With only a short window to dodge the attack, John decided to turn Larang’s gravity downward at full force, holding Rain’s legs firmly in place. With their weights all dragging in the same direction, they would fall faster than any other method.

Rain made a sound of surprise as they dived, tightening her grip on John’s neck.

The centipede passed over them with a wide swing of its body, giving them time to get to the ground. John was focusing on keeping Rain safe first and foremost, and so he had to make sure the stop before hitting the ground wasn’t too sudden.

Once they neared the ground, Larang lifted with its full force, making John struggle to keep Rain in his hands without gripping her too hard. The gravitational pull only doubled, but he could feel her losing her grip.

‘Damn this babysitting job! I should have asked for double the pay!’

John jumped sideways off of the sword, trying to turn some of the momentum horizontally to mitigate the impact. He managed somewhat and let Rain fall to the ground, not having time to check on her.

The centipede was turning back toward them, whipping its body around to create surprisingly fast movements. The long arms were clearly its most dangerous weapons, but no part of it seemed harmless.

John sent Larang flying in a circle around their location, trying to build its speed before attempting a hidden attack. Meanwhile, he lightened his weight and ran toward the creature in an attempt to bait it and to figure out its aspect. Not knowing could be the difference between life and death.

“Here, you ugly piece of shit! Attack me!” John shouted, trying to make sure it focused on him first. He would be in deep trouble if the demon went after Rain from the start—then he would have to stop the attacks instead of dodging them.

The centipede swung down toward him at an incredible speed, making it challenging to even dodge with his air blast in time. But he did, suddenly approaching the centipede’s body instead of flying away.

The sharp arms dug deep into the ground as he escaped, followed by the impact of its body crashing into the dirt. He would have thought that such an impact would hurt it, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

‘Shit, how hardy is this thing? I’m not sure I can hit it as hard as that!’

His approach, too, was a distraction, keeping the beast focused on him instead of Larang, which was now heading straight for the centipede at over fifty meters per second. He would have trouble hitting if the centipede moved around too much, but the base should be an easy target.

‘What’s your damn aspect?! Is it as simple as being the arms you’re using to attack?’

Larang hit the middle of the centipede head-on, creating a resounding and sharp sound, but it only cracked the carapace before bouncing off.

‘Damn, that’s annoying! Can I hit that same spot twice? Probably not, right? What do I do?’

Escaping was an option, but he wasn’t confident he could bring Rain along and still be fast enough to get away. It would be a last resort.

Another air blast let him dodge the long arms again, but this time the centipede turned to follow him along the ground. One of the arms was swinging after him, forcing him to summon the shield.

The arm sliced against it harmlessly, protecting John for now. But with such a speed, it was only a matter of time before he was hit.

‘Fucking, do I really have to wrestle?! I will, but neither of us is going to enjoy it!’

He swung the shield down to the ground while using another air blast, heading straight for the centipede’s head. It seemed too surprised to react, letting him get a hold of the base of its rigid right arm, and swing himself onto its back.

His other hand grabbed the left arm while his feet attached themselves to the carapace using solid essence, and then he started to pull. The liquid essence in his core flowed out to his arms, legs, and back, giving his muscles an incredible boost in power.

The centipede started thrashing its head back and forth in the air while a thin scream escaped its mouth, clearly in a lot of pain. Its arms were now bent backward in John’s grip, threatening to tear off.

“Aaaargh!” John shouted, forcing his muscles to their absolute limits. A sudden snapping sound was heard as his torso shot back, bringing with him the two arms now ripped out of their sockets.

The centipede now writhed on the ground, circling and curling itself together in pain. John was forced to jump off to avoid being bashed into the ground, but his job was mostly done. Now he had destroyed the centipede’s most dangerous weapon, or at least he hoped he had.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

‘Okay, I enjoyed that more than expected, honestly. But I still don’t know how to finish you off…’

Larang was on its way back again after building up speed, but it would be challenging to hit the demon as it was right now. But he gave it a shot.

It flew right past, only chopping off a few feet on its way, further angering the centipede.

John decided to return Larang to his core as the centipede returned its focus to him. It didn’t waste any time, going straight for an attack with its full weight.

‘If Larang can’t penetrate at that speed, it has to be because of the lack of essence. If I can’t put essence through it, it is mostly just a normal sword. So a swing with my full power should be enough!’

John stood his ground, planting his feet down with the solid essence and pouring the liquid essence through everything else. Larang was held above his head, ready to strike, filled with essence flowing through its blade.

The entire atmosphere around John changed at that moment, as if the air itself was waiting in anticipation. The head of the centipede approached as if in slow motion, and its bug eyes stared straight at Larang. Even Rain, sitting in the grass behind him, looked at John with wide eyes.

The gravity in Larang changed the instant John started swinging, pointing straight toward the incoming centipede and aiding the slash. John felt his body straining under the force he was exerting, as the downward force on Larang would have pulled him from the ground without the solid essence.

Larang sang as it pierced the air, gleefully anticipating the impact.

The blade penetrated the thick carapace with ease, digging deeply into the head of the centipede and destroying whatever it used as a brain. It didn’t stand a chance. So big was the difference with a wielded blade.

John felt the impact reverberating throughout his body, letting him know how tattered his muscles were. They had surpassed their limit twice in short succession, tearing several muscle fibers.

The cut spread out from Larang, continuing on into the body and wreaking further havoc before stopping. It was almost like an extension of the blade continuing forward.

But even if the centipede was dead, the slash didn’t stop its momentum. It crashed into John, breaking his connection to the ground and sending him flying back.

The breath escaped his lungs, making him gasp for air. His reduced weight mitigated the impact, but the force was still significant. He landed hard after flying nearly ten meters and slid on the grass for another five.

His lungs and body hurt, and he coughed in short bursts as he tried to breathe. Rain ran over to him from behind, standing over him with an anxious expression. Even a tear could be seen in her eye.

“... Cough… I got him! Don’t worry!” John said, showing her a thumbs-up from the ground.

She knelt beside him and looked over his body quickly before turning back to his face. Then she opened her mouth to speak, “Aaava, aamamuyy!”

It didn’t sound like any language John had ever heard, and he assumed she was just making random sounds. But it at least showed she was willing to communicate with him now.

He grinned as he responded, “Nice to talk to you, Rain! We’re gonna have to teach you some usable words, though… That’s gonna take a while.”

She looked at him with a mix of frustration and worry, moving her hand to his hair and gently stroking it. John looked back at her with confusion, not expecting such a caring gesture.

“Hmm, I’m just gonna lay here for a moment, okay? I need to circulate my essence before moving much; everything hurts.”

He closed his eyes and started focusing on circulating the essence remaining through his body, while still feeling Rain’s hand on his head. ‘Did she appreciate me keeping her safe that much? I mean, I get it, but I didn’t expect it from her… Feels nice.’

The fight replayed in his mind as he lay there, giving him some insights into what worked and what didn’t. Using Larang as a flying weapon was a good idea, but it lessened its power considerably as long as he didn’t infuse it with essence. And there was no way to do that while it was flying, at least that he knew of.

‘And what was that attack at the end? It seemed like the slash kept traveling past the blade somehow… Was it due to the essence inside Larang?’ He would have to make time for some more practice to figure things out.

After ten minutes or so, he felt ready to move again, twisting his body and stretching some muscles to check on them. Rain stopped her gentle movement and pulled her hand back as he got up from the ground.

He looked at her with a smile. “Let’s see if that ugly centipede left us something good, shall we?”

Rain simply replied with a confused noise and stepped behind his back. It seemed like she misunderstood and thought he wanted her to ride on his back again.

“Heh, no. Going over there,” he said, pointing at the corpse before starting to move toward it. Rain followed right behind him, a bit closer than he expected.

As he stood before the beast, he studied it more closely. The brown carapace had a nice shine to it and was clearly very strong. ‘I wonder how tough it would be if I infused it with solid essence… Probably way stronger than my shield, right? Would that work?’

He dismissed the idea, instead putting his hand on the beast and starting to absorb the essence remaining. It was more than enough to fill his own essence back up and increase his core’s size by another ten percent after that again.

But there was no enchantment this time.

‘Well, it makes sense. I didn’t even summon the shortsword… Oh well, I’m just slightly disappointed.’

From his side, Rain pointed down into the rift the centipede had appeared from, looking at him with eager eyes.

John, curious, stepped over to the edge to look down.

“What the hell?! Is that… from us?”

About ten meters under the surface a hole had opened on the side of the rift, revealing a long and dark metal corridor. It reminded John of the corridors back in Berlin, a clear sign of unnatural architecture.

‘Is this… the base?’