Sinking

The man with the book sneered at Roko with a delighted grin. Roko picked himself up slowly off the ground, glaring at the priest with careful contempt.

"Welcome, welcome welcome." The priest bowed, his tone and actions dripping with facetious hospitality, "I do hope you'll excuse the mess. We would have cleaned up if we knew you were coming this early."

"I didn't know I was invited." Roko winced as he dragged himself onto his feet, "We having a party here?"

"A celebration, sure." The priest smiles, "We are about to give prayer to our great God. He who will render onto humanity the next step in our evolution. For that future we will offer all to see the new world come into being."

"..."

"Would you like to join us?"

"Do you have Beef Wellington?"

"I...what? What is that? No, we do not have it!"

"Well, I guess we can't get along then." Roko said as he lifted his sword off the ground and onto his shoulder, "Shame that."

A disappointed and confused murmur rippled through the cultists which clearly annoyed the priest.

"Well that's a shame." The priest shook his head, "And here I thought we could come to a peaceful resolution."

"Why would you ever think I would join you anyway?" Roko turned around to look at all the cultists, sneaking a quick glance at the top of the stairs where he could see Roland looking panicked. Roko shot him a meaningful glare before he closed his eyes and stabbed his sword loudly into the ground, startling everyone in the room, "If you've got nothing else you want from me, I'd like to Get Going." Roko opened his eyes to glare at Roland again. Roland looked even more panicked but quickly decided to get up and sneakily escape out the door.

"Me?" The priest smirked as Roko turned back to face him, "Wasn't it you who attempted to assassinate me? Rather brazenly I might add."

"Yeah well it didn't work and here we are." Roko said as he pulled his sword from the ground, "And we just determined we can't be friends so where does that leave us?"

"Us? I afraid the question is where does it leave you."

Without making any gesture, one of the cultists on top of the altar sneaked up behind Roko and grabbed onto him, forcing him into a standing nelson hold. The priest snapped and another of the stage cultists approached Roko from the front.

"You're outnumbered and quite frankly, powerless. You may bluster about but your life is very much in our hands."

Roko rolled his eyes and kicked his legs up, catching the front cultist in the chest as Roko pushed his body further up, pushing the full weight of his body on top of the cultist who struggled to handle the weight. Roko twisted his body, contorting the cultist's body to one side as he tried to keep a hold on him. With Roko's weight now bearing down on him and his body shifted diagonally, the cultist struggled to keep Roko up in the air with his legs and hip bent and fell down onto the ground, Roko making sure to slam as much of his body down on the poor cultist as he fell to the ground, releasing Roko from his hold. The front cultist recovered from getting kicked in the chest and made a desperate move to grab him from the front but Roko drew his sword back which was enough to frighten the young man into cowering behind his hands. Roko slammed the pummel of his sword against the cultist's temple, knocking him out right away.

"You forgot everyone here is a nerd." Roko breathed a sigh of relief as he turned to the displeased priest, "And I have a sword."

Roko pointed the sword out at the crowd who shrunk away in fear.

"And I'm willing to kill as many of you as I have to in order to get out." Roko said sternly as he glared directly into the priest's eyes.

A murmur rose among the cultist crowd. Listening in, Roko could hear discussions about how serious he could be and how everyone wasn't willing to be the one that gets slashed trying to hold him down.

"Thankfully..." The priest's voice boomed across the room, silencing the chatter, "That won't be necessary."

"And why's that, altar boy?" Roko asked.

"Because I have the god's blessing." The priest smiled confidently as he turned a page of his book, "You make for a poor sacrifice so you don't have to worry about that. Do try not to die too easily on me though."

The priest waved his hands and the tentacles began moving again, lunging towards Roko. Roko slashed the first two tentacles coming at him, slicing the tips of the appendages, causing the otherworldly arms to recoil in pain.

"Funny. I didn't think your god felt pain."

"This isn't our god you fool." The priest smirked, "That is only a tiny fraction of his power. And you are celebrating too early."

With a sudden twitch, the tentacles regrew their tips, splattering inhuman black liquid over the ground as it reformed. Roko jumped off the short stairs of the altar and rolled into the crowd of cultists. The cultists turned to look at him confused until the tentacles grabbed onto the first cultist it could find and lifted him up. Screams arose from the crowd as more of the cultists were picked up by the tentacles which swing them around wildly in the air. Roko pulled one cultist in front of him and kicked the cultist forward into the searching arm of a tentacle which lifted him up into the air.

"Is that all you got?" Roko called once all the summoned tentacles were waving random cultists around in the air, "Maybe you should summon some of those monsters you used against us at the church. See how many more of these cultists you're willing to kill to get to me."

"Cocky aren't you?" The priest smirked as the cultists in the air screamed wildly, "But I wonder. For what reason did you come knocking on our base?"

Two more tentacles emerged from the ground and wrapped themselves around the restrained Melia. Roko quickly snapped into action, running out of the crowd, faster than he ever thought he could run, back onto the stage and right up to the tentacles that were beginning to lift Melia. With all his strength, Roko cleaved one of the tentacles, almost throwing himself off balance as he sliced through it with relative ease. The arms holding Melia buckled as it lost half of its support, enough for Roko to make a more measured slash against the second tentacle, dropping Melia back onto the platform.

"How do I get you out of here?" Roko grimaced as he sliced the remaining tentacles gripping Melia off. Just as he removed the last of them, a tentacle wrapped itself around his stomach and began to lift him. Roko tried to struggle against it but with his legs already getting lifted off the ground, he had no way of resisting. Still, he kept his hands around Melia, lifting her into the air with him.

"What do you plan on doing with her?" The priest called as Roko was held up near the ceiling of the underground cavern they were using as a ritual hall.

Roko struggled to hold onto Melia and his sword at the same time. He couldn't remember the last time he ever had to lift anything close to the weight of a person but he was glad he was managing. Still, there was no way he could fight back with Melia in his arms. But he couldn't just leave her down on the ground either. Pulling Melia further up so he could carry her using one arm, Roko took up his sword in his other hand and stabbed it into the tentacle binding his body. The appendage jerked and a distinct screeching sound could be heard though Roko couldn't imagine from where. Roko placed the handle of his sword in his mouth, willing him to not drop it as he took hold of Melia with both arms again. And this time, as the tentacle swing about in pain wildly, Roko tossed Melia up onto one of the chandeliers. The chandelier swung wide but not enough to drop Melia nor crash onto the ground. Roko almost dreaded what he would have to do later to get her back down but it was better than where she was a few moments ago.

"Do you really think I can't grab her because she's all the way up there?" The priest laughed.

Roko took the sword from his mouth, his arms now free to concentrate on the problems more pertinent to his own safety. He was hanging over ten feet off the ground. Dropping from here would be certain death for sure if he wasn't just majorly crippled. Humans don't do particularly well without leverage of some sort and there wasn't any that he could find while being swung around in the air. He had no practical spells at his disposal and a sword whose application could be disastrous. He was literally in the hands of his enemy and his options were slim. As it stood, there was no way for him to struggle out of his situation. But giving up and dying was not an option. And when you have to do something, there's no point in having fear. Roko sheathed his sword and waited.

"What's wrong?" The priest called as he watched Roko hang there limply, "Have you given up?"

"Why don't you come here and find out?" Roko replied.

"Ah, I do so detest other people. You among them are some of the worst."

The priest carefully let the cultists that occupied all of the rest of the tentacles go before turning one at Roko. One of the tentacles mutated, growing scales and a sharp hide until the tip of the tentacle became a sharpened nail.

"So I will take great pleasure in doing this." The priest smiles.

"Don't go soiling your robes, mister priest."

The priest's smile disappeared with a flash of anger and he silently waved his arm forward, sending the bladed tentacle charging towards Roko. Roko twisted his body, spinning his body so that the tentacle would curl inward, throwing his location off enough for the claw to rip through the tentacle binding him and only nicking a bit of his side. As the rest of the tentacle holding him fell away, Roko began to fall as well but he quickly grabbed onto the clawed tentacle as it passed by him. Roko did his best to hang on but the tentacle was too slippery. Instead of holding on and stopping his fall, Roko was instead thrown by the velocity of the claw and sent flying straight into the wall. Roko felt all his bones crack but it must have been a just a feeling as he was able to make himself reach out and grab onto a rocky ledge to stop himself from falling further. Thankfully, his entire stunt was able to get him close enough to the ground that he could just drop safely onto the ground where he immediately doubled up in pain from impacting the rock wall.

"Did that hurt?" The priest laughed mockingly, "That sounded like it hurt."

"Not as much as I'm going to hurt you." Roko growled as he forced himself on his feet and drew his sword.

"You're brave but you're not smart."

"And you're not either." Roko smirked, "But to be fair, you're not a lot of things."

"Are you always this infuriating?"

"Only when the time calls for it."

"And this is one such time?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. If this is an inconvenient time to laugh at you right now, I can reschedule. I can laugh at you at any time you want. It's really remarkable how much of an absolute joke you are."

"..."

"Seriously, have you considered changing your job to a clown? You won't even have to try that hard. Much easier than this threatening creepy priest thing you have going on right now."

"You think you can infuriate me?"

"Do you do anything with those tentacles aside from attacking women with them? What's wrong? Does your appendage not work anymore?"

…

The priest roared angrily as he threw every tentacle at Roko. Roko ran off to the side, dodging in between tentacles as they crashed into the stone wall behind him. Whenever he found a moment to take a stand, he would use it to slice away at the attacking appendages until he had to dodge away again. For all he was doing, the tentacles would just regenerate, shuddering and convulsing in a disgusting way as black liquid would burst from its wound until it regenerated. All Roko was managing to do was gain more time in between attacks as the tentacles would take a quick moment to regenerate before resuming their assault. And with time came the opportunity to attack. Roko stabbed one of the tentacles, stalling it's attempt to smash him, and with the road open to him, Roko began running, dragging his sword down the length of the tentacle. The tentacle seemed to screech again as it was cut in half until Roko withdrew his sword from the tentacle's body and slashed at the priest. Once again, a barrier appeared and blocked Roko's slash inches from the priest's body.

"Did you think it would be so easy?" The priest smirked.

"Analyze!"

The priest's smile faltered as Roko analyzed the barrier protecting him. One tentacle grabbed Roko around the stomach again and pulled him off, throwing him back towards the cave wall. Roko managed to shift his body enough to land feet first on the cave wall, catching himself before gravity took over again and Roko fell only a foot or two back down on the ground.

"What kind of spell did you use?" The priest scowled.

Roko picked himself back up again and hurriedly checked the results of his spell. Thankfully the results were still in his head and the priest was still marked in his vision. Despite using his spell on the barrier and the barrier no longer being visible, the mark remained. In all likelihood, the barrier was always there, just invisible when not in use. Putting that aside, Roko consulted the results of his Analyze.

Barrier

HP: 100%

MP: N/A

Attack: 0

Defense: 200

A barrier spell enhanced by a foreign power. Strong enough to stop most weapons, the user is incapable of movement while the barrier is up. Thanks to its otherworldly enhancement, the barrier's usual weakness to water is negated.

"What do you mean its weakness is negated?!" Roko cried, "That's some cheating bulls-!"

"What's he on about?" The priest muttered as Roko threw an angry from fit across the room.

"Okay. Calm down." Roko sighed as he took a deep breath, "There has to be some way to get through his barrier still. If water won't work...maybe otherworldly water?"

Roko looked down at his sword. It was coated in the blood of the tentacle that he sliced in half and the spark of an idea started forming in his head only to star to sputter and stall. He already tried attacking the barrier with this sword coated in the tentacle's blood and it seemed to have no effect. ...He could just be not using enough though.

"Standing there won't do you any good." The priest said as he waved his arm and sent the tentacles out towards Roko again.

"And this is getting old!" Roko cried as he ducked under a swiping tentacle. He ran down the side of the chamber and into the crowd of cultists who cried out in terror and immediately huddled away from him.

"What are you guys still doing here by the way?" Roko called as he turned around at all the confused looking cultists.

Instead of answering, a tentacle reared up and made a sharp jab at Roko. Roko ran forward again and closed the distance between him and the priest, jabbing his sword into the priest's back. The barrier blocked his attempt once again but this time, Roko pushed the weight of his body against the sword and leaned his back against the barrier.

"What do you think you're doing?" The priest smirked, unable to turn around to face Roko while the barrier protected him.

"If there's anything in your room that can penetrate your barrier, it's your own tentacles." Roko replied with a sly smile, "But if they were. you'd be smart enough to avoid swinging them around so close to yourself. Therefore, the safest place from your tentacles is around your own self."

"Hahaha. You think this barrier would lose to my own weapons?"

"I'm willing to make that bet."

"Then let's test that bet shall we?"

A tentacle wrapped around the both of them and pointed it's tip at Roko. Roko glared at it, daring it to make a move. There was a tense moment of silence as both of them silently dared the other to move first. Then at last, the tentacle lunged forward. Roko reacted immediately, turning around and placing one foot on the barrier. Roko ran up the back of the priest and jumped into the air as the tentacle slammed into the back of the barrier. The barrier held strong though it did seem to strain under the weight of the attack. Roko landed on the tentacle with a frown.

"Guess I lost that bet." He said as he raised his sword, "Time for Plan B."

Roko slashed the tip off the tentacle, causing the tentacle to rear up as it released a large spurt of eldritch blood all over the priest. The priest cried out in disgust and whipped around, trying to wipe the sickly, sticky and oily blood from himself. Roko dropped down from the tentacle and stabbed his sword into the bottom of the tentacle. With all his strength, Roko pulled the tentacle and smashed the bleeding stump into the body of the priest who was knocked back and onto the ground, now adorned in even more blood.

"Well look at that." Roko said as he walked up to the moaning priest, "Looks like I wasn't using enough after all."

The priest cried out in terror as Roko raised his sword and slashed down across the priest's chest.