Chapter 9: Investigation Mission (2)

The roaring sound really came from a beast. A huge, scary beast. O's vision of a male lion came true, many times over. The monster in the room took the form of a white lion and had a pair of wings of the same color. The monster's size was so big that the huge room was almost full. Even scarier, the monster wasn't really alive … 

Part of the flesh on the monster's body had fallen off, revealing its pale white bones. Even the monster's organs were bursting out; his intestines blurted across the floor; its collapsed lungs dangling; its torn hull dripped with acid that made the hard ground puff out smoke. One wing was broken and the tip was dangling, while the other wing only had a bit of skin and a few long strands of hair. Part of the monster's face also fell off. His golden yellow eyes spun wildly like a pair of googly eyes. On the monster's forehead, a purple-black magic circle glowed. 

In that state, the monster was still howling and struggling. The monster seemed to be trying to break free from the chains that penetrated its four limbs. The stronger the monster rebelled, the more entangled the long chains became; the harder it was to move the louder it roared. 

O was trepidated. Even though the monster was tied to the floor, its head was still able to move freely. One bite from the monster alone could turn its bones into calcium powder! 

“”Mission clear requirement changed: save the monster in the room!”” 

The message filled O's field of view as he was imagining the peak of horror when his body was chopped up in the monster's gigantic mouth. O's eyes widened in surprise. "Hah! You're crazy, huh?" 

However, there was no response from the Narrator. O was hesitant, however, from the bottom of his heart, O knew that the Narrator, as the system which task was to guide him, would not cause him any harm on purpose. Therefore, O ventured to enter the room ... scaredly.

The monster eyed O sneaking in like a cat watching a cheese-stealing mouse. O responded fearfully, “Hey, calm down, Buddy. I'm here to help you …” 

RAAAAAWR 

The monster just got fiercer. From its mouth, a dark green magic circle appeared. From that circle, a torrent of strong wind flowed like a flood that immediately filled the room. 

“Huek!” O’s whole body flew away, helter-skelter in that whirlwind. His body was slammed to the wall and floor several times. 

“”Caution! Danger! Your body is starting to take serious damage!”"

“Damn it! You're the one who told me to come in here!” O cursed in his heart while his body was still scattered in the whirlwind. 

The gale swirled for several minutes. In the process, O’s left arm and several ribs were broken and scattered. Meanwhile, the monster also injures itself; the broken wings flew away and the flesh all over his body shed even more. 

The Perpetual Candles that had dimmed during the whirlwind were now burning again. O could clearly see the state of himself and the monster. They were both injured. From that situation, O immediately devised a strategy. 

“Narrator, display the earth magic formula!” O yelled, getting serious. He was about to launch a strategy he named ‘the Backfire Strategy'. O then taunted the monster in the hope that the wind magic from earlier would be used again. "That's your magic, eh, Buddy? Even my cat's farts are far more dangerous than that!” 

The monster roared. In fact, the monster didn't understand O's words, but it could catch O's taunting gesture very well. The monster used the same wind magic again. With his roar, a gale bursted out from the magic circle in its mouth. 

“Lapis!” O cast an earth spell. He wasn't aiming at the monster, but aiming at himself. More precisely, O was aiming at the circle area around his body. 

O crouched on the ground. The brown magic circle beneath O's feet immediately launches three pillars of stalagmites that create a triangular pyramidal framework that becomes a cage, aimed at holding O in position. As the gale swirled, O's body was not blown away anymore, while the monster hurt itself in the process. Now the monster's intestines were completely unraveled and other organs were being pulled out! 

"Checkmate!" O said. "Now you can't attack me, while I can burn you anytime!" 

A red magic circle rotated on the tip of O's forefinger. As he said, a ball of fire would immediately fly out when he said the incantation ...

GRRR! The monster growled, but couldn't do anything. 

"Good, good boy. You must comply. I had no intention of hurting you!” O canceled the spell. The magic circle on the tip of his index finger vanished. 

The monster looked convinced, but a moment later it went berserk again. The purple-black magic circle on the monster's forehead glowed and spun. 

"Who are you?! How dare you disturb the Night Eaters!” Another sound emerged from the magic circle. “You are not of the Order. What do you want?" 

Night Eater? Order? O did not understand the meaning of those words at all. "I don't understand what you mean." 

"Nonsense!" The voice sounded so threatening. "Leave! You know the consequences for disturbing us!” 

“Umm … Well, about it, uh … I really don’t know what you mean." 

O wasn’t pretending to be stupid, though he looked as if he's stupidly mocking (he did seem clueless and stupid though). Apart from the fact that he looked ridiculous at that time, he also really didn’t know where this conversation was leading to. 

“Quit jokinh around! Screw you! You naughty brat!” 

A white-gold magic circle suddenly appeared under O's body. At the same time, a warning appeared in O's field of view 

“"Sacred magic that is fatal to the creatures of darkness detected! Run immediately!”" 

O panicked to death. Evade where? He was now still squeezed in a stone cage he made himself! 

Quite ironic. The 'Backfire Strategy’ that O launched at the enemy now turns on himself … 

~To be continued~