The star of this chapter is the formidable, fearsome, and beautiful amazon, Lezanna Askas. Enjoy!
Chapter 14
The Black Tigress
At the peak of Zeus's power, Lezanna Askas was considered the picture of a berserker. In the Dungeon, she would often go on wild rampages, tearing through monsters like grass to a blade. Even when she lost or destroyed her weapons, which happened far too often for her personal smith's taste, she would just fight bare handed, ripping through all monsters with her bare hands. In the heat of battle she looked no different from a wild beast.
She was Lezanna Askas, Level Six. The gods bestowed her the second name Black Tigress.
"It doesn't matter if it's monsters or people," Wilna sighed. She and the rest of the party were waiting in the rear. When Lezanna fought, she was very much the picture of a wild beast. Untamable and unstoppable. She would rampage until all in her way were destroyed. The problem was that, on the high of battle, she rarely distinguished friends from foes. Unless you intimately understood her attack patterns and was as skillful as a first tier, the least safest place on the battlefield was next to her. "When she fights, she's just a beast."
"I don't disagree," Biska, an amazon with a bob cut, said. "But you must admit. Lezanna-san is beautiful when she fights."
They watch her carefully. Her way of fighting was wild, beastly, and messy, but… it was also beautiful. Generally speaking, fighting the way Lezanna did was only effective in the short term. In the long run, charging forward like a maniac was doomed to fail. Even if they were unskilled, underleveled, and undisciplined and cowardly, all of the bandits had falna and were armed with swords and weapons. If at least one of them took advantage of any openings she created, then they might win.
In fact, some of them did try. Whenever she left herself exposed after stomping on one of the bandits, another tried to stab her from behind, but without even looking, she moved with an exotic dancer's grace and swung her foot into his face.
If you paid close attention, you'd notice, that despite so much blood having already been spilled and stained the grass beneath the, despite Lezanna being covered in blood herself… not a single drop of it was her own.
She, since the start of the fight, had not bled.
Not when she charged at them initially and they had tried to cut her down.
Not when she repeatedly left herself open to attacks from behind.
Not when spell casters from the rearguard fired a variety of attack spells at her.
Not even when she was jumped from all sides.
No matter how they assaulted her, she wasn't cut or struck once since the start of the battle.
It was a crazy feat of skill, but her party knew it wasn't actually skill that allowed her to accomplish that.
If Kuda, Alystar, or Barren were there in her place, they would likely use their martial skills and overwhelming power and magic to wipe out the little army.
Her long time rival Celesta would utilize her all powerful magic to annihilate the enemy.
Ironically, it was Kyra, who was almost opposite to Lezanna in personality and mannerisms, that fought most similarly to Lezanna. Although their sharp minded executive wasn't prone to the same brand of recklessness as the woman in question, but, when she didn't just electrify them, she would charge at hordes of monsters and people, and dive into the center of them and utilize her skills to attack, defend, and counter her adversaries as if she could see in all directions.
But that was different from Lezanna's style. She didn't use skills, or an ability, her body just moved on its own as if it knew what to do. While others learned how to fight, she already knew what to do. Her body already knew how to crush all who stood in her path. Her instincts moved her. They were her guide.
In many ways, she was the perfect fighter. Or rather, she was born to fight.
"Yeah," Wilna said, a feeling of envy for Lezanna's natural abilities coming to her. "She's beautiful. No question. But it's what makes her great is also what makes her a pain in the ass to fight with."
It was the same instincts that made her so formidable that also made her dangerous to fight with. When lost in the heat of battle, she tended to forget whether the person next to her was friend or foe.
"Get out of the way!" A group of bandits shouted at the party who stood in front of the entrance to the town. Another flaw in Lezanna's fighting style was that it was actually quite inefficient. She only focused on what was near her, so she often let others who weren't near her or approaching her get past her. That was the main reason why the rest of her party chose to remain in the rear; to keep the bandits from entering the town and causing havoc.
"Hup!" Unphased by the fear driven mad men charging at them, Wilna jumped up several feet and landed a well timed kick squarely into the face of the front runner of the group, knocking him down and out in one blow. One of his companions, enraged, raised his sword in an attempt to kill her.
"Die! Hobbit bitch!"
"I am, but!" Wilna was unperturbed by the insult to both her race and her sex, easily dodging the man's sword. She was a prum, and also a woman, which was a combination that would normally put someone at the bottom of the food chain. Gender and racial inequality weren't as big of an issue in the Age of Gods as they might've been prior to the descent of the deities, but they were still significant issues, especially when you were both female and a prum. Certainly, Wilna didn't have it easy growing up.
However, when she and her twin brother Wilbur joined Zeus Familia, that all changed. They were respected and encouraged. Nobody in their familia looked down on them. The time they spent with their new family were truly blessed times. However, those treasured days didn't spoil them or make them complacent. Ironically, being treated as equals made the Pallum twins want to work harder for their new family.
For Kuda, who charged forward heroically against all odds, regardless of whether or not he stood a chance.
For Kyra, who covered the blindsides of the whole familia on expedition using her lightning quick speed, great skill, and power magic all while staying hidden in the shadows.
For Alystar, who respected their efforts enough not to interfere in their battles, and cared enough to save them when they needed it.
For Celesta, who trusted them enough to let them protect her while she casted.
For Lezanna, who… made things easier so long as they didn't come near her in battle?
For the heroes they admired, they'd support them as the best damn supporters there ever was. They'd follow them to the depths of the Dungeon. They supported them on the Three Great Quests. And, most importantly, they survived it all, and as a reward for braving countless nightmares, they became strong in their own right.
She was Wilna. The gods bestowed on her the second name Little Angel (she hated the name).
"But, I'm also Level 4!" She informed her assailant as she grabbed him by the wrist and flipped him, slamming hard on his back. Pain and confusion at being bested by such a small woman had him groaning. As he looked up at the prum woman who bested him, he had difficulty understanding her face. She wasn't looking down on him in a triumphant or arrogant way, nor was her expression humble. It was the matter-of-fact face of a lecturer, like an older woman admonishing a brat. "Keep this in mind, sir. Bigger does not mean stronger. Wherever you end up after this, try to remember that."
His pain and humiliation unbearable, the man fainted. Desperate and angry, the rest of them moved to kill Wilna. The Amazon, Biska, and Dwarf, David, moved to defend her, if for no other reason than to get in at least a little bit of action in the fight. Easily, they overpowered all who came at them. It was honestly disappointing to them. If it was going to be this easy, then they'd rather guys like this didn't try to do this at all.
Frozen in fear of the three strong fighters in front of them, and the horrifying berserker decimating their comrades behind them, the last of the deserters dropped down on their knees, their will to fight shattered.
"Well, I guess things will end pretty easily," Mina, the human healer, said. It was a sight that was common for Zeus Familia, especially before their fall from power.
"Hold that thought," Wilna said, looking past the carnage at the three who were still in the rear, the huge crate still beside them
"Release the monster," Jake Coalsworth ordered.
"N-Now, sir?" The tamer stammered.
"Yes, we can use it as a distraction to escape."
"Escape?!" One of Aristaeus' members that was in the rear with them looked outraged. He was the sort of thief whose bandit instincts of greed and savagery overrode his basic survival instincts. "Release the monster, but we are NOT running away."
"Don't you know who that woman is?!" Coalsworth snapped. His fear made it difficult for him to remain calm. "That's Black Tigress! Even if you and your familia operate outside of Orario, surely you must remember who she is! Which familia she's a part of!"
"Black Tigress…!? As in… weren't they destroyed 11 years ago?!"
"That's what we all thought! Just release the monster!"
"You might as well," the woman said, her calm voice making the men who were intending to pillage the small settlement of Pink Leaf Village jump like little boys caught doing something naughty. "It's not as though your friends here were of any use."
Contrast to the casual tone of Black Tigress, the scene at hand horrified the three remaining bandits. As far as the eye could see, there were bodies laid all across the ground. The bodies laid so still and looked so damaged, that it would not surprise anyone to find out they were dead. But the groans some of the barely conscious men let out shouted they were all still alive, somehow. Shockingly, the Tigress hadn't killed anyone in her grizzly assault. Despite spilling so much blood
"It's no fun beating on wimps. If you got a secret weapon, say a monster you somehow acquired from the Deep Floors of the Dungeon, I really want you to use it. Please, I'd be in your debt." She added. Her tone was casual, even playful, but her eyes revealed her thirst-her hunger-for a real fight. The fact she was covered in blood (not a drop of which was her own) only enhanced the promise of pain she would deliver onto the three men.
Fearing for his life, the Aristaeus follower who was opposed to running away before frantically used his weapon to break open the lock on the crate. The door flung open. A pair of bloodshot dull yellow eyes peered out from the darkness of the now open crate. Dully, the monster inside stepped out.
It was a Stone Beast. It was a 8 meter tall monster made completely of stone. It's body seemed to be a bizarre blend of a tortoise's shell, a jungle cat's four legs, a lizard's tail, and a dragon's head and neck. It was a horrible sight, as if made from the twisted mind of a talented sculptor. On its neck, the monster had a black collar fastened on it-a control collar.
"Attack herrrr!!!" The tamer screamed, his voice desperate and high pitched instead of deep and commanding, like a tamer should be. Under normal circumstances, no Stone Beast would listen to such a pathetic tamer, but it seemed to be under the influence of powerful magic and some pretty intense drugs that were meant to inhibit its wild nature in order to make it more obedient. It moved to attack Lezanna.
Objectively, Lezanna was at a disadvantage. Stone Beasts were notoriously difficult to kill due to their rock hard bodies making conventional weapons ineffective. The general strategy was to protect the mages as they cast spells powerful enough to kill the monster. Often, it took multiple spells to destroy Stone Beasts due to their insane toughness. Its individual danger capacity was high even before you took into account the hordes of other monster species you'd certainly have to fight against in the Deep Floors.
Knowing all that, Lezanna was technically in trouble.
Knowing Lezanna, her familia, and also Jake Coalsworth, knew that it was the Stone Beast who was really screwed.
Lezanna, showing off her impressive agility, leapt overhead of the 8 meter tall stone monster and when she was over its neck, she dealt an accurate and powerful punch at its nape. Its entire upper body cracked and fractured, and it cried horrifically in pain. The agony of its scream was enough to curdle the blood of almost any hardened veteran or bandit. Worse even, the control collar keeping it under the tamer's control had snapped off. Something that shocked them more than anything else considering it was designed to remain intact even if the monster it was attached to was running wild on a rampage.
The now freed Stone Beast immediately searched for the one who had damaged and liberated it. If looks could kill, the way it looked at Lezanna would be enough to wipe out her entire soul. Lezanna simply drank up its glare, unafraid. Actually, she seemed excited. She had a hunch that the control collar around it was hindering its performance. Now they could have a propper battle.
It charged at her, its movement unhindered from its damage and much more wild compared to earlier. It unhinged its jaw-revealing the stony flesh and saliva- and attempted to bite her whole. She gracefully jumped back to avoid it. It continued to pursue her, continually missing her every time. It might've been twice as monstrous now that the collar had been removed, but the way Lezanna was laughing as she kept moving out of the beast's range showed who was the true monster.
"You're much more energetic now that that ugly accessory is off your neck. It must've been annoying being forced to listen to these tiny dongs, huh?" The Stone Beast continually tried to reach her, but she always remained just outside of its range. It was ironic. When she had fought with the bandits before, she was a wild berserker, uncaring of leaving herself open to attack. Now, against the bloodthirsty monster, she was calm and collected as she conversed with the Stone Beast. "I remember those collars being quite the problem way back when. Weak little punks with more bull than brains getting the ability to control strong monsters that they otherwise had no business to tame… Well, you can imagine how bad it was. I honestly felt bad for the monsters getting controlled like pets. I'm no monster sympathizer, I assure you, but our soft hearted leader has this thought that monsters may have been ordinary people in past lives. He doesn't suggest anything dumb like "we should befriend monsters" or "we shouldn't kill them". That'd be dumb. You all ceaselessly kill us without a second thought. Just like you're doing now."
She jumped several feet back to avoid the claw it swung down. The force of its claw hitting the ground was enough to shake the earth. From several feet away, she stared at it unafraid, like a lioness about to pounce.
"Our cute, manly leader would never spare you. He would never choose the life of a bloodthirsty beast over the lives of innocent villagers. Still, he'd grant you a merciful death and pray that in your next life, you are reborn as something more peaceful. I don't pray, but I will grant you a merciful death."
She started her chant.
"Deities presiding over the domain of battle and bloodlust, war and mayhem, wrath and brutality, grant me your power and make me the avatar of your names. Black Berserk.'
Her body was engulfed by a dark and purple light. Her eyes lit up with the color of blood red. Scary didn't quite do justice to the presence she now had. Terrifying also didn't quite catch it. Monstrous. She was monstrous. Far more monstrous than the monster she was facing.
The Stone Beast studied his opponent. It was only for a moment, but for those who observed, it felt longer. After it was done, the Stone Beast let out a breath, as if sighing, as if accepting its fate. Those who didn't know monsters thought that they were mindless beasts with no brains, but those were the assumptions of ignorant people who did not know the monsters like those who fought them on a regular basis.
Monsters-especially those born in the Deep Floors-had desires same as people. Those desires were to fight and kill whatever was in their way. They also had pride. While most of their kind fought with their own survival in mind, choosing to run when faced with certain death, others had their pride and faced death with grizzly determination.
Whatever this Stone Beast was before, most of its pride was shattered after being captured and dragged out of its birth place and enslaved by humans, it would not throw away the last shred of its pride running away. It stared down at her with resolve and roared.
"GRAHHHHRRRR!!!!"
"HAAAAHHH!!!!"
If you looked away for a second you'd have missed what happened.
The Stone Beast charged at her. Lezanna moved in response. Coated in the magic of her spell, Black Berserk. She rammed at it. She did not throw a punch or swing a kick or even use her weapon. She simply jumped-launched was more accurate-off the ground and rammed her body at the large monster's head. When her body collided with the Stone Beast's head, it exploded in a cloud of dust and debris. Its whole body shattered like glass and crumbled like dust. She flew out of the cloud of dust unscathed, roaring like a wild beast.
Black Beserk. A enhancement type spell that granted its caster maxed out strength, defense, speed, and even self healing. It also took away the user's sanity and turned them into a battle crazed monster. It was Lezanna's only spell and she enjoyed using it every chance she got.
Zeus Familia hated that spell. It might've made her almost unbeatable in combat, but it came at a cost. To begin with, the berserk state she fell in made her unable to discern friend from froe, so an ally would get caught up in her rampage if they were unlucky enough to get close to her or be in her path. Worse than that, the spell didn't go away until she was knocked out, killed, or had used up all of her energy, leaving her unable to move. In the Dungeon where monsters were born from its very walls, that was a liability. And even when there were no monsters, the berserker Lezanna turned her battle crazed self towards her strongest friends and attacked them. Even when the leaders of Zeus Familia ordered her to never use that spell, she shamelessly disobeyed.
So it was up to her friends (as the Zeus leaders never wanted to deal with her) to stop her when she used her magic, which, to reiterate, made her insanely strong, durable, and also gave her insane self healing while also turning her into a crazed berserker. Getting her under control was arguably harder than fighting Balor or even the fifth or sixth Monster Rexes. It was a chore none of them wanted to do (save for Celesta, who rather enjoyed the excuse to beat up her amazonian rival).
Objectively, it was an even more effective spell than the Braver's Hell Finegas magic. Practically, it was a crappy spell that the Zeus Familia loathed.
"I will always hate that spell," Wilna muttered irritatedly. She was dipping the arrows for her appropriately sized crossbow in a bottle filled with a clear liquid.
"Agreed," David the dwarf said. "But you have to admit, it brings back Memories of when Kuda and the others were made to incapacitate her. It was funny to watch, you must admit."
"Yeah," she nodded. "It was funny to watch, not so much to be a part of. Especially, since Kyra isn't here."
It was usually Kyra's lightning magic that finally knocked Lezanna out after she got like this, but since she was elsewhere, the task of bringing Lezanna under control fell to her, a master of poisons.
She saw Lezanna chase after the three who had run away releasing the Stone Beast. With it slain, Berserk Lezanna chased after the next prey. Even with Level 3 speed and a headstart, Lezanna would catch up to them in an instant. As she thought, the pathetic cries of men begging for their lives could be heard from a distance. Then, nothing was heard. Then, the sound of a charging beast heading towards them getting louder by the second echoed like drums. In a second, she ran out of the woods she had run into just moments before, and charged at them with a battle crazed look.
The war David and the amazon Biska readied their weapons instantly, even though they knew if it came to actually fighting her, Lezanna would rip them to pieces in her current state.
"Seriously," Wilna groaned. With great dexterity, she loaded her crossbow with the arrow she had dipped in the liquid before. When Lezanna leapt into the air to pounce on them, she shot the arrow. "Stop using that damn magic!"
The arrow hit her in the shoulder and she fell backwards midair and hit the ground. She lay where she fell, still and unmoving, as if dead. The dark energy that had surrounded her faded away. Ordinarily, no way one arrow to the shoulder would keep Lezanna down, berserk state or not, but that arrow was dipped in tranquilizer powerful enough to knock out a Monster Rex and fast acting enough to work in an instant. If anyone below Level Six was hit by it, they'd probably not wake up. She, on the other hand, would certainly wake up.
Wilna hated it when she had to put her down. The formula for the tranquilizer wasn't cheap, nor was it pleasant to shoot her with an arrow to administer the tranquilizer. Lezanna was lucky she hadn't hit a vital spot, although, even if she had, Wilna wasn't entirely sure that would kill her.
"She's too troublesome," Wilna sighed, dropping to her bum. Truly, she definitely would not be feeling so exhausted if it wasn't Lezanna she was grouped with. She knew she didn't have it as bad as Kyra, who was unofficially expected to keep Lezanna and the others in check, but she still hated it. "David, Biska, go retrieve the three she dealt with in the woods. Even when she gets insane like that, she won't kill weaklings she can easily crush. Although, I'm sure it won't be a pretty sight."
They agreed and went. Willna laid her back on the ground when they left.
"I bet of all of us, I'm the only one of the Level 4s to feel this exhausted."
"Probably," Mina the human healer said. "Great job, Wilna."
I hope you all enjoyed that. To be honest, action scenes are difficult to write. The chants for spells are also tough. However, I enjoy writing my characters in their purest settings. Hopefully, I can write scenes of opponents who can actually give the Zeus Familia remnants a decent challenge.
Until next time. Remember, if you want to continue this fiction, you can subscribe on my Patreon.