Grand Olympia: Further Horizon - Chapter 32: Red Eyes
4 stone statues lunged, their bat-like heads twisted in permanent snarls, baring jagged fangs. Their hollow eyes burned red, casting an eerie glow across the chamber. Their bodies were humanoid, but their proportions were unnatural—elongated limbs ending in razor-sharp claws, their stone forms impossibly fast despite their weight.
The fight had broken out the moment Billy grabbed the fake "golden medallion," triggering the trap. The circular chamber sealed shut with a heavy thud, leaving them no way out. Lapulapu braced himself, raising his shield to absorb each crushing blow.
He wasn't trying to kill—just control the flow of the fight. Every now and then, he struck back with a precise thrust of his kampilan, aiming for weak points in the stone.
Musashi fought alongside him, his wooden katanas moving in a blur. He weaved between attacks, deflecting claws and striking pressure points to keep the statues off balance. But for every time they pushed back, another came forward, their movements relentless, inhuman.
Billy, meanwhile, had abandoned the fight altogether. He was at the double doors, prying at the seams with his metal arm, muttering curses under his breath.
"Damn thing won't budge." He threw a glance over his shoulder. "Y'all sure you don't wanna just break these things?"
Musashi barely spared him a glance as he redirected a clawed swipe, his patience already thin.
"You mean the things made of solid rock? Sure, Billy. Great idea."
Lapulapu gritted his teeth as another heavy strike slammed into his shield.
"Less talking. More finding a way out."
The stone statues weren't particularly strong, but they weren't weak either. Lapulapu and Musashi could cut them down if they wanted, but wasting energy on pointless fights wasn't worth it.
There was no reward for destroying them—no sense of victory, no hidden treasure. Just another obstacle meant to slow them down.
This was just a lower-ranked monster, the kind that barely posed a challenge. Someone might have already fought and killed one before them.
After all, only 18 participants had been invited, and each of them could have already taken down some of these lower-ranked creatures.
"The first one to kill a certain rank…" Musashi murmured, parrying another sluggish strike from the stone statue. His eyes narrowed. "Maybe it was someone we already met."
That thought lingered as they fought, exchanging brief glances between strikes. Their movements were calculated—defensive rather than aggressive.
Musashi deflected blows with smooth precision, while Lapulapu absorbed the force behind his shield, striking only when necessary. Neither aimed to kill. The real goal wasn't winning—it was getting out.
Billy kept searching for a way to unseal the heavy double stone doors. He tried everything—prying at the gap, pushing with all his weight, even shooting at it out of frustration. Nothing worked. The door didn't so much as flinch. The bullets left a few dents, but not enough to crack whatever mechanism held it shut.
About to give up, he leaned against the wall, panting, thinking. Then something clicked in his head. He'd been trying to force the door open like it was some kind of brute puzzle. But what if he was overthinking it? What if he was missing the simplest thing?
"A key," he muttered. His eyes scanned the door again, this time searching not for a way to break it, but for how it was meant to be opened. There was no handle, no obvious latch—but to both sides of the frame, something stood out. Four small holes in a perfect square formation on each side. He turned slowly towards the stone statues still fighting Musashi and Lapulapu. Red glowing eyes. Four statues. 8 holes in total. That had to be it!
"Hey, guys!" Billy called out, his voice bouncing off the chamber walls. "I think I found something!"
Musashi, still dancing between slashes and parries, shot him a sharp glance. Lapulapu didn't speak, but his grip on the kampilan adjusted slightly, acknowledging him. The statues kept lunging, slow but relentless, claws scraping the stone floor with each move.
"There's four holes on both sides of the door!" Billy shouted. "I think the key is their eyes! If we pull them out and plug them in, we might be able to open this damn thing!"
"Musashi, take the other two!" Lapulapu barked, knocking another statue back with a shield bash. "Billy, support us!"
Neither fighter wasted time asking for proof. It made sense. No one argued. Lapulapu shifted his stance, drawing one of the statues in and landing a sharp upward strike, cracking its head.
Musashi responded in kind, his blade moving with precision. Billy moved in, keeping a safe distance, looking for an opening to snatch the glowing eyes once they were dislodged.
Lapulapu, with his bronze skin glistening with sweat and dust, feinted to his left, drawing his opponent's attack wide. Seizing the opening, he drove his kampilan upward, striking the statue's head. A crack formed, spider webbing form from the point of impact.
Musashi, mirrored the maneuver. His blade danced, precise and swift, targeting the other statue's head. The stone cracked under the relentless assault, fissures forming around its glowing eye.
Billy hovered nearby, waiting for his moment. As Lapulapu delivered another powerful strike, the first statue's eye loosened, teetering on the edge of its socket. Billy lunged forward, snatching the orb before retreating swiftly.
"Got one!" he exclaimed, holding up the pulsating red eye.
Encouraged, Musashi intensified his assault. With a final, calculated slash, the second statue's eye dislodged, clattering to the ground. Billy was there in an instant, scooping it up. They repeated the process, systematically targeting the remaining statues.
Musashi struck, prying out the last glowing red eye. He turned and tossed it toward Billy. "Last one."
Soon, all 8 eyes were in their possession.
But before they could celebrate, the statues, though eyeless, continued their relentless advance, undeterred and seemingly unfazed by their missing eyes.
Lapulapu tightened his grip on his weapon. "Looks like they're not done with us yet."
Musashi nodded, eyes narrowing. "Then neither are we."
The chamber's atmosphere grew tense, the air thick with anticipation as the eyeless stone guardians closed in.
The stone statues, once sharp and coordinated in their attacks, were now blind and swinging wild. With their red eyes gone, they stumbled, claws slashing at the air. One missed and struck a wall. Another clipped its partner, chipping its shoulder. They moved like beasts trapped in darkness, confused and enraged.
Musashi stepped back, breathing lightly, keeping his blade raised but not striking yet. Lapulapu held his ground, watching the patterns of their reckless movement. They weren't a threat anymore—not in the way they had been. Their strength was still there, but their aim was useless. Every swing missed its mark, every lunge thrown off balance.
Billy approached the wall toward the door, heart pounding. One by one, he inserted the eyes into the corresponding holes. With the second glowing eye socket in hand, kept his back to the door.
"They're going full blind mole now," he muttered, half to himself.
He looked at the last two sockets. "Two more to go."
He finally placed the final red eye on the socket. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a deep rumble resonated through the chamber. Dust cascaded from the ceiling as the massive stone doors began to tremble.
No! The entire chamber shaking!
The chamber groaned. A low rumble vibrated under their feet as the floor itself shifted. A long creak of stone grinding against stone filled the space. Dust spilled from cracks above them. The chamber was spinning—clockwise, slow, steady. The walls didn't move fast, but it was enough to make everyone brace themselves.
"What the hell?" Billy muttered, gripping the edge of the door for balance. The spin was slow but disorienting.
"It's descending," Lapulapu said, his voice calm but alert. He could feel it in his legs—the chamber lowering as it turned, like a slow screw sinking deeper into the earth.
Musashi turned his head, still tracking the blind statues. "So now we're descending… with four angry statues flailing around?"
"Good thing they're blind," Billy said, pocketing all the glowing red eyes. "Would've sucked if they had heat vision or something."
One statue lunged blindly and slammed its claw into another statue face, breaking part of its stone jaw. The blow echoed. Pieces crumbled and scattered across the spinning floor. Then that statue is heading towards Lapulapu. He moved in quickly, with a precise jab of his kampilan towards the stone statue chest piercing it through the heart.
As the chamber continued its slow descent, the grinding sound grew louder, echoing like a beast breathing from deep underground. The walls around them, marked with faded carvings, seemed to shift with the motion, like they were entering another level—another place not meant for light or safety.
The stone statue, cracking from its own blind fury, slammed into the wall and collapsed. Musashi was already there, driving his blade into its head.
With two of the stone statues still flailing in the dark, Musashi ducked low, blade dragging sparks against the stone as he sidestepped a wild swing.
"Sh*t," he muttered, eyes flicking to the ceiling. "Where the hell are we going?"
The chamber kept grinding downward, turning like some ancient screw being driven into the bones of the earth. Dust spiraled down with them, clinging to their skin and sweat. Billy stood at the door, fists clenched, waiting for something—anything—to change.
Then, with a final heavy thud, the spinning stopped.
The air settled. The rumble faded.
And the sealed double doors creaked, then groaned open—light spilling through the widening crack, golden and slow, like it was bleeding out from the next room.
They all paused. Even the last two statues, blind and twitching, froze for half a second in the quiet.
Musashi raised his sword, glancing at Lapulapu. "You first?" he asked, grinning despite the tension.