Chapter IX The Marsh Factory:

Argo quickly grabbed one handhold after another, with he feet following suit. Between her natural talent at climbing and the reduced weight effect she had, she practically flew across the side of the bluff. Below her Agent Nishiyama, who was normal size and had normal gear, was making a solid effort at it but couldn't keep pace with the former info broker. Under normal circumstances climbing a damp cliff-side would be treacherous to say the least, but since they had merely moved along the top to avoid detection, they weren't anywhere near most of the treacherous sections.

Before long, she crested the edge of the bluff near the factory and slid up into the concealment of the tall grass. The dirt below her feet was moist but it didn't seem to be from the spray of the river below. While she waited for her companion, she squatted on her feet to avoid getting dirty. It took Agent Nishiyama nearly a minute to catch up to her, but one she had helped him up over the edge, they had both cleared the first part of their reconnaissance without much trouble.

Given the much smaller size of her Avatar, Argo was able to crouch low and still keep her head concealed around the top of the plants. However for Agent Nishiyama who was much taller, he had to crawl through the muck on the ground to stay hidden.

As she silently stalked through the reeds, moving slowly so her employer could keep up, Argo couldn't help wondering how long she was going to be stuck with the him. It wasn't like she had much of a choice in the grand scheme of things; if what Riordan said was true, and she believed it was, Agent Nishiyama was still her best lead in finding whatever remained of Akihiko Kayaba.

When they came upon the barbed wire fence at the edge of the reeds Argo held up her fist, signalling Agent Nishiyama to stop. There was a patrol of two NPC's coming around the side of the building and nothing but dying grass between the fence and the factory itself. Argo and Agent Nishiyama quietly sat tight, using their cover to stay hidden while the threat walked by.

While they passed, Argo used the Rouge's class skill, Evaluate, to get an idea of what they were dealing with. She focused on the patrol and in a few seconds, their physical stats displayed on her HUD. They had very high HP and Strength values, way above what they had fought so far in Arkham. One of them carried a bolt action Lee-Enfield rifle while the other had a hefty butcher's cleaver strapped to his side.

They hadn't yet decided if they were going to have to take out the guards first or if they might be able to sneak by them completely and destroy the crown without having to fight anyone. For now she let them pass and pulled out a pair of wire cutters to get through the fence.

Once she had finished cutting a significant hole in the fence, she quickly typed up a message to the other teams. In position, moving in now. Let me know if you see that patrol coming back this way.

As she took a step forward, Agent Nishiyama grabbed her shoulder. She tuned back to look at see him holding up a single finger. Quietly, he whispered "Illtha, r'guthia, saqai." His sanity meter dipped slightly and Argo noticed a buff appear on her HUD, Sound emitted reduced by 50%. She offered him a quick nod of thanks and headed through the hole.

With Agent Nishiyama close behind her, Argo sprinted over to the brick factory wall and looked up at the small tinted window about twenty feet above her head. "Gimme a lift boss?" she whispered.

Agent Nishiyama cupped his hands together and nodded.

Argo took a step back, then jumped up into his cupped hands and was tossed up into the air. Normally, Nishiyama's strength attribute wouldn't have been high enough to toss someone that far, but with Argo's already small stature on top of her weight reducing item, she was just able to get her fingers hooked onto the lip under the window.

Once she was sure she wasn't going to fall, she withdrew the Katar that was concealed in beneath her right sleeve and used it to slowly pry the window open. After struggling with it for a few seconds, she managed to jimmy it ajar. Taking a moment to quickly re-adjust her grip, she then pulled the window open the rest of the way and slunk inside.

The window resided at the end of an overhead walkway made of old steel five feet across that stretched the length of the facility and branched off to connect to several other small windows at other points. There was only a small handrail separating her from a long fall, and more importantly, the only thing separating her from anyone below from seeing her.

Argo dropped to the walkway, landing on all fours with the stealth of a feline. As she carefully looked down over the edge, she realized that even with the factory shut down for the day, there were still quite a few NPC's inside. The facility itself was stacked with hundreds of sealed wooden crates and all of them looking heavily waterlogged. A few NPC's mulled about inside using old style forklifts to arrange the various crates about the facility, their nameplates read Cultist Labourer. Meanwhile there were a pair of massive heavyset NPC's that seemed to be monitoring the others, but Argo couldn't get a read on their nameplates from where she was.

Quietly, Argo activated her message screen and sent a quick update to her party. Made it inside undetected, will scout around for a few minutes.

While keeping an eye on the NPC's below to make sure none were looking in her direction, Argo dropped down onto one of the pile of crates that had been stacked high into the air. With precision derived from years of stealth and subterfuge, Argo silently made her way down the stacks of crates and into a secluded corner of the facility.

She looked about all the cases and crates for anything of note. They seemed to all be sealed, but eventually she was able to find one that was slightly ajar. "Alright, let's see what we're dealing with." she whispered to herself as she pulled a crowbar out of her inventory. As quietly as she could manage, Argo slowly pried the top of the crate open and looked inside.

The thing that was in the crate, Argo couldn't put into words. It filled the entire crate, yet somehow she could see through it to the bottom as if it molded and bent itself around her gaze as to not be seen directly. The sheer amount of overlapping layers that melted suddenly into each other or abruptly ceased to exist without rhyme or reason forced her gaze to slide off the incomprehensible thing. Her vision swam as she instinctively tried to re-focus, which only made the affect worse, spinning round and round in a perpetual whirlpool of mind numbing confusion.

She tried to look at the items on her HUD to orient herself but they shifted and moved away from her gaze, like an object physically on the eye when someone tried to look at it. She stumbled back as the intense vertigo overcame her, crashing into a precariously stacked barrel and tipping it over, scattering its strange contents with a loud crash.

Her bleary vision and jumbled senses were in such a haze that she didn't even notice the towering NPC thundering towards her.

Kirito leaned casually against a wall next to a small window at the front of the strange shop they had found themselves in. Asuna was busy chatting up the strange shopkeeper who had put down roots here of all places, while he kept and eye on the Marsh Factory.

The factory itself looked unassuming from the outside, except for the fact that it was in slightly better repair than the rest of the town. It looked old and worn to be certain, yet the walls all still seemed to be rather sturdy, and the patrolling guards would certainly add to the complication on breaking in. The one patrol he had seen so far had made their way around the back of the facility about a minute earlier, so Kirito was passively watching the time until he saw them make their rounds again.

On their side of the factory, there was a heavy chain linked fence topped with barbed wire that surrounded the facility. There was a small gate in the fence that led to a side door, however next to the gate was a guard post with tinted windows and next to the door itself was a guard standing stock still, presumably watching the nearby area. He wasn't armed as far as Kirito could tell, but he had learned quickly that in ETO, few things were as they appeared.

A message from Argo pooped up on his HUD as he watched. Made it inside undetected, will scout around for a few minutes.

He knew well enough that Argo was more than capable of handling herself in regards to scouting and reconnaissance. Even so, he had never been at ease when she went scouting on her own back in SAO, and the same still held true now. Perhaps it wasn't Argo's scouting he had a problem with, but more the fact that he hated sitting still while other people took all the risks.

As Kirito pondered the thought, Argo's sanity meter took a massive blow dropping to almost thirty percent. He had no way of knowing what had happened, but even if she wasn't in a fight, the effect on her UI that the sanity drop would have would make stealth next to impossible. If she was killed she'd have to make the long trek all the way back to Innsmouth... assuming that re-spawning would be the only repercussion of dying in Innsmouth.

"Argo's in trouble, we've got to move!" Kirito shouted over his shoulder.

"Right behind you." Asuna replied instantly.

Kirito broke out of the shop's front door like a shot, making straight for the chain linked gate. The time for stealth was gone and his drab cloak was now back in his inventory. His black leather duster flapped behind him from both his speed and the sea's breeze as he charged headfirst towards the Marsh Factory with Asuna close behind him.

Despite charging the factory itself, nothing actually seemed to bother with Kirito until he cut the padlock from gate and kicked it in. As soon as he stepped foot on the actual grounds of the facility, the door to the guard post flew open with a resounding crash. The NPC that lumbered out was a mountain of a man but was shrouded mostly in a large cloak that shielded both his face and most of his body from view. His nameplate simply read Strange Guard. The guard wasn't armed conventionally, but the long piece of rusty re-bar that rested upon his shoulder looked lethal enough.

Kirito looked to the door ahead, then to the guard coming at him from the side. He wanted to make a break for the facility and find Argo, but her HP still had yet to drop and bringing a train of mobs down around her was the last thing they needed right now. With one eye constantly checking her status bar, he readied his sword and redirected his charge towards the strange guard.

The guard was terribly fast for his oversized frame and was on Kirito in seconds, punishing him relentlessly for not considering him an imminent threat. Two quick swipes were barely turned aside by hasty parries from Kirito, but a third overhead attack drove Kirito into the muck when he instinctively tried to block in by crossing his swords overhead.

Kirito hit the muck hard, loosing only a small amount of health, but a great deal of mobility. So fast that his eyes could barely track the movement, the guard thrust the re-bar down, trying to impale him in the ground. It was instinct alone that saved him, honed form years of fighting for his life, Kirito rolled out of the way and the re-bar hit the mud with a solid shlunk. As he came out of the roll, Kirito swiped up at the guard with one of his swords, but his foe had already reclaimed his weapon from the ground and easily tuned the blow aside.

His attack was not in vain however as Asuna followed up at the same moment the guard blocked Kirito's strike. Her rapier flashed forward, piercing the mob's chest and driving it back. In rapid succession, she withdrew it and struck three more times before hastily falling back to cover Kirito. The strange guard's health dropped to just below half, but more alarmingly, the tattered cloak it bore gave way to the punishment of Asuna's blows and fluttered away in the ocean breeze.

As Kirito pulled himself up from the mud, he bore witness to one of the true inhabitants of this zone for the first time. The being, for it could no longer be called a man, was a greyish scaly fish-like monstrosity with bulging black and yellow eyes that stared unblinking at it's prey. It's webbed hands gripped the re-bar with renewed purpose as it gnashed shark-like teeth at them. Kirito and Asuna's sanity metres took a heavy dip at the sight of the abomination, but they still managed to retain their focus.

The creature, who's nameplate now read Deep One Hybrid, charged Asuna, swinging it's re-bar wildly and emitting a cacophonous sound in a guttural croaking voice. She dodged back, then side to side, using her trademark speed to stay just ahead of the rabid bestial swings.

Kirito tried to use the monster's focus on Asuna to press the attack, but a loud crack sent him spinning again from an impact to his shoulder and dropped his health by nearly twenty percent. He looked up quickly to see the guard by the door reloading his rifle and taking aim again.

"Keep that thing between us and the shooter!" Kirito shouted, scrambling over to Asuna to try and take his own advise.

"He's not that easy to direct!" she retorted, barely avoiding another wild slash.

"I've got the shooter under control!" Agent Nishiyama yelled.

Kirito glanced back to the shooter to see Agent Nishiyama standing next to him with his arm outstretched, channelling some sort of control spell. Nishiyama's sanity was depleting at a slow but constant pace, however as a result the NPC didn't seem to be able to take any kind of action.

Asuna was still on the back foot, barely keeping the hybrid's attacks at bay and unable to make any kind of counter herself. Kirito sprung to her aid, feinting an attack at the abomination's left side.

It took the bait, and swung at him with frightening speed. He had anticipated the blow however and this time was able to block it far more effectively than the last; he gave a little ground, but was able to stand firm against the attack. That was all the opportunity that Asuna needed. She thrust into the opening, piercing the creatures chest and spilling some of its entrails onto the ground at its feet.

The creature dropped to less than ten percent health and received a bleeding debuff that would slowly tick away the remaining hit points. At the sight of that, Kirito planned to play defensive and run out the clock on its HP, however that's when the monster went even more wild. Each of it's appendages flailed about, as if they had minds of their own and its shark like teeth clamped down onto Asuna's arm, which was still withdrawing from her strike. Pulling her from her feet with ease, the hybrid lifted her into the air and began to swing her about like a dog with a chew toy.

Kirito was on the move even before Asuna began to scream. Heedless of the flailing attacks chipping away at his HP, he launched himself at the monster and drove his sword clean through the creatures neck. Its jaw went slack in an instant, releasing Asuna who flew a few feet and tumbled into a heap before it dropped to a dead in the mud itself.

Asuna was clutching her mangled arm and smiling woefully at Kirito as he came to her aid. "Really glad we're not in the underworld right now, can't imagine what this would be like without the pain suppression system." she said.

Asuna had received both a broken arm and bleeding debuff from the mauling she received, Kirito could deal with the latter, but the former was another matter. As he used the first aid skill he had acquired to quickly dress and wrap her arm, he replied. "I'll bet. Are you going to be okay?"

"I might be a little on the slower side now, but I'll manage." she said, taking up her rapier in her off hand. "We should hurry."

Kirito suddenly realized that in the chaos of battle, he'd forgotten all about Argo. Quickly he checked their party status screen to find that she had just taken some damage but was still alive. "Right, let's go." he replied.

The pair quickly made their way up to the door to find Agent Nishiyama finishing off the guard there and ushering them forward. "You both took a beating out there," he said by way of greeting. "Here, let me help."

Agent Nishiyama uttered a few words in the strange language of the game and both of their health meters rose back to near full. Asuna's broken arm debuff also began to flash signalling that it was on the mend and would be removed in a few minutes. The price was a solid chunk of Nishiyama's sanity bar however. While he did have a higher sanity meter than anyone else in the party, Kirito noted that it would soon dip into the area where it would start affecting his character control. It was a high price to pay, but Asuna was their highest DPS player, and they couldn't risk her being crippled for the fights ahead.

"Thanks," Asuna said. "Now let's get in there and find Argo."

Sinon and Riordan sat patiently in front of a window in the top floor of the Gilman House and watched as Agent Nishiyama tossed Argo up to a window leading into the Marsh Factory. They had an excellent view of both the west and south sides of the factory from their vantage point and although the distance was far, Sinon was confident in her accuracy.

The patrol that Argo and Agent Nishiyama had let pass by was taking its time on the west side of the factory. While Sinon kept her rifle trained on them, Riordan sent a quick message to Liz and Klein advising them that that coast wasn't clear and to keep their distance.

Another message "Made it inside undetected, will scout around for a few minutes." appeared on their HUD's a few moments later from Argo.

Sinon didn't take her eyes off the patrol. There wasn't anything she would be able to do to assist Argo even if she got into trouble. Her job was to help her party get inside the factory if stealth was no longer an option, and to provide cover for a retreat if things went south. Those tasks consumed her entire attention.

As her spotter, Riordan focused on everything else. He wordlessly watched the surrounding area to make sure there was no threat to Sinon's task, keeping his scythe within reach just in case. He also looked out for other patrols that might complicate the mission and kept one eye on each of the teams he could see in case they ran into unexpected trouble.

Agent Nishiyama had retreated back to the tall grass and taken cover there in case another patrol came around. Liz and Klein had made their way into a stretch of trees and shrubs that ran along the back of a fence separating one of Innsmouth's dilapidated houses from the grounds of the Marsh Factory. They were well covered and waiting, so much so that Riordan could barely make out a trace of them, even from his vantage point and knowing where to look.

Suddenly, Riordan saw Argo's sanity meter take a massive hit, dropping to almost thirty percent. There was nothing he could do from his spot though so he could only keep an eye on her meter. Her health hadn't dropped in the following seconds though, so Riordan assumed she had found some kind of trap or eldritch object that triggered the sanity loss. Even so, it would leave her in a state that would make stealthily navigating the factory next to impossible.

A message then popped up from Asuna. "We're moving in." Was all it said.

Agent Nishiyama was on the move a moment later, followed my a quick message. "Covering Asuna and Kirito."

"We're going too." Klein messaged a moment later.

"So much for stealth." Sinon whispered while barely moving a muscle.

From their perch they could see Klein and Liz break from cover and make their way towards the factory. A single guard was positioned at the door on their side of the facility, but Sinon already had a line on him.

Sinon peered down at the wind gauge she had set up next to where she sat and adjusted her aim accordingly. The guard's head turned towards what she assumed was Klein and Liz, there was no more time to waste. Exhaling slowly, she pulled the trigger and a fraction of a second later saw the guard's head explode in a shower of gore. For a split second as the body fell, Sinon could have sworn she saw a tentacle writhing from the stump of its neck and her sanity meter dropped a little in response.

As Klein and Liz neared the factory's door, the patrol that had since passed came back around from the front of the building and headed straight for them. At the same moment Sinon could hear several sets of footsteps loudly clamouring down the hallway towards their room.

In her peripheral vision, Sinon saw Riordan take up his scythe. "Don't worry about them." he said.

She had already set about reloading her rifle with expert efficiency, even so, the patrol was halfway to Liz and Klein by the time she was ready to fire again. Sinon checked her wind gauge again, barely any chance, and sighted on the target. A smooth exhalation, a squeezed trigger, and another puff of gore marked the second target eliminated.

Loud clashing and strange noises assaulted her ears as she began to reload once more. She could hear metal clashing, then rending flesh, and bodies hitting the floor. At first in the hallway outside, then in the room she was in. That wasn't her fight though, she had to trust Riordan to have her back so she could have everyone else's.

She lined up the next shot, same as before. Klein and Liz had already made their way into the facility, but the remaining guard was hot on their trail. The guard was opening the door to the facility when Sinon drew a line on him, it was now or never. Just as she moved her finger to pull the trigger, a massive crash shook the room. Her shot went slightly off, striking her target in the right shoulder rather than the head. It reeled from the blow, but then quickly bolted inside in pursuit of its original prey.

"One got past me." Sinon quickly typed before turning around.

Riordan fought like a man possessed, attacking and blocking with his scythe so quickly that her eyes could barely follow the movements. Sinon was sincerely glad that she was no longer his target. Over half a dozen strange monster corpses littered the floor of their room with more in the hallway outside. Even so, more continued to pour into their room with increasing determination.

In one smooth practised motion, Sinon drew her rifle upon the mob of creatures trying to push their way in and began to pick off any that got past Riordan's guard.

Argo reached out her left hand to try and steady herself on a nearby crate but missed it entirely and ended up falling to the floor instead. She crashed into the side of the crate with an audible thump and inwardly cursed herself. With her sanity meter near depleted, Argo could barely tell up from down, let alone stealthily reconnoitre a dangerous location.

Thunderous foot steps echoed through the factory. She could tell that they were getting closer, but the crates were all stacked so high and in no logical pattern that she couldn't get a sense of where they were coming from. She pulled herself tight to the crate he had crashed into and made her already small frame even smaller, then she closed her eyes and listened.

Once she did, her HUD vanished alongside all the distorted images that accompanied it; finally the sickening feeling of vertigo slowly dissipated. It wasn't the ideal situation, but she would take fighting blind over not being able to fight at all.

As the foot steps drew closer, the strangeness of them finally registered in her conscious mind. They didn't thunder like heavy footfalls, though there was clearly great weight behind them. Instead they sounded like someone stepping in a deep mud puddle then quickly pulling their foot out. The stomp/slurps drew ever closer and finally Argo could pick up a definite direction, the were coming from behind on her left side.

Slowly, as quietly as she could manage, Argo raised herself to a crouch and began to move to her right. She kept her hand on the side of the crate, guiding herself and drawing a virtual map of the area as she moved. The possibility of turning a corner and someone seeing her almost gave her pause, but the thought of those foot steeps catching up to her, urged her on.

Soon, Argo reached the end of a large crate and there were no more within arms reach. She tried to recall what she had seen of the building's layout when she was overhead but after how distorted her world had become, she wasn't even sure exactly where she was in the partial layout she recalled. The footfalls behind her drew ever closer so she took a deep breath, removed her hand from the crate and cautiously dashed forward, hand outstretched to find anything to take cover behind.

It took longer than she felt comfortable with to reach another crate but as soon as her outstretched hand found one, she slunk in tight to it and crouched down again. Listening intently, Agro quickly realized that she could no longer hear the disturbing footfalls that had been following her. She inwardly sighed with relief, she must have given it the slip. Unless...

As soon as the thought crossed Argo's mind, she dove to the side rolling into another crate with a small thud. Her intuition was proven right as a loud crash resonated through the factory from where she had been a moment before.

She quickly scrambled to her feet and began to run. She couldn't see her target to evade so she zigged and zagged as best she could keeping both arms outstretched to give her a moments notice before she ran into something. It worked for a handful of seconds and another crash, but eventually her luck ran out.

Something struck her in the side lifting her off the ground and throwing her into another crate with a loud crash. She couldn't see her health anymore, let alone her buff and debuff icons, but as soon as she tried to move she felt sluggish, some effect must have been placed on her. She tried again, pushing herself to move faster, but knew in her crippled state there was no way she could evade what was coming for her.

She inwardly cursed herself. Now she was going to re-spawn all the way back in Ipswich and delay the entire investigation. Even as she tried her best to delay the inevitable, she mentally prepared herself for the killing blow that was about to be struck.

"One got past me." As soon as Klein registered the words scrolling across his HUD, he spun around.

He and Liz had just made it into the dingy factory when Sinon's warning found them. There were crates stacked everywhere, so high that they blocked line of sight to much of the factory proper; they couldn't afford to press forward if something was coming after them from behind.

The NPC came through the door a moment later, it's nameplate read Strange Guard. It lumbered through with a giant cloak that covered it's entire form, though it did have a hole in its cloak on his right shoulder, presumably Sinon's work. After it came through the door, it just stood there as it it was trying to stare them down.

"We don't have time for this." Klein said as he readied Katana and charged.

"Wait!" Liz shouted, and took off after him. "Igthai, hashim, qavi." As she spoke the words her shield arm erupted with hardened scales that grew quickly over her buckler and spread out to nearly twice the size of her shield.

The Strange Guard shifted beneath it's robes, but Klein was too focused on claiming a swift victory to notice. Liz shoved him from behind causing him to sprawl to the floor, fortunately not coming down on his blade at an awkward angle. A moment later a massive tentacle, with a stinger at the end covered in dozens of small spines that dripped a strange fluid, shot out from underneath the guard's robe. Quickly Liz braced herself and took the blow directly in the centre of her enhanced shield. Bits of chitin sprayed from the impact, but neither the shield not the stinger gave way.

Klein was back on his feet in a moment, Katana in hand, and brought it down on the extended tentacle severing it just before the stinger. The deadly appendage dropped to the floor, twitching a few times before laying still while it's owner reeled back hissing madly in a guttural tone. The creature's cloak came loose as it writhed in pain and the pair finally got a good look at their foe.

The creature was rotund and bloated, like someone had pumped them too full of air, yet their footfalls were heavy as though they still had great weight behind their stride. Their severed tentacle thrashed about wildly spilling dark fluid all across the floor while a second tentacle with another stinger pulled back, like a snake coiled and ready to strike. It's remaining health was just a little over fifty percent and its nameplate had also shifted to Deep One Hybrid.

"Together this time?" Liz asked.

"Right." Klein replied.

Liz took the lead, shield at the ready, charging down the hybrid. Klein was right behind her, sword prepped and waiting for an opening.

The creature shot it's tentacle forward just as they had expected and Liz met it head on with another crunching echo of grinding chitin. She deflected the blow off to the side and Klein moved in to slash it again, but the hybrid was ready for it this time and pulled back on it's tentacle with incredible speed. Their momentum was still carrying them forward however and within moments, they were right on top of their target.

Klein leaped into the air bringing his Katana down hard to strike the monster in the head. Its tentacle was out of position from the way the creature pulled it back, but as soon as Klein thought he had an easy kill, two claw like appendages swung out from behind the monster and blocked Klein's blow in a cross guard or armoured scales. His momentum carried him up and over his target, with the monsters new appendages going up an over as well to keep the blade at bay, but now there was nothing guarding the monster's front anymore.

Liz surged forward bringing her mace to bear and connecting cleanly with the monster's torso. The creature reeled from the blow, it's multiple limbs scrambling to find purchase to steady itself. It never got the chance as Klein's Katana came down directly on the monster's neck, decapitating it in a single stroke.

Barely a moment after the creature's body hit the floor, a loud crash resonated through the warehouse. Both of their heads shot up, directed towards the sound of the noise. "Argo." the said in unison.

Klein and Liz took off through the warehouse, zipping around corners trying to find their lost companion, all the while keeping their eyes peeled for any mobs that they might be inadvertently drawing aggro on. As they rounded another bend still without seeing any enemies, Argo's HP took a solid hit followed by another loud crash nearby. Quickly re-routing to where the sound had come from, Klein and Liz turned one last corner and finally found their missing scout.

Argo was in a heap on the floor struggling to rise while another hybrid stood over her wielding a massive sledgehammer. This creature was much larger than the one they had already defeated, it's tag reading Hybrid Brute. It had a heavily hunched back, but even so, stood well over seven feet tall. It's feet, if they could even be called that, splayed open into a dozen short tentacles at the bottom of each leg, causing the thump/squish sound that they had all been hearing. Hardened scales coated its back and limbs like plate armour, the only open spots seeming to be at the joints in its limbs.

Klein charged in as quietly as he could and brought his Katana down on the exposed joint behind the creatures left knee. Just as the hybrid raised his sledgehammer do diver Argo a fatal blow, Klein's strike connected causing the monster to reel in pain and emit a deafening howl. The horrible sounds seemed to almost have force of their own, pushing everyone back and draining a portion of their sanity.

Argo's sanity teetered on the brink of oblivion. She was on her her back, hands clamped over her ears and eyes pressed shut so tight her lashed had vanished. Somehow, she still knew where the threat was and was meekly pushing herself away with with her legs.

The brute spun around with a speed that seemed physically impossible for it's deformed shape and massive size. Before Klein could recover from the sonic onslought, the monster's sledgehammer was barrelling straight for his head.

Liz was at his side a moment later, her enhanced shield brought up against the creature's attack. The crack was deafening, the shock wave of the impact cascading up her arm, and a faction of a second later, the unmistakable sound of shattering. Liz's chitin shield exploded into hundreds of pieces and the remaining force of the impact sent her careening into Klein, and the pair of them scattered across the damp concrete floor.

The monstrous abomination took one thunderous step towards them. Looking up at its towering form, they realized that the creature didn't even have any kind of recognisable face, sprouting up from its hunched neck was a vicious twisted amalgamation of a Sea Lamprey's head. Row upon row of jagged teeth circled round and round, slowly drawing the eye into the pit of its gullet. A massive tentacled arm wrapped tightly around the sledgehammer as it brought the weapon to bear against its stunned foes.

Upon seeing the monster lumbering towards them, Klein's sanity meter dipped into the caution zone and his vision began to blur slightly. In the back of his mind, he wondered if the hammer the monster bore was simply to cripple its prey before devouring rather than serving any directly lethal purpose.

He shook off the thought in an instant, was the sanity loss causing his mind to wander? Again his mind strayed. He centred his Katana in is field of view, placing the brute at the end of it. Nothing else could draw his focus or it would be too late.

Liz rose next to Klein, her left arm numb and hanging at her side. With her enhanced shield gone, they had no chance of blocking the attack and a direct hit from the giant sledge could mean the end of them. She readied her mace in her good hand and crouched low, waiting for the monster to make the first move.

The brute took another thundering step forward and roared in its maddening tone. The deafening sound shook their stance and a moment later, the creatures sledge was falling like a guillotine towards them.

Both of them backpedalled in time to avoid the impact, but the force of the blow was so massive that it sent chunks of concrete flying out in every direction. One clipped Liz in the side of the head, staggering her and causing her to loose her already precarious balance and fall to her back.

Klein moved to assist her instinctively, but the brute's maw of a head extended out from it's body, growing even larger and seeking to swallow him. "Eat this!" He shouted as dramatically as he could muster and shoved his Katana into what passed for the creatures gums.

The monster reeled back in pain, so quickly that Klein was pulled along with it until his Katana dislodged from the creatures jowl and he was flung to the ground just a few feet from where Liz was regaining her senses. Together, they once again struggled to their feet, grim determination splayed across both of their weary faces.

As the creature raised it's giant hemmer once more, a loud "Tiyahh!" split the air.

A fraction of a second later, Asuna landed on the hunched back of the abomination, driving her rapier clean through the nape of its neck. The monster roared in pain and it's unarmed tentacled appendage shot up towards her.

Kirito was right behind his partner however and ready for it's inevitable counterattack. He leaped from a nearby crate and intercepted the attack in mid air using all his downward momentum to meet the tentacled portion of the arm at the point where it connected to the creatures armoured upper arm, severing it completely.

The monster thrashed in pain, it's HP now below half. Asuna held tight to her rapier as to not get thrown off and Kirito back peddled to avoid the wild appendages. Then the creature slowed. It looked as thought it was still trying to move but that it was doing so through a thick fluid instead of air.

Agent Nishiyama had rounded the corner. With his hand outstretched he was chanting a spell in the strange language of this world. His sanity bar was dipping, but the effect on the creature was more that worth the cost.

Liz and Klein rushed back into the fight, each going for one of the abomination's knees. Klein slid around the left leg and once again struck the exposed joint causing a spray of foul ichor from the now severed tendons. Liz took the right leg straight on, smashing the creatures kneecap with her mace, splintering bone with one mighty strike. The hybrid toppled forward, crashing to the floor with only a few percentage points of HP left.

Asuna withdrew her rapier from the monster and laid a single clean slash clear across the back of it's neck. With that final attack the creature's life finally depleted and it lay still at last.

"Thanks for the rescue." Argo said a few moments later. She was sitting leaned up against a nearby crate, with her eyes closed. "Don't try to loot any of the crates, that's what got me into this mess."

"Here Argo." Kirito said, producing a small item from his inventory. The item's description read Drops of Laudanum. Argo downed a couple drops and her sanity meter rose a little bit, her vision also cleared and she received a buff that said Your mind is temporarily fortified against the horrors of the world.

Klein took some from his own inventory to the same effect. Afterwords he stared down quizzically at the strange bottle of liquid. "What is this stuff anyway." he asked as the rest of the party also downed a couple drops each.

"You don't want to know." Liz answered.

Asuna quickly took stock of their situation. They had all taken a not insignificant amount of sanity loss, and even with their supply of Laudanum, she didn't expect them to be able to keep going much longer without suffering some serious drawbacks to their ability to function. That being said, with the exception of Argo who was now being treated by Agent Nishiyama, they all still had most of their health and couldn't really afford to turn back anyway.

A loud damp smacking sound cut through her thoughts and she instinctively turned to face the source. It was a person that stood atop a gantry that extended out from a second floor section of the factory some forty feet away. The NPC was draped head to toe in a long black cloak that covered their entire large body and the way the shadows seemed to bend around them, it took Asuna a moment to realize that the person was actually moving. It then dawned on her that the strange sound she heard echoing through the factory was the sound of this person applauding them.

She squinted at the NPC's form in the distance. It's nameplate had strange golden Eldritch symbols surrounding it, identifying it as an elite enemy; one designed for only large groups to fight. The name of the NPC itself was Barnabus Marsh.

Hey everyone, I hope that was worth the wait after the last cliffhanger ending. I mean, I suppose this one is too, but only if you know the Lovecraft side of this story as well as most of you know the SAO side.

I've been having a lot of computer trouble lately and wasn't sure I'd get this chapter out before I have to take it in to get fixed and this was (just by a smidge) the longest chapter yet. (I still can't believe I was originally planning for the last chapter, this one, and the next to be all one chapter). Special thanks to commandocucumber for the help in getting my editing done much faster than usual. Your assistance is always greatly appreciated. :) That being said, no idea what the ETA is looking like for the next chapter at the moment. If my computer just needs a quick fix, it shouldn't be much longer of a wait than usual, otherwise, who knows.

Anyhow, that you all once again for reading and I'll see you all next time when shit's gunna start hitting the fan. ;)

- Tawnis