Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-One - The Dread Cute-ulu

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-One - The Dread Cute-ulu

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-One - The Dread Cute-ulu

The room was similar to Jims castle. Walls of bricks and stones all around, a fairly low ceiling, and light coming from sconces on the walls where glass bulbs were filled with mushrooms and padded glow-moss.

It filled the grey halls in pale yellow and green light, steadier than a flames.

The room opened up ahead of us, the corridor not so much ending as widening out. The "ceiling" was also the floor of a mezzanine over our heads, and above that was another mezzanine, and so on up to a height of four stories.

It was about hip-high, and made entirely of stone. One big slab, as thick as my hand-span, made up the top, with a smoothed surface on which a box sat.

Past the altar was a hole cored in the center of the floor. Just a big hole, maybe five metres in diameter. It took a ripple across the surface for me to realize that the hole was filled almost to the brim with water.

Pillars circled the room. Stone, with roughly carved tentacles or maybe just really thick vines running around them. They were pretty impressive.

The usual pattern is one more altar for every floor, Howard said, his voice kept low, and yet still bouncing across the room.

So, one here, two on the next floor up? Amaryllis asked. She was looking to the side, and following her gaze revealed a staircase in the corner. There was another in the opposite corner. The entire room was square on the edges, with nothing offering any cover except for the pillars here and there.

Thats it, Howard said. Should only be four floors up.

I stepped forwards, walking way around the altar and to the edge of the big hole. The water was brackish and dark; I couldnt see more than a few centimetres into it, but it looked deep. Gazing up, I could make out the floors above, each one with a similar hole in the centre, though the hole was about a metre wider for every level.Th.ê most uptodate novels are published on n(0)velbj)n(.)co/m

Something jangled, and I stepped back, then I noticed the chains. Big things, with loops big enough that I could fit my fist through them. They were near the pillars lining the edge of the hole, probably why Id missed them.

How do we break the altars? Awen asked, her voice rising in the end when the chains started making more noise.

Howard shifted his shoulders. Even if they look like stone, they're not so tough. A good smack right in the middle ought to break the stone. Youve got a hammer, right?

Oh, right, Awen said. I can do that.

The chains started to rattle louder, then then went taut.

The altar gurgled, and when I turned to look, there was a small rivulet of water running out from the base of the altar, down a little channel dug into the floor, and into the hole. A moment later, more water started to drip down from above. The altars on the other floors?

Its coming, Howard said.

I stepped back to be closer to my friends. Right, get ready, I guess. Remember not to look into its eyes.

Ill go up now, Awen said. I can start with the altars on the top floor; there should be more of them, right?

Right, I said. I glanced at Howard to see if he had any objections, but he didnt protest the idea.

Awen paused. Oh, give me your packs, quick, Ill hide them on the top floor.

That was a great idea, so we all quickly took off our packs and soon we could hardly see Awens head under all the backpacks and such. I think she started regretting her generosity as soon as she reached the first staircase, but it had been a nice gesture, and a nicer idea. I felt a bit lighter without a few kilos of stuff on my back.

Ready? I asked.

Aye.

As ever, I suppose.

Yes.

The chains lifted, super slowly at first, then a bit faster, and with that rising, the water on the edge of the hole rose too. It hit the brim, then poured over and started to form a big puddle in the middle of the room.

Experimentally, I pushed my Cleaning aura on and let it mingle with the water moving towards my sneakers. It washed away the brownness of it. Just dirty water, then?

Something moved out of the surface of the hole, at first just a fin, but then the rest of a round, blubbery head emerged, oily skin pulled taut around a minivan-sized skull.

The altars! Awen said. Itll weaken it!

I nodded, then let her go. Shed do her part; I couldn't let my trust in her falter now.

Spade in hand, I eyed the boss, then backed up a little bit. I doubted fire magic would do much against someone all wet like that, and its skin looked thick enough to make the magic kinda weak anyway. Fire magic, while cool and flashy, wasnt all that good at killing, just hurting.

So manual labour it was!

I roared as hard and loud as I could while I jumped down, my spade held up way above my head with both hands wrapped hard around the handle.

The boss started to glance up just as I brought the warspade down, a bit of stamina spent on my arms making the blow that much faster.

It banged into the bosss head with a resounding bong that made my arms shiver, then I crashed into the monster feet-first and launched myself backward in a quick somersault that had me landing on the third floor.

A crack from above, followed by one of the little rivulets of water turning into more of a deluge announced the breaking of one of the topmost altars. Awen hard at work, then.

The boss spun to face me, so I darted away, using one of the pillars as cover for a moment. Cover, and a place to insight the boss from.

Cute-ulu, the Psyche Flayer, level 10.

Cute? The boss didnt look cute at all. Sure, it had big eyes, and little tentacles, and it was kinda stout looking, but just because it looked like a forty-foot-tall baby didnt mean that it was cute!

The level was also strange. Lower than Jim had been. Then again, Jim was a mini-boss that could be avoided by talking, maybe the dungeon got to get stronger monsters if they were easier to bypass or something? It made sense, in a weird sort of game-y logic. And even with the level difference, Cute-ulu looked a whole lot tougher and stronger already.

A second altar broke above, redoubling the amount of water raining down.

Quick! I heard Bastion call from below.

Dont get your pretty sylph panties knotted up! Amaryllis shouted back.

Before I could even begin to wonder what all that was about, the room filled with noise as Amaryllis let loose another barrage of electrical magic that rammed into the boss mid-chest.

I nodded. Amaryllis was doing great!

A crack sounded from below, and the splashing noises increased. So theyd broken another altar.

So far, things were going pretty well.

I created a set of nine fireballs, even if I knew theyd be less effective, then ran out of my cover on a direct path to the nearest altar.

The boss turned my way, and I let loose, flinging all nine balls right towards its face.

It blinked, flinching back from the magic that flew towards its remaining eye.

On reaching the altar, I hopped up, landed on it, then pounded both feet down as hard as I could.

The rock below me cracked. Another hit, then.

I looked up on seeing a shadow, then eeped and ducked a wild swing from one of the bosss face-tentacles.

The huge prehensile limb crashed into the altar, bursting through as it tried to grab at me.

Fortunately, I was a quick little bun, and I was out of there before it could do anything more than sabotage its own altar.

Right, dont underestimate the giant monster boss, I muttered.

I had to take this seriously too!

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