Incremental Torture - Chapter 87

Her eyes were glued shut and she had to open and close them quite a few times before her vision returned. Returning to her body after watching so many strange visions was disorienting.

It was made worse by the fact she had learned little more than she already knew. It had been enlightening to see her current enemy grow and to know why it was here before her, but it didn’t explain much.

Although it had not been entirely fruitless– Evelyn had gleaned much about how to further her own strength through the tidbits she had seen. Once the World Event was finished, she would take some time to research their application.

Despite the minor headache Evelyn was suffering, her body felt light and was bursting with energy. Whatever Kayla did is working wonders. Unfortunately, the shifting of chitinous plates beneath her feet alerted her to an unfortunate truth.

Solving the puzzle of the runes on Zork’Karu’s carapace had not finished the hyper boss off– it had certainly dealt a great deal of damage, though. It moved sluggishly and its destructive rampage was less vigorous than before.

There was only one way left to solve their problem. Evelyn wasn’t that angry about it– she loved fighting. Kayla’s smug grin when she made her way over to the woman was annoying though.

“So, ready to beat the crap outta this beetle, darlin’?”

“You know I’m always ready for a brawl.” Spinebreaker hummed as she twirled the war hammer around her head, ever ready to smash her foes. “What’s the plan? Should we grab the others?”

“Nah– I reckon we can handle this alone, and I’m sure they’ll join us once they get past the headache,” she replied with a wink.

Kayla loved a challenge just as much as her– or at least it seemed that way. It was likely they would need all the help they could gather in order to beat the hyper boss but having a crack at the beetle with just the two of them might help work out some of the frustration she was feeling.

“Great plan. I love it.”

Evelyn knew how to bring down hyper bosses– she’d felled one already, and solo at that. Her first action was to try and restrict the beetle’s movements.

She was still under the sway of whatever Kayla’s skill had done to her and so she ran to the midsection of the carapace and raised Spinebreaker high above her head, then swung down. All of her gathered strength was behind the blow and she’d even attempted to move the reality node, but it seemed unwilling to lend its power to a mundane physical strike.

That was fine. She would make do with her own raw strength, and the force of her hammer.

Huge cracks splintered outwards as Spinebreaker slammed into the chitinous plates, sending fragments of the beetle flying outwards. One grazed her cheek and a drop of blood rolled down her face.

At the moment of her blow, the beetle had faltered in its steps for a moment. Before the strange visions, a single blow wouldn’t have been enough to deal such damage– but it could no longer heal, and from the way it had screamed each time she snuffed out one of the glowing inscriptions, Evelyn knew she had inflicted serious injuries on the beast.

And she was only getting started. Evelyn started to lift her hammer once more, but when it had reached her head her arms locked up and she almost dropped the weapon.

A wave of dizziness washed over her. It seems like being awake for almost two days of nonstop fighting takes its toll. She put the war hammer back into her inventory. She wouldn’t be of much use, it seemed.

Kayla was watching her with interest and rushed over when she saw her stumbling. “What’s the matter, darlin’?”

Evelyn leaned against her, indulging in the warmth of the woman’s body as exhaustion washed over her. She really wanted to fall asleep like that, and remain there forever.

“Tired,” she mumbled. Despite her desperation to battle, Evelyn was unable to fight against her greatest foe– sleep. She drifted off in Kayla’s arms, having only dealt a single blow to the gigantic beetle.

***

~ Kayla POV ~

She looked down at the sleeping woman in her arms and chuckled to herself. Evelyn was a lot heavier than she seemed to be given her small stature– that was exactly what she needed right now.

Her plan was a little cruel, but it would work excellently. Kayla planned to make use of Evelyn’s… unique attributes– ones that would still be effective despite her current state.

The first part of the plan would require her to gather up the rest of their guild members. First was Evelyn’s father, who had already been making his way towards the two women, having been one of the first challengers to recover from the headache induced after watching the memories.

Kayla hadn’t been surprised by the small window into the past– Evelyn had told them what she had witnessed during her time on the 16th Floor. However, hearing and seeing were entirely different and knowing that there were people powerful enough to construct this tower they now found themselves trapped in was mind boggling.

It also offered her a goal of sorts. It would be a marathon of epic proportions, but Kayla wanted to one day be as strong as that wizened elder atop the mountain’s summit.

First, she needed to beat this stupid beetle. Kayla and Anthony only offered each other a stoic nod in greeting– neither needed flowery words when they had the measure of the other’s character already.

The man did throw a strange glance at his sleeping daughter, but Kayla just shrugged and winked. She had a plan in motion.

Next was Anthea– the girl was doing her best to chase after her new pet who was doing its best to cut through the beetle’s carapace, to little effect. At least it was motivated.

Evelyn’s mother was the last to join them. She had been in the midst of freezing the creature’s legs and was actually slowing it by quite a bit. The combined might of Haven was proving too much for the single boss, and slowly but surely they were winning.

Its mental magic seemed to have stopped working after Evelyn smashed its pretty designs to pieces and the guilds were organising themselves back into somewhat respectable battle formations. The damage was widespread however, and they would not recover quickly– if ever.

Rather than take the hyper boss on from above, Kayla reckoned it would be easiest to finish off from the front. The underbelly was the softest part, so it made sense to aim at a weak point.

“What’s the plan?” Anthea asked as they made their way towards the ongoing battle.

It would be difficult to fight alongside the others– especially Ventura, knowing that the bastards had tried to assassinate them. However, it was necessary to get the annoying monsters out of the way before they could settle personal grudges.

“We’re going to beat the crap out of the big beetle, darlin’. And it’s not going to be able to land a hit on us in return,” replied Kayla, a mischievous glint in her eyes and a grin painted across her face.

Mei gave her an odd glance, but she ignored the woman. Hopefully they wouldn’t be too put out by what she had planned for their daughter.

They arrived before the hyper boss and she rushed forwards– right into the midst of battle. People she didn’t recognise were defending against the creature’s many legged strikes and attempting to counter with their own attacks– blades, magic and arrows all rained against the beast.

None of it seemed to have much effect. There were cuts and bruises across the beetle’s flesh, but nothing that would be life threatening. Well, here goes nothing.

Kayla activated her extraordinary skill once more, again using Evelyn as the target. At the same time, she mustered all her courage and roared at the hyper boss. “ZORK’KARU! YOU COULDN’T STOP ME SNUFFING OUT YOUR RUNES, YOU UGLY BASTARD– WHY DON’T YOU COME DOWN HERE AND FIGHT.”

The deafening shout echoed across the entire city, causing all of the gathered challengers to pause momentarily and stare at her. As did the hyper boss, whose gaze was now boring holes into Evelyn. Kayla smirked. Step one complete.

“I’m real sorry about this darlin’, I’ll try and make it up to you after this is over,” she said, slamming Evelyn’s feet into the ground hard enough that they sank a couple of inches. She let go, but the woman remained standing despite being fast asleep.

“Alright y’all, it’s time to party,” she said to the rest of the guild members, who were all staring incredulously at her. “What? She can handle a little rough ‘n’ tumble. This way we can kill the beast without it fighting back.”

Mei and Anthony shared a strange look, but they assented and the four charged at their foe. Anthea paused briefly by Evelyn’s slumbering body and clasped her hands in silent thanks for her sacrifice.

The real battle had begun.