The two walked through the dimly lit corridors of the slave floor, the air thick with an oppressive silence. Suddenly, a strange noise echoed in the distance, making both of them freeze in place.
"What was that?" Elise asked, her voice shaky.
"How should I know?" Pexie replied calmly keeping his composure down, his eyes fixed on the dark hallway ahead where the sound had come from.
"I mean, this is the slave floor, right?" Elise replied, trying to keep calm.
"Well, I was sent to the noble floor before I even had a chance to explore this place. So even if you ask me, I don't know either!" Pexie exclaimed, keeping his calm demeanor.
"Umm, alright," Elise mumbled, deciding not to press further.
As the two kept their gaze fixed in the direction of the noise, it grew louder. The sound of someone screaming for their life pierced the air. Before they could react, a man came sprinting out of the darkness, tears streaming down his face as he passed them.
Right behind him was a cyclops, roaring in fury.
The two barely had time to process what was happening before they found themselves running alongside the first man, terror fueling their legs.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Elise screamed, her voice almost blending with the first man's desperate cries.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" the man yelled, clearly in full-blown panic.
"Shit!" Pexie cursed, his mind racing.
The three of them sprinted for their lives as the cyclops' single eye glowed red. A laser shot out, forcing them to dive out of its path.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! I don't wanna die!" Elise wailed, tears streaming down her face as they ran.
Pexie, though scared, forced himself to focus. "Cyclops... aren't they the ones that get weaker each time they use their laser ability?" he muttered, wracking his brain for a plan.
The cyclops grabbed a large stone from the rubble of the upper floors and hurled it at them. They narrowly avoided the projectile, stumbling as the debris flew past.
"Hey, you!" Pexie shouted to the man running with them. "How many times has this cyclops used its laser ability?"
"What? What do you mean?" the man yelled back, panting heavily.
"I said, how many times has it fired the laser? Just answer me!" Pexie barked, his tone sharp.
"Seven, ten, six, eleven—I don't know!" the man stammered, panicked and incoherent.
"So, somewhere between seven and eleven," Pexie thought aloud. He recalled that a cyclops could fire its laser ten times before it weakened, with its eye starting to smoke as a sign of exhaustion. He turned to look at the cyclops and, as he suspected, its eye was indeed smoking. A plan formed in his mind.
"Everybody stop! I have a plan!" Pexie yelled, abruptly skidding to a halt and turning to face the cyclops.
The others hesitated but obeyed, stopping to watch as Pexie drew a knife he'd taken from a fallen guard earlier and charged straight at the approaching cyclops.
The cyclops swung its massive wooden bat at him, but its movements were sluggish. Pexie smirked; it was just as he'd calculated—the cyclops was already weakening. He dodged the swing with ease and leapt onto the bat, using it to propel himself upward. With all his strength, he drove his knife into the cyclops' glowing red eye.
The cyclops roared in pain, thrashing violently.
"Elise! Shoot it in the heart!" Pexie shouted, his voice commanding.
Elise fumbled for the small gun in her pocket, pulling it out with trembling hands. As she aimed, her nerves betrayed her; her hands shook uncontrollably.
"Come on, Elise, focus!" she muttered to herself, willing her hands to steady. She pulled the trigger, but her aim was off. The bullet struck Pexie's arm instead, making him grunt in pain.
"Shit!" he hissed, refusing to let go of the knife embedded in the cyclops' eye despite the searing pain in his arm. Blood poured from the cyclops' eye, blinding it further.
Elise froze, horrified at what she'd done. Her hands and legs trembled as she collapsed to the ground, paralyzed with guilt and fear.
The man who'd been running with them noticed Elise's state and sprang into action. He snatched the gun from her trembling hands and fired at the cyclops' heart. However, the cyclops' erratic movements caused the shot to miss and strike Pexie again, this time in his leg.
"Fuck!" the man cursed, continuing to fire as desperation overtook him.
The cyclops blocked its heart with its massive hand and, with its other hand, grabbed Pexie, ripping him away from its face. With a powerful throw, it sent Pexie crashing into a wall. He coughed up blood, his body limp.
The cyclops, now severely injured but still dangerous, stumbled toward him. Pexie struggled to stand, the debris around him making it even harder. His vision blurred as nausea overtook him. He could only watch helplessly as the cyclops prepared to deliver a killing blow.
But just before the bat could strike, the man finally managed to land a shot directly in the cyclops' heart. The bullet shattered a glowing crystal embedded there, and the cyclops froze. It let out a final, guttural roar before collapsing to the ground, its body disintegrating into dust.
Pexie sighed in relief, slumping against the wall. "Took you both long enough," he muttered, his voice weak.
"Sorry, brother. You good?" the man asked, rushing over to help Pexie to his feet.
"What the hell was a cyclops doing here?" Pexie questioned, wincing from the pain.
"The Tower of Batart was opened," the man explained. "It released all the beasts trapped inside, including that thing."
"So... there are more monsters hiding in the darkness?" Pexie asked grimly.
"Yeah. We can rest for now, but not for long. This floor will soon be flooded," the man replied.
The man helped Pexie over to Elise, who was still trembling.
"You okay? I need you to patch me up, you know," Pexie said gently, trying to snap her out of her daze.
Elise blinked, coming back to reality. She nodded quickly, her hands still shaking as she began to heal Pexie's wounds.
"So, what are your names?" the man asked. "I'm Gero. If we're going to survive this floor together, we should at least know who we are, right?" He tried to sound upbeat, though the tension in the air was palpable.
"Elise," she whispered, her voice barely audible as she worked on Pexie.
Pexie glanced at Gero, meeting his gaze. "I'm Nightmare, and she's Elise," he replied.
Elise's trembling finally stopped as she heard Pexie's calm tone. She managed a small smile, looking at him.
"That's right... I'm Elise," she said softly, her voice regaining its strength. "Sorry for spacing out."
"Alright then," Gero said with a grin. "Let's get through this slave floor together!"
The three shared a chuckle, finding a sliver of hope amid the chaos.