A Completely Ordinary Adventure [6/10]

The chamber was enormous; containing details normal to caverns of this size and complexity: things like stalactites were numerous, so were the columns which supported the whole place from destroying itself. But in contrast to the cavern's artificial environment, it was fairly populated with greenery. Flora and fauna filled the small plateau west of him, acting as a proxy garden. And insofar as normal goes, the large flowing river a few cedars in front of him was 'normal' as well...

This, in addition to the dim lighting from the few holes on the ceiling, made for a lovely scene. But behind this veil of beauty and romance was something horrible... As right at the centre of this beautiful landscape was a horrifying monster.

The 'thing' in front of him was pale, deathly pale. As if it had never been out in the sun once. And although it was human in frame, it was terribly deformed: its contorted arms were long enough to reach its ankles, while the juxtaposition of its skeletal body and tall stature made its demeanour eerie. All this combined with its pale visage made the beast seem like an eldritch horror.

As Mikhail studied the monster, from the corner of his eyes; a small lizard appeared, quickly taking his attention. Its size no more than an ant compared to the monstrous being it was crawling past, something no sane living thing would do...

'This lizard's fearless...' Mikhail thought to himself, before continuing to observe the tiny reptilian.

-Shift!-

Suddenly, the lizard turned around, making a soft scraping sound on the floor. The sound was so minute even the focused Mikhail couldn't possible hear it. For the monster, that's a different story...

<<Uooogghh!!!>>

The monster suddenly roared, it's previously folded arms were now stretched out above its head before landing on the dirt ground with a heavy thud. Fortunately, the lizard survived, as it stood just a bit from the monster's wide claws.

<<Raaahh!!!?>>

Mikhail winced from the pain his poor ears had to endure. But he nonetheless continued to observe the whole thing, trying to discover anything he could take advantage of... Because gods know he isn't going to fight that thing!

<<Gaaahh!!>>

After that, the monster began rocking back and forth while shrieking, likely irritated at the lizard for disturbing the peace. But the culprit was... Unfazed to say the least, keeping its slow gait, albeit quieter; Slowly crawling past the monster, before reaching the other side. And to Mikhail's surprise, the monster didn't do anything.

Mikhail was wide-eyed. The volatile nature of the thing was instantly soothed when the lizard stopped making noise! Finally, this was what he needed!

Mikhail slowly crouched past the monster, and after confirming his hypothesis was correct, unknowingly heaved a huge sigh of relief.

-Whoo...-

<<Reeaaghh??>>

'Crap'

<<Raaaaggh!!>>

"Fuck me!!"

Mikhail booked it to a small pathway a few dozen cedars away from the beast. The one he had seen while looking getting ready to sneak past the monster. Naturally, running would make a high volume of sound, which disturbed the creature. But at this point, it had already realized something was there, and keeping silent was of no use...

<<Uuoooaaaghh!!!>>

-Bang!-

The beast instantly became incensed at the racket Mikhail caused, and began thrashing around, before chasing after him.

"AAAHH!!" Mikhail screamed as he finally ran past the monster while racing towards the exit. But the thing wasn't going to let him escape without a fight, and immediately began its chase.

<<Wraaaaahhhh!!!>>

Mikhail knew the monster was gaining on him, long past the realization: if he didn't reach the exit in the next few moments, he'd die trying... Running, running faster, Mikhail couldn't spare any more energy to think and kept running.

Unfortunately, the goddess of luck seemed reluctant in assisting Mikhail any further... As only five cedars from the entrance, his body had started shutting down from exhaustion, he could feel his legs numbing, then his arms, until he could run no longer.

"Haahh!!" Never in his life did Mikhail feel so helpless, the exit was just a few more cedars, yet he couldn't expect his body to even run one more...

The beast finally reached Mikhail, and it didn't take him long to be gripped by the thing, before being turned around to face the monster itself. Up close, Mikhail could see Its sharp, serrated teeth populating the wide maw that entombed them.

<<Rraaaaggghhh!!>>

<<NO!!>> Mikhail shouted as he shut his eyes, ready to get eaten by the monster...

<<Herruuogh?...Agghh!!!>>

Silence... There was practically no sound after that, from both the monster and Mikhail's surroundings. Then, he could feel the release of tension in his waist, before it disappeared completely... He couldn't feel its strong, death-like grips anymore. And after a few seconds of fearful waiting, Mikhail finally resolved himself and hesitantly opened his eyes.

"...What?" Mikhail exclaimed incredulously.

Instead of the fearsome monster he had expected, in front of him was a woman, standing on top of the very monster he had just run from. The woman was tall, maybe a head taller than Mikhail, and she wore decorated and shiny silver armour. Finally, there was her spear, its golden sheen almost blinding, clearly revealing its magical nature. Stabbed deep into the heart of the monster

Noticing Mikhail's gaze on her, the woman seemed uninterested in but still turned to speak to him regardless of that:

"You must be... Mikhail?" She walked up to him before giving him a hand.

Nervously taking her up on her offer, Mikhail got up and responded:

"U-Um, yes I'm Mikhail," When she heard him, she was let out a sigh before talkin again.

"Good, it seems you aren't stupid enough to die just yet," Mikhail was slightly irritated at her pompousness. Nonetheless, he asked her for her name.

"That's not something you're privy to, all you need to know is a powerful friend of yours required my assistance, and I commend him for having that foresight,"

"...Well I thank you for the 'assistance', now if you excuse me, I need to be on my way, I have someone to save," When she heard what he just said, she was briefly shocked before laughing at his face.

"Boy, what you just said was truly funny, but you should hurry along, let the adults handle this," The woman indifferently said before walking away.

"What do you mean? I need to save my friend! What does that have to do with you?" Mikhail shouted, getting more and more annoyed at the woman. But she just shrugged at his declaration and responded.

"If you can't even beat that thing next to you, you won't stand a chance against the queen's guard, let alone the queen herself,"

Angry at her apparent disregard for him, Mikhail stubbornly responded:

"Hmph, who are you to say! you're just some rich girl with a good spear!"

"Oh?"

-Shwing!-

In an instant, the woman was right in front of him, her spear a few centimetres from Mikhail's neck. What's more, she was letting out a cripplingly murderous aura.

"I am the prestigious royal dragoon: Emma Goulding, leader of the Royal Knight's battalion and sole Arch-Duchess of this empire! Who are you, peasant? So enamoured with your own arse you've never heard of me?"

***