The Udwi chose to set up camp for the time being. While he could continue on his journey onwards towards the tower, he should probably take the chance to rest up and recover. After all, the last attempt at requesting help from the spirits resulted in them being stubborn and refusing to cooperate. The last thing he wanted was to try to fly through the sky once more and for the spirits to show their outrage by making him plummet to his death.

No, staying on the good side of the spirits was the right way to go. Therefore, he would need to take a bit of time to rest. Thus he’d need to obtain supplies to set up a little place to rest up, at least until he could feel the spirits were satisfied with his capabilities once more. So, he went ahead and did the typical thing to ensure he would be fine.

A quick shelter made with some heavy sticks and some dry grass. It took a little while, but he was able to get all of that set up within a good bit. By the time he was done, he had a nice shelter that was hidden by using all the grass and enough padding where he could be comfortable sleeping. With all that done, he went ahead and laid inside, taking the time to get himself nice and comfy.

He went ahead and took the time to have a bit of a rest. Hopefully, he’ll have the chance to wake up feeling refreshed and to have the spirits acknowledge his abilities once more.

However, that wasn’t to be. While he laid there waiting for sleep to take him, he heard the noise of numerous screeches and shrieks. In that very instant, he rushed out of the shelter with his spear and climbed up the nearest tree, before scanning around and searching for what could be causing such a commotion.

The Udwi looked left and right and all around. However, he couldn’t see anything in the distance. No signs of any beasts wandering around on the ground and nothing in the sky. No moon, no clouds, nothing to disguise his view.

So the fact he could keep on hearing those shrieks and screams made his hair run up his back. He closed his eyes and sent a request to the spirits, who returned with a favorable response. That was good. He would be more than capable of fighting whatever was causing this freakish noise. He wouldn’t be able to sleep and considering how much closer those screams were getting, this wasn’t going to be a fight he could avoid.

He took a deep breath, before moving from tree to tree to the source of this conundrum. If he was going to battle, he’d rather be the one to get the first strike in. After all, getting this battle over with was the end goal as he did need the rest. Thus, he went through the forest, conserving his energy for when he had to use his connection to the spirits to enact a serious strike.

He traveled for quite a while before finally reaching his destination. What he saw made him cringe and nearly run away out of pure disgust.

A giant bug that seemed to have a gigantic body was crawling all around, with spikes and legs that came out of random spots throughout each of the bulbous parts of its body. Slime seemed to come out of its multicolored skin, the viscous liquid oozing onto the ground and steaming upon contact with the ground. There were several stick-like protrusions coming out of its back that twisted throughout akin to that of a tree branch.

However, the worst part was its head. What was plastered on this monstrosity was a giant human’s head, with giant protrusions that had the eyeballs on the end that kept looking all around. Last but not least was the fact that the mouth was nothing more than a bundle of tentacles that squirmed and danced across the land, searching for something as they moved with intent.

The thing that got the Udwi quite confused and appalled was the fact that this thing had no method of making noise whatsoever. Yet, at this current time, those loud screeches and shrieks seemed to be coming from the beast from somewhere that he himself could not understand. Whatever the case, none of this mattered.

What was important was that this beast had to die here and now. So, he reared back his spear and called upon the spirits to guide it to victory. Then, without further ado, he launched his weapon and waited for the results.

The spear should have ripped and torn that beast to shreds. It should have pierced through its body and left nothing behind. However, what happened instead was that his weapon seemed to collide with something mid-air, a decent distance away from the beast’s skin. Shock led to horror as those eyestalks all swiftly turned to look at him, before the beast twisted its head to have its mouth pointed at him.

Without even a moment to spare, he jumped away from the tree and called upon the spirits to return his weapon. They obliged and he was able to catch the spear mid-air, but he realized that this monster was tracking his movements using its eyes. Then, something completely unexpected happened.

Several spheres of dark purple liquid began to coalesce in the air, gushing and seemingly coming out of nowhere. Then, within a few seconds, all of them came rushing at him at high speeds.

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Instantly, he called upon the spirits for guidance and help. They obliged and began to move, redirecting each of those projectiles away while providing him a pathway to escape. His survival instincts kicked in and he followed through, getting away and landing on the ground a distance away.

The one sphere the spirits could not redirect slammed into the tree and burst into a giant flood of purple. Every single thing that liquid touched evaporated into nothingness, being taken completely out of existence. No warning, no steam, nothing to explain what had just happened, only complete disappearance.

The Udwi took a step back out of pure fear. That… If he had gotten a single drop on him, then that would be that. He took the moment to grit his teeth, before getting his spear ready once more.

Right, what was he doing? This was a battle right now. He couldn’t let his mind wander like this, not in this life or death situation. He had to focus on the battle and not make himself an easy target.

With a shout he rushed forward with his spear and launched a strike towards the torso, avoiding the head as he did not want to know what those tentacles could do. However, the moment he tried to get closer, he found that he was becoming slower until he was getting to a near stop.

Those shrieks and screams seemed to turn to squeals of delight and joy as the monster’s tentacles began to twist and turn, before rushing directly at him with full intent. Each of them had tiny thorns on the end that promised suffering and pain should they strike him, something that he definitely did not want to happen. Thus, he grit his teeth and called upon the spirits once more. They complied with his request and the wind picked up, before launching him away from the beast and far from the reach of those tentacles.

He skidded to a halt, before analyzing the monster some more. From what he had seen, this thing could summon purple spheres that destroyed anything they touched, a shield that slowed him down, a defense against ranged attacks, and tentacles that could expand far beyond what he could expect. At this current state, he did not have any methods or actions that could harm this monster.

He was stuck. He couldn’t use his spear and he certainly could not get into melee range. Thus, the only option would be to call upon the spirits to help him take down this beast. But that thought was flawed as well.

His connection to the spirits weren’t strong enough to take down this monster. He had tried before to have the spirits kill one of those creatures before and while they had complied, their attempt was not successful. The best they could do was cripple the enemy with their strikes, thus putting him in a dilemma.

He couldn’t think of anything to do any serious damage. However, he wasn’t going to simply run without doing anything. Right now, he had to cripple this monster so that it wouldn’t prove to be an even greater threat down the line.

Thus, he called upon the spirits for their guidance. They hesitated, at least until he brought his will down a bit. Only then did they relent and commit to the desired action.

The wind twisted and turned, coalescing into a miniature storm that proceeded to sail through the air before slamming into the monster. Those delighted squeals changed to screeches of pain and misery as the thing tossed and turned from the impact, before flying through the air and going through several trees.

The Udwi gasped for a while as he could feel his body get significantly more fatigued. A necessary sacrifice, as this was the price for communicating with the spirits. However, he didn’t let his guard down as he hefted the spear up once more, keeping an eye out on the place that the monster had gone through.

That very action saved his life. A swarm of those purple spheres came spiraling towards his location, all of them coming in different directions. With that, he was forced to move, dashing away to the right to avoid the incoming projectiles. He was able to dodge all of them in time, but not before witnessing the sight of the monster rushing towards him at a high speed.

This time, he wasn’t able to dodge. Rather, what he chose to do was use his spear as a possible shield, hoping that his trusty weapon could hold up to this assault as he was launched away. To add to that, he called upon the spirits to provide assistance in defense and protection against this assault.

His actions took fruit. The monster slammed right into him and he was forced to fly through the air, but he did not sustain any serious injuries. He could feel pain in his arms from the knockback of the strike but otherwise, he was perfectly fine. He took a while to collect himself before taking a look at the monster to see the damage and he hissed out of annoyance.

The damn freak was fine. That strike from the spirits didn’t seem to have done any serious damage at all besides causing a minor bruise that was already starting to settle down. This was not a battle he could win and thus, he would have to go.

So, without further ado, he rushed up a nearby tree and started to dash away. Those screams kept on continuing onwards in his head, but he forced himself to ignore those noises as he headed away to a random direction for quite a while. Only when did he feel like the monster could no longer trail him did he rebound and head back to his shelter.

While there wasn’t anything there, he didn’t feel like setting everything up again once more. He needed to take the time to rest and recover, even if there was the constant shrieking going on in his head. In fact, he didn’t really need to sleep, he merely needed to make sure the spirits were satisfied once more before he went out to try to figure out a new plan of action to take down this monster.

After all, he had to take this thing down. It was his duty as a Udwi and a test of his true abilities. He would succeed, no matter what he needed to do.