I immediately got up, took my pistol from my interface slot, and aimed it at the servants of hell and Zigurath. I knew this was futile, as a normal pistol couldn't possibly harm Zigurath.
Zigurath then fired a shot from his staff, and I managed to dodge it again. When he fired, his staff needed time to recharge, making it easier for me to take a evading stance.
Zigurath seemed increasingly angry with me and immediately ordered his servants to capture me. I saw a mountain of human bodies and bones surrounding the throne room. I planned to climb to the top of the mountain of corpses and throw my grenade at Zigurath.
I immediately ran and began climbing the pile of corpses. I looked down and saw the servants also climbing to catch me. After I climbed for a while, I saw a bright red light beside me. I glanced up and saw Zigurath charging his power, preparing to fire an even bigger shot at me.
Before I could even think about how to dodge, Zigurath was already ready to fire at me. I immediately jumped to the side of the mountain of corpses and miraculously avoided his deadly attack again. The huge pile of corpses exploded after fired and immediately caused a landslide. I looked down, only to see the servant of hell being crushed and buried by it.
I then climbed again and managed to reach the top. I quickly grabbed a grenade from the interface slot. I searched for the right moment to throw it at Zigurath's terrifying face.
"You... You... How dare you continue to oppose me, human... No one has ever done this before... But you will soon be inside my guts...!!!!!" Zigurath snapped.
I was a little confused. Did Zigurath not know about the Hellraider, the human who was the greatest terror in hell? Or had he simply forgotten?
Then, with his large staff, he uttered a lengthy incantation. A large, growing flame formed around Zigurath.
Ohhh noooo... He was about to summon a massive fireball to throw at meee....!!!
I had to quickly blast his face with my grenade to stop his most deadly spell. I ran and jumped between the tops of the corpses piles. Almost reaching Zigurath, I immediately activated the detonator. As I prepared to throw, I didn't realize one of his fireballs was poised to strike me from the side.
I only realized it when I saw the fireball already halfway in front of me. I quickly dodged, but unfortunately, the fireball was so fast that I was hit by the blast. The grenade I was holding was immediately thrown into the roof window of the throne room and exploded.
I quickly got back up and saw several fireballs ready to be fired at me. I ran back over the mountain of corpses, occasionally zigzagging. I managed to dodge a few, though I had to jump down.
Zigurath, enraged, accelerated his spell, causing the remaining sparks to form large fireballs. I glanced back, and Zigurath was ready to unleash all his fireballs on me. I was near the edge of the mountain of corpses, and as he launched all of them to me, I without thinking, jumped to the floor of the throne room.
The explosion was powerful enough to instantly destroy the mountain of corpses. I then fell hard onto the floor, hitting my back. I immediately felt excruciating pain, as if all my bones were broken. I couldn't get up and could only crawl, groaning in agony.
Suddenly, my already painful body was made even more excruciating when something large grabbed me by the sides and then lifted me into the air.
I looked up at Zigurath, who had caught me by gripping my body with his staff.
"It's all over... Now you will be part of me eternally," Zigurath said, opening his mouth wide to swallow me. I had completely resigned myself to this.
Would my journey end here?
But unexpectedly, something flew at high speed from above, aiming at Zigurath's face and exploding. He immediately let go of his staff.
I immediately fell back to the floor a second time, only not as high as the top of the mountain corpses. It appeared to be some kind of rocket launcher missile.
I looked back up at the skylight of the throne room, where I had accidentally thrown my grenade and it exploded. What I saw with my head and eyes was like an angel coming to punish the devil. My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open so I couldn't speak anymore.
A real Hellraider stood in the shattered skylight, holding his familiar rocket launcher...
The Hellraider then fired several rockets at Zigurath. Zigurath's face was immediately disfigured.
"Noooooo... Noooooo... He... The Terror... is... really... hereeee...!!!!!!" Zigurath showed a terrified expression.
The Hellraider quickly switched weapons to a large machine gun. I caught a glimpse of his weapon change, similar to mine, where the rocket launcher disappeared in a flash of white light and was replaced by a machine gun very quickly.
The Hellraider jumped down and immediately attacked Zigurath with his machine gun indiscriminately. Zigurath's body was almost completely torn apart, and the flying saucer supporting him was also destroyed, causing Zigurath to fall to the floor as well.
Hellraider then quickly switched weapons again, this time to the same weapon he'd used in the city center: the MKM-999. He charged the MKM-999 for a few seconds, then fired it at Zigurath.
Instantly, almost the entire floor and pillars in the throne room cracked and began to collapse due to the MKM-999's powerful blast.
The floor where Zigurath lay cracked the most. Unexpectedly, Hellraider ran toward Zigurath and climbed onto his body, causing the floor to collapse and spread throughout the room.
With difficulty and pain, I got back up to avoid the cracks in the collapsed floor and pillars. After reaching the edge of the floor that hadn't yet cracked, I looked down. It appeared Zigurath and Hellraider had fallen about two floors. The pillars and several large pieces of floor debris formed a slide to the area below. I used this opportunity to follow along.
After I'd slid down a few times, I heard what sounded like someone hitting something hard, accompanied by a short groan. I slumped down once more and saw Hellraider pummeling Zigurath's face.
Then he brutally ripped open Zigurath's mouth as wide as possible. Afterward, Hellraider retrieved his MKM-999, forced it deeply into Zigurath's mouth, and immediately activated it. Zigurath's entire body was instantly electrified with red electricity, sparks of light growing in number and size until finally, Zigurath exploded violently, leaving nothing behind.
I was stunned by the sight. What he did was exactly like the gameplay. It seemed the MKM-999 had no negative effects on Hellraider as the true user.
After his mission to defeat Zigurath was successful, Hellraider immediately turned and faced me. I didn't know what he was going to do next. But as if the unexpected kept happening to me, Hellraider suddenly replaced the MKM-999 with his rocket launcher again. He immediately pointed the weapon at me.
"W-w-what is he doing???? Why is he pointing a rocket at me?!?!" I screamed in my head.
As if I were hyper-aware of the danger I was in, I jumped to the side again, and the rocket was already hurtling towards me. The wall and floor I was standing on immediately cracked open from the blast impact.
However, because I was still in the cracked area, those crack suddenly collapsed, and I fell with it. I landed on rocks and rolled down a slide. After rolling quite a distance on flat ground, I stopped, my body in even more pain and agony, until I cried.
I opened my eyes, and it seemed I was outside the palace grounds. I saw Hellraider standing on the shattered palace wall, which was riddled with holes, and he was also coming down the rock slide. He was walking towards me.
"Damn... What is he going to do to me after this?" I said, wincing in pain.
Hellraider was right in front of me. Suddenly, he aimed his right hand at my chest, then grabbed both my vest and the front collar of my military uniform. Hellraider lifted me up so that my entire body was literally suspended. I started to remember back in early high school when Simone treated me almost like this too.
Hellraider started walking forward, continuing to lift me. After a moment, he stopped. I glanced back to see where he was taking me. I was immediately shocked, my eyes bulging and my breath coming in quick gasps.
Behind me was a vast, churning lake of hot lava.
Noo… noooo… he was really going to kill me by dropping me hereee.....!!!!
I struggled to raise both my hands and grab Hellraider's massive right forearm. Even though it wasn't protected by armor, I could feel the skin on his arm, as hard as steel. What a hellish feat he had that truly transformed his physical strength into something like this!
I looked at his helmet visor and saw the silhouette of his eyes, showing a furious expression. Then, Hellraider did something unexpected.
"YOU...FOLLOWED...ME..." A hoarse, deep voice came from his helmet.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. A Hellraider was speaking directly to me. The last time I saw him in my dreams, he hadn't said a word and hadn't treated me like this. Why was everything so different now?
I started to raise my voice. "P-please... I'm also... lost here... and also... I want to help you..."
Hellraider didn't reply to me. I kept looking into his eyes, hoping he wouldn't do something like this to me. Suddenly, he pulled his arm away. I could feel him understanding me and wanting to let me go...
But Hellraider quickly pushed his forearm away again and released his grip. I could feel my body being flung into the air and beginning to fall, ready to be greeted by a lake of lava that would consume my entire being…
My deepest instincts were always working, whispering to me to stay alive...
Without my conscious control, my body, which was still falling, immediately rose, and my right arm swung to grab something. Suddenly, I felt my right hand get caught and grabbed a rocky outcropping on the cliff wall.
My body immediately stopped falling and then hitting the rocky cliff wall.
I completely ignored the pain and immediately reached up with my left hand to the edge of the cliff. My entire body managed to climb on it, which was just enough for my body.
I immediately took the painkiller spray from my interface slot and sprayed it all over my body. All my pain instantly disappeared. After catched some breath, I woke up and sat on the edge of the cliff, overlooking the vast expanse of the lava lake.
It seemed that no matter how often death threatened to strike me, my instincts would continue to try to "protect me."