Bab 172: Kind of Fun
Jazz stumbled to her feet, still unable to properly see from the violent flash of light that burned her corneas. She felt a shoulder push itself beneath her arm while something wrapped around her waist, giving in to the sensation, Jazz was moved away from the laboratory.
"Are you okay?" Mariah asked.
"What — what's going on?" Jazz responded, still in a daze.
"All of the alchemists working on the bacteria have died and half of the larvae researchers as well. According to the others, the bacteria transformed into that monster when it was fed their essence," Mariah sighed disappointingly.
"That monster… was the bacteria? But —" Jazz looked at Mariah with hollow eyes, "Croft was telling me about it just this morning…."
"Yes, I'm truly sorry we weren't able to protect them," Mariah hurriedly bowed, "but we have already confirmed their deaths."
Jazz looked down. Her eyes wandered through the mess of stones and mud beneath her feet before the sheen of her shears caught her attention.
Tilting her shears reflection towards herself, Jazz stared at her reflection. Her eyes were puffy and red and her bottom lip quivered.
She raised her hand and pinched her lips, she wasn't even aware she was shaking, and now that she's noticed it, she couldn't stop it.
"It's coming!" The man from before roared once more, "Ranged combatants! Ready your attacks!"
Drawing her attention, Jazz looked back at the laboratories entrance. A man stood at the front, a shield erected before him.
He had dark skin and red eyes, his broad shoulders stretched as wide as his shield and his gaze was as cold as his shield's steel.
The man was none other than Lyle, a winner of Spright's squad leader competition. Since then, he's taken an active role in camp life, appointing himself as the camp's primary defense while the other squads could focus on scouting their terrain.
Lyle's eyebrow twitched and he immediately tensed, with his veins bulging out of his thick neck, he parted his lips and roared:
"Fire!"
***
Emile held a beast's neck in his hands. Its body was raised off the ground, completely dependent on Emile's tight grip to remain afloat.
Emile flicked his thumb and part of the beast's vertebra snapped in half, its body went limp and it turned to sparks in Emile's palm.
A crystal spear soared past Emile's ear, it whistled in the wind, producing a delicate hum as it flew. The crystal spear impaled a beast's eye socket, fracturing its skull and piercing its brain.
Emile stepped over puddles of blood as he made his way back to Roy and Blood, off in the distance he could see Willow's golden silhouette blur in and out of focus as she avoided her prey's attacks.
She was fighting the final creature, at least from what Roy could see. It was a large beast, it stood above the trees and towered over Willow. Its thick extremities were larger than tree trunks, even the two horns protruding from its skull were larger than Willow.
It had black scales that protected each inch of its body and a sizable tail, doubling the creature's total length. It's tail zipped through the air, matching Willow's speed and preventing her from getting close enough for a devastating blow.
Caught in a stalemate, Willow knew she had to do something unorthodox. She slammed into the ground, a small crater forming beneath her feet.
In that second of stillness, the beast's tail emerged instantly. It cracked across the sky and plunged into Willow's armor.
Willow vanished from the spot and silence momentarily replaced her presence. But then, the beast released a deep wail of pain, its crackling voice resonating with Emile and the other's flesh, shaking their muscles and organs alike.
Its tail crashed down, revealing Willow's golden armor latched onto the tail's underside. Her gauntlets ripped through the beast's scales and kept her firmly in place.
Now back on the ground, she dug her heels into the mud and dragged the beast's tail under her control. Once she got a good grip, she sprinted beneath the beast's legs along with its tail.
Then, she kicked her heel into the ground and launched over the beast. With its tail still firmly pressed between her fingers, the beast couldn't take a step and quickly came crashing down.
Its monstrous body collided with the earth and an earthquake followed which leveled the battlefield even further. Willow ripped her gauntlets out of the beast's tail and walked along its body.
She stood on the beast's cheek, looking down into the vibrant orange eye that strained itself in order to stare back at her. She raised her hammer into the air and plunged it into the beast's eye.
An explosion of fluid erupted and a wave of the viscous liquid crashed into Willow, but she didn't pay it any mind. Instead, she stepped into the hole of the beast's eye and sank deeper within its skull.
Seconds passed in anticipation until the beast's body shattered into a tsunami of snowflakes. The flowing essence particles swirled in the air, creating an almost perfect imitation of a hurricane before plunging into Willow who stood casually on the dirt.
Watching from afar, Emile couldn't help but sigh.
Stepping into a beast's eye socket and mincing its brain from the inside? Just the thought sent shivers down his spine.
"Come on, Willow!" Emile shouted across the empty planes.
He turned to Blood and Roy as the two were already standing by him:
"Good job guys —" he praised earnestly, "that went better than I thought it would."
"Of course it did —" Blood immediately replied, "how could it not when I'm here?"
Emile rolled his eyes. He hadn't paid much attention to Blood's handiwork this time around so he couldn't argue with the boy even if he wanted to.
"Hey Blood?" Emile called out.
"What?"
"How close are you to transcending?" Emile asked, his eyes still off in the distance as he watched Willow return.
"Close —" Blood's voice commented from behind, "we'll talk about it when we get back."
Emile nodded in agreement. If Blood transcended their fights would be over much sooner and Emile was interested in the type of change one underwent from the Enlightened to Perfected stages.
Emile couldn't help but smirk thinking about it.
Getting stronger was kind of fun.
Hadiah
-- Hadiah diterima Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone