Anyway, Finn belatedly recalled the description of the barrier, saying it would block those with high hostile energy. This meant that the bug was probably not that big of a threat to him.
For now, he could only look longingly at his bone sword outside the barrier. The monster had let it go, so now it was still trying to bump its head against the barrier. Meanwhile, the sword was lying uselessly right beside its feet.
That was his only weapon...
He tried to be sly and kneel down, trying to reach out to it with slow movements. His hands and arms were his treasures though, so he did not dare to risk it at all. Rather, he tried pulling it towards him using his feet.
ROOAR!
The monster snapped, and he pulled back his leg before he lost it.
"Urgh."
He flopped down on the ground again, feeling his entire body spent and unable to move anymore.
BANG!
And this damned bug bite irked him so much, consuming the remaining patience he had with the world!
...
The panda seemed to have noticed him frozen, sitting on the grass with an awkward pose, and visibly weaponless. The panda trudged over to him.
"You look very pitiful."
"Gee, thanks," Finn mumbled, before shifting his gaze longingly at his weapon, but also its lack of damage to the beast. "If only I had a better weapon..."
"To be fair, your battle skills have limited effect as a dormant. Even if you get a good weapon, you wouldn’t have been able to maximize it."
Finn looked at him. He felt like the panda was trying to be comforting. Why wasn’t he getting comforted?
"Is there a way to get out of that state? The dormant state, I mean."
"Not now," Pang said. "Not sure if ever."
"..." What was that supposed to mean? However, this was not the time to argue. He had to get rid of this one monster; otherwise, he could get in trouble!
BANG!
[-1 Defense Point]
Tsk. Only one monster and a point were chipped every so often. Imagine if it were a group of them?
Sigh. "Can’t you help me?" he asked. Can’t he fight? He was once a dragon and a quadrepedal mecha, right?
"Huh? I’m the spirit of the inn, la!" he said with a tone as if Finn just said something very stupid. Well, to be fair, he did remember the panda could not get out of the barrier. Finn looked at Pang’s short, pudgy arms that would not be able to reach the monster without breaking that rule.
Finn took a deep, deep breath, just focusing on the monster instead. First of all, he had to safely get his only weapon. He stared and studied the area, making things up along the way.
After a second, he sneered at the beast.
"HEY! UGLY SHIT!" he yelled at the monster, moving to a different location within the barrier. The monster followed after him, though he was unsure whether it was just his scent or also because of the noise he was making.
"Come here!" he yelled, throwing rocks at it. Thankfully, it went through and didn’t ricochet or anything stupid like that.
"Wait, this might not be a bad thing—" he muttered, hoping that the monster’s feet would land just at the right spot. He even knelt down to catch the sword.
Sadly, instead of the cartoonish scene of his sword getting kicked back to him... it just got stepped on and was embedded deeper into the soil instead!
Thankfully, it was not broken, but if the damned beast kept stepping on it, then it might as well be!
Seeing as getting-the-monster-to-kick the weapon wouldn’t work, Finn tried to figure out an alternative way.
For now, he just threw rock after rock at it, even if there was no damage, it certainly annoyed the thing. He himself could not damage it on his own, but he might as well use the barrier to lessen its defense.
It kept trying to lunge at him. Even when it bumped into one of the trees, it did not care.
ROAAR!
SLAM!
The monster was angry, and it bumped into the barrier with renewed energy.
Anyway, confirming that the beast would follow after him, he started moving a bit farther. He avoided the roots and trees on his way, all while making the monster on the other side of the barrier smack it as much as possible.
Soon, he came across a cluster of those sap trees. His eyes sparked at an idea, and he headed there. However, it seemed like the scent of the sap trees—though it was practically scentless to Finn—was enough to overpower his ’yummy human’ scent, so the beast stopped its tracks instead.
But how could Finn just accept it? He ran all the way to the other side despite feeling pain in every movement that he made.
Gritting his teeth, he took off his damp shirt and gathered his courage, waving the shirt—and his arms—outside the barrier! He chose a location that was surrounded by the sap. "HEY! COME HERE" he screamed, hoping the beast would go through the gap between the trees.Discover more novels at noⅴelfire.net
And fortunately, it did.
BANG!
ROAAAR!
Finn watched as it entered the sap tree forest, squirming and bumping around, looking very agitated.
Finn did not hesitate. Seeing that it was sufficiently distracted and at a distance away from the sword, he dashed back as fast as he could, hoping to get the sword before the monster realized it!
He sprinted to his sword without pause, grabbing it with his limited grip, and at this point, he was thankful he didn’t let it go by accident.
ROARR!
He was not fast enough to be completely unscathed, however, because the monster sensed his presence outside the barrier and barreled back. The sword wasn’t even that far, but because the monster was fast
"AHHH!" he screamed as he jumped back to the barrier, looking at the deep gash on his thigh.
He cursed between gritted teeth, feeling the sharp pain that was felt all over his body.
He glared hatefully at the monster, cursing at it, though his expression loosened when he realized the monster had become much more manic! It was crazy, bumping its head on the barrier like no tomorrow.
His eyebrows furrowed, and he turned his head to look at his wound, slowly coming to a realization.
It was just that before he could touch on it, he was distracted by more rustles, roars, and the sound of flesh slamming.
Bang!
Bang!
Two more monsters had appeared! Soon, pounding on the same area as the first one!
BANG! BANG!
ROAR!!
Like this, three monsters bumped into the barrier repeatedly, not caring if they eventually weakened their flesh like the brainless, aggressive monsters that they were.
[-1 Defense Point]
Seeing the crazy monsters aiming to kill him, Finn really just wanted to let them be at this point. Let them bump their heads to death. Who cared if they attracted a mob? He couldn’t handle a single one.
Before he could finish that thought, the animals increased the force in their attacks.
ROARR!
[-1 Defense Point]
[-1 Defense Point]
"..." This reminded him that, no, as much of a good-sounding strategy that was, he could not just let things be as it was.
A few minutes with three monsters reduced his defense by a few more points. If he remembered correctly, his barrier had 10000 points of defense. How fast would he lose all those points at this pace?
He was afraid that if he rested and fell asleep while the monsters were being like this, then he might wake up inside their mouth.
A couple of minutes per point might take weeks to consume at this pace. But what if these damned beasts attracted a dozen or more monsters? And what if that dozen attracted hundreds? How long would it take for the barrier to succumb then?
Not long enough, he’d say!