Guild War (3)
"Damn it!! What the hell are those things…!!"
Mikhail Cherkov, guildmaster of the Specters, muttered under his breath as he strode down the dark passage.
"I was this close—everything was about to be mine…!!"
Ten years had passed since he, once a low-ranking noble of the empire, had fled the bloody purges and barely escaped into the kingdom. His dream of seizing the entire underworld, amassing a fortune through illicit enterprises, and returning to the empire in triumph had crumbled in an instant under an unforeseen intervention.
"Goddamn it…"
The thought left a bitter taste, yet not everything was lost. Had he not survived the current emperor's purge a decade ago? Crises of this magnitude had come and gone before; this was merely another one. As long as he lived, opportunity would come again. With that conviction, he reached the door at the end of the passage and pushed it open.
"Ugh…!!"
The thick stench of blood that rolled out from beyond made Mikhail's face twist.
"Is that you, Lord Mikhail? What brings you all the way down here?"
A man on the far side of the room turned his head toward him. His robe was soaked in blood; chunks of flesh lay scattered across the floor. The horrific scene made Mikhail's head swim for a moment, but he steadied himself and spoke.
"We've been attacked. The kids are all dead."
"What do you mean? Even the enhanced soldiers?"
Disbelief colored the man's voice as he fully turned. Beneath the hood, faint violet eyes held pure astonishment.
"Yeah. It was the Valentine family's berserker and her servant. Looks like they've figured out you exist."
Mikhail answered with a short sigh.
"The Valentine family?"
A sinister gleam flickered in the man's eyes, but Mikhail—busy explaining—missed it entirely.
"I'd only heard the name. Never imagined they were monsters like that… Anyway, we need to run. As long as I have you, we can start over—!?"
Agony lanced through his chest, cutting the words short.
"No. There will be no starting over."
"What… you bastard… what are you—!?"
Mikhail stared down in disbelief at the hand that had punched clean through his chest.
"Cough…!!"
A wet cough tore free, spraying crimson from his lips.
"So this is as far as you go as well."
With a faint smile, the man withdrew his hand. Strength fled Mikhail's body; he collapsed where he stood.
"I am grateful to you. For three years you supplied me with excellent vessels. But… I no longer have any need of you."
"You son of a—!! Ulp!!"
Mikhail tried to scream at the man looking down on him, but something boiled up from within. He vomited a torrent of black liquid that splattered wetly across the floor. At the same time his back began to swell grotesquely.
"Gyaaaaaah!! Th-this isn't—!! I can't die like this…!!"
Every nerve felt as though it were on fire. Mikhail thrashed and howled.
"Die? What a cold thing to say."
The man chuckled softly.
"You're simply becoming something greater."
In that instant, agonized screams echoed through the pitch-black underground passage.
"Did you hear that just now?"
"Yes. I definitely heard it."
A scream had carried down the passage. Milia and Schwarz broke into a run toward the sound.
Then—
Shiiik!
Something long and sharp shot toward Milia with a piercing whistle.
"Whoa!?"
Startled, she raised her halberd. Metal clanged; sparks sprayed into the gloom.
"My Lady! Are you all right?!"
Schwarz stepped protectively in front of her, voice tight with alarm.
"Y-yeah…!! Just startled me. What the hell is that?"
"That is…"
Milia nodded to him and looked up at the thing that had attacked her. A long limb sheathed in chitinous armor like an insect's, studded with countless sharp spines, and tipped with a blade that glowed an eerie blue.
The insectile leg withdrew into the darkness—
[Gyaaaa…]
—and a shape emerged, moaning in agony.
"Wh… what is that?!"
"That man is…!!"
Milia and Schwarz both sucked in a sharp breath. It looked as though a gigantic insect had erupted from a human's back. Eight pairs of legs sprouted from the mass of flesh that had burst through the spine: four pairs braced against the ground, supporting the bulk, while the other four twitched threateningly, ready to lunge. Beneath it all, a man half-buried in writhing meat groaned weakly.
[Help… meee…!!]
"Mikhail!?"
It was none other than Mikhail Cherkov—the very man they had been pursuing moments earlier.
"What in the world happened…"
Schwarz's voice was thick with shock. Who wouldn't be? In less than ten minutes a perfectly ordinary human had become this nightmare.
[Guh… gyaaaaaah—!!]
With a scream of pure torment the bladed legs lashed out. Milia and Schwarz met them with their weapons. For several seconds the passage flickered with dozens of metallic flashes.
"Haaah!!"
Spotting a fleeting opening, Milia swung her halberd. One leg shattered with a wet crack.
[Gyaaaaah—!!]
The half-eroded Mikhail howled as the pain clearly reached him. From the broken stump, black fluid streaming, a new leg began to regenerate almost instantly.
"I really hate that."
"Same."
Schwarz's face twisted in disgust at the regeneration that took mere seconds. Milia nodded in full agreement.
[It hurts…!! It huuurts…!!]
Mikhail, still half-consumed by the flesh, screamed at them and spat something out.
"Ugh!?"
A viscous mass that looked lethally dangerous. Schwarz and Milia scrambled clear just as it hit the ground where they had stood and exploded, spraying black liquid in every direction.
—Sizzle…!!
Wherever the fluid touched, wall and floor melted with a hideous hiss.
"One hit of that and we're done for."
"We definitely need to avoid that stuff."
They reset their stances.
[It hurts! It hurts! It huuuuurts—!!]
The monster that had been Mikhail shrieked and lashed its bladed legs at them again.
"I'll cover you!"
"Yes!!"
Milia gathered her mana and charged. Schwarz answered and began drawing power of his own. Metal rang and sparks flew as Milia and the creature traded blows. In front of them Schwarz steadied his breathing, shaping the absorbed mana into an image. Blue sparks crackled around him.
"Lightning Orb!"
At his cry the sparks condensed into spheres the size of a human head, humming sharply. With a flick of his hand they shot like bullets toward Mikhail, who was locked in combat with Milia. The orbs of lightning slammed into him with a tearing crackle.
—Crackle-crackle-crackle!!
[Gyaaaaaaah—!!]
Blue electricity engulfed Mikhail; he staggered, screaming.
"Haaaaaah!!"
Milia seized the opening, leapt high, and drove her halberd straight down into his skull.
[Kh… hah…!!]
A final death rattle escaped him. The light left his eyes, and the writhing mass of flesh that had half-consumed his body went still.
"I-is it over?"
Mikhail's body toppled with a heavy thud. Milia eyed the motionless form, uncertain.
"There's no way…"
Schwarz sounded equally doubtful. Given the insane vitality of the monsters the Order created, an attack of this level should never have been enough to put Mikhail down.
"He's not playing dead, is he?"
"Mmm…"
Schwarz gave a low hum at Milia's suspicious tone.
Then—
[Guh… uurgh…]
"Knew it."
"It was never going to end that easily."
Mikhail groaned and began to rise. Milia and Schwarz reset their stances once more.
Immediately afterward—
[Gyaaaaaah!!!]
A single scream tore free. Cracks spider-webbed across Mikhail's flesh-eroded body. Like a glass bottle shattering, his form collapsed. At the same time the mass of meat on his back began to reshape itself, writhing as though clay were being molded. Arms and legs took form, then a torso, then a head… The flesh roughly sculpted itself into a humanoid shape, and from beneath the meat rose spiny chitinous plates.
[Krrr…]
Moments later Mikhail—now a grotesque hybrid of insect and man—lifted his head with a low growl.
[Feels damn good…]
Behind him, eight pairs of legs gleamed with razor-sharp blades as he fixed his gaze on the two of them.