Dissonance 18 – Ganging Up

The granite block of the Granite-Block district was so large it boggled the mind. Eldred had only ever seen it from afar, which had belied the scale. Up, left, or right, whichever direction Eldred looked, it was just smooth granite. Not perfectly smooth, it was still natural in some form, but so smooth that it seemed impossible.

It was not a solid block though. Holes covered the surface, most of them caves that were a part of the process that had put this block in place. Few, often smaller, tunnels had been carved by the dwarves that had made the granite their home. Chunks of the stone left the district on a conveyer belt. One day the district would be a proper dwarven hold. Eldred doubted he would see it in his lifetime.

‘Then again, who knows how long I will live,’ Eldred thought and entered the block.

“Dwarves…” Nyx muttered under her breath.

“Don’t like them either?” the driven man asked his hovering banshee with a hint of amusement.

“No, though this distaste is much lesser than the one I have for the savage goblins.” Nyx’s brows quivered as she tried to recollect something. A forlorn sigh demanded an uplifting kiss.

One of the stocky fellows stubbornly refused to swerve from his chosen path. Eldred had to break the contact with Nyx’s black lips so as to not run into the man. “Watch out!” the dwarf cussed at him, continuing on without pause.

Eldred found himself wondering if the man would make half as good an opponent as the Cannibal Golem had been. Their dimensions were about the same, which only made sense. The guardian had been modelled after the species, after all.

Shrugging off his aggression, Eldred continued on, dragging his glaring banshee with him. “Dwarves!” she spat out, her sad tone completely overpowered by annoyance. “Uncouth and rigid people, through and through.”

“I am getting more and more certain that you used to be an elf,” Eldred remarked. The first hint had been her ears, their upper corners cut in a peculiar manner. Though he could imagine that some human cults would execute similar ritualistic mutilation for whatever reason, the overall look of Nyx’s ears convinced him that there had been more to them than the common roundness.

Pointy ears only narrowed the available pool of species so much. A certain prejudice against savage goblins further only did so much. Combined with a distaste for dwarves, however? In Eldred’s mediocrely educated mind, that painted a clear picture.

“It strikes me as likely,” Nyx agreed.

They continued up to Corridor 12-B, a segment of Granite Block belonging to a small company. Confusingly, there were no workers. Had the portal been so recently discovered that no one was around to guard it? No, the corridor did not appear like there had been excavation there recently.

Eldred approached the oddities with a shrug. It wasn’t his problem. He was here to enter a temple, find out what its nature was, then get out and get paid. The circumstances around the job were not his concern.

The portal sat in one of the natural chambers of the granite block. Air must have gotten trapped during its formation, creating a space eventually accessed by dwarven hands or tectonic shifts or whatever. Eldred really could not summon his care. The scale of the district had been awe-inspiring from the outside, but on the inside it was just a complex of grey caves.

The dwarven halls probably looked interesting, but Eldred wasn’t in the dwarven halls. The most interesting thing around the portal was a particularly phallic dripstone. After having an immature giggle at it, the driven man stepped through the portal.

An immediately more interesting environment surrounded him and Nyx. The walls were black and red-tinged gold. The stone seemed neither carved nor stacked. Instead, the flowing shapes suggested that the material had been frozen in its current state, as if melted by extreme heat and then shaped by divine hand into the desired dimensions.

‘No ‘as if’ about it,’ Eldred reminded himself where he was. The walls vibrated with vestiges of a greater will. “This magic feels… familiar,” he muttered.

“Is that so?” Nyx wondered. “I feel no such familiarity.”

They stepped forwards. The portal had opened up in what appeared to be an entrance hall, specifically inside a circle carved a half-step into the ground. Even Eldred recognised a realm travel anchor when he saw one. If a portal opened up in this place, it would have had to do it there according to the precautions of whatever deity built this place.

Eldred rolled his shoulder. His backpack full of weapons clattered. They passed statues of flames and horses with burning manes. The corridor continued, then stopped in a simple chamber. Three large statues of black-armoured men stared at an elevated point in the centre.

“Lucky us, he didn’t get far yet!”

The familiar voice had Eldred turn on his heels. Two henchmen in front, two henchmen behind, Otto strutted down the corridor. The giant half-ogre wolfed down a last bite of some greasy sandwich, then wiped his hand on his suit. The stained, white shirt couldn’t contain his belly, showing the grey, disgusting mass wobble as he walked.

“Hey there, cheater,” Otto greeted. Though his tone was friendly, the smug expression, distorted by his tusks, and the heavy club on his shoulder told Eldred immediately where this was going. The weapon looked like cast iron, black and porous. “Ready to see a proper alpha male assert his will?”

[Otto Bragging AI: https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/d69f39156375.png ]

Eldred’s eyes dashed between Otto and the four henchmen. He vaguely remembered the orc from Cultivation class. The other three were of other species known for their dull-minded brutishness – a stereotype they seemed happy to embody. Cracking knuckles and laughing mockingly, they tried to appear intimidating.

The driven man simply pulled his axe from its sleeve. ‘One Cultivator,’ he thought. ‘Three unknown henchmen.’ His gaze snapped to the orc. ‘He started along with me and Avari, he might also have a Core already.’

“No words?” Otto mocked. “Yeah, I’d be stunned too. Unlucky for you, I’ve been tasked with taking your scrawny ass out.”

Eldred had hardly needed the extra confirmation, but now that he had it, he saw no reason to hold back for another second. “Scream for me, Nyx.”

She inhaled deeply. Lungs filled with air. Veins filled with ice. She drew deeply from his vitality, taking every ounce of strength she needed. Though his jaw clenched until it felt like it was frozen shut, though his field of view was filled with the pattern of ice flowers, Eldred remained standing.

“Cover your ear–“ Otto began to bark. It was too late and Eldred doubted it would have achieved much anyhow. His banshee’s cry tore through the limited space and into the souls of the men. The henchmen froze up. Otto took a full step back, his crooked teeth parting in a panicked gasp.

“Pathetic,” Eldred mumbled.

Seized vitality flowed back into him just as his mind honed the energy from his Core into an igniting spark. Explosive strength fuelled his charge. He crossed the ten metres between himself and the leftmost henchman in an instant. He was one of the three that Eldred hadn’t encountered before. He was simply gambling on Otto being the only one with a Core.

The assumption was rewarded. Axe blade parted skin, then muscle, then bone, cleaving halfway through the man’s neck. It was an instant kill and Eldred didn’t let hesitation slow him down for even a moment. He ripped the weapon back and aimed for the second of the unknown trio. If video games had taught him anything, then it was to take the small fry out first during a boss fight.

His axe came down a second time but was stopped halfway down. A rock projectile slammed into it, sending his arm flying back. “BITCH!” Otto roared and closed the distance.

Otto was a coward. What was worse, he was a coward for no reason. Eldred jumped back immediately, narrowly escaping a wide swing of the half-ogre’s club. With a brutality that was an art of its own, the hulking man swung and stepped forwards, swung and stepped forwards, swung and stepped forwards. Each repetition left a small opening that even Eldred wasn’t daring enough to exploit. The move was a consistent threat. One false move and Eldred would have to continue with a shattered ribcage. Otto was like a marching landslide.

A lunging stomp appeared to be Eldred’s opening. When he tried to step in, he was instead catapulted upwards by a piece of the floor suddenly rising. “Dumbass! I achieved Elemental Mastery years ago!” the half-ogre bellowed, assuming a batter’s stance. Eldred was helpless in the air, trying to spin together a magical response.

Water splashed onto Otto’s face, making him cuss and take several steps back. Eldred landed painfully on his shoulder, rolled off the platform, and got some distance between them.

“I’ve been hit! Fucking do something, you useless cucks!” Otto roared.

“B-but boss…” a thoroughly Core-less henchman stuttered.

“Don’t you fucking sass me!” Otto seemed to realize that the liquid he was blinking away was just simple water. Straightening up, he growled at Eldred. “You and your ghost slut think you are sooooo funny, don’t you?! Hey, whore! If you switch sides now, I’ll graciously allow you to be my dick cleaner!”

“Don’t talk to me, pig,” Nyx sneered, her disgust visceral in every magically charged syllable.

“Suit yourself!” Otto ripped his arm upwards, forcing a chunk of the floor to fly upwards. The rock came back down just in time to be batted by his mace, turning it into a shrapnel blast. Eldred didn’t even try to neutralise it. He put all of his trust into Nyx. A chill like diving into a glacial lake filled his being. Ectoplasm and water formed a flowing wall, slowing and moving the bits of stone from the harmful trajectory.

“Scream for me,” Eldred ordered.

The snowflowers in his eyes clouded all sight for a moment. His banshee’s cry rung in his ears, a gorgeous sound to him. As soon as it was cut off, he forced himself into movement. His sight returned slowly. When he swung his axe at the paralysed half-ogre, his aim was off and Otto’s reaction just a little too fast.

The upper corner of Eldred’s axe cut a shallow line over Otto’s face. It was barely enough to even draw blood from beneath his thick hide. It would have done more had the axe been ignited. At some point, he couldn’t say when, his concentration had broken.

Otto responded on pure, brutal instinct. His clenched fist slammed into Eldred’s side, bending his body around the boulder-like paw. The impact launched him almost two metres back. Lungs emptied, world spinning, he landed in a crouch. He shook his head, then felt something hard hitting his head. It was a blunt impact, dazing him for a moment. Something hot ran down his forehead. More confused than anything, he turned his head to the henchman that had just slammed a club on top of his head.

Adrenaline pumped, thoughts empty, Eldred moved in unison with Nyx. His banshee grasped the head of the man with both hands, flooding his eyes and mouth with ectoplasm. Flailing and helpless, the henchman could do nothing as Eldred drove his axe deep into the man’s stomach. Guts spilled out of the grievous wound when he ripped the weapon back. A second swing would seal his fate for good.

‘Otto.’

Instincts had Eldred reverse the motion. The launched rock meant for his head instead knocked the axe out of his hand. The weapon clattered to the floor, the blade bent and chipped. Not bothering to retrieve it, he pulled the dagger from his small arsenal of weapons next.

“Fucking beta bitch, you think you can cut me and get away with it?!” Otto wiped the side of his face with the back of his hand, staring at the purple blood that stained his skin after. “You stepped up to the alpha, now I am definitely gonna kill you!”

Eldred felt the compounding exhaustion of Nyx’s magic in his bones. His heart was pounding, his chest fought his inhales like it was a lead cage, and the henchman’s attack had definitely rattled something. Blood was running down his forehead. His superhuman physique had spared him a concussion. A small ray of light when he was still fighting a definitely stronger Cultivator and two more henchmen that could exploit his split attention.

“I don’t want to die!” the whine of the doomed henchman filled the room. “Boss… boss, please help me! I don’t want to die…!” Desperately, the man tried to push his partially surfaced organs back into his body. “Please…! Please…!”

Otto stared at his henchman not with pity or remorse but simple fear. Everything about the half-ogre oozed insecurity. “Just hang in there,” he grunted. He could have ordered one of his henchmen to drag the injured man back to Iridescia. If they made it to one of the hospitals quickly, his chances of living were probably solid. “I’ll deal with this pathetic boy real quick, and then we’ll–“

In the middle of this room, outnumbered, outqualified, his back against the wall, Eldred could not help it. When he heard Otto insult him, all the driven man could do was laugh. He tilted his head back and emptied his barely filled lungs in a cascade of mirth. This was simply too funny. The flame inside his soul burned bright, refusing to entertain the dying of the light.

Eldred emptied himself of all air, then took a deep inhale. “One of us dies here,” he whispered, staring at Otto. “Die or thrive… die or thrive… die or thrive…” For no particular reason, he muttered his mantra back to himself over and over again. The adrenaline in his veins. The challenge before him. The women, wealth and future he had to go back to. Nothing allowed him to accept anything besides him winning.

Though his muscles were corded for action, Eldred kept his position. A rudimentary part of him retained enough sanity to know that he was best off if he was given time to recover a bit. Time that Otto, in the depths of his craven nature, gave him.

“…Well… no reason to get my own hands dirty!” The half-ogre smacked his belly in an effort to look relaxed, despite his trembling shoulders. “I will save my henchman and come back for you later! TEMPLE!” Otto roared, clearly knowing something Eldred didn’t. The driven man’s mind was torn between closing the distance and the fear of falling for a bluff. “OPEN THE WAY TO YOUR CHALLENGES!”

The three armoured statues began to sink. Their arms came alive, grasping the edge of the floor as they disappeared beneath it. Stone began to turn into a liquid. Eldred began to run towards solid ground, only for Otto to launch another wave of shrapnel at him. Though Eldred escaped by jumping back, that only meant he backed up into the collapsing part of the chamber.

Otto used his Earth Core to move his injured henchman towards him, then picked him up. “I’ll find your corpse later!” the half-ogre mocked as Eldred lost the last bit of footing.

He plunged into a scorching darkness.