Valkyrie's Lament

Final day (part XI)

Sam cursed, he was rolling around and dodging Lyd’s acidic spit. “Someone sealed off its mouth!” He angrily yelled, trying not to get trampled over by its leg.

Lyd didn’t stop with its acidic spit, it even spat out a nasty amount of spider webs at others in the attempt to wrap them up and keep them in place.

One of Lyd’s spiderwebs shot through the air in an attempt to catch Sam, but instead it grabbed a hold of a large loose part of the ceiling debris that was next to it. Lyd grabbed a hold of the spider web and pulled hard, lurching the large piece of debris along with it past Sam.

“Watch out!” Jasper shouted, Lyd twirled the debris around its body like a lasso. People dodged, ducked, and even scrambled out of harm’s way as the whistling debris almost killed them by a hair’s breadth.

Silver knew any further than this would get them killed. She saw how the others were struggling from getting squashed, but that didn’t stop either Jasper or Sam from leading the attack. She too didn’t stop herself from jumping into the twirling death.

Lyd continually spat out either spider webs or acidic spit and with a heavy thud the debris came crashing down over Silver’s head. Silver jumped barely out of harm’s way, she flew towards the right, tumbling on the ground.

What was worse was that Lyd used its other three arms to pull at its other webs, picking up the other debris with it. Three more were twirling around Lyd like a circus act, each one crashing down towards Silver in the attempt to squash her alive.

Silver scrambled onto her feet, desperately trying not to get squash to death. She could feel the looming danger over her head and the blood lust to kill her. If she didn’t know any better, Lyd was mostly picking a fight with her as if she knew that she was the one that coordinated the whole fire web sabotage to her. Each one of the falling debris fell right where Silver was a moment ago.

“Oh for crying out loud!” Tyler angrily yelled. “It’s playing damn whack-a-mole with our lives or something?!”

“Quit complaining and kill it!” Rose yelled from the sidelines, even though she couldn’t do anything.

“I am!” Tyler replied, he summoned up more vines in the attempt to stall it. The vines shot forward from the ground, wrapping itself around its leg once again. Brook and Rook continually threw their balls of energy at Lyd in an attempt to riddle it with holes, but their power barely cracked through Lyd’s thick shell.

Brianna yelled at the top of her voice, screeching in the hopes to stun Lyd. Lyd faltered for a split moment, allowing Tyler’s magical vines to wrap around on all eight legs. It continually creeped up its body as it wrapped around the torso until Brianna’s voice went out.

“Stay put here!” Ren told his sister, Salphie.

“But, I can help!”

“Not this time.” Ren reassured her. “Protect Rose. I’ll be counting on you.”

“But-”

Ren shook his head then looked towards Rose, telling her through contact that he wanted her sister safe. Rose understood instantly as she reached over to grab onto Salphie’s shoulder. He then looked at Ariel who was cowering behind Rose and frowned.

“She’ll be fine,” said Rose.

“I’m counting on you,” said Ren. He rushed off towards Lyd who was trapped in Tyler’s Vine. Running fearlessly, he helped both Sam, Jasper, and Silver who was attempting to cut down its leg, but refrain themselves from going through the same trouble of spawning a new leg.

“Keep it busy!” Silver yelled. “I got a plan!” A well of energy started to glow on Silver’s sword.

Lyd thrashed around angrily, pulling against the vine in a desperate attempt to flee. It shot forward a web of strings, catching the nearest large chunk of debris. With its power, Lyd once again swung the giant piece of rock around, knocking downwards into Brooke and Rook who was annoying it with their power.

They flung backwards at the rock that fell in between them, throwing them back as they sustained injury. Lyd didn’t stop there, one of its legs got loose as it kicked Ren and Tyler backwards.

Silver raised up her hands, icicles formed as she shot a large amount into the ceiling until she only had three-fourth of her energy left. What she didn’t expect was Lyd’s arm to come sweeping from her blind spot and grabbing her in one fell swoop. Startled, Silver didn’t get the chance to pull or jump away, she was so focused on her magical energy that she forgot where Lyd’s position was until she was too late.

“Silver!” Jasper yelled in horror as he saw her get swept in Lyd’s arm.

Silver struggled to get out of Lyd’s hold, but instead she was held tighter every second. It was becoming futile, making it almost impossible to escape. Lyd hissed and clacked its ugly jaws, inching towards her face to chew her head in one go. It’s hand wrapped around her body, attempting to hold her in place.

The force that Lyd was giving was excruciatingly painful, she felt her right leg break, the side of her chest exploded as if it was caught on fire. All she could think about was the pain that continually persisted and burned her body, but even still she didn’t allow the thought of defeat to overcome her mind.

With a sickening rumble, the ceiling started to break. The ice shards that she threw over Lyd’s head started to crumble as large cracks started to form.

A partial sinister smile broke out on Silver lips, ice started to form in her mouth as she pulled her magic in one spot. Hacking up a large amount of spit, she spat at Lyd’s face as shards of ice formed. It flew towards Lyd’s face and embedded itself into one of its eyes and the rest into its face.

With a painful cry, Lyd had let go of Silver as she fell to the ground. Sharp pain erupted her chest area as she felt a couple of her ribs possibly broken.

“Silver!” Jasper cried out in alarm. He was about to rush towards her when Silver yelled out towards him.

“Shoot the ceiling!”

Jasper glanced up and swa what Silver was implying. “But you're right under it!”

“Shoot it!” Silver struggled onto her feet, but the pain on her side and her leg made it very difficult for her to get on her feet.

“I got her!” Sam ran forward, he was right next to her side as he lifted her up into his arm into a princess cary. Silver yelped in pain at the sudden lifting of her body. She felt completely weird that she was suddenly brought up into his arms like some kind of princess, making her quite a bit self conscious of how weak she was right now.

Weird. Very weird. Silver thought, her heart slightly fluttered as she glanced up at Sam. She didn’t notice how chiseled his face was or how strangely safe she felt in Sam’s arm. Maybe she was too self conscious of that kiss that Sam gave her, making her feel even more strange than before. Forget it. This is not the time.

Jasper hands were filled with light and electric energy, one element in each hand. The first element was a light energy ball that shot forward to blind Lyd’s remaining eye, and the bright light erupted outwards like fireworks.

Everyone stopped to close their eyes from the brightening fireworks that blinded them, except for Jasper. Jasper shot the second ball of electricity into the ceiling, hitting it to create a faster chain reaction of the ceiling to crumble.

“Run!” Jasper yelled.

Large chunks of the ceiling came crashing down from above. Lyd screamed out in a high pitched voice as large chunks of the ceiling crashed into his body, swallowing Lyd as if it was a black hole. Lyd struggled, but each debris that fell onto top of it, squashed a large portion of its body, making it very difficult to squirm out of harm's way.

Everyone scrambled away from the caving ceiling. They headed straight towards the door, ran through the hallway, and burst out into the field. The moment they stepped out of the door, they were in a field of dead bodies. Some were even still burning, while the others laid burnt unmoving. The boss fight was over, and everyone was relieved that the fight was over.

The fight between the Archne took way too long to defeat, still the time past becoming twenty minutes to twelve. So far, Kushiel didn’t scream out and inform them of another boss fight at all and instead stayed quiet. Still, it made Silver very nervous, thinking that there might be another possible fight that she didn’t know about.

“How many are injuried?” Sam asked, still holding onto Silver.

“Almost half.” Jasper replied, he looked back at the building that was partially falling apart. He then turned towards Sam and saw Silver still in Sam’s arm as a large frown erupted on his lips.

Silver coughed a couple of times to get Sam’s attention. Sam swiveled his head towards her as an amused grin erupted on his face. “So, the princess is doing well?”

“No.” Silver bluntly spoke. “I have a broken right leg and an injuried arm.”

“You do?” Sam replied as his eyebrows furrowed at the thought of her injury.

“Yea, do you think you guys could help me gather some crystals to speed up the healing process?” said Silver. “Please?”

“On it.” Jasper scrambled away, heading straight towards the nearest Archne.

“You’re quite a handful you know,” said Sam.

“I’m not. Could you take me to the nearest Archne over there?” Silver tried not to wince from pain, she needed some crystals fast, because she didn’t know if another crazy monster would attack. Being crippled wasn’t something she wanted to be right this minute and every second was becoming a very deadly situation.

Sam nodded. He took her to the nearest carcass. Silver was gently dropped onto the ground as she struggled her way towards the dead Arachne.

“Are you sure you're okay?” asked Sam.

“Yea. I’ll be fine. Go get yourself some crystals. I can handle myself here.” Silver stated in between the jolts of pain from just breathing.

Sam looked at her for a moment, amused at the amount of courage and the way she held herself from the pain that racked her body. He didn’t say anything more and went to dig up some crystals near her.

Silver put away her sword that she still had gripping in her hands and brought out her dagger and stabbed it into its body. She wiggled her dagger as the body cracked open as a foul smell hit her in the face, temporarily rocking her senses. It took a moment for her to adjust to the smell and when she did, inside the crack was a small red crystal for the taking. With a deep breath, she pushed her hand into the carcass. Every movement she did a sharp pain erupted on her chest and leg, making it a lot more difficult for her to pull out the crystal.

The feeling was disgusting. It reminded her between a sticky gooey feeling mixed with a hard substance that gave off a strange feel, even the thought of putting her hand in a dead spider carcass made her want to hurl. Still, she needed the crystal and took the chance to scavenge for the crystal that she needed.

She pulled out her first crystal, and examined the content she had gotten. It was a medium level red crystal. Exsatic, she quickly ate the crystal in hand, and felt a well of power coursing through her body. The pain in her chest subsided as if it wasn’t there in the first place. Her legs were in less pain, but she could tell that it was still broken.

Jasper ran back towards her with a couple of crystals in hand. “Here.” He quickly stated, giving both of them to her.

“Thanks.” Silver gratefully took the stones and ate it. Once again, the rush of energy this time completely healed her legs, allowing her to put weight on her legs. Shakily getting up, she eventually was able to stand up by herself.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“Yea. I don’t need any more crystals. My legs are repaired and I can get the rest.”

“No, you put yourself in way too many dangers. Let me hel-”

Silver raised up her hands and shook her head. “No. You helped me enough, you need to recuperate your strength as well. We don’t know if more will be coming.”

“True, but.”

“Look, thank you Jasper. You and Sam both helped me out a lot. Without either one of you, I might not have survived.”

Jasper blushed, his head was low. “Well, it’s not true. You saved my life many times. I’ll for sure pay you back for what you have done.” His words were like a whisper.

“Anyways, let’s split up and harvest as many crystals as we can.” Silver examined around and saw a large number of Arachne still scattered around the field. “This might be the only time we’ll have such a big harvest.”

“Yea.” Jasper nodded.

Everyone scattered out into the field, each one cracking the shells of the Archne and harvesting the crystals. Some struggled, but the majority of them were able to pull out a crystal without much difficulty.

Minutes passed, they scored through the field as they scavenged for crystals. It didn’t take long until three fourths of the Arches. A blast of fireworks erupted into the sky, signaling the end of the game.

Silver stopped what she was doing and glanced up.

“Well.” Kushiel's image appeared over their heads. “This is more like it. Fourteen people had survived through the second week and with that I’m highly pleased with the death count.” She chuckled.

Silver look with a stone cold expression on her face. Just seeing Kushiel made her blood boil and she wanted to punch the crap out of Kushiel for so long, but she was too exhausted to even resort to violence.

Baby angels popped out from thin air, their cute voices congratulating each person with a high pitch tone as they made their way towards each person. Everyone had three high level Orange Crystals and a mysterious small box, except Silver who was given five crystals.

“Well, you plebeians. Here is your reward.” Kushiel flapped her white wings and floated up above their heads with an unhappy smile on her face. “Now you have another six days before the third main game will start, though this week and the next is a little special.” She started to chuckle in a creepy fashion, causing everyone to get goosebumps.

“All I can say is stay alive until the next game. You have fifteen minutes to head towards the entrance to Gate 6 before your trap in this world forever. Let’s just say you won’t be welcome in this city anymore if you don’t hurry up out of here.” She batted her eyes like an innocent puppy and with a snap of her fingers she disappeared with the other baby angels.

“Let’s move out!” Silver called out towards her guild mates. “Leave the other unharvested Archne behind, we can’t stay here any longer.”

The others hesitated in leaving behind the fresh carcass that was still unharvested for their crystal. A couple of them inched forward to gather one last crystal, but Silver shot them a glare, freezing them in place.

“If you disobey my orders, I’ll give you a mercy killing now, so you don’t have to face the consequences of staying behind.” She growled, the others could tell that her threat was real, and they started to move away from the carcasses. Eventually, they all moved in a group as they made it to the entrance. The walk took exactly thirteen minutes, if anyone stayed a minute or two longer, they would’ve been stuck in this world.

The gate number six shuddered as it slowly closed, initiating that the game had ended. Everyone was on the ground sprawled out bone tired as they gulped in a large amount of air. Every single one of Silver’s teammates had miraculously survived through the harsh ordeal, in which case it was a huge achievement in itself.

For there to be fourteen people to survive through the second week was average. From her memory the usual number of people that live is less than around thirty, mostly around twenty, meaning the chance of survival for the first month was exponentially higher. The last time, if her memories served her correctly, five survived the second week, then four the third, and eventually came down to two. This was the worst bunch of groups that tenaciously survived through the tortuous first month. On average, the number of people who pass would be around twenty five.

Silver stores the item away, and slugged her heavy body towards the Boar’s Inn mindlessly like a zombie. The others did the same because everyone was too exhausted to even start up a conversation.

#####

Silver slept through half the day in the Boar’s Inn, she was way too tired to even attempt to get up and eat. Even Jasper, who was sleeping next to her, was knocked out with his belly exposed. Eventually, she woke up late in the afternoon close to evening. Took a nice long shower and went to the reception.

“Good Evening~” Archarzel and Angelzel both bowed with a beautiful smile on their faces. “How may we assist you?”

Silver stopped in front of the desk, she started to flip through the digital screen with all the items. There wasn’t anything she could use to trade, there weren't any monsters that could even be traded for Angel coins making this a lot more unfavorable.

On the bright side, she noticed there were new items available for her to buy later on. She was pleased at the update, but having no Angel coins grated on her. She sighed, wishing she had some Angel coins to fill up her used ammunition.

Next, she flipped through the quest boards, but noticed something strange. There was something in her mind, irking her. What was it? It bothered her, but she couldn’t figure it out. Then it hit her, all the mini-games were blank as if the game itself was on hold.

Silver slugged her tired heavy body over toward the bulletin board, confirming that what she saw wasn’t a lie. All the quests didn’t have a single gate number and were left blank. Does this mean there was no gate or not? Damn, she needs to make sure there are still gates present, even if only she didn’t have broken memories. Majority of the beginning games were washed out, leaving behind a giant hole.

“Well. Well. Well.” A familiar voice called out towards her from behind her. “It seems you haven’t forgotten our date?”

“Sam, I didn’t agree on a date.” Silver replied with a sigh, she glanced over her shoulder and noticed Sam walking up towards her. He was refreshed and clean, all the smudges and dirt that was on him during the week long game of tag was gone, bringing back his clean handsome look.

Sam smirked, and walked up next to her. “Too late for that.” He snuck his hand around her waist, bringing her close to his body. “Well then, shall we go on our date hunt?”

Silver frowned at the close proximity that they were in. She definitely wasn’t the type to be so close to someone she wasn’t in a relationship, especially of the opposite gender. When she tried to push him back, he stopped her and drew her closer. The strength that he gave off was actually equivalent to her power, she cursed in her mind for not eating the crystals that she was given, and by the looks of it, right now, both her and Sam were probably the same strength.

“There is nothing to hunt right now,” she said in between the wiggle. Why was he so persistent? “Check the board and let me go.”

“No hunt?” Sam's grip loosened, allowing her to escape. He didn’t pursue and took a closer inspection on the board. “What’s going on? Why are there no gate numbers?”

“I don’t know.” Silver straightened her crinkled clothes. “Ask the angels.” She grumbled.

“Hey angel!” Sam shouted towards Archarzel.

“Yes?” Archarzel spoke up with a sweet smile on her face.

“Why aren’t there any gate numbers?”

“That’s because this whole week the next major game will begin in the next ten minutes. there will be no gates to enter.” She replied in a business-like attitude.

“Wait, the third major game has started?” Sam was a bit confused. “What? I thought it was once every week.”

“Yes, but you see this game will take a whole week to play.”

“A whole week…” Silver didn’t like the sound of that. The second major game took a week to play and she didn’t get a single monster material or complete a mini-game. In which case that was a slight problem, she was about low on Angel coins, allowing her to stay in the Boar’s inn for another day. Sleeping on the ground wasn’t a problem, the thought of not being able to use water to wash herself irked her a bit.

As if on cue, a loud blaring sound of an alarm went off, waking everyone who was asleep. A large hologram of Kushiel appeared before both Sam and her.

“Well, you useless pleiades. I am glad to inform you that our third game of this week has begun. You see, because there are only a certain number of players, I thought it would be best to play this game.” Kushiel chuckled. “The game is really simple.”

The way Kushiel said it didn't sit well with her. Kushiel simplicity meant that there was something more, just like the game of tag.

“We’re going to play a modified version of Cat’s cradle.”

“What?” said Sam, he wrinkled his nose not understanding what Kushiel wanted from them. “Is she sane? Who in the world wants to play a children’s game?”

“Her.” Silver replied, she crossed her hand in front of her.

“There are six gates stationed all around the safety zones. Each gate will cycle through depending on the position of the string.”

String? Silver tilted her head, not sure what she meant.

“Each string position will open up a gate for six hours, each day, allowing the monsters to pour through into the safety zone. You as the players must defeat as many monsters that swarm without dying in a given amount of time, in which case it's six hours. Every monster you defeat, your group gets a point. Plus, you can even gain some crystals, too.” Kushiel took a deep breath and a sinister smile erupted on her face as she continued to speak. “On a better note, your team will be competing against other teams to stay alive. Only five teams will be able to pass this game by the end of this week.”

With a snap of her finger, a scoreboard was suddenly brought up, showing the other teams. In total, there were five teams: Classroom 248, Classroom 249, Classroom 250, Classroom 251, and Classroom 252.

Silver scanned through the board, her eyes rested on Classroom 252. A swarm of memories hit her, realizing that this was the Classroom that she was in the first game. It also meant that there was the possibility for him to be there as well. She felt excited, just thinking of him being alive. Though the question was, why was she in Classroom 249 and not in 252. It just didn’t make any sense.

“With that being said, at the end of each day the top three will get a reward. While the team in fifth place gets to choose which team to curse the next day, meaning a chance for the fifth place to rise up to a higher position, by destroying the other team.” She wiggled her eyebrow in excitement. “Though, the team who stays in first place throughout all six days will get an even bigger reward at the end, making the fight worthwhile. Well then, shall we get things moving? You’ll have eight hours to get ready to do whatever you want to do, before the game starts. So, grab a hold of something and enjoy the wild ride!”

Suddenly, the ground shook and groaned. Silver stumbled forward as she was flung towards Sam. He grabbed her by her shoulders to stop her from her fall.

“So you couldn’t wait to be in my arm’s huh?” He winked.

“It’s not the time for that.” She hissed, bracing herself. It was as if the whole world was shaking underneath her feet, and she didn’t like it one bit at all.