The tongue flashed forward like a crimson blur and struck with the force of a titan. Just like before Soverick succeeded in blocking it but he had to sacrifice a spear and his right hand that was holding it. The attack was too fast and too strong.
He cursed and toned down the sensation of pain from his mangled arm. The tongue was too fast. He couldn't swerve his body in time to avoid the glancing blow. Even that glancing blow was strong enough to deal crippling damage. He gritted his teeth and continued. He maintained his balance and resumed his escape from the blood wasps. Those adamant bloodsuckers haven't given up. Their numbers might have been reduced by the attack of the titan frog but they were still out to get him. He zigzagged through the trees and remained vigilant.
A second attack appeared but he was ready. At least mentally ready. He couldn't be physically ready because the attacks arrive when he is physically compromised. They would always come when he was mid-flight and helpless. It didn't help that he had only one arm but he still blocked the attack with a shield this time. The titan frog responsible for the second attack also chose to watch him leave and ate the wasps instead.
Things didn't end there. More of the titan frogs attacked him. By the time he had resolved the fourth attack, he had lost his other arm but he still had 3 spears and a shield hanging at his back. The loss of his two arms affected his balance more than he thought it would and made him lose his footing when he was about to make another jump. He slipped and fell. The wasps were able to catch up to him and he returned to the start.
He shook his head this time and began to prepare for another try. He got stronger spears and shields this time. He doubled down on the camouflage. He added leaves and twigs to his ensemble in hopes of dissuading the titan frogs from attacking him at all. It is clear that he isn't their main target as they will ignore him after their first attack.
"Things will be easier if I could spot them." He thought.
It's just that the camouflaging ability of the titan frogs is better than his, even with their size. They usually look like a rock covered with vines and moss which helps them to blend into the forest. They will then use their covert advantage to strike with deadly accuracy. He considered briefly the idea of moving through the tree covers to avoid the titan frogs but he didn't want to be smoldered by their branches. Their exploding seeds will also be able to surround him from all sides with a constant barrage.
"No use dilly-dallying. Time for another run." He said as he took off into the forest for the fourth attempt.
After deftly escaping from the grubby hands of the forest came the bugs and then the titan frogs like clockwork. He appeared at the entrance of the forest a few minutes later. It was another failed attempt.
This time he sat down and began to review what happened. "There as to be something I'm missing."
Nothing new had happened. The titan frogs had attacked and he had lost. This time he didn't survive the third attack. His vision darkened but he is sure he was skewed like the kebab the tongue makes with the blood wasps.
He thought of many strategies to test during the fifth run then prepared and took off. He failed again and considered the information he had gathered. Then he made some changes to his strategies and tried again. It wasn't until the eighth run that his strategies paid off.
"Finally, some progress."
He laughed as he survived the fifth tongue attack. He had adopted a new blocking strategy after testing other ideas. He just had to commit his two hands to use the shield and use it to deflect the attack. It had failed in the past because any resistance in the path of the tongue will be punched through including his body.
So he decided to go with the flow and let the tongue push him aside. It is incredibly demanding on his body and mind. Even though the attacks always occur mid-flight, there hasn't been any pattern in when they actually attack him. So this strategy needed him to prime his body to fail the block and take advantage of it to survive. It is also incredibly difficult to run when carrying a heavy shield with two hands while you hope from tree to tree but he made it work
He had ditched the camouflaging attempt by this run. He didn't want to create a new camouflage every time he failed especially since it wasn't working.
"I'll beat the forest at this rate." He smiled at his progress.
This was his first time surviving the fifth tongue attack and he had also survived the previous ones without an itch. So he was confident of surviving when he sensed the next attack coming. The tongue brushed against his prepped shield and pushed him aside. The next will be orientation, finding his balance, getting support for his feet, and finally jumping away. Any failure in these processes will lead to him falling down and the blood wasps catching up.
Still, he wasn't flustered by that possibility. He remained focused as he was about to orient himself. But then something unexpected happened. Another attack came as he was floundering in the air. Needless to say, he was sent back to the entrance.
He sat down with a stony expression as he considered what just happened. "Two attacks. One after the other. Two attacks." He kept mumbling.
Even though he felt like screaming in frustration he didn't. He thought himself more mature than that. It was really frustrating but he wouldn't throw a tantrum. Instead, he calmed down and planned his next course of action. And so began another round of testing and adjustment.
At first, he attempted to right himself from the impact of the first attack but that was impossible. The second attack came just like the previous ones, at his moments of weakness, when he has been further destabilized by the first attack. He gave up on that idea after three runs without success.
"Dodging doesn't work. Blocking doesn't work either. What will work?" He growled at the entrance after his recent failure. The worst part is that he has to start all over again every time he fails.
"Only parrying is working, but that's partial. What a minute." He stopped as he got an idea.
He had indeed been parrying but his parrying was wrong. Parrying is meant to redirect the attack. It is used when dodging and blocking an attack is not favorable. This is either because the attack is too fast to dodge or too strong to block. Instead of deflecting the attack, he had been using it to swerve out of its path of attack.
"Of course, it's so simple. I can't believe I have been missing it all along. An attack can either be blocked, dodged, or parried. Those are the basic options anyway." He said as his eyes lit up.
He has been used to fighting with his mind. Many other options become available with the mind. If he used his mind, he can slow down an attack if not outright block it or deflect it without having to come in contact with it. He wasn't experienced with using the body to defend but he understood that parrying will be challenging.
He grinned and said, "I'm up for a challenge."
He became encouraged because he had a feasible idea. He began the twelfth attempt with gusto. The tree and vine obstacles up to the point when the titan frog attacks were not a challenge anymore. He was a fast learner so his body practically went through the motions. He didn't even bring his spears anymore. It was until the tongue attack that he became serious.
He didn't plan to reach the fifth attack but to figure out how to parry the attacks first. He tried to use a shield to parry but it failed. He was totally outclassed by the attacks. The only way he was able to parry the attack with the shield is to use it to slam the attack aside but that's subpar. Apart from it being too difficult to do while he is mid-flight, it needed both his arms and will also leave him open to another attack. Even if another attack doesn't come, he finds it extremely difficult to find his footing after the stunt, which makes the blood wasps catch up with him.
"Too big. Need something smaller." He said after the fifteenth run and the fifteenth failure.
Parry with the shield wasn't working. He needed something smaller that will help him succeed. He has an idea about what could lead to his success.