I lunged for Birkin and, quite literally wrapping myself around him, burned every ounce of acceleration I had—first yanking us backward, then jumping upward, praying with absolute sincerity that we'd make it.
A brutal impact at the end of the arc slammed me into the wall. The force tore me free of the monster—but Birkin was clearly unfamiliar with any kind of combat technique, so he didn't pull the limb back. Calling it an arm would've been generous. I grabbed it, and carried by the momentum, flew backward into the wall spine-first, dragging Birkin along before sliding down.
The wall couldn't withstand a double impact like that. The brute crashed through to the other side, into a small room—about six meters across in both directions—where water also flowed, though here it barely reached ankle height.
I crawled in after him. Now we can really have some fun. I dashed forward—and a blow crashed down from above: his right rake of a hand, tipped with monstrous claws. And, while the claws didn't skewer me clean through, as I'd feared at first, but the sheer force drove me into the floor and made something inside my body crunch unpleasantly.
What kind of setup is this? He's supposed to be way slower than me!
In one fluid motion, bracing on my hands, I fired both feet into the growth that had replaced his head. The monster staggered slightly—and then, grabbing my recoiling legs with his enormous paw, smashed me into the wall like a sack of potatoes.
Just how much stronger did he get since last time?
I got back up, slipped under a wide swing from the monster, and landed a rapid triple strike to his torso—then another punch straight into the human face that had migrated to the left side of his chest. Once again, it only rocked the creature and drew out a thunderous roar.
I slipped past the counterattack between his legs and immediately spun into a kick.
Zero effect.
Another kick from the opposite side, before the beast could fully turn. Locking my hands together, I brought them down onto his spine—still nothing, if you didn't count yet another roar.
For someone who'd just demonstrated impressive reaction speed, Birkin turned far too slowly. I followed him, methodically raining blows onto his back. A sudden pivot over his left shoulder—and I was sent flying by a strike from his left arm. That one was much smaller than the right and far more human in shape.
Got it. He's clumsy on the side with the glaring eye arm, but he can turn quickly from the opposite side.
Smashing my head against the wall of the room, I spring back up and leap to the left, dodging the crushing blow of his monstrous limb—otherwise he'd pin me in the corner, and there'd be nowhere left for me to fly.
The instant my feet touched the floor, I pushed off again, closing in on the monster's right side. That arm may be more dangerous—but it also his weakness. From that side, he couldn't turn well.
Circling constantly around the monster as it struggled to face me, I kept up a relentless barrage of strikes. On the third loop, Birkin paused briefly and used what little gray matter he had left, attempting to skewer me on the claws of his hand.
The bastard figured out he should swat me after all.
The moment I hopped back, my opponent immediately turned toward me and advanced himself. Fine—let's repeat the trick.
I dashed in, shifted left, let his "rake" slash past, and slipped behind him again. But this time, straightening up, I extended my claws to full length and started tearing into his back.
A dozen accelerated strikes did nothing. Roaring, the monster simply leapt backward from a standstill, flattening me beneath him, slamming me into the wall—and then adding his full bulk from the other side.
I hadn't managed to twist away in time as he turned, when a blow from his left arm crashed down on me. No—wait, it wasn't a blow. He had grabbed my head with that left hand, holding me fast, and with a violent thrust drove the claws of his right into my body, tearing through stomach, ribs, and what seemed like the heart.
For my second stage that would have meant death—back then I was still partly alive, and a strike to the heart could have been fatal. Now, though, I felt nothing, only realized that control over my body had worsened because of the damage.
Then the monster, still gripping my head, hurled my body across the entire room into the opposite wall. He charged after me and, before I could slide down, smashed me deeper into the wall with a single blow from his enormous arm, completely depriving me of any chance to move.
Like being poured straight into concrete!
After that, his massive arm began to rain down blow after blow, each accompanied by his roaring. But after pounding me for a while and getting no reaction—what's the point of roaring if I can't do anything anyway?—he turned and headed for the exit.
I'd have loved to stop him, but the only things left intact were my rib cage and my head. So I stayed there, embedded in the center of that monstrous dent, until Birkin disappeared from sight.
Meanwhile, beneath me—where Sherry was now—an enormous mass of red light appeared, so vast it was impossible to tell what or who it even was! I don't remember anything like that. But for the moment I made no move, obediently waiting to see what would happen next. I needed time for my body to regenerate.
(End of Chapter)
🙌Bonus chapter for 50 power stones!
🎁The next bonus chapter will be for 100 power stones.