Bab 3: Fighting Cerberus
Chapter 3: Fighting Cerberus
"Are you sure about this Kim?" Both kids are now standing closer in front of the huge beast. Sweat is running down profusely as the scorching heat coming out from Cerberus enveloped their surrounding. They are barely standing on their feet as the boiling atmosphere suffocating their breath. There was no time to waste since they could pass out anytime. They need to act now.
They both took out the knife that they carry in their pocket and hold them tightly with their tiny grip. After one deep breath, they slowly walk in the opposite directions, Kim to the right and Nas to the left. They make sure to get as far apart from each other while walking towards the Cerberus cautiously. A single mistake would be a grave situation for them.
20 minutes has passed and now they are 100 metres away from Cerberus. Every step they took they would look at each other to make sure they are at the same pace. It would be troublesome if one was ahead than another. Their plan was to confuse the beast by moving from a different direction at the same time. Kim assumed that although Cerberus is one being, the three head may suggest it has separate conscious. Getting attacked from two directions may stunts it momentarily giving them an opening to attack.
Their target is the one place that connects the three head, a common weakness among creature. The windpipe. They won't win by confronting the beast head-on with their tiny bodies, so they need to go for a vital attack at the precise moment to win.
"Hey Kim, are you sure with the plan?"
"To tell you the truth, our chance might be below one per cent. There are too many variables to think of. First, we need to get as close as possible to be able to strike it with a full blow. Second, we need to avoid all its attack to make sure we could get close! Lastly, even if we're able to strike it somehow, I don't know if we are strong enough to even damage it a bit."
"Well it's still a possibility, let's do this!"
That was their plan before coming close to where they are now. Half an hour has passed. They are 50 meters away from the beast. As they get closer, the pressure from the heat surging from the beast increased. It was too much to handle! They won't be able to keep up with their slow pace anymore as they might die from intense heatstroke or hydration even before engaging their attack.
Finally, several steps more and Kim was looking at Nas who was having a hard time to catch his breath. Nas saw Kim staring at him and they both nod at each other. They closed their eyes and took a deep breath, simultaneously counted to 3.
"1..2…3!"
They both shouted at the same which caused the Cerberus to notice both of them at the same time. One to the right and one to the left. Both of its respective heads saw this and tried to move its body at the same time which caused it to stumble. Kim and Nas saw the moment and started to sprint towards the beast. However, the middle head noticed what happened, and turns its body towards Kim. Now all the three head is facing Kim alone. Kim flinched, but he didn't stop running. This might be a good chance for Nas to get close while the beast is solely focusing on him. The three head open its mouth and created several fireballs from its mouth. Albeit smaller than the previous one he saw, it was still several times larger than his body. The beast shoots all three fireballs at the same time.
"Ahh, this is where I die huh... Nas.. at least hit this bastard"
Suddenly, he felt a surge of energy enveloping his entire body. He could see glitters of light floating from the ground. His body seems to be absorbing it. His mind is a bit clear now, and even though he is sprinting he's not tired. The most crucial thing is the fireballs! He could see the fireballs moving towards his direction.
"I can do this. I can dodge it!"
Kim stops then sidesteps the moment the first fireballs come toward him for a near-miss, passing through him and cause an explosion hundreds of metres away behind him. He then falls his body flat to the ground to cause another fireball to pass just above him. As the last fireballs approaching him, he jumps back as hard as he can to cause the fireball to hit the ground. Huge explosion blows him away due to the strong force from the impact. He rolled several times on the ground before hitting a giant boulder. After impact, he puked several drops of blood from his mouth.
His whole body was trembling. Not because of pain but from excitement. Pure excitement. He felt the adrenaline rushing through his veins. "I did it. I dodge it. Hahahahahaha.. arghh..." Again more blood coming out from his body. It was also no time for celebrations, as he saw the beast charging its fireballs again. He tried to move but his body won't listen to him. Then a smile was carved on his face while looking at the beast.
"Hahahahaha, hurry up and kill that dog, Nas!"
The Cerberus felt a sharp pain coming from its neck. It was Nas dangling on it. The knife was able to pierce through which causes it to bleed. Unfortunately, it was too shallow. It wasn't enough to cause a fatal injury. The Cerberus roars which cause Nas to lose his grip and fell to the ground. It lifted its paw and strike Nas causing him to fly away several dozen meters from it.
Nas is now laying on the ground, not budging. Kim was dumbfounded. He thought that his last friend in the entire universe has died. It causes him to feel despair and rage at the same time. His mind was in cluttered and all he could think of was revenge.
The feeling of fear he felt at first was entirely gone. In front of him now is not a Cerberus, but merely an object of revenge. Even the beast which was fixated to Nas just now turns it heads towards Kim, as it felt strong killing intent projecting toward itself. But it didn't feel threatened and stand firm on the ground preparing to counter against the creature in front of it.
Kim took a metal rod that was larger than him on the ground and started to sprint non-stop towards Cerberus. He didn't feel any hesitation at all. Little that he knows, he was moving way faster than he was before, and the injury he gets from the explosion just now was all recovered. But he didn't have time to notice as the only thing in his mind was to kill.
Cerberus swing its long tail to hit Kim, but he jumped at the right moment to avoid the whipping. While in mid-air, Kim holds up the metal rod he picked as high as he can and struck down on the tail, causing it to pierce through, impaling the tail to the ground. The Cerberus is now stuck!
Kim seizes this moment to run on top of its body. Sensing this, Cerberus let out a tremendous heat from its body melting the soles of Kim shoes. But Kim still runs through the heat. Standing on top of Cerberus body felt like standing in the middle of volcano eruption itself as towers of flames were dancing wildly like snakes trying to swallow Kim to death. But as he focuses it was actually a real-life fire snake trying to eat as a whole. It was a whole new bright red world as magma spurting and flames erupting everywhere.
Unknowingly, Kim dodges everything in reflect. Someone who saw this might think that Kim was a professional gymnast who had train for thousands of hours. Although he seems to be jumping around aimlessly, there was no waste in his action. Within his rage, he still able to calculate precisely when to jump and how much power he should use for every step he takes to make sure he won't get hit. However great as how it seems, Kim was still a human kid and there's a limit what a human can do. It was impossible to perfectly dodge everything. He still received some small damage for every flames and magma striking him.
Even his pace is slowing down by the sec. His breathing was also getting heavy and his body can't escape the feeling of extreme pain coming from the intense fiery path. His clothes are all in tattered.
He just runs through even with all the flame hitting him. Kim finally reaches the head of the beast.
He took out his knife and run towards the right head, struck its right eye causing an immense pain. It seems that even though they have separate conscious they still share the same pain. The middle head tried to bite Kim off, but he managed to jump at the last moment causing it to bite the right head instead.
Then the left head went on and swallowing Kim into its mouth. However, Kim managed to hold on with all his limbs pushing the wall of the mouth away from closing. Kim gets hold of his other knife and stabs from inside the mouth causing it to shriek in pain. Before he manages to get outside a bright light enter his pupils as the beast try to give its last effort by blasting a fireball directly in its mouth which exploded. The left head is now unconscious, and Kim is now laying on the ground. Although only one head was suffered from the explosion the other two heads still felt the pain which causes them to temporarily stunt.
Kim gritted his teeth trying to push every single cell in his body but to his avail, he can't even lift a finger. The only thing he could feel was pain all over his body. At least he knows that his body is still functioning. Just that there was no energy left for him to move. Still, he needed to move because the place where Nas has put his knife was directly on top of him. The beast was still recovering from the explosion. This was the perfect chance to beat it. The time to settle his score, avenging his friends.
"Calm down and breath"
He suddenly heard a voice inside his head. He didn't know where it comes from, but it felt like the person was near. A rough voice which feels like it was coming out from an old man.
"I will answer your question later if you survived this but for now, concentrate on your surrounding as how you did before"
"My surrounding?"
Kim closes his eyes and took a deep breath. Kim has two brain function that could surpass others, making him a genius among his peers. One is his fast-calculative thinking which enable him to give an accurate and quick respond. Second, he could get in deep mind state which enables him to concentrate to completely understand one object of thought. He is doing the latter now, making it seems he's in a deep slumber.
"Can you see it? The lights?"
"Yes, this, I saw it before.. what is this?"
"Be quiet and listen. Direct the lights into your body and imagine yourself as a vessel which carries it through your vein"
"Direct.. the lights?"
After a few moments, little by little orbs of lights comes floating in the air making it seems like a fantasy novel.
"Good now try to direct it into your body"
The numbers of orbs coming out haven't stopped. It keeps leaking out not just from the ground, but also from the tree and sky emitted small orbs of light.
"No.. wait, stop this is too much. You won't be able to handle--"
But Kim couldn't hear anymore as he was in the deep mind state. Streams and streams of light orbs swirling wildly in the air forming some kind of a sphere and Kim was floating in the centre. At the same time more and more orbs going towards Kim, and he is absorbing all of it. Kim screams as he felt an enormous energy is forcing its way in. He gritted his teeth firmly as he felt like every single bone in his body is smashed to pieces. He then screams in pain as he felt like his entire veins are torn and split apart.
Although the excruciating pain sometimes left him almost absent-minded, he still struggled to maintain his consciousness. He felt like this is the only chance for him to give that dog a beating. He told himself to hold on even for a bit. He won't even let the dog be able to lick its own wound after this. He concentrated fully to make sure his mind is not broken and endured everything purely with his will.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
mimikbarasan
mimikbarasan Some writings show that snakes are also a part of Cerberus features besides its three head. I imagined that the flames enveloping its body like furs are also the snakes portrayed in those writings.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone