“Kid, watch out!”
A flash of gold rushes through Diegi’s skull, plunging into the tender flesh of his face and drawing blood— or so it would have, if he hadn’t been able to jerk his body forwards and to the side in time. Even as it is, he can acutely feel the wind generated by the spear thrust blow only millimeters away from his nose as the point passes over his face.
*splack—*
A gross squelch reaches his ears, and Diegi turns mid tumble to see Linderton gritting his teeth as his spear meets and deflects a sludgy black limb from reaching Diegi. The guard had acted just in the nick of time; if he’d been even a second late, those claws would have made impact with his neck instead of the spear. And yet.
Linderton… your aim’s worse than a nine-year old playing games off their mom’s credit card, and I know that from experience. Isn’t this the second time he’s barely missed me now? He must be more fatigued than he thinks… seriously, who’s he trying to fight, me or the monster?
Diegi, completing his fall, hits the ground with a *thud* and rolls, trying to make distance between himself and the tutorial monster. It’s a clumsy roll— certainly wouldn’t win him any points in a gymnastics competition— but it does the job, and once Diegi looks up again he’s backed up a couple meters from the action.
But that isn’t the main problem here. I don’t get it. It doesn’t make sense, what the hell, how did the monster sneak up on me? Did this Terry seriously just… teleport to me?! But I thought that the glitched monster horde isn't supposed to be able to do that!
Just as Diegi finishes his thought— Linderton’s rather hoarse voice rings out, garbled by the noise of raindrops hitting the stone road, but still resounding with purpose.
“Stay back, kid! You too, old lady! I’ve got this!”
The guard looks like he wants to say more, but the monster doesn’t give him any time to think; as soon as its left claw swipe is deflected, it immediately launches another with its right, leering all the while. Linderton deftly takes his left hand off his weapon to slap away the monster’s arm, all while rotating clockwise and moving his right hand to slam the monster in the chest with the butt of the spear, forcing it to stumble backwards.
“There!”
Capitalizing on his advantage, Linderton manages to regain a two-handed grip on the spear and spin his weapon to whap the beast in its face with the golden shaft before the guard cautiously retreats and resets his stance.
Wait, huh? What's going on? Can I get an instant replay?
To Diegi’s eyes, it all begins to form a blur of motion and noise: The dull thud of feet hitting stone, the ringing of metal impacting flesh, the shining glint of gold being observed through rain, the splashes of gray liquid formed from monster ooze mixing with rainwater flying into the air every time the beast takes a swing. Through it all, Linderton employs increasingly complex defensive maneuvers he’s learned from his guard training. He lightly attacks, feints, and tries to bait an ill-timed counter, but no matter what he does, it never works. The monster continues steadfastly but fruitlessly swinging its limbs, never overextending, falling off-balance, or even adjusting its fighting style at all to fit its opponents’ stance. Linderton can’t find an obvious opening to strike a killing blow… until the guard finally recalls what he’s missing.
“Oh, blimey, it really has been too long since I fought a monster… you don’t need to find a weak spot to beat stupid.”
The beast swings again; to absolutely nobody’s surprise, it’s yet another broad horizontal haymaker. This time Linderton abandons the fancy footwork and simply ducks, allowing the extended claws to pass harmlessly over his head— before deftly taking a half-step forward while crouching and sweeping at the monster’s feet with his spear. Just as Diegi’s kick had been before, the unbalancing tactic is effective; the beast, oozing with goo from every orifice, hits the pavement with a thick splat and a groan of seeming frustration.
“I don’t have time for this… I’m going to save my best bud! Sorry, but you DIE HERE!”
And, seizing his opportunity, Linderton lifts his spear high in the rain-filled air, before driving the point downwards into the center of the fallen monsters’ vile semblance of a head—
“STOP! Linderton, stop, remember that they duplicate when you kill them!”
Diegi manages to yell out a warning just in time.
—the guard freezes with the point of his weapon hovering just above the beasts’ vital point. It’s so, so frustrating; he’d won the fight. Individually, no mere starter monster as weak as this could offer a decent challenge to any of Paxdom’s guards, even if that guard is recovering from being severely injured, so of course he’d won the fight— but what did that matter? What did that matter, when…
…if he isn’t ME, he can't finish the job.
For a moment, there’s a silence as the guard stands poised, simultaneously ready to land a killing blow and yet still as far from vanquishing his opponent as he was before the fight even started. Then, Linderton mutters:
“Shit, and I wasted a perfectly good one-liner too. What did you think, kid?”
“Wha… that bit about being outta time? Yeah, it was pretty cool, I guess.”
I dunno what’s going on, but shouldn’t you be, like… fighting the monster? What kind of idiot would grandstand in a serious situation like this without taking care of the situation??
Ignorant of Diegi’s scathing internal critiques, Linderton chuckles and crosses his arms, spear and all, proudly closing his eyes and nodding to himself.
“Ahaha, thanks mate! Spent all night thinking of that o—”
“Watch out, dumbass!!”
The whiffling sound of whiplike flesh slicing through the air reaches Diegi’s ears, prompting him to cry out again. Almost immediately afterwards:
*cling*
“UuuuuuUUUuurgh—”
“Damn!”
The beast groans and lashes out with both of its limbs extended at once, forcing Linderton to hastily adjust his spear positioning to defend and as a result be forced back a bit by the blow. The entire fight, including the brief verbal exchange, occurred in the span of just a few moments— even though the battle’s participants are a guy on his last legs and the video game equivalent of a tall slimy ape, even with their relatively slow pace of combat, Diegi can barely keep up.
It all doesn’t make any sense to me. The only time I actually got to do anything in that scuffle was when Linderton acted like a dumbass and practically gifted me the opportunity— even if I did drink the potions, am I really going to be able to join this fight? A teenage city slicker like me? I— no, come on, positive thinking, I have to do this. Besides, I don’t need to fight, I just need to land a single good hit!
Gripping the metal rod in his hand, Diegi forces himself to focus and keep watching. Surely if he just waits long enough, he’ll eventually be able to land a Lunge. Glancing to the left, he spots Euniline holding her hands out in a preparatory position, ready to cast Small Heal at a moments’ notice, but so far not having any opportunity to. Rain and sweat run down her face, each indistinguishable from the other, but just like Linderton, she wears a look of sheer determination.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Compared to them, what does Diegi’s face look like?
It doesn’t matter. I— whoah!
*fwoosh*
As soon as the beast manages to get Linderton out of the way, it turns and lunges at Diegi with claws extended, opening its dripping maw wide to reveal a darkness as black as the goo it excretes. Its red eyes flash with barely contained glee— hadn’t these things used to be a lot less expressive?— and this time, Diegi can’t force himself to react before the tutorial monster would make contact.
“Ah—”
“Not so fast!”
Linderton manages to regain his equilibrium and burst forwards, his spear re-slung on his back, and his hands shimmering with a pulsing yellow light. The radiant light coalesces as he moves, forming an ethereal circular barrier over his hands held out flat, and just before the monster’s claw rakes Diegi’s face— the guard double handedly shoves the beast with a roar of exertion. Just as he makes impact, the circular panel of light seems to fully materialize into a shape resembling a buckler— but as soon as it does, it disperses into a flash of bright light.
“UUUUuUuuUUuuughh…”
The tutorial monster is lifted off its feet with a *boof* and soars towards the Marketplace Square, tumbling head over heels in midair, before fading into obscurity behind the falling rain’s curtain.
Diegi, still trying to process what had just happened, turns to Linderton shakily.
“What the… I thought you were a Spearman. You can use Banish Emblem?”
The skill that had just saved Diegi’s life— one could call it the opposite of Fleeing Guard. Instead of trading damage for knockback and being sent flying like with Fleeing Guard, Banish Emblem is a hand-to-hand combat Skill that sends opponents flying back long distances without dealing much damage.
Linderton grimaces and shakes his head briefly.
“Wasn’t always a Spearman. Me and my best bud used to be brawlers— in fact, this golden spear here is actually pretty new. I’ve been thinking of getting rid of that old hand-to-hand Skill for a while, but considering Michael taught it to me… ah, well, who cares. Listen, mate. You said you know how to kill these slimy shits for good, right? Well, whatever you gotta do, do it. I’ll keep the beast bloke busy in the meantime. If this is what it takes to get us to my best bud, I’ll keep the damn thing occupied til’ the day I die. Got it?”
“I… I…”
“But, uh… don’t actually take that long, okay? Pretty please? Great. Now, here I go!”
Gritting his teeth and putting all he has into tensing his legs, Linderton grunts and rockets forwards into a dash. He pumps his arms as he runs, heading towards the Marketplace to follow up on the monster he just sent flying. But still, Diegi is just crouching and mumbling to himself.
“Wait… I…”
…appreciate the idea, but that won’t work.
Those are the words that Diegi should be completing his sentence with, but they’re stuck in his throat. He swallows and tries again— no dice. It’s only once the sounds of the monster’s groans fade into the distance that he can get them dislodged, and by that point the guard’s already vanished in a puff of dust. Well, really he’d just run a few meters away, but someone moving that fast would still look like they were vanishing to a snail, wouldn’t they?
Okay, this is going a little too far. At least make me something that doesn’t eat its own poop.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Diegi, the snail, manages to—
Narrator, I swear to God…
Diegi, the human, manages to rise to his feet and dust himself off. Just as he does, Euniline looks over at him, frowning with concern.
“Are you alright, child?”
Let’s review. Just got into an unexpected combat situation and almost died twice. Only still alive because I happened to have a pretty strong city guard on my side, but he seemingly randomly fluctuates between ‘stupid’ and ‘serious’ as often as he thinks about drinking booze— which, let's be honest, is probably twice per second— and as if that isn’t bad enough, he’s also in critical condition so he could straight-up collapse any moment now. My other two allies are a healer and a PTSD victim. What else? Oh, I’ve died twice in the past 24 hours, can’t forget that. So yeah, I might just be having the worst day of my entire life. You wanna ask how I’m doing? How am I doing, hmm, I fucking wonder?! Considering everything, there’s really only one answer I can give.
Shadows cover Diegi’s face, dancing in the storm-disturbed moonlight, and for a moment he simply stands in place while staring at the floor. The winds howl in the night, their ambience only serving to make Euniline feel more and more tense as she waits for the boy’s response. Then, looking up at Euniline with a wink and a smirk, he follows in the footsteps of teenagers around the world:
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Lying about how their day is going for the sake of saving face. Ahh, adolescence.
Sheesh, this reminds me of talking to Mama.
Diegi makes a small gesture with his free hand, making sure to keep the confident smirk plastered on his face.
“Listen, Linderton won’t hold out for long, and I don’t need any healing. You should move up and support him.”
If only there was a spell to heal emotional damage. But then again, I’m pretty sure the developers of MYTH didn’t intend for a teen to come stumbling into their world. Sigh… how shortsighted can you get?! They totally should have been able to see this coming! Zero stars! Zero stars I tell you!
…
Don't you see how flippant and goofy I’m being? What are you still staring at me for, huh? You know you don’t really care how I’m doing, you’re just asking because I said I could save the city and caring for people is your job as a healer. And even if you did care, which you don’t, I’m fine. I’m fine, so…
“...come on, what are you waiting for?! Move it!!”
Upon hearing Diegi’s response— and thankfully not hearing his mental tirade— Euniline pauses, her frown deepens, and her brows wrinkle somewhat.
“Fine, child. But at least take this while you reason out your ideas and all... it’s cold.”
*fwumph*
Something soft and dark covers Diegi’s head, disrupting his vision. He fumbles around with the strange gray substance, and once he finally manages to take it off and stuff whatever it is into his half-open pack, he turns to see Euniline moving away in a light jog, presumably following Linderton.
Yeah, that’s right. Just leave and do the job I gave you, and it’ll all work out.
As soon as he’s sure he’s no longer in her line of sight— Diegi drops the smirk and brings both arms up to encircle his head, panting heavily. Only then do his true thoughts begin to flow through, like a river just after a dam is removed.
Think, Diegi, think! Linderton’s trying his best to look tough, but you saw how he’s really doing… no way can he handle an extended fight right now. Plus, if you take too long and the fight gets too far away, that oozy thing might just teleport to me again, and I’d be deader than the damn Wii U. How long was the timer on the teleporting again in the original MYTH…? No, focus! How are you going to kill this monster?
Diegi drops his arms and looks down at his hand, still tightly clenching the metal rod. Compared to the monster’s long limbs, it looks so small and thin— even if he uses a basic sword Skill, will something like this really give him enough of a range advantage to land a killing blow? No. If he misses his strike against the monster, he'll most likely be killed just afterwards; at first, he'd thought the potions would be enough to give him an edge, but now he's not so sure. He needs something more.
Linderton and Euniline already both have roles that they're playing out. The potions in my pack won't help in locking down the monsters, and neither will anything in my Inventory... I'm all out of tools. I need another tool, something I can use. Just one more tool... If only I had some way to hold the Terry in place while I attack…
Diegi looks around and then behind him, but his luck’s run out; aside from stone streets, wood buildings, and empty channels, he doesn’t see much of anything at all. There's... nothing. His heart constricts— Anxiety. Is this it? For the third time? Is he... stuck?
No, no, no, there's always something. I need something— something I can use to break this deadlock. Oh come on, please, I'm tired of getting stuck at dead ends. I just need something, anything I can use... or, hold on.
He freezes mid-turn, his mind finally focusing on a target, even if his eyes cannot.
Something I can use... or someone.
He's surrounded by nothing useful, as far as he can see. But what about what he can't see? Obscured by the heavy rain, someone standing far behind him wrapped in a gray healer’s cloak, holding their garment tight around themselves and glancing back and forth uncontrollably. Of course, he knows who it is. And with a few more cautious steps, her silhouette finally comes into view.
Gloria. She’s shaking like a leaf caught in the middle of a freakin’ hurricane. Man, I almost feel bad for her…
Indeed, she is shaking. Though, perhaps it isn’t fair to her to say that she’s shaking ‘like a leaf.’ Such a statement would be far too harsh and offensive— to the leaf. Gloria’s shaking much harder. On a scale from one to terrified, Gloria would probably slot in at ‘about to have a heart attack.’ Diegi can’t see her face, but he can imagine exactly what kind of expression she’s likely wearing— pale, eyes squeezed shut, lips held tightly pressed together. Just the mental image of it is enough to evoke a sense of pity. Knowing all this, Diegi sighs, then opens his mouth and yells:
“Seriously? HEY, COME ON, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?”
Some pity, but clearly not enough.
At a time like this, touchy-feely emotions are irrelevant. Sorry, ‘cause Nice Diegi’s on vacation.
Going by that logic, the vacation might as well have started when he was born— and it would probably end when he died. But, no matter, let’s just let Nice Diegi enjoy his trip in the Bahamas. Here, in the realm of reality, Mean Diegi takes a few steps towards Gloria so she’ll be able to hear him— not too many, since he’s still leery of setting off a teleport— and cups his hands around his mouth to form a makeshift megaphone of sorts.
“You need to WAKE UP! Didn’t you say before that you wanted to protect people from the monsters? Well, here’s your chance! We could use you in this fight, and if we do it right, I can kill all those sludgy monsters for good!"
All of a sudden, an idea hits Diegi. He snaps his fingers. Or, at least, he tries to. Due to the rainwater moistening his fingers, it comes out as more of a slip than a proper snap. Nevertheless:
"I’ve got it— you use wind magic, right? You probably have a spell that can immobilize that monster without killing it, right? Like if you destabilized the ground around it with Scythe or something? Or maybe if you summoned a gust to delay their movements! Right? RIGHT?? Damn it, Gloria, say something!”
“I… I…”
She’s merely muttering nonsense to herself, moving her lips back and forth but only creating meaningless noise, and besides— there’s no way Diegi should have been able to hear her quiet murmur her over the storm’s thundering booms and rain’s relentless patter.
And yet, he does.
For some reason, the stammered words fill him with a sense of familiarity— but even more than that, with a burning, fiery rage.
At her, at everyone, at everything surrounding him from the rocks to the buildings— and with one small tongue of flame, pointed not at the external world but somewhere else entirely.
Is she serious? Sure, she’s terrified of monsters, but she attacked ME before when she thought I was a monster, didn’t she? Is she really just going to crumble like this, just watching from a safe distance, when others are fighting to keep her alive?!
He walks even closer to her, throwing caution to the wind. No, not walks— more like stomps, every step slamming into the pavement with a vengeance. Gloria twitches with each footfall, despite the fact that she too shouldn't have been able to hear them over the cacophony of the storm. And yet, she does— in Diegi's mind, that's another proof of her status as a high-level fighter. But for all her supposed strength, what does she do? She just continues to stand there, trembling and trembling.
Oh, Gloria, no you don’t. I haven’t come this far to lose now. Just when I've finally got the barest of chances to actually win... This is my second chance to do something right for once in my life, and you’re NOT going to ruin it!
Diegi's eyes flash as he continues to approach, barely visible in the stormy night.
I’ve done it before, haven’t I? If it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t even be here in the first place. If there’s one thing trolls— no, if there’s one thing I can say I’m good at, it’s pushing insecure people’s buttons.
To that end, he silently vows to himself:
Some way or another, I'll get Gloria to join this fight. By any means necessary.
A/N: Before you ask: No, Diegi isn’t canonically aware that he’s in a story or anything, I just couldn’t resist the minor fourth-wall break with him and the narrator briefly interacting. It won’t become a running gag or anything, so I hope you can forgive me just this one time!
The story's really heating up, isn't it? We're definitely at the back end of this story arc. The real question is just how fast or slow I can wrap up this final act. I also want to say that I particularly like this chapter title rhyme, lol. Welp, that's enough of my rambling, so y'all know the rap; if you made it here, thanks so much for reading my story! It means a ton. And, as always, I'll see you next chapapapapapapapa!