Maybe it was from witnessing The Matron’s power at the cobblestone dome or achieving the fourth stage of Qi Condensation, but my senses were sharper. Searching for the violet earth core helped sharpen that sense a bit, too.
Which was why I felt it quite clearly when my hair stood up.
“Danger,” I whispered.
My eyes opened with a sharpness that went against my chubby appearance as I gazed at the cave’s entrance.
“…careful…” The skeleton's voice warned me.
"I always am," I reassured madame skeleton.
I stepped out from the waterless pool and quickly dressed in my robes. The sword clattered against the stones as I crawled out of the cave, wary of my surroundings.
There was nothing except the violet mist. I was about to retreat back into the cave when a chill across my neck suddenly made me fall backwards, and a menacing slaw shaved a few hairs from the top of my head. I rolled with a quickness that didn’t seem possible with my body and landed on my feet. I gazed ahead at the beast making my senses scream out in danger.
Its claws were longer than the usual bramble dogs, and the clinking of their claw tips left marks in the stone. When it reared its head back towards me, I could see the scars that dotted its face and the single curved horn to the left of its ear.
It was a horned bramble dog.
My arm ached with the memory of my last encounter with two of the conflicting beasts. I had barely survived the exchange at the cost of a broken arm and leg, and that was when they were battling each other, not me.
Grrr.
The horned bramble dog bared its teeth at me as I slowly crouched. I was big, and the bramble dogs would always leave marks on my body in every battle. Crouching was a way to limit their options and gave me a bit of forward momentum.
Snarl!
“So quick!”
I rolled to one side and sprung to my feet, dodging the horned bramble dog’s bite. With a quick jerking movement, its claw was headed for my face.
“Shit!”
I wasn’t fast enough to dodge, so I raised my arms to block against the claws, which shredded through my arms and left gashes that weren’t quite bone-deep but hurt all the same.
My face scrunched with pain, but not before my foot kicked into the side of the horned bramble dog. I felt the impact stretch through my body as the horned bramble dog was sent flipping onto its side from my attack.
Up until now, this was my way of battling. I would dodge whatever attacks I could, block the ones I couldn’t with my body, and attack whenever the enemy let down their guard. It was blunt, I’ll admit. But there was little else I knew how to do.
I had only taken basic sparring classes, which meant I was used to using gloves and protective gear. I hadn’t ever even been in a proper fight before.
Not until the world ended, at least.
Snarl!
I watched as the horned bramble dog thudded to the ground and immediately returned to its feet. It growled at me before relaunching itself with blinding speed.
“Oh, come on! Did I do nothing against it?” I shouted, desperately trying to avoid the claws headed for my chest. Too many vitals there.
My barely healed arms were raked again as my shoulder knocked against the horned bramble dog, slamming it into the ground and causing a whimper to escape its maw.
Surely, that did something to it?
Another claw headed for my neck told me it wasn’t enough.
I tossed and turned with the horned bramble dog and teetered on the edge of getting my neck gauged out many times. When I blocked the claws with my arms, it would lunge and bite at my legs. A claw would spring up for my face when I stopped the bite toward my legs.
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“…idiot…” The skeleton's voice rang out in my mind.
“If it's so easy, why don’t you do it!” I couldn’t help but yell as my leg swept the horned bramble dog’s paws out from under itself.
The skeleton's voice repeated the word to me, making my rage burn a bit brighter. I only wish the anger could damage the horned bramble dog too.
I was damaging the horned bramble dog, but it wasn’t enough. The hide was so thick that my nails couldn’t pierce it, and any blunt punches rocked the beast about as much as a nursery rhyme.
I watched as the horned bramble dog got up and reared its teeth at me.
“…idiot… heart…” For about the thirteenth time, the skeleton's voice called me an idiot.
A scream exited my lips, making the horned bramble dog pause.
“THEN YOU GET OUT HERE. HOW THE HELL DO YOU FIGHT WITH YOUR HEART? IT'S NOT FOR BEATING UP BRAMBLE DOGS!”
Huff, huff, huff.
My expression of rage slowly eased with each breath until it blanked a bit.
“Wait.”
An idea sprung in my mind.
“Maybe, my heart is for beating.”
Thump, thump.
Pulse.
The violet earth core inside me released a deep vibration as it travelled along my arm. At the same time, my heart let out a beat that sent blood pumping through my veins. The two vibrations clashed initially but gradually came to a similar rhythm when they reached the tip of my fist.
Was I a main character getting stronger amidst battle? I needed a cool name for this… let’s see… vibrator punch? No, no, definitely not. Hmmm…
Louie Secret Technique – Big Thumper!
Snarl!
The knuckles of my fist violently vibrated as it collided with the horned bramble dog’s sharp claw. The vibrations travelled along my arm and drilled into the horned bramble dog with a strength that ruptured its paw from the inside out.
The horned bramble dog roared with pain and dashed away from me.
Thud.
My fist beat the ground as I heaved a bit. The blood vessels in my arms ached from overstraining it, but I could still move. Travelling intense vibrations through my arms felt like an entire arm workout within seconds, and without the Qi to protect myself, I’m sure it would have torn apart my arms.
When I gazed up at the horned bramble dog, it was no longer looking at me with hunger overpowering its eyes. It looked at me with a caution befitting my new danger levels. It circled around me, eyeing me up and deciding if I was worth the trouble I could cause it.
There was no sense in dying. Live to hunt another day. At least, that’s what I thought.
Cough, cough.
I spit out some of the blood hiding in my lungs, resulting from vibrations travelling through my comparable delicate lungs, and stained the ground with it.
As the horned bramble dog sniffed the air, its eyes bulged with bloodlust.
Snarl!
Apparently deciding I was juicy and weak enough, the horned bramble dog sprang with its undamaged paw at a considerable speed. It was nowhere near as fast without its other paw, but the speed was still above that of its no-horned brethren.
I was in a similar boat with one arm aching something fierce. Unfortunately for the dog, I didn’t rely on speed to kill. I relied on blunt power, and I had two arms.
My non-dominant arm’s blood vessels popped through the fat as the vibrations from my heart and violet earth core travelled along it. My legs nearly buckled as the beast’s claw raked against the side of my torso. But in return, I landed a vibrating punch against the horned bramble dog’s skull.
Crack!
As my knuckles dug into the thick hide, the vibrations rocked the horned bramble dog’s brain to mush and caused the skull to crack down the center. In a crashing thud, the horned bramble dog landed on the ground, dead.
Gasp. Cough, cough!
More blood rose from my lungs from the recoil of using the vibrations ineffectively through my body, but in stark contrast, my eyes shone with new vigour. I looked around to ensure no other threats were nearby, then I closed my eyes to look in my Dantian.
The fridge-sized mound of violet dirt particles was still there, but the dirt was no longer its violet hue. The dirt was paler now, as if it used up its energy, my Qi, to empower my attacks and body.
Using the vibrations used up my Violet Earth Qi.
I opened my eyes and pondered for a moment.
The unbridled vibrations were undoubtedly powerful, but each used up my Qi. I would have to test to see my limits on how many times I could use it, but my body would have to be strong enough first.
I needed to recover.
My arms draped to the sides of my body as the violet mist poured into my body, trying to heal my arms. I trudged with mostly my legs pushing me through the cave entrance, and on the other side, hurriedly ate the donut mushrooms I had stashed inside.
I wasn’t tying them to my waist again. Battling bramble demons would likely leave them swaying about, ready to break open and bleed their goodness everywhere.
I couldn’t let that happen!
Pulse!
The burn of the liquid inside the mushroom filtered through my body and replenished my strength. Remarkably, the violet dirt particles inside me devoured the energy like a starving beast, ensuring no drop of Qi escaped.
After a time, I felt the pain throbbing in my arms drift away, and I flexed them to ensure nothing was wrong. As usual, the violet mist had done a perfect job restoring them.
Maybe, I was the demon.
Healing this fast certainly felt like I was one. Were there trolls in this world? Let's compare notes...
Sensing my thoughts headed astray, I focused on the task at hand: Food and survival.
I grabbed a donut mushroom and quickly left the violet pool cave again. The mushroom broke apart against the horned bramble dog’s skin with a simple splash.
Sizzle.
I watched with an intrigued expression as the mushroom’s liquid bubbled against the skin and burned itself to death. Even after waiting minutes for the mushroom to grow, it never did.
I quickly retrieved another and threw it on.
Sizzle.
And again, the mushroom was burnt to cinders from whatever was on the horned bramble dog’s skin.
“How mysterious. Maybe if I—” I murmured.
I grabbed another donut mushroom, and instead of simply throwing it on the corpse, I gripped it in my hand and supplied some of my Violet Earth Qi to it as the mushroom made contact.
“Oh?”