[POCO'S POV]
I slammed my pillar down, crushing another spider under the stone.
Its legs twitched once before going still.
Didn't matter.
Another skeleton took its place—
rusted blade swinging wild.
I ducked under it, breathing hard, and Pebble Flicked a stone into its spine.
The bones cracked apart, falling like broken branches.
I staggered a step backward.
Behind me, a zombie snarled, oozing black spit from its mangled mouth.
"Enough already—!" I growled, swinging the pillar sideways.
The zombie folded in half with a wet snap, but two more shuffled toward me.
More spiders poured out of the cracks.
More skeletons dragging broken limbs behind them.
More shrieking corpses clambering over the rubble.
My arms burned.
My legs ached.
Every swing felt heavier than the last.
Then Morgana dropped from the ceiling like a nightmare made of rope and bones.
Her hair whipped toward me like claws—
her twisted body crawling faster than anything that should be alive.
I tried to dodge—
but her webs snapped around my ankle, yanking me halfway off balance.
"Grhh—!"
I slammed my free hand into the ground.
"Stone Shrapnel!"
The earth burst upward, shredding the webs and ripping a few spiders into twitching pieces.
But it wasn't enough.
Morgana lunged again—
detaching an arm mid-air and hurling it like a spear straight at my face.
I barely slapped it aside with the butt of my pillar.
Her new limbs slithered across the ground, reaching for my legs, my throat, my waist.
I stomped on one, crushing the rotting hand under my boot—
but for every one I smashed, two more kept coming.
She laughed—
a broken, rattling sound that grated against my ears.
Behind her, the horde surged forward again.
Skeletons.
Spiders.
Zombies.
A flood of teeth, bone, and slime.
I swung the pillar again—
barely keeping them back.
Breathing harder.
Vision blurring at the edges.
Every muscle in my body screamed.
I couldn't keep this up.
"Why... don't you ever get tired?!" I snarled at Morgana, voice cracking.
She only laughed harder—
her arms twitching, her hair lashing like banners in a storm.
I stumbled a step back, dragging the pillar with both arms like it weighed a hundred stones.
Panting.
Bleeding from a dozen small cuts.
Barely standing.
"I have to think of a smart plan," I gasped, nearly choking on my own breath.
I scanned the battlefield—
cracked pillars, broken ground, webs, old vines twitching on the floor.
Then—
A spark of an idea.
I forced a grin through bloody teeth.
"Ah ha!" I wheezed.
"This... should work!"
***
I stumbled back, dragging my pillar through the dirt like a weary soldier pulling a broken banner.
Another spider lunged.
I smashed it sideways with the flat of my pillar, too tired to even aim properly.
Morgana skittered low along the ground—
her hair whipping, her torn arms grabbing at the floor as she crawled.
She swung an arm-stump at me, forcing me to hop backward.
I barely dodged.
Let her swipe the air in front of my nose.
My boots scraped the cracked stone—
every step heavier than the last.
A zombie snapped its jaw near my leg—
I kicked it half-heartedly, just enough to make it stumble into a broken skeleton.
More kept coming.
Skittering legs.
Clacking bones.
Moaning flesh.
I shifted my footing.
Moved left.
Swung lazily at another spider—missing on purpose.
Another web shot toward my shoulder—
I let it graze my sleeve.
"Come on... come on..." I muttered under my breath, barely audible even to myself.
Morgana laughed again, crawling sideways across the wall like some demon crab.
Her voice slithered through the temple:
"Tired... tired little doll... give me your bones..."
I didn't answer.
I just kept moving.
Kept my hands low.
Kept my boots steady.
A skeleton charged—
I slapped its sword aside with a lazy grunt, feeling my knees tremble under the weight of my body.
Morgana dropped from the ceiling suddenly, landing hard a few paces ahead—
hair stretched wide like a net of black, broken wires.
I dragged my pillar forward, panting.
She rushed me—
all her limbs twisted wrong, new ones growing from the old stumps.
I barely lifted my pillar in time to block.
She raked a clawed hand across the stone, shrieking.
I stumbled backward, chest heaving, sweat burning my eyes.
More spiders poured from the cracks.
More bones.
More rotting bodies.
And I kept stepping.
Kept shifting.
Right foot.
Left foot.
Slide.
Slide.
No one noticed.
Not Morgana.
Not the monsters.
They just kept coming.
Good.
Just a little more.
Morgana lunged again—
I spun clumsily, fending her off with the butt of my pillar.
A web shot past my face.
I ducked low, boots sliding across the uneven ground.
The floor trembled under all the movement.
The temple groaned like an old beast waking from a bad dream.
I stood there, breathing like a dying ox, Morgana creeping closer.
Then—
I raised my hand slowly.
Morgana tilted her head, grinning so wide her jaw cracked.
I smiled back—
just a little.
And whispered:
"Earth... stop dancing."
The ground shivered—
then collapsed.
CRACK!
CRASH!
BOOM!
The dirt under the monsters gave way first.
Spiders shrieked as they tumbled down.
Skeletons clattered and snapped.
Zombies roared, arms flailing as the earth swallowed them.
The holes stretched wide—
sharp and deep like hungry mouths.
Even Morgana's detached limbs—grasping, twitching—were dragged downward by crumbling soil.
Her body flailed—
hair whips lashing for anything to grab—
But I slammed my hand down one last time.
The tops of the holes snapped shut—
stone caps sealing the pits tight like graves.
And Morgana?
Only her head remained—
rolling along the cracked floor, her wide eye spinning in dizzy circles.
She hissed, voice barely more than a breath:
"Little... clever... doll..."
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, coughing dirt.
"Yeah," I wheezed, shoulders slumping.
"Stay... down."
I didn't waste time.
I staggered closer, dragging my pillar behind me, still half-expecting something to jump out of the cracks.
Morgana's head rolled slightly in the dust, her single eye blinking lazily.
I knelt down, pressing both palms to the broken earth.
"Sealing Soil..." I whispered.
A faint green glow spread through the cracks and holes—
reinforcing the ground, locking the traps tight.
No vines.
No roots.
Just heavy, dead earth sealing the graves I made.
I exhaled shakily, wiping more dirt off my hands.
"Stay buried," I muttered.
Then I turned to Morgana.
Her wristband was still tangled in a few strands of her hair.
I grimaced, reaching down with two fingers like I was pulling out a cursed snake.
She giggled low—
a broken, crumbling sound.
"We'll see each other again... little boy~"
I froze for a second.
Then, very slowly, I plucked the wristband free, trying not to touch anything else.
Her single blinking eye never left me.
"Yeah, uh... I'd rather not," I said, voice cracking slightly.
I stuffed the wristband into my pouch, then hurriedly gathered up the fallen cards near her head.
Some were blood-stained.
Some were cracked.
Including two special cards—
faintly glowing.
The ones from the Obsidian Temple's boss, probably.
Score.
I didn't stick around to admire them.
The whole place still felt heavy—thick with the stink of magic and death.
I backed away carefully, never turning my back fully on Morgana's head.
Every step faster than the last.
When I finally reached the outer hall, I bolted like a man running from cursed dreams.
"Get me out of here," I muttered, clutching my pouch tight against my chest.
Whatever Morgana was—
whatever she could still do—
I was not hanging around to find out.