Twenty-Four
 
“She’s crazy,” Diur muttered under her breath as she looked down at the canyon filled with monsters. They were tall, weasel-esque, furred six-legged beasts filled with needle-like teeth. They scampered up and over the downed fallen trees, rotting foliage, and decaying bodies. Scores of the beasts fought and killed each other in the valley and Kon had his own apprehension about going down there.
Alice was sitting down with her legs crossed at the ankle while looking at the mass of furry death below. She was whistling to herself as Kon and Alice waited for them to go down and start the butchery. Sweat pooled in the palm of his hand and made his grip on the smooth wood of the metallic branch.
“I think I’m going to agree with you,” Kon muttered but he started down the steep path and toward the valley. The stench of the rot and decay slapped him in the face and he stopped dead in his tracks and leaned over to hurl. Diur stopped, foot paused in mid-air, as his bile prayed the rocks in front of her. She wrinkled her own nose but didn’t comment on Kon’s weak stomach.
“Don’t be wasting food! There’s a lot of energy in there!” Alice yelled at him with a sadistic smile. Kon shot her a rude hand gesture and kept working his way further down the path.
“What’s the plan?” Diur asked him, her hand was wrapped around the pommel of her sword, but she hadn’t drawn it yet.
“I’m going to stand there and see if a monster or two will come at me. I’ll kill them. If more than that comes, I’m going to run back up the hill.” Alice had put them on a timetable as she wanted to get out of the region as fast as possible. A straightforward assault seemed possible.
The narrow pathway into and out of the valley would constrict the mass of monsters as they charged him. The neck of the valley was a hundred meters long and only a few meters wide with tall walls of sheer rock that was impassable. It was going to be possible as long as he didn’t get push to far up.
“That’s…not a plan?” Diur said questioningly as she sped up and stood by his shoulder.
“It is a plan. Just not a good plan,” Kon admitted as they made it halfway down the neck without a single of the monsters reacting yet. screaming , chittering, cries of the weasel monsters howled down the neck of the canyon and Kon winced as the sound assaulted him.
“Alice said I could help you if you begin to be overwhelmed,” Diur said. She patted him on the shoulder and fell back as Kon reached the chokepoint of the valley. A hundred beady eyes locked on to him. Now that he was closer Kon realized they had three sets of three eyes arranged in rows along their oval shaped skulls. All of them blinked at the same time as a single one of them ran at him.
Hardly reaching waist height, it ran in strange bounding leaps, pairs of legs gathering and propelling it forward in massive leaping lunges. Kon settled down, sinking his hips down and raising his spear forward as he stared at the three inch long, needle teeth that filled its wide mouth.
It flew as it threw itself at the last moment, aiming for his throat, and Kon stepped forward and aimed the D-Grade speartip at it. Weasel guts fell out and around him as the creature split itself on the spear and fell in a red ruin around him. A dozen howls of rage came from the interior valley as the rest of the colony turned their eyes on him.
“I think it might be best to run,” Diur muttered but Kon simply stepped forward to meet the leading element. The spear sang as he swung and sliced, falling into a rhythm of constant retreat, letting the beasts push him back. They came and died, one after the other, all lost in a bestial fury that couldn’t be controlled.
For a moment, Kon thought he was going to do it. He retreated slowly, carefully, and kept killing without pause. Their loose, furry skin did nothing to stop the D-Grade speartip, parting flesh like it was paper and they died with ease. Then the first of the beasts leapt on the wall and ran across the stone, long, thick claws dug into the rock like it was wet clay.
“Shit,” Kon cursed as he leapt backward and slashed wide out, spear slashing apart the beast’s face, brain and teeth falling over him as the body sailed by. It allowed more to come at him, they started to run on the wall and Kon began to backpedal and swing the spear about himself in a fury of blows. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
“My turn,” Diur murmured and a soft, aquamarine light radiated from her and filled the neck of the valley. A humm radiated up his spine and sweat burst out across his neck as a shiver rolled down his back. A crescent of blue energy scythed down the wall and half dozen of the F-Grade monsters fell, split cleanly in half. Diur leapt into his view, her feet hitting the wall and she stood there perpendicular to the ground for a second.
Her entire body was awash in blue waves, thinner and more ephemeral than Alice’s aura. Her feet were planted on the wall for only a second before she launched herself at the other wall. Rock sprayed out in a shower of splinters from the force of her jump and her sword flashed as she crossed the short distance and a half dozen more of the monsters split apart and fell into sloppy piles of flesh.
Kon froze as he watched her go all out, she danced back and forth across the narrow neck. Each jump blew apart chunks of rock and her blue-steel sword had tripled in length as her aura covered and extended it. His shock only lasted a moment as she hadn’t killed all of the weasels, four of them survived her pinball maneuver and now launched themselves at him.
He slashed across the first one’s throat, the blow a moment slow as he shook off his surprise, and the head flew free and the body slammed into him. Knees buckled and he stumbled backward, falling on his ass, but he held onto his spear as the remaining three came at him in a staggered line.
A pink maw opened up inches from his feet and Kon attacked, forced to use only his shoulders to stab at the beast’s mouth. The claw tore open its mouth and punched its way into its skull, killing it instantly. Six legs went limp and with a terrible snap the spear broke in half, leaving Kon with only four foot long baton.
He rolled instantly, throwing himself to the ground and turning shoulder over shoulder to avoid the next attack. Claws raked the ground he had just deserted and left deep furrows across the soft dirt. Hot breath rolled over his neck as teeth snapped inches from his neck. Rock walls stopped his roll as his shoulders slammed into the side of the passage and he leapt upright.
Just out of arm reach the third weasel was crouched, haunch down and legs bunched, ready to leap. Its dark fur was coated in mud and blood, its musk filled the air and its breath was that of rotting meat. Kon threw the length of wood at it with all his strength. It smacked solidly into its skull and all nine eyes blinked stupidly as Kon jumped at it. He punched an eye and it squealed in pain and shook its head while swiping at him with its claws in blind panic.
He spun on his heel, keeping himself tucked close to its lean body, and ran behind it and toward the dead weasel who had attempted to eat his spear. The fourth weasel bounded off a wall and came flying at him, but Kon dropped into a slide and watched as the beast sailed over his head.
Feet smacked hard into the dead body and the momentum knocked it over and on its side, maw open as the broken remnant of the spear kept it from closing. Kon risked a glance over his shoulder at the two frustrated rift beasts. One was shaking its head furiously and yowling in pain, a mess of jelly and blood over its lean face. The final weasel had spun around and was charging him, only moments away from tearing into him.
Fingers scraped the top of teeth and rivulets of blood ran as his skin tore, but he grabbed the end of the spear and pulled it free easily and turned just as the weasel closed in on him. He tucked his head down and teeth scraped across his scalp and the click of teeth closing was loud and terrifying. Its bulk shoved into him and they fell in a mass of twisting limbs. Rage boiled through him as pain filled his bodies, claws raked across his body, only partially successful against his leathers.
He stabbed in a blind fury, blood running down his face, his own and the weasel’s. Kon screamed as he stabbed, blood and fur filling his mouth as the weasel screamed in pain and tried to get away. Kon grabbed its loose skin with his free hand and held on, not letting it get away from him. They thrashed and rolled and Kon kept stabbing, over and over until his arm was sore and weak and the weasel finally fell still.
Trembling arms pushed him free of the weasel and he looked over to see the final weasel staring at him with hatred. Its eight remaining eyes were burning as Kon stood there, swaying. He bared his teeth and growled, body burning in pain, but he refused to back down. It lurched toward him in a sudden burst of speed and a distant part of his conscious mind realized he was about to die.
“AHHHHH!” Kon screamed in rage and defiance and he ran toward the weasel with his broken spear, propelled by animal instinct and rage.
A comet of violet fire landed and the ground shook as a crater formed. The weasel exploded in a spray of hot mist that covered Kon. his feet betrayed him as the earth jumped around, and he landed face first in the mud of the valley. Leather boots filled his vision and Kon struggled to roll over. Alice’s beaming face filled his vision as she leaned over him.
“Now we’re getting somewhere.”