章 4: Desperate Battle
The situation was terrible, thought Shan.
But he didn't worry, he couldn't worry. Worry will bring his down. Just like that time…
However, no matter now, with a swift look he analyzed the enemy before him:
Grotesque as it gets, it was a brain with fifteen squid-like tentacles attached to it. It was floating on a pillar of water a mere half a meter away from his Young Master.
Psycho-Elemental, a nightmare of many and the source of countless paranoiac breakdowns across the New Lands.
Shan could remember much about that beast; it was ruthless, deceiving, and disturbingly animalistic for its own intelligence. Worthy of fear, and it was feared during the beginning stages of colonization until the most of them were exterminated or driven away to the Unknown Regions.
Psycho-Elementals were well researched, and apart from the name they had close to no connection to normal elemental spirits.
They were capable of roughly the same, controlling water like water-elementals could, but they were doing it in a different way, not by innate connection, but with tiny strings of Qi and vibration. They also could influence human's mind, and often were disguising themselves as normal elementals, hence the name. And unlike normal spirits, they were carnivores.
A vision from a book appeared in Shan's mind. A dry human corpse and a bloated red brain clinging to it with its tentacles, sucking life dry.
Good that it wasn't the case now. Xin was still alive, and that meant that the monster had different intentions.
It could eat, but also invade. Usurp the body of someone, swallow not liquids but mind. That way they were often infiltrating human communities and hunting from within. Some villages were completely depopulated that way.
But it wasn't any easy for Psycho-Elemental to take control of someone. The victim had to be unresisting or unaware. Otherwise, with a desperate struggle of his nervous system, the human will die.
It was the reason why the first thing Shan had done was to scare elemental out of touching Xin by throwing a knife. He also made the boy lose consciousness as the subconsciousness was much harder to deceive.
Still, there was a high possibility that the enemy will try to take him as a hostage or directly kill out of rage. Shan couldn't allow that.
He leaped forward trusting his sabre at the beast. The brain was unmoving to the very last second, and then it suddenly retreated. It was shockingly fast, using the water as a pillar to support its body. Just when the sabre's tip was a centimeter apart from the Psycho-Elemental, it suddenly got half a meter away. At the same time, its tentacles surrounded Shan who couldn't move while in the air.
It seemed that he fell into a trap, but...
Shan suddenly twisted the sabre with a whole power of his muscles.
"Bam!"
An explosion of black radiance immediately followed, giving his shoulders an additional impact. The beast shivered, it tried to retreat its limbs but it was too late. At least seven of them were severed. They flew through the air and fell into the lake, coloring it purple. The same kind of blood started to flow from the convulsing stumps left on elemental's body.
Its shiver increased, it seemed like it was raging inside. The number of tentacles was related to Elemental's age. Getting them severed was a great humiliation.
Meanwhile, Shan grabbed Xin and threw him away. His little body gently landed near a tree ten meters away.
Now the battlefield was clean. Shan didn't worry about any ambushing beasts. Psycho-Elementals had an antisocial nature. They were intelligent, true, but they could only care about filling their stomachs. Any kind of cooperation or even acceptance of anything else close to their territory was impossible.
At some point of Colonization War, the Alliance of Intelligent Beasts had sent several envoys to recruit one of such. At first, everything went great: they had even made a base near its den, only to be eaten during the first night.
Shan made a slow gasp. The purple fire was raging on his legs; he could feel a mix of pain and numbness. Running here he expended almost the third of his Qi, and the meridians in his legs were almost burned to the point where it could make them permanently damaged.
If this fight will go on for ten minutes more, he might become a cripple incapable of ever walking. Of course, nothing of that mattered as long as he will be able to save his Young Master.
Shan thought about the current situation. A stranger would say that he was winning: he injured and made the enemy retreat, after all. However, it was far from the case.
He could feel something tight gasping his feet.
Water, the water controlled by the Psycho-Elemental.
There were several ways of getting free, all unavailable to him. First, he couldn't use Qi explosion. However, his meridians weren't in the best shape in the first place, and after so much of overuse, this could be the last straw.
They might tear, in which case he would have to crawl out of the forest. If he won't get eaten first.
Right now all he could do was to preserve the purple flame and keep the water from advancing.
He was thinking about a way to deal with this situation, as suddenly the time was up.
"Splash!"
Twenty water arrows flew into his direction.
Shan brandished his sabre, holding it with both hands. The arrows were going at a blurry speed; he was barely able to cover his vitals.
"Bam!"
"Agh!"
He managed to block some, his sabre protected his head and the heart, but the rest of them dig into his flesh. Not too deep, his natural Qi Barrier managed to stop them from going past one centimeter. Blood gushed out for a second until Shan sealed his wounds.
Even more Qi wasted. Did he say ten minutes? No, seven at most, maybe five. How long has it been already?
He shook his head and looked at the enemy. Not all was lost, it seemed. The second bunch of knives was already incoming, the elemental had conjured at least six of them, and still was going for more. He looked somehow careless, how a brain could look careless? Anyway, it gave that impression, that it was simply playing with the prey now, and that was Shan's chance.
Now all was up to two trump cards he had. The question was, would he be able to utilize them correctly?
He gazed at his weapon, the black sabre with a stone hilt that, despite its square shape, wasn't uncomfortable at all. It was rather comforting even, slightly lowering pain and tight sensation from the back of his head.
The blade itself was also pure black. Only with an edge of an eye one could notice a faint purple radiance it was emitting.
This blade was crafted from Stone Roc's remains. It should be sharp enough.
As for the second trump card…
Shan opened his eyes wide. Twenty arrows already, time to act.
He extended his Qi Presence up to the seven black knives tied to his belt. The Second Techniques of Wei Family's Blade Manual, Art of Flying Sabre! The peak of this art would allow one to control up to ten sabres in the air.
He was far from it, not even at the first stage. It was an Inner Sea Technique, after all. At most, he could control nine, and not sabres but throwing knives, and not control, but just threw them without the use of hands. And that was exactly what he needed now.
Now!
"Bam!"
With a loud explosion of darkness, seven knives flew from Shan. Good thing the elemental didn't rely on vision to perceive, a cloud was covering the sun, knives became but shades.
Psycho-Elemental was startled, half of his twenty-something knives immediately collapsed while the rest was sent forward. Shan could probably block them, but…
"Die!"
He shouted, all his Qi gathered at the tip of the sabre. His body felt weak, the barrier broke down and he was defenseless now.
The First Technique of Wei Clan's Blade Manual, "Shadow Ripping Heavens". To gather one's Qi, blade-intent, determination, and even the life in one, just one attack. And then, well, depends on your luck.
He was never lucky, but so be it.
Just like with Art of Flying Sabre, his move was butchered.
It will be weak, it won't be even fast enough, so he had to seal Elemental's movements with his knives first.
Shan repressed his fear. He knew that after that attack he will be completely defenseless. Still, It was the only choice.
"Slash!"
The moment of supreme clarity came. He could see the little beam of purple light passing through the wall of knives and then ripping into Elemental's body.y.
A fountain of violet blood gushed out, if the monster could scream, it differently would.
For a second, Shan could feel immense relief.
He took a breath.
Then thirteen knives pierced his body at once.
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