The young man’s movements were accompanied by the sudden appearance of dozens of tree roots shooting out from behind him. They surged at high speed, striking the massive body of the monster and quickly binding it, locking the Depths Abomination in place, rendering it unable to move.

Howlll...

A long howl echoed throughout the cave, marking Arkana’s success as he smoothly landed on the monster’s shoulders. He wasted no time plunging both of his daggers into the creature’s neck.

Thick red blood gushed out as Arkana pressed the blades deeper into the arteries, causing the intricately engraved peacock-feather daggers, with their mix of gold and silver, to nearly disappear into the monster’s flesh, resulting in severe bleeding, just as he expected.

The monster’s howls of rage grew louder, but the pain and fury only seemed to fuel Asu Baung’s strength. With a single deafening roar, it unleashed a massive burst of energy from within its body. The force shattered the roots binding it. The explosion even knocked Arkana off its shoulders, sending him crashing hard into the cave wall.

Crash!

“Damn you, Casildo!” The young prince cursed in frustration, realizing his misfortune. His eyes widened as he witnessed Asu Baung’s sudden transformation.

The monster’s body began to grow, swelling several times its original size until its head touched the cave ceiling. Its coarse black fur thickened and sharpened into large, spiked quills. The claws on its hands and feet elongated into deadly points, while the veins beneath its skin bulged with power. Its fangs extended, protruding out of its jaw.

Howlll...

Quickly, Arkana sprang to his feet, noticing a large boulder hurtling toward him at high speed. He stomped one foot down hard, launching himself out of its path just in time.

Crash!

The boulder missed its mark and collided with the cave wall, the impact reverberating through the air with a loud echo. Arkana leaped once more, darting past Asu Baung and landing on a stone inscription in the center of a glowing blood pool. The monster slowly turned, its eyes blazing with fury as it glared at the young prince, who was preparing a final attack.

Arkana raised one hand in the air, revealing a green peacock feather that suddenly appeared in his open palm. With a confident smirk, he called out to the beast, “Trying to intimidate me with your size?”

He threw the feather toward Asu Baung, and it shot through the air at high speed. In less than a second, the feather split into tiny fragments, each piece transforming into new peacock feathers that filled the air like a rain of green leaves.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

The feathers, controlled by his Featherfall Storm technique, hovered around the monster, who snarled and swiped angrily at the air, trying in vain to fend off an attack that hadn’t begun yet.

Suddenly, the hundred peacock feathers froze mid-air. Arkana snapped his fingers, commanding the Featherfall Storm to rain down, unleashing the sharp, magical feathers, enhanced with nature’s elemental energy, to pierce the monster’s flesh.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Howlll!!

The monster let out a bloodcurdling howl as the sharp feathers pierced its body, inflicting unbearable pain.

Its cries grew even louder as Arkana waved his hand again, ordering some of the feathers to withdraw from the monster’s flesh.

The bloodstained feathers whirled back into action, this time targeting one of the monster’s senses. With lightning speed, they stabbed into Asu Baung’s eyes, causing fountains of blood to spurt out.

Howll...

The vicious attack left the monster’s eyes destroyed, plunging it into total darkness.

Despite the blinding pain and anger coursing through its body, Asu Baung struggled to rise, even as blood flowed from its ruined eyes. It blindly groped along the cave walls, trying to find its enemy using only its hearing, now the last sense it could rely on.

At that moment, Arkana’s eyelids slowly closed as he reached out with his soul, connecting with the natural sounds surrounding the mountain.

He summoned the gentle flow of the river, the splash of the waterfall, the rustling of reeds in the wind, the calls of the mountain creatures, and the footsteps of humans. All of these sounds blended together in his ears.

Opening his eyes again, Arkana focused his sharp gaze on Asu Baung’s bleeding eyes. In that instant, he transferred the sounds of nature, causing his Nature Echo technique to explode inside the monster’s ears.

Boom!

The monstrous creature staggered, howling in agony. The overwhelming roar of nature resonated within its ears at an unbearable volume, leaving it deaf. Blood poured from its ears as Arkana smirked in satisfaction, knowing he had permanently disabled his foe. “Time to meet your end.”

He threw both daggers at the monster. As they flew through the air, the two blades merged into one, transforming into a massive, silver-and-gold dagger, as large as a sword.

The young man jumped, grabbing the handle of the Golden-Silver Unification dagger in midair. With the enemy now only a few feet away, Arkana swung the blade with full force at Asu Baung’s neck.

Slash!

Thick blood sprayed across the cave’s ceiling like a fountain as the decapitated head of Asu Baung rolled lifelessly to the ground, leaving behind a headless body slumped in disgrace.

***

This was a harrowing escape, as the young men passed by countless corpses scattered along the path in various states. Some bodies had their flesh and skin shredded, barely clinging to their skeletons, while others lay stiff, their skin pale as porcelain statues, completely drained of blood.

One thing was certain—the ferocity of the fireflies and worms had claimed many lives. Even in the damp corridor where the four young men were resting temporarily, they found a corpse so mangled it was unrecognizable, its face destroyed, much like Dion’s final condition after falling victim to the fireflies.

Seeing the body lying not far from him, Baron couldn’t help but wonder how many of that mad girl’s men had fallen during the escape. As they moved through the corridors, he’d already counted at least ten dead treasure hunters, their bodies strewn about along the way.

Baron was lost in thought when Gavin’s voice suddenly broke through from behind, snapping him back to reality. Baron turned his head to look.

“What did you give him to drink?” Gavin asked.

“Poison.”