The running figure was silently cursing, while controlling each step as if its life was dependent on it. Metal sandals were hitting the tough ground with a clunky sound, protecting the feet from being damaged. However, the possibility of spraining the foot was not out of the question as each of many small rocks could lead to a fall if the speed of his movement was taken into account. And Robert was fast. Pushing himself to the limit, he jumped over cracks in the ground, used his hands if necessary and even a few times crawled – everything for the sake of climbing the mountain fast. The reason was quite simple. The thunderstorm was coming.
The moment the first signs appeared on the clear sky, Robert dropped his training and started to run. His target was not the mountain itself but its biggest habitant. The limited time made him hurry up. Luckily for him, having experience in running in the recruit’s camp eased the task of strength distribution. His regenerative body indeed made the exhaustion almost non-existed but excessive efforts would still lead to short-timed strain in muscles. It would heal in no time, returning him to a peak form even without a proper rest. The problem was – Robert didn’t have that time. The possibility of being fried with lightning wasn’t so tempting.
However, frankly speaking, partly it was his exact goal – to be hit. The crucial difference was in the role of the conductor, which he aimed for, and not the main target, which was meant for the huge lizard. His plan wasn’t original or creative in the slightest – creating a huge rod into the sky, Rob wanted to attract the lightning. If the other part of the metal were inserted into the body of the monster, it would take the main portion of the energy. Of course, Robert had basically to tank another part with his own body as only physical contact with his steel would keep it conjured all the time.
Am I stupid? Maybe. But what choice do I have? This fucker has the head in the size of a two-story building minimum. I am not sure if can summon anything remotely big to cut through so much body in several strikes. My skills are also far from conjuring a nano-sharp blade. I sincerely doubt that the lizard will stand idle while I am hitting it in the same spot. The size matters. Using a toothpick against a tiger is rather dumb with unhealthy consequences.
The tenth repetition of this reasoning calmed Rob, while he was focusing on executing his dangerous plan. Not only did he have to climb up during the thunderstorm, but he also had to find the lizard in the unknown underground caves, somehow attract its attention, and lure it outside right under the raging sky, avoiding other smaller predators. All that, while trying not to die in the process. It was as easy as it sounded.
The peak of the mountain had met him with a strong wind, which almost blew him away. All his way Robert was actively searching a huge hole that could be the entrance to the lair of the beast, but with no result. The answer to that appeared to be right before his eyes. What he thought was a mountain was a long-extinct volcano with an enormous cone that went deep down. The time had changed from a familiar form to unrecognizable, misleading Rob during his long stay on the island. However, he didn’t have the opportunity to look around as the first lighting started their bombardment.
Almost jumping down for the fright, when another white line had hit the ground in few hundred meters from him, Robert began to slide down. The conjured plate had protected his butt from the fate of being grind off. Nearing the edge, he summoned two spikes. Striking with both hands simultaneously, Rob slowed him down right before the edge. Fortunately, it wasn’t a vertical decline. Moreover, the lizards left enough marks from their climbing to use them as points of support. Still, with no rope and taking the height into account, it would be a challenging task to climb down to the bottom. On the other hand, the developing thunderstorm was a huge motivation to start immediately.
Pushing himself over the edge without a second thought, Robert started his descent, aiming for one of the nearest holes that were most likely used by predators. It was less than ten meters (30ft) down and a few to the side, but it didn’t mean it would be easy. Just after a few meters down he found himself in an odd position where he couldn’t find anything to step on. He wasn’t a professional climber to copy a usage of even the tiniest dent in the surface for support. The hast search was interrupted by a loud thunderous cannonade, pressing him to risk avoiding being struck by lightning. Releasing the grip, Rob immediately tried to conjure a pair of knives to glide down, but the steel only left a few marks, unable to pierce the stone.
Quickly accelerating descent had turned into a fall when his sloppy movement had pushed him backward. His attempt to summon some kind of hook failed as he felt himself in the air without anything to grab. Clearly understanding that it would lead to a lethal outcome if nothing was done, Robert used all his will to suppress the rising panic, while his arms were desperately trying to grab anything. However, the three-second fall had ended abruptly when his back had hit something. That “something” produced a loud and painful hiss, indicating what it was.
Hitting the head of the lizard with his butt and reacting too late to such a sudden outcome, Rob almost continued his fall. Luckily, the angry and dissatisfied predator attempted to bite him. Missing with its wide maw, it still pushed him upwards, thus stopping the fall. The following swing of a clawed paw threw him inside the cave, ending the career of an overconfident climber without any safety measures. At least Robert was fast enough to react to the second attack, creating a shield right in front of him. The grinding sound of bones against metal was like music for him, indicating that he had avoided being wounded.
Rolling by inertia, Rob stood with one swift motion, summoning the spear. The latter had impaled the lizard just a moment later when the predator lunged at him with a clear goal to kill. The convulsing body still tried to crush with its weight, but Robert had enough experience in dealing with such creatures.
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Okay, I am inside. Now I need to find the beast before the thunderstorm will run out of fuel. Or maybe…
He had to interrupt his thought when the small agile figure jumped on him. The familiar lizard, alas smaller, it was insanely fast. Barely avoiding two swift attacks, Rob had to press himself to the wall of the natural cave so as not to be targeted by the third. Fortunately, the repentance and simplicity of the swoop actions made it easy to predict. Just by conjuring the steel blade in the way of the predator, he left the deep wounds on its side. It led to a clumsy drop on the ground and a painful hiss. Robert’s following kick threw it out from the cave directly to the bottom of the volcano.
What was I saying? Yes, or maybe… What the fuck?
Before he managed to continue, more angry lizards started to appear. It wasn’t just red threatening eyes that were looking at him from the darkness, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Nope. Not only did the unrestful sun somehow manage to light up even such hidden corners of the island, but also those lizards didn’t want to wait. Rushing to him in crazy numbers, they acted more like a swarm, almost covering the whole corridor with their bodies. It was like a scene from a horror movie when a random unlucky guy, in the beginning, uncovers the threat from a horde of creepy monsters right before terrible death. This time exactly Robert was that guy, looking with wide-open eyes at the incoming danger.
The mission has failed. Can I restart? Please?!
The next moment the torrent of bodies almost drowned him completely. The initial impact was partly absorbed by the biggest shield he had ever made. Everything that happened next was covered in mist. Robert hit, using his conjuring ability to the maximum. He defended, creating various objects. He moved, not even stopping for a moment. The powerful swings could be replaced with hast rolls just a second later. As earlier, everything started to fragment into separate scenes, which were imprinted in his mind, while others had disappeared completely under enormous stress.
Squeezing through the densely packed bodies, he was leaving barely noticeable, but deep marks everywhere he could reach. Despite the unimpressive aftermath of thin blade usage, most of the wounds were crippling, disabling limbs or even killing the lizards, while they were stuck between their brood. The resulting chain of hits was interrupted by another predator, who moved forward while pushing away all other animals. A familiar hiss was followed by an attempt to bite him.
He blinked only to find him during a swinging motion. Huge halberd, accelerated by all his strength, had cut through ten centimeters of the lizard’s neck but failed to separate its head from the body. Dispersing his weapon with a roar, he just jumped forward, falling exactly on the wound. The adrenaline rush painted the surroundings in blood-red color, pushing the primal instincts up. With another indistinct scream, he pressed both his palms to the sliced gap in the skin. The growing steel claws on his nails pierced the flesh. The moment later it was tearing a meaty part out of the body only to throw it right into the eyes of the nearest lizard. Blinding it for a disgusting projectile, he shortened the distance, already aiming with a short sword.
The closed jaw of the lizard on his right palm had stopped the motion. Kicking the head of an already dead predator once again, he switched his attention to another one. This one, having lost a front paw in the fierce fight, still tried to attack him. Clouded mind was sending a signal with a noticeable delay, so his attempts to pull his palm out appeared to be futile. The creature simply squeezed its teeth, crushing his fingers in the process. The pain came only in a few seconds, raising his anger to new heights. The swings of the sword almost shredded the lizard into bloody pieces.
That lying remnants of the overconfident predator, who was pushing away others earlier, created a good barricade. Gripping with both hands a newly created spear, he started to strike. The sheer number of enemies made it hard to miss, but he still tried to aim in weak spots to kill as fast as possible. Having limited space behind, he was full of resolve to stop it right there. However, it was just an initial push from the primitive animals, and more could come. So he just focused on simple tasks – strikes. The spear point pierced through the air, ending in the face of the lizard. Penetrating the skin, it got stuck there. Still, the damage was enough to drop it to the ground, but he couldn’t finish it.
All these scenes had mixed in Robert’s head, making it hard even to understand the time order of them. His mind tried to see the surroundings as it was acquainted with them, but the loss of the ability to multi-task together with not experiencing such consequences in such a battle had led his consciousness to overload with information. Rob tried to grasp more details out of habit, and he did, but not the amount that he was used to. Adding the pressure from the dangerous fight – it wasn’t hard to understand Robert had lost himself in the process.
Only when the whole cave started to shake and the flow of lizards had run out, did he manage to come to his senses. Looking around at tens of corpses, his bloodied body with several wounds, and his mangled left palm, Rob finally realized what was happening and where he was. The memory of the amphibian’s ritual, which was basically a massacre to anger the beast so it would come for revenge, emerged by itself. He felt shivers down his back, while a bad premonition had started to rise. His heart missed a beat. The dry throat felt as if it was gripped by someone, making it impossible to breathe.
Then he felt a look. Slowly turning around, Rob wasn’t surprised to see a giant vertical eye that was directly looking at him. He was half expecting it. Having the enormous size of the whole entrance to this corridor, it was horrendous and dreadful with its motionless and unblinking state. Just the silent presence was sending a clear message of unavoidable death. Any resistance was futile against this primal monster. The sheer amount of threat was so insanely pressing that Robert could almost touch it. And that was just a single look from giant, the most part of whom was not even visible from his point of view. For the outer observer, it was too hard to grasp the insane level of power that was radiated from such an alpha being. However, not when the very same being was directly focusing its attention on you. Rob’s mind managed to produce just a single thought under this pressure.
Hello, shithead! Found you finally. Do you know how stupid it is to look into the unknown hole, not knowing what to expect from it? Someone can poke a finger in the eye, dumbass.