Isher Notra

Stella:

"What the hell just happened?"

The ever-approaching army of the goo was midway through the rocky path until almost all of them dissolved into a gooey, purple mess. Then, it started floating and flew towards the table where Lien and the Knight were, forming a dome. The girl heard the culprit cackling and saw her glowing hands, indicating the usage of magic to create such a thing.

The bright side was that only five gooplings were remaining to capture her.

Was that witch underestimating her? Ha! It was her funeral.

While the constructs slowly walked towards her, Stella searched her backpack for anything helpful against them. The water bottle could be valuable, but it was only a one-time use kind of weapon. Better keep that as a last resort.

Other than that, there were only a bunch of rocks and her hoodie. The stones could work, but if they missed, it could be a waste of ammo.

But what if they don't need to be thrown...?

Stella tied the two sleeves of the hoodie in the tightest knot she could create, and then she put two rocks down each sleeve. She gripped the rest of the sleeves tightly, not wanting the stones to slip off.

She started to swing the improvised weapon, getting a feel for it. It seemed to work well enough.

Time to bash some non-faces!

She dashed towards the five goop zombies, swinging her weapon like a cowboy with his lasso! When in close range, she smashed one of the gooplings' heads! It stumbled a few centimeters, then fell on the ground with two cracks on what an ear was supposed to be.

Another goopling stretched his arms and tried to grab Stella, but she ducked and slammed her body on his legs, making it fall with its "face" on the rough floor.

These guys were indeed like zombies.

Having crossed the goopling barrier, the girl stepped back a little, not wanting to test her luck too much. The two fallen constructs were slowly getting up, and three, parallel to each other, were still standing and ready for the attack.

The unscathed trio lunge at Stella all at once, scaring her at first. However, her mind shook the fear off, and she managed to slide between the legs of the one at the center. Now close to the waking golems, she turned her attention to the most damaged one and swung her weapon at the back of his skull, creating another crack. From the fracture, a trail of purple goo came out, seemingly its blood.

The other was about to pounce! But Stella threw her hand at its rune while she held the Deheater™. Luckily, she found out that she didn't even need to strike the creature, only let the Knight's invention suck out all of its heat. In a few seconds, the goopling became a greyish statue.

One down, four to go.

Unfortunately, the three golems were too close to their fractured sibling, so she couldn't capitalize on its weakened state. She stepped away from them to get a breather. Their slowness really was a blessing.

The trio was annoyingly close to each other, so taking one per time was impossible. Stella needed to eliminate at least one to throw off their fighting synergy. It was time for the bottle.

After carefully waiting for the right window, the Human opened the water bottle. Then she ran around them and shoved it on the rune of the center goopling when it turned to her. She almost got caught by the other two, but she slithered away from their clumsy claws.

The water cooled off the construct's insides, turning it into a statue like the previous one.

With one more out of the picture, Stella had better access to the weakened goopling, who struggled to wake up. When it was on the verge of standing again, it received yet another blow from the girl. This time on the center of its non-existent face.

The Human started to feel bad for the golem. Well, it wasn't even alive, right?

The goopling fell on its back, making his rune vulnerable to another visit from the Deheater™. Three gooplings were now neutralized.

The last two were not as challenging as Stella thought. A well-struck blow from her hoodie weapon on one's thigh made it stunned for enough time to neutralize another with the tiny object.

Now, only one remained. The gooplings were terrifying in large groups, but alone? They were nothing but mindless chumps.

She low-kicked the construct and made it fall on the ground. But this time, she would have her fun.

After all the bullshit she went through in this damned forest. The Lads, the Cat, Kristal's rants, and that fucking eleven-meter freak!

And now, it was that ugly bitch with these faceless puppets. Stella had enough!

Each time she whacked the last goopling with her improvised weapon, she roared in anger. One, two, three, four, all served as catharsis for the frustrated Human.

On that blank canvas at the front of its head, Stella imagined Stúfur's, the guy with the hook, and Leppalúði's faces instead. She reveled in the thought of messing their ugly, mocking smirks by twisting their faces into a wrinkly, bloody mess!

But then, she went further! Now, as the purple substance spilled from the construct like a geyser, she imagined all of the fucking wannabe kingpins that littered the slums she once lived. She remembered their disgusting faces and the not-so-subtle features that distinguished each one. A gold-plated tooth, a scar across one's face, a torn ear, all marks of their supposed claim of their territories.

They ruined everything! The orphanage! The children! Her life! Sofia's life!

Sofia...

When that name crossed Stella's mind, she could see its owner reflected on the goopling's face, making her slowly regain her senses.

When her vision cleared, she saw a mangled head covered in purple goo. Bits and pieces of its shell were glued on her weapon and her hands.

Even though she knew it wasn't a person's head, Stella felt disgusted by seeing it. Her heart hammered, her body lost all strength, and she lost her grip on her hoodie, letting it hit the ground. She fought against the urge to vomit, which was even more intense than the last time.

After taking deep breaths, she could suitably reflect upon her actions. Of course, the goopling wasn't a living being. It was a golem, a puppet made out of purple goo. But she couldn't shake the feeling that she needed the right push to turn this anger into an actual Human or Monoke.

Was she that prone to murder? To kill someone in such a gruesome way just to release one's anger. This was part of the girl?

She wished these thoughts melted away like the goopling, slowly turning into a meaningless pile of goo. Just like someone's life could be gone and their body turned into a mush of organic matter if Stella couldn't control this rage.

"I underestimated you, girl! Yer not so weak as I thought!" Grýla's voice could be heard, approaching the Human.

Right. Grýla, Lien, the Knight, her mission.

Her friend was trapped by this witch, and the Knight was apparently captured. Only Stella was left. Only she could pull off this rescue.

She will not run away again! Never!

She stared at the approaching old hag, and determination burned away the fear in her heart. There was no time for doubt, only action.

Stella ran as fast as she could towards the kitchen, hoping that she would reach the table. She didn't care if it was impossible! Only the mission mattered.

She was not a violent murderer. She refused to acknowledge that.

The Silver Knight:

Bam! Another construct down!

Hordes of Grýla's arcane puppets were born from the gooey walls of their cell. The overwhelming pink light would have made it difficult for the hero to pinpoint each one if it wasn't for his helmet. He counterattacked each golem with fast and powerful strikes, not wanting to rely too much on his lightspeed.

Another vantage he had was his temporary comrade. Lien was considerably more skilled in combat than Stella. Of course, Monoke trained their Saniya since childhood, which was not the case for most Humans.

Maybe their trip would go more smoothly if the Human received some basic training, at least...

Thoughts for later. The hero had a bigger problem to solve. He could only hope that Stella was safe and sound. If she wasn't... That would be an unliftable weight on his soul.

Lien took out a construct with a double palm strike. "These things won't stop appearing!"

The guard's eyes searched throughout the dome. "I know! But I need to find-" He caught a rune. "I got it!"

The Knight shot a Saniya blast at the rune, the same one carved on the golems, destroying it and creating a crack in the dome. That made an impact on the prison's sturdiness and on the puppets' spawn rate.

At that point, he destroyed a handful of these symbols with his blaster, monopolizing the initial waves of enemies to break as many runes as possible before the dome became too crowded.

Before the purple chaos, the Knight counted ten runes. If his calculations weren't flawed, there was only one left.

However, by focusing on that, he distracted himself from his enemies. Ten jam golems ambushed him on all sides, only to be repelled by a burst of air magic! The Knight managed to save himself just in time.

Air magic isn't nearly as taxing as light magic, so that wouldn't be much of a problem. However, the ammo on his blaster was running low, indicated by a warning message that his visor projected on the bottom left corner.

He needed a clean shot.

He saw the army of constructs blocking the path for the last rune, then turned to the Wolf. "Lien! Super-breath at them!"

The pup nodded and unleashed the only magic spell she knew. However, she was surprisingly powerful with it, considering her age.

Lien's attack made all puppets in an impressive-sized radius lose their balance and fall to the ground, creating the window for the last shot at the dome.

After the last rune was destroyed, all jam golems were dissolved. However, the dome remained in place. It had a few cracks but still remained strong. What was missing? Were they truly trapped?

The answer to their problems was revealed when the Knight noticed another rune forming at the top of the dome.

The shield rune. The dome's weak point.

He knew what to do. "Lien! Get on my back!"

The pup complied and tightly clung to the hero's back. He bent his knees and gathered golden Saniya on his fist for the final blow.

The Silver Knight took a deep breath. "ROCKET!"

Then he jumped high in the air! Like an ascending fireball amidst the dimly lit dome, he crashed his golden fist against the symbol!

"CRASH!"

The attack broke through the hardened jam wall like it was made of crackers. The momentum made the two soar to greater heights outside the dome.

The Knight could finally see what Grýla was up to, and...

It wasn't good.

The witch captured Stella, binding her with only one hand. The Human cried and begged for help against the Monoke's clutches.

Lucky for the girl, there was a hero right here!

In mid-air, The Silver Knight used the remaining fuel in his boots to redirect himself at the mighty Ogre. He prepared for another punch, a regular one this time.

"THIS HUMAN IS UNDER MY PROTECTION!"

The hero's cry took Grýla's attention, only for her jaw to be the target of his blow! She stumbled back, accidentally letting Stella go. The girl screamed while she fell, but the guard managed to use the last drops of fuel to swoop in, save the Human, and land safely!

The Knight gently put Stella on the ground, and Lien followed suit. Before he could ask if the Human was okay, the Wolf wrapped her paws around her in a tight hug.

Strangely, the Human seemed more shocked at the hug rather than at almost plummeting to her death.

"Lien!? What's going on?!" Stella asked.

The pup's tail wagged in an erratic pacing. "Nothing! You actually came to save me!"

The Human blushed. "I mean..." She stumbled in her words. "I couldn't leave my friend behind!" Then her eyes widened. "Uh, we are friends, right? I don't want to over-"

She was interrupted by Lien licking her left cheek. Stella didn't respond, only froze in... well, maybe not disgust, but... shock? The Knight had to admit, it was a little weird.

"Of course we are!" Lien replied, and then her voice became more reserved. "I was afraid you didn't feel like that, though..." Her ears lowered.

Damnit! These two were so cute! Witnessing such a powerful, genuine bond almost made him break into tears!

But this was no time for tears! It was time to get these girls out of here!

This was what he thought until a colossal wave of pego jam crashed on the edges of the kitchen. The ones that connected with the path to the stairs, to be precise.

He looked at the witch, who was already behind her cauldron. "And that was almost all of my jam!" She grabbed her enchanted spoon, filled with more pego jam. "And THIS! Is to make sure ya ain't never escaping!"

She drank the substance. Immediately, sparks ran throughout her body, and a powerful magenta-colored aura started erupting from her body in small bursts. She ditched her bandana, letting her messy white hair run free.

"What is she doing?" Stella asked, clearly terrified.

To add to the terror. Grýla jumped from behind the cauldron and landed before them, creating a powerful shockwave that launched the two girls a couple meters.

And now, only The Silver Knight could stop the witch's onslaught.

He stood proudly while the giant stared at him with nothing but the desire for violence in her eyes. "No one can escape me!"

She stomped the ground, and another burst of aura came. A thunderous crack echoed throughout the inferno.

"No one can defeat the Giant Witch!"