Soltra

A shadowy figure suddenly sped past the group under the cover of the mist. They all jumped as they heard it move behind the smoky wall, their hands on their weapons as they keenly scanned their surroundings.

Again, out of the corner of their eyes something dark blurred past them in the mist. As Lyze was the one who could speed up his perception the most, he turned just in time to see dark mass disappear into the thicker parts of the mist.

The sudden appearance of the golden chainmail, coupled with their misty surroundings and the stone statues however, helped him realise exactly what was stalking them. He tightened his grip on Excalibur as he harshly whispered to Ais.

"Go. Go back to the upper floor!"

"Huh?" Asked Ais. "Why?"

"Just do as I say!"

"But we're adventurers. We don't run from a fight." Ais frowned slightly.

"This is not a monster you can fight Ais." Lyze said firmly as he began walking backwards into his two companions, forcing them to start inching back to the stairs.

"Why do you say that?" Ais asked.

"Because it's the same one that has been turning these other monsters into stone." He replied. "You might stand a fighting chance Ais but Lili can't. You need to take her and get back to where it's safe."

"But what about you Big Brother?" Lili asked.

"I'll be fine. I'm confident I can fight this monster but I'm not sure I can do that while simultaneously protecting you. Go back before she starts talking!"

"Before who starts talking?" Ais asked, puzzled.

Just then, a silky smooth voice rang out from somewhere in front of them out of the thick mists. It sounded... so soft, wonderful and beautiful and was instantly captivating.

"Where are you going...dear children?" It said.

Lyze felt dizzy for a moment before he quickly shrugged himself of the feeling. The voice was akin to Freya's voice in that it ensnared the attention of the ones who heard it. The moment one heard it, they were filled with an intense desire to find the source of it.

This just further confirmed who he thought he was dealing with. Looking back at his companions, he saw their eyes glazed over and their mouths hanging open. Ais's grip was loosened slightly on Desperate and Lili's shoulders were drooped, the straps of the pack she was carrying threatening to come off.

"Come to me children. I just want to to talk to you." Came the voice again.

They started slowly walking towards him, in the direction that the voice was coming from. He stood in front of them and pushed on their chests to prevent them from walking further. They did not even seem to register him as their sights were fixated on the mist cloud ahead. He clicked his fingers harshly in their faces.

"Come on you two! Snap out of it!" He tried to bring them back to life but they ignored him as they continued to try and push him out of the way.

"Don't be afraid." Came the smooth voice again. Lyze was beginning to become irritated by the buzz that happened in his mind everytime he heard it. "I'll take good care of you."

"That's what a nonce would say!" He yelled into the clouds before he pointed Excalibur in the direction the voice was coming from. "Sword of the Thunder God!"

A flash of lightning illuminated the area as it struck the ground about 30 feet away from them. The light lit up the mist clouds, revealing a shadowed figure in the distance. Whatever it was seemed to shriek and wave it's arm about before sharply veering away from the lightnings approximate area of effect.

The scream seemed to bring the girls back to their senses.

"What happened?" Ais asked as they rubbed their foreheads confusedly.

"You can't fight this thing, that's what happened." As he harshly shoved the two of them. "For the last time, do as I say and go before I throw you out of here."

"But we can't just leave you here!" Ais tried to reason.

Before Lyze could reply, 'Thread' warned him of an imminent danger and he quickly pushed both their heads down.

"DUCK!" He yelled just in time as something lashed out of the mists and flew over the heads. It travelled with such force, it created uncomfortable whistling noises in the air before the object smashed into one of the stone monsters. The statue shattered into hundreds of pieces before they evaporated into smoke, leaving the monster's core behind.

The object slithered away back into the mist but they all managed to see what it was. It was beyond a doubt a very long whip, but what was very disturbing was its make. The long piece of leather presumably was covered in wicked looking barbs, making Lili gulp at the cruel sight of the evil weapon.

A chilling presence began to overcome them as their adventurer instincts told them that something was coming near. Lyze grit his teeth, picked Lili up and shoved her into Ais's arms. He pushed the golden haired girl towards the stairs.

"Go! Run to the ninth floor. Don't try and come back here!" He shouted before another whistling sound alerted him and he raised Excalibur in time for the barbed whip to curl around the holy sword. One of the barbs slit his lip in half as he hissed in pain, which actually made the agony even worse.

"LYZE!" Ais shouted as she drew Desperate.

Lyze gritted his teeth and flung his free hand out towards her, telekinetically pushing her and Lili towards the stairway. As soon as they were through, he used Earth magic to create a thick wall of bedrock from the floor below blocking the entrance. Ais would not be able to break through it anytime soon.

He then refocused his attention on the tug of war he was having with the monster that had crept up on them. All the while blood poured from his mouth as the injured lip started to burn.

"A pity." Said the voice. "I would have loved to create even more works of beauty. But It looks like I'll be having only you."

"You'll be having nothing...witch!" He snarled as he pulled on the whip with all his strength. The whip became even more taught before suddenly loosening as dark mass began flying in his direction. He didn't focus on it though as he pulled a fist back and punched the ball of black cloth as hard as he could.

'CLANG!'

To his surprise however, his fist hit something metal creating a harsh metallic sound as his knuckles exploded in pain. The whip unfurled from Excalibur as the monster began tumbling away on the ground. It did not re-enter the mist however as it crumpled into pile of what he now realised was a black cloak.

A sickly white and scrawny arm scratched away at the ground as the monster tried to find some footing. Lyze held up his left fist and grimaced as he found the skin on his knuckled busted open. His wrist ached as the effect of punching something metal made itself known in the little veins of blood that began appearing in the grooves of around the injured skin.

Which was odd because Lyze knew that his punches could dent steel.

"So it seems my hunch was correct." He muttered aloud as he looked the creature. "I am going to have to fight the rest of your kind. Although it seems the order is a bit out line."

"You are being such an insolent little boy." The lovely voice cooed. "Come give me a sorry, and I might forgive you."

"Save it!" He spat, bits of phlegm frothing out from his mouth which mixed with the blood from his injured lip. "A literal goddess of beauty was not able to sway me with her charm or her voice. What hope do you have that you can achieve the same?...Soltra!"

The figure righted themselves as their true from emerged from the folds of the cloak. The figure was clearly feminine in shape, if the voice had not been a dead giveaway. But it was what sat upon it's shoulder that was perhaps the most grotesque thing.

A sickly white, shining bald head glimmered somehow in the mist. But there was no face on it, nothing except for one large, singular eye in the middle. The eye was so large that that it took up about 70% of her face, and it was a brilliant emerald green. The funny thing was though, despite how horrifying the description would seem, the visage seemed beautiful to Lyze. Breathtakingly beautiful. So much so that he could nearly get lost in that eye, his body having filled wit a dream like calmness.

But he knew that that was the power of the creature. This 'Beast' used the mental effects of it's large eye to entrance her victims, and once they were at calm and fully gazed into the large ocular organ, they would be instantly petrified. A stone skin would form over them and they became statues she could add to her collection.

Who exactly did that remind him of at this current moment in time?

"Very well." Soltra replied as she lifted her whip. "If you will not come to me, then you will die."

"I would die either way." He grumbled as he lifted her Excalibur. He knew what this creature's weakness was and he could probably kill her instantly when given the chance. But this would be the only time he could get actual confirmation of his suspicions. Soltra was one of the very few Beasts that could speak in the Beast Quest series, and if anybody had answers for him, it was her.

"Before we begin, tell me something."

"And what would that be, little boy?" She replied. The fact she was somehow speaking despite there not being a mouth kind of freaked him out a little.

"Have others come with you? Were you contracted by Malvel to protect the breastplate, same as he did so with other beasts to safe guard the pieces of the armour?"

"How could you possibly know that?" Soltra tilted her head.

"Just answer me."

"You are very naughty." She put some extra bit of warmth and some sort of fondness in her tone which honestly just made him shiver with disgust. "But fine. There's no harm in telling you before you die. The dark wizard did task me with protecting the Golden Breastplate, but as soon as we closed the deal, I suddenly found myself here in this place surrounded by these annoying pests and even more human vermin. Of course it provided me with suitable entertainment for a while but I'd much prefer I was back home in my own marsh. As for any other beasts that may have other pieces of the armour, I'm afraid I simply don't know." She tightened her barbed whip. "Now then, with our little chat finally over, I'm going to have to begin disciplining you."

"I'd like to see you try." He smirked as he brandished his Excalibur. Screw exploiting her weakness now, she'd just pissed him off with that last sentence. "Every adult that aimed to discipline me with corporal punishment found their very instruments up where the sun don't shine. I don't know if the same could be applied to you, but I'm sure I'll manage just the same."

"Then prepare for the consequences." She snapped her whip towards him at terrifying speeds. "Because I'm going to flay the flesh from your bones!"

---

Ais continued to bang her Desperate against the stone wall. Lyze was trapped in there with that thing! She had to be there to help him but instead he'd threw the two of them out of the battlefield. Why would he do that? They were a team weren't they?

Lili grabbed her arm and tried to use her body weight to stop the older girl it seemed to work for the most part.

"Stop it Miss Ais. You have to stop!" Lili cried.

"I can't stop!" Ais shouted as she continued to hack away at the wall that was blocking the entrance. Internally she marvelled at how solid it was. Lyze's magic was powerful enough that it was able to stop a sharpened Durandal weapon. Sparks flew off each connection but she'd not even put a scratch in it. "Lyze is fighting that monster with no way to escape!"

"We would have been there too!" Lili yelled. "Big Brother pushed us out for a reason. He needs us to be safe."

"But if I don't, then he won't be safe for long either!" Ais kept banging away, even as the futility became more apparent. "I can't lose another person again because they were protecting me!"

"You stupid airhead!" Lili shouted as she grabbed the wrist that held the sword and kicked her feet downwards, pulling Ais's arms away from the wall. "He sent us out obviously so we could go upwards to get help!"

"But-but-" Ais stammered.

"No buts! He said to go the ninth floor right! That's where the Astraea Familia should be at the moment. If we hurry up, we could could reach them and ask for their help!" Even at a young age, Lili found that snippets of wisdom from her past life carried over to this one, although she did not know it. It was no wonder that she was a natural born commander.

"What if something happens to him while we're gone though?" Ais questioned, sick with worry.

"There's nothing we can do here dummy! If we stay here, soon there will be no one who can possibly help him. But if we can go get the more powerful adventurers now, he might have a chance to survive!" Lili began tugging on the older girl's arm. "Come on, hurry up!"

Ais gave the stone wall one last Desperate look before gritting her teeth and picking up the pace. Lili was was right! She couldn't do anything as she was now, but if they could get the Astraea Familia down here, the monster could be taken care of no problem. She hated herself for the fact that once again she was too weak to fight against a monster that was about to take someone else close to her.

But if she continued being selfish, that person would die soon enough. With this new resolve, her legs began to move faster as she picked up Lili and they sped back through the misty floors. Even when monster's began spawning again, she sped right past them unwilling to let herself be distracted by them and slow down.

The two of them finally broke back into the ninth floor as the familiar caverns began to close in on them. Ais's hopes began to pick up again as her instincts were telling her that she was coming up upon her targets. Those hopes were immediately shattered however when around a corner, an axe came flying towards her, causing her to skid to a halt as the weapon embedded itself into the ground in front of them.

The girls began to back up in fright as the perpetrator revealed themselves. A ridiculously lime body suit with a pink heart on it and a pink waistband wrapped tight around the midriff was the first thing that caught their eye. The next was that the suit was hugged tight against a grotesquely huge and flabby woman with dark skin, a haircut that looked slimy with bulging eyes that had horizontally split pupils. A horrifically large mouth formed a disturbing smile as the woman picked up the axe she threw.

'Toad.' was the first word that came to both of their minds. Ais blinked as she immediately knew who this was. She'd not met the woman like this before but she'd heard of her. After all, there was only one person like her in the whole damn city and probably the only truly ugly Amazoness that existed out there.

"You're...Phryne Jamil." Ais said, her tone shaking a little.

"My, my." Phryne said in her equally grotesque voice. It sounded like the voice of an 80 year old crone trying to catfish a teenager with poor attempts at trying to sound like a young woman. "The Sword Princess from that bitch Loki's uptight Familia actually knows me."

"Let us through." Ais said as she levelled desperate at this other monster she'd found in the dungeon.

"Now why would I do that, hmm?" Phryne drawled as she licked her axe with a very large tongue. "I just so happened to run into one of Orario's most famous prodigies, and she's from a rival Familia no less. Does that not warrant a fight to the death?" Phryne seemed to peer behind them as if looking for something. A disappointed expression seem to come over her face, although it was hard to make out any expression from such a hideous complexion. "I'd heard that Loki's other prodigy had come down here too. But it looks like he's not here." Phryne seemed to smile a bit as she licked her lips. "A strong little boy they say who can fight monster rex Goliath on his own with ease. Now that's a strong man. Just how I like them. He might be a bit too young at the moment...but then again, is it so bad to pluck a fruit before it's fully ripe?"

For some unknown reason, even though Ais didn't understand what the toad was saying, she found herself bristling at that last comment. It made her skin crawl and the thought of Phryne grabbing Lyze for some reason ignited a fire in her blood.

"You won't touch him! Tempest!" The green magical winds she'd inherited from her mother surrounded her in a bubble shield. She leaned down closer to Lili. "She's a level four, so I might only be able to hold her off. You run past her as soon as I attack and get the Astraea Familia."

Lili could only fearfully nod, her concern for the boy that had saved the both of them overcoming her fear of the brute in front of them. Big Brother Lyze had saved her more than once now and she was living a much happier and healthier life with real friends because of him. She would not let him down.

Ais nodded satisfied before drawing a deep breath as Phryne lifted her axe a little. Ais ran forward, her Ariel providing her the speed boost she need as she jumped to meet the charging woman head on. Their weapons clashed together, sparks igniting from the connection. Ais landed on her feet and immediately jumped to the side to avoid a telegraphed yet powerful axe swing from the larger woman. She jumped again, intending to thrust Desperate into Phryne's side but the toad swiftly brough the axe around in a block.

Lili swallowed her fear and seized the opportunity to scurry past the scuffling pair as she made for the entrance of the ninth floor. She unwittingly was still carrying her pack with her as she huffed up the stairs.

"Where are they? I was sure they'd be here!" She moaned as she looked for the young women they'd encountered earlier. During her time as a supporter, she knew some of the more subtle paths around these floors from constantly tailing behind members of her Familia. So she picked the ones she believed where the fastest routes to the floor above.

She was halfway through the eight floor when she stumbled to a halt as a look of fear overcame here. A fat raccoon man with grizzly, nasty features was leaning up against a wall breathing heavily as blood dripped down his face. He seemed to be fatigued and injured, like he was running from something. He looked up as he heard her approaching footsteps and his lips pulled back into a furious sneer as he recognised the little Pallum girl.

"YOU!" He roared. "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

"M-mister C-C-Canoe..." She stuttered.

He lurched forwards and she stumbled backwards on her butt as her feet tripped beneath her. The large man grabbed her by the front of her new coat and lifted her off the ground, pack and all.

"You little rat!" He fumed. "Do you have any idea what your little game of hide and seek has cost us!?"

"But...but...I thought they imprisoned the Soma Familia criminals." Lili gasped.

He chuckled darkly as he mocked her.

"Oh, you think that just because you managed to rat us out to a powerful Familia that you were safe?" He threw her on the ground and tore off her pack. Lili winced as she fell on her side, having no doubt that some of her ribs were injured. She felt the man's boot stamp on her head like he always did with her. "Well you've got another thing coming! Once I'm done with you, I'm going to take this rather full pack of yours and I'm heading to safe zone. If I hide out there for a little while, the storm will die down and I can eventually move back to the surface."

He stamped on her head again, bruising her face as her skin scraped along the ground, Tears leaked out of her eyes as forgotten despair began to consume her once more. Lyze was trapped on the twelfth floor and Ais was occupied with fighting off a level four adventurer.

No one would be coming to save her now.

"But first, I'm going to make you regret ever thinking you could escape me, once and for all!" Canoe thundered as he smiled sadistically.

He would later find that very same smile turned on him when the little girl's protective 'older brother' heard this piece of news.

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