Chapter 406: Fast Very Fast
The spider’s body twitched under the crater I had made. Chunks of broken earth tumbled down its sides. Its green mist scattered like shredded cloth in the wind, but it was still alive.
I felt it, the faint tremor through the ground, the twitch of its legs. My Psynapse caught the movement before my eyes even registered it.
It screamed, a dry, piercing sound like glass grinding on stone and the mist thickened again, surging out to hide its body.
The air around me shifted. My Psynapse flared, completely locking onto each of the creatures. The wolf on my left leapt, its three bony tails snapping like whips. The Bone Lizard stomped forward, each step shaking the dirt. The goat lowered its head, black horns glinting. All of them moved at once.
My body moved faster.
My wings beat once.
The air cracked. A sonic boom burst behind me as I vanished from where I had been. The wolf’s tails slashed through only after-images. I was already above the spider again, staff pulled back for another strike.
The mist reached for me like grasping hands, cold and burning at the same time. My Essence flared violet along the length of my staff, slicing through the haze. I twisted mid-fall, the world slowing. I could see each droplet of green poison hanging in the air, each crack in the spider’s bone-like shell.
I slammed the staff down.
BOOM!!!
The impact split the ground like an earthquake. Dust burst upward in thick clouds. The spider screeched, its body caving inward. Its legs flailed wildly, tearing trenches into the soil. But still... still it moved.
My teeth clenched.
It was fast for something so large. Its body rolled aside with unnatural strength, legs stabbing into the ground to fling it out of the crater. One leg jabbed toward my chest like a spear.
I twisted, my feet kicking against empty air, redirecting my momentum with my wings. The leg passed a hair’s breadth from me. I could smell the rot dripping off it.
The wolf came again.
I barely touched the ground before its shadow fell over me. Ten feet tall, glowing red eyes, jaws wide. The bony tails snapped forward with a sound like cracking stone.
I shifted Essence into my legs. The world blurred. I moved under its belly, staff held low, dragging violet sparks across the dirt.
The wolf’s body was solid muscle, but my Psynapse felt the weak point , the soft space just behind its forelegs.
I planted my back foot. Essence surged into my arms.
The staff shot upward.
The hit sounded like a giant log breaking in half. The wolf’s body lifted from the force, claws scraping trenches as it tried to stay grounded. It roared, but the sound broke midway.
I stepped forward, twisting my wrists, bringing the staff down in a brutal arc onto its skull.
The impact shook the ground again. Its red eyes dimmed instantly, body collapsing into the dirt with a heavy, final thud.
"Uff that was brutal." I commented.
The spider’s screech rose again.
I didn’t wait. My Psynapse had already traced the arc of its next leap. The mist curled unnaturally, giving away the movement even before its legs tensed.
My wings snapped open. The air cracked behind me as I shot forward.
The spider lunged, green mist billowing in its wake. Its legs stabbed at me from all angles. I saw them all. Each strike slowed in my perception.....every joint, every poisoned spike.
I bent low, spun the staff in a tight arc, knocking one leg aside, then another. Sparks flew where Essence met the hard, bone-like chitin.
My staff slammed into the ground, and I vaulted upward, flipping over its back. My boots skimmed the jagged edges of its body.
It turned fast, but I was faster. My Psynapse pushed my body to the limit, every muscle burning in perfect coordination.
The staff came down once more, this time onto the top of its head.
The shell cracked like dry wood. Green fluid burst out, splattering across the ground.
The spider spasmed, legs flailing in panic. It tried to pull away, but I stayed above it, every strike driving the staff deeper into the break. Violet Essence flared with each blow, burning through whatever corrupt energy it had left.
The mist thinned. Its screeches weakened.
One final swing, I put my entire weight and strength into it.
The spider’s head caved in with a wet, heavy crunch. The sound was final, like something being closed forever. Its long legs twitched once, then folded inward, collapsing in a heap.
"Smelly," I muttered, wrinkling my nose at the thick, rotten stench that rose from its body.
My hands shifted on the staff, the grip tightening as faint violet Essence pulsed along the wood, a steady hum that almost felt alive.
I spun the weapon once, letting the motion flow through my shoulders, and stepped forward. The other creatures stayed where they were, their growls low and rumbling, eyes locked on me. They weren’t rushing. They were watching. Waiting.
"Fine."
I set my eyes on the goat.
One heartbeat, I was twenty feet away. The next, I was in front of it. My Psynapse surged, my body moving so fast the air warped around me. My staff rose high above my head, both hands gripping tight.
The minor law of Repulsion activated with a thought, and a silver glow poured across the staff from tip to base. The air seemed to shiver around it.
I brought the weapon down.
The Repulsion hit first, an invisible force slamming into the goat’s chest before the staff even touched it. Its legs almost buckled from the sudden impact. The moment of weakness was all I needed.
The goat roared, its voice deep and broken, like stone grinding against stone. Its single red eye glared up at me, but I was already shifting my weight for the next strike.
I lunged at the goat, my staff raised high, letting my intent show in every movement. Its head dropped low, muscles coiling to counter. That was when I vanished from its line of sight.
In the next instant, I was behind the lizard. My hand clamped around its thick, scaled tail. It hissed in shock, claws scraping the dirt, but I swung it up with one arm like it weighed nothing.
BAAMM!
The first slam drove it into the ground with a cracking thud. The second hurled it into a tree, the trunk shattering as splinters flew across the place.