Prince of The Abyss

Aether thrusted Voidpiercer into the scales of the giant snake, watching as his blood dripped onto them. The serpent groaned in pain, shaking violently to try to get him off, but Aether held on as more men rushed to attack it from behind. Only to be hit by its tail.

Letting go of one of his hands, he barely held on, almost falling off multiple times, but before he could, he summoned his affinity, chains wrapping around its neck, as he let Voidpiercer back into his arm, and was thrown off, but, the chains held, taking the snake with him, but because of his body’s flexibility, the moment its back hit the ground, it twisted back up, rushing to eat Aether.

But after fighting so many guardians now, he knew how fast they recovered; that is why he had already drawn up his bow, shooting the arrow straight into the snake’s mouth. And making it stagger back.

He rushed out, but his feet gave up; he had been bitten before, and it seemed the poison was finally doing its work.

’Damn it.’ He clenched his leg as the serpent recovered.

He was lucky he wasn’t fighting alone. Just as the serpent was about to attack him again, the other men under Sena’s control rushed to it, taking the attention from him.

But this still didn’t mean anything good; he might have won some seconds, but it wouldn’t take long for it to take care of the men, so he was going to find a way to fight without a leg.

He sighed, wiping the blood from his lip; blood that he had vomited out after being hit right into the wall by its tail.

...

’Just what do I have to help me in my Codex... nothing, nothing that I have can help me right now... I only have my bow and Voidpiercer for fighting; I only have one arrow to help, and I can’t move to really use Voidpiercer; it can just come and eat me...

...

’Wait.’

Summoning his bow yet again, he drew it without an arrow, but before he let go, Abyssal matter came up, forming into an arrow. ’First time I do this... feels weird, I’ve gotten too used to chains.’

He let go, the arrow piercing through the scales; they were far better than the ones he used to use... Maybe because these were Seeker arrows, and the normal ones he used... were mundane.

There was only one thing... these were far harder to make; he wasn’t that good at it. To make an arrow, he needed far more attention and precision than for some chains, so he wasn’t going to be able to get that many out; that is why he needed to make a good effort at them.

With how much essence he had used, he was probably only going to be able to fire like three more.

The serpent quickly turned to him, hitting the men into the wall with its tail, killing most of them, before swerving on the ground to him. It was fast, really fast, and since it didn’t stay in one line, it was really hard to aim.

He took a deep breath, bringing the bow to his eyes, and closing the other. As he moved the bow slowly, he wasn’t trying to go after it; that would just be a waste. He was waiting for it on one side when it perfectly came into his aim, so he waited.

Until they were about to make eye contact, that was when he fired it, and the arrow pierced right through its eye.

’Bullseye!’ His hand curled into a fist out of excitement. ’I’m really lucky that I trained my bow skills this month... or maybe it was unlucky because of fate... damn it, still.’

The serpent rose in the air violently, but didn’t stay long, as its tail came right to him, and he couldn’t dodge it. "Shit..." He said before flying right into the wall.

Aether coughed violently, spitting more blood out than he had ever. It was a good thing his mantle didn’t get stained, or at least, it cleaned itself very quickly, since the Codex would have been screaming at him while taking care of him.

He giggled, looking at the serpent staring him down from above.

"You know... I really didn’t mean this whole thing... can we be friends?" He said, as Abyssal matter slowly climbed on the wall, on the same level his head rested. Dismissing his bow, he let Voidpiercer out, just in case.

The snake roared before dashing forward to him.

"I guess now!" He said, throwing his body away, while at the same time, using a hand to manipulate his last bit of essence to create a long spike that the serpent ran right through.

...

...

...

Aether stared from the ground, as the snake didn’t move... yet at the same time, the Codex didn’t speak of his death... and the worst part, he was completely out of essence; he couldn’t even summon any of his relics or his skills.

And to his terror, the snake slowly started to pull away, taking the spike from its head...

Panicking, Aether clenched Voidpiercer in his hand, which made its hilt scrape some of his skin away, snapping his attention back to it. ’Wait...’ Realizing something, Aether quickly let Voidpiercer and his pin back into his core, getting a bit of essence back.

With that small essence, he concentrated on the spike... that was still connected to him with some Abyssal essence that had remained formless. Raising his hands, he mimicked opening a heavy gate... and once it was open, the spike split into more, piercing multiple spots inside the snake.

...

[You have killed a Seeker Monster, Serpent of the Deep Canyon]

[You have gained a relic]

Aether punched the air in celebration...

Before remembering he was still poisoned, and it was spreading from his leg to his upper body... he had wanted to try to stop the circulation with his hair, but he had no way to cut it, since he had already dismissed Voidpiercer and had no essence left.

"Aether!" Suddenly raising his head, he saw Sena rushing to him, holding a potion.

Before the battle, when he saw that the opponent was a snake, he had told Sena that it was a good idea if she went and got a potion from the many markets, one for poison; after all, they had to be experimented on in cures, knowing their Guardian could provide as much poison as they wished for experiments.

And while she left her soldiers to mindlessly fight, and only fight, he left... and had arrived just in time.

Sena threw the potion, which Aether had thrown himself towards to barely catch, before opening it and drinking it all instantly before lying on his back and sighing.

"Alright... now that was the hardest fight."