Chapter 228: Devoured (1/2)

Mike choked a bit on the acrid smoke that filled the area and carried the scent of charred meat. Even with his resistance skills, the stench was a bit overpowering, but he had to get close enough to make sure that his attack had been effective. He'd put a fair amount of mana into that spell, but its seems to have paid off.

The blackened chunks of the creature had stopped moving, having been unable to fully reform into their original shape. They now appeared like small, smoking hillocks that broke the otherwise even ground of the plains.

[I guess that worked? Seems a little too easy, though.]

He kept his distance for a full minute, looking for any signs of activity. However, nothing seemed to have happened.

[Should I hit again just to be on the safe side?]

Deciding that he didn't want to take any chances against this kind of monster, he began channeling his mana, intending to unleash yet another blast of lightning. Hopefully, it would reduce the remaining pieces of meat to charcoal.

While he was preparing the spell, he began to feel a strange sensation. It was a bit like low-grade hostility, something on the level of a particularly malign animal, but it was coming from below ground. As he paid attention to it, he realized that it was moving closer.

[Some kind of subterranean monster? Why is it-]

The hostility suddenly surged, and he began to feel tremors below his feet.

”Shit.” He cursed, canceling his spell and leaping back as a hardened spike of flesh punched through the ground he'd been standing on mere moments ago. ”Looks like its getting smarter.”

Landing, Mike began preparing for his next attack, intending to cave the earth onto the creature and crush it. However, he was interrupted when another tentacle broke through the ground behind him and wrapped around his lower legs. He changed his focus at the last second, hurriedly forming a stone javelin with the intent of pinning it to the ground. Unfortunately, he was just a little too slow.

The world turned upside down as the rest of the tentacle broke through the ground and whipped him up into the air. For a moment, he was hanging roughly ten meters up, looking down as the creature freed itself from the earth. He had just enough time to notice that its skin was in the process of changing, taking on a more scaly, reptilian appearance, when it pulled him down and slammed him into the earth.

A few months ago, such an impact would have been instantly lethal. As it was, Mike was left with dozens of broken bones, an unknown amount of internal damage, and the inability to breathe for several seconds while his chest cavity resumed its normal shape. It took several more seconds for him to regain the ability to think in any meaningful capacity.

When he could open his eyes, he realized with dawning horror, that the creature had pulled him towards itself, and was in the process of smothering him with its bulk. The exposed skin of his arms and face was burning, and he could almost feel his tissue dissolving.

He had to fight hard to control his panic. Even with his enhanced Willpower, the sheer horror of what was happening was setting off every survival instinct he had. He had to get out. Had to escape.

Struggling proved pointless, as even his magically enhanced strength was helpless against the creature's bulk. That left cutting his way out. Unconsciously he tried to form his flame blade, but only succeeded in burning himself, since the monster was apparently now resistant to it.

As the flesh finished closing over his head, he was swallowed in darkness. The crushing pressure which had been keeping him pinned in place began to increase. He could no longer move nor breathe, and he was afraid that his consciousness would soon fade.

[Come on! Focus!]

He tried to concentrate on forming his mana into something, anything, that might be able to cut him free from this crushing prison, but it just wouldn't take shape. He'd grown used to the almost unconscious ease with which his mana bent to his will, and to have it fail him at this crucial stage was almost maddening.

[Some sort of disruption effect? Is that even possible?...Ugh...it's getting hard to think. System...now would be a great time for Limit Break. I know I've still got a while before the cooldown expires, but could you cut me some slack?]

Mike thought he heard the faint sound of sadistic laughter from somewhere deep within his mind. Thankfully, the roaring of the blood in his ears drowned it out, and he did his best to ignore it. He had bigger things to worry about than the creature which seemed to be squatting in his soul.

While the pressure and the slow, steady dissolution of his body were problematic, it was the suffocation which was quickly bringing him towards death. His chest was burning, and his brain kept sending panic signals, trying to drive him to escape the smothering embrace of the creature. Yet, struggling just seemed to hasten his end, consuming his remaining oxygen in a futile bid for freedom.

Fatigue settled on him like a heavy blanket. It was getting harder and harder to think as his mind began to recede away from the painful end he was facing. The blessed relief of unconsciousness waited for him, just as soon as he gave in.

[...If I could just get some air...]

His oxygen starved mind, on the verge of collapse, began to focus on that last word. It started playing in his head like a broken record. Over and over again.

[Air...Air...Air...]

Suddenly, he was floating in a vast empty sky. Everywhere he looked was a cloudless blue that extended as far as he could see. Even the ground below him had vanished, and it felt like gravity held no sway in this realm. Yet, for all its apparent emptiness, the sky seemed to be filled with a massive presence. Gentle eddies of wind brushed against him, and for a moment, he felt like he was a part of something far greater than himself.

Looking out at the endless skies, he felt truly free...

Then he was back in his body, still surrounded by the crushing meat of the creature that was trying to devour him. With a gasp, he filled his lungs with a breath of fresh air that he conjured forth with an ease that belied all of his previous efforts. Fully aware, he drew on his mana and surrounded himself with a thin layer of rapidly moving air that pushed back the flesh.

Energy filled him, coursing through him in a way that he'd not felt since his fight with Brutus, and it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to let it free.

With a roar, he unleashed it.

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