218 Bloodletting Beast

"I fucking hate spiders!" Karla yelled out.

She leaned against a broken pillar and heaved, trying to catch her breath. Surgit stood on the opposite side, inspecting his spoils.

"I got a gemstone and four blue echoes," he told her.

He was soaked in blood from head to toe. They had just reached the last guardian of the Lower Pthumeru Chalice. After fighting hordes of red, hostile, summons, and a Keeper with two hell dogs, they finally found the path to the last guardian.

Surgit cursed their bad luck when the guardian turned out to be an identical version of Rom, the vacuous spider. This time, they had to fight it in a confined room, with barely enough space for them to maneuver around Rom's spider underlings.

They worked together, Surgit drawing the little beasts, while Karla took care of Rom. Her swordsmanship had improved significantly. Surgit never thought there was room for her to improve, yet she did.

She combined the elongated and retracted forms of her Saif to great effect, moving closer when Rom was alone, and elongating her sword to gain some distance when Surgit couldn't get all the spiders' attention.

The result was a dance Surgit was amazed at. She circled around the beast, getting close and jumping away at every opportunity.

When Rom finally decided to fight back, it couldn't land a single hit on Karla. Even its projectiles were not enough to stop her onslaught.

Before Surgit could clear the room of the small spiders, Karla had already defeated Rom. The underlings exploded into smithereens along with Rom.

"I got the same echoes too, and a root chalice. I guess this proves your theory then?" Karla asked.

Surgit nodded. The ritual maker always got the important spoils.

He turned to her. "I guess it's Obelisk time now.

She nodded then lay her eyes on the door at the end of the room. "Mar - the doll never said anything about Flora after all."

He shrugged. "You can't always expect to get something out of her. She's a doll after all. The fact that she speaks is crazy enough."

She snorted. "Crazy is all we deal with."

He barked out a laugh. "You got that right." He turned to the door. "Ready?"

They went in, expecting to find another obelisk. They found an elevator instead. It led them further deeper into the tombs, and finally opened into a vast tunnel.

Faint light slithered through the cracks high in the ceiling.

Surgit frowned at them. "Where do you think that comes from?" he asked.

Karla shrugged. "I don't know man. Some lanterns in the floor above?"

He shook his head. "They need to be really bright to light the floor below too. It doesn't make sense," he said.

"Half of what we do doesn't make sense. Let's just get to the Obelisk. I'm tired of these stuffy dungeons," she said.

They reached a tall door at the end of the tunnel. Foreign words were inscribed on its polished stones. They activated their insight and let it translate for them.

"Curse the fiends, their children too... and their children, forever true..." Surgit read out loud.

Karla shivered.

"Do you hear it, a sealess void? The Lair of Beasts, where the Blood-crazed roam," Surgit read on.

His alter beast cackled, and Surgit shivered too.

The rest of the engravings read the same. Surgit frowned at the text.

"What do you think this means?" he asked.

Karla shook her head. "I don't know for sure, but this whole curse business doesn't bode well."

Surgit sighed. "Why must they write in riddles?"

Karla snorted. "We came to a city of legends, remember?"

He shook his head. "This is getting us nowhere. Let's go inside and get this over with."

He placed his hand on the door and felt an ominous energy from the other side. He shivered and looked at Karla.

She stood next to him, her hand outstretched, but never touching the door.

"Do you feel it too?" he asked.

She nodded. "Something terrible is lurking behind this door."

Surgit cursed under his breath. "I thought we dealt with all the guardians."

His alter beast roared in laughter. 'What are you afraid of, hunter?'

"Shut up!" Surgit said through gritted teeth.

Karla turned to him. "Are you alright?"

He shook his head. "It's this aura. I never felt something like it before."

The realization chilled him to the bone. He'd met his share of monstrosities in Yharnam. The aura he felt from whatever awaited them felt more sinister.

'Are you going to stand there, or are you going in?' his alter beast asked.

Surgit took a deep breath. "What's the worst that could happen, die?"

Karla clenched her fist. "We can't die. We won't."

Surgit grinned then pushed the door as his alter beast kept laughing. The door creaked open, raining dust over their shoulders.

They walked into a wide circular room, big enough to accommodate a fight between two Cleric Beasts. A monster stood in the middle, taller and bigger than any they'd encountered before, save perhaps for the Amygdala.

Dark fur covered its body. Sharp claws protruded from its gigantic hands, dripping blood.

Surgit frowned as his eyes landed on the beast's head. It was split open from head to spine. A wide gash split the beast's head and upper back. It was so deep they could see the meat and some of the beast's bones. Blood continuously dripped and further darkened the beast's fur.

The beast stood, hunched, its head lowered toward the ground, its upper back curved toward them.

"What weapon can inflict such damage," Karla asked.

"How is that thing still standing?" Surgit asked.

'Aaah, true power,' his alter beast said.

The aura intensified as they walked into the room. The beast's eyes landed on them and it screeched, causing a visible sound wave around it. It shook the pillars that surrounded the room.

Surgit shivered. He felt like he was staring death in the eyes, real death. Its aura overwhelmed him and caused him to shiver.

Karla whimpered next to him and clutched her head. She screamed as whispers carried the beast's name to Surgit.

"Bloodletting Beast," the whispers said in unison.

'You're in for a bad time, hunter,' his alter beast said.

Surgit ignored him and checked on Karla.

She raised a hand at him. "I'm fine. It's this beast's aura. It's out of this world."

Surgit nodded. "We should finish it quickly."

She clenched her weapon. "Damn right!"

She darted toward the beast, her weapon tightly clutched beside her. Surgit was about to follow when he saw the beast take a step back.

Karla hadn't crossed half the distance between them. The beast lurched forward, its forefinger, claw outstretched, pointed at her. It reached her in a blink, and pierced through her chest like it was paper.

Karla let out a weak squeal before her body grew limp. The beast snarled then threw her aside, its split head scouring for Surgit. It found him and jumped toward him, again, with surprising speed.

Despite its gigantic size, the beast was as fast as a hunter.

'Duck!' he heard his alter beast say.

He did so, and a strong wind whooshed over his hair. He looked up to see the Bloodletting beast towering above him. It held both hands upward then smashed them toward him.

He jumped away in time, and the floor on which he stood crumbled.

'Dodged a bullet the -'

With its backhand, the beast caught Surgit midair and slammed him against a pillar. He yelped as he slumped down to the floor, his vision fading. He reached for his pockets for a blood vial, but a sharp pain dissuaded him from moving his hands.

He looked down to see both arms broken, his fingers turned at weird angles.

His alter beast cackled. 'Look up!'

He looked to see a shadow zoom toward him. The pillar against which he crashed crumbled, and he was quickly buried underneath the rubble.

He woke up, and found Karla sitting next to the lantern, sharpening her Saif.

"It got you too, huh?" she asked.

He crossed his arms. "Were you waiting for me?"

She nodded. "We're both tired, and that beast is really strong. We need to change tactics if we want to keep our spoils."

His alter beast laughed. 'You can always let me take over!'