Krack-ka-ka-boom!
Lightning flashed just as Quinn tripped, flailing her arms as her right foot twisted on something. An instant later, agony arced through her entire ankle she felt it twist in the wrong direction. That pain was made all the worse as what felt like a beartrap clamped onto her foot. In a gut-wrenching moment, the ‘bear trap’ fell through the earth, pulling Quinn to her knees in a spray of dirt.
A rather intense grumble of thunder hid her cry as her knees slammed into the ground. She lurched forward, desperately grabbing at the grass as something bit deeper into her ankle. Barely a moment passed before it yanked hard enough to tear apart the skin of her ankle and suck her entire lower half below the surface. The grass instantly pulled free from its roots, flooding her face with a torrent of muddy clumps. She desperately grasped at the surface, fear overriding her senses as adrenaline gave her enough power to pull herself half out of the ground and stretch out her right arm for a better grip.
The struggle was for naught as intense pressure jerked her once more. She could feel her ankle half detaching as her heartbeat accelerated to supply more blood to the injured limb. She was pulled under the dirt, her arm snapping like a twig, and it was forced through the ground along with the rest of her. Soil and small pebbles dug into her arm like bug bites as it eventually fell to her side limply.
Still, she struggled, lightheaded as she was from the tortuous teeth grinding into her ankle like a chainsaw. Quinn forced her shattered arm into the dirt around her as a support and held down her other. A single flash of lightning briefly illuminated the circular hole, showing what had grabbed her as she began to channel Sparks. The adrenaline and shock had set in just enough for her head to be entirely clear as she flooded her blood veins with too much mana. It did the trick as the purple-black runes formed around her palm.
Below her, shining brilliantly in all its slimy glory, a massive worm-like creature was biting into her ankle. It writhed in the light, its body shaking as it wrenched her down another dozen feet before she could even react. Her arm tore once more as her shoulder popped entirely out of the socket and dangled at her side. If she was still in her right mind, bile would’ve been pouring out of her mouth. As it were, shock-induced coldness granted her the ability to cast Sparks and check out the monster below.
Its body was almost out of some eldritch horror. It was like a long slimy tentacle with sharp spines shooting out in every direction. It didn’t have a face but had two mace-like bone jaws that had clamped onto her foot in a death grip. Those spines drew into its body as it pulled her down again, and then shot out like a demented switchblade. The spines flung a slimy substance all over the place, melting her flesh and the surrounding soil as it easily dragged her down into rocky depths below.
Her stomach churned against her will at the porky scent that arose as her leg sizzled. Still, she managed to keep enough of her attention on her magic to form three of the four runes required for Sparks. The circle naturally flickered in time with the jolts of torment that flowed all over her body but kept enough stability to not enter Mana Reversion. The flow of mana was constant, albeit choppy as it flowed as fast as her heart pumped.
Lightning arced across the sky, only a fraction of the light reaching her in the depths of the hole. With each second that passed, the surface disappeared further and further as she plunged into the abyss with horror. And then that light disappeared entirely as the mouth of the tunnel caved in with a shower of debris. A tremor in the air vibrated against her skin as the entire tunnel flooded with bits of dirt and stone.
She could hear screaming alongside the debris tumbling down the tunnel. It took her far too long to realize it was her voice screaming in agony. Just as the fourth and final rune of Sparks appeared fully formed, a rock from above fatefully fell from the tunnel, smacking Quinn upside the head in a shower of blood. It bounced off, half of it coated In maroon as it began to melt against the creature's flesh.
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Her magic instantly vanished as her concentration broke. Mana Reversion immediately set in and a micro black hole formed just next to her stomach. It managed to tear a few layers into her epidermis before the monstrosity saved her from further torment by wrenching her further down into its lair with enough might to dislocate her leg too. Blood sprayed her face, covering her already cloudy eyes as her consciousness began to slip.
Quinn’s teeth clenched around her tongue, blood pouring out into her mouth as the coppery taste startled her awake. A brief debate over whether to cast Sparks was suppressed as the eldritch abominations pulled her down into a cave. Her body slammed onto the ground with a meaty splat and a sharp twang. Pieces of wood snapped up around her, cutting into her flesh before they fell back to the ground in the remains of what once was her bow. A groan escaped her bloodied lips as she tried to shift away from the sharp wooden stakes. She wasn’t sure, but a rib had probably snapped based on her inability to feel her side.
An irrational idea arose in her brain. Instead of reaching for mana, she pulled at the athyrn around her. It felt sickly and fought against her, but she had no choice. Her last fragments of consciousness focused as her foot turned to mist inside the creature’s clamp-like maw. The athyrn moved rapidly at her urgent plea. It flowed through her cells, turning each individual one less solid as a wave of the substance caressed her leg from the knee down.
The worm yanked roughly once more. This time, however, Quinn didn’t go with it. Just enough of her leg had turned to mist that she escaped the thing's vice-like grasp. The worm rose on its spines, maw ready to strike. In a moment of addled panic, her senses flooded with information as she tried to figure out a path of survival. She registered the near-pitch darkness all around in the cave. The way the monster reared up with a slight shink sound as its spines scraped against the rocks. The horrid scent of her burned meat and blood. The taste of copper as her tongue still slightly bled into her mouth. The feel of the cold stone against her back and the agony all over her body. The loud clunks as the abomination clamped its jaws together as if in confusion about how she escaped.
In that fraction of a second, Quinn forced mana in the rough desperation of pure terror as her eyes widened at the full sight of the creature. Instead of going for the runes, she swapped to the translated version and drew the words around the circle of mana while the creature was distracted by its confusion. She could draw her native language far faster than the runes of this world.
Just as Sparks fully formed, the creature came to a decision and flung itself at her. A burst of brilliant purple sparks flung into its face, causing it to rear back with an unnatural squeal. The sound was as if a thousand birds were chirping all at once.
Quinn closed her eyes, accepting the inevitable even as the sparks flew from her palm. She had done all she could. Maybe she could’ve tried a tier two, but… wait, why was she still able to think? The delayed sound of hundreds of slicing sounds filled the cave, quieting down as the seconds ticked by.
She unsteadily opened her eyes, half expecting the monster to be waiting for her to see it one last time before snapping her neck like a porcelain doll. And yet there was nothing. The air was clear aside from the rampant dust. Sharp pink pricks were left in the ground from the creature's rapid retreat and she could still faintly hear it scurrying away.
The battered woman didn’t give herself enough time to think about it as she looked around in the pitch darkness. She could faintly make out shapes in a dull gray tone. She was in a massive cave, leaning on more of a cavern than anything. Above her was the long tunnel - half collapsed - leading back up to the surface. To her back and front were paths further along the cave. Left of her was dropped off into a seemingly bottomless chasm and to the right of her was the cave wall. Quinn could just see the lip of a small crevice on the cave wall.
She gingerly pulled herself to it, trailing blood as chunks of flesh as she went. Quinn tucked herself into the small hole in the wall as her consciousness began to fade. In her last moments of clarity, she pulled off her belt and wrapped it tightly around her torn-up ankle in a makeshift tourniquet. Then she wrapped her sagen tightly around her body and cast Cleanse twice. One on herself, and one on the blood trail leading to her. Then the trauma finally outmaneuvered her adrenaline and the darkness overwhelmed her. Her already messed up vision turned to dots, then to nothingness as her heart beat out vital fluid.