The long-abandoned passageways of a mysterious old pyramid were now once again alive with commotion.
These hallways that had not seen a single 'living' soul were suddenly filled with numerous figures, both human and inhuman, locked in a battle of life and death laid witness to only by a misty darkness of eras long gone.
"ALMOST THERE!"
"Don't stop moving!"
"Jarek is injured, we need another set of hands here!"
"Go, I've got this!"
"How long!?"
The panic-stricken voices of a little more than a dozen individuals echoed in the hallways, coloured in by the heart-wrenching sniveling roars of the flood of deformed nightmare-inducing monstrosities that they had picked up along the way and brought with them to the heart of the pyramid.
The barbarians were standing with their backs against one another, and often times with some other things as well that managed to sneak their way into their ranks.
They stood guard in front of a giant door no more than 15 meters in length and 9 meters in width. Three giant hallways led to this place and ended in front of the door and right now, each of those hallways was filled to the brim with beasts, deviant monsters, and grotesque miscreations of unholy thoughts brought into the physical realm by some vile element that lurked within the countless shadows of this abandoned structure.
Burak was engaged in combat with the largest creature that was trying to eat its way in from the left hallway, doing his best to keep it away because killing it never even crossed his mind.
It was a four-legged creature that remarkably similar to a dog from earth. The only differences were that this thing had no skin, its flesh was harder than steel that covered every single orifice including the eyes.
When it opened its mouth the lower jaw separated into two further sections each one lined with hundreds of sharp hollow teeth that sprayed a red liquid in an arc in front of it. The ends of its tongue had a hard shell covering them that when smashed together created a spark that ignited the red liquid.
Its size was close to 9 meters in length. The serrated tail on its back swung left and right like an ax, cutting down even the numerous other canine creatures in half that had followed behind it. (Reference Image in Authors notes)
On the right hallway was Isak along with three other barbarians. They were fighting against a humanoid creature with extremely long, segmented limbs with a black tumor-like growth that replaced its head.
Each of its limbs were somewhere between three to four meters long when fully extended but wherever it attacked from the back, each segment would elongate even further.
The space around its forelimbs would twist and expand which along with all these factors combined meant that it could attack almost instantly from any direction and distance within thirty meters. (Reference Image in Authors notes)
And in the middle hallway where all the other barbarians were gathered was a horde of identical aquatic monsters with wide serrated mouths, 2-3 pairs of eyes, and up to 9 different limbs. The most peculiar thing about them was the presence of a human face inside their mouths.
It was created naturally from its own muscles and did not have any eyes, but it let out high-pitched screams every time the creature attacked. (Reference Image in Authors notes)
The screams had a strange almost hypnotizing characteristic about them that would often make the barbarians zone out or even attack their own companions in confusion.
And behind all of them was Hao Xuan. He was standing in front of the glass panel on the side of the door doing…nothing.
'Baracus how long?! We don't have time for this!' Hao Xuan urged him again.
'There are numerous encryptions in place. I have broken through the first 2.49 million, the rest should be done…..now.'
With a light, barely audibly click, the gigantic black door retreated into the wall.
'Five seconds, it will close automatically after that,' Baracus warned.
Hao Xuan spun around and shouted, "COME! IT WILL CLOSE AGAIN!"
The barbarians were already prepared so they suddenly locked arms and bashed their heads in front of them in unison, releasing an energy-infused shockwave that sent all nearby creatures tumbling away.
Burak landed a punch right into the mouth of the canine creature, burning it in the process but managing to push it back enough to retreat.
Isak swung his swords in front of him in a crisis cross manner, firing two Blackfire sword slashes into the hallway and did the same along with the accompanying barbarians. He was the last one to enter as the door automatically shut behind him before the monsters had the chance to get back on their feet.
"No…more…" one of the panting barbarians that appeared to be the youngest threw his curved blade onto the floor and fell to his knees, "I can't…go on," he mumbled under his breath but everyone heard him clearly in the silent chamber.
Even if someone wanted to rebuke him, no one had the energy to.
No one expected these monstrous creatures to grow in size and aptitude as they went deeper. On the way down one of the barbarians even accidentally wandered away from the group and ended up in one of those strange worlds. That's where the aquatic creatures had come from.
The monsters not only got more and more vicious but also more mysterious the further down they went. It was more like a den of monsters rather than an abandoned old structure as Hao Xuan had initially presumed.
***
Authors Notes:
All images are posted in the Official Discord.
Link: https://discord.gg/AHdSBFQ
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Shortened Image Link (case sensitive): https://urlzs.com/bH2op
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Reference Image Link: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/1a/83/e0/1a83e023b4542525f049cc0891c4ea48.jpg
Shortened Image Link (case sensitive): https://urlzs.com/AfGT5
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Reference Image Link: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/32/e7/10/32e71097e340ee771a5602666615ba42.jpg
Shortened Image Link (case sensitive): https://urlzs.com/LTWxd
