Down With The Gods

The baby spider latches onto Wyn’s face, its legs emitting weak electrical shocks. Its belly opens into a mouth, ready to chomp down. Wyn quickly responds with a hardened uppercut, followed by a cyclone that sends the spider flying toward the cavern ceiling where it shatters. The force of the punch leaves long scratches across his face from the spider’s tight grip.

“Don’t let the shards latch onto you!” Wyn warns.

The warning might be too late for James, who’s been completely swarmed by the babies. Mira, fully charged, hurls her explosive metal egg at the mass of spiders on top of James, blowing them to bits. Dealing with the remaining few, James solidifies his body in ice, summoning icy spikes into the mouths of the chomping spiders. The “needy” duo work well together. Mira lashes her whip at the shards on the mother spider’s back, while James fends off any incoming babies.

On the other side, Yu and Christine try a new combination. The two create a large, wobbly wall of snow to block the shards. Resembling a fluid avalanche, the wall crashes into the spiders, burying them under its weight. When it hits the mother spider, parts of its legs are covered before the snow fades away, sparking an idea for Yu. They fuse their powers once more, creating snowy fountains around the mother spider's legs, obstructing its movement.

At the front, Anish fights off the spider’s fangs with one hand, controlling his javelin, while the other hand hurls pingwins and wandering baby spiders at its head. Supported by Yu and Christine’s snowy fountains, Anish hooks his javelin into one of the spider’s eyes. Anchoring the other hook to the ground, he pulls, bringing the spider’s head down.

Seeing the opening, Wyn, who’s been fending off the baby spiders, calls Yu and Christine over. Together, they create a fused snowy fountain cyclone aimed at the rear of the creature as Anish signals that the spider’s head is finally pinned to the ground. The attack flips the spider onto its back, crushing the remaining shards. A final descending cyclone, loaded with weapons, delivers the finishing blow.

“I’m impressed, Yu and Christine, you lovers you!” Wyn says.

“We’re not lovers!” Christine blushes. “The ideas, like, were all his,” she continues as Yu stands proud.

“You’re actually creative, just not imaginative,” Wyn says.

As they make their way toward the exit, their path is blocked by a giant tortoise, its massive head poking into the cavern and its wide front blocking the way. But despite its size, the team quickly takes it down by aiming for the exposed front area.

“Can you flip it over?” Mira asks Wyn for a favor.

“Why?”

“I want to see something legendary.”

After several attempts, with the assistance of all the team members, the tortoise is finally flipped to Mira’s satisfaction. She steps onto its belly, gazing in awe at the impressive floppy tower.

“I’ll get one like this later,” Mira says, referring to something only Christine, the only one who has been inside Mira’s tent, understands.

As they exit the caverns, the Bouncy Floating Isles await. The team is greeted by an expanse of clouds, tinged with a mesmerizing pink and purple hue, forming the ground beneath their feet. Above them, floating isles of clouds hover, adorned with structures, mostly huts. Walking on the clouds feels solid, like walking on firm ground, but with each jump, the clouds reveal their springy nature, bouncing the jumper back upward with a buoyant force.

Yu eagerly jumps from a tall water fountain and bounces so fast that he reaches the underside of one of the lower floating isles. The longer he stays in the loop, the faster his bounces become. As expected, he finds himself stuck in an endless loop of bouncing.

“Hhheeelllppp mmmeee,” he pleads.

Anish prepares to assist, but Wyn interrupts.

“Dash your way out!”

Before Yu can act, Christine, frustrated with Wyn for not helping, summons a snow pillar to reduce the bouncing gap. Unfortunately, Yu flattens the rising snow instantly, thwarting her effort.

“Hopeless. Just help him out,” Wyn relents, allowing Anish to fly Yu out of the endless bounce loop.

“Phew. Thanks, dad! That was fun, though!” Yu exclaims.

“Imagine if Wyn does his cyclone thing here…,” Anish remarks.

“Thanks for the idea!” Wyn grins.

The strategy draws the attention of nearby souls, eager to witness his team turn the Bouncy Floating Isles into a one-sided slaughter playground. A cockatrice, a two-legged mythical beast with a serpent-like body and a rooster’s head, notorious for enveloping its prey in rocks, descends from a hut, only to get caught in Wyn’s fully-charged cyclone fused with various elemental attacks. The unfortunate creature is sent into an endless bouncing loop before it gets barbecued to perfection. Even the notorious UMF – “Unidentified MotherFucker” per the bestiary description – a flying saucer-like creature with a pulsing brain above the body and an extendable mouth below, meets the same fate, dispatched effortlessly in the cyclone’s fury. Lesser dragons, provoked by being called “lesser,” are also no match for the relentless bouncing strategy.

“Look at him go, eh! That crazy bastard. Why would you even want a new team?” James whispers to Christine, who remains silent.

“Ha! Copycat!” an unfamiliar voice calls out.

From the crowd emerges a dwarf wearing children’s suspenders over a white long-sleeved shirt and bright yellow dress pants, a result from losing a bet. His deep orange beard and mustache contrast sharply with his attire.

“A weapon fitting for a dwarf is always an ax. I bet yours is an ax too!” Yu teases.

“Fuck you…but dammit, my weapon IS an ax,” the dwarf admits begrudgingly.

“I think you’re missing a propeller beanie and a lollypop to complete the look,” James comments.

“Fuck you too, you twig.”

Gavin, the forty-six-year-old earth soul, is often called Gimli by his peers due to his appearance. He leads a team of nine other souls, all of normal height. Smirking, Gimli flicks a rock, boosted by a teammate’s cyclone, at an idle cockatrice. The beast glares at him, turning him to stone, but before it can swoop down, Gimli breaks free, summoning a rock pillar to slam the rooster against the underside of a floating isle. He achieves the same endless bouncing loop, proudly showing off his essence count with a grin.

“Hmph? Five thousand nine hundred?” Wyn reads the count off Gimli’s virtual screen, causing murmurs to ripple through the crowd.

“Well, this is awkward, my little dude,” Anish says.

“How dare you call me ‘little dude’? Your friend doesn’t seem so tall either.”

“I’m one sixty-five in non-retarded units. How tall ARE you, little guy?”

“Shut up, freak! And why are you staring at me?”

“Don’t mind me. Let me have my fantasies,” Mira replies.

“I know what you’re thinking. Please don’t,” Wyn says.

“Everything’s a, erm, ‘that,’ if you’re brave enough.”

“Welp. Moving on.” Wyn collects himself for a few seconds before proceeding to nonchalantly brag. “Everyone on our team is close to six thousand, except for that slenderman-tall guy over there. He’s not on our team.” His brag draws out more murmurs.

“This is one of the strongest teams I’ve seen yet!” a female soul exclaims.

Gimli appears agitated, feeling belittled by Wyn and his team. He pulls aside his teammates for a private discussion before returning to Wyn.

“You see, there’s a competition down at the sea. Rent a ship, and we shall compete in a sea creature hunt!” Gimli announces.

“Competition?” Wyn asks.

“Just go there when you’re ready. My team will wait for you. The demons will explain everything.”

“Why can’t you take us there?”

“I don’t want to get there with you!”

Yu, overly excited, can hardly contain himself. A few years before his demise, he had purchased a set of pirate costumes which he has yet to wear. He’s eager to share – or rather force – the rest of the team to wear them. His enthusiasm is put on pause by Wyn, who recommends that the team make its way to the sea first, should they accept Gimli’s challenge. Opening the map, Wyn notes that the sea is located near the village, toward the shamali tree. It’s clear that the only way to get to the village is to cross the sea. Remembering what Catati said about intelligent beings living there, it’s a destination that has been on Wyn’s mind since then.

Wyn hates competition. The weird thing is that he doesn’t mind losing; he just wants to finish it. His blood boils as he aims to complete the objective with all his might, whether it’s defeating others or just finishing a task. Then it hits him that he has yet to master the cyclone dash. His confidence going into whatever the competition against Gimli is drops. However, an image of him standing proudly with a foot on Gimli’s head as he celebrates his victory seems appealing.

“We don’t need to enter the competition,” Anish says.

“Nah, let’s kick his little butt,” Wyn replies.

“Yes, the costumes, finally!” Yu cheers.

“You son of a bitch! I’m in!” James shouts.

“Need I remind you that you’re not part of the team and never will be?”

“You are fucking…you are fucking…”

“You fucking fucking you, bloody. Fuck you, bloody! Bastard bitch!”

Despite finding it odd how Wyn and James bicker in an accent resembling Anish’s compatriots, Mira switches her outfit into a captain costume.

“Hey! Unfair! I have a costume for all of you! Wear it!” Yu complains.

“Look at me. I’m the captain now. I don’t take no orders from no one!”

“Actually, Miss Mira, two negatives make a positive,” Anish says.

“Ain’t got no time for yer language lesson, yah, I mean, yarrr!”

At this point, Christine is about ready to have enough of these souls. Her head aches somehow, and she quietly prays for her sanity.