Chapter 4 Mountain King
Turning in the direction of the thundering noise, many slaves rose their heads — only to see rocks and heavy shards of ice raining on them from above. They instantly panicked, lurching away in a cacophony of screams. Shadows happily danced on black stones as, entangled by the thick chain, those slaves fell to the ground and pulled others with them.
Sunny was one of the few that remained upright, mostly because he was ready for something like this to happen. Calm and collected, he gazed at the night sky, his Attribute-enhanced eyes piercing the darkness, and took one measured step back. In the next second, a piece of ice the size of a man’s torso hit the ground right in front of him and exploded, showering everything around with sharp shards.
Others weren’t that quick. As ice and stones continued to rain, many were wounded, and a few even lost their lives. Agonizing wails filled the air.
“On your feet, fools! Get to the wall!”
The veteran soldier — the one who had whipped Sunny a few hours before — was shouting angrily, trying to get the slaves to move towards the relative safety of the mountain slope. However, before anyone could heed his command, something massive came crashing down, sending a tremor through the stones beneath their feet. It fell right between the caravan and the mountain wall, plunging everything into silence for a few seconds.
At first, it looked like a lump of dirty snow, roughly round in shape and as tall as a mounted horseman. However, once the creature unfurled its long limbs and rose, it towered over the stone platform like a nightmarish omen of death.
‘That thing must be at least four meters tall,’ Sunny thought, a bit stunned.
The creature had two stumpy legs, an emaciated, hunched torso and disproportionately long, multijointed hands — two of them, each ending with a set of horrifying bone claws, and another two, these ones shorter, ending with almost human-like fingers. The thing that at first glance looked like dirty snow turned out to be its fur, yellowish-grey and ragged, thick enough to stop arrows and swords.
On its head, five milky, white eyes regarded the slaves with insect-like indifference. Beneath them, a terrible maw crowding with razor-sharp teeth was half-open, as though in anticipation. Viscous drool was running down the creature’s chin and dripping into the snow.
What unnerved Sunny the most, though, were the strange shapes endlessly moving, worm-like, under the creature’s skin. He could see them clearly because, unfortunately, he was one of those unlucky souls closest to the monstrosity, getting a nauseating first-row view.
‘Well, that is just… too much,’ he thought, stupefied.
As soon as Sunny finished that thought, all hell broke loose. The creature moved, slashing its claws in his general direction. But Sunny was one step ahead: without wasting a single moment, he jumped sideways — as far as the chain allowed — conveniently placing the broad-shouldered slave between himself and the monster.
His quick reaction saved his life, as those sharp claws, each as long as a sword, sliced through the broad-shouldered man a fraction of a second later and sent streams of blood flying through the air. Drenched in the hot liquid, Sunny hit the ground, and his fellow slave — now simply a corpse — fell on him from above.
‘Damn! Why are you so heavy!’
Temporarily blinded, Sunny heard a chilling howl and felt an enormous shadow passing over him. Immediately after, a deafening chorus of screams filled the night. Not paying it any attention, he tried to roll the corpse to the side, but was stopped by a forceful lurch of the chain that twisted his wrists and filled his mind with white-hot pain. Disoriented, he felt himself being dragged a few steps, but then the chain suddenly slackened, and he was able to control his hands again.
‘See, things could have been worse…’
Putting his palms against the dead man’s chest, he pushed with all the strength he had. The heavy corpse stubbornly resisted all his attempts, but then finally fell sideways, setting Sunny free. However, he didn’t get to celebrate this newly found freedom, as his blood suddenly turned to ice.
Because at that moment, with his palms still pressed against the broad-shouldered slave’s bleeding body, he clearly felt something wriggling under the dead man’s skin.
‘You just had to think about how things could get worse, right, you idiot?’ he thought, and then flinched back.
Pushing the corpse with his legs, Sunny crawled as far away from it as he could — which was about a meter and a half, thanks to the ever-present chain. He quickly glanced around, noticing a mass of dancing shadows and the silhouette of the monster rampaging amidst the screaming slaves on the opposite end of the stone platform. Then he concentrated on the dead body, which was starting to convulse with growing violence.
On the opposite side of the corpse, the shifty slave was looking at it with slackened jaw and a horrified expression on his face. Sunny waved to get his attention.
“What are you staring at?! Move away from it!”
The shifty slave tried, but immediately fell down. The chain was twisted between the three of them, pinned down under by the broad-shouldered man’s weight.
Sunny clenched his teeth.
Right under his eyes, the corpse was going through a nightmare-inducing metamorphose. Strange bone growths pierced its skin, extending like spikes. The muscles bulged and wriggled, as though trying to change shape. The fingernails were turning into sharp claws; the face cracked and split, bearing open a twisted mouth with one too many rows of bloodied, needle-like fangs.
‘This is not right.’
Sunny twitched, feeling a strong urge to empty his stomach.
“Th— the chain!”
The scholarly slave was just a few steps behind the shifty one, pointing at his shackles with a face as pale as a ghost. That remark was far from helpful, but given the circumstances, his shock was understandable. Being shackled was bad enough, but being shackled to such horror was truly unfair.
But Sunny’s conclusion that things weren’t right did not come from self-pity. He just meant that this whole situation was literally not right: the Spell, mysterious as it was, had its own set of rules. There were rules for what type of creatures could appear in any given Nightmare, too.
Nightmare Creatures had their own hierarchy: from mindless Beasts to Monsters, followed by Demons, Devils, Tyrants, Terrors and, finally, mythical Titans, also known as Calamities. The First Nightmare was almost always populated by beasts and monsters, rarely with a demon mixed in. And Sunny had never, ever heard about anything stronger than a single devil appearing in it.
However, the creature had clearly just created a lesser version of itself — an ability that belonged exclusively to tyrants, the sovereigns of the Nightmare Spell, and those above them.
What was this tyrant even doing in a First Nightmare?
How powerful was that damn [Fated] attribute?!
But there was no time to ponder.
Unfair or not, there was only one person now who could save Sunny — himself.
The broad-shouldered man — what was left of him — slowly rose, his mouth producing strange clicking noises. Without giving him time to fully come to his senses, Sunny cursed and jumped forward, grabbing onto the length of the slackened chain.
One arm of the monster, now fully equipped with five jagged claws, shot forward to meet him, but Sunny sidestepped it with one calculated movement.
What save his skin this time was not quick reaction, but simple presence of mind. Sunny might not have learned any fancy combat techniques, since his childhood was spent on the streets instead of a school. But the streets, too, were a kind of teacher. He had spent his whole life fighting for survival, quite often literally. That experience allowed him to keep a cool head on his shoulders in the midst of any conflict.
So instead of freezing or being consumed by fear and doubt, Sunny just acted.
Stepping close, he threw the chain around the monster’s shoulders and pulled, pinning its hands to its body. Before the creature, still slow and groggy from its transformation, could properly react, Sunny wrapped the chain around it several times, barely saving his face from being bitten off by the creature’s terrifying maw.
The good thing was, the monster couldn’t move its hands now.
The bad thing was, the length of the chain he used to immobilize it was gone, leaving almost no distance between them.
“You two!” Sunny screamed, addressing his two fellow slaves. “Pull on that chain as though your lives depend on it!”
Because they were.
The shifty slave and the scholar gaped at him and then, understanding what he was thinking, started to move. Grabbing the chain from the opposite directions, they pulled as hard as they could, tightening its grip on the monster and not letting it shake loose.
‘Great!’ Sunny thought.
The monster bulged its muscles, trying to break free. The chain creaked, caught on the bone spikes, as though slowly breaking apart.
‘Not so great!’
Without wasting any more time, he threw his hands in the air and caught the creature’s neck with the short, thinner chain connecting his shackles together. Then he circled the monster with a quick step and pulled, ending up back to back with it — as far away from its maw as he could.
Sunny knew that he wasn’t strong enough to strangle a man with his bare hands — let alone a weird, terrifying mutant like the one trying to eat him. But now, using his own back as a lever and the weight of his whole body to pull the shackles down, he at least stood a chance.
He pulled down with all his might, feeling the monster’s body pressing against him, bone spikes brushing against his skin. The monster continued to struggle, clicking loudly and trying to break the chain tying him down apart.
Now it was just a question of what would break first — the chain or the monster itself.
‘Die! Die, you bastard!’
Sweat and blood were rolling down Sunny’s face as he was pulling, and pulling, and pulling down with as much force as he could muster.
Every second felt like an eternity. His strength and stamina — what little he had to begin with — were quickly running out. His wounded back, wrists, and muscles pierced by the bone spikes were in agony.
And then, finally, Sunny felt the monster’s body go limp.
A moment later, a faintly familiar voice rang in the air.
It was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.
[You have slain a dormant beast, Mountain King’s Larva.]
Chapter 5 Broken Chains
[You have slain a dormant beast, Mountain King’s Larva.]
Sunny fell to his knees, breathless. His whole body felt as though it just went through a meat grinder: even large amounts of adrenalin could not wash away all the pain and exhaustion. And yet, he was exhilarated. The satisfaction of killing the larva was so vast that he even forgot to be disappointed about not receiving a Memory — the special item tied to a Dream Realm inhabitant’s essence, which was sometimes awarded by the Spell to the triumphant Awakened.
A magic sword or a suit of armor would have come in handy right about now. Damn, he would even settle for a warm coat.
‘Three seconds. You can rest for three more seconds,’ Sunny thought.
After all, the nightmare was far from over.
A few moments later, he forced himself to come back to his senses and looked around, trying to ascertain the situation.
The larva was dead, which was great. However, he was still tied to it by the damn chain — the shifty slave and the scholar, both pale as death, were busy untangling it to buy the three of them at least some freedom of movement.
Further away, torn bodies and pieces of flesh were lying on the ground. Many slaves were killed. A few had somehow managed to escape and were now running away.
‘Fools. They’re dooming themselves.’
The chain, as it turns out, was at some point broken in two — that’s why it suddenly slackened when Sunny was being dragged by the mass of panicking slaves. If their shackles had a less sophisticated locking mechanism, he could have tried to free himself now. However, each pair was fixed to a specific link: without unlocking them, no one was going anywhere.
The tyrant — Mountain King, presumably — was hidden from sight by the bright glow of the bonfire. However, Sunny could feel its movements due to the subtle tremors spreading through the stones, as well as the desperate screams of those slaves who were yet to perish. An angry below or two could also be heard, indicating that some of the soldiers were still alive, desperately trying to fight the monstrosity off.
What pulled his attention the most, though, was the fact that several of the maimed bodies were starting to move.
‘More larvae?’
His eyes widened.
One after another, four more corpses slowly rose to their feet. Each beast looked as disgusting as the first one had, and not a bit less deadly. The nearest was mere meters away from Sunny.
‘Damn it all!’ he thought.
And then, weakly: ‘I want to wake up.’
As strange clicking filled the air, one of the beasts turned its head toward the three slaves and gnashed its fangs. Shifty fell on his ass, whispering a prayer, while Scholar just froze in place. Sunny’s eyes darted to the ground, trying to find something to use as a weapon. But there was not a single thing he could use: full of vitriol, he simply wrapped a length of chain around the knuckles and raised his fists.
‘Come at me, you bastard!’
The larva dashed forward with incredible speed in a flurry of claws, fangs, and terror. Sunny had less than a second to react; however, before he could do anything, a nimble figure moved past him, and a sharp sword flashed in the air. The monster, beheaded with one strike, fell gracelessly onto the ground.
Sunny blinked.
‘What was that?’
Dumbfounded, he slowly turned his head and looked to his left. Standing there with a valorous expression was the handsome young soldier who had once offered him water. He looked calm and collected, if a little grim. There was not a speck of dirt or blood on his leather armor.
‘He is. Awesome,’ Sunny thought before catching himself.
‘Poser! I mean he’s a poser!’
With a short nod, the soldier moved forward to face the remaining three larvae. But after taking a few steps, he suddenly turned around and gave Sunny a long look. Then, with one swift motion, the young warrior took something from his belt and threw it to Sunny.
‘Save yourself!’
With that, he was gone to fight the monsters.
Sunny reflexively caught the item and watched the soldier go. Then he lowered his gaze and studied the thing clutched tightly in his hand.
It was a short and narrow iron rod with a straight bend on its end.
‘A key. It’s a key.’
His heart began to beat faster.
‘It’s the key to the shackles!’
With one last glance at the fierce battle starting between the young soldier and the larvae, Sunny dropped on one knee and began to maneuver the shackles, trying to get his hand into a suitable position to insert the key. It took him a few tries to understand how the unfamiliar lock worked, but then, finally, there was a satisfying click, and he was suddenly free.
The cold wind caressed his bloodied wrists. Sunny rubbed them and smiled with a dark gleam in his eyes.
‘Just you wait now.’
For a moment, visions of violence and revenge filled his head.
“Boy! Over here!”
Shifty was waving his hands in the air, trying to get his attention. Sunny briefly considered just leaving him to die, but then decided against it. There was strength in numbers.
Plus, despite Shifty’s previous threats to kill him and overall unpleasantness, Sunny would have felt bad leaving a fellow slave in chains — especially since freeing him would not cost anything.
He hurried over to the other two slaves and quickly unlocked their shackles. As soon as Shifty was free, he pushed Sunny away and did a little dance, laughing like a maniac.
“Ah! Free at last! Gods must be smiling upon us!”
Scholar was more reserved. He squeezed Sunny’s shoulder in gratitude and smiled weakly, casting a tense look in the direction of the ensuing fight.
Two of the three larvae were already dead; the third one was missing an arm but still trying to tear its opponent apart. The young soldier danced around it, moving with a graceful fluidity of a natural-born warrior.
“What are you waiting for?! Run!”
Shifty made a move to run away, but was stopped by Scholar.
“My friend, I would…”
“If you say “advise” again, I swear to gods, I will bash your head open!”
The two slaves looked at each other with open animosity. A moment later, Scholar lowered his eyes and sighed.
“If we run away now, we will surely die.”
“Why?!”
The older slave simply pointed at the tall bonfire.
“Because without that fire, we will freeze to death before the night is over. Until the sun rises, running away is suicide.”
Sunny did not say anything, knowing that Scholar was right. Actually, he realized it right after strangling the larva. No matter how terrible Mountain King was, the bonfire was still their only lifeline in this frozen hell.
It was just as what the broad-shouldered slave, may he rest in peace, had said. There was no need for anyone to kill them, because the mountain itself would do it if given a chance.
“So what?! I prefer freezing to death than being eaten by that monster anyway! Not to mention… ugh… turning into one of those things.”
Shifty was pretending to be brave, but there was no conviction in his voice. He glanced at the darkness surrounding the stone platform and shivered before taking a small step back.
At this point, the third larva was long dead, and the young soldier was nowhere to be seen. He had probably gone to join the fight at the other side of the bonfire — leaving the three slaves alone at the mountainside part of the stone platform.
Scholar cleared his throat.
“The monster might be satiated with those it had already slain. It might be defeated or driven away by the Imperials. In any case, if we stay here, we have a chance to survive, however small. But if we run away, our doom will be certain.”
“So what do we do?”
Unlike Scholar, Sunny was sure that Mountain King would not be satisfied with killing just most of the slaves. Neither did he believe that a bunch of mortals would really be able to defeat it.
Even if they were not normal people but Awakened, a fight with a tyrant was not something one could easily survive, let alone win.
But if he wanted to live, he had to get rid of that thing somehow.
“Let’s go take a look.”
Shifty looked at him as though seeing a lunatic.
“Are you insane? You want to get closer to that beast?!”
Sunny stared at him blankly, then shrugged and headed in the direction of the rampaging monster.
Chapter 6 Confronting The Tyrant
Sunny was off to face against a Nightmare Creature. And not any creature, at that, but one of the fifth category — a dreaded, fearsome tyrant. The odds of survival were so low that anyone would have laughed in his face if he were to ever suggest attempting to fight it. If they weren’t an Awakened two or three ranks above the creature, of course.
Which Sunny certainly wasn’t.
And yet, he had to deal with this Mountain King somehow to avoid an even more miserable death. The ridiculous degree to which the odds were stacked against him from the very beginning of this delayed execution had gotten old a long time ago, so he didn’t have any more energy to think about it. What was there to fear, after all? He was already as good as dead. It’s not like he could get any deader.
So why worry?
On the other side of the bonfire, things were turning from bad to worse. Most of the slaves were already dead. A few soldiers were still desperately trying to fight the monster, but it was clear that they weren’t going to last long. Right in front of Sunny’s eyes, the tyrant picked up a dead slave, dragging the chain up with him, and opened its terrifying maw wide. With one crushing bite, the slave’s body was torn in half, leaving only bloodied stumps inside the shackles.
Mountain King’s five indifferent, milky eyes stared into the distance as he chewed, streams of blood flowing down its chin.
Seeing that the creature’s upper arms were busy, one of the soldiers screamed and lunged forward, brandishing his long spear. Without turning its head, the tyrant extended one of its shorter lower arms, caught the soldier’s head in an iron grip and squeezed, crushing the poor man’s skull like a soap bubble. A moment later, the headless body was tossed over the cliff and disappeared into the abyss below.
Shifty doubled over, puking his guts out. Then he shakily rose to his feet and glared at Sunny.
“Well? We’ve taken a look, now what?”
Sunny did not answer, pensively observing the tyrant with his head slightly tilted to one side. Shifty stared at him some more, then turned to Scholar.
“I’m telling you, old man, the boy is sick in the head. How the hell can he be so calm?!”
“Shhhh! Lower your voice, fool!”
Blood drained from Shifty’s face as he slapped himself, covering his mouth with both hands. Then he cast a fearful look in the direction of the tyrant.
Luckily, the abomination was too busy feasting on the slaves — lucky ones who were already dead and unlucky ones who were still alive — to pay them any attention. Shifty slowly exhaled.
Sunny was preoccupied with thinking, measuring his chances of survival.
‘How do I get rid of that thing?’
He didn’t have any special powers, nor did he have an army ready to bury the tyrant under a mountain of bodies. He didn’t even have a weapon to at least scratch the damn bastard.
Sunny moved his gaze and looked past the creature, into the endless darkness of the moonless sky. As he was watching the night, a bright flash streaked in the air and collided with one of the tyrant’s arms, bursting into a rain of sparks. The young soldier — Sunny’s heroic liberator — had just tossed a burning piece of wood at the monster and was now defiantly raising his sword.
“Face me, devil!”
‘A distraction! Just what I needed!’
Because there was no way for Sunny to kill the Mountain King with his own two hands, he had decided to enlist some help. A human wouldn’t be up to the task, so instead, he was planning to use a force of nature.
‘Since I can’t do the bastard in myself, let’s make gravity do it for me.’
He was in the middle of thinking over the details of the plan when the young hero’s foolish bravado presented an opportunity. Now everything depended on how long the pompous idiot would manage to stay alive.
“Come with me!” Sunny said as he started running toward the far end of the stone platform, where the heavy wagon was perched dangerously close to the edge of the cliff.
Shifty and Scholar shared a dubious look, but then followed, perhaps confusing his calmness with confidence, or maybe divine inspiration. After all, it was a widely known fact that crazy people were often favored by the gods.
Behind them, Hero nimbly ducked under the tyrant’s claws, slashing it with the sword. The sharp edge slid ineffectively across the dirty fur, not living even a scratch on the creature’s flash. In the next second, the tyrant moved with frightening speed, throwing all four of his hands in the direction of its new, irritating foe.
But Sunny had no way of knowing. He was running with all his speed, getting closer and closer to the wagon. Once there, he hurriedly looked around, checking if there were any larvae close by, and moved to its rear wheels.
The wagon was left at the upper end of the stone platform, where it narrowed and turned back into the road. It was turned sideways to block the wind, with its front facing the mountain wall and its back facing the cliff. There were two large wooden wedges placed under the rear wheels to prevent the wagon from rolling backward. Sunny turned to his companions and pointed at the wedges.
“When I tell you, remove both of them. Then push. Understand?”
“What? Why?”
Shifty stared at him with a dumbfounded expression on his face. Scholar just looked at the wedges, and then at the tyrant.
Hero, miraculously, was still alive. He was weaving between the creature’s limbs, always just half a second away from being completely eviscerated. From time to time, his sword flashed in the air, but to no avail: Mountain King’s fur was too thick, and his skin too tough to be harmed by mundane weapons. There was a hint of apprehension on the young warrior’s face.
All the other soldiers, as far as Sunny could see, were already dead. So he really needed that one to live a little bit longer.
‘Don’t die yet!’ he thought.
To Shifty, he simply said:
“You’ll see.”
The next moment, Sunny was running again, trying to follow the chain from the brace where it was affixed to the wagon. The thing he was searching for was hard to notice due to all the bodies, blood and viscera littering the stone platform, but for once, luck was on his side. A short amount of time later, he had found what he needed — the torn end of the chain.
Finding the nearest set of shackles, complete with a horribly disfigured body of a slave locked in them, Sunny plopped down on his knees and started to fumble with the key.
There was a muffled scream, and with a sideways glance, he noticed Hero flying through the air, finally caught by one of the tyrant’s strikes. Incredibly, the young soldier managed to land on his feet, sliding several meters across the stones. All of his limbs were still in place; there were no terrible wounds on his body, either. Without skipping a bit, Hero rolled forward, picking up his sword from where it fell on the ground, and then rolled once more, this time sideways, narrowly avoiding a heavy stomp from the creature’s foot.
“Rolling?! Who the hell rolls around in this situation?!”
Without any more time to waste, Sunny finally managed to unlock the shackles. Shaking the dead slave out of them, he then promptly locked them once again, this time around the chain itself — ending up with a makeshift slipknot and a loop.
Now everything depended on his resolve, hand-to-eye coordination… and luck.
Turning to Shifty and Scholar, who were still waiting by the wagon, he screamed:
“Now!”
Then, picking up a sizable length of chain, Sunny stood up and faced the tyrant.
Hero spared him half a glance. His eyes lingered on the chain for a moment and then quickly followed it to the wagon. Then, without showing a hint of emotion, the young warrior doubled his efforts, drawing the creature’s attention away from Sunny.
‘So he’s smart, too? What a scam!’
Clearing his head of all unnecessary thoughts, Sunny concentrated on the weight of the chain in his hands, the distance between him and the tyrant, and his target.
Time seemed to slow down a bit.
‘Please, don’t miss!’
Gathering all of his strength, Sunny spun and threw the chain in the air, as though a fisherman casting his net. The loop opened as it flew, closing in on the position of the fight between Hero and the tyrant.
Sunny’s plan was to place the loop on the ground close enough to them that, once one of the tyrant’s feet landed in the trap, he could pull on the chain and tighten it around the monster’s ankle.
But his plan… failed spectacularly.
Which is to say, it was literally a spectacle.
In the last moment, Mountain King suddenly flinched back, and instead of falling on the ground, the chain loop landed perfectly around its neck. A second later it tightened, acting as an iron noose.
Sunny froze for a moment, not believing his eyes. And then clenched his fists, holding himself back from triumphantly shaking them in the air.
‘YES!’ he screamed inwardly.
Moments later, the wagon would roll off the cliff, pulling the tyrant down with it. Sunny looked back to make sure, and instantly turned even paler than he usually was.
Shifty and Scholar did manage to remove the wedges from under the wagon’s wheels and were now desperately pushing it to the edge of the road. However, the wagon was rolling slowly… very slowly. Much slower than Sunny had anticipated.
He turned to the tyrant, panicking. The creature, surprised by the sudden weight pressing down on its neck, was already raising its hands to tear the chain apart.
Sunny’s eyes widened.
In the next second, Hero crashed into one of the tyrant’s legs, throwing it off balance — and buying them some time. Sunny was already running to the wagon, cursing loudly in his mind. Reaching it, he threw himself onto the damp wood alongside Shifty and Scholar, pushing with all the strength left in his rather small, but terribly beaten and enormously exhausted body.
‘Roll! Roll, you creaky piece of shit!’
The wagon sped up a little, but was still rather slow in reaching the cliff’s edge.
At the same time, the tyrant finally managed to get a hold of the chain tied around its neck, ready to free itself.
Now whether they lived or not was just a question of which thing would happen first.
