Crabby Stabby

Heian Ciemnosc stood still as he watched every change around him. His eyesight would grow too heavy and blurry if he continued looking in the distance, even at the walls and ceiling or farther sides of the floor. He didn't dare use his naked eye to observe around after more or less calculating the space this 'small' hall had turned into. Heian Ciemnosc calmed down and analyzed his body. It had achieved not only the middle level of solidifying his cultivation path but even advanced to its middle stage!

He felt the return of having the best cultivation method and path in the whole fucking world creeping over him. The sensation of breaking into the next Step slightly emerged. Heian Ciemnosc felt satisfied with his results and thankful to this place for granting him such splendid progress in his solidification. However, he knew there was one more small job to do before he could be over with this Earth door and chase after the last one.

Rumble. Just then, as Heian Ciemnosc checked his hands and wanted to pull his Claws Out for some relief after arduous walking. The ground trembled, and the space in front of him started morphing. Heian Ciemnosc was weirded out because of the unnatural change as it moved sideways, back and forth, in spiral motions, and even like koi fish. But it didn’t quake or break apart. It was simply… movement and sliding of the earth to everything else.

Frowning as he studied it, Heian Ciemnosc witnessed a mind-blowing scene as the ground could only continue to tremble more furiously and move even more in more sumptuous areas, which increased with every passing few seconds. Then, something seemed to poke out as… Heian Ciemnosc finally felt observed. The sensation creeped him out, but at the same time, he couldn’t feel threatened as what came out seemed to be a long tube, the width of several 1-story buildings, but a few kilometers long with a sphere at the top.

Rumble~! Rumble~! Rumbleeee~! CRACKK! BOOM, BOOM- THUDDA- DAAAAAHH!

Finally, what was hidden revealed itself. It was a Fauna nonetheless but was very strange in Heian Ciemnosc’s senses. He scanned it, and it was indeed Fauna, not aquatic, but still that. However, when he read its Broken Crystallization realm 5th stage cultivation, Heian Ciemnosc also discerned it was unnatural. Still, he couldn’t find something wrong with it, so he could only guess this was a thing only the mature, grown adults would know about, and no weakling child like him could ever understand yet.

No longer caring about matters he couldn’t decipher, Heian Ciemnosc looked as the Fauna rose from underground. This time, sounds broke out as the ground was destroyed. A titanic skeletal body emerged from the earth without movement. Its legs were like thin spider’s legs wearing armor, and its body was practically that of a crab. Its eyes were pretty long, looking down at him, following his body and its body’s ascension to the surface without problems.

Its pincers weren’t too wide but were large enough, giving Heian Ciemnosc the sensation they could be… deft and flexible, unlike any other crab. As its body became fully exposed, its legs were several tens of kilometers long, making its already stupidly large eyes look small. Its mouth was motionless, but when it finally showed itself, it started moving nonstop. It had a few tendrils moving about and other little limbs to support whatever it could be eating.

Its shell was white on the underside and bright red on top, but its shape was a cancer pagurus’s. It had an unnatural number of legs, and despite their armored spider-like legs image, they were notably thin, not curving, projected from the lower edge of its sides. More important, it had a tail consisting of various bodies. It was practically a tail divided in 3, blackish-blue, and as if they had a mind of their own.

Heian Ciemnosc could still visualize the crab with his Spirit Sense, so he could watch every part of it in detail. When he looked at its tails, Heian Ciemnosc felt strange and creeped out even more as he had the prmonition they weren’t showing their entire structure yet. They were approximately 7 kilometers long, more or less, and a width of very few hundred meters. It wasn’t small, but compared to the rest of its body, they were indeed small. Just a tad thick.

“... gulp…” Heian Ciemnosc swallowed, seeing how much meat he would devour by the time the trial ended and how difficult it could be to attain victory over this first behemoth he would ever face. A pair of ‘pshift- click’ sounded, and the back of Heian Ciemnosc’s hands showed to the crab as the dark claws and dark fangs sowed. His toes also gained those claws, and since he was still bare, the crab could see them despite their size still being so small.

“Mister Crab, are you ready? I am ready. Let us fight now,” Heian Ciemnosc looked up at the crab. Not knowing where to look, the mouth or… one of its eyes, he simply said as he stared at one of its pincers. The crab didn’t move for a few seconds before slowly lowering its shell, inclining it to better look at Heian Ciemnosc or to aim its mouth at him. Finally, Heian Ciemnosc felt more than being stared at as the crab’s pincers retracted.

WHOOOOOSH- THUD- BAAAAAAAAAAHHHMM, CRAAAAAAAACKKKKKKK~~!

The crab’s body, contrary to Heian Ciemnosc’s expectations, didn’t attack him with its pincers, trying to crush and halve him before eating him. Suddenly, Heian Ciemnosc suddenly felt threatened and had horrendous intent, locking onto his body before the crab suddenly pounced on him. Its mouth, small, thin limbs, and tendrils flapped vigorously and absurdly, wanting to taste him. However, with his skin numbing and shaking, Heian Ciemnosc’s shadow of a tail appeared, and he immediately flew upwards.

Heian Ciemnosc’s body escaped the crab’s mouth and gigantic shell. It had no self-defensive, passive features on its back or anywhere other than a few spikes, acting like polearms and blades around its legs. He flew as fast as he could ever possibly reach and rushed above the crab’s middle. His body started spinning, and his right index finger condensed tons of dark Power Energy around it.

Pshiiiiiiift- POOOONGKKK!

The crab was not slow, so when it crushed the ground beneath its body and large chunks flew forwards, it started moving its legs like a spider in a flurry. Just as it began to stand up again, Heian Ciemnosc’s body was already in position. His left leg folded below his right thigh as the latter’s knee was bent up to his chest. Heian Ciemnosc’s right index finger pointed at the crab and thrust downwards!

A never before seen, 25 meters long and 4 meters thick, dark claw energy attack descended upon the crab’s back. Its shell shook off on the spot it landed with splinters as the tip crashed and drilled downwards. The crab’s whole body was hammered down a couple meters before remaining stagnant, not ascending or descending, with Heian Ciemnosc’s body facing its back and pressing harder with his right hand supporting him.

Criiiiiiiiii! “!” Suddenly, Heian Ciemnosc had his nape tremble and numb when a screeching, hostile cry sounded. His Spirit Sense caught the sight of one of the crab’s tails moving towards him! He had made this simple attack, reckless towards most other Fauna because a crab could not defend its back so smoothly. This was a basic understanding, and it should’ve been fine. However, one of its tails suddenly enlarged tens of kilometers every second, overwhelming Heian Ciemnosc’s mind!

This was the first time he was fighting something this colossal in size. And even more so, one that had far too many peculiarities. Its tail rapidly thrust towards Heian Ciemnosc. He looked at it incredulously as its length seemed endless. He now felt what his victims had felt before dying or fleeing. The tail continued rushing as he reacted. His dark claw continued drilling into the crab’s shell but was no longer supported by his 32,000 kg of bodily strength and more.

However, his overly improved Power Energy was sufficient to deal with someone a whole Step above him and even 5 stages in between. He dashed to the side and kept an eye on the tail as he moved to the crab’s left side. It continued chasing after him, leaving its body stiff in midair as if stuck but still moving and with its extremity nimbly flying through the air. Heian Ciemnosc felt apprehensive about his circumstances as he prepared to deal with it. Meanwhile, the crab started rising to stand fully back up again and continue attacking Heian Ciemnosc.

As all of this was happening, Heian Ciemnosc’s shadow of a tail showed again. His mind was already imagining several other things he wanted to try. But first, he had to test the waters and see the crab’s following responses!

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Swoooooooooooooooopp~. Whistle– CUUUH. WHOOOSH- BOOM BOOM BOOM- PEEW~.

The tail continued to target him as the crab’s long eyes locked him in its barely reflective pupils and irises. Its pincers started moving unnaturally, as its extremities slightly bent upwards and its base moved so they could match its tail. Then, as the former was just a few hundred meters away from Heian Ciemnosc, with its maximum speed slightly faster than his, Heian Ciemnosc’s shadow of a tail quaked the air like a beaver slapping its tail on the water.

Heian Ciemnosc’s body shot in the distance, bypassing the tail by just a meter. The simple gushing wind it traveled with made his body prickled and threatened to open some thin wounds on his pale skin, but never managing to. He wasn’t idle, and as a left pincer was lifted towards him as if to catch him, his left-handed claw-like hand was extended to the tail’s body. It had continued rushing forwards, only receding once it noticed Heian Ciemnosc was harming its structure.

As it did, Heian Ciemnosc was already cutting it open. The crab didn’t react to it and continued with its left pincher, trying to catch the less-than-ant-like body. Heian Ciemnosc reached near that left pincer. Taking its threat seriously, he once again summoned his shadow of a tail, diminishing his dark Power Energy storage by not a small margin. But he still had copious amounts of it. His body shot forward again, losing the pincer as he passed through it, a few of its spikes and blades tens of meters away from his body when he crossed through.

SWOOSH. Peeeeeew~, WHOOOOOOSH- ROAAAAAAR ROAAAAAAAR…

Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes were narrowed, looking down and at the sides as he continued breaking apart the crab’s leg. Now, he felt it receding, returning where it came from instead of chasing after him. He no longer felt its body being cut open, but the previous trail of a wound he had left on it. Since he couldn’t harm it anymore, Heian Ciemnosc retracted his hand and focused on flying. His body was impulsed with dark Power Energy as his Spirit Sense discerned the other 2 tails coming into action.

“!” Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes widened briefly. He felt more threatened as the right-sided pincer hovered above the crab’s other side, trying to stop him again while the left pincer chased him. Additionally, as the first tail retracted, its head rapidly closed into Heian Ciemnosc’s back. It wasn’t too fast to do so any time soon, but it would be if he stopped for a second. The other 2 tails were charging at him from the front. He was essentially surrounded.

FUTOMP. Left with no choice, Heian Ciemnosc stopped in his tracks, unworried about the receding first tail that was closest to harm him, the most dangerous. Standing in midair, Heian Ciemnosc closed his hands in a prayer gesture momentarily before separating them. However, he kept his fingertips close together. Suddenly, from the air between his palms, dark water formed. Bubble by bubble, they became droplets, from smallish to an adult eye’s size.

Before 4 seconds went by, in under a second, the dark droplets formed a bit of dark water. The water spread into spirals, pausing, constructing a mechanism-like system between Heian Ciemnosc’s pale hands. After another second, the mechanism turned into flowing, dark water. It went back and forth in a stretched oval circuit. It went from being some dark water to completely filling the space between Heian Ciemnosc’s hands.

WHOOOSH WHOOSHH WOOOOOOSHHH… peeeew~ peeeew~, clack clack clack… clack.

As the dark water started spreading to his wrists and forearms, forming shapeless, dark, watery limbs sliding by, Heian Ciemnosc’s almost long-short pitchest-blackest hair ruffled left, right, up, and down with the increasingly nearer movements. The first tail was just several dozen meters away from his position in midair, still receding its structure a couple meters from him. They were like a plague, taking host inside the water and tendrils as they spread to his forearms.

“...” Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes slowly lifted as he looked at the tail before him. The dark water was now half a meter in diameter, with his hands inside it and still flowing in perfect circles. His Vocón Link slowly came out of his back, above where his shadow of a tail would appear. When it happened, the crab stopped moving altogether for 1 second before continuing. Heian Ciemnosc grinned, confirming one last thing before lifting his chin.

‘Why don’t you be the first to try me? You’ll be very honored to do so.’ Looking directly at the first tail as if looking into the crab’s eyes, Heian Ciemnosc thought inside his mind. Immediately after, Heian Ciemnosc extended his elbows, no longer folded, and opened his palms towards the crab’s first tail. The dark water slowly moved forwards, timid but curious and intrigued to know the world.

Gurgle, splashy splash… bluub… SWOOOSH- FUTOMP- - - ROAAAAR! WHOOOSH- PSHUUUAAH- BAAAAAAAANGGG~ PHHSHK CRREESHHK CRREESHHK CRREESHHK.

Heian Ciemnosc’s dark water kept extending until one of its dark ‘tendrils’ was just a few inches away. However, just then, Heian Ciemnosc swung his wrists backwards, not only back towards him, but threw them behind his body as if swimming through the densest of waters and against the current. The dark water not only retracted, but it increased as it followed his wrists’ trajectory.

Immediately after, the dark water circled around Heian Ciemnosc’s shoulders when the first tail’s head was just a few seconds from catching up with his still body floating in midair. The dark water’s volume grew at an insane pace, circling around him, reaching 12 meters in length in under a couple seconds and 4 meters wide. It then separated from Heian Ciemnosc’s body, rushing into the open air as more and more dark water condensed.

Passing from his front to his left and then streaking in the air a few meters before moving to his back, it made a slow ‘walk’ as it continued to increase. When it formed a 30-meter length and 10 meters width, the crab’s first tail arrived before Heian Ciemnosc. It seemingly ‘stared’ at him as Heian Ciemnosc did so to it. He was calm, while the first tail was enraged after being played with to his heart’s content.

The dark water was now several meters behind Heian Ciemnosc’s back, to his right, grown to a length of almost 100 meters and 20 meters wide… when the first tail continued to retract before suddenly stopping. Its halt caused ripples in the air occurred and even in the dark water without disturbing the latter as it continued flowing through the air majestically. Then, the first tail recoiled like a snake, preparing to open its maws to eat Heian Ciemnosc for good.

The first tail first roared towards him, willingly exposing its apparent raging emotions. Heian Ciemnosc grinned at its lively conscience. But his dark water was different, and as if annoyed at something bothering its creator, it lunged towards the first tail at the same time that the latter charged at its creator!

Its roar finished, and it lunged at Heian Ciemnosc. The first tail wanted to rip Heian Ciemnosc to as many shreds as possible. But when it was just 2 meters from accomplishing its task, the dark water bumped into its tip. Immediately, a sound that even dazzled Heian Ciemnosc, who didn’t expect such a strong reaction from both parties to occur, broke the stalemate apart as what welcomed it was a dark torrent rushing into the first tail.

Not prepared for that sound, Heian Ciemnosc was, indeed, taken aback, but this was only a one-time lesson for him. His blurry eyes quickly cleared up to the sight of his dark water crushing the first tail’s inside, tearing everything apart as it could only remain stagnant while more dark water formed at its rear. Heian Ciemnosc’s dark Power Energy depleted consistently but not alarmingly as he saw the dark water still outside grow faster than ever!

His instincts also told him that the dark torrent inside, crushing everything, was increasing as it devoured away what it could find and didn’t destroy. The strange thing, and creepy, was that the dark water’s sound was suddenly turned off as if nothing was going on and it was just the first tail seld-destructing. However, the sounds of destruction from the passing dark water continued, making them even more dreadful. One could only imagine the idea of one’s limbs being destroyed from the inside by something, yet one couldn’t see such a thing nor hear it. It was terrifying.

The crab wasn’t slow to show it felt the overwhelming sensations as its right-sided pincer immediately punched Heian Ciemnosc!

Whoosh- PUUUH. WHOOOOSH- ROAAAAAAAR ROAAAAAAAR!

Heian Ciemnosc’s body was sent flying, but he stopped himself sooner rather than later. His dark water continued eating the first tail away, but the crab’s left pincer tried saving it from the dark water. Pinching here and there, dark water came out and splashed everywhere. However, it didn’t lose its properties as it latched onto the pincer and started… melting it! It wasn’t actually melting, as the temperature was damn cold and fresh. Instead, it was devouring its pincer’s protection so fast it looked like that.

The crab found its limbs occupied with cleaning its pincers from the parasite-like dark water as half of it remained inside its first tail. It had to stop pinching it to safeguard its pincers. Thus, the first tail resumed being devoured by Heian Ciemnosc’s dark torrent, rapidly returning to its previous length, and started seeking another portion after finishing its first meal.

However, Heian Ciemnosc had a hard time hearing these things after stopping his flying body. The remaining 2 tails weren’t painless like the crab. When they saw Heian Ciemnosc drifting away from the horrendous, terrifying dark water, they lunged at him without reserves.

Heian Ciemnosc looked down at his hands, also staring at the space surrounding him. Calculating everything and enveloping his Soul energy in a 200 meters radius with him as the center, he slightly spread his arms to his front with elbows slightly folded. Suddenly, from his rear, something seemed to have become visible as his Vocón Link’s extensive body retracted to his back. The 2 tails seemed startled by this but continued charging right after. On the other hand, the crab’s legs panickedly stomped on its pincers as it cleaned off the dark water spots.

‘Darkning… Igniting!’ Heian Ciemnosc’s mind was never so clearer. And as his hands faced the ceiling, gesturing as if holding something between his fingers, barely touching his palms. Sparkles went off everywhere around him…

…