Chapter 5: Burn in Hell

([A/N] UNEDITED CHAPTER)

Deathly cries and ghastly screeches resounded, ripping through the air.

The Party ensued in a bloody battle, with each mili-second spent fighting for the next ...for their lives.

Those with swords, their weapons cut apart, shredded; those wielding Spears thrust and stabbed; those with projectiles, pulled the triggers and aimed.

Yet the stream seemed endless.

The corpses of Elder Gods continued to mount, piles upon piles, around the group; indigo blood painting the surrounding in morbid chaos.

It was pure chaos. Utter chaos.

Lyra cursed and her sub-transparent dagger flashed, denting a slash against the hard exoskeleton hide of the creatures. Their flesh was far tougher than those of the Elder Gods they faced before the Den, and her lower Class Advanced-rank dagger could only leave a white slash surface wound.

The Elder God screeched then lunged forward at the girl, its massive shadow loomed over her like an inevitable omen of doom, threatening to devour her.

When John appeared.

"Move!" He shouted and his figure momentarily flashed, a different mass blurred through the air as a giant great sword descended rapidly against the approaching creature's near-impenetrable carapace.

The exoskeleton immediately crashed in an unsettling squelch, the full weight of the giant blade crushing deep into its inner flesh and through.

The Elder God was instantaneously cleaved in uneven halves.

Lyra could only blink and huff on the spot. Only to be awoken by the strict urgency in John's voice.

"Don't weigh us down. If you can't keep up, you die." His figure blurred then vanished in a streak towards another Elder God.

His massive great sword clashed against the tough carapace surrounding the giant pincers of the abominable creature.

Lyra woke up from her stupor and charged toward the nearest Elder God under siege by three other members. One of them was a man with a human-sized shield that glowed with an intense light each time it blocked a blow from the creature.

The other, seemingly a woman with a long spear thrusts into the abomination's weak points in its exposed joints.

The last was a big man welding a fearsome war hammer that pushed and forced the abomination out of stability.

The three efficiently timed their attacks and took adequate roles and positions so as not to get in each other way. From a glance of a trained eye, it was clear the three members were well versed with their teammate's capabilities and were steadily pushing the Elder God towards a corner.

"Humph!" The large man wielding the war hammer descended the heavy weight of his weapon against the temple of the beast forcing it partially to the ground. And when he raised the hammer, there was a shimmering blue glow.

The Elder God's core was exposed from underneath the shattered carapace and ugly fat formed its pale purple brain.

Lyra's azure eyes gleamed beneath her visor as she kicked forward, brandishing her blue dagger.

"I'll finish it off!" She shouted as she approached. The heads of the three warriors turned to meet the soaring figure of another over their heads sharply descending with an electric blue charged dagger against their prey.

Lyra's blade charged with "Mana", raising its already sharp properties and keenness, as it drew a descending path into the exposed brain of the Elder God from above.

"Hey-!" Before the Lady among the three with a long spear could protest, the kill thief landed against the head of the creature and plunged her dagger into the exposed core...

...Or so she hoped.

"Huh?"

Her Advanced-level dagger held still in opposition by the convulsing fat of the exposed pale purple brain that moved to protect the exposed core. The fat formed clusters, and gave Lyra the feeling of stabbing quicksand, except this one more fatty and tougher.

"Look out!" One of the men cried to her urgently and Lyra's visor quickly lit up with a danger red. The creature's stinger tail arched behind her and lounged forward with treacherous speed.

Lyra cursed internally at that very split second. She couldn't move...her dagger was stuck in the convulsing fat. Lyra cursed again and used the full extent of her whole body armor.

Her body suit glowed a furious electric blue, the lights in her gauntlets shimmered as they filled with rushing "Mana", and she forcefully pulled out her dagger... just barely in time to jump off the head of the creature and miss the tail.

Meanwhile...

The tail lounges forward regardless, ultimately meeting with the massive shield of the male warrior among the three.

The human-sized shield held firm against the heavy tip of the stinger...then glowed furiously itself.

"Heh...go to hell, you ugly piece of shit!" The man sneered from behind his shield.

The surface of the shield was built with charging power and feverish light. Then out from it shot out a massive wave of concentrated energy, engulfing the entirety of the Elder God in its neon blue light.

The Elder God screeched its last as the whole thing evaporated to less than ashes the next second. Only then did the glow of the shield die down.

Lyra stared from the sidelines on the ground in amazement. 

One second the massive creature was there, towering...the next, it was erased in a flash of light.

Nothing remained of it...not even the ground surface it once stood.

But she didn't have the luxury to bask in her stupor for too long as a vexed sneer pulled her to come to.

"Hey, you!" 

She jerked her head to see the lady with the long spear taking wide, angry strides toward her.

"What do you think you were trying to do back there?!" In a fit she raised her spear, ready to lounge but paused at John's cry.

"Those of you still alive, get behind me!"

Nobody thought the next second and simply ran to reach the man's position across.

The wave of Elder Gods continued to surge forward among the group, like an endless tide of pure morbid horror. Their screech resounded dreadfully.

John swiftly took care of the one closest to him by cleaving it in half with his great sword then took a stance. 

His great sword rested above his shoulder and the Magic Knight glared forward at the incoming swarm of ghastly horrors. His hands and fingers around the long grip of his weapons twisted against the hilt.

Then the blade of his great sword began to charge from a path in the center up towards the tip with fierce blue energy. From among those behind, Lyra could swear she saw wisps of blue fire combust for a short second from the blade.

"Burn in hell." 

Then John raised his great sword which seemed to have sectioned off and increased in overall length and size. And with a heavy burst of fiery flames, he swung forward at the approaching hoard.

A ghostly blue sea of flames surged forward from the blade like an undulating river in a cataclysmic storm.

The river of flames rumbled and surged, engulfing the entirety of the hall forward and beyond in incandescent heat and ever-devouring flames.

The Elder Gods burned.

The flames roared and surged, turning waste to whatever it crossed, bringing to ashes and cinders all of its victims for the rest of the path leading back towards the entrance of the Den.

The Elder God's dying screeches lasted short seconds before the sea of undulating ghostly flames.

The heat so strong and powerful, 'evaporated' the "Mana" existing in the air.

Lyra's visor rang heavy danger alarms in her head. Numerous pop-up screens appeared before her view, her eyes closed throughout instinctively from the heat that still managed to get passed her body armor and visor.

A full minute passed, and then the flames died.

They suddenly vanished, just as they came. Leaving behind only pure and utter destruction.

"H-holy fuck..." The lady with the spear stuck her head forward for a quick peek and was left utterly dumbfounded.

The ground starting from just before John was boiling and seething molten magma. The walls and ceilings were equally the same and seething with treacherous heat.

Among the boiling stretch of magma as far as the eyes could see, were irrecognisable corpses of Elder Gods which were turned into crumbling pieces of cinders, partially submerged and sinking deeper into the seething larva.

The remnant of the Party members were brought awake by a ghastly cough John gave and fell sharply on one knee to the ground.

Vast puddles of blood fell out his mouth, his expression simultaneously turning paler.

"Sir!" The members and Lyra called out.

John held on to his great sword, holding it as support. His chest heaved and pumped. His hand trembled.

He wiped the traces of blood off his mouth and unsteadily got up to his feet himself then straightened his back firmly. Without turning around, he said to the members behind him in his usual straight tone.

"I'm fine. Let's keep going. We're getting closer to the Heart, I can feel it." 

He spared a glance at the destruction wreaked by his attack then raised his sword off the ground and turned away to continue.

The members-only lingered for less than a second before running after him.

Lyra hesitated for longer before the scene of carnage then gripped her blue dagger tightly.

Among fifteen members of a Hunting Party...Five were left alive.

...For now.

***

Three Chapters until MC's introduction.