Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 51: The Insanity of One That Does Not Fear Death

'Go ahead. Try fighting it.'

'Fight. Fight. Fight.'

Rhys has been waiting to hear Ayesha's desires ever since he joined the Underworld Corps. And now that he was actually hearing it, he wanted nothing to do with it.

"You... want me to fight a Level 8 monster, Ma'am?"

"What did I say about calling me Ma'am and asking questions?"

"...Ayesha."

"Yes, go fight it."

Rhys looked Ayesha in the eyes for a few seconds before he very slowly turned to look at the 5 Gray Hearts floating above her head. If her desires for the first heart were already this extreme, what about the other 4?

"So...? If you don't want to, then—"

And before Ayesha could finish uttering her words, Rhys suddenly stepped forward and started walking toward the cyclops. He did not really need to hide or be sneaky, as the colossal cyclops was too busy digging its hands through the dirt; causing a continuous rumbling noise which drowned everything else.

As Rhys got nearer and nearer, however, he found his neck almost stretching to its limit as he finally realized how large this creature truly was. He already knew it had to be taller than the average building, but the thing that was in front of him right now is just... monstrosity.

"Kh..." And it smells pungent too. But Rhys did not cover his nose, instead just allowing his sense of smell to very slowly adjust to the cyclops. And soon... he was right behind the heel of its right foot.

"Oh...?" And to Ayesha's surprise, Rhys grabbed the cyclops' toe as soon as it stepped forward; not hesitating for a single moment even as his entire body swayed in the air, "Well, damn, Recruit. I knew you said you don't fear death... but this is just extra."

Rhys started crawling and climbing on the cyclops' leg, and from Ayesha's view, he just looked like a large ant... and a large ant you can feel.

"Hrmgh...?" The cyclops let out a small hum as it suddenly stopped digging through the dirt. And without even any warning... it raised its leg and slapped it right where Rhys was.

"!!!" Ayesha raised both her hands and winced as she watched this. She did not really interfere, however, as when the cyclops checked its palm, there was nothing there; not even a tinge of blood. What was there, however, was a clump of web.

The cyclops started looking around, before just shrugging its shoulders and continuing to dig. As for Rhys, well... he was now on the cyclops' elbow and very slowly climbing up its arm like a spider.

"..." Rhys was trying his best not to breathe out loud; releasing webs through his fingers and letting it stick on the cyclops' skin so he could climb up. Fortunately for him, his [Arise] skill once again proved to be the most useful ability he had — it was downright cheating at this point.

And in no time at all, Rhys found himself crouched on the cyclops' shoulder.

Rhys very gently crouched, trying not to make a single sound as he stealthily approached the cyclops' neck; meters away, but it might as well be the longest walk he would ever do. He tried to look down, and if he were to fall from this height, each of his bones would probably disintegrate.

Rhys's eyes then strayed toward Ayesha, who was now just a small dot in the distance, like an ant... a dancing ant.

Rhys squinted his eyes to try and see what Ayesha was actually doing, but soon, she realized she was not dancing at all when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. No, Ayesha was not dancing, but pointing at the cyclops.

"Oh..." Rhys breathed out. He did not feel the cyclops' head move at all, but as he looked ahead, he saw a gigantic eye looking back at him. The cyclops' head did not move at all, and instead, it was the position of its eye that seemed to... magically move across its face,

"...Shit."

And as soon as the cyclops stopped digging; Rhys, instead of just trying to climb down as fast as he could, rushed forward toward the eye. He pointed all of his fingers toward the eye and released strings of web, using it to practically pull himself as fast as he could closer to the eye. And with a short and deep breath, he grabbed Katarina's silver scalpel from his utility bag and stabbed it straight through the cyclops' iris.

"!!!"

The scalpel... was not able to pierce through the cyclops eye. Rhys wasn't expecting this, causing the scalpel to slide from his hand and slice a good chunk of his palm.

"Sh..." Rhys just gritted his teeth as he grabbed the scalpel with his other hand; this time, he tried to slice the cyclops' eye — but once again, the only damage it did was make the cyclops' eye a little watery.

Of course—Rhys thought. This is a Level 8 monster, capable of destroying several countries on its own. Initially, Rhys was planning to climb into its ear and just tear it from the inside, but seeing how hard its eye was, there was probably a high chance that its insides were impenetrable too.

...But it was still worth a try.

Rhys looked at the cyclops' ear. Before he could even plan a way toward it, a shadow loomed over him as the cyclops' hand made its way toward him first.

Rhys did not really think anymore and just ran to the back of the giant's shoulder, sliding on it as he attached several webs on its shoulder and back, allowing him to run across its back while using the webs like a rope.

"!!!"

Sadly for Rhys, however, as soon as the cyclops' hand reached its shoulder, a loud boom thundered in the air; snapping his rope of webs... as well as his eardrum, completely disorienting him as he was blasted away just by the sheer shockwave of the slap.

Rhys found his vision turning dark, but he gritted through the extreme nausea as he shot another web toward the cyclops' other shoulder. And perhaps through sheer will, or just his body moving on its own, he started to climb up again even when all he could really hear was the whistle of silence... or perhaps it was just the sound of his brain and organs being completely turned to mush by the blast.

And perhaps because of his temporary deafness, he did not notice that another palm was heading his way.

"You are insane, Recruit..." Before the palm could reach Rhys, however, Ayesha suddenly came out of nowhere; her feet and palm, touching the cyclops' back near Rhys. And with a smile on her face, she leaped away and spun in the air several times... before creating a thunder that shook the entire cavern as she kicked the cyclops' hand away,

"...Can't say I don't like it."