Chapter 19: Fight For Shelter
The shriek tore through the cavern like a blade, sharp and alien-like. It reverberated through the stone, piercing his ears.
Dolin stilled, not out of fear, but to prepare a stance.
The creature's eyes, now opened, glowed with a sickly green light that cut through the shadows.
The creature moved.
Its body slowly unfolded. Six long, jagged limbs extended onto the cavern floor, lifting a massive armored form into view. Its obsidian colored carapace gleamed faintly, smooth and unbroken.
The pressure it gave off. The size.
Dolin could tell. It had to be at least awakened.
This cave was its territory. Dolin was an intruder, and if he wanted to stay here, he would need to fight.
The creature let out another cry, clicking its mandibles.
It lunged, crossing the distance with great speed.
Dolin reacted in time, raising the Traitorous Edge as one of its limbs came crashing down onto him. The impact rang throughout his entire body, sending a violent jolt that sent him backwards across the floor.
The tentacles beneath the Bonefiend's Embrace writhed, absorbing part of the force. Not all of it was blocked, as pain began to flare up in his arms. Although the armor absorbed some of the force, it couldn't stop the crushing pressure of the massive blow.
Dolin pushed through the pain.
A second strike came immediately.
Too fast.
Dolin slipped to the side, the jagged limb smashing into the space he had just occupied, stone cracking under the force.
He stepped in, closing the distance and slashed at the creature's flank.
The blade connected, yet it slid off.
For an awakened beast, its carapace was extremely durable. It had no give. No penetration. Just a smooth and impenetrable armor.
Damnit.
The beast surged again, even more relentless than before. Another limb lashed out, then another, forcing him to stay on his feet. He ducked, stepped, twisted, barely keeping himself alive.
There was zero room for error.
He tried again, striking from another angle.
It was the same result. The carapace might as well have been stone.
The Crown of Quiet Resolve sharpened his mind, stripping away his frustration and leaving behind only clarity.
I need a weakness.
The creature didn't give him any more time to think further.
It pressed forward, crashing toward him with another bestial shriek.
Too close.
One of its limbs clipped his side, slashing a piece of his armor right off. The impact was crushing, sending him stumbling back.
He moved closer, shaking off blows left and right.
He then touched the carapace of the monster, activating his aspect.
He felt something.
Not physical.
Something far deeper.
Alien emotions came upon Dolin, as if he was witnessing the emotions of the creature. Then, colder emotions, ones of hesitation and doubt began to spring up.
The creature faltered, just for a few seconds.
Its next strike came slower, carving through empty air instead of his torso.
Dolin blinked.
It works.
His focus sharpened, focusing on the movements of the creature.
It hesitated.
The beast attacked again, shaking off some of the hesitation from before. Dolin ducked low, diving beneath its body as another strike tore through the air above him. He touched the underside of its carapace, forming a connection with it once again.
Doubts began to sprout within the creature, causing it to shake in hesitation.
The creature now hesitated even more, losing its predatory rhythm.
Dolin exhaled slowly.
"It's working."
He stopped trying to cut it.
The next exchange was different.
Its attacks were less meaningful, as if it was slowly losing its will to fight.
His blade moved constantly, deflecting, redirecting, and creating space when he had none.
He made contact with the creature many times, giving birth to a small pool of doubts each time. These small doubts were building up, turning into a wave. This wave was crashing into the mentality of the creature, making it begin to hesitate more and more.
These doubts were like a quiet and corrosive force, slowly making the creature crumble.
Dolin's breath remained steady and controlled.
I can't rush this. It needs time.
The creature seemed to be crumbling, but at the last second, as if being overcome by an overwhelming fury, attacked him once again.
Dolin reacted instantly. He had anticipated that it wouldn't work perfectly. He was only just getting used to his abilities. His control would only grow stronger with use.
One strike deflected.
A second slipped through, sending him back a few steps.
Dolin forced himself to move, breath ragged.
I gotta move.
The limb came down, but he didn't block it.
He jumped back, allowing him to escape its fury.
He reached out, his hand pressed firmly against the creature's limb.
The connection deepened, his aspect activating.
The effect spread.
The creature weavered.
Just enough.
Dolin slipped right past it.
It hesitated, its eyes becoming unfocused.
This was Dolin's first true opening.
He stepped onto one of its legs, using it as leverage to propel himself forward.
The eye!
He drove the Traitorous Edge forward.
The blade pierced through the creature's eye, now only shining with a dim green light.
It made a sickening crunch and the creature shrieked.
Its entire body convulsed, violent and out of control. Dolin was thrown off, hitting the ground hard as the creature began to lash out violently.
Stones were shattered as its limbs struck the floor of the cavern.
The hesitation was obvious. Its once lethal attacks were now passive and predictable.
Dolin didn't give it time to recover.
He closed in again, delivering another strike.
The creature flinched before he even struck, allowing him to stab into the creature's second eye.
The blade plunged in, causing a shriek to escape from the creature's maw, this one sounding like one of panic rather than rage.
It tried to retreat, completely unsure.
It was in despair, unwilling to even battle with Dolin anymore.
Dolin moved, lunging at it.
He had no hesitation.
The creature stared at him. Its eyes flickered. It did not know what to do.
He leapt, planting his foot against one of its legs and driving himself upward.
One of the remaining eyes widened.
The blade plunged deep. Through the eye. Through the soft tissue beneath.
There was no resistance.
The creature froze. Then its massive body slammed into the cavern floor with a crash that echoed into silence.
Dolin stood over the corpse, panting slowly until his breath became more controlled.
"...Yeah," he cried out. "That's more like it."
He looked down at the corpse.
It was motionless, the light from its green eyes extinguished.
[You have slain an awakened monster, Jade Crawler]
***
[... Your soul grows stronger.]
He watched as the two small shards in his hand faded into dust.
He could feel the change in strength that the soul shards gave him, albeit miniscule.
He then checked his runes.
Soul Fragments: [6/1000], [148/5000].
Previously, he only had two soul fragments from the wolves he had killed. The awakened monster gave him four, two from each soul shard.
His counter that went up every time he successfully used his aspect, which he still wasn't sure on what it did, had gone up by 36. Well, he had used his aspect multiple times during that fight, so it was bound to go up by a little at least.
Only after checking over all of the boons he got from the kill did he sit down.
The blizzard was still rampant outside. Hours had passed after the fight and he couldn't see anything now that the sun had gone down.
Food.
Dolin was hungry, and even more so thirsty.
The fight and long day had drained him, and he needed food.
He waited until his eyes slightly adjusted to the darkness and then made his way around the cave.
First came a fire.
He used a couple of stones to create a small fire. He was near the entrance of the cave, so the danger of getting smoked out was low. He used some of the chitin from the corpse of the creature to catch the sparks.
Dolin then began to pick at the corpse. Well, he had better start now. Anytime later and it would decay.
He took one of the legs of the huge creature and pulled the meat out from inside.
Letting it sit above the fire for a while, he went out into the blizzard near the entrance of the cave and scooped up some snow.
He ate it directly, the snow melting in his mouth and quenching his thirst as it icily went down his throat.
Finally, the meat was cooked. It had a foul odor, and looked barely edible.
He stared at it for a moment, letting out a deep breath. He needed energy if he wanted to survive. This had to be done.
"Better than starving."
Well, it was worse than he expected.
The taste was worse than anything he had ever eaten, and that was surprising coming from a kid from the outskirts.
Dolin was currently naked, as he was letting his memory repair itself in his soul sea. It had been damaged a bit in the fight with the Jade Crawler. The only thing keeping him warm was the fire near him.
After a few hours, he finally resummoned the memory. He extinguished the fire, as he didn't want to catch the attention of any beasts while he slept or accidentally suffocate from the smoke. He had learned that starting fires in places such as caves was dangerous. Although he was pretty close to the entrance, he didn't want to push his luck.
Dolin ventured deeper into the cave, picking a spot to lay down. The night passed in an uneasy quiet.
When Dolin stepped out of the cave the next morning, he could see everything. The blizzard had passed, showing Dolin the massive scale of the region of the Dream Realm he was currently in.
Endless white. Biting Cold. He could see groups of beasts in the distance, with massive ones dotted around here and there.
But then, he saw something that caught his attention.
He paused, his gaze narrowing.
Far in the distance…
Two figures could be seen moving across the snow.
Dolin gripped tightened on the Traitorous Edge, which he had resummoned in the morning after letting it repair in his soul sea due to the damage from the fight.
"Dreamers," he muttered in a low voice. "...I'll have to check that out."