24. Escape

It looked like a shadow mongrel, but was close to five times larger, standing at Ardan’s chest height. The aura that covered the mongrels was nothing compared to the Gloom’s. Oily, writhing black and blue shadows spread across the entirety of its body, spreading out around it like an inky black wall. It growled at Ardan, revealing stunningly sharp teeth and an incredibly long tongue. It had a dog's body, although its limbs were barely visible, blocked out by its aura. Glowing blue eyes and dilating pupils stared at him eerily, all while it’s six tails snapped ferociously behind it.

Before Ardan could react, it swiped one of its paws, almost lazily, flinging him across the intersection. His body crashed into the side of a building and crumpled.

“Ardan? Are you alright? Get up. Get up.” Halcyon urged.

Ardan didn’t respond. He was trying to concentrate on something. Anything. But whenever he did, it darted just out of his reach. He was playing tag with his thoughts. He could still see, but he didn’t know what he was seeing. A mass of shadows seemed to walk towards him, then moved suddenly to the left.

Am I hallucinating? He wondered. There was no other way to describe it. The creature glitched.

Glancing up at his status window, he gave a sigh of relief as the HP bar read only slightly below half. However, his body was screaming at him and he felt woozy. Slowly, he clambered to his feet, watching the Gloom zip side to side in the centre of the intersection. Almost as if it was taunting him.

“Ardan, I’m not sure my ability will work this time. It looks like it’s got some sort of teleportation skill. Also, if it’s cocky enough to wait for us, it must be powerful. Do you have any sort of long ranged attack?” Halcyon asked, beginning to worry.

“Ranged attack?” Ardan questioned as he rubbed his head. “I don’t even have a normal attack. The best thing I can do is move water.”

After a moment of silence, Halcyon spoke up again. “You just need to distract it enough to get close, then I can try my ability on it. Can’t you use your elemental magic?”

Ardan gave him a blank look. “I’ve only been learning it for approximately one week, Halcyon. I’ve never used it ‘in combat’ before.”

“Well, you’ve got no other choice.” Halcyon finalised, his tip already beginning to leak blood.

Shaking his head slowly, Ardan sighed and looked around for anything to manipulate. Fire was definitely not an option. It was nowhere to be found, and he didn’t bring anything that could create it. Air potentially was, but it’d be hard to create any sort of distraction that would draw the creature’s attention away from himself. Earth was also an option, but he wasn’t particularly good at that.

His gaze stopped at a plastic barrel of dirty looking rainwater behind the Gloom.

Never had he tried manipulation from a distance, so he was hesitant. But unfortunately, it was his only option. The Gloom seemed to have become impatient, and was now pacing slowly towards him.

Calm, calm. He repeated to himself, trying to slow the rapid beating of his heart. Ignoring the creature, Ardan focused on the water in the tub, trying to establish a connection with it. His hand instinctively stretched out to it, and the Gloom cocked its head to one side.

“Come on…” The temporary silence was broken as the creature’s whip-like tail cracked menacingly.

And then, just as he was about to give up, he felt the water. It was filthy, and Ardan could feel all sorts of slimy particles swimming around in it. But it was still water, and he could sense it, although faintly.

“Burst.” He muttered, and after a second’s delay, the liquid bubbled and sloshed wildly inside the bucket, causing it to topple over. It wasn’t powerful, but it’d done the job.

The Gloom whipped around at the sudden sound, it’s aura fading to a grey. Ardan scrambled up, only for a wave of dizziness to hit him. Staggering around clutching his head, he thrusted Halcyon out to where the Gloom stood. The tip of the staff extended and sharpened, ready to pierce through the creature’s skin.

Whomp.

The staff hit nothing but air. The Gloom stood a few feet away and snarled at Ardan. Its tails flicked forward, going straight for him. Thankfully, he managed to lift the staff in time to deflect most of the attack, and a tail slammed into the wall next to him, cracking the brick.

Although he’d deflected the blows, the force jarred Ardan’s arms and caused his injured one to pulse painfully. Halcyon cursed as the beast teleported in front of Ardan, a paw already drawn back for a swipe.

The blood seemed to expand outwards, forming a shield that covered most of Ardan’s body. He couldn’t move as he was pinned against the wall. If the shield couldn’t withstand the Gloom’s slash, he would be torn into bloody ribbons. All he could do was grip the staff with all his might and close his eyes.

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An awful scraping sound filled the air, and Ardan opened one eye. The shield had held. He was still alive. For now. But three, large gashes remained from the creature’s attack. He had been incredibly lucky.

Strangely, the Gloom had teleported more than a few paces back, dripping blood and treating one of its claws with caution.

“So it's not invincible, after all.” Halcyon declared, reforming the blood back into a point. “This is the last stand. You only have enough mana to sustain me for a minute longer, at max.”

Ardan didn’t know what he’d done, but it had worked. He trusted Halcyon and didn’t bother asking. “What do you want me to do?”

“The same as before. This time, it’s further away and looks more alert. We won’t be able to clear the distance before it notices me. We’ll need a bigger distraction. Also, can you throw me?” Halcyon asked.

Biting his lip, Ardan replied as confidently as he could. “I can do it.”

“Good lad. Maybe you’re not as bad as I thought you were.”

Ardan chose to ignore this, instead focusing on the rubble that the Gloom had created with its attacks. It was a lot to control at once, and he couldn’t form a connection with them all at the same time.

“One more thing.” Halcyon said, who was watching Ardan prepare. “I’ll go from underneath. Don’t let it spot me.”

“Alright.” Ardan replied, still figuring out what to do with the stones. He’d come to the conclusion that it'd be impossible for him to throw them all at once, so he grabbed a handful. If he threw them off the floor with earth manipulation, it’d be just as good as him throwing them by himself. But what if he could make it burst as he threw it? Theoretically, the propulsion would cause it to fly incredibly fast- maybe even catch the Gloom off guard.

It was worth a shot.

“Alright, Halcyon. I’m ready.” He whispered, drawing his arm back.

“Time is ticking.” Was all Halcyon said back.

Ardan slowly moved his fist all the way back, until it was behind his ear so as to not alert the Gloom. Extend the elbow. Flick the wrist. Release the rock and- burst!

The tiny stone, as small as a pebble zipped toward the creature, accelerating out of his hand. It didn’t arc like a normal throw would, instead moving so fast that it flew in a straight line. However, it didn’t move fast enough to hit the Gloom. It teleported out of the way just before it could hit.

But then again, Ardan had never expected to hit it on the first try. Another rock was already being loaded up and thrown.

This continued for a little while, until he had almost run out of ammo. The thin trail of blood that led from Halcyon was so thin that Ardan almost couldn’t see it. But he trusted Halcyon to do what he needed to do, so he continued throwing the rubble.

Shink.

Without warning, a large red spike shot out from the ground, penetrating through the Gloom’s torso.

- Alert! -

You have slain [Gloom (Elite) Lvl. 10]

You have recieved 514 EXP (x90)

You leveled up!

You have recieved 4 ATP

You have recieved 1 SKP

And then there was silence.

For a little while, at least, until Halcyon broke it.

“Ardan? We should probably get going. In case you haven’t noticed, that was an ‘elite’. The boss of the dungeon hasn’t appeared yet.”

Just as he spoke, a loud boom sounded, and the sky turned dark. A pair of red, glowing eyes appeared in the shadows of the building to his left.

“Ardan!” The distress was imminent in Halcyon’s voice.

Using the wall as a support, Ardan pulled himself to his feet and trudged towards the door. His limbs felt as heavy as steel. Then he stopped.

The body of the Gloom had disappeared, leaving behind two floating orbs.

“Ardan, don’t. Let’s go! We don’t have time!” Halcyon shouted, who had spotted them too.

Ardan glanced up, shocked to see there was now more than one pair of glowing eyes. Several green ones had appeared too, and a wolf stepped out from the darkness, growling. He looked at the orbs once more, then at the door. Both were only a metre away.

I can do this. He told himself, lunging forward. In one fluid motion, unzipped his backpack and scooped the orb in, before sprinting the other way. Unfortunately, the area was a trip hazard due to the countless pieces of rubble which were once his allies.

Owoooooo!

The cry of the wolves caused Ardan to stumble, almost faceplanting himself into the ground. But luckily, he managed to regain his balance with the help of the wall and sprinted the last few steps. The door to the noodle bar was hanging slightly open, and Ardan could see the light on the other end. Breathing heavily, he pushed open the door and-