Fight. Level. Survive.

Chapter 71 - Girl Talk

Looking up at the giant pulsating mass of flesh, Mason gulped.

The monster’s many limbs shot out seemingly at random, making it almost impossible for him to doge effectively. He was still holding his breath, but it got a little bit more difficult each time he had no choice but to take a hit.

He didn’t want to test his theory, but judging by the green aura surrounding the massive monster, he suspected it smelled even worse than its smaller counterparts. Usually, he had no time to focus on the HP bars of the monsters he fought, but on this occasion, his eyes were glued to it.

Feeling silly, he pulled out what he now knew to be a unicorn’s penis and activated the weapon with a muttered, “Clop clop,” he cursed himself for wasting his breath but watched with hope as the acidic mist approached the monster.

He grinned as he watched the HP bar go down. The monster’s flesh started to bubble and melt. This had been an easier fight than he had thought it would be.

The HP bar was draining rapidly when it suddenly stopped, only slightly below halfway. The green stink aura that had surrounded the monster was pushing against the acid mist and forcing it away from the boss abomination monster.

No! He had been so close! Was it actually using the smell as a weapon? Up until now, he had assumed it was just an unfortunate side effect of the creature’s existence, not an actual weaponised stink.

His vision blurred, the edges of his surroundings blending into a hazy blur. He felt his heart pounding against his skull, each thud intensifying the pressure in his temples as he fought to maintain his grip on consciousness.

Panicking, he pulled out daggers, swords, and anything even remotely sharp from his inventory and used his Ballistic Touch to shoot them at the creature, desperately hoping that its HP bar would decrease further. As the projectiles reached the monster, however, it opened a huge gaping maw, and the weapons disappeared inside.

He couldn’t hold it any longer. He desperately sucked in a breath of air. The taste of decay and rot overwhelmed him, but he had deprived his body of air for too long and had completely lost control.

He couldn’t help but fill his lungs with more of the noxious air. The effect was instantaneous: the rest of his vision faded, his knees buckled, and his face impacted the ground.

Delirium slowly took hold of him, but the tiniest part of his mind noted the feeling of something long and slimy wrapping around his ankle and dragging him along the cave floor.

***

Mayry lost herself. She watched her body move as if she was merely a passenger being piloted by something other than herself. The fire she wielded once again had changed colour, this time from black to dark purple.

The flame shot out of her hand as a thick rope, and she curled her hand around its end to transform it into a whip. She directed it towards the limb holding Mason’s ankle, and it cut right through like a demonic knife through butter. The fire whip hadn’t hit Mason, but it had come close.

The rage-drunk Mayry in control cared only about killing her enemies; she had no time to worry about anything else. Mayry tried to wrestle back control but was pushed aside as if she was a bothersome fly being swatted away.

The boss abomination shifted its attention, now fully focussed on her. It sent impossibly fast limbs shooting at her; they tried to grab her but melted away before they came close to making contact. An aura of purple hellfire surrounded her, hot enough that the stone she stood on began to crack and melt from the intensity.

Every second the fight went on, her movements became more precise and fluid, almost as if she knew what the monster was going to do before it did. She danced around the attacks with uncanny grace, each step guided by an instinct she couldn’t imagine possessing. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the purple fire whip snaking towards the abomination, each strike disintegrating whatever flesh it touched.

The monster’s head turned towards an opening on its side of the cave as if contemplating a retreat. Even with its monstrous features, the creature somehow managed to look fearful. The berserk Mayry, sensing its fear, pressed her attack, not willing to let it escape.

She leapt onto the creature and used her now claw-covered hands to rip chunks of flesh from its body. It thrashed around in agony, but the enraged Mayry persisted long after the Monster was dead.

She was snapped back into control of her body when the latest chunk of flesh that had been ripped away revealed a human’s face.

Wobbling slightly from the disorientation gained from the sudden change, she reached in and, as gently as she could, pulled out the body and carried it away from the monster carcass. The person was in a translucent cocoon that looked like it was made from hardened slime; tearing at the slime, she slipped her hand in and felt around until she found the neck. Pausing for a moment, she felt a pulse. At least they hadn’t been too late.

Running over to Mason, she checked him over and saw he was fine. She shook him and slapped his face, but he didn't wake up.

Not for the first time, she wished she could access his inventory or, even better, had a storage power of her own so she could force a health potion down his throat, even if just to alleviate her own concerns. There was nothing she could do, so she returned to the body of the person she pulled from the monster

She sat next to the body and placed its head in her lap. She summoned a trickle of water and tried to remove as much of the goop as she could until she could make out a face. One she was surprised to see, she recognised

Nina’s eyes opened, startling Mayry. Her head still in Mayry’s lap, she opened her mouth and tried to speak.“Ma-Mayry?” she coughed and spat out a few mouthfuls of sludge before trying again. “Mayry, what?”

Mayry opened her mouth to try and reassure the girl that everything was okay, but before she could, Nina wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Mayry... You really need a shower. You reek!”

The moment the boss monster died, the horrible smell drastically improved, but in no world did the cave smell good, especially since it was not so close to the monster.

Mayry, slightly offended after she had just rescued the girl, snapped back, “The smell isn’t me! You’re the one covered in slime! The smell is coming from the giant fleshy abomination over there.”

She sat up, took in her surroundings and recoiled in shock at the sight of the mutilated monster corpse. She shot to her feet as if scared the monster would suddenly reanimate and attack them again.

“Relax. It’s dead. I made sure of that.” Mayry revelled in how cool she sounded. She had definitely been spending too much time with Mason.

Nina’s head darted all over the place. She started hyperventilating and fell back. “Where the hell am I? What the fuck is going on? Di- did you kill that thing?!”

Just then, the bleach monster elemental came cruising into the cave. It had been too preoccupied cleaning the tunnel to help with the boss fight but decided now was the time to make its entrance. It had probably been for the best; in her enraged state, she didn’t know what she might have done to Mason’s summoned ally.

Nina stiffened as she saw the creature shifting into a more offensive stance. Her skin immediately started to change, taking on a scale-like look, before Mayry waved her hands at her and shook her head. “Hey! No! It’s okay. He’s an ally.”

The elemental looked around the massive cave and almost seemed to sigh, its chest getting bigger momentarily before deflating. It started shooting off its bleach, like a pressure washer, cleaning the cave bit by bit. Mayry and Nina watched on as it progressed to where Mason lay. It paused as if to consider what to do and then proceeded to clean around its unconscious summoner, flipping him unceremoniously to one side and then cleaning under him before flipping him back. It gave a small nod to itself before it continued on with its self-imposed mission.

The two women shared a look at the creature’s odd antics. Mayry noticed a smile forming on Nina’s face that soon turned into a fit of nervous giggles. Mayry soon joined in, unable to help it. The bizarreness of it all after being exposed to such a horrible experience was too much.

As the laughter died down, neither of them knew what to say. While they knew of each other, they had never really talked before, let alone been friends.

“How did you end-“

“How did you kil-“ They both started speaking at the same time. They giggled a bit more, and then Nina motioned for Mayry to go first.

“How did you end up here? I knew you were a hunter, but taking on a contract with so many unknowns on your own is crazy!” Mayry couldn’t help but let a little admonishment leak into her tone. “Maybe with a team, “ she continued before cutting herself off. Then, a thought occurred to her: “You weren’t with a team… were you?”

“I can take care of myself,” The young girl replied reflexively before letting out a sigh. “No, I wasn’t with a team; I was on my own, but I never even took out a contract in a cave! I have no idea how I got here.”

She shot a look over at the elemental, who was hissing to itself softly before she came and sat back down next to Mayry. “It was supposed to be my first ever contract… It was one that was supposed to be really easy. All I had to do was scope out a suspicious-looking tree that a local had been complaining about. Then, out of nowhere, something grabbed my leg, my face hit the ground, and the next thing I knew, I woke up here with you.”

Mayry smirked, “A tree?”

Nina rolled her eyes, “Yes, a tree. Someone reported that they saw it moving suspiciously. It was supposed to be the easiest contract for my first one. I guess I somehow screwed it up anyway.”

“It’s not like it was your fault! It sounded like one of those things ambushed you, ate you, and then gave you to their boss.” Seeing the look on the girl’s face, Mayry added, “Once Mason wakes up and we get out of here, how about we go find that tree with you?”

She smiled, “You’d do that? Are you sure your boyfriend won’t mind?”

“He’s not my-“ She started to say before she returned her smile and replied. “He won’t mind. He has a thing about trees.”

As Mayry and Nina huddled together, waiting for Mason to regain consciousness, Mayry talked Nina through how they had ended up in that cave. She glossed over a few details, like Mason getting a quest and her going all demon explaining it away using chaos magic as an excuse.

By the end of her story, Nina stared at her in awe. “You killed that humungous monster all on your own? Oh wow, Mayry. I never knew you were so powerful! How did you do it?!”

Not wanting to have to lie, she deflected, “Mason’s the really strong one, he was fighting the monster for much longer than me, he must have weakened it a lot before I showed up.”

Before anything else could be said. Mason finally started to stir, groaning as he slowly regained consciousness.

He struggled to sit up, his movements sluggish and disoriented. Mayry moved to his side and offered him a steadying hand.

"Mason, you're awake," she said, her voice full of relief. “Are you okay?”

He let out a long groan. Wincing as he touched a tender spot on his forehead, he muttered. “Everything hurts.”

Nina, who had been watching silently, spoke up, her voice tinged with concern. “Hey again, I heard you were trying to save me. Are you okay?”

Mason managed a weak smile. “Hey Nina… how’d you get here?” he replied, still slightly groggy. “Yeah, I’m fine. Believe it or not, I’ve had a lot worse," he replied, though his words lacked their usual conviction.

Winking at Nina, Mayry scoffed. “He tried to save you, but then I had to step in and save him. So, really, I think I deserve all the hero worship. Thank you.”

Letting out another longer groan, he pushed himself to his feet. “You killed the monster? I was hoping it was the elemental…damn it.” Looking at Nina, he continued in a stage whisper, “Now I’m going to have to listen to her gloat about it!”

Looking down, he saw that while most of the cave was now clean, his front was still covered in foul-smelling sludge. He grinned and looked back at Mayry, “Actually… I’m so proud of you. Come give me a hug!”

Mayry squeaked and ran away, with Mason chasing after her. Nina just watched the two of them, confused.