183 Arcane Danger (2/2)

'Not yet,' he urged himself. The beast inside of him hissed and jeered but he ignored it.

The hammer glowed brighter. Surgit's hands started shaking. His knees threatened to give up but he urged them to be patient. 'Just a little longer,' he mentally noted. 'Just a little longer…'

The hammer's color started darkening. His head felt as though it was about to burst. Surgit couldn't take it any longer. He swung his hammer in a downward motion. Rom gave deafening screech then curled into a ball. When the hunter opened his eyes, the vacuous spider had teleported. Countless spiders fell from the sky and surrounded their boss. Surgit fell to his knees, breathless.

His vision was blurry and his heartbeat faint. It felt as though his heart had swollen, beating slowly and awkwardly. But he was happy. One hit and the monster ran away. It took a lot of time to prepare but he could pull it off with Rom.

'Not after this phase,' the monster reminded him.

'Shut up!' Surgit snapped.

He took two blood vials and injected them at once. The buzzing in his head stopped and his heartbeat returned to normal. He stood up but his head was still throbbing. The vials had a weakness after all. They could heal the body but not the mind. Surgit had put too much strain on his. He had to suffer the consequences.

'Good luck,' the beast sneered.

'Shut up!' Surgit snapped.

The little spiders didn't come for him. They circled their boss, waiting for the hunter to approach. Surgit didn't feel like fighting anymore, not with this head splitting pain. But he had to endure. He had a way to finish the beast quickly. He had to try. He had to get it over with. He struggled to get on his feet and move. Every step he took felt like a nail embedded in his temples. He fought the pain, urging his body to endure.

'Accept the pain,' he mentally repeated. 'Endure it, overcome it…'

He reached the spiders and the little pests started dancing around him. They'd jump high above and plummet down, head first into the ground. All the hunter had to do was: take a step backward and slash. But that was difficult to pull off, especially with his ears ringing and his head throbbing. He endured though.

Thrust and slash, that's all he could think about. Rom didn't exist anymore. He could only see a few feet ahead of him. He felt the spiders around him, heard their feet splash as they ran above the shallow lake surface.

'One fight at a time,' he told himself as he avoided a deadly thrust from a spider.

Two spiders landed around him with a loud splash. He had aptly avoided them, pierced one under its scaly head and decapitated the other. At this point, only half a dozen spiders remained. His arms and legs felt heavy. His grip on the sword faltered. He'd unsheathed it from the hammer, the latter was too heavy.

His headache was causing his vision to blur. His movements grew unsteady. He knew he was losing control. But he urged himself to endure, just a little bit more.

”You still have a meteor summoning beast to deal with after that,” the monster inside of him reminded the hunter.

”Shut up!” Surgit snapped.

The monster hissed and laughed. ”Try a vial,” he urged. ”It might help some…”

Surgit ignored the comment and decapitated the last spider. The pain had reached a new level now. His sword fell to the ground. His knees followed. Surgit was holding his aching head, screaming at the top of his lungs. The pain was unbearable. He shouldn't have strained himself that much. But what was the point of complaining about it now? The deed was done and there was no coming back.

He forced himself on his feet and picked up his sword. He limped forward, toward Rom. As soon as he reached the spider, he swung his sword. It felt as though he'd hit the monster with a stick. His strength failed him and the Vacuous spider was idle no longer. It flailed about like a fish out of water. Its gigantic body hit the hunter and sent him toppling back a few feet.

Surgit used his sword as a cane to help his stand up. Rom was just a blurry shadow in front of him now. His eyes refused to open. His legs refused to move. And the pain… the pain had intensified, revealing new levels of suffering Surgit never thought possible. He couldn't possibly endure that any longer.

”Use the blood,” his alter-self urged. ”Use the blood…”

”Fuck it!” Surgit swore and pulled a blood vial from his pocket. As soon as the healing blood got into his system, Surgit felt reinvigorated, but only for a few seconds. The pain came back and the hunter howled like a wounded beast. His alter-self laughed himself silly as the hunter tore his own hair and beat the ground with his bare fists.

'When will this stop?' he asked. 'When will this stop? Make it stop, oh please make it stop!'

”Are you asking me to take over?” his alter-self asked.