Chapter 163 - I'll Save You, Aiko

"...Bifrons! Bifrons! Bifrons--!"

Shouting without any mercy on his own throat, Ren forced the slumbering familiar on his shoulder awake, not even allowing it the opportunity to yawn before barking commands at it. 

"Where is the nearest fountain?! Tell me--hurry! Make sure it's one she hasn't been to! I know you can tell that much!"

Bifrons took one side glance at the half-dead, beige-haired girl in Ren's arms and nodded his feline head. 

"West of your current position, several hundred meters-nya."

"Alright! Keep giving me directions!"

"It's a highly dangerous area, filled with monsters--"

"I don't care! We're going!"

Without any hesitation, the speed that Ren burst forward with caused the cat to dig its claws into the young man's cloak to prevent himself from falling. 

--You saved me, Aiko. I'll return to the favor--no, I'll mend the mistake I made---because of my reckless behavior, you…

He could hardly bring himself to look down at her agony-driven expression, covered in a cold sweat as he kept his hand on the back of her head. Caressing her head, running his hand through her hair, staining it with the crimson that painted his hands, he pushed himself to move even faster--feeling his legs begin to go numb as the scenery around him became a blur. 

"You'll have to get past this gap-nya."

Bifrons whispered to him as they approached a massive crevice that led down into the abyss, there was no bridge to speak of. Not halting in the slightest, Ren committed full-speed; leaping from the precipice of the obsidian cliff he ran against as he lept through the cold, musky air. 

Keeping Aiko tightly locked in his arms, held against his chest--he braced for the landing, meeting both soles of his feet with the stone ground of the next portion of the cavern, caving in the rock beneath his step before bursting forward once more. 

"Multiple hostiles approaching-nya."

"Got it."

A pair of humanoid-looking creatures lumbered towards him with dome-like heads that sat directly on their shoulders with no necks, arms hanging below their knees. Using their massive arms and knuckles that were disproportionate to their obsidian bodies, they used them like crutches; moving like gorillas. 

--Crap, I'm starting to feel a bit dizzy...I think I'm running low on mana after that fight. 

Without any time to shift the girl and draw his blade, Ren repelled the gorilla-like stone dwellers with a pair of kicks, temporarily leaving them stunned as he bolted past them. 

"Ahead; do you see it-nya?"

It was surrounded by a large, tattered tarp of black fabric; a colossal fountain taking the shape of a serpentine as its statue. 

"Yeah."

More and more came; it seemed like dozens of the dome-headed dwellers rose from the depths of the abyss, trudging towards him as muk lined their step. 

--There's too many; I can't take them all, not with her. 

The many bodies began to obscure the path to his desperately wished for the destination, looking at him with their pupilless, glowing white eyes. 

Raising a single hand, he shut one eye as he aimed towards the mass of huddled together humanoids--"Dunkel: Piercer -- Araphel: Detonation!"

The trusty combination of two spells was launched; allowing the black spear to release into an explosion of dark mana as it reached the grouping, blocking a clear path for him as he pressed onwards with a Shadowstep. 

Uneven ground lent itself to be difficult terrain; dodging these jagged stones that stuck out from the ground, avoiding a puddle of black muk as he drew closer to the fountain, listening to the breathing of the girl become fainter and fainter. 

"Ren, you're--"

From Bifrons' perspective, the young man was just in need of recovery as the girl; his lip was busted, nose shifted to the nose, eyebrow cut open--it was hard to tell what blood was his or his enemies' own. 

"Not now. We're almost there."

Shutting down the unlikely words of concern from Bifrons, he huffed, feeling his legs burn and cramp up from the fastly-traversed distance--nearly tossing himself towards the statue that held the crimson fluid. Reaching it, he didn't hesitate to lower the girl's body into the grasps of the liquid of undying, watching as it took her in--this time responding to her injuries. 

"...Good...We made it. We made it…"

Falling down onto his knees, Ren held onto the rim of the stone fountain, catching his breath as it felt like he was allowing the fire to traverse his lungs. 

"Not quite-nya."

"...Huh?"

Groggily, Ren turned his gaze down towards the small feline, meeting its sharp gaze with his own. At this point, he was barely holding onto his own consciousness, tethering it to his will. 

"It seems your explosive decision has incurred the wrath of many creatures of the cavern-nya. They will surely come for both of you-nya."

Looking back to confirm this, Bifron's words were correct; there were dozens of the gorilla-fisted creatures slowly stepping towards his position, all locked onto him with their harrowing gazes. 

"...Give me a break."

It took everything he had to raise from his knelt position, weakly drawing both Belus and his dagger from their abodes, taking in a deep breath that soon left his scorching lungs. Just the thought of having to fight drew a higher density to his rebellious eyelids, firmly planting his boots against the ground to draw out any stamina left within his veins. 

"Juggerknulls; they're slow but they can pack quite the potent punch behind those massive knuckles of theirs-nya. Be careful, Ren-nya."

"Thanks...for the tip."

Taking a step forward nearly resulted in him collapsing forward, pressing himself onward as he met with the first of these shadow-skinned beasts, watching as it raised its fist the size of his head; its knuckles had no skin over them, formed of a metallic substance. 

Before it could send its fist against him with a savage strike, he allowed his blade to guide through the air, cutting through the juggerknull from its shoulder, dragging Belus down diagonally until the sword came out through its side; bisecting the beastly being. 

--That's one down. A hundred more to go. 

Lifting his arm for another movement of his blade while another juggerknull approached, it felt as if his tricep was set ablaze, straining to its utmost as it felt he was swinging a boulder. 

--I only have enough mana to cover and enhance my arms and blade with reinforcement. Shit...I'm so tired. I want to lie down...I could really use that lap pillow of yours, Iris. 

The thought of that briefly formed a minuscule smile on the edge of his lips, half-dodging, and half-falling as an enormous fist whisked by his head. He wrapped his arm around the bicep of the juggerknull, locking it in place as he sent his dagger into its back, digging it in deep before sliding it back out. 

--I can't hear anything...Just this ringing in my ears. 

Any time left to catch his breath was gone, blocking a fist from the next of these beasts with the edge of his blade, causing the juggerknull's to split its fist down the middle as it clashed against the unmatched sharpness of Belus. 

A pained roar escaped the maw of the oddly-proportioned beast as its forearm was left split, giving Ren enough of an opening to slam his dagger down against the top of its dome-like head, piercing through its thick skull with a resounding crunch. 

--Every time I kill one...I feel just a bit better; a little more energy flows through my body, guiding me to kill another. 

As he remarked on this peculiar sensation, he could feel a certain heat pressing against the bare skin of his chest from underneath his clothes. 

--Ah...it's the amulet, isn't it? 

There was no choice but to test this hazy hypothesis, pivoting on his foot as he swung his blade through two more of the endless beasts. Killing both at once, he felt that small, yet very present surge of energy flow from the amulet and into his body, parting his groggy eyelids. 

--I can do it...I can kill them all. I can protect her--I'll save her. Just sit back and rest, Aiko--I've got this. 

He soon lost count; it became a pattern, thrusting his dagger into their skulls, bisecting their bodies with his longsword, it became a pattern ingrained in his flesh--leaving in his wake a scenery of dismembered bodies. As his head throbbed, his body aching--his instincts remained sharp, guiding him safely out of the range of their fists, as a single hit might just be enough to do him in at this point. 

After an unknown amount of gnawing time passed, Ren managed to cut down every last juggerknull that came his way. Resting on his planted sword as a cane, his momentary reprieve was set to a pause as the combat seemed to draw in another guest. 

"...The hell is that?"

At this point, he was only running on fumes, his question coming out low and raspy, blood lining his lips as he spoke. 

"An "Ethernaut"; I'd advise for you to run, but I know that is futile advice-nya."

Confirming Bifrons' words, Ren huffed as he pulled Belus out from the blood-soaked stone beneath, focusing his blurred gaze as he tried to understand the figure before his eyes.