Chapter 32: Chapter 32

Michael screamed as the boiling blood rained down upon him. He desperately tried to create some distance from the demon, but it was the least of his problems right now.

The spots where the blood landed was festering. It threatened to eat away at his body, so he did the one thing he could do.

He ordered his soldiers to distract the beast while he tended to his wounds. He grit his teeth and hastily manipulated his blood to cut away the flesh that was burning away at his body. Seconds later blood flowed from his wounds, and large chunks of burnt flesh fell upon the floor.

That’s when Keith spoke up, “You look like you’re having a bad time. Maybe if you tried putting me on then you’d actually be able to kill it?”

Michael coughed up blood and scowled at the mask, “Fuck off Keith.”

He’d had no idea he was this weak to fire. Nothing in the files he’d read had mentioned this.

Was that why they’d sent him after the giant?

Was the foundation trying to kill him? They’d probably known just how weak he was to fire, and they’d still sent him down here anyways.

Michael took a deep breath and thought this through logically.

It was very unlikely they were just straight up trying to kill him. There were better, more efficient ways to go about it. It’s more likely they were simply testing just how strong he actually was, and if he died in the process then they’d be fine with that outcome as well. Hell, they may have woken this damn thing up on purpose just to test him.

Michael grit his teeth as he tried to make some distance between himself and the monster. Gunfire echoed throughout the cavern as his soldiers continued to fire their rifles. They’d burrowed into the walls and would periodically emerge to fire upon the giant. They weren’t that effective, but it was working ever so slowly. They’d been chipping away at it throughout the fight, but he refused to send them into close quarters combat with this thing. If it hurt him this much, then sending them any closer would be little more than a death sentence.

He’d need a new plan since he couldn’t exactly get close to the thing either.

...

Well he still had the shotgun. He’d been neglecting it for a while since it was less effective than just smashing things with a hammer, but it was still his only ranged weapon.

Michael dodged another strike from the whip and retreated to his men, quickly grabbing his shotgun from the soldier he’d stashed it with.

Bullets weren’t incredibly effective, but they were doing damage. However small it was, it would have to be enough.

Michael grinned and rushed the giant.

Tonight he would kill a demon.

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The next twenty minutes were chaotic, with Michael drawing the giant's attention and narrowly dodging its attacks. He was faster than the creature, but the sheer size of the giant made it difficult to maneuver around it. Its sword and whip moved incredibly fast, but Michael could perceive its movements easily enough and was able to properly avoid each one of them. Meanwhile Michael’s soldiers unloaded their sizable stash of ammunition into the giant while he made precise shots to its legs in an attempt to limit its movement.

Ever so slowly its body was being chipped away at. Small pieces of burning rock and flesh falling away with each shot.

It knew it was fighting a losing battle and seemed to be growing more desperate as the fight continued, making more and more reckless attacks that weren’t as difficult to dodge. Although Michael did find it extremely unpleasant to be so close to the thing. Especially since it seemed to be getting hotter as it became more and more enraged.

It momentarily ceased its attacks towards Michael and stabbed its flaming sword deep into the ground.

Seconds later the stone began to rapidly heat and melt at an alarming rate. It spread all throughout the floor, not giving much space to stand on. The ground almost seemed to flow as waves if heat pulsed from the sword into the earth.

Michael grimaced, there was no telling how this would affect the cavern. It could easily cause it to collapse which is something he’d rather avoid.

All of this was below a town after all. If it all came crashing down, then so would the stuff up above.

Michael raised his concentration as he tried to think of a solution. His new tools at his hip working overtime to aid the process. He’d need to kill this thing quickly, he couldn’t have a prolonged fight with it any longer.

“Well fuck it.”

Michael momentarily retreated to his soldiers and picked out his two least favorites, before having them shift their bodies over his into a form of armor. Their flesh rapidly hardened as it maneuvered over his body.

They wouldn’t last long in the heat. Not long at all, but he didn’t really have a lot of choices at the moment.

Michael switched out his shotgun for his hammer and mace, before rushing towards the giant.

Each step melted away at the flesh of his armor, so he’d try to stay off the ground as much as possible.

Seconds later his mace impacted the giant, blasting it across the cavern and away from its sword.

Its blood once again began to fall towards Michael as he maneuvered his body to reduce the amount that would fall upon him.

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The small amount that landed on Michael burned at the armor, which quickly cut the burning pieces away.

Michael didn’t give the giant time to think and continued to pressure it. His weapons breaking chunks away from the giant.

Strands of blood periodically stretched from the armor to intercept any pieces of the giant he couldn’t dodge. He’d learned from his past mistake and didn’t attempt to block the molten flesh, instead simply altering where it was going to fall so he could dodge it properly.

This went on, and the armor of flesh continued to decay, but it wouldn’t matter. The giant was near death and it knew it.

It began to sink into the molten rock at its feet in a clear attempt to escape. But Michael wouldn’t let it.

He lifted his mace as pure energy flowed from the crown into the weapon. It glowed a brilliant blue and quickly impacted the giant’s mostly submerged body.

It had been worn away throughout the fight, and this was the final straw. It’s torso ripped away from its submerged lower body and shot into the far wall.

An astounding amount of that boiling liquid poured out from the demon’s corpse. Michael’s armor leapt from his body to block the liquid. Burning away on the floor soon after.

The giant was dead, and inside of its chest Michael could see a ring as dark as coal. It pulsed as if it was alive. It beckoned, whispering for him to take it and don it upon his hand, but he all but ignored it.

Right now he had bigger problems than an obviously evil ring trying to seduce him. Primarily that his armor was gone and he could already feel the heat eating away at him.

Michael quickly retreated up into the higher tunnels, ordering his soldiers to meet him near the entrance. He collapsed against the wall once the heat had begun to let up.

He breathed heavily, “That was terrible.”

Michael’s heart roused from its sleep with a yawn, “Well that was quite a good nap. Wait. What in the nine and a half hells happened to you?”

“Fought a giant fire demon. It wasn’t fun.”

Keith piped up, “He got his ass handed to him. He wouldn’t have had this problem if he’d simply put me on.”

Seeing the opportunity the heart jumped in, “Or you could have just given up on your human form.”

Michael sighed, “Dear god, I've gotta deal with two of you now. Can y’all please just stop nagging me.”

Keith scoffed, “Fine, by the way I would just leave that ring where it is if I was you.”

“Why?”

“You mean besides how obviously cursed it is? What other reason could you possibly need?”

“Well the giant was clearly protecting it for a reason, and I went through a whole lot of bullshit to defeat it. It’d just feel wrong to leave the treasure lying around for someone else to take. Especially the foundation.”

Keith scoffed, “As long as you don’t wear it you should be fine, but this is still an unnecessary risk. One that I’d suggest you don’t take.”

“Life's all about risk Keith.”

Michael grinned, “Besides, did you not see how cool that ring looked?”

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Hours had passed since Michael went down into the mines, and Hearthgrieve was beginning to get nervous.

He didn’t have a say in sending Michael after that thing, and they’d even made him drive all the way out here to meet him when he made it back out. Not that he thought he couldn’t handle the giant, it's just that the flesh that hates is extremely weak to fire.

They’d only given Michael quick summaries of many of the SCPs, and for whatever reason it left out the flesh that hates weakness.

Probably due to it being buried within the records of an old field expedition, and how limiting information made it easier to erase with amnestics should Michael ever decide to release the information to the public.

Nevertheless he was somewhat surprised to hear footsteps echoing out from the tunnels.

He watched Michael walk out from within the mine with a notably smaller number of his soldiers trailing behind him. His skin looked to have been scorched, and could even see points where the fire had completely eaten through his armor. Looking closer, he could see his wounds healing at a rapid rate.

Michael walked up and put his hand on Hearthgrieve’s shoulder.

“We need to talk.”

With that they teleported away with a flash of light.

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