Chương 50: Broodmother (3)

Rowan cursed, staring up at the descending beast. With no time to dodge, he brought all of his chains up above him, holding them with [Chain Manipulation] in the hope that they would manage to stop the massive hound. But, in the short moment he had before the three-headed beast struck the chains, Rowan had an idea. So he waited, his chains still extended before him.

Then, once the beast's claws were just inches from his makeshift barrier, he released a huge blast of compressed mana from his chest, nearly all he had, sending it crashing into the chains above him. They blasted outward, crashing into the beast and sending it flying away from him. But Rowan didn't get away unscathed, either. The recoil from the sheer amount of mana he'd just released forced him down into the ground with such force that he felt himself bounce back up into the air.

At the same time, something in his ribs cracked under the pressure. Grimacing against the pain, he pulled himself to his feet. [You have slain Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 8] Rowan froze. Had it been that easy? He hadn't even done a proper attack. The creature couldn't have been that weak, could it? Glancing over to where he'd sent the beast flying, he let out a breath and realized what had happened. At the beginning of the battle, he'd sent the armored bloodspawn guarding the broodmother flying, incapacitating it.

He hadn't been sure if it would be able to rejoin the battle at some point, but now, it seemed, he would never know. Because when he'd sent it flying away from him, the cerberus-like bloodpawn had landed directly on top of the armored humanoid, its claws digging into and finishing off the creature. Then he realized he'd seen the beast before, way back when he first saw the massive chamber he was now battling in. So he looked more closely at it, bringing up its level.

[Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 13] It had gained three levels since he'd last seen it, which made it significantly more dangerous, but Rowan still thought he could win. Getting a kill notification for the bloodspawn did raise a few questions about how much progress towards the next level he would actually make, since the three-headed hound had been the one to do the killing, but he could theorize later. For now, he was going to take advantage of the time it would take for the beast to get back to him.

As he rushed back towards the broodmother, preparing to do what he'd been planning since the moment the battle started, he thought. What even was the bloodspawn? It didn't look like any of the other creatures that he'd seen. Thinking back, Rowan remembered seeing it sitting by the broodmother the very first time he'd seen the massive blob of flesh. But he'd only seen one. Was it some kind of special breed? Or perhaps a particularly powerful hound that had somehow evolved or mutated on its own.

He shook his head, refocusing. The three-headed hound was charging at him with surprising speed, and, risking a glance behind him, he saw that a brute had managed to disengage from the battle with the ants, turning and running toward him. [Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 11] Rowan would've liked to have a bit more time to shoot more mana darts into the broodmother before having to enact his plans, but he would have to settle for what he had. First, though, there was something else he'd been planning.

While one of his daggers was still sawing at the bases of the tentacles, one of them had been carving small but deep holes into the huge creature's flesh. There were half a dozen of them, all on one side of the broodmother's body. Charging forward, Rowan outpaced the tentacles, channeling mana through his body. For the first time in the fight, he used the more stable condensed energy, draining a significant amount of his stores to summon six orbs of it.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Then, once he was close enough, he inserted them into the holes his dagger had created. With that done, he waited until he'd leaped back to safety. With more bloodspawn coming to protect his target, it was time to go all out. With a smile, he took control of the tiny mana projectiles lodged in the massive beast's bulbous body. Then, pushing his [Mana Manipulation] to its limit, he twisted.

The darts moved in a spiral, ripping through the creature's flesh. Its body may have been the size of a small home, but with enough darts, they were bound to hit something vital eventually. The broodmother had no mouth to release its screams of pain, but as the tiny blades of mana But just then, in the corner of his eye, he saw the three-headed beast flying through the air, soaring towards him. As it neared, Rowan raised his right arm, ignoring its cries of pain.

Then, from the tip of his fingers, he unleashed a blast of mana. It struck the hound head-on, sending it spinning away. The creature may have been quick and nimble, but even though it was larger than regular hounds, it was also light, at least compared to its humanoid brethren. In the end, he was able to keep the beast at bay relatively easily with his regular compressed mana. Except now, he was all out of it.

When the beast had first appeared, already nearly upon him, he'd used too much in that heat of the moment, almost draining himself of the condensed energy. And, with that final blast, he was all out, left only with the more stable variant. With a curse, Rowan redoubled his efforts to take down the broodmother. As he continued driving the nearly twenty projectiles through its body, he felt some of them hit something. It wasn't hard, per se, but it was certainly more durable than any of the flesh around it.

Concentrating, he redirected the rest of the darts towards the spot, a bead of sweat dripping down his brow as he gave each of them individual commands instead of simply moving them as a mass. [Mana Manipulation lvl 18 → Mana Manipulation lvl 19] Then, he felt something break as the needles pierced through whatever organ they had hit. Still, though, he knew it was nowhere near enough to kill the creature. At the same time, Rowan began extending one of his chains again, reforming the flail.

It may not have had any effect on the broodmother, but against either of the two bloodspawn rushing at him, it would work wonders. Then, he smiled. Three more seconds. He swung his arm, whipping the ball of chains into the chest of the charging brute and smashing it to the ground. Then, he spun out of the way, dodging the three-headed hound's claws. Two seconds. Rowan kicked the beast in the side, sending it sliding away. One second. The hound recovered instantly, leaping back towards him.

He swung his chains upward in an attempt to protect himself, but its claws swept right past his measly defenses, slicing across his side. Despite the pain, Rowan smiled. Then, half a dozen explosive orbs packed into the broodmother's body went off. Kicking the hound away once more, this time with enough force to actually stun it, he looked over at the broodmother. Flesh flew from the beast's body in huge chunks, spraying blood across the stone floor.

The explosions rocked off, one after another, bursts of brilliant blue mana appearing as they eviscerated everything around them. The air around the creature was filled with a mist of blood so thick he couldn't even see through it. Rowan forced himself to turn his eyes away from the spectacle, facing the brute that had already recovered from the blow from the flail. Cursing, he dove away from the creature's massive arm, narrowly avoiding being crushed against the stone floor.

He rolled back onto his feet, and swung his chains, this time horizontally rather than vertically like he normally did. The flail was too long to hit the bloodspawn properly, but he didn't need it to do that. He purposefully extended the chain even further than it already was as it flew forward. The ball of chains flew right past the beast, but that was all part of his plan. For once it'd extended as far as it could, it looped back, wrapped around the brute's legs several times.

Letting out a little laugh, Rowan pulled on the chain with all his might, toppling the massive bloodspawn. He couldn't believe it had actually worked. Still, there was no time to dwell on it. With the brute incapacitated, he could focus on his other problems. Realizing the three-headed hound was rushing at him once again, he extended another one of his chains, bringing it up to serve as a shield, just like he'd already done before.

But this time, rather than trying to hold them in place and actually block the attack, he made the barrier easy to move, almost malleable, like a net. The beast flew into the chains, claws swiping around as it tried to break through. But it didn't need to. The bloodspawn flew straight through the chains, claws still poised to strike at Rowan. At the last moment, he stepped out of the way, dodging its attack. The sudden movement elicited a lance of pain from the wound his opponent had given him, but he ignored it.

The hound tried to attack him again, but it couldn't. After all, as it had flown through the chains, they'd wrapped around it. And now, it was completely bound. Rowan smiled and began to squeeze with the chains, compressing the beast. The beast collapsed, unable to move with the chains binding it. Then, with a deep breath, Rowan turned and faced the broodmother. It was time to finish the fight.