Chapter 21: Giantslayer
For whatever reason, the Black Goliath was not rampaging. In fact, it seemed almost confused, perhaps even a mite curious. It was looking around, eyes narrowed as its nostrils flared every so often as it scented the air. It was searching for something. Or someone. And Taylor had a sinking suspicion that it was her the enormous monster was trying to find.
'It appeared right after I granted Lucia and Iris their Shards,' Taylor thought to herself, glaring at the Black Goliath. 'And Hestia said that she'd been able to feel it when I granted Bell his Shard, as well…'
Put those clues together, and it was painfully obvious the Dungeon had not only detected Queen Administrator's presence, but it had reacted to it in a violent manner.
The time to ponder that would come later, however. For now, Taylor urged her Dungeon Worm – she really needed to give it a name – towards Rivira.
As they got closer, she could see that the town was in an uproar, dozens of adventurers rushing around. There wasn't blind panic, though. This wasn't the first time the 18th had suffered monster attacks. The scale was a bit different, but they had contingency plans.
"Miss Taylor!" Bell breathed out in relief when he saw her. He was standing outside the town with the rest of the part.
"I'm here," she said curtly, looking around at Bell, Welf, Lili, and Ryuu and the Takemikazuchi Familia members. "Are you alright?"
"We're fine," Welf assured her. "Mord got us out of the town as soon the sky turned weird."
"Lili thinks he didn't want us underfoot while preparing for battle," Lili suggested
"We can help, though!" Bell said. "We can't just let them handle everything!"
"What we should do is leave and find safety on the upper levels," Welf shot back. "A couple more adventurers won't make any difference."
"We can't leave," Iris said grimly. "Can't you see? The Black Goliath is between us and the exit to the 17th Floor."
"Oh," the blacksmith muttered, wilting a bit. He glanced at Taylor. Or rather, at the Dungeon Worm. "Couldn't we use that big beastie to burrow through the walls of the Dungeon and escape that way?"
"No!" Ryuu shouted, her face showing an expression of pure terror.
"Miss Ryuu?" Bell asked nervously. That was the first time any of them had seen the elf display any sort of emotion, and it worried them that it'd come from such a simple suggestion.
Ryuu bit her lip, before explaining. "If the Dungeon gets too badly damaged, either due to adventurers or monsters, there is a chance it was spawn something known as a Juggernaut. It can reflect any magic and even Skills sent its, and though its strength varies depending on the floor it is born from, it can be as strong as a Level 4 on average. It's only weakness is that it is fragile, but that's not saying much."
The elf shook her head. "If the Dungeon Worm tries to burrow through the ground to reach the upper floors, then the chance that it, combined with destruction made in the wake of the Goliath, might cause a Juggernaut to spawn. That's why we can't leave the Dungeon that way!"
There was more to it than that. Had one of these 'Juggernauts' hurt her at some point? Not knowing her past, Taylor could only guess, but the idea that the Dungeon would react like that was worrying, as it once more showed this place was more than it seemed.
"I don't know if we could even escape in that manner in the first place," Taylor spoke up. "The Dungeon Worm burrows through the use of some sort of magic, or perhaps a Skill, that moves the earth away from it as it moves. This ability only extends a centimeter or so from its skin, so we couldn't ride it and have it burrow at the same time."
She shook her head. "And if we tried to follow behind it, well, I don't know how fast the Dungeon reacts to and heals damage done to it. We could be trapped inside a tunnel as the ground closes in around us, or crushed as the floor rearranges and restores itself. It's simply too risky."
"Damn it," Welf growled. "We really are trapped."
"Then that just means we have to help," Bell declared firmly.
"Bell…" Taylor murmured, before nodding. "Fine. You raise a good point."
"I do?" he asked, surprised he'd managed to convince her.
"Is it really so surprising?" the parahuman asked. "And I suppose I want to help as well. I did want to be a hero once upon a time, after all."
"Yes!" Bell said, pumping a fist. "What do we do?"
"Bell, you and Ryuu are the fastest ones here. Go to Rivira, find out what you can do to help, and tell them to set aside a forge."
"Okay!" he nodded.
"A forge?" Welf muttered. "Wait, you can't mean…"
"Lili, go with them," Taylor ordered. "You'll be in charge of transporting supplies to and from the front line with your Artel Assist. Take this, too, in case you need to sneak past anything, or anyone."
Saying that, she tossed the pallum the Helmet of Darkness, before turning to the samurai cosplayer. "Ouka, Mikoto, Chigusa? You'll stick with Lucia, Iris, and myself. We'll head to where the other adventurers are, see what we can do to help."
"And Welf," Taylor said, finally looking at the blacksmith. "I know you don't want to hear this… but you need to get over your hang ups with Magic Swords and forge as many of them as you can while the other adventurers hold off the Black Goliath."
"No!" Welf said, shaking his head firmly. "I made a vow-!"
Taylor didn't wait for him to finish, and instead jumped down in front of him before laying him out with a solid left hook, knocking the red-head onto his ass.
"Is your vow more important than your life?! Than ours?!" Taylor demanded, glaring down at him. The others all watched, wide-eyed, as she loomed over the blacksmith.
"Magic Swords only bring misery!" he shouted back at her, rubbing his jaw.
"I knew a girl who hated and feared what she could do, too," Taylor said, her voice low and calm, and for some reason, that, combined with the look in her eyes caused Welf to shudder. "She hated herself because of it, even though she had the potential to do so much good. And eventually… she broke. And it was not a pleasant sight."
She leaned in to stare into Welf's eyes. "Have you ever seen somebody turned into a screaming lump of flesh? Twisted into something with too many arms, too many heads, too many voices begging to die? I have. And that all could have been avoided if the girl who broke could have loved herself, and not rejected her own powers."
Thinking about Amy stirred up dark thoughts in Taylor's mind, thoughts she violently suppressed with an immense force of will.
"What are you going to do when people die, and you know you could have saved them if you'd just let go of some foolish, petty little grudge?" Taylor demanded in a whisper.
"You… you don't know what it's like to lose everything because of something you have no control over-!" Welf began, but Taylor cut him off.
"Do you know how I lost my arm?" she asked. "I had to remove it because an ally's Skill accidentally destroyed it, reducing it to a bloody, flayed mess. And then, I had to have another ally cauterize the wound with a Pyrokinetic Skill so I didn't bleed out after amputating it in the middle of a battlefield, since I had no potions or healing of any kind to take care of it. And right afterwards, I was back into the fray, leading the charge against a monster that makes the Three Disasters look like nothing. And even though I won in the end, my home was still gone. And I will never see it, or any of my loved ones, ever again. So don't you dare talk to me about not knowing about loss or sacrifice!"
Welf stared at her in horror. He wasn't the only one. Everyone else was looking at her with various expressions. Bell just gave her a sad look because he was the only one who knew the full story.
"So get up," she ordered. "Get up, Welf Crozzo! And do your damned job as a blacksmith."
Welf swallowed, before giving her a shallow nod. Bell gently helped him back onto his feet. Then, he carried Welf on his back to Rivira, while Ryuu carried Lili.
"Let's go," Taylor said, and Mikoto nodded weakly before they leapt up onto the Dungeon Worm.
"What can you do, by the way?" Taylor asked Mikoto.
"Um, I have a spell called Futsunomitama that lets me create a crushing cage of intense gravity," Mikoto revealed. "It can trap and kill Level 2 monsters, but if they struggle they can break out."
"Interesting. And does it have a size restriction?"
"No. I just have to have line of sight, though the spell can hurt me if the monster I'm targeting manages to escape."
Taylor nodded at that slowly. "But it can hold it in place for a short while?"
"I can probably pin down something as big and strong as that Goliath for a few seconds," Mikoto replied.
"That'll be enough," Taylor declared. She glanced at the other two Takemikazuchi members. Getting the hint, Ouka cleared his throat.
"My Skill lets me vastly improve the durability of armor and shields," he informed her. "It's temporary, though. But I can tank a hit from someone with Level 3 strength without issue."
"I, um, I don't have any Skills," Chigusa said, apologetically. "But my Agility is fairly high."
"Good to know, I can think of several things you two can do to help," Taylor told them.
"What will we do?" Lucia asked.
"Until we know what your new Skills are, we can't really plan around them," Taylor admitted. "And we don't have time to test them. So you and Iris will most be moral support."
"I understand," Lucia said with a sigh.
"And yourself?" Iris wondered. "What will you be doing?"
"I'll use Debbie to dig a pitfall in the ground. We can lure the Black Goliath into it, and that should help trap it, at least for a little while," Taylor said, plans quickly forming in her mind as she affixed her insect mask over her face.
"Debbie?" Iris asked.
"The Dungeon Worm," Taylor said, patting its head. "It needs a name, don't you think?"
"I suppose. But what about the Juggernaut?" Lucia inquired nervously.
"We'll have to risk it," the parahuman said with a grimace. "Hopefully, we can stop the Monster Rex's movements long enough to limit the collateral damage. And I can use my swarm to further distract the Black Goliath."
She then looked back at Rivira. "And if Welf can make some Magic Swords in time, I can have my swarm use them, so we don't have to risk any of our own lives getting close to it."
"That's a good idea!" Lucia said excitedly.
Approaching the mustering ground for the defense of the floor, they could see dozens of adventurers gathering. Most were Level 2, but there were a few who stood out. The bartender was Level 3, while there was a dark-skinned man who on the hum of his aura, was also Level 3.
"My name is Taylor Hebert of the Hestia Familia with allies from the Takemikazuchi Familia," she called out as Debbie got closer. "What can we do to help?"
"I'm Bors," the eye-patch wearing adventurer said, shooting Taylor a wary, yet also appraising, glance. "Something of a mayor down here. I'm in charge of the defenses."
"Modaka, Ganesha Familia," the younger man said. "You must be the Tamer Shakti is always talking about. I can see why. Never seen someone control so many monsters before."
"A Tamer? Could you take control of the Black Goliath?" Bors asked intently.
"No, I can only control insects and other invertebrates," Taylor replied with a shake of her head.
"What else can you do, then?" Bors inquired.
"I can order Debbie – the Dungeon Worm – to burrow underground and create a pitfall to trap it," she offered. "And I can send my swarm to distract it."
"Do that, then," Bors requested. He then pointed a finger off towards the distance near some cliffs. "We're setting up long-ranged attackers on that cliff. We'll pelt the damned thing from a distance, and if you can set the hole up near it, then when it tries to attack them, it will fall."
"I can do that," Taylor confirmed with a nod.
"MONSTERS!" somebody suddenly shouted in horror, and Taylor and the others spun around. Monsters were indeed pouring into the floor, coming down from the 17th Floor and up from the 19th. There were Hellhounds, Almiraj, Ligerfangs and Minotaurs from above, and Bugbears, Battle Boars, and Lizardmen from below.
But interestingly, Taylor could also see two new species of insectoid monsters. They were too far away to dominate for now, but she recognized them from the Guild's guidebooks as Mad Beetles, a green, bear-sized, bipedal insectoid that could use Landform weapons and was as powerful as a Minotaur, and Gun Libellula, massive dragonfly-like monsters that could shoot spikes out of its abdomen like bullets while flying about insanely fast.
"Shit!" Bors growled.
"Damn it, and I was supposed to go on a date later today!" Modaka grunted. "I already had to put off our rendezvous last month due to an urgent mission, and now this?!"
"Complain about your terrible luck with women on your own time!" Taylor huffed. "What do we do about this problem?!"
"I'll lead the adventurers in the south and take care of the 19th Floor's monsters," Modaka declared a moment later, shouldering his axe. "Bors, keep handling the organization of the defenses here!"
"I know how to plan a battle, brat!" he shot back, before glancing at Taylor. "Well, what are you waiting for?! An invitation?!"
She nodded, and glanced at her other passengers. "Stay here and wait for Bell," she urged. "If you have to fight, do so together!"
"Yes, Miss Taylor!" Lucia said, Iris and the Far Eastern adventurers nodding in understanding before disembarking.
Taylor then directed Debbie off to the spot where the trap would be laid, and set her monsters to work.
The Black Goliath was thankfully still curiously immobile, just staring off into space, allowing the adventurers to assemble and prepare. There were the monsters from the other floors to deal with, but without the gargantuan Floor Boss acting against them there was wiggle room to work with.
Debbie burrowed deep, moving aside large amounts of dirt while Chris and the other Crystal Mantises cut down trees that'd be used to cover up the giant hole. Anne and the other Killer Ants carried these logs around, while the Purple Moths filled the pit with piles of poisonous powder and the Blue Papillion's created piles of healing powder for when the inevitable injuries started to pile up.
The monsters were able to work non-stop by restoring their strength and stamina whenever it flagged thanks to the Honey Cloud fruit that grew everywhere. Eating them seemed to have an invigorating effect on them. Was it the large concentration of sugar? Or something else? Taylor didn't know, but was grateful for it.
In the end, the hole wasn't very big, at least compared to the Black Goliath. It could maybe trap one foot if it stepped in the pit, and even then that was being generous. At best, Taylor would be able to trip it up, making it break a leg if she was lucky. If she'd had more time and hadn't been worried about making a Juggernaut then maybe she'd have been able to do more. Hopefully it'd be enough, and Welf's Magic Swords would do the real damage.
"I finished the pitfall trap," Taylor informed Bors when she and her swarm returned to the staging area. Iris, Lucia, and the Takemikazuchi Familia members weren't there, but she could see Lili in the distance, carrying huge amounts of equipment to and fro.
"Good," the scarred adventurer grunted. "When the long-ranged fighters are ready, we'll launch a pre-emptive strike against the Goliath with everything we have! Hopefully we can kill it before anything else happens."
"Do you think that'll work?" she asked skeptically.
"If we manage to blow up the head it will," Bors replied. "Even mutated Floor Bosses have to follow certain rules. One of which is that they obey conventional biology. So if you remove the head, you can kill it without worry."
Taylor nodded, even though she was still hesitant. She'd seen Killer Ants survive decapitation for hours, though that could also be due to the Magic Stone being located in its head, allowing it to endure for longer. And some species of insects did have the ability to keep moving, even while missing their head.
'Let's hope this Black Goliath plays along,' she thought to herself.
The next few minutes were tense, and Taylor nervously drummed her fingers against her arm. In order to have something to do she ordered the Blue Papillion to wait near the medical station being set up near Rivira, to assist in the healing of the inevitable injured adventurers. Her Killer Ants and Crystal Mantises helped carry crates and other supplies around as well,
"Alright, it seems like the artillery is in position," Bors stated, eyeing the adventurers on the ridge. "Time to give the signal."
He raised a hand that held a torch, and turned to Taylor. "Can you have one of your Purple Moths sprinkle their powder onto the flame? It will turn it purple."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"I have Abnormal Resistance, some Purple Moths won't even be able to make me sneeze."
Taylor nodded and one of her moth monsters flew above Bors' head, sprinkling some of its toxic scales onto the torch. The flames did indeed turn purple, flaring upwards for a few seconds.
In the distance, the adventurers on the ridge saw it, and began to unleash countless attacks. Arrows and spells flew thick and fast, as well as some more unusual projectiles like spears, stones, and in one case, a barrel. The spells were mainly fire and lightning with a few blasts of wind mixed in.
They all slammed into the Black Goliath which was still standing there dumbly, and began to ripple across its dark flesh. The weapons bounced off, doing little to no damage, while the spells did much more to it.
Smoke began to rise, obscuring the giant monster's body, and for a moment the adventurers held their breath and hoped for the best. And for a moment, there was excitement when the smoke faded, revealing the top of its head was gone, blown apart by the barrage.
Then, to everyone's horror, the Black Goliath grinned, and the top of its head started to heal, its flesh squirming upwards and regenerating.
The variant Floor Boss opened its mouth, and a blast of compressed air was fired out, slamming into the cliff and sending the long-range attackers flying.
"Of course it has a ranged attack!" Taylor snarled in frustration as she watched the Black Goliath fire off shockwave blasts from its mouth at the archers and mages on the ridge, blowing apart the cliffside without having to approach the pitfall trap she'd made.
"This is bad," a voice muttered at her side.
"Ryuu?" Taylor uttered, surprised to see the elf standing next to her. She also noticed somebody else nearby, hovering in the air with strange, glowing wings emerging from the heels of her boots.
"Asfi, Captain of the Hermes Familia," the blue-haired human woman with the magic flying shoes introduced, looking down at Taylor.
"Level 4?" the parahuman asked, recognizing the hum surrounding her as belonging to the person who'd followed them down into the Dungeon earlier, and received a nod.
"We will hold the Goliath back," Ryuu declared. "Can you rescue anyone from the long-range team?"
"I can do that," Taylor said. "When I'm out of the way, try to see if you can lure it in that direction. There's a pitfall nearby."
Ryuu nodded and took off, moving in a blur, Asfi flying after her. Taylor didn't watch them leave, instead mounting the Dungeon Worm. The swarm moved with her, heading to the site of the catastrophe.
Ryuu displayed incredible swordsmanship skills, scoring massive wounds against the Floor Boss while also wielding swirling winds with impressive dexterity. Asfi was no less impressive. She was not a direct fighter, but carried a host of magic items with her, and was dropping what looked like alchemical bombs onto the Black Goliath's head, where they exploded and ripped huge chunks of flesh off its body.
Despite their best efforts, however, the Black Goliath noticed Taylor and her swarm heading towards the downed adventurers, and began to open its mouth, but Taylor was having none of that.
"I love you. I hate you. I will kill for you. I will die for you. Let my madness bind the world. Curse of Sacrifice! Geas Immulatio!"she chanted, and in an instant her jaw locked up and her vision went black.
The Black Goliath was afflicted by her curse and, unable to see or open its mouth, could not bombard her with its shockwave breath, letting Taylor sneak past and reach the ruins of the cliffside.
Using the eyes of her swarm, she located and gathered up the fallen adventurers, her monsters carrying them to safety. Unfortunately, there were too many dead among them, bodies broken beyond repair, but she took them with her all the same. They deserved to be recovered and returned to the surface if nothing else.
Just in time, too, as an incredible pain assaulted her brain and Taylor doubled over with a cry as her vision returned and her mouth could move once more. The sensation of something wet trickling down from her eyes and nose told her something had just gone horribly wrong.
'It broke my spell!' Taylor realized through the pounding migraine. She'd theorized that it might be possible for an enemy to break free of her magic if they were strong enough, but she hadn't expected it would have such a painful backlash!
Behind her, the Black Goliath went back to trying to swat the pair of Level 4's, letting her finish her mission.
"Thank you!" the healers exclaimed gratefully as Taylor delivered the injured adventurers to them.
"I'm going to get more," she declared, and headed off towards the battlefields to save as many as she could. Her swarm was useless against a threat like the Black Goliath, but it could deal with the regular sized monsters with ease.
Upon entering her range, countless insectoid monsters froze in place and began to turn around, attacking their former comrades. Mad Beetles ripped the arms off of Bugbears and smashed their skulls in. Crystal Mantises sliced bodies into pieces with every swing of their scythe-like limbs. And Gun Libellula bombarded their foes, impaling them with spike-bullets.
At first, the defenders were confused. Relieved, but confused. But when they saw Taylor appear riding a Dungeon Worm with her swarm buzzing angrily around her, hair whipping in the wind, they all felt something the people of Brockton Bay had experienced themselves once upon a time: Acute fear for the tall, imposing woman wearing a frightening war mask and her legion of creepy-crawlies.
"You four there! Move southwards! Battle Boars are about to break through!" Taylor commanded, using her swarm to transmit orders to the adventurers around her. "You! With the big dumb witch hat! Use your magic to support those two spearmen holding off the Bugbears! Archers, take down any flying monsters you see, don't waste arrows on trying to eliminate ground-based monsters unless you can kill them with one shot! And anyone with ice magic, target the Lizardmen!"
The adventurers obeyed, some of them just glad to follow somebody giving orders who seemed to know what they were doing. And under the incredible coordination of the former warlord, they began to drive back the monstrous tide. Level 2 monsters falling like wheat.
Back with the giant Floor Boss, Ryuu and Asfi had managed to lure it towards Taylor's trap, where the Black Goliath stumbled as its left foot plunging through the trees covering up the top of the pitfall, and toppled over, its leg bending painful, snapping at the knee.
The screams of pain echoed throughout the 18th Floor, yet even as it wailed, it proceeded to rip the ruined appendage and chucked it into the air at the buzzing figures hounding it. Ryuu and Asfi were forced to dodge, barely avoiding being smacked out of the sky.
Meanwhile, the Floor Boss' leg was regenerating, but it was slow, and for the moment it was stuck on the ground. And Taylor struck. Her swarm, bolstered by the dozens of monsters that had previously been trying to kill adventurers, hurled itself at the Black Goliath.
Dozens of Mad Beetles and Killer Ants gnawed on the hard skin, clinging on even as the Black Goliath swatted at them. Crystal Mantises hacked away frantically in an attempt to sever its limbs, while the Gun Libellula fired upon the fallen body, covering its body with spikes.
Adventurers also leapt into battle, trying to score a hit on the mutated monster and helping the swarm carve up the beast like a grotesque turkey.
It was not enough. The Black Goliath screamed and got back its feet once the missing leg was grown back, the flesh of its body rippling as the countless wound healed. It lashed out, stomping its feet and slapping the ground with its hands, all while firing shockwave after shockwave into the surroundings.
And then a giant purple sword descended from the sky, piercing the Black Goliath and forcing it to its knees as a cage of pure gravity enveloped it.
"That must be Mikoto's Spell," Taylor hummed, eyes narrowed as she stared into the distance. And what was that bright white glow?
Curious, she moved towards the source, and found Bell standing defiantly in front of the monster as it was pinned down, an absurdly sized sword that thrummed with power in his hands. Both his body and his blade were glowing as he channeled his ArgonautSkill, charging up what could only be one of Welf's Magic Swords. At his side was Mikoto, sweat beading on her brow as her fingers started to break and tear as she tried to keep the Goliath pinned.
Surrounding the two of them were the rest of the Hestia and Takemikazuchi Familias and a few other adventurers, protecting the duo as they drove the Black Goliath to its knees and prepared an attack that would slay it.
Sadly, Mikoto could not contain it forever, and the Black Goliath broke free, shattering the spell and causing Mikoto's fingers to break rather horrifically from the backlash. The Floor Boss then started to climb out of the hole the gravity cage had made in the ground, and Taylor tsked in annoyance.
"Durable," she grunted, and then blinked as she saw Lili running forwards. She was currently invisible thanks to the magic item Taylor had given her, though the bugs secretly planted on her ensured the parahuman knew where she was regardless, and had transformed into a dog with Cinder Ella. Training with Taylor and the rest of the Hestia Familia had shown Lili just how badly she'd underutilized her spell which let her transform without restrictions save size.
Clutched in her transformed mouth was a second Magic Sword, and she swung it, unleashing a wave of not fire or lightning, but water, thinly compressed into a blade. Taylor knew water jets could pierce metal, and this magically conjured stream was no exception, slicing the Goliath's arms off and forcing it to fall back into the hole.
Then, with the speed of the dog she was currently mimicking, Lili ran to safety, narrowly avoiding being squished by the skull of the Floor Boss as it headbutted the spot she'd been standing earlier.
Lacking its arms did not stop the monster, and with tremendous effort it jumped upwards and out of the pit, landing on the edge. Taylor silently hoped for the ground to collapse under its weight, but it seemed no such luck would come their way.
Still glowing as he charged up the giant Magic Sword with Argonaut, Bell summoned up two Lightning Clones that rushed towards the Black Goliath, running around behind it before leaping up and exploding against the back of its knees.
The twin blasts didn't do much damage, but it was enough to cause it to stumble a little, which combined by a flurry of magic and Skill-enhanced blows courtesy of Ryuu and Asfi, caused it to topple backwards into the pit it had just escaped from.
The Black Goliath managed to sit up, growling furiously, and then Taylor sent a flurry of Gun Libellula spikes into its eyes and mouth, blinding it when it tried to glare at her friends and preventing it from firing its shockwaves.
"TAKE THIS!" Bell suddenly called out, charging into the fray at long last as he was now a blinding neon white, resembling one of his Lightning Clones with how bright he was. He swung his overcharged Magic Sword at the Floor Boss and it unleashed a ravening blast of white energy that engulfed the Black Goliath's upper torso, shattering in the process.
When the light faded, everything above the chest was gone, with a truly gargantuan Magic Stone just barely visible and peeking out from the vaporized flesh near the waist.
Any celebration that broke out was unfortunately premature as before everyone's horrified eyes, the Magic Stone – which was an unnatural black color – began to glow a baleful purple color before the body started to squirm and writhe, as if alive.
"It's regenerating!" somebody cried out in horror, and fear once more gripped the hearts of the defenders. Within seconds, everything that Bell had achieved was undone, the flesh writhing and knitting back together.
With a roar, the Black Goliath was restored, and the Dungeon monsters began to scream in response as there was more than just a sonic aspect to the bellowing. Even the monsters under her control started to go berserk, and Taylor had to clamp down hard on the ones within her swarm to ensure the psychic scream didn't undo all her hard work.
"Damn it!" Taylor snarled, clenching her hand as she stared at the Black Goliath. And then, somehow, it turned towards her position and looked directly at her, and then smiled.
At that moment, something snapped in the back of Taylor's mind, and she commanded Chris to carry her towards the monster. Bell was too weak to do anything else, spent from his earlier attack and the harrowing fights he'd been in earlier, and nobody else was close enough.
Everyone watched in disbelief as the parahuman leapt on Chris' back, and it carried Taylor to the pit. Screams of wrath and demented fury escaped her lips as her swarm surged forward along with her, the Dungeon Worm bursting out of the ground and tackling the Black Goliath in the chest, knocking it onto its back while it tried to bite and burrow into its flesh like an oversized leech.
The giant worm was managing to keep the monster pinned in place. Not to mention, spines were not supposed to bend that far backwards, either, and the Monster Rex roared in pain as it snapped audibly. The sounds of pain were overwhelmed by the rest of Taylor swarm attacking it.
Gun Libellula rained spikes onto it, Mad Beetles ripped bloody chunks of flesh away, and of course there was Chris and his fellow Crystal Mantises, hacking and slashing at the giant monster's eyes and face.
And where was Taylor? Well, at the moment she was crawling across the Black Goliath's stomach, her mask askew, and a knife without a blade clenched between her teeth as she dragged herself with one arm up to the monster's navel.
It had no belly button, but the parahuman could tell that she was straddling the spot right above the Monster Rex's Magic Stone based on the hum her swarm was picking up. Chris and a few Mad Beetles then began to dig into the Black Goliath at her command, peeling flesh away and prying it apart, keeping it from regenerating.
The enormous humanoid screamed and tried to thrash about, attempting to dislodge her, but the swarm kept it trapped, the Dungeon Worm wrapping around one arm and keeping it pinned in place, while the other arm was repeatedly torn apart by more monsters, preventing the limb from reaching her. She also shoved a bunch of monsters down its throat, trying to choke it and stop that strange psychic scream that disrupted her control over her swarm.
"I will not let you win!" Taylor snarled as she struggled to reveal her opponent's weak point, moving the knife's handle from her mouth to her hand. "I will not let you hurt anyone else!"
The abnormal Monster Rex just laughed at her, which only increased her rage, and drove her to tear at its flesh with her own teeth in a desperate attempt to help her swarm rip it apart.
Soon, the oddly colored Magic Stone could be seen, slick with gore and tendrils of flesh that continually tried to heal over the wound that had been gouged open on the Black Goliath's belly. She had only a brief window of opportunity before it regenerated.
"JUST DIE ALREADY!" Taylor screamed as she plunged the Nano-thorn dagger down towards the massive Magic Stone that was hidden within the Black Goliath. The Tinkertech weapon slammed onto the Magic Stone and she activated it with a single press of a button.
Whether it was due to the Magic Stone's instability or some sort of reaction between it and the Tinkertech blade, the Magic Stone shattered and broke apart into hundreds of smaller Magic Stones, and the rest of the Black Goliath finally began to turn to black ash with a mournful wail escape the lungs of the Monster Rex.
In a few seconds, all that was left was some chunks of crystal and a circus tent's worth of pitch-black Goliath Skin lying at the bottom of the pit, and the crystal sky went from hellish red to a much more normal blue.
Taylor sagged, partly in relief, but mostly in weariness. She glanced down at the Nano-thorn dagger clutched tight in her hand. She'd used up its last charge to take down the Black Goliath, and felt a flicker of remorse for doing so. Another piece, another reminder, of her old life, gone and reduced to a broken trinket.
She shook her head, and let Chris carry her back up out of the pit, her ears ringing from the cheering as the adventurers celebrated the fall of the Floor Boss and the end of the Stampede. As soon as it died, the rest of the monsters turned right around and began to flee from the 18th Floor.
"We did it!" Bell exclaimed gleefully as he rushed over to Taylor's side.
"We sure did," she agreed, taking her blood-splattered mask off completely and smiling at him. She then glanced back into the pit. "Now it's time to celebrate and divide the spoils."
"The best part of being an adventurer," Welf claimed as he staggered over, a wide grin on his face.
Taylor nodded, and then felt the strength in her legs give out. Lili, back in human form, and Iris helped her stay standing.
The battle was over. They had won. But at what cost? And Taylor couldn't help but fear that it had been all her fault.
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Author's Note: Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and enjoyed the chapter! Remember, there are early chapters over on Patty-wrong under Akashicrecordstrue, and there's a Kofi for tips under Akashicrecords.