As soon as Kazuya stepped through the portal, he was slapped across the face with a horrid stench like that of rot and sewage. It had him scrunch up his nose in disgust and fight back the instant gag reflex it caused. He took in short, shallow breaths, unable to stomach a full lungful of the humid air. As the others stepped through the portal, Kazuya heard audible sounds of revulsion and complaints of the smell; even heard someone actually begin to retch from somewhere behind him.
Once the red tint in his vision cleared and he was able to see again, he was met with an eerie, dense atmosphere and a thin veil of purple-hued fog.
They had exited out onto a stone bridge that would lead them into a rundown, deserted village. Quite literally a ghost town, without a single soul in sight; but that didn't mean it was empty. Wherever the demons were lurking, they were out of sight; watching and waiting for the unexpected to wander by. The main source of light afforded to them came from the full moon that hung high in the sky, when clouds didn't block it, at least. It had been late morning when they arrived at the entrance to Shinkai Ruins, which suggested this realm lived in a permanent state of night.
From his place in front of the group, Kazuya could only see the first few rows of cracked and crumbling buildings. The style of which appeared to be several eras behind with thin wooden walls and moss-covered shingles for roofs; many had caved in, taking down some walls along the way. The minimal foliage he could see was either some form of fungus, spindly bushes, or decaying trees; zero greenery in sight, which left the area drab with dark browns, grays, and a mysterious, dim purple glow that seemed to backlight everything.
The source of the light? It appeared to be emitted from the massive, swirling vortex that blocked out the horizon and wholly towered over the village. It was mauve in color with darker segments spiraling into the center. The edge, however, seemed to cut directly through the sky with varying lengths of arms that stretched further out, making it appear even more imposing than it already was. When Kazuya stared hard enough, he could barely make out movement, similar to that of a whirlpool, but at a much slower rate thanks to its enormous size.
That vortex had to be the portal the primordial demons used to cross dimensions, infested this small village, and claimed it as their own.
Kazuya stepped further onto the bridge to make more room for the rest of the raid group. The bridge was constructed with cobblestone that had cracked over time, with a fine layer of dust that settled over its surface. He moved closer to the edge to peer off it to see what lay beneath. A large, snaking river with water so dark and murky, Kazuya couldn't see anything beyond its surface; cut between the village and the portal they entered from, with both ends disappearing behind outcroppings. The water appeared to be stagnant, as he didn't see any flowing current, other than the small ripples over the surface from the water striders or mosquitos that had made it their home. Kazuya was positive the brackish water was the cause of the foul scent, and he wouldn't be surprised if a few somethings had died in its depths; left to steep and fester. Sure smelled like it, at least.
Yuuki came to a stop next to him, "The air is heavy here," he quietly observed, as his eyes scanned over the houses within view. Kazuya followed Yuuki's gaze back to the buildings.
"I haven't seen any movement," Kazuya said. Normally, Kazuya was the first to enter raid portals, for the rare occasions where they would be ambushed as soon as they stepped foot inside. It didn't happen often, but enough for it to be a concern. Especially since they're practically blind the first few seconds of entering a portal, it didn't give anyone a real chance to try and dodge or block a surprise attack. Out of all of them, Kazuya could take the hits. Over time, it slowly, and unspoken, became Kazuya's job to assess the area they'd stepped into; to locate immediate hostiles to warn the rest of the raid once they entered.
However, in cases such as this, they had Kuramochi who could scout further ahead undetected.
"Kuramochi," Yuuki said louder to be heard over the general complaints, "This one's you."
oOo
"Make it quick, this place smells like shit," Azuma grumbled as he folded his arms across his chest, eyes narrowed into a glare down at the water. Youichi didn't respond and easily dropped to a crouch, leg extended out to the side in a stretch. He counted out several seconds before he swapped legs to give the other the same treatment. While Youichi had already stretched properly earlier, he wanted to warm up his legs a little bit first. Once he finished, he rose back up and walked to the end of the bridge, where stone met packed dirt. He eyed the pathway, noting it split off in two different directions with about a block of houses separating them, though both appeared to cut through the village to head towards the vortex that loomed behind.
Youichi lowered his stance and activated his Phantom Flower, which instantly put him into stealth.
Phantom Flower placed a shadow of a flower, that of three roses that shared a single stem, wherever he stood. On activation, it gave him stealth, but the real kicker was that no matter where he went from here on, once he used the skill again, it would drag his body back to the flower, regardless of whether he was in combat or no longer in stealth. It was the most useful in these types of situations when they weren't positive where the enemies were, and with the rare few mobs that could see through his stealth. And once Youichi gets attacked while stealthed, he would immediately pop out of it, alerting his presence to any hostiles nearby. So if Youichi were to be overwhelmed and swarmed, he can activate the skill again to get away to safety.
Without hesitation, Youichi ran down the path on the right, keeping his pace slow enough to carefully observe his surroundings without his expedition taking too much time. Out of habit, Youichi kept his hand near the hilt of his dagger that was strapped horizontally against his lower back, for the off chance he needed to fight and or bail himself out at a moment's notice.
He sped along the pathway, pausing periodically to peer into holes in the houses, or broken down doors. And in each one, he spied hulking figures hunkered down in groups in the corners. Youichi couldn't quite see any defining features, not even heads. He just knew they were dark in color with cracks across their bodies that glowed a faint purple. The illumination pulsed in a rhythm that reminded Youichi of a heartbeat.
He continued up the path, checking all the buildings on the way. The demons he saw seemed to be inert, almost as if they were merely sleeping; lying in wait.
Since none were wandering the streets, Youichi grew confident that he wouldn't run into anything. And of course, as soon as the thought fluttered through his mind, he passed a building and instinctively backpedaled to hide behind the structure. He leaned forward to peek around the corner, where the street opened up with the first actual turnoff other than the few alleyways he had passed. This side road led to a set of rickety, wooden steps, where another house resided on a flattened incline. And on the empty space in front of said house, stood a primordial demon.
Youichi held his breath as he observed. It had to be roughly seven feet in height. All of its mass was gathered in its shoulders and torso, and even what could be considered its head was lost amongst its girth. From his distance, Youichi couldn't tell if it had eyes or any equivalent form that it could see from; maybe it used something akin to echolocation. Its arms were disproportionately long, clawed fingers nearly dragged along the ground. The demon's legs were thin and came to points at the ends, and it seemed to hover a few inches above the ground as opposed to walking. Every now and then, it'll float back and forth a couple of feet around what had once been a front garden, but never strayed too far.
Occasionally, it would make a noise similar to a trill of a cat, only paired with an eerie echo that sent chills down his spine and solidified the fact that it was an otherworldly being. Unfortunately, Youichi had a sneaking suspicion this demon, in particular, was the lookout, with another one that must lurk along the other path that Youichi didn't take. From glances he stole into the alleys, he could see that they cut through to the other pathway, which led him to believe both would lead them to the same location. Maybe one had more mobs than the other, but most likely each would be about the same in that regard.
On silent feet, Youichi crept out from behind the shelter of the building with the intent to cross the gap and over to the next house. He got about halfway there, when he heard a high-pitched wail, the next thing he knew, the primordial demon had teleported right in front of him. In its sudden reappearance, it created a minor blast encircling itself that expanded outward, which knocked Youichi backward. He used the momentum to continue the tumble, flipping over until he was on his feet again and quickly shrouded himself in shadows once more before anything else could detect his presence. It wouldn't make a difference with the demon in front of him as it clearly didn't need vision, but he didn't plan to stick around long enough for it to attack again.
Unfortunately, even after Youichi put space between it and him with the back roll, the demon was already closing in for another chance. He dodged underneath a sweep of its claws and continued the motion to roll directly behind it. In one sudden jerk of his arm, Youichi had his dagger unsheathed and jammed the blade to the hilt in the demon's back; stunning it in place and effectively buying him three seconds, which would be plenty of time. Without missing a beat, he activated Phantom Flower for the second time, and instantaneously, he felt the familiar, but unseen force pulled his body back the way he had come. In a matter of seconds, Youichi found himself standing at the end of the bridge once more, the shadow flower gone.
oOo
Kazuya watched as Kuramochi poofed back into existence at the end of the bridge, appearing slightly more disheveled than when he last saw him. Kuramochi resheathed his dagger as he made his way back to the group, casting the occasional glance over his shoulder.
"So, how'd it go?" Isashiki probed once he got closer. The rest of the party drew near, ready to hear the verdict.
Kuramochi ran fingers through his hair which only further mussed it up, "They're hanging out inside the houses," He jerked a thumb behind him toward the village, "I couldn't get all the way to the end 'cause I was compromised, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter which path we take. The main road is straightforward enough, there'll just be a lot of mobs to mow through."
"At least it's not puzzles," Azuma mumbled, "I'll take more things to fight over random chance any day."
"Okay, We'll go with the pull method," Yuuki declared as he removed his spear from the straps across his back that hold it in place.
"Pull method?" Sawamura asked with a puzzled tilt of his head.
Kawakami chuckled briefly, "Right, we've forgotten to go over that. It's one of the most basic methods for running dungeons and raids. The tank will run ahead, pull aggro from all the mobs, and once they're all on the tank, the rest of us DPS them down."
"Did you not do that when you ran dungeons?" Masuko turned a confused look at him.
Sawamura's cheeks turned a light shade of pink as he pursed his lips, "Well," he hesitated, "we did something similar, only I ended up running through first," then he lowered his volume and fidgetted; tapping his forefingers together, "Wakana usually yelled at me," Suddenly, he perked up again, "But it worked!"
"Oh?" Kuramochi said with a teasing lilt. He sidled up alongside Sawamura and threw an arm over his shoulders, "And who's Wakana?" For a brief second, Kuramochi's gaze flicked over to Kazuya then returned to observe Sawamura. Already suspicious, Kazuya narrowed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest.
Sawamura himself also appeared incredulous, as he glared at Kuramochi for several seconds before he replied, "Why?"
"Just curious," Kuramochi stated with ease, "So? Boyfriend? Girlfriend?" Instantly, Kazuya felt his own hackles rise at that and leveled a scowl at Kuramochi, who only smirked.
"What?! No!" Sawamura vehemently denied, and shoved Kuramochi's arm away, "She was the tank in my previous guild!"
"You sure that's it?" Kuramochi insistently probed, "No need to be embarrassed. It is interesting to see that your type is tank classes, though." At that, Kuramochi's gaze slid back to catch Kazuya's eyes once more.
Sawamura's cheeks turned a fair shade of rouge, "I'm not and I don't!" His frustration and embarrassment were palpable in his tone and the hasty dismissal.
"That's not very convincing," Isashiki laughed.
"Maybe he hasn't realized it yet," Kominato speculated with his own wry grin. If possible, Sawamura's face grew darker, and even began to spread down his neck. He pursed his lips in indignation.
"Anyway!" Tanba cut in, and put a stop to the onslaught of teasing, "Just be sure not to attack anything until Miyuki comes to a stop. So just to be on the safe side, if you're unsure when to attack, wait until you see someone else attack first."
"We follow behind at a safe distance," Yuuki added on, "Typically a good tank knows when they've pulled enough, otherwise, they can get themselves killed."
"We have a good tank?" Sawamura snarked, probably as some form of retaliation, even though Kazuya didn't take part in poking fun at him. This time.
"Oi."
"In theory, Miyuki should know his limits," Kuramochi laughed, ever eager to razz someone.
"Oi!" Kazuya paused, "You know what? At this rate, I'm gonna sabotage you all."
"Alright! Let's just get on with it already!" Azuma's patience had clearly run thin. Kazuya rolled his eyes with a playful tilt of his lips and strode off the bridge, the others easily fell in behind him. He could hear Kawakami quietly continue the explanation to Sawamura about what was to be expected. Kazuya paid it no mind, to instead draw his greatsword from off his back.
"Weapons at the ready," Yuuki ordered. Kazuya heard as everyone drew their weapons, and a small chirp from presumably Sawamura's summon, Ume, if Kazuya recalled correctly.
Before he began, Kazuya activated one of his most important self-buffs, Taunting Rage. The buff itself lasted three hours and increased his threat level by three-hundred-fifty percent, so he should always hold aggro as long as he was actively attacking. Then his next best buff absorbed all friendly fire amongst the party onto himself but at half the damage. That was also a buff most wardens opted out of, as it only added to their continued decline in health, however, that also put the rest of the party at risk, or limited the skills allowed; which also had the downside in loss of damage to the target. It was all about the management between attacking and defending, which a lot of wardens didn't have the patience for.
As Kazuya approached the first bend that would lead onto the main road, he took off in a sudden sprint. Once he darted passed the first of the houses, primordial demons burst out on either side of him through the thin, rickety doors with throaty growls. He kept his eyes focused ahead, taking stock of how many more he had to pass to reach the end; still quite a bit to go as the road was long. Straight and narrow.
Several of the demons tried to teleport directly on top of him; this caused Kazuya to have to time a forward dash to resist the damage or get knocked off his feet from the small blast radius they created, and if that happened, it would be hard for him to recover as he would instantly be swarmed. Unfortunately, their kin seemed to be unaffected by each other. It would have been nice if the blast knocked them back as well.
Every now and then, Kazuya would glance backward to assess the growing horde that chased after him, as he couldn't tell exactly how many broke out of each building. As he gauged the total, he internally debated how many more he should allow before he stopped so they could be taken down. Kazuya didn't want to do it when there were too few, and too much could be risky for not only him but for the entire party. If the crowd was too large, the demons along the outer portion, and furthest away from Kazuya, had a higher chance to turn aggro upon whoever dealt the highest amount of damage, which was typically a ranged class, especially with high burst or AOE.
Kazuya wasn't too worried about Furuya or Sawamura, since with their current gear, out damaging Tanba would be nearly impossible, unless Tanba stopped attacking, but then the next highest damage output would be between Yuuki, Isashiki, and Kuramochi. The main issue with large crowds and AOE, that could even endanger Furuya and Sawamura, was that if their attacks happen to hit a demon further off, one that hadn't been hit by anyone else, then it was almost a guarantee that they will draw that demon's attention onto themselves. And since Kazuya would be trapped in the middle of the horde, he wouldn't be in a position to help.
Ideally, Kazuya liked to get a rather large group going in one swoop, instead of having to stop several times then run ahead to pull aggro off a few more and stop again. But maybe he should keep the horde a bit smaller while Furuya and Sawamura got the hang of how they run raids. Then again, what better way to learn than being thrown straight into the deep end?
Nearly halfway up the road, Kazuya spied a turnoff, which also looked like it would be a decent place to pause and cull the herd as it gave them more space to work. He glanced over his shoulder once more, only to find that the number of demons had increased quite a bit since he last checked, but still not overwhelmingly so. As he got closer, Kazuya quickly spun around to face the horde. Immediately, he back stepped further away, sword held up diagonally across his body, free hand adding support toward the end of the blade to block any incoming attacks. When he landed, it was directly in the center of the turnoff, demons quickly closing the gap. Movement out of his peripherals drew his attention to another demon that had been hanging out alone, though it easily spotted him, even from the rather large distance between them.
He knew it would likely teleport to him to knock him back, so before that could happen, Kazuya used Sheer Storm, where he spun with his sword held out. During it, Kazuya resists all damage and status effects, with the added bonus of pulling enemies within range toward him. It always amused him when he used this skill since he got to watch the mobs smack into each other in the process. So before the stray demon could fully land on top of him, and before the ones charging him could go for an attack, they got sucked in with his spin, colliding against each other while Kazuya remained unharmed.
At the last second, he noticed that there were some smaller demons mixed in, and of course, they exploded after he completed his spin. He barely managed to block the damage from two of them, but the third was directly behind him, and with him being surrounded, he had no room to try and strafe and resist all three. His back felt hot, but otherwise, the damage itself wasn't so bad. Unfortunately, the sudden weight in his legs foretold the slowness curse they were warned about. Since he was to remain stationary, it wasn't that big a deal at the moment, however, if he needed to break away for any reason, it wouldn't be very fast on his part.
Kazuya raised his sword to block more attacks from the normal demons, however, that only stopped frontal attacks and left his back wide open, but he was stuck waiting for the rest of the stragglers to join the fray before he used Ward. Between the gaps of the mobs, Kazuya could see the heads of the rest of the party linger nearby, also waiting for Kazuya to make the first move.
He dodged one clawed hand and nearly moved directly in the path of another before he brought his sword up once more to block a heavier attack one of the demons had charged up.
Kazuya gave it a couple more seconds, then lifted his greatsword over his head and swung it down, blade slicing through dirt and the ground under his feet quaked, splitting earth around him in a large radius. With each new crack formed, burning hot flames spewed out and dulled to a glowing ember. Afterward, Kazuya drove the tip of his greatsword straight down to pierce the earth, and activated Ward, creating a ring of light fifteen meters around him, giving him complete immunity to everything for the next fifteen seconds.
Immediately, Kazuya watched as the rest unleashed their own attacks upon the horde. He kept a vigilant eye out on the demons he could see, to make sure that Kazuya was solely the only target. This was easier said than done since Kazuya couldn't move During Ward; not even to turn his head, and if he did, it'll prematurely cancel Ward, so even the smallest, accidental movement could result in Kazuya being put in an unfavorable situation.
Abruptly, a small, flaming meteor fell from the sky, landing amongst the horde and exploding on impact. The force was wide enough to temporarily stun all the demons around him. While flashy and effective, Kazuya would have preferred if it hit near the end of Ward's time limit, then it would give him a few safe seconds between the end of Ward and his next block. However, he couldn't fault Furuya, as he was still in the process of learning how to best collaborate with their raid party.
By the time Ward officially came to an end, a large portion of the demons had been felled, which made simply blocking the following attacks much easier with them not coming at him from all angles. At this point, Kazuya was comfortable throwing in a few of his own attacks. He used large, sweeping strokes of his greatsword to damage as many of the mobs as he could, with the occasional forward slash that further scored the earth. With every perfectly timed block, he threw in, healed him by a small portion of what he had lost.
It wasn't too long after that they whittled down all the primordial demons, leaving their corpses to crumble to dust at his feet.
A sudden, warm breeze ruffled Kazuya's hair, and the heaviness that lingered in his legs immediately lifted with a small percent of his health replenished. Kazuya turned in search of Sawamura and easily caught sight of him toward the back. Sawamura had Ume squeezed between his hands, her eyes slightly bugged out from the pressure, but otherwise accepted her fate.
Sawamura had a look of worry on his face as he chewed his bottom lip, "Did it work?" He asked when he caught Kazuya's gaze.
Kazuya assumed he was referring to whether or not his skill purified the curse, "Yes it did," Sawamura smiled and opened his mouth to say something else, when Ume wriggled free, apparently deciding enough was enough, and smushed her entire body against Sawamura's face in retaliation. Kazuya chuckled at the sight, and turned back to regard the rest of the path they had to clear, in the same procedure; rinse and repeat.
