BlueShear
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Chapter 54
🕑 Added 2024-10-22 22:00:06 +0000 UTC“Are you sure about this?” Edmond asked, voice pitched too low for their guest’s ears to pick up. “I mean we don’t actually know if he’s any good in a fight. He could be terrible. Worse yet, he could die, and then where would we be? If you’ll recall, you didn’t exactly approve of me pulling my punches when creating this trial.”
“He’ll be fine.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because if he isn’t, he’ll have wasted a boatload of my time, and that really isn’t a position you want to be in when dealing with a potent soul practitioner.”
“So, a trial by fire then.”
“Essentially. We need to make a good impression, first and foremost. We can scare the pants off this lady all day, but unless we can convince them to willingly take him into the fold, our failsafe, as it were, will always be in jeopardy.”
“I get that but-”
“Listen. Literally the only thing everyone in this place, scary tentacle goddesses included, wouldn’t dare to mess with too directly, is its original inhabitant. Stick him with the shattered remains of this girl’s soul and his safety is basically assured. Besides you saw the aftermath of his last fight. Even if it mostly consisted of him taking fists to the face, to have lasted as long as he did, against that monster, should tell you something.”
“I… I suppose you’re right.”
“Yes! I am! Like I said, he’ll be fine. And if he isn’t? I’ll just bottle up his mortal soul and use it as a paper weight.”
“You… you can be pretty damned scary sometimes, you know that?”
Raina only smiled cryptically in response.
“So,” she asked. “I forget, what happens in the first round again?”
“Well, I set it up so that the enemies would come out in waves, and if I’m not mistaken, the first wave should consist primarily of these little green creatures. From what I can tell, they’re essentially lesser war and nature based spirits, but the locals mostly refer to them as goblins.”
“I see. Sounds exciting!” Raina rubbed her palms together. “Well then, what do you say we go ahead and get this show on the road?”
***
Jun was still bent over at the waist when the world around him changed, so it took him a minute to realize, not only was he now somewhere else entirely, but that his cherished conveyance had begun to glow. Golden runes now wrapped around the privacy bars from top to bottom. While others, meanwhile, traced elegant lines all along the boxy perimeter.
Jun watched in awe as they steadily grew in brightness, until suddenly, with a bright flash and a deafening bang, the five sides of his beautiful conveyance were violently torn apart, as if somehow repelled by one another. Leaving Jun straddling the bent and twisted remains of his once most beloved mode of transport. Grief and disbelief warred for prominence on his features, and that was around the time when the green devils attacked.
They were naked.
Or near enough that the distinction was basically negligible. Filthy loincloths the only thing even moderately preserving their modesty. The largest of them standing at only four feet tall, they were long nosed, big eared things with beady red eyes, distended bellies, and shiny bald pates.
Rail thin, but with a wiry kind of strength, they held crudely manufactured spears, clubs, and a few flint hatchets.
By his count there were ten of them—one big clump having appeared in a purple flash—and when they noticed him, thoughts of allowing for the time he’d need to properly process his grief, apparently, never even crossed their minds. With shrill, bloodthirsty cries, they charged—eating up the sixty paces separating them at a… less than intimidating clip.
In fact, they were so slow that Jun managed to, if not fully, then partially come to terms with his loss, well before they’d even come within thirty feet—it had never really been about the conveyance, but the bonds of friendship it had represented!
Still, to think they could be so indifferent in the face of such loss. It was nearly unforgivable! Was unforgivable! And just like that, a brand-new sensation began to roil in his chest. Indignation. Because it wasn’t just him they were disrespecting, but all the friends he’d made along the way!
Jun rose to his feet with a newfound sense of purpose—every part of him suffused with the light of his fighting spirit. It wreathed him, empowered him. Made his arms feel stronger, steps feel lighter. And so it was that, with the wind gently ruffling his hair, he watched the incoming hoard of enemy’s rush ever closer—slathering, hate filled demons that they were—and smiled.
Suddenly incapable of standing still for even a moment longer, Jun broke out into a full-on sprint and bull-rushed the hated enemy, his own shrill battle cry tearing itself from his throat.
Thirty paces. Twenty paces. Ten paces.
Then contact.
Jun barreled through their sloppy front line—shouldering two aside, even as they squawked in protest, and knocking them bodily to the ground. Positioning himself so that he stood at the very heart of their loose formation.
Enemies on all sides. Precisely where he wanted them to be. This way, he practically couldn’t miss! He pulled on his aura, funneling the roiling mists in tight spirals down along his forearm and towards his open palm.
Only belatedly did he remember to saturate his hand instead of coating it. He beamed in satisfaction at his own quick mindedness. Raising a hand that shone like bright canary topaz, he first took in a deep, measured breath, before he shook the very air to vibrating with the sheer intensity of his cry.
“Splitting Chop!”
Lashing out with a diagonal chop, he delivered a glancing blow to one of the snarling demons, leaving a shallow cut across its chest, and spinning it around with the residual momentum.
Emboldened, Jun tried to leap forward, to press the attack, only to be stymied by the emergence of a wall of spears—two of its brethren deftly brandishing the impractically long instruments.
Then, with a speed that belied their twig like limbs, the demons thrust their spears forward with two swift jabs. It was all that he could do to throw himself out of the way in time! Off balance and unawares, he was in no position to respond as the massive club came slamming down onto his shoulder from behind.
Since when had they gotten behind him?!
Jun cursed his rotten luck as he stumbled, deftly redirecting the force of the blow with several clumsy steps to the side.
He could already feel his shoulder beginning to throb from the impact! Still wary of the two spear wielder’s standing in front of him—simply tracking the weaving bob of their spear tips was taking up every ounce of concentration he possessed—he was, in turn, given little opportunity to glance over his shoulder, and so count the number of cowardly creatures likely poised to stab him in the back. Nevertheless, he did not despair. After all, he had a plan.
Where there’s a will, there’s always a way!
Having decided that the best course of action was a full-on assault, Jun was mentally preparing himself to just rush in and simply weather the forest of spears, when another titanic blow hit him from behind—the blunt implement taking him squarely in the lower back this time.
Jun staggered, caught completely off guard. His slow reaction speed and effective blindness making him immediately susceptible to the next sneak attack.
And the one that followed that… and the one after that one too.
This went on for quite some time. In fact, it was only when the ninth such blow connected, that he finally realized he’d had just about enough.
He took the tenth on his side, spinning with the momentum of the blow, so that, when his back hit the ground, he was able to evenly distribute the weight. Distribute it in a way that didn’t hurt at all. Not even a little. It had also been very much on purpose.
All a part of the plan.
Taking advantage of his now advantageous position, he began hacking at the legs of the many demons as they rained down their ineffectual blows. Well, somewhat effectual. Moderately effectual. And anyway, he wouldn’t let something like debilitating pain slow him down!
“Splitting Chop!”
He hacked a leg off at the knee, spattering his face with blood, and dropping the demon to the ground with a deafening wail.
“Splitting Chop!”
He took a demon in both ankles this time, instantly sending it to the floor screaming.
“Splitting Chop! Splitting Chop! Splitting Chop!!”
And all the while the rain of blows just kept on coming. Though, by the time he was beginning to flag, the number of impacts was greatly diminished. Now, with eight out of the ten little more than moaning mounds bleeding out into the dirt, he was allowed a little more room for maneuverability. Rolling to his feet under the reduced assault, Jun took several steps back and away from the panting creatures, his face immediately splitting into a victorious grin.
Very deliberately, Jun wiped away the blood that threatened to trickle down and into his eyes—holding the gazes of the two demons all the while. Then, once Jun had, at long last, managed to get ahold of his breathing, he didn’t even hesitate to immediately lurch forward. Breaking into a staggering run, with hand pressed tightly to his side where he could feel a decidedly unpleasant wetness, he found himself already eager to rejoin the fight.
***
“He’s… not doing that poorly,” said Edmond.
“He’s flailing about like a toddler who’s just learned how to walk for the first time,” stated Viviana, deadpan.
“He’s winning,” said Edmond, though even he didn’t sound convinced.
“In quite possibly the least impressive way imaginable,” Raina hissed.
“Think we should call it off?” asked Edmond.
“No,” Raina snapped, her previous cheer having long since evaporated. “We keep going. Just… tell me what else we can expect?”
“Some kind of shadow aligned wolf spirits, I think… and then a blood, war, and nature based spirit the locals refer to as… hobgoblins? A lot like the regular goblins except… bigger. More strength… more speed… more vitality…” Edmond flinched.
“Heavens preserve us…” Raina swore.
***
“Hah!”
Jun popped up from his roll just in time to meet the next wolf’s lunge with a rising, fully powered:
“Splitting Chop!”
In the end he was unsurprised, though extremely annoyed, when, instead of being cleaved in two as he’d intended, the wolf deftly twisted its body midair, angling its torso so that his swift riposte just barely slipped beneath its wispy black underbelly. Then, before he could rush forward and capitalize on the creatures poor positioning, he felt another of the creature’s shadowy jaws lunging from behind.
He was finding these opponents far more cowardly than the last. Inconsiderate though the little green devils might have been, at least they’d had the decency to stand and fight.
Really!
It was as if these mutts didn’t care to cross claws with him at all, and instead merely sought to wear him down!
Most frustrating! And worse yet, his throat was starting to feel raw from all the shouting he’d been doing. And while he’d briefly entertained the thought that, perhaps, he might be better served in not announcing his every attack, he’d dismissed that idea as unsportsmanlike almost immediately.
After all, how fair would that be? If he just attacked without warning, when they didn’t know it was coming? Gods forbid! He’d feel so ashamed of himself, he might as well die. Really! Stooping so low as to use such duplicitous tactics?
At that rate, what dastardly dishonorable misdeeds wouldn’t he be capable of?!
He honestly shuddered to think of it. That said, he was currently in a bit of a bind. They’d been leading him by the nose for what felt like hours now, and he wasn’t any closer to bringing one of them down now, than he had been in the very beginning.
Which meant…?
At the end of the day, there really was nothing else for it. If trying the same thing over and over again was only ever met by negative results…?
Then I will just have to try all the harder!
Jun spun on his heel to meet the sneaky lunge from behind. Arm extended, he chopped crosswise with everything he had. His arm was the axe, and these beasts were the forest. All he needed was for something to connect, anything to connect, and he was certain that was all it would take to topple everything in one fell swoop.
He missed. Though he still thought he was onto something. That last attack had felt different somehow. He was so close to… something. He could feel it in his bones. All he needed was a little more time.
To put in just that last bit of effort. To want it more than he’d ever wanted anything before in his life. Sensing two of the wolves rapidly approach from his left and right, Jun spun, extending both arms while saturating each in cleaving aura.
Seemingly unwilling to pounce, after their prey had effectively become a spinning dervish, the two shadow wolves quickly backed off again—padding back to the others as all nine of the pack continued to stalk him.
It was so unbelievably disheartening to be repeatedly unable to land even a single decisive blow. Every time he thought he had one cornered, some brand new impediment appeared to block his way. And the more he pushed at the roadblock, seemingly, the greater the resistance became. They were too quick.
He was too slow.
They were too agile. Coordinated. If only they’d slip up. Make a single mistake, just this once. If only they’d come just that little bit closer. For that matter, if only his arms were just a little bit longer. Jun chuckled. Then he froze. Longer…? No… it couldn’t be… could it? Could it really be that easy? Heedless of the danger, he stared down at his hands for several long seconds. And then? Well, then he smiled.
The next time the wolves came for him, he would be ready.
