Chapter 192: Out of Reach
The insect-like creature lowered its jaws, hoping to sever his head, but before it could do so, all the surrounding monsters surged toward its defenseless body like a rushing wave. Just because it had subdued their adversary didn't mean they would let it walk away unscathed.
Some of their blades struck the sides of its abdomen, attempting to penetrate its sturdy exoskeleton, while others managed to pierce deep into its flesh and were now trying to slice its abdomen open. A few had rushed toward the monster from the front, their limbs whipping through the air as they aimed at both its limbs and the man hanging from its blade.
Despite being forced into such a dangerous situation, where there was a high risk of its body being torn apart, the Verdant Scyther refused to give up its prey. Instead, it swung its free foreleg in all directions, keeping the creatures from advancing any further while trying to protect its body from their attacks.
Finding a brief moment of respite amidst the battle and noticing almost no resistance from its captive, it swept its head down to chew his head clean off, green flames dancing in its malicious eyes.
Just as its teeth were about to sink into his brown-haired head, the surrounding fog began to stir as though something was pushing it away, before gathering into a miniature whirl of mist in front of it.
Kael's finger twitched around the hilt as his lips curled upward into a cold smile.
Before the creature could move away, the strange gust of wind slammed straight into its body with tremendous force, jerking its neck backward and forcing it to take a few steps back to regain its balance.
Even then, the creature tried its best to keep its foreleg from being affected by the sudden attack, wishing to retain its hold on its prey, but its efforts had failed miserably. As a result, the scythe suspending his body was pulled out of his flesh, sending him flying into the air.
That was possible because Kael had made his own body the target of the whirl, letting the wind force him out of its grasp.
His body hurtled backward through the air, but before he had a chance to fall, the Verdant Scyther dashed forward, closing the few metres between them in the blink of an eye. Its sudden movement caused the mantises surrounding it to either fall back or strike its body with their scythes, further deepening the existing wounds.
Its thick blade struck the side of his waist, nearly bending his body in half while threatening to slice him in two. But before that could happen, his body shot through the air like an arrow, throwing him straight into the giant crater.
'Huh?'
As he kept plummeting down at a terrifying speed, he guided a gentle gust of wind around himself, controlling the speed of his fall while keeping his body from crashing against the jagged stones too hard.
He landed on his back, but due to the uneven terrain, his body rolled across the stone several times before eventually coming to a halt nearby.
His chest rose and fell continuously, struggling to draw ragged breaths into his lungs.
As blood poured out from his wounds, Kael forced his muscles to move, barely managing to raise his trembling hand above his chest.
A green glow enveloped his body like a miniature sun, causing the exposed, mangled flesh to squirm before gradually knitting itself back together, closing the open wounds enough to stem the flow of blood.
He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes for a moment as he tried to steady his breathing.
'I've lost too much blood.'
Looking ahead, he forced himself to sit up before attempting to stand, but his body swayed unsteadily, as though he would collapse without something to support him.
Even so, he forced himself to remain still, waiting for the dizziness to subside enough for him to regain control over his movements.
Raising his arm, he glanced down at the bloodstained dagger gripped in his palm. His expression softened for a moment as he stared at its familiar shape.
Shaking his head, he turned his attention to the structure of the crater surrounding him. It looked exactly as he had seen from above, consisting of uneven, broken, and jagged stones covering its steep sides, most of which were partially buried beneath a thick layer of black ash.
There was nothing particularly unusual about its appearance.
The only difference he could find was that the atmosphere here felt slightly warmer compared to the area outside.
'There's basically nothing special about it. So, what are they so afraid of?'
Turning around, he noticed a miniature hole some distance away, roughly the size of a human head, with barely visible cracks spreading outward from its edges. A faint light emanated from deep within its depths, illuminating its interior with a soft, dim glow. Due to the size of the hole, it was hard to discern anything inside.
He shifted his gaze to the opposite side.
There, the stones seemed to have collapsed along the lower parts of the crater, forming an uneven maw of a cave that was wide enough for a few humans to pass through. It appeared to lead somewhere inside, but all he could see was the thick fog covering the entrance.
Still, he could easily tell that it was a path leading straight out of this crater, or perhaps the hill itself.
Of course, he wasn't too surprised by the discovery, since it was only natural for a giant hole situated on the slope of a mountain to have some sort of exit leading outside, especially when it seemed to have been formed by an external force, though that wasn't necessarily always the case.
He had considered these possibilities long before, but he hadn't dared to jump into the pit in search of a way out. That was mostly because none of the monsters responsible for guarding the opposite edge of the crater, or rather, the edge on his left side, had ever dared to cross the short distance between them, instead choosing to wait for him to come over, if he dared.
It made him suspect that they were afraid of this crater. Though he hadn't made any connections to it before, he believed that their reluctance to fly and their fear of this vast pit could be connected, or perhaps there were other factors involved.
He couldn't be too sure yet.
Still, their unusual behaviour had forced him to stay away from it as well.
Funnily enough, even after realizing that he had a great chance of flying away while no one was guarding the air, or when he became certain that none of the minions would pursue him even if he did, he still refused to use that method.
That was because, despite having hundreds of minions under its control, the boss hadn't chosen to sacrifice even one of them to knock him out of the air or obstruct his retreat if he tried to fly away.
Surely, a mindless creature that was not only good at flying but could also create a trap for a prey it had only just encountered wouldn't be stupid enough to overlook such an obvious means of escape.
If it hadn't taken any measures against it, it meant that it was certain he wouldn't try to escape through the air, or else his attempt would turn out to be a completely useless move. So, why should it waste its minions for no reason?
That was why Kael hadn't dared to fly, not even when he had the opportunity to cross the crater and reach the other side.
It was better to be cautious than to be sorry later on, after all.
He had learned that lesson not long ago.
Taking a soft breath, he raised his head and peered through the faint mist, where numerous monsters stood motionless along the perimeter of the crater on all sides.
Their long, thick necks were raised high, while some had their bodies coiled and their scythes ready to strike, but despite their different postures, all their malicious gazes remained fixed solely upon him, with flames of different colours burning in their eyes in the veil of mist.
Kael felt his skin tingle at the sight.
'From the looks of it, none of them have the courage to come at me now. At last...'
He had barely finished the thought when the Verdant Scyther lowered its body and jumped straight into the crater without a second thought, spreading its wings and flapping them only a few times before gliding down at a terrifying speed.
Kael's expression froze.
'It's... a joke. A joke!'
Sweat began to trickle down his skin as the monster grew closer, its massive figure cutting through the faint mist.
"No need to take it so seriously! Go back!"
In the blink of an eye, the distinctive monster appeared before him, sweeping its scythe in a horizontal arc. Kael barely managed to raise his dagger in time to block the incoming strike, but the force behind it pushed him several steps backward, his shoes scraping against the uneven stone.
'Wait... did it purposely drive me here so that both of us would be isolated?'
Before he could think any further, the creature struck again, and his body was hurled through the air, crashing onto his back before tumbling across the uneven stone.
Pain spread through his body as he came to a halt, but he couldn't afford to remain on the ground for even a moment. He hurriedly pushed himself up, only for his legs to nearly give way beneath him, almost causing him to trip over himself.
'Shit!'
Cursing under his breath, he managed to get back on his feet and bit down on his dagger once again.
He forced himself to run forward, trying to put some distance between them.
In less than a few seconds, he nearly lost his life to its whipping limbs, forcing him to twist his body and stumble aside or change directions to avoid being struck. However, his movements were simply too weak and awkward, as though he were dragging a giant boulder along with him.
Though he managed to stay out of its reach, he could still feel the sharp edges passing dangerously close to his body.
At that moment, after watching two of their adversaries running freely inside the crater without suffering any accidents for a while, the hesitant minions seemed to find some motivation, and their uncertainty gave way to a growing sense of encouragement.
Before long, one after another began leaping inside, rushing toward them by gliding through the air, though they did not descend from a great height and landed on the stony ground near their own area.
Kael wore a blank look.
'Curse you all!'
Just then, a violent gust of wind began swirling around his arm like a miniature vortex, tearing apart the already tattered fabric of his clothes. It kept whirling faster and faster until the surrounding thin fog was sucked into it, giving the vortex a visible shape that spread out behind his back like a spinning mass of air.
His fingers curled into a tight fist.
Soon enough, he came to an abrupt halt and dropped to one knee in the same motion. He bent his arm back before thrusting it down, delivering a devastating punch to the side of the hole in the ground.
As soon as his fist connected, the condensed currents of wind slammed against the nearby stones, causing small cracks to spread across their surfaces before breaking them, while the fog mixed with ash and dust scattered everywhere, briefly obscuring the area around him.
Under the force of the impact, the hole, which had previously been only the size of a human head, had now grown considerably larger, wide enough for a human to pass through with ease.
With the opening expanded, it had become easier to examine what lay inside, but all he had focused on was whether there was available space for him to squeeze inside and stay hidden.
Luckily, there was more than enough room.
That was all he needed to know for now.
He wanted to heave a sigh of relief, realizing that his attempt had not been in vain, but the dagger clenched between his teeth made it difficult to do so.
Without wasting any time, Kael pressed his hand against the ash and began moving his legs to slip inside when the grip of his teeth on the blade loosened slightly, causing the dagger to slip from his mouth and fall straight into the sinkhole.
His eyes widened.
'No!'
Not long ago, a thick green scythe, marked with leaf-like patterns, had sliced through his back, tearing through his flesh from the inside before protruding out of his chest.
He coughed up a mouthful of blood, which splattered across the ash near the hole.
Overwhelmed by relief, he had forgotten that he had exposed his back to the enemy.
The reason he had dared to do something so reckless while a monster was chasing him was that he had been certain the first batch of incoming minions would attack it first, since it had killed several of their kin, buying him a few precious seconds to escape.
What he had not expected was that the creature would be capable of slaughtering that entire batch so easily that he had not even gotten the chance to flee.
He forcefully extended his hand toward the hole, desperately trying to reach it, but his fingers could not get any closer.
'It's so close. Yet I can't...'
…
Throughout their previous battles, the Verdant Scyther had sustained numerous severe wounds, so when a large number of minions attacked its body at once, it had no choice but to put its prey aside and focus on protecting itself first.
However, it was not foolish enough to let its prey remain beside the very place he had created to escape its grasp.
So, it had dragged his motionless body away and kept it close to itself, but the sheer number of enemies surrounding it had prevented it from moving more than a few metres away.
Yet, that was of little concern to the monster.
In the next moment, it plunged into a terrifying and violent battle against the minions, where it had to focus not only on protecting its own body but also on preventing anyone from stealing its prey. Its limbs whipped through the air over and over again, tearing apart the limbs, shredding the flesh, and even crushing the heads of some minions.
In return, pairs of scythes struck its body from different directions, gashing through its flesh and spilling green blood across the ash-covered ground. The clash of their limbs reverberated through the air, producing a dreadful, bone-rattling sound.
Kael's battered body lay beneath the creature's neck, his head raised forward as he kept staring at the hole.
Everything around him looked hazy and blurry, with some parts of his vision tainted by blood. It became difficult to distinguish the shapes around him, but even through the pain and confusion, he could still recognise it.
He would not mistake it for anything else.
That was his only escape route, the only way out of this predicament that could ensure his survival. It was just in front of him, so close yet so far.
Like a distant dream.
'Out of reach...'
But Kael was reluctant to accept that.
He had come so far, fighting against a swarm of monsters while his condition continued to deteriorate, and had suffered a considerable number of wounds along the way. After enduring all of that, just when he had finally found a place where he could hide and rest for a while, all his hopes had been stolen away in a flash, leaving him with nothing but despair.
It was gone just like that, as though all his struggles had been meaningless.
Who could accept such unfairness anyway?
No, why should he accept it?
After struggling for a while, he finally managed to extend his hand ahead and grab the stones beneath him tightly, digging his fingers into the gaps between them as though his life depended on it.
Using them as an anchor, he began dragging his body forward, his bloody flesh scraping against the rough stones beneath with every agonizing pull.
Ba-Dump! Ba-Dump! Ba-Dump!
The sound of his rapidly rising heartbeat, mixed with the continuous clashes behind him, kept ringing in his eardrums, growing louder with every passing moment.
'I...'
As he dragged himself across the stones, the thick layers of ash beneath him supported most of his weight, allowing his body to slide forward with slightly less resistance, while the sharp-tipped stones occasionally pierced through his clothes and dug into his skin.
A wave of pain rushed through his body, sending chills down his bones, but he paid them almost no attention, as though they hardly mattered anymore.
'Want...'
Slowly but steadily, he kept crawling forward, knowing very well that there was a chance of the Verdant Scyther finishing its battle and turning its attention toward him before he could reach his destination.
But even so, he didn't care anymore.
He would keep going as long as he could still breathe.
His scraping body left thick trails of fresh blood in its wake, some of which were quickly absorbed by the ash, while the rest remained visible against the pale, dark surface, marking the path he had taken.
'To...'
After what felt like an eternity, he finally managed to reach the edge of the hole.
With what little strength he had left, he stretched his hand toward it, desperately trying to grab hold of its jagged rim and pull himself inside.
However, just as his fingers were about to touch it, something sharp suddenly pierced through his leg and slammed it against the ground, pinning him down so firmly that he couldn't even move it anymore.
He grimaced, his face twisting in pain, while his body trembled as he struggled to endure the sudden attack.
His gaze lost its focus as though he were on the verge of losing consciousness, but even then, his gaze never left the opening, unwilling to let go of the only chance he had left.
'Survive...'
At that moment, he noticed a blue dragonfly hovering right above the hole, its tiny body remaining perfectly still as it looked straight back at him with an unusual intensity.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a cold wind swept through the area, throwing the surrounding fog and ash into disarray, though it was impossible to tell where it had come from or what had caused it to appear so abruptly.
Kael's thoughts had become sluggish, making it difficult for him to understand what was happening around him. Yet he could still feel an intense sense of fear creeping into his heart, the kind of instinctive fear that comes naturally in the presence of something dangerous, even though its origin remained unknown.
The strange feeling jolted his drowsy eyes open, forcing him to gather whatever strength remained inside his body.
With one final burst of determination, he grabbed the edge of the hole again, this time putting everything he had into pulling himself forward while simultaneously jerking his pinned leg.
His movement was so sudden and desperate that he managed to wrench his leg free while the blade that had pinned him down remained lodged in the exact same place, leaving behind torn flesh.
The pain caused by it nearly overwhelmed his fading consciousness, but he somehow suppressed it.
As soon as he managed to push his chest inside the hole, the momentum from his movement carried the rest of his body forward, causing him to slide down the opening and fall inside.
However, just when he thought he had finally escaped, he found himself hanging upside down against the entrance. It seemed a monster's maw had grabbed his legs before they could fully pass through.
Before he could react, it had begun pulling him back outside, causing his chest to rise toward the opening once more.
"..."
He had no idea what exactly was happening outside or whether the two parties had engaged in another battle, but at that moment, perhaps by some stroke of luck, the grip holding his legs had loosened slightly.
And before whatever had grabbed him could tighten its hold again, his battered body slipped free and plummeted into the darkness below.
His body crashed into something soft and cushioned, sinking deep into it as a cloud of dust burst outward.
It was a pile of ash.
His body sprawled awkwardly across its surface, with nearly half of his head buried inside the soft mound, while the rest of him remained twisted in an uncomfortable position that would have looked ridiculous under normal circumstances.
Soon enough, he somehow managed to turn his body around, lifting his half-closed eyes toward the opening above him.
His lips curled up slightly.
'It wasn't easy, but... I did it...'
Just as those words crossed his mind, the opening above him began to darken, as though someone had drawn a curtain over it. Before he could make sense of what was happening, he heard the sound of something repeatedly striking against stone.
Before long, a maw filled with needle-like teeth emerged from the darkness, followed by a long neck that slid inside.
His mouth hung agape.
'Huh?'
---
(Chapter Ended)
To be continued...