[[Fanfic]] The Capuan Expedition: Boss Fight Part 1/3 - Page 2

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The Capuan Expedition: Chapter 13
“It’s only a matter of time before the sins of men shows on their hides.”


The Jakatka Outpost

The outpost guarding was set in a clearing that had been flanked by huge trees all around.
Saki looked for the Tower of The Leviathan, yet it did not appear to be anywhere.
There was nothing, nothing at all.

Focusing on the Outpost, she observed its features.

The entire building was in disarray, logs that made up the wall were starting to come loose, and weeds shot up in a waist-high sea all around the construct.
The raised platform that was meant for recon was barely standing, as a long-gone nest had been built at the top. Saki crouched in the bushes and scanned for the famed Jakatka.
“Laet-san, where are the Jakatka?” She shifted, looking behind her. Laet remained motionless, his eagle-like eyes staring at the black smears that
were formed at the bottom of the building.

Gripping a rock, Laet tossed the projectile into the rushes.

Growling, the smears moved to investigate.
Saki gasped as she saw the form of the Jakatka. They were lupine, and covered in rough black fur. Where a man’s face was supposed to be pointed out a long, nimble
snout that seemed to strike out at the very essence of beauty, and attack it. Long yellowed fang drooled with venom, and the breath of the foul beasts could be sensed from a mile.

Truly… Werewolves.

Saki covered her mouth in disgust.
“These…these were people?!? How could the tower do this!?”
“The tower does nothing but lay bare the Jakatka’s true nature. This is not corruption, this is truth. Even when they were human, I assure you, they were no less unpleasant.”
“Where do we go now?”
Laet spent a second observing the Feral Jakatka.
“In.”
“Hey! W-Wait!”

Laet slunk into the shadows, and disappeared. Saki shifted her view to the half-dozen Jakatka that were sniffing the air, and drawing crude daggers that were hung from their necks.
The Horn Daggers were light, but powerful. The largest one slunk down and crept slowly in the area of Saki’s bush.

She gripped her Twin Hooks. Slowly…Easy…

Suddenly, a flash of white shot out from the trees and into the sky, gone unnoticed by the Jakatka.
This flash hung in the air for a second, and then shot down like a heavenly arrow.
The figure of Laet was there, right in front of the lead Jakatka for a second, before a crimson tide burst from the Jakatka’s throat. The dead body had not time to fall before the flash
zipped across the clearing, and split the head of a second Jakatka.

Fur, bone, brain and blood splattered everywhere, leaving a cameo of red and green all around the soft ground.

Laet spun, cutting out the head of the third one, and the bisecting the fourth one length-wise with sharp force trauma that could have sliced diamonds.
The final two had just enough time to start swinging their daggers when Laet gratefully took the weapons and shoved both of them in their respective owners.
The sixth Jakatka brushed the blade of his dagger with a sharpened claw, and fell back, glassy-eyed. The last look on his face was of pure surprise.

“Let’s move, Miss Saki.” Laet strode into the outpost, as if he had not just brutally murdered six monsters. The crimson blood on his cloak did not seem to stick, and rolled off of the folds,
leaving it still pure white.

Saki edged around the bodies, horrified, and curious. She glanced at the one Jakatka who's head had been cleaved in two.

Half of a face of what was a mere teenager, hidden under ugly black fur, stared back at Saki.

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The Capuan Expedition: Chapter 13
“The creator may be greater than the creation, but so far, the latter is doing a good job at challenging that.”

Saki stepped into the disconcerted central room of the Outpost. The bones of various rats were crushed under her feet, and the smell, the pungent, putrid, gas, spewed from the inside rooms.
Saki had an small gagging fit after she steeped on something three weeks dead and still moving.
Laet lit a small torch, and waved Saki in.

Saki peered over the doorsill, and was dumb-struck.

It was like a ritualistic circle, with an endless hole placed in the center. Light shone from a hole cut in the roof above, and various religious trinkets and tools lay all around the gaping hole. Laet stood at the very edge, apparently unconcerned as to what might be underneath. He tossed the torch in, and the light soared straight down, growing darker and darker.

“one…two…three…” Saki was transfixed by the light shrinking away from her sight.
“Seven hundred twenty five... Seven hundred twenty” A clattering filled the room.
“About three miles down.” muttered Laet to no one in particular.
“Laet-san, I thought that we were going to a tower.”
“It’s here.”
“WHAT? This is…a hole!”
“The tower is underneath this.”
“But…I thought that…”
“Where we are is a 25 mile high cliff, which rose all around the Tower of the Leviathan after it was built. I assume when the Jakatka attempted mining prospects, they hit the Seal.”
“So what do we do now? In fact, why are we even dealing with this tower? I NEED TO GET BACK TO--”
“Set your priorities straight. If we don’t stop what the Jakatka are doing, the world will be destroyed.”
“huh?”
“The Jakatka are going to the seal. It's the fifth moon tonight, and their last attempt will happen soon”

“Why?”

“They are hungry for power. They think that by releasing the Leviathan, they will become Gods. What they are really doing is releasing the first of 3 beasts of untold destructive power. The fools will kill us all.”

“But this beast couldn’t possibly be THAT crazy strong, to destroy the world…”
“There’s no time. Follow me.”

Laet leapt into the hole, and hit the side of the pit. He slid down into darkness.
“Shit.”
Saki reluctantly jumped, and gripped her Emei Piercers, gouging them into the rock, and slowing her down as she went into descent. Darkness was everywhere, and Saki had trouble seeing how she would possibly stop in time before she splattered herself on the inevitable floor. The tremors on her Emei Piercers grew more rough, as the minerals in the bedrock grew harder and harder.

Then, the Piercer hit a vein of Eltalite, and she flew from the side. Saki smacked right onto the floor, which was fortunately only ten feet away.
Laet pulled her up.
He opened a trapdoor that was embedded in the rock. Wordlessly, he hopped in, followed by Saki.

She hit hard wooden floor, and then wandered in. The emptiness of the chamber dominated the area, and there was a monolith that rose in the center thousands of feet, and was arena-sized wide.

“This…this is the tower?”
“Yes. At the top is the Seal that keeps the Leviathan under control. Watch your step.” Laet started climbing up the side of the tower, advancing at an increasingly fast rate. He got up perhaps three stories of Romanesque flights before he ducked into a built in arch.

When Saki had followed, she was blinded. A Crystal, alternatively green and blue, shone in the low light. It pulsated like a living being, and seemed to breathe. There were Jakatka, silently shifting in the shadows, and hacking at the Crystal with religious artifacts. The leader, clothed in red, in the claws of his hand clutched a glowing red pedant.

He was chanting, and his song was getting to its climax.

Laet suddenly and abruptly exploded into motion, racing as fast as he could to the leader. The leader finished, and placed the pedant on the crystal.
At the exactly same time, Laet managed to kill the leader, and the pedant was caught into the crystal. The earth started shaking. All the Jakatka who were hacking at the Crystal was killed by a vengeful force, and the crystal pulsed an angry orange-red.

Laet looked in horror at the crystal.
“No…no!”
The light from the crystal spread into the tower, and the floor shone a florescent red.

With the conviction of a man on death row, Laet turned to Saki. The red light made him look demonic.
“Sink or Swim, Miss Saki. The Jakatka have released the seal. One thing left to do.”
“What? What are you…”

Laet grabbed Saki, and tossed her into the Crystal, where she disappeared. He took one last look at the world, then stepped in.

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“1 "Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook
or tie down his tongue with a rope?

2 Can you put a cord through his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?

3 Will he keep begging you for mercy?
Will he speak to you with gentle words?

4 Will he make an agreement with you
for you to take him as your slave for life?”

The world blurred and fuzzed. Saki opened her eyes slowly, and clenched her hand against the cold snow. She pulled herself up, and rubbed her eyes. The blurriness slowly faded away. She looked up, and felt the wind biting her face.
White, white stretched out as far as the eye could see. Saki brushed the ground underneath her, and found it freezing cold.

Laet pulled her up. “Good, you’re up.”

Saki looked all about her, and still saw only white. Glancing up, she saw the black night sky had changed. The moon was enormous tonight.
“Laet-san, what…how?”
“I’m sorry I had to toss you in with me, but I need all the help I can get.”
“What’s going on? I thought you threw me into the crystal…This…this isn’t inside the crystal?!?”
“Don’t be stupid. Of course not.” Laet sat down, and let his hood fall over his unknown face. “Welcome to Io.”

“I…o?”
“Clever, isn’t it? The Wyvernians who sealed away the Leviathan, they didn’t control it in any way, they simply hid it.”

“Hid it?”
“On a different planet.”
Saki turned so fast she felt her neck crack.
“WHAT?”
“A different moon, to be exact.”
“Wh-”
“Somewhere out here, the Leviathan is waiting. It’s going to flee this horrid ice rock and re-enter our world. Consequently, it will destroy it. The Crystal has opened a Portal from Io to Earth. In three days time, the Portal will be large enough to fit the Leviathan in.

Laet pointed his cloaked hand over a tower that was hidden in the distance; it was an exact replica of the one under the Jakatka Outpost.

A green light shone from the bottom, and it was steadily growing larger. Saki could see the line moving, making the green circle ever larger.
“In three days time? It’s already large enough to fit a Rathalos, just how big is this thing?”

Laet was silent for a second.

“…2,470 x 2,650 x 15,430...”
“Centimeters? That’s huge! That’s Lao Shan Lung sized! How in the world--”
“Meters.”
Saki stared at Laet, seeing if he was joking.
He wasn’t.
“This…this thing is…fifteen kilometers long?”
He nodded once.

Saki felt her legs give out. “What…what are we going to do? Can we close the portal?”
Laet shook his head
“We have to kill it.”
“How…WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? We’re just two people!”

…


“Run.”

“Huh?

“RUN!”

Laet started sprinting as fast as he could in one direction. Saki took a look in the distance.

A small red star shone in the night sky. Growing bigger. And bigg--
Saki ran.

Snow shot up underfoot as Saki zipped across the ice. She didn’t dare look behind her, but was becoming aware of a growing heat behind her.

Laet skidded to a stop, and gazed out in horror, red light illuminating his face. Saki whirled around and glanced back. The area where she woke up, and the Portal, was over twenty kilometers away.

The red star had become a blazing, monstrous sun, and was still growing bigger. It filled the sky, the world had turned bright with energy. A few seconds of prominence and the size became definable, it was almost ten kilometers in diamter, made of pure fire. With a surprisingly quiet Boom!, it then impacted the place where Saki had woken up.

A flash stunned Saki’s eyes for a second, and then darkness swept over as her retinas adjusted.

She looked up to face a steaming tidal wave, 10 stories high, come bearing down at her. Saki raised her hands and closed her eyes, as if she could wish away the wave of death. A loud cracking sound could be heard just as it was going to hit. Saki peeked from behind her arms. The tidal wave had frozen from the natural temperatures of the area just in time, stopping only a ten meters from where Saki was standing.

An enormous wall of ice bore down on her, like a translucent veil hiding something evil. The light from stars shone into it, making it glitter, unhampered by normal atmosphere.

The deep roar of something shook the moon; ice started splitting and cracking from the pressure. Laet pulled himself up on the ice wall and gazed out at the Crater of Snow and Ice that had formed from the impact of the enormous fireball. It was all slowly growing frozen, and he could see some currents shifting beneath the ice. The ice was no longer white with snow, but transparent and dark. He could see the depths beneath.

The Tower still stood intact, amazingly, even after being hit by such force. It continued to pump out it’s green light, slowly reopening the gateway to Earth.

Under the thick surface of ice must be limitless water, Laet thought. No wonder the Wyvernians chose this moon. Under the ice is an Ocean like none anyone has seen!

Saki pulled herself up onto the top of the 10-story frozen ice wall.

“Where, where is it?”
“Gone. It will try again tomorrow, but it needs to recharge. A fireball the size of a small planet isn’t easily recoverable. Must have been shot from practically the other side of the damn moon.”

Laet pulled out a small rag/blanket

“We’re safe for now. But let’s take shifts just in case. Watch out for any orange-red stars.” Laet turned around and fell asleep.

Saki looked out at the stars, and rubbed her numbed hands. It was going to be a long night.