Looking at the screeching centipede while holding Talis with my injured arm and my greatsword with my left arm, I took a deep breath before ultimately deciding to go on the offensive; something that was quite dangerous, but after having taken that last attack, staying passive would eventually end up being more dangerous.
"Alright, Talis, I'm going on the offensive, so things may get a little bumpy and uncomfortable; make sure you hold on tightly." Advised Alexander solemnly as Talis swiftly nodded her head while tightly clutching his body with her wings and talons, causing Alexander to hiss in pain.
With Talis now firmly attached to my body, I gripped my greatsword, and while using [Wind Steps] in conjunction with my body, which had been infused with mana, I powerfully pushed off the ground as I speedily headed toward the monster that was in the process of creating another acid spell.
Swiftly approaching the monster, when I arrived at the halfway mark, the creature shot another [Acid Shot] directly at me; with its speed and me running towards it, I wasn't given enough time to react; however, as I'd already seen the spell once with my skill, [Heroes Gaze] I could tell when the spell was done forming from the way the mana moved. With that knowledge, I had predicted its attack, allowing me to just narrowly dodge the acidic jet stream by tilting my body to the left; it did scrape my left arm guards, though it was fine since there wasn't enough acid to dissolve my armor.
Closing in on the monster, just as I did, it had finished shooting its acid spell, causing it to once again charge toward me, but since I wasn't going on the defensive, things were going to be different; nearing the centipede, just before it snapped it's pincers shut, nearly crushing my head, I ducked down and quickly stepped to the right, standing directly beside its numerous thin legs.
Brandishing my greatsword, I sliced down towards its numerous legs, effortlessly slicing through multiple legs, causing viscous brown blood to dye my greatsword, yet just like all monsters I've previously faced, it didn't even react to several of its legs getting chopped off; sensing danger from behind, I reluctantly stopped my attack and retracted my greatsword as I backed away, dodging just in time as the centipede had slammed its face where I was previously standing, taking a bite out of the ground.
While its face was in the ground, I dashed towards its opened neck, and when I neared the monster again, I jumped up and stabbed my greatsword into the side of its neck, digging in as deep as possible, causing the disgusting monster's blood to spray all over Talis and I.
As I dangled from its neck covered in monster blood, the centipede finally got itself unstuck, and since it was a stupid monster, it didn't attempt to shake me off, though I suppose while monsters don't have souls, they must still have innate instincts since while I was trying to injure the creature, it lifted it's head into the air as it cast another acid spell.
'Acid Shot? No, that's not how it cast the previous two acid shots; this must be its other acid-related skill, Acid Spray.' Thought Alexander with a frown while looking at the large green ball of acid form between its pincers, causing danger to well up in his heart.
Feeling immense danger coming from the large green ball of acid floating between its pincers, I quickly retracted my greatsword from the creature's neck while attempting to cause as much damage possible before kicking off its body, landing several meters away from the monster, yet the danger I was feeling didn't diminish, in fact, as time went on it only got stronger.
Just as I was about to increase the distance between the two of us, the creature turned toward us while opening its pincers wide, causing the green ball of acid to suddenly shoot small but numerous projectiles of acid at us, and while the speed of the attacks wasn't as fast as [Acid Shot], it made up for that in its range of attack along with the sheer number of acid projectiles, reminding me of a shotgun.
With widened eyes, I watched the numerous acid projectiles near me while practically covering me like a blanket, denying me any chance to escape its attack radius. Gritting my teeth, I activated my only protective skill, [Wind Armor], which coated my body in a thin yet dense layer of wind that flowed along my skin. However, even so, I had a feeling that wouldn't be enough, so I swiftly brought my greatsword before my body, using it like a shield since there was no way an uncommon ranked skill would be able to penetrate through a mythical rank artifact, as I protected Talis along with my head.
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The moment I finished my preparations, the spell arrived, and numerous acid projectiles landed upon my greatsword, yet it stood firm while the acid dripped off its body and splashed on the ground, completely protecting Talis. However, the same couldn't be said for the rest of my body, which was being protected by my skill [Wind Armor]; most of the projectiles were diverted away from my body because of the wind armor, which was exceptionally good against non-physical attacks, though it could only successfully block so many before a few managed to slip through.
Although only one in every fifty or so attacks managed to slip through my defense, there were so many projectiles hitting my body that it didn't even matter whether it would've been fifty or one hundred; either way, my body was getting pelted by acid as it dissolved my armor and made it's way to my skin, causing me to feel intense pain cover nearly my entire body.
'Fuck my fucking life!' Thought Alexander in pain as he felt his body slowly dissolving from the acid.
While I was internally yelling in pain from the acid, I suddenly no longer felt anything hitting my body, causing me to release a sigh of relief that the attack finally ended, though just as I was about to rip my clothes off, my heart warned me of danger from above. Quickly shifting my greatsword from in front of me, I saw the monster charging toward me once again, though just when I was about to evade the attack, it released a screech, yet the screech was innately different from its previous ones as I could see a wave of mana erupt from its mouth.
When the wave of mana hit me, it caused my body to stiffen up as my actions were forcefully halted for just the briefest of moments, yet with that monster's speed, just that littlest of time allowed it to close the gap and near me, before I had finally regained my ability to move, but by then it was too late to evade; the monsters pincers were just about to encircle me.
I didn't even have time to think as I forcefully threw Talis to safety while I quickly used my favorite spell, [Blink], just before its pincers snapped shut on my body, nearly cutting me in two. Appearing a few meters away from the monster, I quickly spotted Talis, whom I had thrown away, attempting to stand up, though, with one look, I could tell she had broken a wing; Talis may be a very fast flier, but she was by no means physically powerful.
Realizing the danger she was in, I swiftly ran towards her, yet when I took my first step, I heard a snap, causing me to fall while a wave of pain erupted from my leg.
'Ugh, now's not the time for this!' Thought Alexander as he stopped falling by propping himself with his greatsword while glancing at his broken and bleeding leg, which had been greatly dissolved by acid.
Hearing the monster move, I grunted in pain and tried my best to approach Talis even if it meant I must hop on one leg, yet I was moving at not even half my previous speed; however, things only continued to get worse as the monster switched targets from me to Talis, seemingly opting to kill the weaker of the two first, though I doubted the centipede was capable of such thoughts.
"Ugh, dammit; Talis, RUN!!" Exclaimed Alexander as he hopped toward Talis with his broken body covered in green acid and golden blood.
My words managed to snap Talis out of whatever state she was in as she looked at me before quickly shifting her focus toward the incoming monster, seeing that she attempted to flee, yet she wasn't getting anywhere with her injured wing. Knowing Talis wouldn't be able to escape, I gritted my teeth and again used [Blink], appearing just a meter away from Talis, who was about to get killed by the centipede's sharp pincers.
Pushing off the ground with my one working leg and my greatsword, I leaped toward Talis, arriving right beside her; just before she was killed, I pushed her out of the way, though because of my actions, I ended up being the target for the centipede. Being grabbed by the centipede's pincers, I wasn't even given time to fight back before it powerfully snapped its pincers shut, causing my waist and below to fall to the ground, dyeing it gold from my blood.
"UGh!! AHRHGH!" Yelled Alexander in agony as the monster cut his body in two with its sharp, deadly pincers.
'Master!' Yelled Trina worriedly as she saw Alexander get cut in half by the monster.
"ALEX!" Yelled Talis in worry as she ran toward Alexander, though she made very little progress given her small stride.
The pain of having my body separated in two was far more than I had imagined, and if it wasn't because of my traits, I highly doubted I'd still be able to think while processing this level of pain. Falling to the ground beside my other half while leaking blood, I weakly grabbed my greatsword and pointed it toward the pathway that was blocked by rubble, which was looking somewhat blurry, and cast a potent [Fire Blast] by injecting a substantial amount of mana into it.
Once ready, I launched the spell just as the strength in my arms gave out, causing them to collapse onto the ground; when the large fire blast hit the blocked pathway, a big and loud explosion erupted, followed by smoke along with the smell of burning, and although everything was blurry, I could see through the smoke that my attack had succeed in opening a path.
Glancing at the monster that was, for some reason, charging toward Talis, I closed my eyes amidst the terrible pain and activated the only skill I hadn't used: [Rebirth].