Bab 24: • The One Who Lied

The Corrupted Paragon roared with fury as the molten lines on its scaled form pulsed with life. One of the two tendrils it had lost earlier had now regenerated, slimy and thin, dancing in the air.

Its eyes burned with an unnatural glow as they fixed on the group. Clearly, it was very enraged now, and naturally so. The traits of a Corrupted Paragon were clear — they fed off violence and would never stop attacking until all of them were dead.

"How the hell could it have survived that?" Alfis growled. "I struck it straight in the face!"

"Stay behind me!" Mist shouted, stepping in front of Deremiah who had a plain look on his face. Her sword was already in her hand, her eyes narrowed as glared at the molten beast.

One of the tendrils lashed out toward them, and she sliced and swung with precision, striking through the tendril but not slicing through.

"We have to take positions!" Alfis roared, dragging Pallock with him to the side. "You! You said you have a pair of blasting energy gauntlets. Didn't you?"

Pallock nodded.

"Then why don't you summon the Artifact, and shoot it at the giant lava fish that's trying to kill us!"

As Pallock obeyed the orders, Dane darted toward higher ground, setting the mini crossbow that he had attached to his waist, while Deremiah scrambled toward a nearby cluster of trees.

Crouching low, his chest heaved uncontrollably, hoping the sparse cover would shield him from the chaos. It felt like ever since he reincarnated into his own novel, there was yet to be a single moment's peace, and his life was in danger ninety percent of the time.

He turned his neck around and peeked behind the tree, seeing Mist leaping above a tendril lash and attacking the Moltenshark with a gust of wind that didn't have any effect on the beast.

Deremiah faced his front and took one deep breath. The topic of knowing and doing arrived once again. Moltensharks were pretty much scaled tight and protected in every part of their body, and Deremiah knew where.

But doing it? Could he handle it? Could this body hold its ground against a Corrupted Paragon? Even though he was fitter than when he first entered the Gate, that didn't exactly mean that he could fight.

'Ugh, hells! I'm such an overthinker!' he facepalmed.

Before he could overthink a bit more, a loud crash pulled his attention back to the battlefield.

The Paragon had lunged again, and this time, one of its tendrils wrapped around a tree near Deremiah. The wood splintered and cracked as the beast flung the massive trunk aside, revealing him crouching beneath its shadow.

"No, no, no!" Deremiah grabbed his sword and bolted from his hiding spot, heart hammering as a tendril whipped toward him. Body thrown to the floor, he barely rolled out of the way, feeling the heat sear his skin as the tendril smashed into the ground where he'd been moments ago.

The beast roared, pulling itself fully out of the lava and onto solid ground. Then, at the base of its molten body, a disturbing, volcanic pulsing began and out of it, four small but powerful legs manifested and dug into the charred earth.

Alfis turned around to the person closest to him, which was Deremiah. "Did that thing just grow legs?!"

"Corrupted Paragons evolve in accordance to the target they're hunting!" Mist called, charging at the beast. Her blade gleamed as she slashed at its flank, carving molten trails into its flesh.

The Moltenshark moved its neck to the side, snapping its jaws at her as she saulted backwards. Still, she held her ground. Each time the beast relentlessly swiped and snapped at her with teeth and tendrils.

She narrowly avoided deadly blows, rolling out of the way and striking back with her sword. Occasionally, Dane's arrows would strike the beast but fail to make any considerable damage.

Mist, evidently the most skilled fighter amongst all of them, began to mountain her way up the beast, slashing her sword all over its scaled skin to find a bit of flesh — a bit of blood.

She moved on top of its body adeptly, dodging another lunge of a tendril, and slashing downward on the reddish scales that remained hard to tear through. But now, the beast was irritated to the core.

Despite its weight, it spun around with shocking speed, pushing Mist off its body and sending her hurling through the air. Not stopping there, before she struck land it extended one of its rapid tendrils once again and captured her in mid-air then pulled her closer to its open, waiting jaws.

"Help her!" Alfis shouted to Deremiah as he fought to keep Pallock from running off. "You! Keep shooting that thing!"

Deremiah looked at Alfis and frowned. 'Help her? Why me?'

Wasn't she the one supposed to be saving him?

His grip tightened around his sword. Clearly this was the honorable thing to do; save the life of the noble who forced him into a contractual relationship.

Deremiah's eyes narrowed, gazing up at the mad beast as Mist wriggled in its snare, trying to free herself.

It was also the smart thing to do, wasn't it? Save her life so that she could continue saving him.

His legs began to move almost on instinct, carrying him closer to the lava beast. But as he approached, the beast turned its gaze on him, and a second tendril lashed out.

Deremiah dived to the ground and rolled over, narrowly avoiding the thin tentacle.

'What the hell am I thinking? If she can't defeat a Corrupted Paragon, how is she going to fend against others of higher Echelons?!'

Now, his instincts were screaming at him to run.

"What the hell are you doing, slummer?!" Alfis yelled at him. "Attack the beast and help Mist!"

Deremiah furrowed his sharp brows at him. 'Why doesn't he do it?'

The tendril lashed at him again, and he ran through the dry earth and hid behind a small elevation of the ground. A curse escaped his lips as he tried not to judge himself too harshly.

There really wasn't much he could do. He was the weakest one here, wasn't he? He had no idea how to fight that beast, and any attempt to do so would lead straight to his death.

Alfis glanced at Deremiah's hiding spot and growled angrily, then turned to see that the beast's attention had shifted to Mist once more.

But Mist wasn't making it easy for the Corrupted Paragon. Through her relentless struggles, she had managed to free her wielding hand and began to cut herself free from the beast's grasp.

The tendril was much harder than before, and Mist became increasingly frustrated. "This is way too difficult!" she said through groans and gritted teeth. "It shouldn't be! Not with Pallock's Threat Level, and Dane's and Derem—"

Her eyes widened. She cast her gaze to the ground and found the silver-haired boy squatting behind a protrusion.

"Deremiah!" she yelled, anger in her face.

Deremiah turned his neck around and looked up, confused as to why she would be calling him.

"Tell the truth— ugh!" the tendril tightened around her. "What is your real Threat Level?!"

Deremiah's heart skipped. He sat there frozen for a while, staring at Mist's face which was now twisted with anger and rage.

Alfis turned to him. "What is she talking about?"

Mist raised her sword up, just as the tendril was about to drop her into the Moltenshark's gaping mouth. A gust of wind surrounded the blade as her anger burned in her eyes.

"You liar!" she struck the sword down, and it pierced hard into the beast's tendril, causing it to shriek in pain and release her from its snare.

Using her wind abilities, Mist attempted to push herself away from the path to the volcano so she could land on the ground. However, she miscalculated.

Her foot slipped on the loose ash-covered ground, her body was dragged down, her face struck hard on the edge of the chasm, caving her face in and leaving her unable to scream as she fell into the molten river below.

The lava hissed and roared as her form was swallowed, and all that was left after was the acrid stench of burning flesh.