The formation passed him by whilst he stood facing westwards.
He flung his hand as if trying to snatch something and a golden axe manifested in his palm mid swing.
The formation came to a halt not too long after passing Heimer.
He looked at it but it gazed at him.
The corrupted looked to care more aboout him than the others as it stopped the exact moment he did.
"About a hundred metres between…
This is nothing." Heimer charged right at it.
He ran at full speed covering the distance in mere seconds.
It ran away from him leading him deeper and deeper through the empty fields, it was fast but he was faster.
He covered the difference in distance between them, inching closer to it.
Then he took a leap with his axe in hand.
?
The corrupted turned and released its tongue from its liquid filled mouth, and it was coated in the liquid, the tip was larger than the rest of it.
The tongue that was more than twice its body length sprung out from its mouth at speeds Heimer could not react to.
He was still mid air when it did so he rounded his body and embraced for impact.
The hit didn't feel painful, instead he was glued to the tip.
Before he knew he was being dragged by the tongue straight into it's mouth.
It drew him in as fast as it released its tongue, he had to act quickly.
Heimer enshrouded his axe in golden aura spinning and cutting the tip of the tongue, leaving it to retract the remainder of its tongue.
[Fwaaaah] The distorted shrieks of the corrupted in pain.
-
Heimer was still mid air flying towards the beast.
He used the momentum from the previous drag to keep on turning mid air with his weight on his axe, attempting to split the head of the beast in two.
The tip of his axe's blade emitted a faint glow, he was now less than a meter away from the beast.
The cries of the beast were the same as before as it opened its mouth with the green liquid spilling.
Everywhere it touched on the ground released smoke.
Heimer's hit was about to connect.
[Bam] with a swing of its left forearm it hit Heimer directly at his left region of his abdomen.
The liquid on its arm; carried along from its spill by the swing – melted Heimer's armour on impact.
-
He was sent smashing into the ground, with his armour worn down.
The armour on Heimer's body vanished into thin air.
He had sustained some mild wounds, and burns from the acid.
"That acid is going to be a problem" Heimer worried.
[Ptooey] He spat blood from his mouth then stood up, as he did armour manifested once more on his body.
"I'm running low on aether…can't let this drag out." He muttered.
The wounds on his body began to heal little by little given enough time he would fully recover, yet the beast did not care for this.
This time it charged right at Heimer, jumping up and attempting to slam Heimer with its underbelly, it was nearly six meters at its full width.
Heimer dodged with a quick step and while at it, he slashed the underbelly with his axe, cutting through the thick metallic layer, nearly reaching its guts.
Its dark green blood spilled on the floor, it could almost be mistaken for the acid except it was a darker hue.
This did not stand well with the beast, a wounded animal was always the scariest.
[Fwoosh!] It shot its tongue at Heimer at the same speed as the last time, and with Heimer not being far off it was a guaranteed hit.
Yet Heimer dodged it, his eyes glowed brighter than before.
It retracted it again, then shot again.
Heimer dodged.
Then again — he dodged.
Then again — he dodged.
Then again; and again; and again; and again….
He swerved, turned, bent down, rolled.
Dodging each and every attempt of the beast, while subtly retreating.
"I've been passive for two long" Heimer thought.
At its next shot he crouched, dodging it easily, though the liquid that dripped on his armour melted it.
In the same movement he ran straight at it, dragging his axe with him, and passing it over to his stronger arm.
By the time it retracted its tongue Heimer was already steps away from its face.
He looked down at the pool of acid that was forming beneath its feet, so he jumped.
Heimer made a lapse in judgement, he didn't account for the unconventional feet of the creature.
-
Two claws dug into his armour and one tore into his skin, keeping him glued to it.
Heimer grunted in pain.
He swung his axe at the joint of its arm, digging through the metalic flesh and nearly getting to its bone.
!
[Graaaw!!!!] Wails of the corrupted beast rippled through the silent night.
With its forearm, It threw Heimer straight up into the air, dislodging its claws from his body
Leaving him to the unbiased judgement of gravity.
He reached the peak of his ascent more than a hundred metres above the ground.
He was now in a free fall.
He looked down and all that was there was the beast waiting for his fall, it moved forward and started wiggling its tail slowly.
Without flight there was no way for any human to maneuver out of the inevitability that was to come.
Yet Heimer was no regular human.
[Fwish] A wide gold plated great sword manifested on his only usable arm, with an unnaturally giant flat hilt.
The sword was nearly thrice his height.
"Swords are not my thing" Heimer thought whilst he infused aura in it and let it go.
The sword fell in near perfect verticality.
"Good enough" Heimer thought.
[Fwish!] A great shield manifested out of thin air — as it formed the remaining armour on his body disappeared.
"Here goes nothing" He had made his mind up.
He then rested his body against the shield as he desceneded directly vertically with his weight on it.
He extended his legs outwards, and with that and his body weight he lined the shield and the previously summoned sword up.
The outside of the shield connected with the hilt of the sword and increased its momentum.
With the addition of his aura, it cut through the air effortlessly.
The beast enshrouded itself in a dark aura, the impact was imminent, the aura gathered the most at the tip of its tail.
[Pow!] It swung the tail hitting Heimer mid air before he could complete his descent.
His body caved in from the impact, cracking noises could be heard.
Blood spewed out of his mouth as it sent him flying through the air.
[Schtum] A piercing sound not originating from Heimer could be heard, but he couldn't see what had caused it since his eyes were closed.
[Thud thud thud] He bounced off the ground multiple times, like a stone skipped through water, the hit sent him flying hundreds of metres.
Even sending him through one of the horses that was a bit out of the halted formation.
Thankfully the rider and everyone else had already evacuated some steps away.
The horse however, did not share from that luck.
Heimer groaned in pain, in tantamount to him the corrupted one did the same as well.
It let out continuous shrieks.
–
"Heimer, Heimer!" A nearly muted voice called for him.
[Ring..,] His ear was overwhelmed, he couldn't even hear his own painful grunting.
Everyone was circled around him trying to wake him up.
"Heimer!" Lana's voice yelled at him, as he opened his eyes her face looked distraught.
"The little princess has grown" The image of a young Lana flashed through Heimer's mind.
"Dad!!" Ren joined in too.
"That is…supreme to you…" He said lightly to Ren.
Heimer felt a need to shut his eyes, but instead they did the opposite.
His ears were now working partially and the sound that kept him up were the cries of the corrupted.
"Take me to it!!!" Heimer ordered openly, blood spilled a bit from his mouth.
"You just woke up and the first thing you say is this?
You nearly died, even now you aren't out of death's merciless grasp." Gustev's tone was stern yet calm.
Heimer tried getting up on his right arm, it was too damaged to be used.
He rolled over then leaned against the left and sat upright.
"If I die before that thing does, then everyone here is going to die.
Then at that point you might as well say goodbye to everything we've built in the empire." Heimer stated bluntly.
The entire time his halo was still activated, but it had been begun fading.
"You're putting me on the spot Heim" Gustev sounded pained saying this.
"Please…we're running out of time.
If the halo on my head disappears then it is over!." Heimer pleaded.
Gustev stroked his beard a bit.
He let out a sigh.
"Alright, listen up everyone, we're getting Heimer to that place." Gustev approved Heimer's brash request.