Chapter 54 (1/2)

The sphinx looked up at him, seemingly pleased. “Oh, oh, oh, you came back so soon. Did you miss me, me, me?”

Snorting, Randidly drew his spear. There was no point in talking with this dumb creature.

But he didn’t attack quite yet. The trick to this fight would be seeing how far he could push the sphinx with small scratches before it began to take him seriously. To slowly whittle away at its health, and then all at once drop the hammer on it. Randidly sincerely doubted that the fireball was the most powerful spell in the Sphinx’s arsenal, and if Randidly had a weakness, it was to magical attacks.

As such, once push came to shove, Randidly planned on moving fast and hitting hard. He wasn’t entirely confident that he could take it down immediately, but based on his observations about the way the sphinx thought, he could certainly do a lot of damage to it very quickly.

Damage that it wouldn’t expect.

With a smile, the sphinx teleported closer, pawing casually at Randidly. Already, he could feel the difference in Reaction making itself known, as he easily sidestepped the blow, seeing it coming several fractions of a second more than previously. His body finally felt… under control, rather than the wild, roller coaster ride it had been previously.

He stepped forward, meeting the sphinx with a Phantom Stab to its side, drawing a long scratch.

It had taken him 2 hours of bitter struggle previously to get such a blow.

Although it seemed annoyed, the Sphinx’s grin widened, and it teleported again, directly behind Randidly. But as he was spinning to face it, it teleported a second time, above him, and belched a fireball down towards him.

Rolling to the side, Randidly managed to avoid the fireball but was met by another paw strike.

He gritted his teeth and met it with a Sweep empowered and strengthened by Heavy Blow. But the Sphinx just seemed to chuckle and teleport backwards, lowering its paw and opening its mouth for a fireball.

But this time, Randidly was ready; activating Phantom Half-Step, he crossed most of the distance to the sphinx and leapt forward, a Phantom Thrust rushing forward into its mouth. The half formed fireball sparked fitfully and collapsed as the spear pressed through it, and Randidly felt the blade of his spear sink into the soft flesh of the roof of the Sphinx’s mouth.

There was a moment then, where Randidly had a second of clarity. The fireball spell backlash was disintegrating, and his spear was going to pierce through.

This… was a little bit too quickly to stick to the original plan. But Randidly did not shy away from the challenge. Instead, he firmed his resolve and through everything he had into this strike.

As the soot and flame from the failed fireball faded, Randidly could clearly see the sphinx’s eyes, as its face changed from one of confusion, to shock, to a hint of fear, and then an overwhelming, ancient anger, a willingness to slaughter.

Randidly supposed he would need to move up his timetable a bit. And he really had been hoping to inflict more draining wounds before this happened. After all, his Edge of Decay would begin to add up in a long fight, as the sphinx struggled to continue with several gashes.

Before the rage in the sphinx’s eyes could turn to action, Randidly flexed his hands, tightening his grip on the shaft of his spear, casting 4 spells at once. First he summoned Spearing Roots, ripping up from the ground into the sphinx’s stomach. Then he used Root Manipulation to create another Spearing Roots, but this time, he just pushed them up to the Sphinx’s head height, and wrapped the roots around the sphinx’s mouth, binding it closed, Randidly’s high Willpower and Control were brought to bear as he pressed with everything he had,to rapidly effectuate his will, speeding the roots movements until they blurred.

Randidly wasn’t sure if its mouth was always the source of its offensive spells, but better safe than sorry.

The third spell was Summon Pestilence, most of which Randidly used to attack the still shocked eyes of the sphinx, while several small insects were directed to land on out of the way parts of its body, burrowing into its fur. This was the most difficult, because the insects themselves were hard to direct individually, and they had very few drives other than to bite and rip flesh. But he stilled them with an effort, the immensity of which brought on the beginnings of a headache.

The final spell was mana strengthening, as Randidly then threw everything he had at the sphinx.

It reared back on its hind legs, seeking to escape from the roots spearing into its stomach and wrapping around its mouth, but Randidly rushed forward, quick as a ghost. Every step was Empowered, Haste was burning as quickly as it could, and he launched a full power Phantom Onslaught on its chest, ripping into its flesh.

Before, Randidly’s attacks would leave long, shallow scratches that annoyed the sphinx, but weren’t all that deadly. That was because none of his attacks were Empowered up until now. Although the bit of speed and strength that it adds is small, that small burst is just big enough to rip through the outer skin of the sphinx without slowing down, dealing significantly more damage as the blade cut into its body.

Furious, the sphinx tried to open its mouth to roar and ripped the roots around its mouth slightly, but Randidly’s Intelligence was high enough now that the roots were incredibly resilient. They ripped at the edges and frayed, but held.

Which was the perfect opportunity for an empowered Sweep to rip a large gash in the Sphinx’s exposed throat.

The blood spurting out of its throat likely incensed it further, and it bucked wildly, ripping the the roots out of its stomach and slashing wildly at the roots binding its mouth, ripping it to pieces. During this time Randidly brought a mana potion to his mouth and drank it quickly. By the time he had downed the thing, the Sphinx had ripped away from most of the roots.

Calling another Spearing Roots to shoot up into its flank, Randidly surged closer.

The sphinx had slightly recovered from its shock this time and twisted out of the way. Even though its body was huge, it managed to dodge and deflect most of the roots. However, though some missed, Randidly just activated Root manipulation and brought them wrapping around the sphinx’s body.

All the while, he continued to stab and slash, ripping large gashes in the skin of the sphinx.

At that moment, the sphinx threw itself backwards, ripping all the roots to bits. It then stood still for a split second, and then its eyes widened.

Grinning, Randidly activated the pestilence he had hiding on the sphinx’s body, sending it viciously biting into the open wounds of the creature. For the teleport spell to work, no foreign materials could touch the body. Luckily for Randidly, those hungry insects counted.