Arpious of the Planes

"As you wish… Are we going to try and find out where the other maids are, or will you decide to drop them?"

"It really depends on what happens,"

"As you wish,"

…

[Day 73]

Another day has passed, and so far, nothing has been found—just the same old boring smooth stone hallway.

Also, Anna tried punching the stone wall yesterday, but her arm instantly broke in every place. And even as the injury looked horrible, she didn't scream or whimper as she knew I was going to heal her the next second… which I did with [Ancient Fire Magic: Ichimei].

"Hungry…" I groan, lying in the middle of the floor.

I've been trying to ignore it as best as possible, but it seems our lack of food had finally caught up. And even though Anna was struggling with her hunger just as much as me, she didn't complain in the slightest.

The need for water, on the other hand, was fixed by [Grand Water Magic].

Even if it's a stronger version that's extremely rough and thick… you can still drink it to quench your thirst. You just need to prepare yourself for the uncomfortable ride that comes from drinking a glass of water.

"Mistress, it is nearing the middle of the day, and we're already hungry, so I believe we should make our way down one of these hallways. We've been in here for long enough, and you might end up starving to death… but of course, if you would like, I could offer you my body," Anna suggests.

It sounds weird out of context, but I knew she was willing to offer an arm for me to eat.

"Nah, it's fine. I'm not that desperate right now, but I do think we should make our way down these hallways as we are much faster than my summons," I say, weakly standing up and trying to stretch, but due to my lack of energy, I just limply flopped side to side.

After another few minutes of trying to steel my mind and try to suppress my raging hunger, we made our way to the first door we saw, the door all the way to the left.

"Forgive my rudeness, but I believe I should walk in front just in case something appears out of nowhere," Anna suggests, bowing deeply.

"Go ahead,"

I wasn't going to complain about somebody taking a hit for me… unless it's one of my wives or children.

Anna steps in front of me and starts to walk down the hallway, which I, of course, follow after.

Tup Tup Tup

Their hallway was massive despite being one of the smaller ones, and I could only look in awe at the architecture.

The hallway, which was much taller than its width, was more interesting than I had thought. It didn't take much concentration to see the beautiful patterns engraved into the smooth stone below, beside, and above us.

The carvings were on every inch of the hallway, not missing a single spot. And even though they looked marvelous… I had no idea what they were.

It was pretty much a mix of everything: curved lines, straight lines, circles, triangles, squares, and even a few roses.

Tup Tup Tup Tup Tup Tup Tup

This time I summoned my wolf to conserve as much energy as possible.

I was so hungry that even my stamina was starting to go down, so running or just walking, in general, was a terrible decision.

…

AWOOOO

My wolf stopped in its tracks and howled down the hallway.

Anna and I were confused as nothing had changed even after a couple of hours. Just the same massive hallway with marvelous patterns and an eerily quiet atmosphere.

"What's wrong?" I ask my wolf, who started to step back and growl loudly.

My wolf proceeded to bark once again at the abyss of the long hallway.

Suddenly, something entered my sensing range, making me immediately tap Anna on the shoulder, warning her about what had appeared.

It didn't seem that threatening to me, but compared to the monsters on the [Mountain of Twilight]... this thing could've been one of the strongest monsters there.

Suddenly, another one of those signatures entered my sensing range… and then another… and then another… and then another, and another, and another, and another. It just kept on coming.

A drop of sweat ran down the back of my neck as I focused my eyes down the hallway.

"Shit… run the opposite way," I order my wolf, which immediately follows.

Anna tilted her head in confusion, but I had no time to explain as what seemed to be death approached us.

[Gargoyles]

[A winged goblin-like monster made entirely from stone that protects its designated area. They normally travel in packs of thousands and can get up to tens of thousands depending on how big the designated area is.]

Just like the description said, gargoyles were running and flying after us. They had even created a wave that blocked any way forward, so running back was our only option for now.

They were about 4 feet in height and made entirely from smooth stone, which helped define the curves in their carved stone muscles.

Their massive stone wings were intimidating, and paired with their grotesque face and teeth; it was perfect nightmare fuel.

Kekekekkekekeke

They all laughed a cry similar to imps that echoed through the hallway but was quickly drowned out by their loud and heavy footsteps.

"Mistress! What are those things!" Anna shouts in fear after seeing the horde of gargoyles appearing in her vision.

"Don't look back! And try to run faster!" I order my wolf, whose muscles were bulging.

My wolf whined slightly and looked back at me while still running from the horde.

"Can't go any faster? Dammit!" I shout before summoning my soul equipment.

I tightly gripped my black katana and scythe while letting the black dress with cinders of black flames wrap around me.

Standing up, I stare down the wave of gargoyles that were slowly gaining speed on us.

We weren't even that far from where my summoned slime blood wings were, so these things must have a room they're guarding close by.

I thought about leaving Anna for a second to survive but decided to keep her alive not long after. She was essential now, and just wasting her when I can easily save her now is just stupid.

"Grab onto my back, don't let go," I say after un-summoning my wolf.

"A-As you wish," Anna says, after seeing the impending doom grow closer.

As soon as I felt Anna tightly grip onto my shoulders, I turned around and dashed in the opposite direction of the horde.

Kekekekeekekeke

A gargoyle caught up to me, but I just smirked before picking up my pace, blasting ahead of the horde.

The gargoyles roared in anger after seeing their enemy run, so they as well picked up their pace.

The stone goblins even started to shoot massive rocks the size of my body at me, which I had trouble dodging due to the insane amount.

Even my godly senses were struggling to keep up with the number of projectiles coming my way. It was as if they had created another wall made from stones that they produced from their body.

While maneuvering my way through the tiny cracks in the thrown rocks, I hear Anna grunting in pain.

Though I didn't have time to look back, I knew Anna was hit or maybe even scraped by a rock, so I tried to pick up my pace even more.

[Apocolyptic Weapon Swing]

I swung both of my weapons at the same time in an X-like form, sweeping the hallway of all rocks… before they started to barrel towards me once again.

Wow... the first layer of gargoyles was affected as well.

Even though there was just a split second between me clearing the past rocks and the new rocks coming back in, I was able to widen the gap even farther with [Forbidden Magic: Hermes].

Though it was a gamble to use this while somebody held onto me, I still used it, as without it, we would probably end up getting overwhelmed.

"Shit… the rocks are already here," I mutter after just barely dodging a massive rock twice the size of my body.

"Mistress, please leave me," Anna suggests but proceeded to grip onto me even harder.

It seems she doesn't want to die as well…

I ignored Anna's suggestion and continued to press on forward.

[Summon: Golden Mountain Bear]

1000 of these familiar bears was the limit to the skill, but it was more than enough to gain just a few more feet between us and the horde.

Guts and blood splattered everywhere, but I wasn't phased. I just took in the split second of relief before gritting my teeth.

[Ancient Fire Magic: Amaterasu]

Black flames were sent barreling towards the rocks and gargoyles, but not even a slight burn was left on them.

It was within my expectations, but I still got shocked at the zero amount of damage.

"Okay, I think I know the strategy to get out of this predicament,"

And that was to continuously use [Apocolyptic Weapon Swing] and [Forbidden Magic: Hermes] over and over again.