Chapter 194 Volume IV - Chapter 39: Horror in the Darkness
Hardil's headless body fell to the ground. As the blood from his neck watered the ground, Dorhud, Ezareth and I stared in desperation at the creature responsible for his death.
The creature, the umbanth, trembled as it swallowed Hardil's head whole. Its whole body shook as if it were having a seizure and I gritted my teeth. We didn't have even a second to waste.
"Attack at the same time!"
I gripped my sword tightly, sent a simple thought to Sith, and then Spiritual Ascension activated. I swung my sword at the creature, filling it with the mana I had access to as a natural, asymmetrical crown appeared above my head, neither too large nor too small, seemingly made of tree branches.
Ezareth's eyes suddenly turned red, just like the creature's, and a strange energy of the same red color enveloped her body and then her dagger. A faint glow appeared under the clothing of her left arm, revealing that her stigma was there. She lunged at the creature as I did.
Dorhud pulled back some of his armor, which could move as if it were liquid, and directed it at his arm, a strange energy wrapped around his fist as he joined Ezareth and me.
The creature turned its left arm and swung its claw at a wide angle at all three of us at once. In that small moment, I saw, if only for a moment, the red glow in its eyes increase, its vertical pupils, like those of a wild animal, almost obscured by the glare, its ear-to-ear smile, with its crooked and pointed teeth, returning.
The air around him was much more deadly. Because umbanths were creatures who, when they drank blood, not only healed their wounds but grew stronger. And if this was a humanoid race, human, dwarf, elf, or any other one of them... it was a blessing for them.
That's why the situation was dire and we had to kill it immediately. Unless we killed it, the chances of getting out of here alive were close to zero. We had to stop it before it fully digested the blood, before it became fully powerful.
So, as the creature's claw reached Ezareth and was approaching Dorhud, I realized that Spiritual Ascension would not be enough. Then, knowing I had no other choice, I focused.
I touched the desire that was always burning inside me, the greed, one of the seven favorite foods of the caora.
Then I begged, I asked the caora to give me strength in return for the feast I offered him, sincerely indeed. I had no intention of dying here.
The vision in my left eye suddenly turned purple, and I felt something strange, something warm rising up inside me. The purple energy, representing chaos, surrounded me. Caora granted my wish, accepting the feast I offered it.
The creature's claw had already knocked Ezareth back and was now coming to slice Dorhud's chest.
I threw myself in front of it in the slowing world and tried to block the attack with my sword.
The creature, unaffected by my speed, caught my sword in its claw and threw it hard aside… as if completely ignoring my tight grasp on it. Then I saw its countless crooked fangs, stained red with Hardil's blood, just before my eyes.
This time, I shielded myself with my hand, poured as much mana and caora as I could into my arm, and then the creature's countless fangs entered my arm.
An intense pain enveloped my arm, the caora I reflexively channeled supported the wound in my arm, preventing it from splitting in two. I screamed at the top of my lungs... but gritted my teeth and grabbed the creature's head with my free hand.
The room lit up with a purple glow, the caora, trying to erode everything around it, concentrated on my knee and I drove the creature's head into it with my hand.
I didn't stop. Using my mana, I let go of the creature's head and wrapped my fist in flames... then punched the creature as hard as I could. Not only that, I wrapped my fist in countless little wind blades.
When my fist made contact with its face, countless wind blades made countless cuts on its face. The flames and caora concentrated especially on these cuts, burning its face.
Umbanth screamed in pain. It covered its face with its left paw and looked at me through its fingers. Its eyes, which had been shining with pleasure, now locked on mine with fear, and I smiled.
It was a sincere smile, perhaps similar to the one the creature had shown me earlier.
Was it because I was using Caora? I don't know, but it was funny even though I was supposed to take it seriously.
I actually wanted to smile even more, but I restrained myself. I was still conscious, so I suppressed these feelings as much as possible and focused on the creature. As the wind, flame, and caora swirled around my body at the same time, I took a deep breath and held out my hand in front of me.
A purple sword slowly formed in front of me, the mana that had taken the form of flame and wind slowly surrounded this sword made of caora, and the creature roared once again, then lunged at me fiercely.
The smile on my face widened, and instead of swinging the sword at the creature, I shielded myself and lowered my head, looking directly into those red eyes, and whispered quietly but clearly in a tone it could hear.
"Idiot."
The creature hesitated even for a moment, its claw landed on the caora sword I had shielded myself with, forcing me to step back, but I resisted. Then Ezareth and Dorhud rushed at the creature.
It was suddenly pinned to the ground, struggling to break free. Its body, made of countless joints, twisted, flexed, and sprang aside. It roared, then swung its left claw backward at Ezareth.
Ezareth tried to defend herself, but she was slow. The claw sliced through her clothing and reached her chest, where it made a deep gash.
I heard Ezareth moan in a low voice, momentarily in pain. Yet she was strong, she held herself and gritted her teeth. She raised her dagger and fixed her eyes on the creature, glowing with rage at the wound. That strange, red energy enveloped her body again, this time much stronger. Then Ezareth brought her dagger down on the creature's claw, pinning it to the ground.
The creature screamed, tried to reach Ezareth with its other hand, and just then Dorhud grabbed its arm. Like a wrestler, he too pinned it to the ground and held it tight.
The umbanth tried to raise its head, opened its mouth wide, and tried to bite Dorhud, whose body was exposed. But I beat it to it, and placed my foot on its head. Caora and mana flowed into my leg at the same time and I pressed down with all my strength.
The umbanth's head snapped to the ground, and I kept its head down as hard as I could with my foot. Then I brought my sword, made of caora and surrounded by a teal and red blend, down on its neck.
When the sword made contact with the creature's neck, I quickly pulled it to the side, slicing it in half. A pool of blood spattered across the floor, accompanied by a snarling, agonized scream. The creature looked at me with two eyes on the left side of its face. The glow had faded slightly, but it was still full of rage. It tried to struggle, and I saw the wound on its neck begin to heal.
I raised the sword again. The purple color became much more pronounced and the glow around it shimmered more brightly. Then, without waiting a moment, I swung it again.
My sword separated the creature's head from its terrifying body and rolled it to the side. The umbanth's body suddenly convulsed violently, then Ezareth and Dorhud quickly backed away from it.
The creature jumped to its feet, its headless body flailing its claws here and there. Then it slowed, staggering as blood spurted across the room from the gap where its head should have been. It paused, and then slowly collapsed.
Its body continued to convulse on the floor, the bruise in my vision slowly faded and the crown on my head slowly turned to dust. The sword I had formed from the caora faded and disappeared. The wounds on my arm, still intact only because I supported it with caora, suddenly began to literally burn.
The creature's body stopped convulsing at this moment. The glow of the four eyes on its head, which had been separated from its body, quickly faded. Even in its last moments, it was looking at me.
I channeled mana into the Absolute Mind, ignored the pain in my arm, then lowered myself to the ground and repeated internally.
I am not going to faint, this much pain is not too much with the help of the Absolute Mind and I am not in an extremely bad condition.
The burning sensation in my arm started to burn even more.
Only my arm is in a bit of distress. The creature really sunk its teeth in. And yet, thanks to caora, it couldn't tear it out. So, it was not a life-threatening situation.
Moreover... the statistic that represents the boundary between my wiera side and my own self never went up even though I used caora. It was an even better scenario than I had hoped for...
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