Chương 32: Pugilism? (5)

(5) (5) Rowan watched with a small smile as the armored bloodspawn flew across the tunnel, crashing to the ground more than a dozen feet away. The concentrated mana was far more effective than he could have ever imagined. He took a moment to catch his breath as he began to condense more energy within him. Across the cave, his opponent clambered to its feet and charged him. The bony armour adorning its body was cracked and entirely missing in some places, but it remained, defending its owner's vital areas.

He was by no means in good condition, either. The two wounds he'd sustained were festering away, growing with each passing second. They were a constant burn in the back of his mind. The bloodspawn had already been beating him earlier, but now that it'd injured him, it would be even worse. Rowan doubted he would be able to fight close-range at all in the near future. He needed something else. To Rowan's surprise, his mana pool was still a little more than half full, even after the intense fight.

It did make sense, though. He had more than ever, and while his chains consumed the most mana out of everything he fought with, he'd still only really used them at the end of the last exchange. And even then, he hadn't extended them all that much, only using them as a shield. Now, that would change. Stretching out both of his arms—his fractured left arm not quite as much—he sent his chains forward, pouring mana into them as they extended.

Unless it was a short, short distance, his chains just crawled along the floor when he used them. But that made them predictable and relatively easy to avoid. So, as the steel links surged outwards, Rowan lifted them into the air, keeping them afloat. At first, it was easy, but as the chains continued to lengthen, it became more and more difficult. Unable to hold them up for much longer, Rowan began to swing his arms, using the chains like whips.

They swung about, striking against the walls of the cave and, at the same time, the bloodspawn continued its charge, running straight into the chains. The mana infused metal crashed into the creature over and over, cracking its armor and causing it to stumble with each blow. But each time the chains struck it, they acted with a mind of their own, trying to wrap around the armored humanoid, hindering his attempts to beat his opponent down from afar.

He even tried balling up the ends for more force, but the way the chains constantly [Bind] the creature meant that they would innevitably return to their original state. The bloodspawn continued to advance, marching through a storm of steel. As it moved, Rowan continued battering it, trying to halt its advance. He kept trying to build up momentum with his chains, but each time they touched the beast, they clung to it, acting without his input.

It might've worked with more chains, but after the creature had destroyed some of them, he simply didn't have enough to properly bind it unless he wanted to spend an exorbitant amount of mana. With a curse, he shot his mana blade forward, buying himself time. He'd been aiming for the chest, where the armor was damaged, but the humanoid stumbled just as the dagger neared it. The mana construct hit its face head on, sliding off the thin layer of bone serving as a mask. Gritting his teeth, Rowan tried again.

The blade pulled back before shooting forward once more, this time driving itself into the bloodspawn's abdomen. The creature fell back, a length of steel links forcing it to retreat even further. But after just a few steps, it let out a scream and began to advance once more. With yet another wound on its body, it was only a matter of time before it died. But he didn't know how long that would be, and he doubted he could hold out for however long that time was. So he had to finish it now.

Rowan let out a scream of frustration. His chains weren't fucking complying! They kept trying to [Bind] the bloodspawn! This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. He didn't need that right now. He needed something different. But the skill simply wasn't designed for what he was doing; it was meant to chain enemies and nothing more. He needed something more.

Sweat dripped down his brow as he concentrated, pouring every last ounce of mental strength he had into keeping the chains in line. He didn't want to [Bind]. He wanted a weapon. He needed a weapon. Something that wasn't constrained like the skill currently was. And yet, the chains, the very origin of his class and power, refused. The bloodspawn was closer now, just ten feet from him. Its armor was chipped and cracked from the constant barrage of attacks, and each step it took was wobbling.

His attacks were working better, too. Becoming more efficient and obeying him better by the second as he figured out how to command the chains. But still, the creature advanced. Rowan stumbled backwards, but too much of his attention was on killing the creature to properly retreat. He doubted he could even run now, anyway.

"Why won't you FUCKING LISTEN?!" Rowan screamed, driving every last bit of mana he had into the chains. And, in that final moment of desperation, something clicked. The chains stopped trying to wrap around the bloodspawn, instead heeding his every command. They struck faster and faster, and while their natural momentum still led to them wrapping a bit around the beast, he no longer needing to take a few seconds to unwind them after wrapping themselves around his opponent.

He didn't even have to swing his aching arms to keep them in the air anymore. [Bind lvl 10 → Bind lvl 11] [Bind lvl 11 → Chain Manipulation lvl 1] [Chain Manipulation lvl 1 → Chain Manipiulation lvl 6] The change was slight, just slightly speeding up the speed and efficiency of his attacks. But it was enough. Even more, it allowed him to ball up the ends and have them stay without dedicating that much concentration to it, adding even more force behind the blows.

Slowly but surely, Rowan began driving the beast back. At the same time, its body was beginning to fail it. But, as the creature fell to its knees, there was a series of beastial howls, and three shapes appeared behind the half-dead bloodspawn. Hounds. Rowan cursed but continued to focus on taking out the kneeling humanoid before him. At the same time, he kept track of the three doglike bloodspawn who seemed to have been drawn to the battle by the noise.

He prepared to fight back as they charged, ready to pull the mana blade from the armored creature's chest. But he didn't need to. The first two hounds charged straight into his swirling storm of chains and… died. Almost instantly. [You have slain Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 2] [You have slain Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 2] The third lasted a few seconds longer. [You have slain Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 3] And then, finally, the armored bloodspawn fell. Easily the most durable enemy he'd ever fought.

[You have slain Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 10] Rowan almost collapsed as he realized the fight was over. Leaning against the wall of the cave, he tried to think of a plan. He needed to get somewhere safe. The problem was, nowhere around him was safe. His mana was all but gone and the wounds the now dead bloodspawn had inflicted upon him were festering. Even the rest of his body, though it hadn't been directly struck during the fight, ached from the short bursts of melee combat he'd done.

All it took was a quick glance at his hand to see that while the chains had protected him from the worst of the damage, their metal had dug into his knuckles, leaving the skin bloody and torn. Usually, even so close to the broodmother, the bloodspawn were spaced far enough apart that they wouldn't interfere in his fights. But the last battle had been particularly loud, as evidenced by the three hounds who had stumbled upon them during the last moments.

Rowan had no idea if something more powerful had heard all of the screaming and crashing, and he didn't intend to find out. He grabbed his bag of rations, ignoring the pain in his arm. Then, with a deep breath, he moved. He didn't even care where he was going. He just wanted to be anywhere but where he was. As he moved, the pain in his arm and stomach got worse and worse. What had started as two small gashes had expanded nearly fifty percent, the necrotic rot from the creature's claws eating away at his flesh.

Still, it was expanding far more slowly than it had the last time one of the bloodspawn had managed to land a blow on him. That had been… Rowan didn't know. Days ago? Longer? It didn't matter. Now, though, he toughness and vitality were far higher than before, and they seemed to be enough to greatly slow down the rate at which his flesh was being consumed. Rowan tried to summon a blade of mana to cut out the tainted wounds, but the blue energy sputtered out after just a few seconds.

He just didn't have enough mana left. With no other choice, he gritted his teeth against the pain and kept moving. Step after step, he fled from the site of the battle, running until his legs began to fail him. Then, he collapsed to the ground of the cave, leaning against the mold-covered wall. But he'd won. Despite how ridiculously durable the armored bloodspawn had been, he'd killed it.