RuummRaaaaRuuummRaaaa
The red-green jello-liquid made up of the larvae of Rank 1 Hell Insects larvae gave way to stony inner part of the altar. At first, it looked very normal, but it wasn't so. A strange, weird and creepy sound escaped from the real part of the altar and a strange reddish glow surrounded it, but it was very vague. It gave goosebumps to Jed and his squads, but fear of the consequences of failing have steeled their determination.
The real part of the altar looked like any other altar, with a stony texture and weird carvings drawing here and there. In this case, it had some demonic illustrations, letters of Hell and creepy depictions of human-eating-humans carved on the front face of the altar. Looking at the altar, Jed frowned.
"… Now, we have to break it." said Gross, huffing a little. Jed glanced at him and replied, "Hopefully, it will be easy. I hope you've some juice left in you."
"Ha!" Gross sighed and said, "I—I've enough to go all out in the Red Light District for two straight days."
"I hope so." Jed smiled and then turned towards the other three guys of the squads. "You guys have some weird ideas of taking this thing down?"
"Why should it be weird?" asked one of them. Jed smiled and replied, "Because the fact that we're still alive is weird enough. Let's just get done with it."
"I-I have a Warhammer." Cried the most timidof the adventurers. He was just a young lad of 10 and had bruises all over his face. Jed remembered his face because he saw him quite regularly in the Poor District, but other than that, he didn't quite know him. Not even his name but right now, name didn't matter.
Jed smiled widely and asked, "So, do you want to give a try at it? or …" he glanced at Gross, but he backed off. The young boy smiled embarrassed but then took out his Warhammer from his bag. His Warhammer was made of typical iron and wasn't in quite good shape. It was a little bent and had big pores on the iron handle, clearly showing that it was made by an unskilled blacksmith.
"You guys might wanna do it a bit faster. We're running out of time, here." Cried Chris from the side. She had already turned to the second flare.
Jed turned to the kid and smile, "Shine, bro!"
"Yes!" he said, clutched the Warhammer tightly and dashed towards the altar. With a full-arc swing, he bashed the altar with his entire strength but the outcome was shocking.
BAAM!
Boooom!!!
"Aaaah!!" cried the kid. Jed and the squad looked horrified as for some reason his attack was not only nulled but was also rebounded back at him with twice the amount of strength. The boy was shot upward like rocket but was thankfully caught by Gross.
"Are you okay?!!" Jed cried in alarm.He checked him and was again shocked. The kid nearly had all of his bones broken and was continuously spurting blood. His eyes had turned into a deep shade of red and he was gurgling some words out of his terribly damaged vocal cord.
"How… c-could… this….re—b…forma—ha…speak…can't… help….me…big bro…."
Jed felt a bad ache in his heart, but other than feeding him some painkilling herbs, he had no choice. He tied all of his joints and broken bones with small wooden rods and bandages, something which he always kept with him and handed him to another squad member. He said, "Don't move him harshly. All of his bones are broken."
"Y-yes!"
Jed dashed towards the altar with Gross and checked it again.
RuummRaaaaRuuummRaaaa
Jed frowned as he checked it carefully. There was the same creepy rhythm near it, with nothing special about it. He touched it and saw that there was not a single scratch on it. Frowning, he stepped back and pointed his Arbalin at it.
Psst!
Bang!
The arrow hit the altar straight in the center but even that was rebounded. It should be known that rebounding arrows shot from his Arbalin which were extra-steel enforced bolt with a power of a catapult, is nothing ordinary. It was extremely rare. But right after it was rebounded, a hue of black and red spread over for a moment before disappearing. A spark ignited in his head and he finally understood the reason. He turned to Gross and the team and said, "It's a Formation."
Despair spread on all the team member's face but then an excited cry rang out.
"Did anyone just say Formation?!!"
Jed turned around immediately and saw little Chris standing right behind him with a smiling face. The smile seemed highly ironical in their tense situation, though.
"… You can break a formation?" Jed asked in serious doubt.
Chris nodded her head and replied, "Yes, big bro. I have my mom's natural talent at breaking formation. Are you surprised?"
"…Yes." Jed replied but then he shook his head and said energetically, "CAN YOU SERIOUSLY DO IT?!!!"
"YESS…" she replied, a bit startled. Jed sighed in relief for a moment but then he clutched her hands and pleaded, "Help us, Chris."
But Chris wasn't a simple girl. She smiled deviously and bargained, "Well, well, I would… if you give—"
"I will give you anything, if you successfully break the formation."
"OK!!" she smiled and dashed towards the altar.
Gross walked slowly towards Jed and asked in sneaking tone, "Are you sure about trusting her?"
Jed looked weirdly at him and replied, "She is your daughter, dude. Have some faith!"
"… Ai."
…
Siizzzzz!!
"This is the eight flare, dude." Said Peg, holding the last flare in his mouth. Jed held the burning flare and stood like a statue, observing the insects which was continuously surrounding them. Their numbers had increased in the last hour and 10 minutes. Jed's hands were seriously hurting but he still held the flare with a gaze of intensity. He decided that he will retreat after this flare goes out. He wouldn't bet with his life and his team's for Chris, even though he knew that he breaking a formation took more time than creating one and a hour is really short.
"I hope she can crack it…" Jed replied tired. But suddenly, his laziness was broken by a sudden change in the insect's behavior.
BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!
BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!
BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!
The usual buzzing sound of the insects intensified at an exponential rate and their activities and behavior turned frenzied. Frightened, Jed immediately retreated with Peg.
"Everyone, come closer!!! The insects have gone insane!!"
His voice attracted the attention of all the other team member and they did come closer, except one.
He was a young, reckless fool, who had let his guard down too much and moved too far away from light. He too heard Jed's voice but it was already too late.
"AAAARRGGGGHHHH!!!"
A terrifying scream rang out as his entire body was covered with swarms of black insects. Jed and the other stared horrifyingly at the flaying hands, but none of them were daring enough to go there and save him. Instead, they all moved much closer to the altar, bringing the injured along.
"How much longer?" cried one of the adventurers in fright.
"Just a bit." replied Chris.
"Clatter …. Clatter …. Clatter"
All of the young adventurers started to clatter their teeth in fright, even Gross and Jed were frightened shitless. The following minutes seemed to pass with an inexplicable sense of dread and horror but right then, Chris' energetic voice lifted the dread from their hearts.
"It's done!!!"
Pssst!!!
Her voice was followed by a light crackling of blue spark before the strange, erratic and rhythmic sound stopped. It was followed by the dulling of the altar's strange glow and an exponential increase in the buzzing of the insects.
"Break it!!" barked Jed and immediately, Gross, who was ready with the iron Warhammer, bashed the altar with every bit of his strength.
Crack—BAM!!
Gross' immense strength was only able to give a small little crack to the altar but, like a chain reaction, it was immediately followed by more cracks and then, a loud eruption of red energy from within. This energy destroyed the altar into pieces.
…
Buzzzzzzzz
Buzzzzz
Buzzzzzzzzzzz
Buzzzz
Psssstt!!
…
The buzzing of the insects went out for a little while more before dimming down. It was followed by a small shower of dead insects, mostly the Rank 1 Hell insects and other mutated insects. A loud sigh was heard from the team as everybody plopped on the ground.
"That was close…" muttered Gross, with a faint smile of victory on his face.
"Yea…" Jed replied tired but his fast-beating heart wasn't and sense of dread didn't let him rest. "I … better check out the areas for any more sign of insect activity. Stay put." He stood up on his shaking legs.
"I was great, wasn't I! wasn't I?!!!" cried Chris excitedly as she jumped around in ecstasy.
"Hahaha!!" Jed laughed out loud and patted her small head, "Absolutely, darling. You could never have been better!!"
Saying that, he took his Wendigo and moved into the dark forest.
…
Jed returned 30 minutes later after doing a full search of the surrounding areas. His search proved futile because other than a heck lot of rotting bones of recently deceased monsters and dead insects, he didn't find a single glimpse of a living one. It was a bit heartening to know that for the next month or two, he wouldn't have to buy any insect-repellents from fraudsters anymore.
He returned back and was surprised to see that the entire team have set up a bonfire near the broken altar and were having a hearty meal. It was a bit gross with having hundreds of insects around you when eating, but after such tense situation, no one thought much of it. He smiled and walked towards them. Peg was the first one to notice and he asked with a mouth-full of pork, "Ghow did git go?"
Jed smiled and replied, "Nice. No sign of insects and I bet it will be like this for the next few months."
"Yay!! No insect-repellents now!!" cried an adventurer rejoiced.
"Haha!!"
Jed sat beside the bonfire, between Gross and Chris and took a piece of barbequed meat from Gross. "Thanks," he replied and started nibbling on it. He gazed at the intense fire for a long while, thinking about his life until now.
It has been 14 years since he has been born into this world. He has loving parents, a calm clan disposition, lovely friends and a well-deserved reputation in the Guild. He's happy. But what happened today wasn't something he was ready for. Today seemed like the worst of the worst days. He had been betrayed by Sean, deluded by greed and a bit mislead too. He's never made mistakes like these and this was seriously eating his insides. He liked this place and regardless of the fact that he was an otherworlder, he didn't want to leave this place for the bitter world.
Is it time to move on?
Should I really indulge myself into the more worldly matters?
Should I finally leave my parents like I did back then?
Can I take the pressure of the world?
Will I survive?
…
Questions upon questions ate Jed's mind until, Chris shook his awake.
"Hey, big bro Jed, take a look at what we found?"
"H-huh! W-what?" he was startled awake and found himself being looked at by everyone. He saw Chris holding out a small sealed box at him. He unconsciously took it and stared at it, foolishly.
"What is it?" he asked. Chris smiled and replied, "This is what we found under the altar. We found it a few minutes after you were gone. We wanted to see what's inside of it, but … we thought that since you were the one who saved our lives, it must be you who should've it. Take it!" she insisted.
Jed stared at her and the others foolishly for a moment and then sighed. A small smile crept on his face and he replied, "A'right."
The box was very old and made of iron. It had a lot of dent marks on it and seemed too rusty to even hold something, but it was surprisingly heavy. He frowned a bit as he checked the box but then he decided to open it.
Creak
…