[DanMachi/Percy Jackson] Prytaneum

Chapter 42: Convergence part 1

The surface of the lake exploded as the Goliath burst through, massive creature finally free from the pressure. I wasn't sure if the damn thing actually needed to breath, since my attempts to drown it had been met with repeated failure even after filling it's lungs—but then, it could just be that it's healing abilities simple covered that somehow as well. I wasn't sure what the limit to its abilities to recover was, simply because I hadn't reached them yet, but it could clearly recover from what should be fatal wounds and it's hide was too hard for me to test if decapitation or punching a big enough hole in it would work. I might have tried going for its magic stone, except I had no idea where it'd be and, more importantly, even if I buried Riptide up to the hilt in its flesh, I wasn't sure I'd be able to reach it. My recent Status update had leveled the playing field more than I could have imagined, but it didn't give me the ability to inflict meaning damage. Had it been a normal Goliath, maybe, but this thing? Not so much.

But then, I wasn't alone.

The moment the Goliath emerged, Welf released a cry and swung his new sword—and the lake was abruptly covered in flames. They swirled into a raging inferno with the Goliath at center, a colossal funeral pyre for the soon to be dead beast. The Goliath screamed at once, but the sound itself seemed to be swallowed by the flames as they roared higher and louder, drowning out everything else. Squinting to focus through the flames, I saw its flesh darken even further, melting and breaking and peeling away as it roared in agony. I knew from personal experience how deadly those flames could be and I could feel phantom sensations of yesterday's burning; even with my natural resistance, mere proximity caused me to sweat.

But more than any of that, my job was to play defense and I was keeping an eye out for something else. I saw sparks of red light flicker in places on the Goliath's body, each seeming to heal its hide, but just as quickly it was burnt away again. As with the Greek Fire before it, it was here that I saw the strength of the Goliath's regeneration, healing even as it melted—but it was slowing down. As Welf focus the blaze, I saw skin vanish entirely, baring the bones of its skull which themselves began to blacken and crack. I saw the flames pour through the openings they made in its creeks and eye sockets, scorching away everything that lay beneath. In a matter of moments, all that was left of its head and neck were shattered, melting bones.

"Hold," I said, raising a hand to signal Welf to stop as the Goliath began to topple backwards—not because I assumed it was dead, but simply because it was at a bad angle. I quickly hardened the surface of the water again, refusing to allow him through, but this time I was keeping the Goliath above it, leaving him to burn right atop the water, but even so, bending backwards put too much of it out of the line of fire. Deep, horrific burns marked its stomach and chest, but lying on its back, a horizontal blast would skim over most of it.

Welf stopped, expression serious. I risked giving him a glance to make sure he was okay—he was tough, one of the strongest Level 1 adventurers, but a six hundred foot drop was pushing his limits. I could easily tell that he was injured pretty badly by the standards of normal people, but he seemed to be holding on decently. Once they were done here, I'd have to find him some medicine, but we both had bigger things to worry about right now.

And truth be told, a part of me was just glad not to be fighting alone. He'd made the sword and, more importantly, the choice to come down here, so I wouldn't send him away now. All he had to do was use the sword he made, after all.

"Circle around?" Welf asked, keeping the words simple as he breathed hard and evidently thinking the same thing I was.

I nodded once and hefted my new shield, already beginning to grow used to it. After what I'd put it through, normally I'd have expected it to have come apart by now, but it didn't have a scratch on it. Frankly, it was kind of amazing and it made things a lot easier for me. For a long time now, even before coming to Orario, I'd had to consider the fact that my armor and shields wouldn't be able to stand up to what I put them against, that they might fail me in my moment of need, bending and breaking under what I put them through. That might be true of this one to, but thus far, it was weathering it all magnificently, which meant I actually had a reliable defense.

It was large, too, the type of thing I could hunker down behind completely when I had to, which is what I was doing now. Crouched low, I could shield my entire body with it, and it was built in a way I was familiar with—more like an aspis than the shields I'd used before relying on Welf. It was nice and surprising light; I'd have expected it to weigh at least twenty pounds given that it was over a yard across, but it was more like five or ten. Light as air, to me.

Welf knelt without me having to signal him to, concealing himself behind it as well, and instead of trying to walk, I commanded the water beneath us to move, circling around the Goliath with a wide berth. I peeked out around the edge, showing as little of myself as I could while keeping an eye on the Goliath.

Its skull was still mostly covered in bone, but even facing away from us, the sparks on its hide gave it away. Drawing back behind the shield, I lifted my hand to Welf, waiting—and felt it through the water as its head abruptly snapped our way, a roar leaping from its lips. It exploded with thunderous power, the water before its mouth exploding in massive waves, but I braced myself and shifted with the water, holding onto Welf as I let it push us back.

I'd seen how fast the Goliath could fire one of those things off and agony or not, I didn't believe for a second that it wasn't able to take a shot at up during that first blast. Now that that shot had been wasted, though...

"Ready," I said, the moment I managed to will the water around us stable and Welf trusted me at my word, rising with his sword. I lifted my head enough to see over my shield, keeping a close watch on the monster. The monster roared again, but this time it was nothing but noise, though I tensed and prepared to rise regardless. Before Welf could fire, however, the Goliath brought its left arm down on the water in a thunderous blow, probably intending to stagger me by pitting its monumental strength against my hardened water.

I cheated and just released my control for a moment and the impact raised waves taller than I was, but did nothing else. I made the waves part before they hit us and then focused my attention on the arm now in the water, tightening my hold on it like invisible shackles and doing the same to its ankles.

"Fire," I said a moment later and Welf swung his sword again—and what the Goliath had regrown, was once more burnt away. Melting its face and then its jaw. Perhaps Welf did it deliberately, aiming to cripple it's breathe weapon after having seen it, though I wasn't certain that would work; regardless, the damage was as clear as the monster's agonized cries.

But then the Goliath surprised. Using its own entrapped limbs as leverage, it somehow managed to haul itself up, something tearing grotesquely in the flames. Using it's left arm as something like a hinge, it swung its now legless torso up and over, reaching towards us with its remaining arm, as if it were going to swat us away.

I heard Welf swear and prepare to withdraw, but instead I rose, carefully avoiding its line of fire.

"Steady!" I commanded, turning my shield to the right as I rose and braced myself again, right hand coming up to hold the upper edge of my shield in place. Water swirled at my feet and then curled around my legs, twisting its way up to my thighs and anchoring me even as I slide to the side—and this time, I stopped the Goliath's swing head on, strength against strength. My arms hurt, my legs quaked, and I thought I could feel the bruises all along that side of my body.

But I stopped it cold. And as I held it in place, water rose from either side of it like a giant pair of scissors, breaking briefly against its hard skin and smoothing transitioning into something like cuffs. Without anything like legs to give it leverage, all I had to do was let gravity hold it down and tie it in place, binding both of its arms.

I met its bursting eyes through the flames and we both knew this was the end. Sacrificing its own legs like that was something it wouldn't have done as anything but a last resort, not when its regeneration was being pushed so badly as is—it was an attempt to take us down with it, now that it knew this was over.

Just like what it did next. It didn't have much of a mouth any more—didn't had much of a skull, really—but red sparks flickered and gathered, growing into something near the empty gap of its throat. A final roar.

"Welf," I said simply, rising and shaking my shield.

Welf lowered his sword and instead raised his hand.

"Burn out, illegal work!" He shouted clearly and rippling flames, bright but without noise, shot from his hand to the Goliath's mouth—and something massive exploded.

I positioned myself in front again, preparing my shield, but for a long moment there was nothing but silence and smoke. And when it ended...

The Goliath's headless corpse lay atop the water. The blast had obliterated much of its upper chest, tearing one of its arms entirely away, and leaving a gaping hole down its left side, within which something gleamed. Its other shoulder was torn away down to the muscle, its legs already left far behind—at a glance, it looked like it was over.

"Should I give it another shot?" Welf murmured.

"Let me try first," I answered the same way. "Need to feed the dog."

Releasing my hold on the Goliath's rent limbs, I willed a massive pair of hands to rise from the water, gripping the torso between them and sinking giant fingers into the wound. I pulled, trying to tear it wide, but instead only allowed room for water to flow deeper into the wound, which it did. I pushed, ground, tore, and cut around the solid object I found within, focusing and moving carefully, despite the slow progress. After perhaps five minutes, though, I'd made enough headway to surround the crystals and shake it within its confines, twisting it—

And abruptly, the Goliath fell to dust, leaving behind nothing but a massive crystal, larger than I was tall.

Only then did I relax, exhaling slowly—and as if the sound were a trigger, Welf seemed to stagger and fall, nearly collapsing on the water's surface before I caught him.

"Man, see how easy things are when I'm around?" He managed to say anyway, panting quickly. "Hardly worth the effort of even coming down here. Don't know what the fuss was about."

"I guess I softened him up for you," I said, smiling despite the words. "You should have seen what I had to put up with while you kept me waiting for an hour."

"Twenty minutes," Welf said. "Twenty-five tops. And I knew you could handle it."

I laughed quietly at that, looking at him. His plunge into the water had washed away the soot on his face, but his hands were bleeding from cuts on his fingers and palms, like he'd clutched onto something for dear life or worked himself half to death. The sword in his hands, the product of all his work, already looked worn, a crack running down its length from the sheer power channeled through it. I felt bad about that, but at the same time, I liked Crozzo's magic swords a lot better when I wasn't on the receiving end.

"Thank you, Welf," I said seriously. "For the help...and for staying behind. I'm lucky to have you as a friend."

Welf's bravado faltered at that and he looked away, embarrassed.

"It's nothing," He said. "It's just...can you promise me something?"

"What?" I asked.

"Just so it's clear," Welf said. "We are not coming back into the Dungeon until we all recover from this. Period."

I laughed loudly at that and then let myself slide down to the water, lowering him slowly alongside me.

"Yeah," I said, letting my shoulders fall. I wanted to push on, to keep searching for my friends, to not delay or pause, but after this...I think I needed to. For various reasons. "I think I could use some time off."