Chapter 54: Magaly vs Brimy
The putrid swamp water concealed countless creatures.
I was already familiar with the Rotten Mud Ghosts from the records that everyone assigned to this mission had been required to read.
Destroying their throats meant very little.
Tearing open their abdomens was equally useless.
They did not breathe.
They did not need to digest food.
Most of those organs existed only as deformed remnants of a past life.
Their true vital point remained in the brain.
That was where their shattered souls remained anchored.
As long as the brain survived...
The monster would continue to rise.
I fixed my gaze on the leader.
Brimy.
Despite her wretched appearance, she was not a mindless creature.
Her eyes analyzed every one of my movements.
She understood perfectly the difference between our strengths.
Her petrifying ray had a limited range.
Against a target protected by defensive magic or keeping its distance, its effectiveness dropped drastically.
I remained above her.
Out of reach of her claws.
Out of reach of her mount.
She possessed greater physical strength.
I possessed the sky.
And above all...
I possessed space.
Brimy slammed her feet violently against the back of her enormous Land Shark.
The creature responded immediately.
It sank into the thick mud until only part of its head remained above the surface.
Coward...
No.
Prudent.
She had understood.
The smaller the exposed target...
The harder it would be for me to hit it.
I extended my hand.
The space before her folded.
An invisible blade cut through the place where her head had been.
"Zoshh~~"
At the very last instant...
She dived.
The spatial rift struck nothing but mud.
I frowned.
"Zoshh~~"
"Zoshh~~"
"Zoshh~~"
"Zoshh~~"
Attack after attack.
Always the same.
She watched the exact instant my hand focused on a specific point.
The moment I locked onto the target...
She vanished.
My spell was devastating.
But it demanded precision.
I couldn’t simply devastate kilometers of terrain indiscriminately.
It was starting to irritate me.
A lot.
I clenched my teeth.
Without even looking at my surroundings, I extended my hand once more.
This time, I did not aim at Brimy.
I aimed at the subordinates hiding beneath the mud.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Space distorted silently.
Eight rotten brains instantly appeared before me.
Still connected by fragments of nerves and mud.
I closed my hand.
"Plof."
The brains burst like rotten fruit.
The souls bound to those creatures disappeared that very instant.
No screams.
No resistance.
They simply ceased to exist.
The effect was immediate.
The entire swamp fell into panic.
I saw shadows diving desperately.
Ripples spread in every direction.
Within seconds...
Nearly every creature had disappeared beneath the mud.
Only Brimy...
And I...
Remained.
I allowed myself to breathe slowly.
My anger subsided enough for reason to return.
If I had mastered even a simple elemental spell...
A Black Fireball.
An Inferno Storm.
Any wide-area spell.
I would have turned the entire swamp into a boiling cauldron.
Not a single one of those demons would have survived.
My pride had gotten the better of me in the past.
I had always considered elemental spells inferior to the spatial arts.
I had never imagined I would need them.
Now...
I could clearly see the price of that decision.
My gaze hardened once more.
Even so...
I would not retreat.
Not after everything.
That acolyte.
That wretched engineer.
He had violated my sister.
And beyond that...
He was able to anticipate my spatial techniques.
That was far more serious than mere revenge.
If there truly existed an ability capable of sensing or foreseeing my spatial magic...
It had to disappear.
Along with him.
Before it fell into someone else’s hands.
No matter the cost.
I looked once more at the dark surface.
Then at my dress.
I remained motionless for several seconds.
Finally...
I let out a slow breath.
So be it.
I leaned forward.
And dove.
"BUUUM!!"
The filthy water exploded around me.
Mud and debris were hurled in every direction.
At that very instant...
A scream tore across the swamp.
"KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!"
Brimy.
Her cry echoed beneath the water like a blade piercing my ears.
The response was immediate.
The bottom of the swamp awakened.
The mud began to churn.
Black whirlpools rose in every direction.
Then they came.
First, the Poisonous Land Sharks.
Shooting through the water like living spears.
Right behind them...
Came the Rotten Mud Ghosts.
Dozens.
Perhaps hundreds.
I remained still.
My spatial barrier enveloped my body like an invisible cocoon.
Claws struck...
And were deflected.
Fangs bit...
And met nothing but distorted space.
Corrosive spells dissipated before they could touch my skin.
None of them could reach me.
My eyes locked onto Brimy.
I will obliterate every last one of you here!
.
.
.
.
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POV George Gill - MC
My body remained as rigid as a statue.
I couldn’t move a single muscle.
Nor open my eyes.
Nor even breathe properly.
But my mind...
My mind remained perfectly awake.
I could feel the icy dampness of the mud slowly seeping through the joints of my armor.
The sticky hands of the Rotten Ghosts gripped my arms and legs as they dragged me through that underground tunnel.
The smell...
By the Tower...
It was worse than any laboratory belonging to one of those acolytes who skinned magical creatures.
Rotting flesh.
Stagnant sludge.
Mold.
Old blood.
Everything mixed into a single putrid mass that seeped even into the inside of my helmet.
Each tug made my body slide across the thick mud.
I could feel small stones scraping against my armor.
Roots.
Branches.
Occasionally, a bone.
Despite the petrification, my senses remained active.
I couldn’t see.
But I could interpret the vibrations carried through the mud.
Then...
A roar echoed through the underground.
"KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~~~~"
I recognized it immediately.
Brimy.
Even separated by dozens of meters of mud and water, her voice rippled through the entire swamp like a seismic wave.
She was summoning her subordinates.
The creatures dragging me hesitated.
From the vibrations, I could sense their restless movements.
They stopped.
They growled at one another.
Their leader’s call was impossible to ignore.
That’s it...
That’s right...
Go.
Run off and die at Magaly’s hands.
Leave me here alone.
I almost laughed to myself.
A few seconds later, I heard several bodies plunging rapidly through the mud.
Half of them answered the call.
Good...
But not all of them.
I counted again through the vibrations.
Two remained.
I sighed inwardly.
Damn disciplined monsters.
The two of them continued dragging me without showing the slightest intention of abandoning their task.
The tunnel continued deeper and deeper.
The water began to recede.
The mud became less fluid.
The surroundings felt drier.
Or at least...
Less waterlogged.
Another smell emerged.
Rusted metal.
Rotten wood.
Old leather.
I understood immediately.
Every organized colony had a place where it stored the belongings stolen from its victims.
I had probably just arrived at Brimy’s treasure hoard.
As I was being dragged along, I felt a gentle warmth arise within my body.
The potion.
Its effect was finally beginning.
First...
My fingers.
A faint tingling spread through my right hand.
Then my left.
Soon my wrists.
My elbows.
The sensation slowly spread through the rest of my body.
The petrification was beginning to give way.
Come on...
Just a little more...
My legs responded again.
My shoulders regained part of their mobility.
The stiffness faded little by little.
The creatures didn’t notice.
They continued dragging me as though they were still hauling nothing more than a statue.
I smiled inwardly.
The Anti-Petrification Potion.
One of the most expensive purchases I made before leaving the Tower.
At the time, I thought I might never need to use it.
Now...
Every magic crystal I had spent on it felt like a bargain.
Without that potion...
My fate would have been to rot away in this nest.
A few moments later, I was tossed aside without the slightest care.
"THUD!"
My body crashed onto a pile of scrap.
I felt rusted armor plates.
Broken swords.
Human bones.
Cracked skulls.
And something I chose not to even try to identify.
My body was already responding almost completely.
I remained motionless.
The two creatures turned their backs on me.
They began emitting strange growls.
They seemed to be arguing.
One wanted to answer their leader’s summons.
The other insisted on staying behind to guard the prey.
I slowly flexed my fingers.
Then my fist.
My hand found the handle fastened to the side of my armor.
I smiled.
Finally.
I grabbed the lever.
And pulled.
"VRRUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMM!!"
The roar of the steam chainsaw exploded through the cavern.
The metal chain began spinning at an absurd speed.
Sparks illuminated the dark chamber.
The silver gleam of the blade reflected off the mud-covered walls.
The two creatures froze.
They slowly turned their heads.
Their lifeless eyes met mine.
For a single second...
There was silence.
Then their noses twitched.
They smelled my blood.
My living flesh.
Instinct took over.
They completely forgot about caution.
Growling, they charged at the same time.
Exactly as I had expected.
I smirked.
I tightened my grip on the chainsaw.
Steam burst from the valves of my armor.
—Time for the chainsaw massacre!
...
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