Alim jumped off the cliff's edge, his body hurtling towards the rocky terrain below. His eyes were fixed on the group of asmurn that chased the man, and he knew he had to act fast, or this useless fool would die. He angled his body and slid down the jagged surface of the cliff; his palms slid against the rough cliffside as he tried to slow his descent down. Despite the danger, Alim remained focused, his eyes never leaving the asmurn as he closed in on his target.
"Tch, can't use any essence in this fight, or I'll be found out. This is going to be very annoying."
Alim wasted no time as he landed on the ground. He immediately dashed towards the asmurns that were chasing the man. With every stride, the ground beneath his feet cracked, indicating the force he was exerting to catch up with the straggler of the asmurn herd. The closer he got to the herd, the lighter his steps became; as annoying as it was, he needed to save the man without using essence.
Alim reached for the hilt of the sword hanging at his waist. His fingers curled tightly around the grip, and he awkwardly tried to pull it from the sheath. But as he struggled, he remembered he was not accustomed to wielding a sword. Unlike the daggers he was accustomed to, the sword grip felt uncomfortable in his hand. Although he had used swords in the past for show, the only real battle he had fought was against Teetee years ago, but even that could be considered an act as he quickly changed to daggers mid-fight. He wondered if he could wield it effectively in this fight or if he would have to drop the sword and the cover he was creating and rely on his daggers to save both of them from these beasts.
“This is awkward,” Alim said
As he ran after the herd, Alim struggled to unsheathe his sword. As the sword finally exited the sheath, the short leather strap tied to his belt became loose, causing it to slip off and fall to the ground. Alim could only watch helplessly as he could not catch it while chasing the beasts.
A sharp swish could be heard as Alim's sword sliced through the air. His eyes focused on the base of the beast's tail, where this pseudo-bipedal beast's balance was. As the sword made contact, the clink of metal hitting the hard scales and the guttural screech of an asmurn echoed in the silent surroundings. The creature's tail was lopped off, causing it to lose balance and tumble forward. Its momentum carried it forward before it eventually slid to a stop. With a roar, the tailless asmurn whipped its body around to face Alim, charging ahead, but because of its newfound lack of balance, all it could do was struggle as it fell over every time it tried to stand.
"HA! What a useless beast..."
The Asmurn, not fond of its new physiology, struggled to move on the ground due to its weak front legs, preventing it from attacking. With a hiss, it protruded its tongue and released something from its mouth, creating a loud popping sound. Alim, the target, was forced to step back as his forward momentum was abruptly stopped just shy of the asmurn.
"Red..."
As he registered the color of the asmurn, the slimy substance that had just made contact with his clothes burst into a dark green flame, burning his outer jacket as it spread around his body. Feeling like he had won a lucky bet, Alim acted quickly and threw off the light jacket that was burning before the cold alchemic flame could cause any more damage.
Alim began to review the information the Summoner Race had documented about the Seven Colored Asmurn. Each color has different alchemic mixtures and locations for their life seeds. The one in front of him, red, spat an alchemic fire that burned life essence, but it was a very mundane fire and could only cause harm if there was a wound or some other opening of the body like eyes or mouth. Red was also seen as the weakest of the seven colors because of its larger life seed located in its head; the only problem was that it was the most accurate of the seven colors.
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As the projectile flew past Alim's face, he felt a sharp sting in the air. He glared at the beast that was standing just a short distance in front of him. Although Alim knew that the beast was mindless, he could have sworn that he saw a condescending glimmer in its emotionless eyes, warning him to stay away.
"You dirty beast! That was too close!" Alim screamed
Alim glanced past the beast and saw the distance between him and the man growing with each second. He also took the time to see what colors the beasts were: blue, blue, brown, and a combined red-green.
"Tch, I need to finish this fast and catch up before I lose them."
SWOOSH
"Fine, you've got my attention now!"
The beast wasted no time in preparing another shot of its alchemical mixture. Pulling its head back, it stuck its tongue out and pushed its head forward in one swift motion. As soon as the mixture left the tip of its tongue, it was already preparing another shot.
The projectiles were moving so fast that they left streaks of light in their trail. Alim struggled to follow their trajectory, unable to determine where they would land. A streak of light flew past Alim's thigh; he was lucky again that the beast kept missing. How many had the beast missed? Was this the most accurate it could be, or was it really warning him? The thought of depending on luck or the mercy of a beast left a bad taste in his mouth.
He had two options: use his shadow essence to finish the fight fast and potentially blow his cover, or depend on his mediocre skills with the uncomfortable sword in his hand, take his time with the fight, and lose the man he was supposed to rescue.
Each second, he wasted the man, and asmurn got further away.
"Sigh, it seems the world decided for me... shift."
Long before the creation of the Seedling Union and the centralization of a system to measure an individual's strength, each race created its own systems and skills. These systems were simplistic, only depending on the core abilities of their racial essence. Because of this, every race was unique, and when the time came to centralize, many races held their traditions, such as the Shadow Race. Although most of the younger generations lean towards the new star system, the traditions still hold sway on their strength.
Alim stood in the path of a new projectile, its path seeming guaranteed to hit its mark; a sneer grew on Alim's face. Just as the path of light was about to hit him, his figure vanished, and in his place, the severed tail of the red asmurn was left. When the path of light met the falling tail, the tail flared in a dark green flame, slowly burning as it hit the ground. Surprised by this sudden change, the beast quickly prepared for another shot, sensing that the danger was not yet over.
"Cast..."
Alim whispered, and an eerie phenomenon occurred. The shadow that he cast began to stretch, grow, and writhe, creeping ominously toward the asmurn at an alarming speed. The sudden change in size and shape was unsettling and created a foreboding atmosphere. The asmurn, blissfully unaware of the predator that now crawled toward it, stuck its tongue out, prepared to release another shot.
"Bind..."
With another whisper, the shadow that just reached the asmurn's shadow reached out from the cold darkness below with claws that wrapped around the asmurn, bringing it closer to the ground's cold embrace. The beast couldn't even make a sound as the shadowy claws wrapped around its head, pulling it down and making it bite its tongue off.
"What a pitiful creature you are." Alim said with a sneer, watching the beast try to escape its shadow, "It almost seems like a waste to use this on you, but I don't have time."
"Jump..."
Alim stabbed his sword into his shadow. The sword vanished into the shadow only to reappear, piercing through the head of the asmurn. His blade pointed toward the sky as green motes of light danced around the blade's edge.
"It was a waste."
Just as Alim was about to pull his sword out of the shadow, a loud clap rang from a long distance away, shattering the extruding part of his blade. Another loud bang followed the first, and the head of the dead asmurn vanished, replaced with a dark green fire.
"What?" Alim shouted
He looked in the distance where he thought the sound originated from, and he could see the mixed red-green asmurn staring at him with its tongue out, and head tilted back.