Arena Fifty-Six: Fool's Resolve I

[Mankind always makes mistakes.]

[Their foolishness causes them hardships, misery.]

[They suffer and suffer, yet they continue to struggle.]

[They continue to fight, they continue to perish.]

[Yet, they continue to exist.]

[What can it be called, if not fool's resolve?]

...

The Leviathan had awakened.

The whole tower rattled as it came out of the whole... It was larger than I had initially thought it would be.

A gigantic fleshy body covered in a hard exoskeleton full of spikes and an enormous mouth with four large canines covering it... It was both disgusting and frightening to look at.

I held Roxy in my arms as the monster rose above us, tearing through the roof of the building. Then it abruptly stopped moving.

I could see the massive rotten body in front of me pulsing and shaking... But it had stopped ascending to the sky.

The next moment, I grabbed Roxy and rolled away to the corner of the floor. At the same time, the head pierced through the wall and gnawed at the pillar we were standing in front of.

"Dammit!"

I cursed as I held Roxy, who was trembling in my arms. If I didn't have [Blessing Of The Berserker], I would have probably fainted.

Even with the blessing, I couldn't stop shaking.

It was fast, strong and massive. The head, which had no eyes, shook left and right before pulling itself backwards until it was again out of the building. As it pulled out, the building shook again. It wasn't going to hold out for long.

Gritting my teeth, I stood up. I picked up Roxy and held her in a princess carry.

"This is going to get rough! Hold on tight!"

I yelled as I forced open the fire exit with my shoulders. In front of me, the whole city was crawling with phantoms. Most of them had come out from the buildings and were still coming out. It was almost as if the Leviathan had summoned them.

"Tsk!"

I looked over my shoulder and saw the head "staring" at us through the gap of the wall... It felt like the monster was observing us.

Clicking my tongue, I jumped from the twelfth floor with Roxy, plummeting towards the ground.

"Hold tight!"

I yelled over the pressure of the air as we fell from the building. Roxy was shaking hard but kept her mouth shut nonetheless.

Well, she knew better than to attract more enemies than we already had. Not that it mattered much at this point anyway.

[Aether: Summoning]

I used my skill to summon a gigantic block of concrete before using it again to summon an enormous cushion.

The concrete block immediately crushed the phantoms underneath us, and the cushion spread evenly over it to prevent any fall damage.

I fell on the cushion with Roxy without any kind of damage. My whole body shook with the impact, but I didn't receive any more damage than I already had from the gunshots.

The phantoms around us, which had dispersed due to the shockwave created by the giant block, immediately started rushing towards us. Unlike usual phantoms, these seemed faster and more aggressive... Was it because of the Leviathan?

I didn't have much leeway to think about that as I hurriedly used [Aether: Summoning] again and pulled out a bike from the void. It was the same model as before.

My SP was draining at an alarming rate, but I paid it no mind. It was still over 50%, so I still had enough if I only wanted to escape.

"Can you use the bike?"

I asked Roxy as I let her down. She nodded while still shaking.

"I-I should be able to."

"Then get on!"

I rushed her as I quickly pulled out a gun from the void which had opened beside me due to the skill.

Without wasting any time, I brush-fired on the phantoms closing in on us.

Due to the advanced silencer on the gun, it didn't make much sound so we still were in the clear. The phantoms far away still hadn't figured out our location.

"It's on!"

Roxy called out to me as she started the bike. Emptying another magazine on the horde before getting on behind Roxy.

"I know you are tired, but go as fast you can! I'll take care of the horde!"

I yelled as she sped up the bike. We instantly got down from the slab of concrete and rushed through the hordes of the dead.

I cleared a path by shooting as many phantoms as I could. Even when facing my barrage of bullets, their number never seemed to drop.

"Turn left here!"

Roxy rammed the bike into the incoming phantoms while I burst their heads one by one while giving directions.  Then suddenly I realized.

None of the blood and guts was reaching us... As if separated by an invisible barrier.

"Roxy! Can you use your powers?"

I asked as I shot another child zombie in the head.

"I can only create a small barrier! I don't have much power in Stigma!"

No wonder Jeffery's power of charm felt so weak. I clicked my tongue in frustration as I emptied magazines after magazines.

My SP was below 50% now... I groaned as I realized we weren't even halfway through the city yet.

"Left!"

I didn't let my frustrations show as I kept giving instructions.

Suddenly, the ground beneath us started shaking as a cloud of dust almost blinded us.

I narrowed my eyes and looked over my shoulder. The skyscraper had crumbled, burying thousands of phantoms underneath its debris.

Yet, I hardly felt safe. I knew that the Leviathan wouldn't go down with just that.

And just as I thought that, the ground in front of us burst open.

"Fuck!"

The bike almost lost control, but I threw my weapon away and grabbed the handle to keep it steady. We passed by the newly formed crater at a high speed and then looked behind us.

A huge shadow fell upon us as the Leviathan rose from the hole. It wasn't going to let us go that easily.

It howled when it realized that we were still alive before burrowing into the ground once again. It was going to come at us again. The ground trembled once again, but due to my firm grip, the bike didn't crash.

More horrifying than that, the horde behind us suddenly changed courses as if commanded by something. The phantoms stopped pursuing us before being separated into two different hordes and entering the roads to their left and right.

I quickly checked the mini-map and to my horror, they were indeed trying to flank us in the junction in front of us.

"The Leviathan is a goddamn commander!"

I groaned as I realized the truth. It was too unusual for the hordes to not fight among themselves, much less create flanking groups to ambush their enemies.

The Leviathan was acting as some kind of hive mind.

"We need to find a way to kill the Leviathan!"

I yelled over the trembles, but my partner in front of me shrieked in fear.

"W-why?!"

"Because otherwise it'll follow us to the base! Without the login bay, we can't escape safely!"

I could escape due to my gear, but Roxy couldn't. And I wasn't going to let her die here after going through such lengths to save her.

Not to mention, the bracelet she had given me had saved my life... I had to at least repay her for that.

"But how can we kill that?!"

Roxy yelled as the Leviathan again rose from the ground, crushing a building beside the road by its sheer mass.

It tried to crush us by falling on us, but I quickly summoned another two blocks of concrete on top of one another. I made sure to make them extra strong.

Thankfully, they were enough to halt its fall for some mere "seconds" as we passed under it safely.

The bike almost jumped as the blocks of concrete were crushed by the abomination. It fell on the ground with a loud crash. The resulting shockwave destroyed the nearby building. Due to Roxy's barrier, none of the debris fell on us, but the road was falling apart, making it hard to drive.

My SP was now below 30%.

"A-Arnold, I don't think we can do it!"

Roxy muttered with a strained voice, yet she kept her eyes glued to the road. She still hadn't given up completely.

"We can! Just hold on!"

I shouted back as I tightened my grip on her hand which was on the bike's handle.

"Can we... ?"

She whispered as we drove through the debris and reached the junction.

Just as I thought, the horde was coming out of the roads to our left and right, trying to get us in a pincer attack.

I pulled out a handful of grenades using my skill and threw them at the hordes. The grenades exploded, taking out countless phantoms at once.

The area in the middle was cleared, and Roxy didn't miss the chance. She rushed through the gap, leaving the horde behind.

"Only a bit more!"

I encouraged her as drove through the now almost empty road. The horde was still behind us, but there weren't any more junctions in the way where they could pincer us so easily.

However... I had underestimated the Leviathan.

Just as things looked a bit more hopeful, the ground right in front of our bike exploded.

Unable to handle this one, we were thrown into the air. I quickly grabbed Roxy as we fell to the ground.

The impact pushed out the air from my lungs, and I took a massive hit to my HP. Yet, I managed to survive while keeping Roxy safe.

But the horrors hadn't ended.

I stood up, only to see the Leviathan rushing towards me.

[Alter Ego]

I activated my strongest skill. My body turned pitch black as my HP and SP rose tremendously while my DEF fell to zero.

Thankfully, unlike in the fight with Raymond, it activated successfully. I looked at the demon coming towards me and took a deep breath.

Then, with my new strength, I dashed forward towards the Leviathan.