Artemia: Journey To The Thirtieth Floor

9. Hiraya

As I stared at the scorpion, I realized that its fighting style was like some sort of killing machine. I gritted my teeth as I watched those helpless humans wriggling around its feet. The fact that the kings can create such a thing without regard for the lives that will be lost made me want to get to the top even more. They're going to get a taste of their own medicine, I swear!

I looked at Blake, waiting for an order from him. But he was just staring at it as if he was waiting for it to notice us from afar. What? Shouldn't we be charging towards it right now? Or would that be dangerous? Considering how even the ones who survived yesterday are getting beaten up, it's likely that we would suffer the same fate. It's bad if it gets to let loose and attack us that way. Blake may survive, but we won't.

The girl from the other team stood beside me. "Let's work together," she whispered to me.

I raised a brow, not wanting to trust her too easily. It's common knowledge now that it's dangerous to rely on other teams because they are the type to willingly sacrifice you. But I doubt we'd all be able to get out of here unless we actually join hands. Freya doesn't seem to like the idea, though. She was acting a bit too hostile with them, but I can't really blame her.

"Let's join hands for now. We need to survive," the guy from another team also said.

I looked at Blake, and he nodded. "Okay..."

Dylan raised a brow. "Are you sure?"

"Leave it to me..." Blake whispered, so we just trusted him.

"Let's stand back and make a plan for now," the guy from the other team said.

We took the advice and tried to get away from the scorpion while it was enjoying whatever the hell it was doing. I think we should regroup rather than head straight and try to cut that thing's head off. Who knows, it could snap our necks within a split second. The scorpion was a bit too fast, so I think we should learn how to not get killed in an instant first and foremost.

"The scorpion moves a little too fast now. The tail automatically reacts to living things that try to attack it," Blake said as he looked around. "We would need someone who can outrun that thing to act as a decoy."

The girl who wore clothes with a cheetah print raised her hand. "I can distract it while my team tries to shoot it."

"We'll try to cut the pincers," the guy who looked like a bear spoke.

"Alright, then. We'll cut the head off. But make sure that you put all your strength into it because that thing's skin is thick."

We agreed on it and started talking about the positions that we were going to take. After a few more discussions, it has been decided that my team will take the back, Cheetah Girl's team will take the front, and Bear Guy's team will be positioned on the sides. I'm surprised that they quickly agreed with it, and they had no complaints with Blake's strategies as well. I thought they would want to tweak the plan, but they remained quiet. Heh, Blake's really amazing when it comes to these things.

After making sure that everybody understood the plan, we took our positions and observed the scorpion. It just kept running around without looking in its way, trampling the corpses that were lying on the ground. It doesn't seem to have noticed us yet, so Cheetah Girl shot it with an arrow straight in the face. I bit my lower lip when the scorpion angrily looked at her. She'll be okay, right?

"Don't worry about them. Those players know what they're doing," Blake said and took his sword out. He smiled at me to assure me that everything was fine.

I nodded and did the same as I took my stance, prepared to blast off any moment. So far, there doesn't seem to be any problem. Freya secretly cast a spell to slow the scorpion down, which helped Bear Guy's team cut the pincers off along with the tail. If they can do it, we can easily cut the head off. But if not, Blake would have to go first and cut the tail off.

Please, let them succeed. It would be dangerous for Blake because the tail automatically reacts to living beings. Blake is really strong! I know that, and I trust him, but I feel like my heart would burst open if he charged straight through that thing. Sure, he can handle that thing single-handedly...but I'm worried as heck!

"I'll be okay..." Blake murmured and gave me a reassuring smile.

Oh, he must have noticed how anxious I was. Well, he better be okay! He's the backbone of the team, and I wouldn't know what to do without him, so he better watch out! This guy, seriously. I know that his skills are something that we should be confident about, but for someone that's currently low-leveled, I can't help but get worried.

Anyway, I watched as the other team tried to cut the tail off. My mouth went agape when it was barely damaged after they attempted to cut it off. In that instant, Blake ran as fast as he could and threw his sword, cutting the tail from the very root. He then jumped and caught his sword, signaling us to hurry.

"Dylan!" I called.

I clicked my tongue and ran as I jumped as high as I could and sliced the scorpion into pieces with Dylan. I smiled, glad that we were able to survive. My heart was pounding so hard, and I was about to relax. But just as we were about to celebrate our win, the tail was about to connect with the body again, so we sliced it more until it finally dissipated.

I fell to the ground as I tried to catch my breath. "That was a bit tough..." I murmured.

Our levels shot up once again, and we knew we could take floor three on after a little rest. Hmm, that's based on our current rankings, but it seemed like everyone was able to go up. To be more specific, it seemed like our levels doubled. The rewards are pretty generous if you ask me. I think we're ready for the next floor, but I want to consider my teammates. If they're not yet prepared, then we're not going to proceed.

"Hey..." I called.

"Let's proceed," they said in unison.

"You guys are tough..." Cheetah girl said as she chuckled.

"Are you guys coming with us?" I asked as I prepared to choose one of the options.

"No, we're too weak for the third floor," they replied as they left.

I sighed and stood up, preparing to click the first option on the menu. The three of them stood behind me and held my hand or arm so that we could get warped to the next floor together. Ah, I hope this one goes well too. Although, it's just the four of us this time around. It might be dangerous to work alone, but Blake says that he's confident about this. Apparently, it's better to do this alone.

My mouth went agape as I looked around the floor. It's way too different from the last one! There are no pillars anymore, but there are doors that vary in size, something we expected. However, that's not the problem! Some doors are floating, and I feel like something will jump out of them all of a sudden. I was afraid that the boss would suddenly fly in our direction!

"The door to the boss moves, and Hiraya should be the one moving it," Blake said and looked around.

Hiraya is the boss of this floor, a shapeshifter. We have to be extra careful because he could be taking the form of one of us right now. And the worst of all, Hiraya can copy our moves! It would be dangerous if we somehow got separated on this floor. Ah, shapeshifters sure are a pain in the ass. But I'm pretty sure that we won't get fooled. Unless, of course, Hiraya can actually copy them.

Anyway, it doesn't actually matter if we get separated. We secretly kept marks on different parts of our bodies, covered with cloth pieces to avoid getting copied. But there's no guarantee that it would work like how it was supposed to. Hiraya might be able to copy them as well, but there's no harm in trying. Now that we're supposed to look for Hiraya, we don't know where to go since we don't know what they look like right now. We're just going to find the right door.

"Hiraya can't mask his power well, so we just have to try and sense the strongest presence around," Blake said while walking slowly. He was being extra careful, but he was still coolly walking.

Actually, the one with the strongest presence around...is him. So it's going to be a bit too difficult to look for Hiraya. Freya and Dylan shook their heads, dismayed that Blake didn't realize his strength. There's no way the three of us can find Hiraya if he doesn't tone his presence down because all we can feel is his aura. I don't think he's aware of it since he seemed to be busy trying to sense stuff.

Whatever! I just have to focus, and I'm sure I can get a whiff of Hiraya's presence. True enough, while we were passing by a really small door, I felt the presence of a creature that's unlike any other. It was reeking with malice, and it couldn't go unnoticed. I was worried that it would suddenly open and reveal something I wouldn't want to see.

I held onto Blake's arm as I pointed at the door. "He's here," I said.

We looked at each other, wondering how we were supposed to get in. The door was like that of a door to a small dog house, and it's impossible for humans to fit in there. My eyes widened when I felt something fast approaching, so I ducked and pulled the three along with me. Blake was holding my arm and the other two because of the sudden arrival of that something.

A harp flew by at incredible speed. Damn, if I didn't duck...we would have lost our heads! That thing had a sword with it, and it was grinning at us while holding the knife up. I took a deep breath as I took my katanas out. Ah, I'm getting annoyed because of what it did. The way it flashed a sinister smile irked me, making me want to behead it or something. Ah, so annoying!

"This is Hiraya, right?" I asked in between gritted teeth.

"Maybe. Be careful. He could be hiding stuff everywhere. Don't look away from him because he could take different forms anytime," Blake said.

Blake sounded unsure just now, but we're taking him out anyway. Just as I was about to take one step forward, it flew towards me with that sharp knife! This thing is incredibly fast! Not only that, but its strength was also commendable. It was a good thing that I was able to defend with my katanas in time. Dylan was beside me, trying to create distractions for the harp to stop it from targetting me.

"Freya!" I called.

She immediately understood and cast another spell that slowed the damned harp down. Just as Hiraya is about to retreat, Blake has cut his wings off while Dylan stabbed him in the heart. Our coordination was good enough, but I didn't think that it was enough to take the boss on the third floor out. Yeah, I don't believe that was all it took to finish him.

All of us were also suspecting that the harp was nothing more than a portion of Hiraya. This is the third floor, not the first. Even the goblin put up more of a fight than this one. That's why we continued walking until we saw a door that looked somewhat peculiar compared to the others. It had a hexagon shape, and there was no doorknob at all.

Because we couldn't risk approaching it and getting caught up in a trap, we asked Freya to make the door burst open without getting near it. True enough, a couple of knives flew as soon as the door opened. Heh, that was quite obvious. I'm glad that I'm not as naive as other people. I would have died if I was...

"Who the hell destroyed my door?!" I flinched when an angry voice echoed across the floor.

A buff-looking shadow came out of the door, marching angrily. I took my katanas out and prepared myself because its aura intimidated me. Something in it felt a bit too scary, but I feel like he's not really a bad guy. Blake smirked and slowly walked towards the shadow, motioning us to follow him. Damn, what the hell is he doing?!

"Ivory, we'll distract him. You go crush his heart. It's inside the room. Dylan and I can handle this i***t. Freya will assist you while we brawl here," he said as he smirked.

"Are you sure?" I asked worriedly.

Dylan smiled and ruffled my hair. "This will be a cinch, I promise."

I nodded and hid near the doors with Freya while they were distracting Hiraya. We had to tone our presence down to the lowest in order to sneak into the room. When they started running around, we took the chance to get inside the room. There were plenty of traps, but Freya disabled all of them. My breathing was heavy because I was afraid that Dylan and Blake wouldn't be able to hold out for long.

"Is it the one on the bed?" I asked as I stared at the small box, trembling as I approached it.

"Let's see..." Freya replied as she held my hand.

I picked it up and tried to open it. My mouth went agape when it automatically opened and revealed a heart along with a locket. There was a picture in the locket that looked like that of a princess, and I couldn't deny that it looked an awful lot like me. For some reason, I felt like this was something really important, so I decided to keep it in my pocket.

"Stab it now!" Freya said while looking out. "They're starting to struggle."

Something in me was stopping me, but I had to stab the heart inside the chest. Maybe I was just imagining it, but someone inside me was screaming at me to stop. I didn't know what to do, but Dylan and Blake were already having a difficult time. When I did that, I heard an awful scream coming from outside. And for some reason, my heart started to ache.

Hiraya...