My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 299: Final Test (1)

Josh stared at the crew member that had stabbed him in the stomach with a helpless expression. He had no idea as to how his crew had suddenly been turned against him. The only clue he had just now was the violet colour of their eyes that matched the colour of the waterfalls.

Blood trickled from his stomach, and he once again cursed whatever magic had been used to turn them into living beings. If it were a regular enemy that had stabbed him, he would not have hesitated to retaliate, but he was somewhat reluctant in this situation. He would need his crew if he managed to escape this situation, so that alone was enough to hold him back.

Josh groaned as the man pulled his sabre from its place in Josh's gut. The pain was excruciating, and a wave of dizziness assaulted Josh's senses. He stumbled backwards a few steps as he raised his own blade to prepare himself to defend against the combined assault of his crew. The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out in the cavern as Josh deflected each blow that came his way. 

The rain of deadly strikes forced Josh to keep backing up, and it was not long before the crew that he had been to his rear had caught up to the clash as well. Josh gritted his teeth against the pain that assaulted his body. He was beginning to accumulate various wounds from the exchange as the blood loss caused his reactions to slow down.

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He even found himself wondering if this place would turn into his own tomb as another cut appeared on his thigh. Suddenly, the crew members who were the closest to him collapsed to the ground in a heap. The violet colour in their eyes began to dim before fluttering out altogether. Josh did not have the time to analyse that strange situation as he immediately took advantage of it.

Using his shoulder as a ram, he barged through the remainder of the crew that had been behind him. Josh stumbled as he searched for a defensive position that he could use before the crew could catch up to him. 'I need the high ground. Preferably in a tight space to limit how they can come at me.'

He glanced over his shoulder as he winced in pain. His free hand went to the hole in his stomach and came away bloodied. 'I don't know how long I can last like this.' Josh growled with determination as he noticed that his crew seemed to be slower than before. This was a good turn in events for Josh as it bought him the time that he needed to reach one of the towering buildings.

He barged inside and found that it was utterly devoid of any furniture. It was just as his crew had said, and the buildings seemed to be nothing more than a shell. Josh's gaze went to the spiral stone staircase, and a smirk flashed across his face at that point. 'Perfect!'

Josh moved as fast as he could up the stairs even as he heard his crew entering the building below him. He could only curse at that because he thought it would take them a little longer, at least to catch up. The building was seven storeys tall, as seen from the outside, but Josh discovered that the stairs actually led all the way up to the roof.

He could not have hoped to find a more perfect place to stage his battle! The stairs even became narrower the closer he got to the exit. 'It should be impossible for more than one of them to come at me at a time with this.' Josh doubled over to catch his breath as he finally set foot on the roof of the building.

He could hear the sounds of his crew slowly clambering up the stairs below. With a deep breath, he turned to face the exit. Making sure that he did not leave any space for anyone to force their way on to the roof. It was at that point that his eyes caught sight of something odd. Suddenly, one of the violet waterfalls in his view stopped flowing. At that exact same moment, he heard the crashing of bodies echo up from below.

'Could it be?' Josh's furiously glanced around and noticed that three of the five waterfalls had disappeared entirely. 'Fuck! It's another test!'

Josh quickly put two and two together and realised that the waterfalls acted as some kind of timer. Each time one of them stopped flowing must have been the signal for some of his crew to be released from whatever was controlling them. Josh quickly tried to figure out how often these waterfalls stopped their flow to determine how much longer he had to last.

The first set of his crew had collapsed roughly ten minutes into their fight. He had not seen when the second wave had hit, but he roughly estimated that about twenty minutes had passed between the first and third wave that happened just now. 'Twenty minutes then.' Josh thought as he gazed at the two remaining waterfalls. 

'One every ten minutes, at least the pressure will ease up as time passes.' Josh could not help but wonder about the nature of that test as the first member of his crew came into view. Thanks to the angle of the staircase and his height advantage Josh did not have to struggle too much. His opponent was limited to lunges as every time he tried to swing the blade in an arc, it would strike the wall and prevent it.

Meanwhile, Josh was free of those restraints on his side. Allowing him to put more force in his blows to force his opponent back. However, he could not push him back too far as the crew behind him kept pushing him forward. It was almost as if they were using him as a shield to try and force their way up into the open. 

Josh growled as he was forced back by a few steps just as the fourth waterfall hit its time limit