Chapter 416: Battling monsters 2
As Rio and Katherine were dealing with the second group of Gravorgs, splattering stones and hot blood all over the place, another creature burst out from the shadows and attacked them—a Vorrath. This beast was far more terrifying, and hideous than something akin to a stone golem.
Vorrath resembled a twisted fusion of a lion and a scorpion, its elongated tail tipped with a glowing stinger that dripped with venom. Its skin was a mottled, deep purple, pulsating with sickly energy. Its fangs were long and serrated, designed to tear through flesh and bone with ease.
It lunged at Katherine, its scorpion tail whipping forward like a spear. She barely managed to duck, the tip of the stinger grazing her cheek, leaving behind a searing burn. She flipped backward, but the monster was relentless, pressing the attack with a series of quick, venomous strikes.
"Get back." Rio shouted, his sword swinging in a wide arc as he grabbed a dead female Gravorg and threw its corpse using threads at the Vorrath. Causing it to fall down.
"Heat won't hurt them with that much of a thick skin." Katherine spoke, and rightfully so, as Rio watched the Vorrath just roll over from the molten Gravorg's stones unscathed.
"You okay?" Rio said, looking at her bleeding cheeks.
Katherine raised her palm to wipe the blood and gritted her teeth as she cleansed the cut with mana. "I'm fine, just a skin injury." She said with gritted teeth, as she took her stance again. Her eyes, getting more colder and focused this time.
"He looks pissed." Rio said, staring at the monster, who slammed its tail on the stone pavement, creating a shockwave that sent both of them stumbling back.
"Fuck, I thought he was gonna charge or swing that, not slam it like a hammer." Rio said as he twisted his body midway, and turned to kick the stone monster who was sneaking from behind.
Taking advantage of their disorientation, the Vorrath opened its mouth and let out a low, gurgling growl before expelling a cloud of noxious, green gas from its maw.
"Poison." Katherine yelled as she quickly conjured a shield of mana around them, but the Gravorg, still raging with pain from the mana kick, barreled through the shield, shattering it with its sheer mass and momentum.
The two very different types of were monsters working together in an instinctive, predatory fashion. A sort of tacit understanding between them.
Rio's eyes started glowing and the world around them turned silent all of a sudden, small red dots seemed to appear on the poison beasts, highlighting his weak points.
"Katherine, his tongue, that's the weakness." Rio said, as he grabbed his sword with both hands and threw it at Grovarg. The forced sword went straight through the monster's body, sending it crashing into the background tree and keeping it stuck there.
Without looking back he moved his fingers, thin threads swirling smoothly, tying the Vorrath's tail, giving Katherine an opening.
Katherine waved her left hand, making a long ice crystal and stabbed it into its mouth.
Rawwwrr
Vorrath growled in pain. Swinging its tongue against the ice, trying to break it.
Katherine stood in front of its lionic mouth, the loud angry roars made his hot breath hit her face, yet she stood there unfazed by the predatory rage and those bloodshot eyes. She looked at its open mouth, watching a bladder of poison ball hung near it's throat.
"Freeze." She said, placing her hand in between those sharp teeth and freezing it's tongue and shattering the poison ball. Before stepping back as the stabbing ice melted and its mouth closed instantly.
The monster rolled and howled in pain, struggling and screaming madly for a few seconds, before it all came to an end.
Rio, who looked at her number of actions and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
[Man, it's good she doesn't know that you're the one who fucked up Noah. Or you'd be fucked too.]
'...'
"Is it over?" Katherine asked as she wiped the freezing sweat from her forehead.
Rio surveyed the battlefield, his eyes sharp. The cavern was littered with the remains of their enemies, but he knew this was just the beginning. The howls and roars had attracted a lot more of other animals. "For now," he replied, his voice grim. "But there's more coming." frёewebηovel.cѳm
And as if on cue, the ground began to shake again, and from the depths of the dungeon, the chilling howls of even more monstrous creatures echoed through the forest, growing louder with each passing second.
Rio conjured up a pair of ravens and let them fly. He closed his eyes and soon pictures from the bird's eyes appeared in his head. (Odin's blessing)
{If you forgot , Odin is the chosen God of his maternal grandfather, Servirous Raven.)
"Get ready." Rio said without opening his eyes, staring at a horde of monsters, each more grotesque and deadly than the last, converging toward them.
"We need to move, now," Katherine said, her voice low but urgent. The glint of determination in her eyes never faltered, despite the visible strain from the last encounter.
The shadows from trees ahead contorted, and from them emerged a towering creature, unlike anything Rio had ever seen. It was a Mirekin, a monstrosity covered in layers of sinewy muscle with thick, oily skin that reflected the dim sunlight. Its head, or rather heads, were located at its knees—two eyeless, gnashing faces that opened their grotesque mouths to reveal rows of uneven fangs.
"What the fuck." Rio said, once more questioning what the fuck was creator thinking when making these beasts.
"Don't aim for the heads." Seeing him stunned, Katherine warned, already on the move to intercept the beast. "The heart's in its gut, but it has a super self-healing factor. So keep it immobilised."
The Mirekin came in a pair, so while Katherine fought with one, Rio rushed to its partner.
He clenched his fist, his dark magic swirling as fog around his knuckles. While his other hand weaved strings that pulled his sword right back into his palms.
The monster raised its arms to block the sword, making a clicking sound. The sword didn't cut through the hand and reached for its neck like Rio expected, but got stuck into the bones. Unable to go any further.
"Kekeke" The monster teeth crackled as if mocking his effort, but only for two seconds, as Rio's other hand went for its legs, coiling around them like chains. With a forceful tug, Rio yanked the threads, causing the beast to topple down to the ground.
But as it fell down it managed to raise one of its knee-heads and bit onto Rio's arm.
"Got you now. Got you now." It snarled with a sickening growl, followed by that same mocking 'kekeke' clattering of teeth.
Rio ignored the burning pain, or bleeding injury, but curled his lips in a cruel smile. "That should be my line." He said, and as if magic, the red blood that was as sweet as nectar last second, instantly turned darker and salty.
The monster clicked it's tongue in disgust, hoping to pull it's knee-head back, but Rio pressed it's head into his arm with his other elbow. Pumping the monster's mouth with his poisonous blood. (Hela's blessing)
In only a few seconds, the one leg of Mirekin seemed to have fallen limp. The eyeless head turned sideways as if a dead animal with his tongue out.
Kyaggghhh
Seeing half of his body go down, the mouth on the other leg screamed in anger. Flailing the limb as if trying to kick and bite him. But Rio dodged the attacks and jumped back. His sword, easily falling into his arms now.
When the monster tried to kick him again, Rio just swung it straight,_ cutting that leg from its knees. Chopping that mouth in two.
The creature convulsed, with its half mouth but without its tongue and teeth, it could make no noise, it could just flail around in misery as its life drained away.
But something magical happened the next second, as both heads started getting back together, it's injuries healing at a fast pace. The poisoned mouth started coughing out black tar, vomiting the poison in it's system, while the other leg started attaching itself back together.
"Not so soon, deadpool." Rio said as he walked behind the monster, waving his head and controlling a wooden branch by magic. Threads rolled over the stick, sharpening it and turning it into a thick spear. And then he just shoved it straight up the healing Mirekin's butt. Ripping its back entrance in pieces.
The wooden stick punctured what seemed to be its heart and a few seconds later, the monster was finally dead for good.
'This planet was so fucking weird.' Rio couldn't help but mutter again before looking away in disgust, as the ground beneath the Mirekin turned empty and swallowed it whole. Erasing the gooey gruesome sight from their eyes.
Rio turned his head and saw Katherine had also dealt with her part already, a ice pillar stabbed into her Mirekin through and through.
The duo had just taken a few breaths of calm when new creatures caught up with rushing Mirekins.
"They just never stop, do they?" Rio said and pulled out one more sword from his storage ring. It was time to get serious.