27 Chapter 26: Exi (2/2)
I guess it's only natural…at my current level, my attacks are still too weak to deal a decisive blow. The Hydra is too huge and I'm too weak and tiny to deliver any significant amount of damage.
On the bright side, I did hurt it, so at least there was something I could be proud of.
Skidding across the shore, I struggled to halt my massive momentum. The ground split apart under the friction between my feet and the soil, the impact carrying me backward despite my best efforts to skid to a stop.
”!”
While I was still distracted by the first four heads that were converging on my position, I almost didn't see the fifth head plunging toward me in time.
Bam!
”Kuh!”
I had just barely managed to dodge the enormous, venomous fangs, but the edge of the fifth head's jaw struck me, lifting me off my feet and hurling me across the cavern. I caught a glimpse of deadly white fangs filling my vision for a moment before being replaced by the dull brown rock of the cavern's walls.
The potent venom dripped into the ground, the acidic fluids dissolving it instantly and giving off noxious fumes. If I had allowed that to touch me, my body would be corroded into nothing. In contrast, my body had toughened to the extent where I could withstand the tremendous impact that resulted from the collision.
”Ouch…”
Rising to my feet, I slightly massaged my sore body. That might have cracked a few ribs and sent some shock throughout my system, but I was still alive. That was all that mattered. Wiping the blood from my mouth, I steadied my trembling body and glared at the advancing Hydra.
The enormous demonic monster had emerged from the lake, hissing as the nine heads seared toward my current position. I didn't have time to hesitate. On reflex, I charged forward and activated Jin, speeding past the entangled knot of serpentine head and narrowly avoiding their dripping fangs and raw muscle.
”!”
One of the heads had realized my intent and had lingered back, staying behind the rest of its brethren to anticipate my attempt at escape. I was forced to hop back into a halt as the ninth head crashed heavily onto the ground where I would have been if I didn't suddenly change the trajectory of my advance.
”You…” I murmured, perspiration dripping down my face, but I wasn't given any time to say anything else before the sixth head struck me from behind. Again, I moved on instinct, just barely avoiding getting punctured by the fangs and pumped full of corrosive venom. But the gargantuan snout slammed into me, cannoning me across the cavern and into the wall.
Bam!
”Ugh…”
I dropped to my knees, blood streaming down my head and body, wounds having been ruptured open all over my skin. Adjusting my glasses, which were slipping off because of the excessive amount of blood, I slowly studied my foe.
Looks like I don't have a choice. I'm not going to get pass the Hydra with just Shadow Steps and footwork techniques alone.
Stretching out both hands, I focused my yin qi into my fingers and forged a pair of ice swords. Drawing a deep breath, which fogged in front of my face because of the sudden drop in temperature, I braced myself for the battle.
Kicking off the ground, I launched myself toward the advancing Hydra. The first head slammed down on where I was running, but using Shadow Steps, I leaped up and effortlessly evaded it. Bouncing from the scalp of the first head, I sped toward the second head like a bullet. Before the second head could gobble me up, I suddenly did a cartwheel in the air and planted my foot on its lip and maintaining a not-so-safe distance from those venomous fangs. Kicking off, I then spiraled toward the advancing third head. Tucking my legs in, I spun around and then kicked the third head and used it as a board to propel myself toward the fourth head.
The fourth head hissed, remembering the Seismic Step I had executed earlier, and lunged with a vengeance. Half-anticipating that, I dropped to the ground, allowing the massive serpentine head to blast past overhead without hitting me. Without even waiting for the infuriated head to turn back and correct its aim, I was already running ahead.
The fifth head awaited, snarling. Previously, I wasn't able to get past it, but this time I had armed myself with swords. Closing my eyes briefly, I recalled the movements of the Ghost Bear and how it swung its Ghost Claws. Gritting my teeth, I opened my eyes and replicated the movements, slashing at the incoming fifth head.
Slash!
Dual azure qi blasts hurtled out of the frozen blades and slammed into the fifth head, encrusting thin segments of its jaw with a coat of ice. Even though the entire head wasn't encased in ice, the shock from the sudden cold stunned the fifth head, and I cartwheeled in the air to step on its snout. Before the fifth head could figure what was happening, I had already propelled myself away.
The sixth head and seventh head came at the same time, snarling as they attacked from both directions. Almost helpless in midair, I was forced to parry their strikes. Both frost blades shattered instantaneously from the collision.
Even so, they had done their job. Having absorbed most of the impact, I let go of my broken swords and dropped like a rock between both heads. The sixth head and seventh head collided with each other, caught off guard by my sudden movement. Like a stone, I plummeted toward the lake, but I didn't splash through its surface.
Instead, using minimal qi, I froze the area that I landed, erecting a small patch of ice to stand on. Bouncing atop, I sprang away while recreating my swords. The fifth head and fourth head and twisted back to attack me, and they smashed my newly forged swords to bits, throwing me across the lake and forcing me to freeze another segment to recover my footing.
That was fine. I had a whole lake under me, and the air was full of moisture. I could re-forge and recreate my ice weapons as many times as I needed to, so long as I didn't run out of qi.
Unfortunately, my puny weapons had little effect on the Hydra.
The eighth head and ninth head were circling back to trap me. Conjuring another pair of ice swords, I readied myself as they lunged at me.
How did the Ghost Bear do it again?
No, it wasn't just the Ghost Bear. Even though I had made sure to learn the Ghost Bear's movements and attacks with its Ghost Claws, I wasn't merely replicating its techniques. I was combining the Ghost Bear's Ghost Claws with Shadow Steps.
Ghost Shadow Sword.
As an Experimentalist, I had little option other than to experiment and create my own techniques. Unlike my Traditionalist classmates, I did not have a master available to teach me techniques that had a long history and tradition. Even though I learned stuff from Teacher Jiao, he was limited in what he could teach me because he was officially not my master.
Pulling back both swords, I mimicked the Ghost Bear's Ghost Claws strike while adding some principles of the stealthy Shadow Steps. The ice swords seemed to disappear, shimmering into seeming nothingness, as they sliced forward.
The Hydra didn't seem to care, the eighth and ninth head plunging forward heedlessly. The invisible blades slashed into their thick, armored emerald scales and caused them to jolt back in shock. A few seconds later, thin layers of black ice began spreading across their scales.
Too superficial, huh?
Given more time to perfect my newly created Ghost Shadow Sword, I might be able to increase the freezing effects of my shadowy sword techniques, but right now I hadn't reached that level yet. Still, it was always good to try out my theoretical techniques in actual practice and see if they actually worked in reality.
Sparing the staggering Hydra no more than a cursory glance to log the effects of my experimental Ghost Shadow Sword, I kicked off the little iceberg I had created and sprang forward.
The first, second and third heads struck from multiple directions. Remembering how the Ghost Bear extended his Ghost Claws and take me by surprise, I infused my swords with more qi and increased their length and size. With a yell, I knocked the first and second heads away with my makeshift weapons. So hard were their scales and with the sheer mass of their bulk, the two swords shattered upon impact, leaving my hands bereft of weapons as the third head closed in.
”Kuh!”
Flipping back, I allowed the third head to surge past where my head had been a millisecond earlier, and just like the Lunar Rabbit before me, swapped to standing on my hands so that I could deliver a devastating kick that sent the third head reeling upward.
Spinning on the block of ice that I froze atop the lake, I pushed myself to a safe distance away from the Hydra while slyly closing in on the path that led outward. The Hydra rushed toward me, its other six heads writhing and aggressively lashing out.
All or nothing.
There was no way I could avoid all six heads, not when my path to escape was so narrow.
”Argh!”
With a yell, I plunged both hands into the water. Mustering as much qi as I could, I poured my frosty qi into the lake, shaping the water in accordance to my imagination. As I said earlier, I had access to an entire lake and all the moisture in the air, so I could theoretically create an infinite amount of icy weapons as long as I didn't run out of qi.
Conversely, it also meant that I could use all my qi to turn the lake into a single gigantic weapon. Icicles burst out and pierced the Hydra in multiple places, trapping it momentarily. Even though the vast majority of the icicles were unable to penetrate the thick hide or armored emerald scales, a few succeeded in impaling vulnerable spots and holding the Hydra fast.
The Hydra's immense bulk and powerful structure twitched and the icicles began crumbling. Despite my best efforts, I only had mere seconds before the Hydra broke free of its frozen restraints and lunge at me. Despite the crimson blood flowing down the icicles in rivulets, the damage I dealt was extremely minor, akin to little scratches.
There was no way the Hydra would die from that.
It didn't matter. I was basically home free. I dove into the water and swam through the path, allowing the current to sweep me out of the cavern and back to the outside, surface world.
”!”
One of the Hydra's heads had burst free from the icicles impaling it and was surging toward me with a vengeance, determined to slay me before I escaped. Throwing a hand out, I conjured an ice shield while using my footwork to kick in the water and retreat.
Bam!
The shield shattered instantly as the Hydra's head slammed into it. Its jaws yawned wide open to clamp down on me, but I executed Tui and propelled myself away from it, aided by the forceful currents.
The Hydra's maw slammed shut, but I was already gone. Flowing through the narrow path, which was too small for the Hydra to fit through, I departed the subterranean cavern and was swept across by the little river that flowed upward – against gravity and defying the laws of physics, for some reason – and into the surface.
”Kuh…”
Dizzy from my escape, I dog-paddled toward freedom in an effort to keep myself afloat and away from the Hydra.
Then I realized that the giddiness – which was accompanied by a rush of nausea – wasn't from the excitement.
”Gah…!”
My body was burning up with a terrible fever, to the extent that the waters hefting me aloft were turning into steam. Wheezing, I weakly glanced at my arm and saw a thin, red line there. The surrounding flesh was smoking, corroded by a thick sludge of acidic venom.
The Hydra…!
It bit me. It got me. Despite my reflexes and footwork, the Hydra succeeded in grazing me with its venomous fangs.
Damn it…
From what I had read, the encyclopedias spoke of the incredibly potent toxicity of Hydra venom. One drop, according to legends, was enough to destroy an entire lake and wipe out all aquatic life for miles around.
And this was more than just a single drop.
The Green Dragon Spring water…!
I tried, numbly, to reach for my bottle, but my hands were swept away by the current. Too weak to resist, too powerless to do anything, I could only be helplessly washed away by the current. Despite my best efforts to survive, my consciousness faded away before I could save myself.
Then…darkness consumed me.