Chương 53: Escape (2)

He kicked its chest at an angle, sending it flying back right where he wanted it. The beast let out a roar of anger as it found itself stuck directly in front of a tunnel branching off from the chamber they were in. Before it could react, Rowan was upon it once more. But this time, as he slammed his fist into it, he unleashed the mana he'd compressed just earlier, blasting the doglike bloodspawn backwards. It flew into the tunnel, rolling and sliding on the stone floor.

He didn't think it was going to try to run, but just in case, he yanked on the chain, jerking its leg towards him and bringing the beast to a sudden stop. The hound let out a cry of pain as, with an audible pop, its leg was dislocated by his chains. With a smile, Rowan charged in, using the last dredges of his mana to create a small dagger. In a confined space like the one they were in, the creature's greatest strength, speed, was far less useful. As he approached the beast, it growled at him, stumbling back.

It was still reeling from its leg being dislocated, but he wasn't going to give it an opportunity to regroup. Dodging one of its snapping jaws, he slammed his fist down on the top of its head. At the same time, he brought his mana blade up from below, driving it into the creature's chin and straight into its brain. The beast's other two heads howled in pain, but Rowan wasn't done. He'd been hoping he could put an end to it like that, but it seemed that he would have to take out each of the heads.

Almost like a hydra—hopefully, though, it wouldn't grow its heads back. As the bloodspawn continued to howl, Rowan moved towards a second head. Extending his chains, he wrapped them around the creature's jaws, cutting off its yowling. Then, he drove his dagger down onto the top of its head, piercing its relatively brittle skull. He turned towards the final head, intending to finish it off in one go, but the beast leaped back, pulling its muzzle from the chains.

It tried to walk, but its injured leg gave out beneath it, unable to bear its weight. But he wasn't just a short-range combatant. With a deep breath, he aimed and threw his mana dagger, sending it flying towards the hound's open mouth. But the creature noticed the attack and dove out of the way, narrowly dodging the attack. Rowan could've continued controlling his dagger from afar, but instead, he pulled it back until it was floating directly before his face.

Then, with [Mana Manipulation], he began to change its shape, flattening it out until the handle of the dagger no longer existed. He continued to mold it, adding more of his limited mana reserves all the while. And, slowly, the dagger turned into an oblong disc, almost like a razor-edged frisbee. As he finished forming his new weapon, Rowan felt the hound trying to flee, but with a yank, he pulled on its dislocated leg, bringing it back toward him.

The beast continued to struggle, but he held it in place all the while. Then, brow wrinkling in concentration, he grabbed the disk and threw it forward. It cut through the air with ease, and though the creature tried to dodge, it simply wasn't fast enough. But even as it flew through the air, the construct was deteriorating, falling apart without any more mana to maintain it. Even the mana he was regenerating was going straight into his chains to keep them from shattering.

Ever since he'd seen the presence do it, Rowan had used compressed mana in his chains, adding to their durability. Now, though, he was only able to feed them the last dregs of his mana. It didn't matter, though; the beast was too weak to break the steel links either way. The crumbling disc of mana cut into the hound's last remaining neck, but with how quickly it was dispersing, it just wasn't enough to finish the creature off. With a grunt of frustration, he marched up to the heavily injured bloodspawn.

Then, with a breath, he grabbed its head and smashed it into the stone floor. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. [You have slain Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 14] Slumping in exhaustion, Rowan read the notification. Level 14. The beast had been level 13 the last time he'd seen it, which meant that it had been doing its job on the battlefield. Now, though, he had to get out of here, no matter how mentally drained he was from so much constant fighting.

Releasing the chains that bound the now dead hound, he ran back out of the tunnel and back into the chamber where the battle was still raging. At the same time, he broke his connection with the mana disc, leaving it behind to try to conserve the precious resource. In the time that he'd taken to deal with the three-headed creature, the bloodspawn had been pushed back even more, their numbers dwindling.

Still, to his great relief, he realized that while the fungal creatures had been pushed back, they were still in front of the tunnel he was trying to get to, meaning he wouldn't have to break through the ranks of battling beasts to get to it. But with every passing second, they were forced further back. And, given how close they already were to his only route to safety, it wouldn't be long before they reached it. Cursing, Rowan broke into a full sprint, ignoring his body's protests.

As he moved, he watched the battlefield, making sure that if anything noticed him, he would know that they had. The surviving bloodspawn were all heavily injured, but still, they fought. They stabbed and slashed with everything they had, fighting to the end. Rowan might've even been inspired if they weren't fungi-infested, bloody creatures that had tried to kill him non-stop since the very moment he'd seen one of them. Their opponents weren't good either, though.

They'd still tried to kill him constantly, tormenting him before he'd gained the power that he had now. But, while the ants being enlarged made it so he was able to see all of the little details that were nearly as disgusting as the bloodspawn, at least the insects didn't have any poison. So, in the end, he supposed that they were slightly better than the fungal creatures, but not by much. He was drawn out of his thoughts as he neared the tunnel he was searching for.

The bloodspawn had been forced back to the point where they blocked half of the entrance, but Rowan didn't himself doubt. He was so close. He forced himself to slow down and take a more stealthy approach once he was just a few meters away, slinking past the bloodspawn. But he couldn't force himself to slow all the way down to a walk. And that was a mistake. In his haste, Rowan felt himself bump into a humanoid's back. To his surprise and relief, the creature didn't immediately turn around to face him.

But that relief quickly turned to panic as he watched the beast stab its claws through the eye of an ant, finishing it off, and then immediately jump around to see what had bumped into it. But that wasn't the worst part. No, the worst part was that, noticing the creature's movement, two other humanoids who happened not to be engaged with any insects turned with it, staring towards him.

Muttering a curse under his breath, Rowan slammed an already chain-wrapped fist into the chest of the first bloodspawn, sending it flying back, crashing through the ranks and landing right in the middle of the two forces, where it was immediately swarmed by soldier ants. But the other two weren't so easy to take down. They leaped away from his blows and slashed in retaliation, forcing him away. Away from the tunnel. Away from his only salvation.

Shouting in frustration, he began to form another blade of mana, only to stop himself as he realized that if he did, he wouldn't have a single drop remaining. It seemed that in his fight against the three-headed hound, he'd used almost all of his recently regenerated mana. It was frustrating, but he dismissed the idea, instead pouring a bit of his energy into the chains around him. They sprang to life, turning from a translucent blue to solid steel.

As one of the bloodspawn stabbed at him once more, he stepped out of the way. Rather than retaliating with a punch, though, he instead wrapped its arm in the chain, not allowing it to get away from him. The beast leaped back, but mid-air, he yanked on the chain, pulling the bloodspawn into his fist. At the same time, the other creature tried to attack him from behind, but Rowan twisted and kicked it in the chest, sending it flying back.

Then, he slammed his fist into the beast before him's head a few more times, his chains leaving bloody marks on its body. When he stopped, the humanoid tried to fight back, but its movements were slow and uncoordinated. Taking advantage of the beast's momentary weakness, he released his hold on it with the chains and grabbed the creature, throwing it away from him and right into the middle of the battlefield. The final bloodspawn let out a roar as it scrambled back to its feet and charged him once more.

But Rowan simply beat it up as well before grabbing it and throwing it towards the ants' lines as well. Shaking his head, he concentrated and ran, darting into the tunnel before the bloodspawn were pushed back past it. Yet, as he reached it, he found his path blocked by another bloodspawn that had been pushed back by the army of ants. Not only had it not noticed him yet, but it was also already heavily injured.

As he approached, it turned its attention to him, only to take a dozen punches to its already mangled body. [You have slain Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 6] Stepping past the body, Rowan stumbled into the tunnel. He'd made it.