Chapter 50: Dropping Rocks

We all ate and then got some sleep. Jill stayed in my lap, curled into my chest while I lay up against one of the walls. Mikota was practically lying in Jill's lap while the rest of the girls curled up next to me. Kyrin offered to keep watch part of the night, and Sasha would trade-off, but it turned out to be quiet, without noise.

I awoke hot, and both my legs had fallen asleep to the point where I would need a minute to even be able to walk. Jill's face was pressed into my neck, and I moved my face to kiss her cheek, and everyone started to stir. I could feel the prickling pain in my legs begin as Jill turned her face into my lips to give me a kiss before pushing Mikota off her lap.

Everyone pilled off, and we got our stuff packed back up, and I noticed Sasha against the wall. She was supposed to be on watch, but she had slid down the wall and was obviously asleep. Once my legs started to work again, and the pins and needles wore off, I crept over to Sasha.

She looked cute, laying there defenseless as I sneaked over to her side. I used the earth to glide over soundlessly, but when I was centimeter's from tickling her, I stopped. Sasha's eyes were open, and she had a wicked smile, her claws were the same distance from my face, and my fingers were from her sides.

"Bad, Dave! Trying to sneak up on me?" Sasha grabbed me after she retracted her blades of doom from my face.

Sasha pulled me into a kiss that took me off my feet and into her lap. With her leaning over me and me laying in her lap, the whole thing felt wrong, but I didn't fight the passionate kisses. When she was finished with me, I was rolled on to the ground and left, as she went and helping others like nothing just happened.

I heard Maxine laughing at me, but when I got up, everyone was ready to go. We all walked to the end of the long chamber and headed down another marble set of stairs. Each of my arms was held tight, my Mikota and Jill, to prevent me from turning animal and running off again. I tried to reassure them that they didn't have to worry, but they both just smiled at me as I was dragged along.

As we moved down the stairs, it started getting hotter, not like with Kyrin's torch, but instead like a gradual rising of the greater temperature than usual. I looked down at Mikota, and she was doing all right. Jill was on my other side, so she could cool her if needed. Near the bottom of the stairs, we could see an orange glow coming from the next level.

"Woah, what is this place? It's massive!" Sasha exclaimed as she walked into the room.

As we all followed her out, I could see what she had meant. The path stopped, and stairs continued down at least fifty-meters down to a massive steel platform hung from Ogresteel chains, a black metal with red veins with magical properties that weaken magical power. This was going to be a problem because there was no other exit other than a three-meter wide hole in the ceiling center.

"So, any idea's on how to deal with this?"

"Those chains are going to make everything that much harder, but the worst part is we don't know what will appear until we go down there," Jill pondered on the information, but Mikota was squeezing my arm.

I looked down at Mikota, and she was already sweating and staring to look faint. She put her arms up like a little girl. Even though she was twenty-four, her small frame made her look too cute to resist. I scooped her up and turned to Jill, who had already got Maxine's help, borrowing Wind magic to make a cloth wet and cold. Mikota started to moan provocatively, and I had to poke her with my finger to make her stop.

"Owe! Don't do that!" Mikota complained, squirming in my arms.

"Then don't make noises like that!"

"Oh? You Like those?"

"I will drop you."

"I surrender! I will try to stop," Mikota promised with her hands pushed together in front of herself.

I looked up to see the girls staring at us with slitted eyes.

"Are you two ready?" Maxine asked with her hand on her hip? Or do we need to wait a little longer?"

"Ya, Ya, let's go!"

With no plan, we started down the stairs. I could feel the sapping of the Ogresteel, and I could see wary looks on all the girl's faces as it affected them. It was a long walk down the countless steps, and there was no sign of any monsters yet. When we got to the bottom stage, we all gathered before going forward.

"OK, everyone! On three, we will jump the last step, so no one gets separate!" Jill told us in a louder voice.

"One!"

Our voices chimed, and a rumble started.

"Two!"

More shaking as everyone prepared to jump.

"THREE!"

As we all jumped, the scream started coming from below, and it cut through my soul as I landed. The sounds were so much more crushing this close, and a dark shape pulled itself out a massive hole below the huge hanging platform in the wall. The dark thing crawled up, and It showed itself to be a gigantic centipede.

The screams came from the thousands of skulls that lined the undead creatures back, crying out in pain with otherworldly screams of despair. Kyrin sent gouts of fire at the beast, but it did nothing to it. Unstoppable, it climbed down a chain and onto the platform.

"Stay moving and make it hard for that thing to move! We need to do something about that sound!"

"I'm on it!" Sasha yelled as she pulled away from Maxine's hand.

Sparks crackled as she extended her claws. Sasha dashed forwards, but not at full speed, the screams of the dead weighing her down. When she got close, the undead creature turned its head and sprayed acid, but Kyrin and Jill sent steam in a cloud that was just able to dilute the acid and cause minimal damage to Sasha.

Bursting from the cloud, Sasha slashed at the monster but was kicked away by a leg. I tried to send spikes of earth into the centipede's body's underside, but the effect was lessened. The ends only slightly pierced it, and it was getting harder and harder to use magic, period.

"Dave, what are we going to do?" Jill asked with a panicked look ask Kyrin fought the massive thing back with massive strokes of his fiery blade, even that was only partially effective.

Before I could answer, Kyrin faltered and was caught off guard, an armored leg bashing him back, and then it dove for him. I told Mikota to let go, and I dropped her but allowing her to catch her balance, then I ran for Kyrin. The black-armored monstrosity had knocked him back far, but I was still too far away, and my magic was having little to no effect.

Just before the undead centipede reaches Kyrin and I was still out of reach to help, I heard a familiar stone grinding growl from above.

"BANG!"

The Impact knocked everyone off their feet as the platform rocked from the massive rock troll that just smashed into it. The bang had silenced the cries of the dead, and I could hear the disgusting tearing and pulling noise. When I got up, Grock was tearing the centipede's chitin shell off the body and ripping the insides out. Kyrin had gotten up and was coming over to me, offering his hand to get up.

"Wow, I thought both of us were dead! I saw you coming, but we knew you would be too late, but then, the rock troll came from nowhere, hitting it like a meteor strike!" Kyrin held his one arm close to his side while using the other to pull me up.

"Is that arm, OK?"

"No, I don't think so. That thing got me pretty good, and I would assume it's broken."

"Jill!"

"Don't bother. Come. Follow." Grock interrupted.

"But, we have injured!"

"Magic weak here, come."

The rock Troll led us to a path on the far side of the platform that hadn't been there. I looked over while help Kyrin along to the massive carcass that was smashed and torn apart. The ichor was a grey-green, and pieces of chitin that hadn't been tossed over the edge were scattered from Grock's frenzied attack.

Grock led us to a chamber outside with a single door too small for him. He stopped and stepped to the side, but then something started to change with its body. The chest cavity pulled open, stretching fleshed rib out to reveal a man looking at us from inside the fleshy body of the rock troll.

The man pulled himself out and straitened his white lab coat. Remarkably, he had no blood or mucus stains on the white lab coat, and he adjusted his glasses while taking in all of our shocked expression.

"These reactions never get old, do they, Dave?"