by Nikita Thorn
“Which means?” said Kentaro.
The samurai grimaced. “Which means something really bad is about to happen.”
The group shifted uneasily at this, but no Eldritch Abomination made an immediate appearance, and they continued to follow Shousei through the cavern, dispersing the bodies along the way.
Seiki was surprised that none of the troops had the ability to aid them in this task, and Ippei explained that units needed a dedicated utility slot and a special Seal to allow them to help loot dead bodies.
Ippei’s hand still rested on the hilt of his sword and his unit seemed ready for action. Like Seiki, who had a feeling the whole thing was suspicious, the samurai had kept his attention solely on the swordsman ever since they had followed him from the stairs.
Slightly ahead of them, Shousei was still looking through the fallen men, shaking his head in annoyance.
“Where’s Okamoto?” Seiki ventured a question. “How is he involved?” Another disturbing thought occurred to him as he glanced at the scene of destruction around them. “Did he… do this?” He secretly wondered where the limit on redeemability was.
The swordsman did not acknowledge the questions as he continued his search. Before Seiki could ask again, the man let out a short, satisfied breath. Seiki took a step closer, dreading to find Okamoto’s body in the pile. He was relieved that it was only marked Dead Shinshioka Captain.
Looting a large Shinshioka bamboo signal flare from the body, Shousei straightened up and continued toward the other end of the hallway, impatiently motioning the group to keep up.
At the far end, what first appeared to be a tall narrow smear of black poison turned out to be a large crack in the wall.
“Another room?” Seiki asked uneasily, even when he was not sure why. The slim opening led to yet a deeper part of the tunnels, which was completely unlit and therefore pitch-black. On both sides of the crack were crumbling rocks, covered with dripping poison.
Surprisingly, beneath the debris, partially hidden under the fallen rocks, a small golden fire was burning, its silent, serene glow visible in a small pool of light.
Seiki glanced at Ippei, who confirmed with a nod. “A tano-shrine.”
Although the stone shrine itself was not visible, there was just about enough room for someone to stick their hand through to burn a Card.
“I’m sure you recognize this light.” Shousei pointed toward the hidden shrine, perhaps in case they had not spotted it. “The ancient people responsible for these caves used them as guiding lamps, but the network eventually fell into disuse and was finally claimed by the Demonic Clan.” The man paused for a moment. “This is the central and lowest point in the cave system, and a tunnel on the left leads up to where the demons gather their troops.” He gestured into the darkness. “Another one of these ancient lamps marks the entrance to the upper chambers.”
Knowing Shousei was giving them the rough layout of the place, Seiki squinted as he tried to make out what the man was referring to. Indeed, on the far left, he could spot another golden dot of light. It was tiny, which meant it was very far, reminding him of a single star in a lonely night sky. As the swordsman had said, next to the shrine was another tunnel. Its mouth, barely visible, was a flickering shade of dark brown in the otherwise pitch-black cavern. Faint noises of chatter and metalwork occasionally carried through, strangely distorted as if they had come down many twists and turns along the caves.
“So the guy’s not lying. The caves are swarming with demons,” said Kiku.
“Five thousand, at least, from the latest scout’s report, which makes it impossible to take that path,” said Shousei. “Fortunately, your little thief friend has found another way to reach the upper chambers.”
“Mitsue?” said Seiki in surprise.
“Okay, wait, I’m confused,” said Mairin. “Who’s on whose side now?”
“She’s a—” Seiki’s response morphed into a grunt as Shousei lifted his hand and shot the signal flare into the darkness of the chamber. The sudden blinding flash forced Seiki to shield his eyes as a deafening explosion rang out, amplified several folds by the acoustics of the space.
“Didn’t you say something about being quiet?” Yamura said.
Taking advantage of the surprise, Shousei spun around and struck out with Sweeping Blade at the group. Fortunately, Ippei’s unit had been on alert, and they stepped in and Parried in time. The move was not meant to damage, but to delay them, and the swordsman took the chance to disappear into the crack in the wall.
Blinking against streaks of violent light still dancing in front of his eyes, Seiki rushed in after Shousei. He managed to see his white kimono fading into the darkness toward the right. “He’s making his way to the secret passage,” he told his friends as he dashed in the same direction, nodding to his unit to follow.
Something suddenly yanked his ankle, nearly tripping him. Out of instinct, Seiki activated a Slide to break out from between the metal teeth before he lost his balance. It was perhaps a bad idea, since, as soon as he freed himself from the first trap, another one snapped around his shin less than a foot further.
He groaned. This chamber was heavily trapped, just like the previous one.
“Okay, wait. Stay back,” he said to his unit. Ahead, Shousei’s white figure was no longer in sight. “Yamura, can you see where Shousei has—”
His friends, halfway through the crack in the wall, had frozen in place, staring at something in front of them. Koharu’s four obake girls were slowly backing away.
Feeling a pang of inexplicable dread, Seiki followed their gaze to the middle of the cavern.
In the dark, floating high above the ground was a small crimson light, circular and blood-red.
Seiki blinked as he looked again. The red light did not flicker.
“A… red tano-shrine now?” whispered Mairin hopefully, in a way that suggested wishful thinking rather than a reasonable guess.
The light then moved, slowly, narrowing slightly. It took Seiki a moment to realize that it was not shrinking, but turning, allowing another red light—identical to the first and floating at the same height—to come into view. The two lights shifted together, left, then right, then left again, from the group toward Seiki.
Koharu let out a little shriek. “Eyes.”
Ippei drew his sword.
Whatever it was, Seiki needed no confirmation to know the creature was enormous. From a quick guess, it was still at least a hundred feet away, most likely at the back of the cavern, its two red eyes at least six feet above the ground.
“What is it?” said Kentaro in a horrified whisper.
“The Obora guards this hallway,” said Shousei’s voice from somewhere in the dark. “It’s an ancient creature. The Demonic Clan has apparently tamed it to their use. Not a pleasant death, I’m afraid, but at least you can rest assured that you’ll die as patriots.”
“Screw that!” cried Yamura.
“Wait. Obora as in Obora poison?” said Mairin.
From the direction of Shousei’s voice came the sound of metal cutting through metal, followed by a long clank as a severed chain hit the ground.
Slowly, the glowing red eyes, now fixed on the group, started moving closer. Slowly, smoothly, as if gliding on water.
“He’s using us as bait,” Seiki said. Shousei must have freed the creature.
“Yes.” Shousei’s voice had moved slightly further to the right. “By the time the Demonic Clan is alerted to your presence, which I’m sure won’t be long now that they have heard the explosion, they will only discover a few more dead Shinshioka soldiers.”
The glowing eyes continued to slide toward them, before being yanked back. Chains clinked.
Yamura shouted an order for his archer unit to prepare to shoot from outside the chamber.
“Wait. You don’t want to aggro it,” said Kiku.
“The freakin’ thing’s already aggro’ed,” cried Yamura.
/> “What is it?” said Kentaro again.
The Obora, whose body was still hidden within the dark, continued to move forward, before being yanked back once more by a rattling chain.
“It’s not very fast,” said Koharu.
“And not very smart either,” said Mairin, recovering from the initial dread. “If I were the thing, I would try to eat Shousei first, since he’s probably closer.”
Shousei continued from the dark. “Let me give it something to concentrate on before I cut this last chain.”
A fire hissed, and a flaming arrow flew through the air from Shousei’s direction. Seiki prepared to block it, except that the arrow was not aimed at the group. It hit the wall next to the opening, where it lit an extinguished torch fixed to the wall with magical precision.
“And do shout and yell,” Shousei continued in his usual chilly tone. “The more attention you draw here, the better. I don’t need very long.”
A sword swished from his direction, and another chain clanked down on the ground.
Mairin took an unconscious step backward as the red eyes started floating toward them, now unhindered. “I can totally see now why you hate the guy.”
Seiki glanced down. Around him, under the orange glow of the newly lit wall torch, he could see that many more traps lay hidden on the ground, half covered in dirt. Using another short Slide to free his leg, Seiki looked up at the incoming Obora. Perhaps since he was the deepest into the room, the creature’s red gaze had locked onto him, now less than fifty feet away and rapidly approaching. As it came within range, he could hear faint liquid sloshes from under it.
The group watched, spell-bound in horrified fascination, as the creature emerged into the edge of the light pool, first as a wall of flowing black slime oozing onto the ground in front of it. Protruding from near the top of the wall of slime were two tentacles, at least five feet in length. And attached to the end of each was an eye, angry red, cut across by a black vertical slit that was the pupil.
Koharu let out a disgusted squeal. “A slug?”
“Uh, more like a snail,” said Kentaro, backing away toward the crack in the wall as more of the creature came into sight. “Uh, shell, you know.”
On the Obora’s back was a gray, spiky conch shell, stained with mud and its own slime. Seiki realized then that the instance so far had pretty much revolved around this particular creature.
“An ancient triton,” said Shousei’s voice. “It’s naturally carnivorous, and the Demonic Clan has accustomed it to the taste of human blood. The poison on its skin paralyzes and liquefies your body.”
“Thanks a lot for the info,” Mairin shouted.
Seiki drew his Hikari, before telling himself that their weapons were most likely going to be useless against the creature. Any light ability was simply going to set off an explosion.
“So this is where they’re getting all the poison from,” said Kiku. “It’s a… living poison machine.”
The demons must have unleashed the creature into the previous chamber once the majority of the Shinshioka soldiers were caught in traps, which explained the height of the smears on the walls.
“Steady,” cried Yamura to his unit, who efficiently fell into a formation. “Aim.”
“No light abilities,” Ippei warned him.
“I know,” said the ryoushi. “Luckily, my unit doesn’t have light-forged bows yet.” A concentrated hail of normal arrows flew from the entrance. The Obora flinched, but the thick slime seemed to shield it from most of the damage.
The group slowly retreated backward.
“Seriously, it has eighty thousand health?” Mairin said. “And we have to kill it without light abilities?”
Seiki had no time to check its label, his mind racing as the Obora inched closer. It was not very fast, but still formidable for something without feet. His unit, like Yamura’s, was not yet equipped with light-forged weapons, which meant they could safely engage the giant triton. But only if they could avoid the hidden traps on the ground.
Letting loose a Slide past the front of the approaching Obora, Seiki sprung the traps in a long, curved line, grimacing as he passed within a few feet of the sickening ooze. He forced himself to ignore the two gigantic eyes locking onto him like giant spotlights as he drew a quick mental guide on the neutralized ground and shouted, “Stun!”
His unit ran into positions and unleashed their Sweeping Blade. Helped by the extra range from the specialized slot, the formation pushed the creature far back, its thick body sliding over its own poisonous slime.
The Obora let out a hair-raising groan, even when no mouth was visible. Then it started to thrash about, spraying black drops of poison around. Seiki ordered his unit to retreat out of range, and spared a quick glance at the label.
Obora [Level Unknown Rare Elite]. 81924/82000.
He could not quite believe the math. Sweeping Blade was more of a positioning tool rather than a heavy damage move, but both Yamura’s and his own unit’s attacks combined had dealt less than a hundred points. “I think we’ve got a problem.” He took a few steps back as the Obora righted itself and started moving forward again.
“Any particular reason why your Sweeping Blade is called Stun?” Somehow, Ippei seemed calmer now that a tangible enemy had appeared. Seeing that the Sweeping Blade formation had worked to keep the creature away, the samurai motioned his unit to prepare to do the same thing.
“Uh, habit.” Seiki glanced around to see what else they could do. At their level, he and Ippei had only two consecutive moves each for their units, and four Sweeping Blades was not going to hold off the giant triton forever.
Ippei’s troops released their own Sweeping Blade against the Obora as it came closer. Again, the ancient triton slid back, thrashed around, before recovering.
“This strategy isn’t going to last,” said Ippei. The poison oozing from its skin was creeping forward as it drew near, forcing the group to slowly retreat toward the entrance.
“I don’t have a non-light equipment slot,” said Kiku worriedly.
Seiki was not sure exactly what she meant, but could guess that her unit could not do anything that would not set off the poison. Koharu’s four obake girls were trying to Life Drain the triton, but at Level 14, their abilities did not do much and the Obora’s health was decreasing by single digits at a time.
“We’ve got to burn a Card,” Seiki decided. “There’s one that cleanses the poison. Otherwise, we won’t be able to attack it.”
Mairin grabbed one of the Polished Shell Cards from her pocket. “This one, right? White Pearl. Light abilities neutralize the poison.”
“Yeah.” Signaling his troops, Seiki let loose the unit’s second Sweeping Blade. The Obora slid back into the gloom from the force, slightly further this time, helped by the slime that had built up at the edge of the light pool.
Mairin ran toward the tano-shrine by the crumbling doorway. “Okay, I’m burning it right now. Here goes—”
“Wait,” said Ippei.
“What?” said the kitsune.
The samurai drew a troubled breath. “Poison’s not our only problem.”
Sounds of guttural cries, metal clanks, and thudding footsteps had risen from the far left end of the tunnel. Just like Shousei had intended, the detonation had alerted the demons to their presence. The sounds drew closer and closer, before a seething mass of demons started pouring from the tunnel into the cavern in wavering black shadows, their voices filling the cavern like angry bees.
“The guy said five thousand demons?” Kiku said faintly.
Seiki now understood Ippei’s hesitation. Shousei had laid a complicated trap for them. Even with the last three particularly powerful Polished Shell Cards, they still had to make a decision. The Card that called for overwhelming reinforcements from Shinshioka was more useful against an army of demons, but one that neutralized the poison was more effective against the Obora.
They had two tano-shrine
s available: one at the entrance, and one at the other end where the demons had gathered.
Their best bet, he decided, would be to first take care of the poison, then they could try to break through the demon ranks to get to the other shrine and burn the reinforcement Card to call in the Shinshioka army. That still meant there were hidden traps to worry about. By Level 15, every class had at least one ability that could break through traps, but the troops were vulnerable.
Seiki grabbed all three Cards from the last room to study again. There was another Card that revealed traps, although without extra light in the cavern that would hardly be useful.
“It’s a puzzle?” he guessed, turning toward Ippei in hopes that his friend would have a sensible idea for the situation. “So we need to pick which two Cards, and which one first?”
The samurai did not answer him but seemed lost in thought as he glanced back and forth between the two different sources of threat.
The Obora crept forward again, and Seiki decided that the first thing was to handle the most urgent problem. “Okay, I’d say burn that—”
“You know that ronin is the only class that has absolutely no self-heals,” Ippei interrupted him.
Seiki had never thought about this. But with a fast-approaching poisonous triton and an army gathering at the other end of the tunnel, who had already lit torches and flaming arrows, he wondered how the information was relevant. “Uh, right?”
The rest of the group seemed as puzzled as he was.
“That’s why it’s so difficult to play well,” Ippei continued. “For a ronin to be really effective, you need other people to have your back.” He exhaled deeply as he gazed at the gathering demons. “It’s more of a test than a puzzle.”
The group turned to look quizzically at the samurai.
Ordering his unit to use their Sweeping Blade to push back the triton once more, Ippei walked back toward the entrance.
“A test?” Seiki said.
Ippei acquiesced. “But not for you. For us.”
He thrust a Polished Shell Card into the golden flame of the tano-shrine by the door.
