Once outside the grand hall, Gamer noticed that a crowd gathered in front of the entrance doors. He wandered over to see what everybody clamored for. Thanks to his height, he could see over the fungus boys' heads. The greatest and strongest thing a shrooman knew was moving back and forth in the courtyard. Gamer laid eyes on Asterion.
A minotaur. Muscles flexed with each punch, turn, and recoil. Controlled breaths heaved his barreled chest. Careful strikes exemplified trained martial moves. Asterion practiced in a similar fashion as monks did. He meditated in his movements, blocking out the surroundings and intrigued crowd. The sun beat down on his broad form and defined the muscles with under shadows.
Gamer's eyes lit up, "Muscles for days. I gotta me a bull man."
Asterion breathed in while he pulled his elbows in by his side. He spoke above the crowd, "I was wondering when you'd show up, Gamer."
Gamer's eyebrows and eyes raised, while his mouth shrunk to a point The crowd parted. He felt like Noah, and made his way into the courtyard. The shroomans and yosauri watched with bated anticipation. He asked upon approach, "You've heard of me?"
Asterion faced Gamer, "I know you quite well, actually."
This gave Gamer pause, and he had to ask, "Player or NPC?"
Asterion smirked, "Player."
Gamer's heart began to race. If it wasn't a NPC, that meant the minotaur form was a custom avatar skin. He cautiously asked, "Friend or foe?"
"Foe."
Gamer nodded slowly, "A smooching foe or a battle foe?"
"Why not both?"
Gamer's expression tightened, like he'd eaten something sour. Asterion opened his mouth to speak, and that's when Gamer turned on a dime and sprinted back into the castle.
"Highly questionable response, but let's go," Asterion gave chase and barged past the crowd.
Gamer grabbed one of the entrance doors mid-run and swung it close. Asterion lowered his head and speared the door back open with his silver-tipped horns.
A door halfway down the foyer opened as two shroomans carried in a new corner table. Gamer dived over the table and rolled into the hallway. He spun to the side and hid behind the door frame. Asterion approached with heavy thuds, and then pardoned himself around the shroomans. Gamer sucker punched him in the gut when he entered the hall. It barely made Asterion flinch, and he glared, unamused. Gamer realized his big mistake.
"Hmm, nice muscles, wow. Heh heh heh...cartwheel!" Gamer sprang sideways towards a window in the hallway to make a daring escape. However, Asterion snapped a grip on Gamer's ankle and stopped him midair. Asterion flung Gamer in the opposite direction through the opposite window.
Gamer and shards of glass rained into an outer corridor. A breezeway connected the grand hall with the east wing of the castle. A grassy knoll with a bunch of flowers brightened up the corridor. A number of the shroomans and yosauri were here patching up the walls and supports. Scaffolding scaled the right wall and extended up to the breezeway's roof.
"Are you okay?" a shrooman on a yosaurus checked on Gamer.
Gamer placed his hands on the yosaurus's shoulders and gazed deep in its primeval eyes, "I need you to vore me..."
The door to the grand hall opened, and Asterion stepped into the breezeway. His imposing figure scared the shroomans and yosauri aside. One yosaurus on the knoll had a Gamer-sized lump in its cheek. Asterion took a moment to eye the yosaurus, whose expression shifted to be more apologetic and nervous the longer he stared.
Asterion stepped up to the guilty yosaurus and held his hand out, "Drop it."
The yosaurus swallowed. Asterion's tough guy demeanor vanished with a gasp. However, it started to strain, and before long, a huge ass egg popped out of its rear end. The egg was covered in polkadots that were the same color as the yosaurus.
"Is...is that normal?" Asterion asked a shrooman.
"Oh yeah, female yosauri do that sometimes. It's their way of showing affection," the shrooman answered. The yosaurus proudly cried out.
Asterion walked over to the egg and knocked on it. Inside, muffled screaming could be heard. He clenched a fist and beat the egg. It cracked, and soon after, it shattered. Gamer and a lot of egg fluid spilled out.
Gamer, drenched in slimey goop, writhed like a newborn dinosaur, "I've seen things!"
"You're welcome," Asterion bowed his head. He took the same fist and swung down. Gamer dodged out of the way and tried standing. He stumbled and slipped towards the scaffolding and its equipment. Asterion stomped in pursuit.
As Gamer neared a strange, yellow contraption with a platform and spring, a shrooman yelled, "Don't touch that!"
Gamer leaned on top of it before registering what they said. The spring kicked and the platform rocketed Gamer up. It catapulted him to the fourth story of the scaffolding. He was two stories from the top of the breezeway roof.
"We use that for construction! It's not a toy!" the shroomans whined.
Gamer thought he had some breathing room, but Asterion didn't feel like giving it. He set the spring back into place, and then jumped onto the platform. It did as before and launched the minotaur up towards Gamer. He landed with tremendous weight, so much so that the scaffolding buckled under him. He stabilized himself, but this gave Gamer time to worm his way to the third story of scaffolding. He started to scurry to the second floor, but Asterion observed the moment he was practically below him. He jumped and landed on both his knees. He punctured the scaffolding footing thanks to his weight, and split each floor in half. When he smashed into the second floor, he stopped Gamer completely from worming away. The debris from splintering wood and clanging metal pipes sent Gamer backwards near the end of the scaffolding. He hit a few hammers and a toolbox over, revealing another spring.
Asterion stepped over Gamer and grabbed him by the shoulder. When he lifted him up, Gamer pulled the spring from the corner and aimed it at the minotaur. He shoved it against Asterion, and the spring activated. It blasted Asterion with enough velocity to break through the castle wall.
"No! We just fixed that!" the shroomans cried out.
"Hah! Gotcha!" Gamer kissed the unloaded spring. He tossed it aside and glanced about for an escape route. On the third floor, a window had been smashed open by Asterion's plummet. Gamer monkeyed up to the window and entered.
The hallway didn't have any defining details. Stone, windows, and Gamer. He walked in the direction away from the grand hall to create distance between him and the minotaur, "Another player, eh? I figured they'd show up, but this early? If I chip away at him like a block tower, he'll eventually fall. Hah! He should've seen the look on his face."
Gamer came to the end of the hall and opened the door. On the other side, Asterion welcomed him in with a punch. The log of a fist smashed into Gamer's face and scrunched his nose. He recoiled as blood dripped to the floor.
"You broke my nose!" Gamer screamed.
Asterion examined it the best he could while Gamer wiggled around in pain. When he had a clear shot, he grabbed the nose and straightened it out. Gamer yelped again, but the snap alleviated some of the pressure and pain.
"Oh, you fixed it...thanks..." Gamer appreciated it. Asterion smiled and nodded, and then smashed his fist into the nose. It broke again, and Gamer continued reeling, "Ah, son of a bitch!"
Asterion grasped Gamer's wrist, pulled him forward, and kicked straight out. The kick floored Gamer, and Asterion moved in for some ground and pound. Gamer popped into a roll and bypassed the minotaur to his backside. He swirled on the floor and kicked the back of the minotaur's knee. The joint gave out and Asterion dropped to one knee. The stun opened him up for, not only a quick appreciation of some caked up minotaur, but also a kick that dinged his horn. It snapped his neck to the side and strained it. Asterion retaliated by swinging his horns back towards Gamer. However, Gamer already moved away. Asterion's horn clipped the corner of a wall and knocked a chunk free.
Gamer reached into his pocket and pulled out Cammy's wand. Asterion raised an eyebrow, "You can still access your inventory?"
"Yep! And that means I can access victory!" Gamer aimed the wand like a firearm. Asterion grabbed it halfway down the shaft and bent it. The magic at the end sputtered out like a leaking hose. Gamer examined the damage, and became bummed out, "I barely got to use this thing. Man...but, I guess I shouldn't get bent out of shape."
Gamer fake laughed as he whimsically tossed the wand aside. Asterion fake chuckled, "Yeah, don't let it break your spirit."
Gamer and Asterion both exaggerated their chortles to a breathtaking degree. Once they finished goofing, Asterion booted Gamer in the chest. Gamer stumbled backwards trying to maintain his balance. He reached the end of the hallway, and a set of stairs claimed him. He tumbled down, and skipped multiple steps that led down and to a door. He burst through the door and rolled outside.
It exited out close to the waterfront. A stone pathway created stepping stones towards the beach. Gamer decided to circle around to the front. It became harder to breathe with a broken nose, but he couldn't stop. Asterion was hot on his trail.
Ahead, he spotted Minnie, who lounged on a bench to sunbathe with her eyes closed. Her tank top hung over the back of the bench, as she allowed her girls to catch sun. Gamer recalled the healing mechanic.
"Minnie, I need..." Gamer stopped and thought. He checked his rear and abandoned hope when he met Asterion's glare. It'd take too long for him to have Minnie tongue slap his meat hook. Gamer dashed by Minnie, "Never mind!"
"Okie," Minnie responded without peeking. The sun felt superb.
Asterion soon barreled past the turtle girl after Gamer. However, he came back with a much more calm stride, admiring the sight of a pretty lady. He gently greeted her, "Why, hello there."
She opened her eyes, oblivious to the chase, "Oh, shello. Who are you?"
"Asterion. And you?"
"My name's Minnie."
"Nice to meet you, Minnie. I saw you relaxing and thought I'd introduce myself. I'm a bit busy at the moment, but maybe we can hang out later?"
"Sure! I'll be done sunbathing by sundown," Minnie estimated. Asterion chuckled, nodded, and carried on with the chase. Once he disappeared around the bend of the castle, Minnie commented, "He seems nice."
Gamer climbed up a spiral stairwell that led up to the guest quarters. His nose and lips were drenched in blood, his body ached from the tousling, and fear ate away his nerves. Asterion wasn't right behind him, but not seeing him in sight only made the feeling of impending doom even more palpable.
"I can't outmatch him like this. I can't even use a flare flower or he'll just slap me out of it," Gamer reached the top of the stairs. He opened it up and entered the guest quarters. Most of the rooms needed work done, as they were being changed from shellie occupancy back to shrooman rooms. Somewhere on this floor was Persica's room. The princess came to mind, "I need to even the playing field. I need more power ups. I need my dealer."
The floor exploded out from under Gamer and sent him forward. He landed face first, ass up. The smoke of debris permeated the air like a fog of war. As Gamer refocused, he peered over his shoulder. Inside the debris cloud, right behind him, was the demonic presence that instilled fear in him. The glowing eyes, the obscured silhouette of a horned monstrosity, and Gamer's exposed rump created a cold chill in his spine. Never before did he feel so small, but his ass so big. It became the greatest target of any target in the history of targets. The demon's silver tip twinkled like an imminent promise.
Tears welled up in Gamer's eyes as he squeaked, "...help..."
Asterion attacked with unrelenting damnation.
Somewhere in the multiverse, in another WebNovel author's story, a faint cry could be heard.