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Chapter 34 - Desert Horror
🕑 Added 2024-08-20 22:45:08 +0000 UTCJohn fell as fast as he could, using Larang’s power to drop twice as fast as a stone. He desperately needed to tell the others to start running.
‘God, what is this damned luck? Am I being punished for the good luck I get sometimes?’
What he had spotted as he flew above the mountain tops was a colossal shadow. It was heading straight for them at high speed. It seemed the horror they noticed earlier had changed its mind and turned back.
No longer caring about alerting nearby beasts, John shouted down at Dennis and Rain, “Run! As fast as you can! Horror approaching!”
He could see Dennis looking up at him before starting to search his surroundings, unable to determine a direction.
“Straight ahead! Run straight!”
Soon after, Kerchak started moving, holding his hands close to his chest. He jumped from one mountain to the next with incredible strength and agility. But his speed was too slow to outrun the approaching horror.
‘... Fuck! What do we do?!’
John considered his options carefully, prioritizing himself and Rain first. But he couldn’t think of a reliable way for both of them to escape, so he made a decision, stopping his dive and turning back toward the horror.
‘This is so stupid! So damn stupid!’
It didn’t take long before John saw the beast approaching him. The sight sent shivers down his spine, nearly convincing him to escape alone.
A mountain of bones. That’s what was chasing them, constantly rolling forward and bringing the bones with it like an endless tsunami.
‘What the fuck is that?! Is the horror inside of it?!’
His reckless plan of attacking the thing with the black essence suddenly seemed much less feasible. If a beast were hiding inside that mess, hitting it accurately would be a big challenge, even if the black essence could hurt it.
His only realistic option for everyone to live was acting as bait, turning the horror’s attention away from the rest of the group. John did not like the idea, but he started gathering his liquid essence in his hands, preparing for air blasts.
‘You better take good care of Rain, Dennis!’
“Over here, you ugly sack of shit! If that’s what you’re hiding your face behind, please don’t show yourself!”
John did his best to catch the beast's attention, and he certainly did. Right as he finished speaking, a wave of pressure assaulted his senses, making him feel like he was buried under tons of sand. His entire body buckled, and even Larang seemed to fall lower in the air.
The horror had turned to face him directly, still moving at the same pace. Whether it was because it understood his provocations or there was another reason John didn’t know. Either way, he did not feel happy to have succeeded.
‘I can’t move… What?’
The essence in his core barely responded to him, acting sluggish and unfamiliar. Only by making a massive effort to spread more liquid essence throughout his body did he manage to move properly again. He pointed his hands toward the beast and fired the air blasts.
The sudden increase in speed was incredible, and it only further increased once he dropped his weight. Like his final attack against the demon barg, he flew faster than ever. Larang didn’t keep up with his burst, so he resummoned it into his hands.
The blade pointed forward while John lay in the air behind it, decreasing his wind resistance as much as possible while using the gravity enchantment to keep accelerating. He had no intention of ever getting close to that horror again.
‘... I need to make sure it’s following, though. Fuck, this planet can eat my entire ass!’
His home in the village seemed so wonderfully dull to him these days, and he longed to get back. But he could only grit his teeth and keep moving, no matter what he had to face.
His head bowed toward the ground, shielding his eyes from the wind while allowing him to look behind himself.
The horror followed eagerly despite his sudden burst of speed, even speeding up to catch up. But it didn’t seem to manage to keep up as long as John kept using Larang to speed up. Bones were flying in all directions, unable to keep up with the mass in the body's center.
The wind was nearly unbearable as John flew through the air at almost a hundred meters per second. He could not look ahead to see if he was about to hit anything, but he believed his altitude was significant enough to avoid danger.
‘You better not be getting any lighter to keep up with me, you shit!’
But that’s precisely what happened. As more and more bones were flying off and bashing against the red mountains, the monster grew faster. More than half of the initial mass was now gone, leaving only the smaller bones near the center.
A slimy pink color was starting to appear near the core of the horror, indicating its true form. It was still quite sizeable, but less so than the black bird had been. Still, John did not doubt that this was a horror-tiered beast.
‘... If you get any faster, I will have to make a dangerous decision for both of us. And you don’t want that, do you?’
Despite his incredible speed, he could not shake the horror off of his tail. It even seemed to be catching up, forcing John to consider his options.
‘I can’t make Larang fly higher either; that would reduce my speed too much right now! Besides, I don’t know how its range works! If it’s like the black bird, I would be doomed!’
John clenched his teeth, letting go of Larang with one hand and summoning the shortsword into it. Then he held it against his chest and started focusing on the black sphere on the necklace.
The tendrils of blackness extended more willingly this time, touching the shortsword and slowly spreading out. The black essence was undoubtedly his most dangerous weapon. But even then, could it harm a horror?
The true form of the horror had revealed itself now, and it looked completely alien. Six short limbs extended from a thick, elliptical body, and a head without a neck poked out of the front. Two long bones, like spines, were growing from its head and dangling behind it like soft antennas. Pink goo covered its entire body, spreading out to its surroundings like part of its body.
It moved by sliding on the pink goo, not using its short limbs for anything but stability. Its eyes seemed to follow John closely, tilting its head as if taunting him.
‘The fucker really is ugly! I’m only getting one attempt at this… Better make it count!’
Fifty meters still separated them, but John didn’t dare get any closer. He was terrified of being subjected to the suffocating sensation he had felt earlier, as it would almost certainly end in his death.
He extended his arm toward the mass of rapidly shrinking bones, trying to aim while resisting the strong wind. An air blast charged in his hand and released, sending the sword hurdling toward the pink horror.
From John’s point of view, the sword shot off at high speed, but to any onlooker, it would merely fall in place. The sword's blade started falling straight down, but it would still hit the horror if it didn’t change directions.
‘Aaah! Fucking… physics! I could have used Larang, but that would have forced me into range again!’
The beast swung two of its legs, sending some of the pink goo to brush the sword aside before reaching it. But the sword was now completely covered in the black essence and remained unmoved by the goo, vaporizing it the instant it touched it.
The pink beast seemed to panic, understanding what danger the blade possessed, and did its best to turn away from it. A massive wave of pink goo erupted from its left side, tilting its body sharply to the right and twisting it away from the sword.
As it evaded, it was sent straight into a mountain, crashing hard and turning the base of the mountain to rubble, completely stopping its momentum.
A loud and deep roar sounded behind him, but John kept flying, hoping to cover as much ground as possible before it could build up speed again. The sword had returned to his core, but the black essence was left behind.
‘... This stuff is stronger than I thought… Thank god Rain saved me from it!’
He kept flying for a while longer, only looking back to see if the beast followed him. He was sure the impact had done little to harm it and refused to let up on the gas. But no sign of the horror could be seen.
Eventually, he slowed down, relaxing his muscles and taking a deep breath. Sweat was dripping from every part that he shielded from the wind, and a slight tremor remained in his hands.
‘... Okay, it seems to be safe now… But how am I going to find Rain again?’
There was nothing but red spikes in sight everywhere, blocking everything but the vast landscape of the planet surrounding him. He knew his direction compared to the continent, but finding someone would be challenging, even if he headed in the right direction.
The chase had taken him many kilometers from the starting spot, and his continued escape had brought him even further. But he didn’t for a second think about leaving them behind.
‘... I guess searching from up high is the best option… Agh, this is frustrating as hell! Look at this place, Larang! It’s endless!
… At least Rain is with an aspecter. He should be able to keep her safe. He better.’
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