Chapter 191: Cornered Prey
Opening his mouth wide, Kael stuffed the dagger between his teeth, biting down on its bloodstained surface and clamping it tightly between his jaws.
As the wall came closer, the torn fabric of his sleeve began to flutter violently in the gust of wind swirling around his hand.
Stopping in his tracks for a moment, he guided the wind around his legs and bent his back down, positioning his whole body like a swordsman preparing to lunge.
These little movements gave the creatures following behind him a brief opportunity. Without delay, they lunged toward his motionless, crouched figure, descending three pairs of white scythes upon him at the same time. Since the dagger was clenched between his teeth, he was unable to defend himself against them now.
Just as the sharp tips were about to cut into his skin, Kael released the compressed gust of wind beneath his feet at terrifying speed, causing it to slam against the ground with tremendous force, sending the black ash and fog billowing outward.
The impact sent his body flying through the air like a launched arrow, carrying him toward the parapet.
After missing their prey by a hair's breadth, the scythes struck the ground one after another, echoing with the sound of metal striking against rock.
Noticing his soaring figure, the monsters in the air flew in his direction, though they did so in a cautious manner. It seemed this way because they had lunged upward from below him along a diagonal path, rather than positioning themselves above him and waiting for his arrival. Despite that, they still caught up to him faster than he had expected, lashing out their long forelegs in an attempt to slice him apart from side to side.
Looking at the surrounding scythes closing in from different directions, Kael's facial muscles twitched.
Luckily, he had crossed the parapet by then and was hovering a metre or two above the platform on the other side.
Using another compressed gust of wind, he changed his floating trajectory and threw himself straight into the rocky terrain below, causing the limbs above him to crash against each other.
Even though the creatures had the means to know his position, the fog prevented them from having the same awareness of one another. Because of that, they had to maintain a safe distance to prevent themselves from accidentally colliding or barring each other's paths, which forced them to strike from different directions.
Kael made use of exactly that weakness by getting away from their path and letting them ram into one another instead.
Crashing his shoulder against the stones, Kael rolled across the ash several times before rising to his feet in the same motion.
Gripping the dagger's hilt, he pulled it from his mouth and held it tightly in his hand. He then looked over his shoulder, his gray eyes narrowing faintly.
Veiled in the fog, several figures seemed to be landing along the edge of the cliff, their silhouettes growing noticeably slimmer as they folded their wings against their backs. Their differently coloured compound eyes gleamed faintly through the mist.
Kael was surprised for a moment, but that did not stop him from turning around and sprinting away with all his might.
'Why would they land at such a crucial time? In my absence, even if they damaged each other unknowingly to some extent, it wouldn't be too much of a problem for them, and their injuries wouldn't be severe enough to make them stop flying all of a sudden, would they? In fact, when I was down, it was the perfect time to attack me, but they seemed reluctant to do so now. Why? Am I overlooking something?'
Kael was indeed puzzled by this matter.
Even though their strange behaviour had obviously given him some advantages, he still could not shake off the uneasiness building inside him. After all, whenever he encountered something abnormal today, it brought about even more intense trouble with it. He was certainly not in the mood to face one of those situations again.
'Or could it be that there are certain limitations on how long they can remain airborne before their wings finally give in? Considering that there's such a huge difference between the legs of E-Rank and D-Rank Scythers, it's not impossible. Still, it's less likely to be the case.'
After the creatures below appeared on the platform above, all the others lunged at his dashing figure at a hurried pace, catching up to him within a matter of seconds.
Feeling the quenching thirst burning his throat like fire, Kael suddenly came to an abrupt halt instead of increasing his speed.
'Huh?'
There, in front of him, the shrouding fog had grown strangely sparse, making everything dozens of metres below or so appear barely visible through the faint veil. From where he was standing, a massive crater stretched across the hill, spanning over dozens of metres, its interior filled with jagged, ruptured stones that were drowning in scorching black ash.
It looked less like a natural crater and more like something had violently torn off an entire section of the hill itself.
Kael's eyes flickered faintly.
'What could have caused that? A landslide? But why would that happen inside a dungeon, let alone on an unexplored floor at that? Besides, its remaining shape doesn't seem right for it to have been caused by one. And why is there so little fog inside it? Could it be the result of whatever truly occurred here?'
But did he really have the time to think about something as trivial as this now?
As a pair of scythes slashed at him from behind, Kael swiftly curled his body and kept running along the edge of the crater, narrowly dodging them in the process.
Every step he took was careful enough to make sure that he didn't end up tripping and falling into that vast hole.
Of course, if he wanted to, he could have easily diverted his path to avoid such an outcome, but knowing that he was running across an open stretch of land, he knew well that he couldn't keep up with the creatures here, especially when they could easily enclose him from all sides at any moment.
However, by running along the edge, he made his left side free from attacks. Since there was no solid land for the creatures to step on, they would be unable to approach him from that direction unless they used their wings to fly over, something they had strangely refused to do here for reasons he was still unsure about.
Still, even though it had given him some space to work with, it was not a good decision on his part either. After all, if he even made a single mistake now, it meant that he would be cornered almost instantly, with no place left for him to escape.
As he surveyed his surroundings, his gaze fell on the right side, where a long, vague shadow was visible through the drifting fog.
Ignoring it, he tried to speed up his pace, causing his knees to almost buckle beneath him, but he still forced himself to keep moving forward.
'No, not yet!'
At that moment, the drifting fog in front of him turned strangely darker as a figure gradually outlined itself through it. Its furled forelegs were raised high around its long and thick neck, while verdant flames danced within its glowing compound eyes.
It stood more than two and a half metres tall, with two long antennae growing out of its head. Its verdant exoskeleton was covered in faint, dark patterns, as though someone had pressed leaves into it.
Kael's expression froze for a moment.
'Shit!'
Without thinking about it, he instinctively came to an awkward halt, momentarily forgetting that there were more than seven monsters trailing directly behind him.
'Of all times.'
Tightening his fingers around the hilt of the black dagger, he steadied himself and prepared to defend against all odds.
To his surprise, however, the monsters behind him didn't attack him. Instead, they stood frozen like statues in place, or at least, that was what he initially believed.
He darted his eyes around, desperately trying to figure out a blind spot through which he could run, or perhaps create one later if necessary. Of course, he was aware that running away wouldn't be a good solution now, especially when there was a great chance of encountering even higher-ranked monsters somewhere along the way.
'Well, it's not like I can fight here and win.'
Before he could make a decision, the sounds of countless pieces of steel grinding against stone reverberated through his ears, overlapping with one another until they became a single, dreadful noise.
A cold chill ran down his spine.
'Fuck!?'
Perhaps due to the deep fog above the crater, or perhaps because the monsters were simply too good at concealing their presence, he had once again failed to sense that he had been surrounded by more than a hundred creatures at some point.
Only this time, they weren't huddled on one side but were converging from everywhere, from the front and back to the left and right. It had reached the point where it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they had flooded the entire mountain itself, leaving behind no route to escape.
Even though they were dozens of metres away or more, their compound eyes still glowed unnaturally through the fog, their numerous shadows making the obscured mist appear denser and darker.
It seemed that... these mindless monsters had outsmarted him this time.
When, out of hundreds of monsters, only a handful had chased him down, he had believed that their boss didn't consider him enough of a threat to launch all of its minions at once, thinking that only a few would have been enough to deal with him.
But he had been wrong.
It turned out that the boss had indeed placed great importance on capturing him, just like any other dungeon creature would, only unlike them, it hadn't struck him outright. It also knew the weaknesses of its minions quite well, understanding that if all of them were dispatched after him at once, most of them would refuse to fly and frequently get in each other's way, giving him the golden opportunity to slip away and hide somewhere they couldn't find him.
To prevent that from happening, it had sent only a few after him to keep him distracted while ordering the rest to circle around the hill, cutting off his ways out and impaling him from every possible direction.
If one didn't know better, they would believe it to be a rather stupid plan, but in fact, it was quite the opposite. After all, when it came to hunting swift prey, one of the best ways was to block all its escape routes.
'Still, why would it go to such lengths?'
Though he had some ideas regarding this, he wasn't entirely sure about them yet.
Pushing his thoughts aside, Kael took a deep breath, waiting for something to change in the awkward atmosphere.
More and more monsters proceeded to encircle the hill, steadily closing in on his position, but the mantises nearest to him remained motionless, while keeping their scythes poised to strike at any moment.
His facial muscles hardened.
'Waiting for me to make the first move while stripping me of every possible option, huh? Oh, the irony!'
"Hahaha..."
A bitter laugh escaped his lips, echoing across the hill and breaking the strange silence that had settled over the deep mist.
When the laughter died down, dark flames ignited in the depths of his cold gray eyes.
"No matter. I will fight all of you if I have to."
Leaning forward, he launched himself at the mantis standing before him, swinging his dagger upward in an attempt to strike its neck, only to have his body violently hurled backward when the creature countered with its scythe.
As he landed near the edge of the crater, two scythes rushed toward him from behind, forcing him to duck low to avoid the first attack while twisting his torso to deflect the second in the same motion. But before he could regain his balance, another blade swept toward his hand, leaving him with no choice but to pull it back in a hurry, or else he would have lost it as well.
As he finally managed to straighten his body, the creature in front of him had already closed the distance, appearing right before his eyes as it lashed out with its scythe in a diagonal arc that threatened to split him open from shoulder to waist.
His eyes widened for a split second.
He hastily sidestepped, shifting his weight to avoid the worst of the attack, yet his movement still wasn't enough to evade it.
The tip of the scythe sliced through the flesh along the side of his craggy shoulder, leaving a shallow wound from which fresh drops of blood began to trickle down.
Before he could make sense of what had just happened, two white exoskeletal mantises surged in from the side and ambushed the only verdant exoskeletal mantis among them, which was standing before him, their limbs aimed to pierce straight through the side of its abdomen.
Yet, just as their blades were about to reach their target, Verdant Scyther twisted its long neck with astonishing flexibility, whipping its scythes through the air and knocking both incoming limbs aside before either could touch its body.
The three creatures soon became entangled in a fierce exchange of blows, each trying to gain the upper hand. Despite facing two opponents at once, Verdant Scyther showed little sign of struggle.
After a few exchanges, it managed to break their limbs before bringing its scythes down to slice both of their heads clean off.
Their heads fell onto the ground with dull thuds, while their heavy bodies swayed unsteadily for a brief moment before collapsing beside them.
Kael stared at the scene with a look of bewilderment.
'Huh? Oh, right!'
Leaning sideways to avoid being sliced in half by an incoming scythe, he wheeled his body around and thrust his dagger straight into the eye of another rushing mantis, driving the blade deep enough to tear through the underlying flesh.
Dragging its etched edge downward, he sliced open the exoskeleton covering its face, leaving a long gash in its wake.
Yet the attack barely seemed to affect it.
The mantis resumed charging toward him with its mouth wide open, seemingly determined to tear him apart regardless of the damage it had sustained.
Had he not dashed out of its path at the last moment, his only arm would have been devoured by its gaping maw.
'Tsk... this dagger is more or less useless.'
Of course, he couldn't blame Seraphina for that, since she had never given him this short dagger with the intention of having him fight against a swarm of monsters with it. Rather, it had been designed for special circumstances where its small size and precise edge would prove to be useful, such as retrieving a monster core or setting up a trap.
That wasn't to say that the dagger itself was a poor weapon. Because unlike a sword, its short length made it much easier to maneuver even when he found himself trapped in cramped spaces, helping him maintain better control over his movements and react to incoming attacks with far greater speed, even when there was barely enough room to do so.
The only downside was that it couldn't pierce deep enough to severely injure these types of creatures. Sometimes, it couldn't even reach the exact weak points he wanted to strike, leaving him with no choice but to focus on defending himself instead.
In that aspect, he preferred a sword over everything else, of course.
It was hard to believe, but long ago, there was once a time when he couldn't even bear the sight of a sword, let alone swing one, yet now, he was starting to miss having one.
As time passed, though, Kael's movements were becoming slower and duller, his muscles beginning to stiffen while his joints grew increasingly rigid, making even the simplest actions feel more difficult than before. His lungs were crying for air, while his exhausted body begged him to stop, even for a moment. Drops of sweat mixed with fresh blood trickled down his bloodstained face, running along his cheeks before dripping from his chin.
Not long ago, he had been able to deflect or block an attack almost smoothly, but now, doing so had become difficult, and he was failing to guard himself against them more often than not.
It wasn't simply because he was forced to battle several creatures at the same time, but because he was losing the strength needed to push them away or keep up with their overwhelming physical prowess.
His exhausted body could no longer keep up with his unwavering determination to keep going and continue fighting, no matter how much he wanted to.
To make matters worse, he hadn't managed to slay even a single creature up until now, while more and more monsters kept pouring in. Although the limited space around the crater made it difficult for all of them to join the assault at once, easing some of the burden on him, it still wasn't sufficient. If not for Verdant Scyther becoming their adversary as well, forcing the swarm of monsters to divide into two groups and hunt different opponents in the same place, he doubted whether he would've lasted this long all by himself.
Ironically enough, he probably wouldn't have been alive right now if the other minions hadn't been keeping the Verdant Scyther preoccupied as well.
Out of all the creatures present, it was probably the strongest one, excluding their boss, which was nowhere to be seen yet. Not only had it single-handedly eliminated more than eight creatures, but it had also gravely injured quite a few others, leaving a trail of battered bodies in its wake.
As a result, it became their primary quarry, one that needed to be eliminated at all costs, while Kael was treated as someone who could be dealt with eventually.
Because of that, he had found himself fighting far fewer opponents in comparison to this particular insect, which kept capturing the attention of a significant number of the monsters.
As the creatures lunged at him in unison, their sharp scythes and needle-like teeth inside their gaping maws swept through the air one after another in a distorted harmony, yet Kael weaved his way through the barrage of attacks like a slippery fish, evading, deflecting, and blocking them while constantly bending or swiveling his body or leaping aside whenever necessary.
Still, no matter how cramped or suffocating the situation became, he didn't dare move farther away from the crater, afraid that he might lose himself in the swarm of monsters, where he would have to pay the price for his missing hand.
Before long, however, he made a fatal mistake, one that had probably been unavoidable given his current condition.
While pivoting past a descending scythe, he was a little too slow to react to another one sweeping toward him from the side. Still, he tried to jump back, but he couldn't move fast enough to elude its reach. The blade struck the side of his waist, tearing away a portion of his flesh and reopening the old wound nearby, causing fresh blood to gush out from the injured area.
'Ah!'
Kael staggered backward, his unsteady footing carrying him dangerously close to the edge of the crater, but he somehow managed to regain his balance before his body could tip over.
Drawing in a shaky breath, he tried to steady himself, only to feel a strange sensation stirring within him, something that triggered his intuition.
Without giving himself time to think, he quickly raised his dagger to the side, only for its blade to collide against a scythe whiplashing at him at a terrifying speed. The impact sent a violent tremor through his entire body before sending him flying through the air sideways.
His back slammed against the shield-like section of a nearby mantis's foreleg. The force of the blow was so great that he could almost feel his backbone cracking. Before the damage could become any worse, the creature threw him to the ground and lashed out with its foreleg, attempting to finish him off while he was still down.
Lying on his chest, Kael watched the approaching attack from the corner of his eyes, his bloody face pressed to the ground, tiny specks of ash lingering around his cheeks and lips, sticking to the sweat and blood covering his skin.
Though his limbs felt strangely heavy, as if an enormous boulder had been placed on top of him, he still forced himself to roll aside at the last possible moment, narrowly avoiding the creature's foreleg.
By the time he managed to push himself into a crouching position, several creatures had already gathered around him, their figures looming overhead as they looked down at him mercilessly.
"..."
He gritted his teeth and cursed inwardly.
As pairs upon pairs of scythes descended from above one after another like a tidal wave, Kael ignored the agony coursing through his abdomen and forced himself to move forward, slipping between the incoming blades by leaning sideways or tumbling through the ash. During this time, several sharp blades pierced his legs and back, slicing his skin open and further hindering his movements while drops of blood trickled down from these wounds.
But he refused to back down because of these measly, trivial injuries.
Dragging his weakened body forward, he kept searching all around him, looking for an opening that would give him an advantage, and that was exactly when he noticed something amiss.
Amidst the bloody corpses of mantises and the swarm of creatures surrounding him, there was no sign of the Verdant Scyther.
He wasn't sure exactly when it had happened, but he had long since lost sight of it in the heat of the battle.
'But it's supposed to be here, so where did it go? Did the minions manage to lure it deep inside the horde? But that can't be...'
He felt his chest tighten.
'Damn it... this is bad.'
At that moment, he realized that even after a few seconds had passed, not a single scythe had lashed out at him.
'Don't tell me...'
Coming to an awkward halt, he glanced over his shoulder, only to find that he was too late to do anything.
His pupils shook violently for a split second.
Drops of blood trickled down his lips as a thick scythe pierced straight through his back and protruded from his abdomen, spilling blood out like a miniature fountain.
'Argh!'
His body went limp.
The strength had drained from his limbs, leaving him unable to even raise his dagger, let alone struggle against the creature that had caught him off guard.
He couldn't even move a muscle anymore.
Instead of throwing his body off its scythe, however, the Verdant Scyther raised him high into the air before bringing him closer to its gaping maw, which revealed rows of needle-like teeth.
'No!'
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(Chapter Ended)
To be continued...