"Fuck, I should have just used my gun instead of listening to you." Mickey said angrily as he pulled his sword out of the last imp. His entire body was covered in terrible claw marks, including one over his right eye. His HP was also pretty low considering how many times he almost got roasted, and all the scratches.
"Stop complaining and hurry up, and help me gather all the monster stones." Xavier said exhaustedly, but otherwise mostly unharmed. His armour did more than just protect him from the flames, but also the Imps' claws as well. They spent almost an hour gathering all the monster stones and they got a total of seven Diabolic Imp monster stones and 33 of the Imp's. Xavier looked over in the distance where the imps came from and also where the 3 Diabolic Imps and the regular imps that were ranking up flew off to.
"Let's go check out where those imps just came from." Xavier said and Mickey looked at him like he was crazy
"Dude, we literally just fought over thirty imps, plus some other monsters that can literally shoot fireballs out of their hands. I'm exhausted, so if you wanna go explore you gotta do it on your own." Mickey said, looking at him exhaustedly and Xavier sighed.
"Fine I'll go alone, but can you do me a favour and get my bag." Xavier said, handing over the monster stones he collected and running in the direction the imps came from.
"Oh, and prepare to run just incase." He added before leaving and Mickey glared in his direction with an annoyed look. Xavier continued running, which soon turned into a light jog as he tried to preserve what little stamina he had left. After around fifteen minutes of light jogging, he soon found the home of the imps. Before him was a tall, obsidian tower that spiralled downwards into a wide and deep pit with flames at the bottom. There were many openings in the tower where the imps could fly inside, and there was also a black bridge connecting to these openings.
'So this is where all these bastards come from. Should I go in and check things out or stay out here where it's safe?' Xavier thought but eventually his curiosity won. He unsheathed his daggers, and walked to the nearest entrance, which was right infront of him. The opening was large enough to fit a giant, and he carefully walked across the bridge, keeping an eye out for any sudden movements. Inside the tower was pretty bare, except for the occasional piece of flesh, innards and flesh that he found on the ground. There was also some kind of sticky, slimy liquid as well as parts of some kind of pale, red cocoon on the ceiling and walls. Most of them were dried up, but others seemed a bit moist, although Xavier wouldn't know because he wouldn't even touch it with his dagger.
He soon came up on spiralling stairs that led downwards, and this floor was even worse than the first floor. There was flesh and chewed up body parts everywhere, and Xavier quickly realized they were imps and not human like he suspected.
'Although that makes sense, there aren't many people who come over to the West side of the sanctuary, but there is an abundance of their own species, and they gotta eat something. I wonder why they don't just go to another area and chew on another species of monsters?' Xavier wondered as he continued to wonder the tower. He soon came across another chamber, and he could here wiggling, and squishing noises above. Looking up, he could see bright red cocoons, covered in the same transparent slime, writhing above him, connected to the ceiling by a red membrane. Xavier counted thirty of these cocoons in total, and he realized that these were the thirty imps who survived, or won rather, the monster fest and came back to rank up.
'I wonder if I should-' He thought, touching the cold metal of his gun, when his thoughts were cut short, as a little imp was looking directly at him. He quickly threw his dagger, but it was already too late, as the imp let out an ear piercing screech that resonated throughout the entire tower. He could hear dozens of screeches in response and he quickly collected his dagger, having no time to carve out it's monster stone. He ran back the way he came, as he could hear footsteps and see shadows outside, flying up towards the surface.
Luckily they didn't know exactly where he was, but that soon changed as a Diabolic Imp saw him through one of the entrances, and let out a screech before throwing a fireball at him. Not stopping for a second, he continued to run and luckily for him, he was only on the second floor. He soon made it outside, but there were already Diabolic Imps waiting for him and they started throwing fireballs at him, and he quickly dived out of the way as they exploded. He quickly rolled across the ground and got back onto his feet, as he ran like the devil was on his tail, as the Diabolic Imps continued to throw fireballs at him, intent on punishing him for the sin of trespassing in private domain.
"Run!!!" Xavier screamed when he saw Mickey in the distance, and Mickey looked at him confused, until he saw the dozen or so Diabolic Imp chasing after him.
"You asshole!!" Mickey shouted, as he thought Xavier did this on purpose, given his prior warning. With his newly upgraded AGI attribute, he was very fast, almost as fast as Xavier, which meant there was a gap between them, which Xavier and the Imps were slowly closing. The two of them soon made it out of the dungeon, and the Diabolic Imp's seemed to stop at the boundary, shooting fireballs at them with a pissed off expression on their faces. Both men stopped, panting heavily, and seeing that they wouldn't leave the dungeon, Xavier smiled. The monster's looked at him even angrier, but he was out of range of their fireballs, when suddenly, one by one, a cruel smile formed on their lips, making Xavier shiver.
"Run!!" Xavier shouted and both of them started running again as the monsters left the boundary of the dungeon.
"You bastard, why the hell did you aggravate them? What the hell did you do?" Mickey said as he ran for his life, with fireballs raining towards him, but mostly at Xavier who was closing the gap between them.
"I got caught quicker than I thought, but I did find something." Xavier said and Mickey looked at him furiously
"You crazy asshole." He said, and took his shield off his back, and blocked a fireball, while wincing in pain.
"What, do you think I wanna be chased by monsters?" Xavier asked as he leaped forward, narrowly dodging a fireball.
"...Maybe." Mickey answered and this time Xavier looked at him furiously.
"Do I look like a lunatic?!" Xavier asked angrily
"You literally fought a monster with fangs and claws barehanded. You tell me." He said as he blocked another fireball. The two of them continued to run, dodging fireballs while arguing.
"What the fuck is going on? What's all that-" Tsubasa said as he walked through the forest, but he suddenly froze as he saw Mickey and Xavier running towards him, along with red monster throwing fireballs at them. He didn't hesitate, and quickly started running back to the Sanctuary, but they were closing the gap pretty fast. He gritted his teeth, and kicked off the ground, kicking up a large portion of dirt, and leaping a few meters at a time, but it still wasn't enough.
"What the fuck did you assholes do?!" Tsubasa roared
"Ask this asshole?! And what the hell are you doing at the West gate?" Mickey asked as they ran
"Looking for you idiots." He said and Xavier was about to respond when he spotted the Sanctuary up ahead and within a few seconds, he could see the guards...with guns in their hands.
"Quick, Mickey, ditch the guns." Xavier said, and threw his in a nearby bush. Mickey didn't understand at first, but when he realized what the guards would do to them if they find out about the guns, he quickly threw his away as well. As they got closer, the guards responsible for the West gate spotted them and their eyes widened in terror when they saw the monsters chasing after them.
"Help!! Help!! There are monsters coming!!!" They shouted and started unleashing gun fire on the dozen or so Diabolic Imps. Hearing the commotion, guards quickly rushed over and paled when they saw the monsters and quickly started unleashing bullets on them as well. Feeling the bullets on their flesh, the monsters quickly turned their attention to the guards and started shooting fireballs and they quickly retreated deeper into the Sanctuary. But before they fireballs could enter the premises, a translucent blue barrier with a honey comb pattern appeared and blocked it.
The heat now off their backs, the three of them sighed in relief as they made it to the entrance, but the monsters decided to send one final farewell gift. They combined their fireballs, creating an even bigger one and threw it at them. Seeing this and realizing what would happen if it hit them, Xavier quickly pushed them into the Sanctuary and curled up into a ball midair, as it hit him and exploded, sending him flying into the Sanctuary as well.