Monsterworld, p.109
Monsterworld, page 109
part #1 of Monster Slayer Series
For a second I thought I might be too slow, missing my opportunity, but then Kong paused to peer down at something on the forest floor—the battle perhaps. For all I knew he might be contemplating which of my friends to squash first.
Not on my watch, I thought, my boots thumping against a thick branch to stop my fall about twenty feet above the giant gorilla.
The sound was louder than I expected it to be. Kong’s head snapped upwards and his red eyes bore into me, narrowing slightly at the realization that he had company from above. With a war cry that echoed off trees throughout the forest, I shoved off the branch, leaping into free space, two hands gripping my hammer as I whipped it over my head and downward toward Kong’s skull.
Big things shouldn’t be able to move very fast. At least that was my theory.
Kong’s reflexes were quick, his massive body jerking to the side to avoid the blow. If I didn’t have the element of surprise on my side, I believe I would’ve caught only air. As it was, the head of my hammer smashed into his shoulder and then the rest of me followed a second later. The flash from my hammer lit up his dark fur and revealed a portion of his strangely white skin underneath. Those trails of black shone like an oil spill caught in the glare of oncoming headlights. Some of his fur began to smoke.
Once again, a thought niggled at the back of my mind, but trying to catch it would require thought, and it was kind of hard to think when you were clinging to King Kong’s brother’s shoulder and he’d just turned his head to stare at me with those fiery crimson eyes. He roared right in my face, the sound like an entire pride of lions protesting a poacher in their midst. The energy from the roar was like a windstorm, buffeting my face and chest. He snapped his teeth at me, each of which was as long as a sword.
I moved, circling around the back of his neck, clutching at tufts of black fur. His jaws snapped shut exactly where I’d been a moment earlier.
I hit him again, this time in the back of the neck, where I was hoping there’d be less muscle and more spine to snap. It was like hitting a steel girder, the impact reverberating back through my hands and up my arms, causing my teeth to chatter. Still, the magic my hammer was imbued with did some damage as it flashed again, burn marks shooting up his neck and onto his scalp.
Which pissed him off quite a lot. He clawed at the injured area with a meaty hand, which probably only served to hurt himself more given the length of his claws. His other hand tried to grab at me, but his own bulk made it impossible for him to reach the area I currently occupied. A sort of blind spot, if you will. I was tempted to use a feather to tickle him, giving him an itch he wouldn’t be able to scratch without assistance. Take that! I would scream, watching him squirm.
I almost chuckled to myself at the thought. It was good to know that even Leveled up to God status I still had an adolescent sense of humor.
I thought better of the idea, however, grabbing some of the burned fur in order to haul myself up onto his head. It was a risk—he would be able to reach me with his clawed hands—but a necessary one. Inflicting significant blunt trauma to the beast’s head was my best chance of taking him down before he could rip one or more of my limbs off and beat me with them.
I raised my hammer over my head like I was about to drive a stake into the ground…
The hit came hard and high, not from Kong but from one of his ape minions, swooping in from one of the adjacent trees, using its feet like a battering ram. The animal was heavy enough to knock me off balance, arms windmilling and all thoughts of battering Kong temporarily forgotten as I tried not to tumble off. I reached for a particularly long tuft of hair…
Epic. Fail.
I grabbed a handful of air, which served to throw me further off balance. Kong, of course, had to choose that moment to strike with a hit of his own, swatting at me like a pesky fly that wouldn’t leave him alone. And this time he didn’t miss.
The back of his hand caught me in the hip, sending me airborne.
I was a God, yes, but I didn’t have wings like Airiel. I was also twisting in the air, which made it difficult to locate anything to grasp, visions of branches flitting in and out of view. I reached for one only to have the back of my legs glance off another, changing my direction completely. Gravity had reclaimed me and began to drag me down. There was a twisting braid of vines and I reached for it, managing to get one hand on the rough tendrils while still gripping my hammer. The rough bark-like material ripped at my palm as I squeezed as hard as I could. It felt like I was holding a fireball in my hand, but I bit back the pain and continued to squeeze, slowing my fall by at least half.
A second later my feet hit the ground hard enough to send lances of pain up through my heels all the way to my abs. Thankfully, I’d had the presence of mind to bend my knees enough so that I didn’t break my legs.
Somewhere above me, Kong roared, and I instinctively dove to the side, expecting him to attack to finish me off. I hit the earth shoulder first, tucking my body and rolling, using my momentum to regain my feet a second later, whirling around and hefting my hammer into attack position.
Kong wasn’t there.
And then he was, a stone’s throw away, where several of the tribeswomen were doing battle with the vicious gorillas. Kong’s fanged mouth slammed down over one of them, encasing her from skull to midsection. It actually made a crunching sound as bones snapped in half. When Kong pulled back up, two unconnected legs still stood, severed veins sprouting from their ravaged tops. Like something out of a horror movie, the legs wavered for a second before toppling over.
I watched Kong rear up, chomping on the rest of the nameless tribeswoman, blood dripping from his maw and spraying down like a misty rain.
Rage burned through me and I charged forward, determined to climb him from feet to head if I needed to. I would bash his brains out if that’s what it took to make the forest safe for the women of Bu’ploog’s tribe.
I was only halfway to him when I saw Kong’s body flinch. I stopped, looking up to see what had caused the reaction. There was something on his head. No…someone. Lace, to be specific. She looked fierce as she stood on his skull, as well-balanced as only a cat can be. Her claws were fully extended and she was slashing at his head rapidly, alternating between her right and left hands.
Kong grew frantic, roaring and beating his chest and then swinging a fist toward her. She leapt with, ahem, catlike quickness, the blow swooping beneath her. She landed in a crouch and then returned to her grisly work. By this point, blood was leaking from the head wound, rolling down Kong’s broad face and dripping from his chin, splattering the ground.
There was something about it…
I reached out a hand and let a drop splash onto my palm.
It looked like oil.
It was as black as night.
Just. Like. Mine.
It didn’t take the speed of my God-brain to realize what my mind had been circling around this entire time. Yes, this gorilla had been changed, transformed into the monster it was, but it hadn’t been the Morgoss who had done it.
No. It had been the Syrene, the mermaid vampires who had bitten me months ago and given me certain attributes that simultaneously intrigued me and freaked me out. Which changed my thinking on two very important things:
First, Kong didn’t serve the demon overlords who were the Three goddesses’ mortal enemy.
And second, perhaps we didn’t need to kill him. Perhaps there was another way to get control of this situation, if I could only reach Kong’s true masters.
Unfortunately, waving a white flag and calling for a stop to the fight wasn’t exactly a viable solution. Kong was already enraged, his head damaged and leaking blood as Lace continued to hack. I looked up at her again and I could see the bloodlust in her eyes, the huntress portion of her instincts having taken over. Again Kong tried to dislodge her and again she dodged, this time ducking the blow, flattening herself against his scalp. Which was a mistake. Because she didn’t anticipate his willingness to damage himself in order to get to her.
His opposite fist smashed down on his own head. She only recognized what was happening at the last second, which allowed her to roll enough to avoid being crushed to goo but not enough to avoid the blow completely. It caught her arm and she cried out, sliding off his head, bouncing off his shoulder and then tumbling into free space, injured arm dangling awkwardly.
Once more, I moved, judging the angle of her descent and her horizontal momentum. I reached out with both arms and caught her, cushioning the impact by swinging my arms slightly to the side like I was catching a raw egg thrown by my partner in an Easter egg toss competition.
Her face was contorted in pain as she hissed.
“Put me down!” she shrieked, which wasn’t quite the thank you I’d expected. Then again, this was Lace.
I placed her back on her feet and she immediately turned to charge toward Kong again. Which was suicide, so I grabbed her arm.
“Let go of me, Ryder.”
“We need to retreat,” I said.
“We need to finish the job!” she said, trying to fight against my grip. I was stronger. Her claws wicked out from the opposite hand. “Don’t make me hurt you.”
“Kong’s blood,” I said.
“Yeah, that was ME,” she said. “And I want to see some more of it.”
In the heat of the moment and her carnal desire to kill, she wasn’t understanding me. “His blood is black.”
“So fucking what?” she said, but then her face changed right after the question had been uttered, realization dawning. “The Syrene,” she murmured.
“Yeah. We need to get out of here and reassess the situation.”
Somewhere above us, a branch snapped as Kong turned to try to locate his fallen prey.
“No,” Lace said, clutching her damaged arm. “It doesn’t matter who this asshole serves. He needs to die.”
“Not necessarily,” I said.
“You’re insane,” Lace said, once more turning to leave, straining against my grip.
“Lace.” She stopped, looking back. “I need you to trust me on this. Please.”
Her eyes met mine and she frowned slightly, as if perturbed by the fact that I was speaking to her with such gravity in my tone. Her body was tense for another second or so, and then it relaxed. “Fine, Ryder, but if we miss our opportunity to kill Kong and he kills me later, my ghost will haunt you until the day you die.”
“Sounds fair,” I said. “Now, please, help me sound the retreat.”
To her credit, Lace did as she was asked, racing off to find Silk first, who could then help inform the others of the decision. I also took off, but in the opposite direction, as the battle had splintered when the first of the gorillas had swung down from above.
I located Belle first. Her katana was singing as she slashed and stabbed, warding off gorillas with an expertness that spoke of hours of training and practice. One of the gorillas lost an arm, and his buddies moved on, seeking easier prey. I told her the plan and she nodded, sprinting off to inform the others.
Soon those of us who’d survived thus far were all heading toward one of the three safety tunnels similar to the one that had saved us a day earlier. Apparently Bu’ploog had burrowed the tunnels long ago for this exact reason. It was also why we’d chosen this spot to face Kong—the proximity to three tunnels made it the perfect location.
I couldn’t save all the women myself, so I had to trust in their skill to escape on their own. Heading in the same direction as me was Belle and Misha, pumping their arms as they fled. Trees continued to fall as Kong pursued us. Above us, three of his gorilla minions swung from branch to branch, closing in. One of them dove at Belle, but I had anticipated the attack and swung my hammer, clipping the side of its head and knocking it aside.
“Thanks,” Belle managed to say as she ran.
“Don’t mention it.”
Just ahead, I saw the hollowed-out tree trunk that led to the escape tunnel. We were so close now I could smell it. Four gorillas landed right in front of it.
Shit.
They opened their mouths to reveal razor sharp teeth stained with the blood of those they’d already killed. Some of them bore injuries, gashes on their arms and across their chests, but none of the wounds’ were mortal. Instead, their blood-matted skin only served to make them look more fearsome, especially because all their blood was, you guessed it, black. Somehow the Syrene had infected all the gorillas, which explained why they seemed to be of one bloodthirsty mind.
On all fours, they loped toward us aggressively.
“Fuck this,” Misha said, striding forward and wielding a long pole bladed on both ends, spinning it expertly. Belle and I exchanged a knowing glance and then joined her, wading into the fray, swinging our own weapons in an effort to hack and stab our way through the wall created by our foes.
I ducked an attempted blow from one of the gorillas and then uppercut him with the head of my hammer. He scrubbed at his eyes, blinded by the ensuing blast of light. I took out his legs, dropping him to the ground. I stood on his chest with one foot while he squirmed like a worm on a hook.
Nearby, Belle had managed to slip around her own foe, drawing her katana across its throat, opening its flesh in a crimson smile. The only problem: the maneuver opened her up to an attack from behind, from the fourth gorilla in the group. It charged toward her with the clear intention of tackling her so it could land atop her and have its way with her.
Still standing over my own fallen prey, I threw my hammer. The head and shaft spun end over end, whipping around like a boomerang. Just before the gorilla would’ve impacted Belle, the hammer hit him in the head. He stopped dead in his tracks, eyes rolling back before he slumped to the ground. Her own kill completed, Belle spun around, eyes widening as she took in the scene. She reached down and picked up my hammer, unable to lift it all the way off the ground. I stomped down hard twice on the other gorilla’s head, smashing it like a grape. Then I strode toward Belle, retrieving my hammer.
Misha had also defeated her enemy, once more leaving the escape route open. Other tribeswomen had also reached this spot and were now rushing around us like stream water passing a boulder. At least ten vanished into the log. We brought up the rear, checking to make sure there weren’t any stragglers before closing the door via a crank similar to the first one I’d encountered.
We were safe.
Or so I thought.
But then the ground shook as Kong arrived.
FIVE
THE ORIGINS OF KONG
“Run,” I said, all eyes staring in my direction.
The women didn’t need further urging, taking off down the length of the inside of the huge log, even as the ground shook beneath their feet. I shoved Misha and Belle and they gave chase. I brought up the rear, eyes darting furtively to the underside of the log as bits of bark and splinters rained down each time one of Kong’s feet impacted the ground.
I could sense just how close he was now, practically right on top of us.
And then he was right on top of us.
The roof above me exploded as his fist hammered through.
I dove, wooden shrapnel spiking into my cheeks as I narrowly avoided being crushed. My momentum carried me clear and I regained my feet, continuing my retreat. Fifty or so feet ahead, the rest of the women had pulled open a trapdoor and were, one by one, sliding into the hidden tunnel.
I charged toward them, eyes laser-focused on my goal while my instincts anticipated the next attack from above.
It came a half-second later than expected, so I was already diving as Kong’s fist breached the log once more. This time he had tried to hit the roof just ahead of where he thought I would be, but he’d still underestimated my speed. Which meant I had just enough space to dive clear before the sky fell onto my head. But it also meant his knuckles clipped one of my ankles, sending a spike of pain through me and hampering my next step as I scrambled on all fours in an attempt to put a measure of distance between me and him.
Black blood rained from above. Which meant the damage Lace had inflicted continued to afflict him.
I knew.
I knew.
He had me.
I was too slow and he was getting better at predicting where I was under the cover of the log. Which meant I needed to change the equation or I’d be pounded into a God-pancake the next time he attacked.
So I stopped.
It would be the least expected thing for me to do, which was precisely why it was the right thing to do. In front of me, the last of the women, Belle, slipped inside the tunnel. She hesitated, looking back for me. Our eyes met. I waved her to go, hoping she understood that I wouldn’t be following her and that she should shut the portal.
I wouldn’t know what she decided because, quite far ahead, about halfway to my goal, Kong’s fist crushed another section of the log, blocking my vision forward. I backtracked, slipping out of the log where he’d smashed it with his last blow. I turned left and used the log for cover. Kong roared his frustration as he’d likely just realized he’d lost me.
Thump!
Whump!
Crash!
He also decided to change the equation, growing tired of our little game of cat and mouse, crushing sections of the log at random, woodchips spewing every which way. I could no longer see the entrance to the tunnel, and I could only hope the women had the foresight to shut the hatch without me, saving themselves and trusting me to do the same.
Kong was getting closer, destroying sections of the log with hammer blows. Soon he would destroy the section I was hunkering behind. Which meant I needed to make my move.
I spun around and was about to run at a low crouch, but then froze when I saw that three more apes blocked my path. I was fairly certain I would emerge victorious even in a three on one situation, but not without making a ruckus that would alert Kong to my location.
That’s when the weirdest thing happened.
Two of their heads lolled forward, dark blood coating their shoulders, streaming down their chests and matting their fur. The third leapt forward, shocked, and I smashed the butt end of my hammer into his eye. The other two gorillas fell at the same moment, revealing Lace and Silk, who’d killed them from behind.
