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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxᴛʜᴇ sᴏғᴛ ᴇᴄʜᴏ
sᴛᴀʀᴛ ғɪɴɪsʜ
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01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ
xx ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴀ ʟᴏɴɢsᴡᴏʀᴅ.
xx ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴀ ᴘᴀɪʀ ᴏғ ᴅᴀɢɢᴇʀs.
✓ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴀ sᴘᴇᴀʀ.
xx ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴀɴ ᴀxᴇ.
xx ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴀ ʙᴏᴡ.
Having decided on a Spear on the table, you steel yourself, determined to break down the iron bars and make it into the room as
quickly as possible.
You slam your hands against two of the bars, then let your shoulders meet the back of your palms as you force your entire body weight
against the bars. They screech and creak loudly, shifting just a little.
As you suspect there's not enough force being imposed on the bars, you lift yourself back and slam yourself against the bars once
again, bracing your hands on them so you don't hurt yourself. The shifting increases, and another painful screech erupts from segments of
the bars that are beginning to break, but the bars ultimately hold.
Panting after some effort, you move back, looking carefully at the bars. You know that you've already made enough sound to guarantee
something knows where you are, and frustration forces you to throw yourself at the bars one last time.
They give way, releasing an almighty snap, with some parts screeching out of the bricks holding them in place, and the low brick wall
beneath them starts to fall apart.
"Now!" Your mind screams, intent to get in and out of the storeroom before any creatures arrive. The bars that were snapped in half
and the bricks that were fell onto the floor make a big enough opening for you to crouch through.
...
After having claimed the Spear you had your eye on, there's an almighty impact on the other side of the stone wall, which
forces a few dozen of the bricks to bend inwards towards the table, and dust to spill from between them. A monstrous, groaning howl
sounds from the other side of the wall, and you quickly stumble back and escape through the opening between the bars.
Your attention is focused behind you as you escape the storeroom, before you turn around, and are immediately frozen in fright.
"HHgggGGRRRR!" A creature groans before you, standing on all fours in the middle of the chapel. You had no idea it had even
entered the room; your attention was fixated on the flexing wall in the storeroom.
Its an enormous beast, somewhat like a pig, and without tusks, almost as tall as you and definitely much heavier, but before you can
take notice of any other features, you are drawn immediately to its eyes; feral, fierce, and fixated on you, wide open and hungry.
Enough time exists for you to blink, before the creature rockets towards you, howling vigorously, its hooves pushing its large
frame forward over the stone floor.
One perfect attack would be enough to pierce its hide and kill it on the spot, but its moving so suddenly that you don't get enough of a
moment to properly strike, and it quickly connects its enormous body with yours, before heaving you up with its snout and
throwing you across the room.
You've never considered yourself to be very light, but the feeling of being so easily launched makes you feel like a small mannequin
made of paper. The launch propels you into one of the chapel's walls, where you abruptly slam against your back and fall to the floor,
groaning as you are hit.
...
What happens next isn't completely clear; you've been struck and hurled with such force that your mind is muddy and events unfold
before you in a vague, slurred mess. You didn't hit your head or anything, but your body feels winded and paralyzed for a moment.
There is a scream, before a thin, short pillar of stone erupts from the floor in the middle of the room. The pillar then breaks off from
the floor and rockets towards the creature, slamming directly into the front of its head, before breaking into many smaller parts. The
fragments pelt across the beast's fur and onto the floor, as the beast reels back and falls onto its stomach.
"Get up!" The person screams, before your eyes move across the room to focus on him. Its the stranger from earlier, and he's
managed to stun the beast for a few moments.
As your body refuses to listen to you, and your sight still remains faded, Deika uses his Elemental Magic to pull another short pillar of
stone up through the floor.
"Get up and move!!" he commands, desperately.
"Dei..." you quietly speak, sensing a powerful urge to fight, which knocks you back to your senses. Rising to your feet, and luckily
still with your spear in hand, you quickly charge at the creature as it rises to its feet.
Deika fires the pillar of stone through the air once again, this time towards one of the creature's legs. As it meets with the creature's
front-left leg, it breaks one of the bones and the creature abruptly falls onto its stomach once again. Unable to counter your charge, the
creature looks up towards you, still with a fierce, almost evil glare. You've already gained enough momentum and have closed enough
distance to guarantee a good strike.
...
You push the spear cleanly into the beast's shoulder, and it slides effortlessly inwards, until your momentum abruptly stops
and the beast squeals for an instant.
The creature remains perfectly still, still glaring at you before being skewered. It doesn't breathe, or even blink, for a second or two,
before it finally exhales and goes limp, its legs weakly relaxing, its struggle over.
Still holding onto the handle of the spear, you stay against the beast, making no move until you're sure it finally stops moving.
As you notice it doesn't take another breath, you surmise that you've likely pierced its heart.
The beast lays on the stone floor completely immobile, before you begin to pull the spear out of its body. As you do, some
blood pools out from the beast's wounds, and it shows no further signs of life.
...
Deika is quick to come over to your side, though he's clearly in a great deal of panic, before he manages a few words.
"There's no time." He appears wounded from a previous fight, claw marks evident on one of his arms. "Move."
Just as he gives his advice, another groaning howl erupts from the hallway you first entered the chapel from, and a wooden
door on another wall is roughly pounded by more creatures. Judging by the sound, its likely that up to six more of them are
about to arrive.
"Move!" Deika yells, awkwardly, as he tries to ignore the pain from earlier injuries. You both waste no time before turning to the
only exit that shows no signs of the creatures -- the door leading to the staircase upward.
► ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴀɪʀᴡᴀʏ ᴜᴘ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛʀᴜᴄᴛᴜʀᴇ.
