Blood Cloud (2)
Blood Cloud (2)
Close-quarters combat is a dead end.
I realized it all over again as I sensed the attacks—vast enough not just to overturn the road but to pulverize it.
- !
The most violent roar yet tore at my ears. A shrill ringing followed. Rubble clattered against my body.
'Fuck.'
At least its increased size gave me room to dodge, but it was so close that one misstep would have flattened me into paste.
It hurt. I scanned my surroundings with Spatial Perception.
Since it was the Alpha, it had brought monsters with it. Hundreds of them rampaged in every direction.
The defenders who had been sealing the shelter entrance had already been routed and were now fighting scattered, individual battles.
Fortunately, the shelter doors were firmly shut. If they had been open... that monster horde would have charged straight through.
'Ngh...'
My left arm throbbed.
I hadn't dodged cleanly. The edge of the impact caught my left arm, where the protective aura was already stripped away, and gouged it even deeper.
Moving my left arm was awkward now. Chills ran over the exposed bone. It was a mystery the limb still moved at all.
Maybe because I'm a superhuman. If I weren't, the shock alone would have killed me.
I cast the bare minimum of recovery magic and wrapped the Sky Wing Feather around the wound like a bandage.
Mist churned and swallowed the surroundings. Even through it, Aerus's two eyes were fixed precisely on me.
'Close combat is pointless.'
If I let it hammer me up close, I wouldn't last. Even glancing blows and near-misses were the same—they only bought a little more time.
That meant I had to hammer it from a distance.
I had no arrows or bow to shoot. No bullets or gun to fire from afar, and nothing to pick up and throw either.
But I had something else. I steadied my breath, brought my hands together in an activation posture, and calmly expelled the mana inside my body outward.
- Wooooong!
The mana became a spell formula. A simple formula—low mana consumption and a configuration I could spam without strain.
'Mana Bullet.'
Spheres of mana formed behind me and launched. The barrage didn't stop at one. Each sphere was fired the instant it manifested, without delay. A torrent of Mana Bullets slammed into Aerus.
- Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions engulfed Aerus, not in isolated bursts but in chain reactions as the Mana Bullets collided with the blood-red mist.
I couldn't wound it. The Mana Bullets only slightly disturbed the Blood Cloud, never piercing through.
But they carried explosive force. I modified the spell formula to amplify the concussive power. I couldn't damage it, but I could push it back with the blasts. The successive explosions forced Aerus's paws to slide backward.
- Grrrrrrr!
I heard the growl first. Only afterward did the ground where Aerus had stood violently gouge out.
A high-speed leap. It couldn't deceive my Spatial Perception. I twisted my body fast.
A vicious slicing sound grazed my ear. My earlobe tore. I swallowed the pain—I was getting used to it by now.
I pivoted my hips. The aura coiled around my leg blazed harshly.
I tried to kick, but the moment I observed the writhing Blood Cloud, I abandoned the attack and withdrew my body.
- CRACK! CRASH!
Blood-red slashes poured onto the spot where I had stood. The Blood Cloud shrouding its claws elongated and became cutting arcs that swept through the space.
An attack that hadn't existed a moment ago. Had it been hiding it? Was this beast playing mind games with me?
The plan didn't change. Avoid close quarters. Keep it at bay from a distance.
I pulled my body back, widened the gap, and fired off all sorts of magic. Mana Bullets, Mana Strikes, offensive spells enhanced with attribute changes, and binding spells to pin its feet.
A medley of magic carved trajectories through the air.
Naturally, Aerus tried to break through it all and close the distance. The monster surged forward on the back of its overwhelming physical prowess.
I dodged and deflected everything. Aside from the damage I had no choice but to accept, I let as much as possible glance off me.
With Spatial Perception, I could do that.
As long as my protective aura wasn't destroyed in a single hit, I could do that.
I couldn't shake it off with physical ability alone, but if I pummeled it with magic long enough to stagger it, it was possible.
My mana drained rapidly. I forcibly drew in the ambient mana around me. The unpurified mana seared my mana circuits.
It would leave aftereffects, but that was better than dying.
I bought time. Rescue from outside—I didn't know when it would come. I didn't know how long it would take them to breach the outer wall even if they arrived, but it was the only thing I could trust.
- Grrrr...
A moment later, the roaring mouth closed. The forepaws that had ceaselessly swung at me stopped.
'What?'
I gasped for breath with the distance still between us. Struggling to control a breathing pattern that felt ready to give out, I read Aerus's presence.
It had halted. The eyes staring at me looked almost... contemplative.
Either way, it was a moment's reprieve. I took the chance to momentarily rally my abused body, circuits, and core.
The sweet break didn't last long. Having finished its deliberation, Aerus moved.
- BOOM!
Aerus kicked off the ground. The same savage leap—the floor shattered and scattered as always. I threw myself backward and constructed a spell formula.
I'd stop its approach. I'd keep my distance and respond with magic, just like before.
The crimson mist closed in—no, it didn't. A shudder ran through me.
Aerus wasn't coming toward me.
The direction was different.
The direction was... the firmly shut shelter entrance.
In other words, a place teeming with easy prey from Aerus's perspective.
'You piece of shit.'
I already knew its objective. It would have been strange not to, given the blatant desire I could read from it.
I sensed blatant killing intent.
The moment I observed those blood-red eyes, as if steeped in viscous gore, I couldn't help but feel it.
Killing intent usually conjures images of filthy and ugly emotions.
The urge to kill an opponent typically stems from a base feeling.
The only genuine bloodlust I'd ever experienced was the grimy, sleazy, low-grade emotion I'd sensed from a back-alley thug.
But this thing, Aerus, was different.
The instant our eyes met, I understood.
It's not a word meant to compliment killing intent, but the feeling was clean.
Aerus's killing intent held no messy grudges.
Appetite.
The root of its killing intent was nothing more than appetite.
It eats to survive.
It survives by devouring.
It grows stronger in order to devour, and in order not to be devoured.
And so it devours.
A simple, straightforward way of thinking. There was no malice caked onto it.
A wild carnivore hunting a herbivore has no complicated reason. It's not an act that needs to be condemned as wrong.
"......"
This creature was the same.
The reason it first attacked me? Because it saw prey that didn't need to be kept alive.
And the reason it was now ignoring me to head for the shelter? Because I wasn't easy prey, while the shelter was crawling with easy targets.
How long could the shelter door hold against Aerus? Even I could break it. So, could Aerus not break it?
For an instant, the world seemed to stop.
Aerus, leaping toward the shelter, froze. Even the debris falling from the sky froze alongside it.
It was just like before.
When I pulled my foot back, I'd felt the illusion that the world was waiting for my answer.
The world was slow. My thoughts accelerated. The superhumans guarding the entrance had already been routed by the swarming monsters and Aerus.
There was no one left to block it. If Aerus crawled into the shelter through that entrance just like this, everyone inside would die.
I had to stop it. The thought occurred to me. My reason coldly calculated. Can I stop it? I questioned myself again.
If I do stop it, can I survive?
It's not an open space like here. It's not a space where I can easily dodge attacks and evade. It's not a space where I can freely fire off magic.
No matter how wide the shelter corridors are, they aren't spacious like out here.
I would have to take attacks that would turn me into ground meat—continuously, practically head-on.
I can't spam magic either. I'd have to rely on my strengthened body and aura-clad limbs to endure everything.
That's just suicide. Throwing my life away just to buy a little time.
And honestly, hadn't I already gathered more than enough excuses?
That thought crossed my mind too.
From the moment the dungeon outbreak started, I'd been running around without a single break.
I killed every monster I saw and saved people who failed to evacuate. I blocked monsters charging at those people.
All of it was life-threatening work. No matter how much power I had, I was still just a cadet who had never experienced a real battle—that's what I was.
I ran myself ragged for hours doing that, and I'd even managed to hold off a monster that qualified as an Alpha, buying time somehow.
I'd met the minimum requirement. I'd fulfilled the bare minimum excuse. No—I'd gone far beyond it.
If anyone heard my circumstances, there would be few who'd point fingers and call me a selfish bastard.
People around me would say I'd done enough.
So there was no reason for me to deliberately kick off the ground here.
BOOM! The ground under my feet shattered. I extended my leg. Space warped sharply.
A speed unlike before. Pshh! Blood gushed from my leg. Under the reckless strain, my leg screamed a red scream.
I blocked the shelter entrance. Aerus's eyes flew wide open. It was only for an instant, but I was faster than that monster.
Aerus closed in.
Its thick foreleg approached. The savage claws protruding from it, and the Blood Cloud coiling over and surging toward me—all of it approached.
Into my sightless vision, death abruptly came rushing.
****