The creature turned its yellow eye to us and revealed bloody razor-sharp teeth. The monster was holding something, and as it turned the rest of its body, we could see what it had. A human arm, with most of the muscle eaten off it, strips of flesh hanging.
The monster squealed loudly and charged. I released my sword from my quick slot with three fingers, and I dashed at the creature. My back blade sliced the creature in half, and it disappeared in a black mist, but the arm remained. This lesson was a reminder that you didn't get another chance here, no matter how much it was like a game.
"Do you hear that?" Tilly's ears twitched as she asked.
"Hear what? I can't get that screech out of my head," Lavender said, but then I heard it, the scream of a woman.
We all ran toward the sound of the scream. When we turned a couple of corners, we found the source of the cry. A woman in blue armor was trying to fend off eight goblins with a sword, but she was surrounded.
"Tilly run up and taunt. Lavender, start picking them off when they surround her." I said as we rushed forwards.
Tilly's taunt was so useful, and the goblins immediately surrounded her as I cut one down.
Seven to go
Three fireballs shot out and fried two of them, while Tilly kicked one into a wall with a thudding bone-crunching sound.
Five to go
The girl came up from behind and cut two down in one strike.
Three to go
Even outnumbered, the goblins didn't back down, and I used my black blade to cut through another.
Two to go
Tilly pulled out a hammer and swept the last two into the wall, and put the weapon back in a smooth action. All of us to a short pause before anyone spoke. When we all got out breath back from the thirty-second fight, the girl began to talk.
"Thank you," she said breathlessly.
"No, problem, but why are you alone down here?" Lavender asked the girl.
She had coppery orange hair and wore blue armor. It was a weird contrast, but she made it look good. She looked at me for a moment, and I felt like I had met her somewhere, but then she looked away to the girls.
"I've been running quest's alone, and I thought being a level six would be enough, the ant lady's quest seemed easy, but I'm lucky that I found you guys. My name is Gretchen," and she stuck out her hand to Tilly.
Gretchen shook each of the girl's hands and then mine. When our hands touched, I got the same feeling of remembering this person. Maybe not the body but the person inside. I felt like I was confusing myself, and it must have shown on my face.
"Are you ok, Dave?" Gretchen asked me as my head started to throb.
My heartbeat got louder, and soon every beat pounded my skull. I started to see double, then triple, then my vision was a kaleidoscope. Then I was in that coffee shop.
The same shop I visited from my past life that I used to go on payday to treat myself. The was a waitress that was always somehow working when I came in. What was her name? I feel like we met so many times, but I can't remember her name.
I'm sitting down at the table that is always open, in the far corner. It was by the window, and I enjoyed watching the world go by as I would sip a Chai Tea Latte that I enjoyed the smell of rather than its flavor. The girl was walking towards me with my drink, and she was wearing a tag. I tried to look at it, but as she came closer, everything when blurry.
I gasped for air, feeling drops of water hit my face. Dank dungeon never tasted so sweet as I sucked in more air. After a couple more breaths, I open my eyes to see six teary eyes over the top of me. Lavender dove on top of me, knocking the precious air out of my lungs.
"Don't do that!" Lavender cried as she swung her fist, ineffectually at me.
"Are you ok? You stopped breathing for five minutes. We thought you had died," Tilly said to me as I hugged Lavender.
When Lavender finally got off me red-faced, I sat up and looked at Gretchen. She looked a bit messy, more than from the goblin fight. I turned back to Lavender and squinted my eyes at her.
"As far as I was concerned, her touch killed you. I might have shaken her up and threatened her with fire," Lavender looked down at this last part the turned to Gretchen, and mumbled, "sorry."
Gretchen just waved her off.
"I understand. I get what it's like to care about someone," Gretchen's eye caught me at that last part, but it was invisible to everyone else, thankfully.
I wasn't sure what to make of Gretchen and the memory I had witnessed. I turn and walk to the path to the next room. There would be time to figure this all out after.
"Let's go!"
Chapter 18: One Thing Fate Can't Control
We started to walk forwards down another hall. Gretchen insisted she go first to get some experience. She ran ahead of me and turned back as she moved forward.
"Don't worry, I just got surround last time, and I probably would have been fine," as Gretchen spoke the last word, there was an audible "clicking" noise from under her right foot.
Dust jarred loose, and everything slowed down. My reactions dialed in like at the market. Dust slowly rose from a long rectangular 22cm tall shape embedded in the wall. I dove for Gretchen, connecting just as the rectangle shot out sideways from the wall like a horizontal guillotine.
The other girls screamed as the horizontal flying wall clipped my shoulder, spinning Gretchen, and me around. I landed hard, gripping her close to me, so the still moving wall didn't hurt her. Abruptly the stone blade ended, and the hallway was clear.
I let Gretchen go slowly, in case she was injured, but instead, she was smiling back at me. We both stood up, and the girls ran over.
"Be careful. There still could be traps. Lucky that just clipped my shoulder. Are you ok, Gretchen?" I tried to inquire, but the girls were already fussing over her.
"I think ill go first again," Gretchen said without paying attention to any of the fussings.
"No, enough with this bullshit, stop acting like some bull in a china shop. Stay with us!"
"But..."
"Listen to Dave, he has already saved you more then once, and he didn't need to. Stop putting him at risk!" Lavender shouted at Gretchen when she tried to argue.
I look back to Tilly, but she gave me a shrug, unsure what to say. It was a look to say that I had got myself into this mess. I sighed, today was just full of magical moments, but I wasn't going to let this girl get any of us hurt, because she was a lackluster NPC with a broken danger sensor.
After two pitfalls safely avoided and another goblin encounter, we arrived at a room with a closed door. The door was different looking compared to anything else we had seen. Triangular plates covered the door, all colored in varying degrees of rust. Gretchen tried to push in, but I put my arm across the door.
"Don't, just wait, okay. I don't want to have to scoop you pieces of the floor after."
I could hear Lavender and Tilly joke about my babysitting as Gretchen sighed and began tapping her foot impatiently. I shook my head and turned back to the door and pushed the door open with ease. Inside was a chamber with more triangle plates covering the wall and ceiling. In the middle of the room was a glass cylinder case surrounding a button.
"What is this place?" Tilly asked as they all walked in, but she was cut off as Lavender was the last person to step in, and the door closed behind her.
The three of us jumped and turned to look at Lavender and the door.
"I didn't touch it!" Lavender already had her hands in the air in denial.
"No, I think this must be some kind of puzzle room, and the door will stay lock until we solve the puzzle. It is just a matter of figuring out the puzzle."
As I said this, I walked forward and put my hand on the glass in the center of the room. My body lit up with an unknown amount of electricity as a current from the glass charged into my body. The shock sent me flying back, but Tilly caught me, leaving me shaking and confused.
"So, don't touch it with your hands! Man, I don't even feel
like my hand got to touch the glass. The shock was from some kind of force field," I explained, shaking the numbness out of my arm.
Gretchen had already drawn her sword when I noticed her walking towards it. I tried to tell her to stop, but it was too late. I watched Gretchen's sword arc into the glass, only to have both her and the sword go flying before it connected.
Lavender went to see if the smoking Gretchen was alright. Gretchen's hair had taken on a wild look from the massive discharge she had received. Once we got ourselves all stand again, we began to look around the room to find something to help us out.
"Hey, look, this triangle isn't stacked on top of any others on the wall here. This one also has a dark border like its separate."
Tilly was looking at a spot in the center of the far wall. Her tail was swishing excitedly.
I went over to her and examined it. As I ran my hand over the shape, studying it. Tilly's tail brushed against me as she leaned in close, smiling. The feeling of her tail and the closeness made do one of the involuntary movements, and I pushed the button.
Both of us jumped back, expecting something violent to happen, and Tilly wrapped herself around my arm, pressing into me. A light came on for a count of five but then went off again with no effects. If Lavender and Gretchen hadn't cleared their throats in unison, I might not have pulled away from Tilly as her tail wrapped around my leg.
"So," I say as I pull away from Tilly and uncoil her tail from my leg. "There must be more buttons around."
I began to look for these buttons while trying not to make eye contact with the other two girls. After about twenty minutes, we found two more buttons in a triangle around the center. We pushed all three, but nothing happened.
"What the hell?" I exasperate.
"But we looked everywhere in here, and these are the only buttons. What else could it be?" Lavender pondered.
As we discussed what to do, I heard a sword unsheathe. I looked over to see Gretchen with her sword again. Before I can voice the words to stop her, we all watch the sword sail through the air.
The sword Gretchen held connected with the glass this time. It bounced off, but a crack formed in the glass. Slowly, the damage grew larger, spidering out across the cylinder. The tube broke, and we all let out the breath we were holding.
"That was easy!" Gretchen exclaim, making a fist pump action with her free hand.
The rest of us share a look that said, "What are we gonna do with this one."
Once we pressed the button that was behind the glass, both the doors ahead, and behind opened. We moved forwards, down another long snaking hallway that started to angle down. There were a couple more traps, but Gretchen was seeming to understand that running ahead was bad, but now she was courting another kind of death for me.
Gretchen was now holding onto my arm with gloved hands, and I could feel the pressure of the other two girls gazes trying to bore into the back of my skull. This copper-haired beauty was going to be the death of him. That thought made me laugh out loud, and the girls all looked at me like I was crazy as we walked up to the next door. I didn't care; I died for nothing and never had anyone to protect in my previous life. In this life, I had it all and every reason to protect them.
The girls were still looking at me strangely, but I just smiled and opened the next door. Two statues were in this room, but the rest of the room looked like the cave. There was a door at the other end, but it was closed.
"What do you guys make of this?" I asked the group turning to them.
"Well, it doesn't look like a puzzle room unless we have to do something with those two knights?" Lavender puzzled as she looked past me into the room.
"The swords they have are massive," Tilly said, looking at the giant swords the statues held with envy.
"What do you think, Gretchen? Gretchen?" I looked, but she wasn't in the tunnel with us.
Ice water runs through my veins as I turned to the room. Of course, she was already in the room and already touching the statues. I slap my hand to my face and turn back to the girls.
"Did you not see her go into the room?"
"I guess we don't have many choices now, but she looks fine," Tilly smiled as she reassured me, rubbing my arm.
"What the worst that could happen?" Lavender says in passing, giving me a mischievous smile as she passed.
Famous last words.
My hand squeezed my face hard, and I let it drop to my side. No point crying over spilled milk, and with Gretchen around, more will just end up on the floor. I walked into the room, and the classic sound of a massive stone door closing follows me inside the cave-like room.
Instantly the statue Gretchen had been poking with her sword let out a stone grinding roar. She jumped back as the tremendously large sword barely missed her arm. Both figures had their swords up and had begun to advance.
"Tilly!" I yelled, but wait, what is she doing?
Tilly had brought her metal paws out and was... wrestling the stone knight for his sword? Tilly had both feet planted on the stone knight's stomach while she tried to wrench the massive stone sword from its hands. I ran forward to help Tilly, as Lavender peppered the other knight with fire balls, so Gretchen could dance in and out, stabbing.
As I got closer, I caught a glimpse of Tilly's eyes that were filled with a rabid zeal. Shit. I had to dodge as the blade they were fighting for came down suddenly while I was distracted by Tilly's hyper-zeal. Even with my reaction speed, I was slashed by the sword down my shoulder.
The pain was intense as I rolled backward. The cut felt deep as I grabbed my shoulder and felt the blood soak my shirt. I fell back and gasped from the pain of hitting the ground. Lavender rushed over to me and pulled a small red vail out.
"Drink this quick. I'm going to try something," Lavender said a lot more confidently than she looked.
Lavender was shaking as she stood and faced the rest of them. Gretchen was trying to dodge the long strikes from the massive blade, while Tilly was getting shaken by the other stone knight, still fighting for the sword.
Lavender to a deep breath in and then raised her hands forward.
"Let Chaos Rain."
Tiny droplets started to fall, each purple, red, and green. When they touched the ground or people, they disappeared, absorbed instantly, without a trace. Then shit got weird.
The knight shaking Tilly tripped on a stone while I drank the potion I Lavender gave me as drops of chaos absorbed my body. As the knight tripped, his sword and other sidestepping knight collided, while my body filled with energy. The knight let go of the blade in shock after cleaving through his partner, and Tilly flew in the corner with it. The shocked knight turned to me and charged.
I stood up fast and charged it back, catching its fists in both my hand, stopping it dead in its tracks. My body coursed with energy, and I felt a hundred times stronger than I was before. As I held the monster, I yelled to Gretchen.
"Finish him!"
Gretchen didn't hesitate and leapt into the air. She brought her sword down on the stone creature's neck, and it fell into a mess of stones. The massive fist crumbled in my hands as Gretchen almost cut my arm off with her down swing. My reactions allowed me to turn to avoid her sword as she fell towards me, and into my arms.
I caught her without taking more damage, and I finally noticed that my shoulder had stopped hurting. I looked over, and there were only some damp bloodstains on my cut clothing, no cut, or even scar. Gretchen got up, and then Lavender gave me a hand up.
"Well, that was close," I breathed out as I dust myself off.
"Ya, I wonder why?" Lavender and I both turned to stare at the other two.
Tilly's ears dropped as she came over carrying the giant stone greatsword that somehow didn't disappear when the knight died. Gretchen looked proud of herself, and I couldn't blame her. I was pretty sure she got both the kills.
I turned back to Lavender, all thoughts of the other girl's stupid acts lost. I grabbed her by the shoulders and hugged her tightly. S
he hugged me back, but she had a puzzled look on her face when let go and held her back in front of me.
"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
"Because you are the most amazing person. You saved me silly. That was a deep cut."
"Of course I would," Lavender hit me in the chest, and she pulled away from me, blushing.
I couldn't tell them. It might make me pass out, but that Spell she cast, Chaos Rain. That was something special. There is one thing Fate can't control. Chaos.
Chapter 19: The Bossy Snake and Drowning Cat
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