130 Abomination - Part 3 (1/2)

Yunia takes off one of her gauntlets and lightly cuts her hand, then she starts making a strip of [Disruption Field] around the edge of the entire room. This way, she can disrupt anything that comes in while still allowing us to cast spells.

I go to the counter and search for a manual; Hana takes position by the door, with Aoi by the wall; Lina goes to the worktable; and Ciel and Jarn will protect Alissa, Roxanne, and the doll golems.

Gify pops out of existence. Things are about to get ugly.

Lina finds a keyhole in the worktable and uses the mayor's key. She twists it, and its lid unlocks. There are a dozen levers and a glass plate, where a blank keycard can be placed.

”They're coming,” Alissa says.

The sound of metal hitting metal gets louder, forming a horrifying cacophony. A mist that clouds even the Hollys' sight starts to spread from every direction towards the Office.

Alissa's ears twitch, and she anxiously grips her bow harder. ”Monsters are coming from all around the building,” she says.

Then I see something frightening that makes me freeze. A flayed person crawls forward on all fours. Below the knees and the elbows, its limbs have been replaced by rusty, chipped blades, and its face is somehow stuck in a creepy grin.

The monster reaches our building and sinks its blades into the wall without a problem, then it starts to climb up, towards us.

Alissa goes out through the hole in the wall and shoots an arrow at it from the safety of the platform. It dodges by jumping away from the wall, then it falls to the floor without taking any visible damage.

The Flayed immediately continues forward and tries to climb up the Office again. Roxanne joins Alissa on the platform and [Explode]s its head. It falls to the floor again, and its exposed flesh starts pulsating, then it spreads out until there's only a thin veil of red, heaving flesh.

With a nudge through [Bind], I tell Roxanne to cast a [Fireball] at it. The flesh easily catches fire, and we immediately hear faint shrieks coming from it.

Lina tests all the levers, but nothing happens. Then, with her bare hands, she rips open a panel on the side of the worktable. She looks inside and sees crystals attached to the ends of the levers. It seems like a spell is cast to imprint the information into the keycard, and each crystal modifies that information in a specific way.

”As I thought. The alarm severed the connection to the station's mana,” Lina says through [Bind] because it's faster.

”Can you use your mana on these crystals?” I ask.

”Find out where the connection was cut, and restore it manually.”

”Understood.” She turns to the hole in the wall and orders, ”Elemental, come to me!”

We hear loud stomps coming our way from the corridor outside this room.

”It's going to slam against the door!” Yunia exclaims.

Hana leans against it and prepares for the impact. Aoi comes over to help and gets in position just as a fucking truck hits the heavy metal door and rips it off its hinges.

The two girls are pushed back, but remain upright. Behind the door that they're holding back, a mass of muscles larger than the Baby Brute is trying to push against them.

Its head is now oversized and veiny, just like the rest of its body. Its large mouth displays an impressive set of sharp teeth, and a long, thin tongue that drips with saliva. Both of its arms have sledgehammers embedded within them, and two smaller arms embedded with cannons have grown out of its back.

The cannons point at us, and Yunia activates the [Disruption Field]. The monster's head immediately turns towards her, and its tongue shoots forward, stretching like a chameleon's.

Yunia dodges sideways and cuts the tongue off. Aoi and Hana start to push the monster back with the help of the doll golems. Ciel launches a [Wind Blade] at its knee, nearly slicing its leg off while forcing the Adult Brute to fall down.

The mist reaches the building, reducing our visibility, but Alissa can still fire her arrows just through using [Sense Presence]. However, Roxanne now has to wait for the monsters to get close; I don't have the mental capacity to guide her right now. Lina smashes open the wall and the floor beside the worktable, searching for the mana channel that normally feeds it.

The Brute's tongue tries to unite with the severed end, but Yunia kicks it away, then the girls close the door, severing the tongue again. The Brute gets up and starts hammering against it; if it keeps going at this pace, the door will barely hold for a minute.

The two pieces of the Brute's tongue flail about wildly, trying to reconnect with the rest of their body.

The Flayed start crawling up all over the outer walls of the Office. Our room is in one corner of the building, so it has two exterior walls. Alissa and Roxanne can only see down one of them since the other is out of view of the platform.

”A second Brute is charging!” Yunia warns.

”THROW THE DOOR AT IT!” I order and continue searching for a manual.

The doll golems charge up their [Telekinesis], Ciel prepares a powerful [Wind Hammer], and Hana readies an [Earth Bullet] while Aoi holds the door back by herself.

”ON MY MARK!” Yunia yells.

The second Brute crashes against the first.

”NOW!”

All of our spells are released at the door, taking both Brutes with it and launching them back down the corridor. The tongues roll out of the room after the brutes. Then I summon a metal elemental and order it to replace the door.

The Flayed reaches the wall that Alissa and Roxanne can't see, then it starts slicing through the stone, carving out a hole into the room.

Oh, fuck.

”THEY ARE OPENING A HOLE IN THIS WALL,” I yell and point.

”Jarn! Copy me!” Ciel orders, then she stands in front of the new hole and starts stabbing through it. Jarn copies her, and they stop the Flayed from breaking in.

”THEY'RE SWARMING US!” Alissa yells.

Roxanne summons a [Water Spirit]. Her control of it isn't perfect, but it's still helpful.

Our time is running out.

I finish searching the counter and start looking through the shelves. Lina has finally found the crystal that cut off the mana channel to the worktable. She pulls out her enchanting table and starts modifying it.

”A THIRD IS COMING! IT MIGHT COME THROUGH THIS WALL!” Yunia yells and points.

Hana and Aoi get in position, ready to give it a proper greeting. The metal elemental gets hit by a ball of light and loses a chunk of its health. It decides to dodge, otherwise, it'll quickly disintegrate before the Brutes reach it.

Ciel's [Holy Spirit] jumps to the elemental and starts absorbing the incoming balls of light. It still consumes Ciel's MP, but it isn't much.

The third Brute crashes against the wall. It nearly barrels through, but gets stopped by Aoi's and Hana's combined [Wind Shield]-powered shield bash. The doll golems grab large chunks of the concrete that broke off from the wall and start pummeling the Brute with them.

They let the Brute step into the [Disruption Field] so that its cannons get disabled, and with two against one, the Brute doesn't manage to land a single attack.

Yunia takes a chance and leaps forward, landing with a sharp chop that severs its right arm. I immediately get an idea and use [Telekinesis] to pull the arm to myself.

The Brute's black tendrils try to steal it back, but they aren't fast enough. I drop the arm in front of me on the floor and open a [Gate] to outside the dungeon.

The tendrils suddenly go wild for a second, then they stop moving. The arm also doesn't seem to be growing back.

”SEVER ITS PARTS AND SEND THEM TO ME!” I order.

”It's ready!” Lina yells. The keycard worktable lights up, and I feel a faint amount of mana escaping it.

”Help! Jarn!” Alissa yells and pulls Roxanne back into the room.

There are too many Flayed for the two of them to deal with on their own. Jarn and Lina dash over to them and start attacking the huge creepy crawlers swarming in.

”[Water Wall]!” Roxanne casts at the hole and slows down their approach.

I finally find the fucking manual tucked away at the bottom corner of the shelf. I frantically flip through the booklet, then I find something interesting. There's a drawing of the light spectrum. The keycard worktable simply prints a color to the card. Each lever is a number that when concatenated, creates an RGB code in base 7. Each of the three colors is controlled by three levers.

A severed arm and head fly towards me, and I send them to the outside of the dungeon.

The number is related to the frequency, so the higher the frequency of the chosen color in the light spectrum, the higher the number that I have to input through the worktable. Since we read the numbers from left to right, the leftmost numbers are the most significant, so they go first. Since I want a blue keycard, I just have to use the leftmost levers to get a blue color. Hopefully, a vibrant blue is the correct color to gain access to Looping Winds Control.

The two other Brutes crash into the elemental and push past Yunia's [Disruption Field]. The doll golems and Hana switch to them to push them back into the Field. Roxanne immediately explodes their heads so that they can't see us, but it wasn't quick enough, and they fire at us once with their cannons.

A ball of light hits Ciel in the back, and she shrieks. Her [Rainbow Shield] shines for a second, and her HP immediately decreases by ten. She turns around and gets ready to dodge the next shot, but she looks drowsy, and her movements are sluggish.

Alissa dodges a ball of light and pushes Roxanne away from another. Jarn gets hit in the back by one of them, and a hole appears in her body/armor. The last ball of light hits the [Holy Spirit], who absorbs it.

I grab a clear crystal tablet from the basket and set it on the glass plate. I input the code and immediately close the lid, then I pull the ”on” lever on the side. Light and mana start to escape from the lid.

I turn around and [Rush] towards the two Brutes. One is savagely pummeling the metal elemental in front of it, while the other is swinging wildly, distracted by the doll golems' attacks. The third Brute is almost completely disabled now that it's both armless and headless.

A thin veil of flesh grows at a frightening speed towards us. It touches Lina and immediately begins to crawl up her leg.

”AAAAH! IT'S BURNING!” She yells in pain and jumps back, but the veil of flesh continues to grow upwards along her limb.

”AOI! BURN THE FLESH!” I order her through [Bind].

Yunia casts [Soul Blade] and severs the legs of the Brute, finally fully disabling it. Aoi immediately flies towards Lina and sucks in a large amount of air.

I reach the Brute currently fighting the elemental and slice at its arm, then I cast [Double Strike]. The wound penetrates deeply and reaches the bone, but doesn't sever it, its muscles are too thick, even with [Sharp Blades]. Also, I notice that the bits that made their heads are crawling back to their original place at a troubling speed.

I crouch low to dodge its counter and slice at the back of its knee, then I use [Double Strike] again. This time, it cleaves all the way through, and the Brute falls down.

Lina falls on the ground, holding her leg in agony as Ciel sprints over to her. Aoi spews fire, and the veil of flesh ignites into an inferno. Lina lifts her leg into the path of Aoi's fire breath, surprising her, and the leg immediately catches fire.

Alissa draws her sword and parries a burning Flayed. Its strength is so great that it rips the sword from her hands. Before it can strike again, I cast a [Lightning Bolt] at it, then it becomes too burnt to move anymore.

Ciel conjures water on Lina's leg, extinguishing the flame, then quickly casts a [Heal]. Lina stops crying in pain, then immediately gets up and charges, even though she's still not fully healed yet.

I dodge a ball of light, then completely cut off the Brute's leg and send it out of the dungeon. Now, the nearly dead elemental can go on the offensive.

Hana launches a sneak attack at the other Brute and cuts off both of its cannons with a single swing. It turns to counter her, but Yunia strikes at it from behind, cleaving its body in two with [Searing Blade].

She drops her longsword and uses both hands to throw the Brute's lower body towards the [Gate]. With my [Telekinesis] nudging it a bit, it lands on the right spot.

The doll golems turn to the Flayed, their two concrete bludgeons whistling through the air, crushing anything in their way. The battlefield quickly stabilizes in our favor as we push back the Flayed, stop the veil of flesh from growing, and disable the Brutes.

After a dozen grueling seconds of carnage, the worktable dings, and the light turns off.

”Aoi! I'm sending you to engineering to burn the flesh growing there!” I say through [Bind].

”Understood!”

I throw her the yellow keycard and open a [Gate] for her, then I rush to the worktable and retrieve the blue keycard. Once Aoi crosses through the [Gate], I open one under me to the door to Looping Winds Control.

I slam the keycard against the glass card reader, and the door unlocks.

”EVERYONE, CROSS THE [GATE]! ABANDON THE WORKSHOP!” I order through [Bind] and unsummon the metal elemental.

Alissa relays my order to others, and they all immediately jump through it, arriving as a pile on the other side.

”Horrible retreat! Get up immediately!” I order, then I feel a little guilty because I didn't even try to guide them with [Bind].

The area around us is filled with a thick mist, and none of them want to stay vulnerable for a single second longer, so they all scramble to get up. Then Ciel finishes healing Lina before healing herself.

We rebuild our formation, and Hana kicks the door open. Right on the other side, we can see that the floor is covered in a thin veil of pulsating, red flesh. Deep within the mist, we see three faint golden lights spread out in a line and a green one on top. They must be the crystals controlling the Looping Winds.

”Hana, burn it,” I order.

She breathes in deeply, then spews a long plume of fire deep into the room.

We hear a high-pitched shriek, similar to the one we heard when we turned on the lights. This one sounds more like a baby crying than the horrifying wail from before. Then the shriek fades away until it stops entirely.

The flesh recedes from engineering, so I recall Aoi to us, and we wait. Hana's flame quickly spreads outwards like a wildfire, leaving only ash behind in its wake.

”We have its attention, so we can't waste any more time, we have to go in,” I say, and the girls nod.

After a quick breather, we march inside.

Once we're all in, the door suddenly slams shut, and the elemental acting as a coffin for The Lady cracks silently.

”Oh, boy,” I mutter.

The cracks quickly increase in length, and I hurry us forward. We're on a long and wide metal platform, and due to the thick mist and ash, we can only see a few meters ahead.

”Husks. Coming in fast,” Alissa says and wrinkles her nose at the stench of rotting flesh.

”Get ready to butcher them!” I encourage the girls.

The elemental coffin breaks open, and it dies.

The ash suddenly lifts and stays suspended for a second, then it flies back to the entrance. The mist clears a little behind us, and we see the ash gathering into the shape of a person, the shape of The Lady.

”FUCK! RUN!” I order.

A few seconds later, we reach a mob of husks covered in patches of red flesh. They're seemingly smart enough to jump over the flames.

I draw my four daggers with my [Soul Manipulation] and start butchering. I slice and dice, carving a path along with the girls.

In a fit of desperation, I summon two Corpse Stealers.

”Dominate the husks!” I order.

The blobs of dark slime each enter a husk and fight back the pulsating flesh. After a few seconds, they win and start controlling the husks, then they split and start spreading.

That's it! I can counter this horde with a horde of my own!

”PROTECT THE CORPSE STEALERS!” I order.

I anxiously look behind me, but I don't see or feel The Lady coming.

Two Corpse Stealers becomes four, then eight, then sixteen, then there are so many that we don't have to protect them anymore.

We stop to watch the carnage and catch our breath. Faint lights coming from the wildfires shine through the mist around us, the ash and the smell of burnt flesh make it hard to breathe, and the heat starts rising, though we have [Breeze] to keep ourselves cool.

The Corpse Stealers are more powerful than the pulsating flesh-powered husks, and their ever-increasing numbers are turning the tide in our favor.

”The Flayed are coming from the left flank!” Alissa suddenly exclaims.

We turn and get ready to attack. A Flayed appears before me from within the mist, then, suddenly, ten long claws cut it into ribbons.

I suck in a breath and freeze.

THE LADY!

The claws suddenly disappear and reappear next to another Flayed, then she cuts it into ribbons, too. She disappears and keeps killing the Flayed, one by one.

”S-she's killing the Flayed!” Alissa exclaims.

”The Lady is helping us!” I exclaim.

Then I see a pair of sinister, black eyes filled with scorn turn to me.

Mommy is angry, very angry. She hasn't forgiven me for what I did, and that makes me feel like crying. I hurt Mommy, and now she despises me.

She's too angry to talk, so I know that I have to stay away until she calms down.

I avert my eyes and grit my teeth. I growl and flood my heart with anger. The cloud over my eyes slowly starts to fade.

Ciel's [Holy Spirit] climbs up to her head, then it shines twice as brightly, forcefully clearing the clouds over our minds.

The Lady carves a path through the Flayed and leaps into the mob of husks. Her claws spin like a tornado, shredding everything in her way.