17 Boom (2/2)

Darius was immediately thrown back by the blast which destroyed trees and started fires. For just a moment Darius had felt like he was burning. The blast evaporated the water in the river instantly which had probably been why he was able to survive it. But now a gigantic, disfigured bullet shrimp burst out of the river. Darius' instinct to survive far outweighed the pain and dizziness he was feeling. After a few moments it started sprinting rapidly toward Darius. It let out a loud roar as it charged towards him, destroying everything in its path.

Due to its size it was slow on land, although its legs were disproportionately long for its body. Darius didn't hesitate for a moment. He got up and ran for his life. The territory around Darius quickly became foggy as all he concentrated on was running. With the adrenaline coursing through his veins he trekked rapidly over the uneven terrain. He could hear the beast following behind him, using its large pincers to level any trees that dared block its path. Although it was far too slow to ever catch up with Darius, its trump card over him was slowly approaching.

Darius however knew that it would take far too long for its claw to fully ajar, so he still had some time to think of what to. This had been working until he began running up a hill, realizing this too late he didn't have time to slow down. When he reached the peak of the hill, he sent himself flying and then promptly falling again and face planting into a small clearing in the forest, where an attractive girl with navy blue hair was slaughtering an enormous hideous and disfigured two headed jaguar like spirit.

With precision she gracefully decapitated the left head with one of her short broadswords, causing the limbs on the left side to go limp. Making it all to easy for her to finish of the second one. The giant cat like spirit used the remaining one of its two tails to try and whip the girl. And in the girl's mind there was no need to dodge that kind of attack. With a single swipe the tail was sent flying of and landing on the ground just behind her, still wriggling on the ground. The sting of her blade causing the spirit to cry out in pain.

The spirit then tried to swipe at her with razor sharp claws but that was simply sliced of as well. Just as she was about to go in for the kill she was hit by something large that flying came at her from nowhere.

The force of it knocking her onto the ground as Darius face planted into the ground just in front of her. This was not how he had expected things to go. She quickly recovered and got back on her feet to find Darius lying on the ground. She became enraged at the commoner who dared fall on her, and was just about to execute him when he raised his arms and shouted, ”Wait! Somethings coming!” he pointed to the hill in the direction he had just come from.

She looked back at the hill, ”What's come-”

Snap!

Boom!

The hill was demolished instantly causing soil and debris to rain over the clearing. The blast pushed them both back as a rampaging shrimp charged towards them. The girl sized it up for a moment then bolted, with Darius promptly following suit.

The pursuit was on again as Darius followed the girl wherever she was going. The monster bull dozing everything in its path just behind them.

”A variant, you brought a fucking variant. What the heck is wrong with you?” she screamed. Darius acted as if he heard nothing as he ran for his little life. ”You brought this thing, I hope you have a plan to kill it!” Lara screamed as the two of them ran through the forest with incredible speed.

”I was hoping you could help me out with that, I'm not sure what 'it' even is!” Darius screamed back at her.

Lara almost tripped when she heard this. She assumed that the replacement Lionel would bring would have some knowledge on spirits but it seemed that he had no clue

Lara had to think fast, the claw was almost fully unraveled and this time the blast would almost certainly kill them both. She was familiar with this species and knew that each time it unraveled a claw a blast would follow. This was without a doubt a variant, which meant it would be much more devastating. She saw something in the distance, realizing it was a cave, she had an idea.