Chương 20: Bloodspawn (3)

After a moment's rest, Rowan sat up and looked towards the mangled waterskin. It lay in a mix of water and pieces of the Vine Strangler. Carefully, he picked up what remained of the leather container. To his surprise, there was actually some left, albeit only about a fifth. He moved to pour it into his empty waterskin, but stopped himself at the last moment. What if it was… he didn't know the right word for it. Tainted?

When the Fungal Bloodspawn had struck the ants back at the battle he'd stumbled upon, the wounds had festered, slowly eating away at the insects' flesh. He'd seen this up close against the injured ant he'd fought. So why couldn't the Fungal Vine Strangler's bite have similar effects to the strikes of the Fungal Bloodspawn? At the thought, Rowan panickedly checked the many shallow lacerations on his skin left by the creature's vines. Thankfully, none of them seemed to be poisoned.

With a sigh of relief, he moved towards the Vine Strangler's corpse. The vines hadn't left any of the necrotic effects, but they hadn't had any fungal growth on them, either. But the mouth or head or whatever it was called had been covered with a layer of the bloody rot. What if its 'teeth,' which had been what bit into the waterskin and actually came into contact with the liquid, carried that same effect?

He wanted to inspect the creature's teeth and mouth more closely, but, well, there just wasn't much of it left. Not after he'd reduced it to a pulp in a fit of rage just earlier. Alas, unable to determine whether the water was infected—or even could be—Rowan refused to drink it or keep it, instead dumping it on the ground. He ditched the damaged waterskin as well. Casting one last hateful look upon the Vine Strangler, he continued on his way through the tunnels.

— Finally, Rowan had stumbled upon some fungal bloodspawn. He wasn't sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing; on one hand, since he'd already lost half his water, he needed to kill enemies faster than ever to get his next set of rations. On the other hand, he could be dead in the next hour.

He'd killed two more Vine Stranglers since he'd lost the waterskin, and, by slicing a vine on the 'teeth' of the dead creature, he had confirmed that the thorns indeed had the same properties as the weapons of the bloodspawn. The necrotic properties hadn't seemed too effective on the plant, but it'd been more than enough to prove Rowan had made the right decision not to take the water with him.

He'd also confirmed that they had at least some semblance of intelligence and that it wasn't dumb luck that the first Vine Strangler had managed to snatch his waterskin. Rowan also didn't think the creature had taken his water in an attempt to make him die of dehydration; it just wasn't smart enough for that. The other Vine Stranglers had gone after his mace, so he assumed the first one, unable to grasp one of his weapons, had just grabbed anything of his that it could get in the hopes of doing something.

Now, he was standing thirty yards from two Bloodspawn, both of them the humanoid kind. The tunnel he'd been traveling down since he'd first escaped the ants was long, and even now, he was still in it. There'd been a few other tunnels connecting or branching off from it, but Rowan had chosen to remain in this one. Now, though, his only path forward was blocked by the Bloodspawn, and there was no way he was going to sneak past them. So he readied himself for a fight.

He wished he could use [Bind] at such a distance, but while he was yet to find a limit to how many seemingly never-ending links he could create, he'd learned something else from his fights with the Vine Stranglers: the more chains he created, the higher the mana cost was to maintain them. And after his recent fights, his mana pool was limited. So he'd have to get up close. Summoning a particularly small blade of mana to conserve the precious resource, Rowan prepared his mace and advanced.

He'd been hoping to get close enough to [bind] them before they even noticed him, but when he'd covered just half the distance, both their heads whipped around in unison. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Before he could even react, they each let out a blood-curdling screech and charged him." Shit," he cursed as he hurriedly poured mana into his chains. At the same time, he launched his mana construct forward.

It sailed through the air, perfectly on course, until the Bloodspawn dodged, sending the blade flying into the cave wall. Rowan cursed again, preparing his chains. He didn't want to spend too much mana or mental energy by trying to restrain and maintain his hold on both of the amalgamations, so he targeted only one so that he could fight the other one-on-one. The ethereal links binding his body turned to steel as they sprang forth, wrapping around the lead Bloodspawn.

Rowan tried to cover its many mouths so it couldn't let out any more of those atrocious screams, but they were just too numerous. So even with the chains binding it, it screamed all the while. But he tried to ignore it, instead focusing on fighting the next creature. Except that fight didn't come. No, the Bloodspawn stopped and turned to help its ally break free, slashing at the chains with bony claws.

Quickly recovering from the surprise, Rowan took advantage of the situation, taking control of the mana construct the bloodspawn had dodged and pulling it back towards him. The blue blade pierced through the air, striking the already bound Bloodspawn in the back of the head. It lurched forward and let out a cry, but continued struggling against its bonds. Rowan pulled the blade out before stabbing it back into the creature's head.

Just as the chains began to fracture, he finally put an end to the fungal amalgamation's life. [You have slain Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 6] Realizing its comrade was dead, the second Bloodspawn charged him. As it ran, it let out a screech so loud that Rowan was temporarily stunned. Taking advantage of his moment of weakness, the creature leaped towards him, claws slashing through the air. But, mid-leap, Rowan's already damaged chains crashed into the Bloodspawn's side, sending it crashing into the cave wall.

He'd never thought to use the chains as an instrument of blunt force—they just didn't pack enough of a punch, especially not against the compact and heavily armored ants. However, against a lighter, more mobile enemy in mid-air, they were terrifyingly effective. The creature slid down the wall, and before it could recover, its chains crashed into it once more, battering and binding it. At the same time, he dislodged the mana blade from the dead Bloodspawn's head and sent it flying towards his current enemy.

Both the blade and his chains were rapidly deteriorating, but he refused to feed more mana into them unless he truly had to. The cracked links wrapped around the monster's head, squeezing while the mana construct ripped into its chest. All the while, Rowan stayed back, not giving the creature a chance to strike him and inflict that terrible rot upon him as its claws flailed wildly. But, without going close enough to strike with his mace, he couldn't easily finish the Bloodspawn off.

The fleshy amalgamation clawed at its face, tearing into its own flesh as it tried to free itself from the chains. And it was working. One after another, links and entire lengths of chains shattered entirely, leaving only a blue, ghostly shell. Then, the creature stood up. It walked shakily, its body mangled and a bloodlike substance pouring from its wounds. But it stood nonetheless, marching towards him.

He took a deep breath and pulled the blade of mana back to his hand, infusing it with just enough mana to keep it from crumbling during the next exchange. The Bloodspawn leaped forward, claws flashing, but Rowan sidestepped, lashing out with his blade and leaving a long wound along its side. The beast let out a scream before leaping at him again, forcing him to dive out of the way. Exchange after exchange, the humanoid failed to land a blow on him. But it wouldn't be so easy.

The beast had to have taken a dozen blows, and yet, it was still standing. Even worse, it didn't seem to be tiring at all. As for Rowan, well, his limbs felt like lead. The bloodspawn's blood spewed forth from its body, but even after minutes, it didn't seem to be bleeding out. It seemed like he would need to do serious damage rather than just a bunch of weaker attacks in order to put an end to it. And he needed to do so soon. As the beast charged once more, he dodged as he had every time before.

But instead of settling for a glancing blow as it passed, Rowan leaped after it, bringing his mace down on the back of its already mangled head. He would've gone for its eyes, but it didn't have any. How it found its way around, he didn't know. But all that mattered at the moment was finishing the creature off. As the mace slammed into one of its many mouths, his blade struck the back of the Bloodspawn's neck, digging deep. After taking another strike to the head, the beast whipped around, forcing Rowan back.

He leaped away, but as he flew back, a fleshy arm struck out, and claws of bone clipped his forearm. The creature slashed at him again, but he twisted beneath the blow. The display of skill would've awed him not too long ago, but Rowan knew it wasn't truly any talent on his part. He merely relied on his high stats to allow him to dance around his opponent's strikes. Sliding forward, he poured what remained of his mana into his blade, elongating it.

Then, he thrust it upwards, through the Bloodspawn's neck and into its head. [You have slain Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 6] Letting out a breath, Rowan looked towards the festering gash on his arm.

"Fuck."