287 The stuff legends are made of
The shock of the alpha's death sent the other dogs scurrying, but they were hardly the only obstacles in their path. As Nero ran through the grass, his flames freezing their long stems and shattering them, he was suddenly assaulted by a few strands of seemingly ordinary grass.
They weren't even cursed. It was just that these individual blades of grass seemed to have the ability to sense prey. Unfortunately for them, their senses failed them today, as Nero's fires were not forgiving.
Yet while the grass froze before it even touched him, Nero realised the danger this presented not for him, but for the rest. If they were suddenly attacked by the grass around them, they might not be as protected as him.
"Watch out for the grass!" he yelled as he began waving his spear like a scythe, cutting out a much wider path for everyone to follow.
But he had run barely 10 metres when he felt a deep vibration within the ground. He was reminded of the Beach worms, but felt that the vibrations were much greater this time.
Either way, in this moment, with all his senses heightened and him exerting himself to the utmost, he reacted instantly.
He turned and flung a flaming Snowflake, this one much larger than the ones he normally used, and threw it towards Dave who was limping along behind the group.
Dave saw the Snowflake coming, and his pupils constricted as horror painted his expression, but he was not fast enough. He could not react in time.
Just as the Snowflake was coming close, the ground in front of him burst, and a tree root shot up towards him, aiming to pierce his throat. Yet the root never reached him, for the Snowflake cut through it, losing much of its momentum and becoming deviated and flying aside.
The ground underneath everyone trembled, as if something just below the surface was writhing, while the now burning, cut off root quickly retreated into the ground. No one stopped or paused, and in just a few seconds, they left the range of the root, yet new dangers were abound. A number of birds Nero did not recognise began circling overhead, while from a distance he could see something running through the grass towards them. The tavern was still over 4 kilometres (2.4 miles) away, and the time was running short.
But the more he fought, the more momentum he gained, since the flames coating his body were turning deeper in shade from absorbing all the ambient heat. With the Recovery token steadily supplying him with the aether he used, he could maintain such heavy expenditure all the way. Hopefully.
The birds overhead cawed, and then dove down on the group, aiming for the very back, away from the flaming Nero.
Yet three flying blades met them in the sky, while arrows of fire and ice were shot out by others. Nero Snowflakes previously had limited range, since he had to manually throw them by hand, but now with his increased strength that was no longer a concern.
Snowflakes cut through the birds, while Nero fought against more grounded foes himself. It was not actually fighting that troubled Nero, for he would injure and then push away. It was when the enemies attacked his group. For most, a Snowflake or two would work, but for some Nero had to run back and fight himself.
A behemoth, one unlike anything Nero had ever seen or heard of, broke through the grass, chasing the group from behind. It had six legs, four on the back and two front, with two massive, scaled wings on its back. There were four massive horns on its head, and it pointed them towards Bael, who was at the back carrying Liam, as it rushed forward.
"Bloody hell!" Nero couldn't help but exclaim as the visual impact of the creature itself was like a spiritual attack. It caused any who looked at it to be stunned, and even Nero stumbled. But whether it was because of the excruciating pain rocking his body, or his own mental fortitude, he recovered the fastest, and rushed back at his fastest speed.
"Clarissa, weakness!" he yelled, though there was not enough time for her to respond. Whatever weakness this monstrosity had, he would have to wait till he stopped it to find out.
With his grip around the spear tightening, he lunged forward, pointing its blade towards the creature's forehead, travelling through the slightest gap between its massive horns.
The Spartan-II spear was known for its strength, not just of the spear but of the blade as well. The lethality of the spear, when pushed forward with Nero's greatest strength, combined with the momentum of the monstrosity itself running forward, was unparalleled.
The blade cut through the creature's scale, and even dug into its skull. But that is the extent of how far it went.
The severe jolt of the impact broke the spear free of Nero's grip, and though the creature did not stop moving forward, the sudden pain of having its skull pierced caused it to suddenly fall forward, the momentum of its crash pushing it forward.
Nero's eyes widened as he realised that it was unlikely he would be able to beat this creature. Whatever this creature was, its normal level without the suppression surely reached the Sage realm!
Even when weakened and suppressed, the aether coursing through the creature's body was tremendous.
Nero threw a few flaming Snowflakes at it as he retreated, but it was for now. The earth wrapped itself around the creature as if it was not solid, but a liquid that moved according to the whims of the creature.
The Snowflakes dug into the earth, and were instantly extinguished as if they were nothing. The grass all around the creature broke into dust and began gathering around the creature, forming an armour of green that looked more solid than steel.
Nero did not stick around to see what happened. He abandoned the spear, now thoroughly lodged in the creature's skull, and ran onwards with the group, who themselves were not bereft of troubles.
A number of lizards the size of a grown dog had surrounded the group and were whittling down their defences. Nero threw Snowflakes and withdrew his dagger, using it to stab the lizards as he ran forward.
But things were going from bad to worse. While escaping the lizards was not a problem, the monstrosity that he had previously knocked down had gotten back up, and gave the group a look so furious it gave everyone chills, even though they only felt the creatures gaze on their backs.
In fact, the creature's fury seemed to give them a reprieve from all the attacks, but no one felt safer for it.
"Keep running, I'll hold it off!" Nero screamed as he ran back towards the group once more.
"Nero, I can't find a weakness of its body," Clarissa yelled desperately, but there wasn't much that could be done about it now.
Nero spread the flames from his body onto the ground, creating a wall of flames between him and the group that continued to run forward. Rapid winds blew through the hill as the chill of the winds began to freeze the land, and the flames grew deeper in colour steadily.
Yet behind the wall of blue flames, Nero stood firm as he looked at the creature. It had spread its wings now, with a span of 4 metres (13 feet) across, covered in an armour that looked devilish. Even constrained to the Neophyte level, Nero felt from this creature a power so devastating he knew for certain that he would not be able to defeat it.
The creature extended its forehead, pulled out the spear from its forehead, and brought it to its mouth. With a single bite, the creature snapped the metal spear in two, and then began chewing while maintaining eye contact with Nero.
The sight was impressive, intimidating, and carried a hint of a spiritual attack in it. But Nero was not one to be cowed. He did not fear death, so why would he fear this creature?
Instead, freed from the flames on his body, he switched from Cryoflame to Virtuous Moonlight, and prepared himself for a confrontation.
The pale, silver moonlight was enough to cause all other creatures to bow. He would now find out if it was still effective against this creature as well.
"A futile attempt at delaying me," a deep, rumbling voice rushed over to Nero, surprising him. The creature could talk?
But he did present the opportunity for conversation, as with a single flap of its wings the creature rushed forward with a blinding speed.
Nero did not even attempt to use the Virtuous Moonlight. Even if the creature itself stopped, its forward momentum could not be eliminated. Instead, he leaped aside as he grabbed his card case, hoping to quickly find the two cards he was looking for. He wanted to find Words of Wisdom and This is Us, yet he did not have a single moment to look through his cards.
The creature attacked with such ferocity and speed, that Nero was forced to focus all his attention on dodging. Even then, he barely managed.
A single misstep would mean certain death, and that filled Nero's entire being with excitement.
In another dimension, facing a talking monster much greater than him in strength, capable of killing him with a single blow. This was the stuff legends were made from, and he was living it!
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