55 Just Why? (1/2)

Linri was looking intensely at the dark cave around him. This was the first time he used this strategy. He was scared, excited and a little bit of expectant towards the fight this time. Till now he never even got close to defeating Udcek but he could not help but think 'what if?'

He waited but there was only silence, it was eerie. The sound of dripping echoed throughout the cave. With every drip Linri's nerves tensed, Udcek had not appeared yet which was unusual. He had to be cautious. If he even lost focus for a single second he was afraid that Udcek would appear and kill him.

Just like any other person he was afraid of dying and never coming back. This feeling was new to him, even when fighting against the giant beast in the first room he had not felt this way. Because he knew that he could defeat the beast, even if he was not sure he still had to try, but now? It was different, he 'knew' that he could not defeat Udcek no matter how hard he tries he 'wrote' it this way.

His initial emotions died down and he began to feel despair. The impending doom of death was coming closer. He remembered each time he fought against the Harbinger of Anaya, the only thing he could remember was the pain. Fear of death? He was never afraid of death, in fact, he embraced it.

His thoughts kept spiralling downwards towards darker waters. This was bad, he had to control emotions otherwise he would lose even before the battle starts. He took a deep breath to calm down.

That was exactly the moment Udcek had been waiting for, he flew out of the water and hit Linri directly in the face. The force of the punch was so strong that he was thrown out of his foothold and dived head first into the lake.

Before Linri understood what even happened he was already inside the lake. He began to panic and tried to reach the surface, but that was only wishful thinking. Something was dragging him into the deep waters, he looked down to see what grabbed and saw a skeleton with glowing red eyes. In his panic, Linri tried to shook him off but that only resulted in him sinking faster. Countless pair of red eyes appeared at the bottom of the lake. The skeleton was not alone.

The other skeletons started to swim towards him, he had to think fast. Linri shot an 'Icicle Strike' towards the head of the skeleton. It hit but did not do anything to stop it from letting it go. Linri used his 'Ice Manipulation' and turned the icicle into a whip-like blade. He used the whip blade to separate the shoulder of the skeleton from its body. He was successful.

There was still a hand grabbing at his ankle but right now it was not important. Linri started to furiously swim towards the ice platform. He was running out of breath, so he created a chain hook and tied it to an 'Icicle strike' to shoot it. Once it made contact with the platform he used Ice manipulation again and pulled himself upwards.

He reached the surface and desperately gasped for air. However, his happiness was short lived when a giant skeletal hand grabbed him. He was lifted to the air and saw that this hand was not connected to anything. It was floating in the air on its own. This was Udcek's power but it was the first time he saw it. Usually he only just used some simple skeletons or just punch him to death.

Linri struggled endlessly but he could not get out of the grip. Udcek was watching him intently. Whether it was the 'dream' or not it seemed like Udcek liked to keep watching him struggle. Linri looked at the Udcek standing on the ice platform.