Chapter 143: ***********************
After understanding that, Kurt made a dangerous decision.
He was too weak to continue fighting in those conditions, but he needed to do whatever was necessary, if he wanted to have any chance of getting out of there alive, and understanding what was happening, and what that stone gallery inside the Nest was.
And most of all, who were those "they" that Groth had spoken of, before they met with Vena.
"So it’s all or nothing..." Kurt whispered to himself. ’Arias?’
’Yes?’
’How about making a big impression on whoever is watching us through this thing I’m fighting?’
Kurt felt Arias’ smirk growing in his shadow.
’I think we’ll be up to our necks in trouble if we do this, but it sounds like an amazing idea... What do you need me to do?’
’When I count three, I will deactivate [SHADOW GRASP] and start running away from [ANTIBODY]. I need you to destroy this gallery so I can fight outside.’
Arias laughed, delightfully, inside Kurt’s mind.
’But this will be a pleasure!’
Kurt’s lips curved upwards mischievously.
’That’s what I like to hear... One...’ Kurt concentrated with everything he had, sharpening his senses and heightening his instincts to where he had never tried to go before.
’Two...’ His legs slid slightly to the sides, giving Kurt an effective enough position that, in the next moment, he was able to move out of range of the [ANTIBODY]’s movements without taking too much damage.
’THREE!’
Kurt disappeared at the same moment, but the monster in front of him also did the same, seeming to perfectly understand his opponent’s strategy.
Kurt’s shadow looked like it was boiling, and Arias emerged from within it soon after, with his huge head protruding from it.
The skin on its neck, with immaculate white scales, glowed brightly in a bluish shade of orange.
Arias’ mouth was open, and a hellish heat radiated from within.
Kurt tore off a piece of his new t-shirt and wrapped it around his right hand, trying his best to prevent more blood from the wound from being absorbed into that strange gallery.
The [ANTIBODY] seemed to realize Kurt’s strategy, getting closer and closer to him, while Kurt tried to evade the blows, but when the creature finally understood what was happening, Arias had already started to shoot its blue flames against the filled rocks. of glowing runes.
’A little more... Just a little more...’ Kurt heard Arias say.
’Arias, you are much more powerful than Zaval. I know you can do it.’
’I am doing... my best...’
The attempt to encourage the familiar didn’t seem to sound very genuine, however, but Arias kept breathing fire at the stones.
Shortly after he opened his mouth and launched that jet of fire against the rocks, part of them seemed to start to melt, very slightly.
The runes around the place hit by the flames seemed to be losing power, its light dimming little by little.
Meanwhile, Kurt seemed to no longer be able to escape the [ANTIBODY].
He could only minimize the damage caused to him by the blows the monster gave, and fight back in the best way possible.
Kurt felt the thing’s fists slamming into already cracked bones, his flesh being torn apart beneath his skin and armor.
And all he knew at that moment was pain.
’Not yet...’ Kurt thought, grinding his teeth. ’Arias, I’m hanging on by a thread here!’
’I won’t. Let you. Die!’ Arias said, and Kurt felt the anger boiling in the dragon’s soul.
Kurt dared to take his eyes off the fight for an infinitesimal moment which, however, cost him several cracked ribs.
’Not yet...’
However, a smile spread across his lips, when he saw that the flames coming from Arias’ throat had turned from that bluish shade of orange, to a blazing white.
Just like Zaval’s flames that night, when Kurt had been able to defeat him.
And not even a few seconds later, the ceiling of that stone gallery began to crack and collapse.
***
From the outside, the cave rose into a lush green mountain, covered in trees and wildlife.
Birds chirped, snakes slithered through the trees, and the animals went about their lives, as if nothing was happening.
Suddenly, some of them pricked up their ears, and began to run wildly.
Less than a second later, a tremor hit the surface, knocking down trees and causing the relief of that mountain to change very slightly.
A few more seconds later, the ground began to glow, reddish, hot.
Until, not long after that, the heat reached absurdly high temperatures, and the floor of that forest began to burn, cracking in several places.
After that, an explosion came from somewhere down there, and a blinding white light took over everything.
In the time that followed, only heat and destruction existed.
And after that, there was no longer a mountain over the stone gallery inside the cave.
And Kurt smiled, as the runes around him completely erased.
’Now!’
[LIGHT ABSORPTION]
It was as if Kurt was a weak battery that had been connected to an overly powerful generator.
During the time following the activation of Kurt’s ability, the creature clung to him as if it were a jellyfish to its prey.
But Kurt didn’t mind that.
His body hurt like never before, but as the light disappeared, along with the glow of the runes on the walls of what had once been that underground gallery, Kurt’s strength increased, and with it, the feeling of relief that came with him. spread across his body.
’Ahhh... I missed that feeling...’
From then on, it wasn’t a fight anymore, but a slaughter.
Kurt opened his arms, freeing himself from the iron grip of the thing trying to hurt him, and moved out of its reach, opening the blades of his [MOON SHADOW].
Kurt threw both at the same time, hitting [ANTIBODY]’s back in an X-shaped cut, and then lunging forward and kicking [ANTIBODY]’s back with all the renewed strength flowing through his body.
The monster collided against the stone of the old gallery, and Kurt was already there again, close to him, to hit him once again with punches, kicks, and countless other cuts coming from his blades.
’I wonder what I’ll be like when all this shit is over...’ Kurt chuckled to himself. ’But it’s time to end this once and for all.’
And in a sudden, fluid and smooth movement, Kurt used his [MOON SHADOW] to decapitate the [ANTIBODY], letting its body fall, lifeless, against the rocks on the floor of what had once been Vena’s prison.
[CONGRATULATIONS]
[YOU DEFEAT THE - ANTIBODY #28436547]
[REWARDS FOR ACHIEVEMENT: FULL RECOVERY X1; VENA’S MEMORY FRAGMENT X1]
Kurt’s eyes sparkled with excitement at the holographic window.
