Chapter 28: The price of survival

The orange creature growled louder and louder until it let out a few aggressive barks.

I didn’t know what species it belonged to before degenerating into this cruel entity, but I didn’t have any time to worry about that.

The threatening noise echoed in my ears and instilled fear in my heart. I had many battles in my old life, but it was against humans. This was the first time I had to fight against a beast like this. Of course, I had killed some animals, but my instincts told me that this fight would be completely different.

*Grrrr*

Another growl reached my ears, but this time, the deviant wasn’t the cause of it. I quickly turned my head behind me, only to see four other figures in the dark coming closer to me.

As soon as I turned my head, I realized my mistake and quickly shifted my attention back to the deviant, but it was already too late. The massive monster had already jumped toward me with all its might.

I sidestepped with pure reflex on the rock, but I couldn’t totally avoid the sword-like claws. I felt a sharp pain on my left arm as my flesh got torn apart by the beast.

I repressed a yell and immediately backed away, but the creature only turned its fierce head toward me and let out a long red trail of flames.

“Water shield!”

I shouted in reflex while activating my protective magic. It was the Barrier magic from the water element and the proof that I was able to add speed to this element.

However, I quickly understood that my magic wasn’t strong enough to resist it.

The fire from the beast struck me head on, and the impact sent me flying.

When I landed on my back, I felt an intense burning sensation on my torso and my left cheek where the fire had hit. This time, I couldn’t repress a painful scream as I felt my flesh melting under the fierce fire. I quickly concentrated water in those areas to extinguish the fire.

The creature’s eyes shone with a terrifying yellow light as it looked at me repress my pain after its devastating attack. However, it didn’t charge and simply watched me struggle.

I didn’t know if it was enjoying the sight, but I was glad that it didn’t pursue its attack.

The pain was so strong that it prevented me from thinking clearly, but more than that, it was the fear striking my heart that was the most difficult to bear.

I felt my heart quiver as I imagined what would have happened without my protective magic.

I would have been burned to death and probably eaten moments later.

To be disfigured was a small price to pay after its attack.

My clothes also hindered the progress of the fire.

There was no doubt that normal clothes would have been turned into ashes right after the impact, but the Millennium Ancestor’s fallen leaves showed an incredible resistance even against fire.

As I began to calm down, I quickly analyzed the situation. I was on a boulder facing a deviant who could obviously use fire magic and I was surrounded by other similar creatures.

No matter how much I thought, I began to feel all hope slowly disappear in front of this desperate situation.

But even so, I couldn’t just lie down and die.

I had to fight.

The deviant seemed to have enough of just watching me and took a step forward with its enormous black pawns.

He slowly came closer while I retreated at the same time.

I had the impression that it was toying with me, enjoying the fear in my eyes.

I covered my arms with the sturdiest earth magic I could produce. The color of my limbs turned a darkish brown color as the earth slowly covered me. It was difficult for me to use different kinds of magic at the same time. In this situation and without any weapon, I didn’t want to fight without any kind of protection.

I also prepared to switch and use wind or water if the situation called for it.

I couldn’t use fire magic against this creature who burned me a minute ago, but I readied myself to use every other kind of magic I learned until now.

I concentrated and sensed the four animals behind me. Their mana was different from the one in front of me. It was calmer and more natural.

This made me realize that only this one was a deviant.

It also seemed that the others wouldn’t intervene. Their only goal was apparently to prevent me from fleeing.

The tension between us was palpable. The creature seemed aware that I wasn’t cowering in fear, but preparing to fight back. Its growls became more intense as anger began to emanate from its being as if it was perspiring from its own fur.

The deviant pressed its powerful claws on the hard boulder, making small cracks, as it prepared to launch forward.

I released a small gust of wind under my left feet as the creature finally jumped to crush my head.

I sidestepped and twisted my body while letting the rotation of my body accelerate my blow. The massive red mouth was ready to swallow me but, when the monster was just an inch away, I punched it at the end of my rotation.

*Bam*

My hardened arm struck directly at the left side of its head. The impact didn’t send it flying but was enough to shake it. As I used Wind magic just before, I didn’t concentrate enough to maintain the full hardness of my earth magic, but it was still enough to inflict some damage.

“Time for payback!”

This time I advanced toward the creature without letting it the time to regain its spirit.

My hands simultaneously released waterballs. Each of them struck the six feet high body directly making a slapping noise each time. The creature let painful growls escape its mouth while its body began to fall back under the assault.

My attacks were hitting its body, yet I didn’t feel that any of those attacks had any real impact. Even if the deviant didn’t seem to take any damage, I continued to shoot my magic furiously as fast as I could.

Not enough.

None of my attacks was able to penetrate the hard skin of the deviant. I knew that the moment I stopped the creature was going to crush me. There was no doubt about that.

I had to finish it while I could.

I concentrated on sensing the four other animals behind me, but none of them were moving.

“Waaaaaa!”

I let out a furious scream as I added more speed to each of my projectiles. Even with its sharp claws solidly driven into the hard boulder, the deviant was sent back a few inches each time.

The furious assault lasted for what seemed like an eternity until finally one of the hind legs of the beast lost the support of the rock.

The deviant lost its balance the same moment.

"Now!"

I stopped the water barrage and ran forward while hardening the earth on my right leg. I jumped so that my small body could attain the head of the creature.

*Bam*

My knee directly hit its head.

The beast let out a painful shriek piercing the dark sky as its body fell back under the impact in the center of the rock formation.

Blood was gushing from its left eye continuously after the spike I created on my knee struck it.

I knew that it was my only chance to finish it.

I concentrated earth magic in my right hand to create an earthball that was much more solid than a waterball, but also slower to form with my current strength. It wasn’t possible to hit it before, but now that it was on the ground, I had a chance.

After several seconds, the solid brown projectile was ready to be launched.

*Warfff*

A sharp pain assaulted my left shoulder as one of the four animals behind me plunged its sharp teeth into my flesh.

I forgot about them and was deeply regretting it as I felt a huge amount of blood gushing out of my wound.

I fell on my knees under the weight of my opponent who was furiously devouring my flesh.

“Bastard!”

I released the earthball in my right hand directly in its head by aiming above my shoulder.

*Bam*

A loud noise echoed under the impact. The creature finally released my shoulder, causing more blood to flow in the process.

I pressed my wound with my hand before looking behind me just in time to see the three other animals coming together. My left arm was dangling without moving so I raised my right arm covered in blood to create another earthball.

I waited until the closest jumped on the boulder to release my mortal projectile.

The beast couldn’t avoid in midair and was hit mercilessly, sending its body flying back to the ground. However, two more were coming.

They jumped together on the boulder where I was staying without leaving me more time to create another earthball.

They ran toward me browsing the distance separating us in a few seconds. I avoided the claws of the left creature by twitching my body before jumping backward to gain some distance.

However, the closest animal didn’t let me and jumped in my direction.

This was what I was expecting.

While I was retreating, I released my wind magic to suddenly change direction and propel myself in front of the animal before hitting it with my hardened right fist aimed toward the side of its neck.

The monster was sent flying by my blow with its head turned at an unnatural angle.

I succeeded in my front assault, but as soon as my feet touched the ground, the last one jumped on me and pushed me down.

I just had enough time to place my right hand in its mouth before the white teeth of the beast tore my throat open.

I was on my back on the hard rock while the beast was furiously trying to devour me. Without the protection of my earth magic, I would have already lost my right hand. However, I couldn’t do anything anymore under the weight of this huge beast.

I felt the earth on my right hand beginning to crack under the pressure of the terribly powerful jaw. I concentrated as hard as I could to prevent it from being totally crushed, but I wasn’t going to hold on much longer.

I desperately grabbed the upper side of its open jaw that was still firmly closed on my arm.

I didn’t have any time to feel any fear as I was struggling to survive with all my strength, but I still realized that I would die if this continued. The adrenaline in my body helped me hold on until now while my mind was desperately trying to think of a way to escape the jaw of death.

My vision began to blur as I continued to lose blood.

This will be over in a few seconds.

As this terrifying thought crossed my mind, my body struggled furiously once more in a last attempt to free myself.

However, it was no use.

The body of a child couldn’t compete against the strength of a wild beast.

In the last moment of my life, I made a decision.

“You can have my right arm!”

As soon as these words left my mouth like a curse, I stopped focusing on maintaining the hard protection of my arm. The pressure of the jaw became enough to pierce the hard earth and slowly reaching the flesh of my small arm.

My only valid hand was still firmly gripping the upper jaw, near the nose of the beast, when I released my last magic. A simple waterball began to form in the palm of my right hand.

I maintained my magic and added more mana so that the water would surround its nose and mouth completely.

The pressure on my arm increased as the beast began to shake its head to prevent more water from coming inside its nose and mouth.

The last part of my earth protection finally shattered exposing my bare flesh to the sharpened fangs of the beast. The pain was intense as I began to lose the sense of my hand. Blood flew everywhere while my arm was slowly but surely ripped apart.

However, I couldn’t spare any thought to my hand or held any regret while I was struggling with the ferocious beast.

If I didn’t kill it, I would be the one to die.

This was the only thing I could think about.

As the beast began to suffocate, the pressure of its powerful jaw finally lessened a little whereas its head continued to move fiercely to escape from my grasp.

“Not so fast.”

I circled its head with my legs to not let it get away and continued to concentrate so that my magic didn’t crumble.

The beast shook its entire body to make me let go, but I gritted my teeth to hold on.

The struggle didn’t last longer than a minute, but to me, it felt like an eternity. My body was sent flying into the air like a puppet each time the wild animal twitched its body.

However, I didn’t let go.

The beast began to slow down. Its movements became less powerful while its legs began to drop under its own weight.

I continued to pour water a few more seconds to make sure I drowned the animal.

Finally, the animal’s last bit of strength left its body. Its heavy body collapsed on the hard rock without moving.

I let go of the upper jaw of the beast and looked at my crippled arm. The sharp teeth of the beast nearly tear off a part of my arm. The torn flesh of my arm revealed the bones of my forearm.

Blood flowed without stopping and made this view along with the pain hardly bearable. Especially since I knew that I probably wouldn’t be able to use this arm anymore.

This was the price for my survival.

However, I was losing too much blood. My vision blurred further every second.

I bit my tongue to stay conscious while enduring the sharp pain crushing my entire body. Then, I used fire magic to close the wound on my left shoulder and on my right arm.

I couldn’t repress a painful scream as I burned myself to close the wound. It was the only solution available to prevent me from bleeding to death.

The self-inflicted pain threatened my consciousness and my sanity while an odor of burned flesh filled the air around me.

I fell on my knees after the painful treatment was over. My breathing was harsh and quick. I was unable to calm myself after this near-death experience.

It was only after a couple of minutes that I finally regained some senses.

I slowly turned my head to look at the ground where the deviant fell.

Its enormous body was partially merged in the darkness, but I was still able to see its fur moving.

It was still alive.

Under my horrified gaze, the creature began to move more and more. The head that was facing the ground slowly turned in my direction.

The wound on its eye was slowly closing.

The brightness and fierceness of its gaze returned just before the deviant attempted to stand up once again.

I watched the deviant slowly rising from a massive pool of its own blood. Its orange fur was dyed red while its yellow eyes were furiously looking at me.

The legs of the beast were shaking, but in a few seconds, it would be ready to attack me once more.

My head was dizzy after losing too much blood and mana. My body was also covered in bruises, blood and burn marks. No matter what, I couldn’t stand up anymore.

I focused my last bit of strength to gather enough mana in my right hand that also had a terrible bite mark on it and tried to create another earthball.

However, I couldn’t.

I didn’t know if my mana wasn't enough anymore or if I couldn’t concentrate because of my blood loss, but the usual earthball didn't appear in the palm of my hand to save me.

I could only produce a small rock one tenth of the ordinary size. I couldn’t help but gasp in defeat as I watched the creature covered in flames circling around its body readying itself to kill me and burn my body to ashes.

Despair began to seize my heart as I compared this fierce beast to the small earth pebble I painfully managed to produce.

It would be my final attack.

If I couldn’t kill it then I would die.

Still on my knees, I closed my eyes to concentrate. I could sense the furious mana of the beast a couple of feet away from me, but I wasn't interested in that. My entire focus was on the small rock in my hand.

I concentrated and readied my hand aiming for the creature by painfully raising my mangled right arm.

What I sought was speed. A speed to hit him. A speed able to kill it and save my life.

I opened my eyes just when the deviant covered in flames let out a furious growl while jumping toward me with all its power and anger.

Faster.

As the beast landed on the same rock as me, I released my last magic.

The small earthball instantly flew at high speed toward the head of the creature who attempted to evade.

*Bam*

The earthball hit a boulder in the opposite side after piercing straight through the skull of the beast.

Its huge body immediately fell limp on the hard boulder.

The deviant was dead, not moving in the slightest. The flames around its body slowly extinguished as if it was nothing more than a dream.

I wanted to shout in joy and relief after defeating my foe but I couldn’t.

I fell face first on the hard rock and lost consciousness.