Utarou asked desperately.
“Y-yes?” Junior said, half remembering the weird man whom his mother would often violently attack. Seeing his head on the ground was disturbing but slightly better than it being a ghost.
“Great! Now tell Rhinoplasty here to get me out of here!” Utarou begged.
“Dad said you were a bad man.” Junior said cautiously as he slowly walked down the stairs, sitting with Rhiney just by Utarou’s cage.
“Yeah yeah well your dad isn’t right about everything, yeah? So how about you tell the old boy here to GET ME OUT OF HERE!” Utarou begged.
“I don’t think so… I was just looking for Julia, mom said she was here and I wanted to see her again…” Junior explained.
“Actually wait, where is your dad, I thought this was a watch tower shouldn’t he be running in?” Utarou asked suddenly.
“Dad’s fighting some trolls, told me to stay here. I went looking for Julia.” Junior explained.
“Right… Tell you what, you get me out of here, and I’ll show you Julia.” Utarou explained.
“R-really? But… Won’t Dad get mad at me?” Junior asked nervously.
“Probably! But trust me, I have a plan and it will save everyone!” Utarou declared confidently.
“From the scary man?”
“Yep!” Utarou asserted.
“Hopefully the scary man is Templar Adam… “ Utarou thought nervously.
“Alright… But don’t tell anyone!” Junior said, nodding at Rhiney who let out a grunt, effortlessly crushing the bars with his tail.
“FREEDOM!” Utarou declared, rolling his moldy cage out towards Rhiney’s jaw. Rhiney obliged and effortlessly chomped the cage, ripping off parts of Utarou’s nose. But quickly Utarou was finally able to fully regenerate his body, causing Junior to scream in horror.
“M-M-melting! MELTING!” Junior screeched at the top of his lungs.
“W-wait it’s all good don’t worry! All here see?!” Utarou stammered before hearing a familiar set of footsteps.
“Shit…” Utarou thought as he scrambled up the stairs, seeing Barney explode into the watch towers base.
“YOU!” Barney screamed as he went to cut Utarou’s head off. Utarou dodged, his neck muscles having undergone the world's most intense 9 month long work out.
“Woah! Didn’t know I could do that.” Utarou remarked as he rolled across the floor to the back closet. Barney saw his son passed out in the mossy dungeon and Utarou running away. It was an easy decision, Barney went to check on his son, giving Utarou the time he needed to find Julia.
Opening up the storage closest it wasn’t hard to find where Julia was, the flagon was overflowing with the blue goo and was hidden in the very furthest corner of the room, right where Hope said it’d be.
“There we go! You’re just about to level up!” Utarou remarked breathlessly as he grabbed a bucket and shoved the Julia slime in, leaving the closet to see Barney standing with his son in his arms and Rhiney behind him, blocking the exit.
Utarou froze.
“Long time no see.” Utarou said nervously, holding the bucket with Julia with steady hands while his knees trembled.
“You didn’t threaten my son did you?” Barney asked seriously.
“Nope! He was just looking for ol’ Aunty Julia here.” Utarou explained quickly, holding up the bucket.
“T-that… That’s where he kept it?!” Barney scoffed.
“You didn’t know?” Utarou asked. Barney said nothing, before letting out a sigh.
“Y’know, despite being a perverted freak, you were at least open about everything.” Barney sighed, stepping aside and sitting down on the bench, motioning for Rhiney to join him.
“I-is this… am I free to go? You’re not gonna sneak attack me right? I don’t think I can do that again without tearing my shoulder and I don’t want to-”
“Utarou, Henrek is struggling. There’s enemies on all sides now and he don’t’ got the stones to manage the stress.” Barney explained.
“Well yeah, the guy never struck me as the most strong willed character.” Utarou shrugged as he slowly made his way past Barney.
“Utarou, you’s better sort out Templar Adam. I’m makin’ a bet you can pull some nonsense out of your ass, because we ain’t got anywhere to run now.” Barney sighed, putting a hand on Utarou’s shoulder.
“Y-yeah, don’t worry. Dryholm’s and Dracon’s is all apart of my monster girl plan and you know-”
“Right right, everythin’ for them there monster gals. I’ll believe in ya, don’t let me down.” Barney scowled, pushing Utarou out into the stormy night, revealing the sounds of battle.
Dryholm’s was surrounded on all sides, it was a siege.
Not by the church, but by Trolls.
“Great, just great.” Utarou sighed, but he was interrupted by something course and sharp lifting him up between his legs.
“Go on! Git! Get the bastard as far away as ya can!” Barney shouted, letting Rhiney fly Utarou away, high over the seemingly endless black masses of Goblins, Trolls and Orcs.
“T-thanks!” Utarou shouted, to which Barney responded by turning his head.
“Alrighty, Julia, I hope the water is good for you…” Utarou mumbled, trying half heartedly to block the rain from the bucket, his hand slipping into the goo for a second.
It burnt like acid.
“Ouach… Waitaminute…” Utarou mumbled, sticking his hand back into the goo. It was digesting his finger.
“Maybe… Maybe she’s hungry…” Utarou mumbled.