Chapter 529: Abyssal Hunter

Mason and the other players slowly slaughtered their way to the open cavern and connecting halls. Everything around them and behind them was coated in demonic ‘mud’ and ichor. When he looked back to see how they were doing, he couldn’t help but smile.

“You look like you just came out of a mine,” he said.

Becky was the only exception, her personal shield keeping her completely clean. But the blue aura flickered and died, and she didn’t look at all pleased.

“Fuck’s sakes. Fucking mushroom shit. I’m drained, God damnit. Totally drained.”

She gave a very meaningful glare at Demi, and Mason came down from the joy of his battle high in a hurry. Fighting girlfriends was not a thing he needed.

Streak, at least, was happy. The wolf was so covered in mud his face looked like one of those women in a beauty mask. His tongue stuck out as he panted, and he glanced at Mason before shaking himself off, flinging mud in every direction.

“Oh come on.” Carl appeared literally right beside him and shielded his face. “Why am I always in the wrong place?”

“You were warned,” Phuong said towards Becky with an unusually angry tone.

“Was I s’pposed to just stand there while Mason got mobbed by demons? She cut us off from the damn fight.”

“Yes,” Phuong snapped. “That is exactly what you were supposed to do. That’s what I ordered you to do. If you were a soldier under my command back home I’d have you whipped.”

Everyone looked surprised at that, but Mason understood. Sounded like she’d broken a direct command from a commanding officer. A lot of eyes turned his way, but he said nothing—he had to trust Phuong to handle it.

“Well good thing we ain’t in Viet-fucking-nam, then.” Becky blew air and looked at Mason. “Can you believe this shit?”

Phuong gave Mason the briefest glance, but there was enough understanding and trust between them without it. Still, he gave a little nod.

“Don’t look to him for help.” Phuong walked forward with his eyes locked on Becky. “I’m your commanding officer, and you disobeyed my order in combat. Worse, you failed, and lost us a valuable resource. Your mana belongs to all of us. When we’re home, Mason and I will discuss martial discipline procedures. For you and for anyone else who does something similar. Acceptance of the mistake is adequate for now. Tell me you understand.”

Becky was a hot pink color now, and Mason held his breath. He didn’t know what he or Phuong would do if she flew off the handle. They didn’t have time for this, and he wasn’t as concerned as the old soldier about what happened, but he had no choice but to back him or else completely undermine him.

He was also pissed off it was happening at all. He was still coming down from an intense, hand-to-hand brutal struggle with demons. He didn’t smoke, but if he did he’d want a cigarette, not a squabble.

He might have growled a little. It helped.

“I understand,” Becky said, her tone clipped but polite enough. Phuong nodded, the moment officially over. He stepped up beside Mason and looked down the halls.

“Hear anything, Patron? They all look the same to me.”

The remaining mud demons had fallen back once pushed to the crossroads, some of their ‘mud’ still slithering away. The survivors were lumbering straight ahead, but for some reason Mason didn’t think that was the right direction. He listened and tried reaching out with One with Nature.

“There’s life that way,” he gestured left. “If there’s prisoners, that might be them. But there’s also something…” he shook his head. How did you describe a ‘giant hole in the world’? “There’s something bad there. It might be our ‘jailor’.”

Phuong nodded and gestured to re-group.

“With Rebecca drained, Alex is our only means of shielding. He’s to be completely protected at all times. Garet, Jason, John, you stay around him unless we say otherwise.”

“Aye, we’ll babysit him.” The big Scot cracked his knuckles and gave Alex a wink. Others grinned or patted him on the shoulder or arm, looking for a joke or a smile. The Belarusian gave no reaction whatsoever. But at least he was wearing that flower necklace.

Mason took a breath and started walking. Something in his gut told him this would be bad. That this creature was somehow worse than it should be. He wasn’t sure why that would be—his main thought was that it was ‘optional’, some kind of additional thing they didn’t have to do. But he believed they could handle it.

The only question was: did they wait for Becky’s mana? He really, really didn’t want to. She was slow to regen, usually hours for a significant increase.

And even without it she could shield herself using her ‘energy’ mechanic, and probably her Aegis on a single target. She just couldn’t shield anyone else, or blow anything up.

The walk down that corridor was longer than it should have been. The end was just an opening to something larger, with no visible door or barrier. Mason could hear living things inside—breathing, whispering, the jangle of chains. He heard something laugh in a deep, dark tone.

“Oh yes, children, they’re coming. They’ll see how well you’re doing. You needn’t wait long.”

The words echoed clearly, and the voice was almost…happy. Excited. But with the same darkness as the laugh. It sounded like some twisted psychopath giddy over a kill.

The rattle of chains grew louder. Heat and rot festered on the air as the players came closer. Mason’s concern was slowly transforming into angry purpose—a disgust rising inside him to whatever this thing was, and a need to end it. He heard Streak growling at his side.

He held the others back a few steps as he moved to the end of the corridor.

Beyond was a room maybe a hundred feet in diameter, filled with lava, a central platform in its center. Running up from the platform were narrow bridges, all angling up to some kind of cells with iron bars.

On the center of the platform stood a rotting corpse of a demon. It was huge in every sense—tall and corpulent, bloated like a body washed up from too many days at sea.

Pale, sallow flesh hung from black armor that barely contained it, everything squeezed inside the metal plates and sagging down with wet rot. There were long, taut chains connected to it from all over the room, maybe connected to the cells.

“Ahh.” The demon smiled, the act tearing its lips, oozing blood and dropping off skin. “I knew you would come. I told them, didn’t I? This one is a hero, I said. He will come for Papa’s sins.”

Mason fought the shiver that danced up his spine. This thing wasn’t like any of the infernals he’d encountered so far. The mad look in its glassy eyes was full of cunning and confidence. Not like the ‘marilith’ that had seemed surprised to be disturbed.

“What is this?” Mason said, still holding up hand to keep the others back. “What are you?”

“Full of questions.” The demon scratched at its thick arm, tearing flesh and dropping out maggots. “Better to be full of rot.” It laughed like this was some hilarious joke, the jerking motion again pulling open its own flesh and dropping pus to the stone.

The room dimmed, system text moving across Mason’s screen.

[Entering Title and Planar Aura Special Event: The Abyssal Hunter. This is an event triggered by your House, Group, or personal actions. It is a mortal event. You have thirty seconds to commit, or attempt to escape.  Please note: escaping will still have consequences.]

Mason started counting as he scanned the bridges and platform, trying to figure out how much space they had. The casters could mostly group up right at the entrance. The melee could get down to the platform, or spread out on the bridges. But there were so many unknowns, so many possible problems.

He wasn’t planning on escape. That was already decided. He was only trying to decide if he brought the others in, or if he took the demon on alone. They were here to learn, but not like this. Not against a creature that was waiting for them—hunting them, as the name implied.

He looked back and even Carl and Phuong seemed confused. No doubt they couldn’t possibly imagine Mason would do this alone. He grit his teeth, truly torn, not wanting to risk their lives, maybe a piece of him wanting to go down there and silence this demon with pure, brazen superiority.

“In or out,” he finally said. “I have no idea what’s waiting for us. It could be a death trap.”

“Isn’t it always,” Phuong said, smiling grimly as he gestured the others forward.

Mason took another deep breath and gave them room, hurrying them up before the timer ran out. All twelve players made their way into the cavern, their eyes taking it in with various reactions, from determination to fear.

The demon laughed with another sound of surprised joy.

“Oh what fun,” it said, trailing a filthy hand along one of the chains. “You’ve been very naughty, Baron. Very naughty. Just like me. My master only sends me for the worst children. Isn’t that right, my lovelies? Isn’t it?”

Mason summoned his bow, gesturing the others to spread apart and ready themselves.

“I need information, and quickly,” he said low. “Don’t trust the ground, especially the bridges. Watch yourselves. Watch your steps. And if we can…”

The chains screeched with metal scraping as they levitated into the air. Then the whole room began to move, and possibly turn.

[Event initiated.]