Chapter 23
In unison we walk into the darker, dank cave. The feeling of evil radiates more with each step. I'm starting to understand why a nation wouldn't want to do this themselves. Just the caves name is enough to make you wet the bed.
'Dark Underworld hollow.'
The name keeps repeating in my mind as we continue to walk. Nothing bad will come of us though, we are practically the strongest party in gaming existence… I think.
Still, if the quest is so new, wouldn't that mean the basilicom of Leanbox has already investigated the cave? If that's the case whatever is in here must be guarded by a really powerful monster. To think a country would send people to their deaths just for some rare materials.
It's too early to make assumptions though, so for now I'll turn a blind eye. That doesn't mean I won't still debate what's going on.
At times like these it's best to just stick with the group and battle whatever comes our way. Perhaps some of them have input about the situation. Especially the new and improved Neptune.
As I said before, she changed her personality just by turning on a game. The Neo-Neptune is a lot more tolerable than her other self. It only makes sense that she could actually contribute to the discussion.
"Isn't a little odd that Leanbox's basilicom would leave such a trivial task to mercenaries of sorts?" That's what I was talking about; the gap in her personalities is a pleasant one to say the least.
"I agree, we're better than noob quests." Uni's pride is showing again.
So they decided to talk it out amongst themselves? Saves me the trouble of bringing it up myself at least. It's still bugging me though about what could be so dangerous in this cave.
Caves that are really dangerous go down quite a bit. The one we're in however just goes down about three meters. It may not be that deep of a cave but it's really long and has plenty of places to get lost in.
The rock on the ceiling isn't even that thick. Maybe a few bullets could break it and show some light. That part isn't necessary on account the wall have these crystals that light up the place enough to see.
"*Crash!*
The cave wall that's directly southeast of us has just been broken down by a huge monster. To say its large would be a huge understatement. In terms of height it stands at around nine feet. Not the biggest enemy I've fought but still rather towering.
If I'd have to take a guess on what mythological creature this is supposed to resemble it'd have to be a golem. Its whole body is made out of what looks like decaying stone.
Its left arm has a half-sphere with many spikes placed upon it in place of a hand. As well as the left shoulder of the creature has a larger pauldron than the right side, which looks like a standard piece of armor.
Both legs are cylinders at the bottom layer that become smaller ones on the way up to its massive torso.
And finally on its back is a wheel of some sorts where all we can see are hilts of what I can assume are blades. Its right hand if you could call it that has only three fingers. All of which don't look capable of doing anything unless it's a punch. Maybe the game designers just added the swords for the cool and ancient effect.
No matter what the reason for the blades is… its still going to die by my blade!
Drawing my new sword from its sheath lightning aids in aura of awe. Red lightning mind you. I don't feel like wasting bullets so my revolver won't be a part of this fight. Everyone else follows in my example and draws their weapons.
Neptune's sword is a dark purple katana with blue lines going up and down on it in some areas. The way it looks implies it's a futuristic weapon, almost like a high frequency blade.
Noire's weapon of choice is a shiny metal blade with a crescent hilt and two blades running parallel from the top end of the hilt. Remind me to get one of those next time I see William.
Last but certainly not least is Blanc's axe. The body of the axe is sort of like a white futuristic metal while the head of the axe is light blue as if made of an energy of sorts. My Jack sense is telling me not to mess with her in real life or this one.
My instinct for battle gets the better of me. "Charge!"
Going to its left side is the younger sisters of the group while to the right side are the older sisters. Me on the on the other hand am advancing directly in the center.
The ancient stone comprising the golems body shakes when it first moves. Its right arm cocks back then strikes the earth. The hit is strong enough to make the foundations of the cave shake, but more importantly sends large pieces of rock up to hit the older sisters.
Blanc uses the blade of her axe to pulverize one of the rocks heading towards her, but still takes minor damage from the smaller ones. The same goes for Noire only taking out the major threat.
Vert spins her spear around deflecting all of the rocks away from her. One of the benefits of joining Leanbox's side.
Neptune didn't react fast enough and has a large rock coming straight at her. Guess I don't have a choice now. I'll have to use a bullet or two after all.
Taking my revolver out of the holster I put it in and with hardly no time to aim I have no choice but to pull the trigger.
"*Bang!*"
"*Crash!*"
The bullet I fired hits the rock and shatters it into little pieces. All of said pieces go either to the right or left of Neptune. Thanks to my deadly accurate aim Neptune avoided taking damage.
"Thanks Jack, I owe you one."
"I'll just put it on your tab."
To the golem's left Nepgear goes in for a downward strike. The golem in response raises his left arm up to block the blade. Uni then runs up behind and fires her cannon directly into the golem's back.
"*Bang!* *Bang!*"
Naturally the golem falls to one knee after taking a direct hit from Uni's massive weapon. Seeing this as my chance I make my move. Running as fast as I can to not give my enemy any edge I reach its head.
Well, helmet more would be a more appropriate term. The reason being that the face has stone lines going out in a manner that it looks like a medieval era helmet. I ready my blade and with full force stab the tip of the sword between the armor lines.
The initial reaction as expected is the golem getting back on its feet once more. It happened so fast that I was knocked back in the process, leaving my sword still stuck in its head.
It'll take some precise timing to get it back, but I'll manage for the time being. Besides, I have eight warriors to back me up if I get into too much danger. On the bright side, the flashes of red lightning are happening still slowly draining its health.
"Jack!" Ram calls out to me. "Take this!"
Suddenly a few chucks of ice appear in front of me. They come together and form a new sword.
It's a pretty basic weapon to say the least, the hilt having stripes going side to side. The cross guard is in the shape of a hexagon with spikes coming out all the angles. And finally the blade is a double-edged on that's pretty wide for a blade.
It'll have to do for now, so all I do is smile and nod. In turn she does the same.
Getting back to the fight, our golem friend seems to be losing his composure. Our rag-tag team of misfits keeps pushing him back but are still struggling here and there.
With a new sword in hand, it's high time to continue the fight. Running back up to where the rest of the party is, I take a stance in case there is need to defend. "Welcome back Jack, glad you didn't totally miss the party." Noire says to me with hints arrogance.
So far in the fight all Noire has done is deflect blows and occasionally get a hit in when it leaves its guard down. My Jack sense is tingling again, something super awesome is about to happen.
Noire closes her eyes for a few moments. Upon opening them her sword turns into a rainbow it seems. She runs straight at the golem with bloodlust in her eyes. With a swift motion she jumps high in the air and raises her sword.
The golem holds its left arm up to block the strike but I can already tell it will be futile. As gravity does its magic and starts to bring Noire back to the ground, she performs a downward slash and strikes the golems arm.
"*Clash!*"
As the blade makes contact with the ancient stone, cracks in it become apparent. Now's the time to perform one hell of a game changing attack.
Equipping an item called to swiftfoot boots, I begin to run towards the fearsome stone adversary.
You see, the special thing about these boots is the incredible speed they grant me. I move so fast now that fire follows my feet and wherever I tread.
As its arm goes up in another attempt to strike, I make move. My whole body goes down to the ground into a slide. When I reach the area where its right arm and torso meet I leap into action.
Planting my own left arm into the ground to stop me for only a moment is the first part of this dangerous plan. Once I come to an almost complete stop, I use all my strength to push my body upwards.
All the while my ice sword courtesy of Ram is hugging my chest. The blade goes back as far as it can go.
"*Slash!*"
Launching my sword out will all the strength my right arm can muster, I sliced clean through the bond holding the right arm to its body.
"Wow…" The party says in unison.
In the way I jumped I managed to back flip in from of the stone monstrosity again. Like before it is on one knee and appears to be in a lot of pain even though I'm sure it doesn't have nerves.
Doing one more back flip to gain some distance, I then utilize the swiftfoot boots once more. As you could guess my feet are on fire again.
Upon reaching the hilt of the sword I lodged in it earlier my left hand swiftly grasps it. It's then ripped straight out of the head from me doing a quick front flip. As I spin in the air, both blades I am holding are carving into its back like I'm some kind of bladed wheel.
Once I land on my own two feet, my job is done.
"You all can finish this if you'd like."
"With pleasure, die asshole!" That's a Blanc war cry for sure.
Blanc jumps into the air while lifting that huge axe of hers over her head. The axe hits with devastating force and nearly shatters not only the enemy, but the cave as well from the immense force of the strike.
"Don't hog all the fun." Vert shows up behind the golem with her spear ready to strike.
"Rainy Ratnapura!" Vert's spear begins a series a jabbing motions that I can barely follow, it's moving too fast.
The back plate of the golems armor begins to break off from all the strikes it's taking.
"Ram!"
"Yep, our turn!"
Blanc and Vert back away from the golem and Rom and Ram hold out their staves. In one blink of an eye, the enemy is encased in thick ice. Effective indeed, but wouldn't doing that at the beginning of the fight save time?
Neptune is the next to come up and give a whack at the golem. Using her futuristic katana she slices in every which way possible leaving both the ice and the enemy in slices.
To top off the cake known as battle Nepgear jumps back and holds her gunblade out with the barrel facing the enemy.
"Multiple Beam Launcher! Hyaa!"
A massive orange beam shoot from her gunblade obliterating everything in its path. The impact leaves behind a large cloud combination of dust and smoke.
When the smoke finally clears up after about thirty seconds, not a single particle of the golem is left. It pains me to say this but I think we went too far.
The experience I gained from the fight advanced me three levels at least. Even so, everyone's avatars look worn out. We're only a short distance in the cave mind you. If every enemy is like this, then maybe we should return later once we level up a bit.
"Now… I see why the basilicom… didn't want to… handle this." Uni's breathes are ragged, and with good reason. The fight took a lot out of everyone.
"I say we should come back later. Preferably when fights with one monster don't take that long." Agreed Neptune, I agree completely.
"Ok." The rest of us said in unison.
We begin to walk back towards the entrance of the cave with deadly monsters. It'll be a while before we return but I'm sure we'll make it through next time. Holy hell we all need a break after this virtual fight.
Luckily there's a dance going on this Friday after the football game. I'm sure it'll be just what we need. So long as nothing unexpected happens. We can only hope for a night with no bullshit in the world.
A/N: Again sorry faithful readers for the delay in updates. To be honest I was starting to think this story was a lost cause. But ever time my hopes get down someone new follows the story and renews me.
I'd really like it if you all would leave reviews and spread the word. And yes, the next few chapters are what you've all been waiting for. See you in the next update.