Chapter 106—The closer you get to Death, the you are to Victory

Chapter 106: 106—The closer you get to Death, the you are to Victory Lucen had been caught. The Red snapper turned one eye back at him to use its repulsion ability. His first thought was to equip Thomas’ ring and prepare for a rough flight. But he then remembered his spear. He had been imbuing it with rotating mana. Could he use the partial activation to stop himself from being blown away? The air hummed and an invisible wave rolled towards him. The other three eyes sent the repelling force at Garin, Tenibri and Duran. Tenibri immediately increased the force of the wind carrying him and Garin. Both of their faces wrinkled and recessed, flapping comically, as the repulsion force tried to push them away. But they were moving forward slowly. Duran scoffed and just teleported away. The force pressed against the road, cracking stone and sending dust reeling back. Lucen braced himself and partially activated [Starfall]. The spear took on a blinding glow and pulled him forward just as the repelling force hit. First it was like being under a heavy fan. In seconds, it felt like Lucen was stark naked in front of a jet engine. His skin burned as it was pushed against his bones. He clamped his mouth shut so his lungs wouldn’t explode. He hung mid-air, gripping onto the spear for dear life. He really wanted to pull out Thomas’ ring right now. But many of the young Knights here were friends with that fool, they could recognize the ring. Worse, Chester could’ve told them he might be with it. Lucen’s shoulder stung, the force only grew greater. Before long he couldn’t even hear his own thoughts with all the wind rushing by his ear. By using his mana control, Lucen created tension inside the spear. This tension would release the farther it travelled and spin the spear faster. Even now, as his shoulders roared in pain, Lucen kept increasing the mana. It was an unconscious action at this point. But the spear wasn’t spinning, it was struggling to move against the insane force of the Fiend’s ability. Soon his armor was biting into his skin and all his teeth were so raw with hot pain that it felt like they would fall out the moment he opened his mouth. Then the pressure began to reduce. Only barely, but Lucen felt like years of pain had fallen off his shoulder. His fingers were slipping from the spear, Lucen could feel blood running between them. The spear was also starting to spin, albeit slowly, but it was already making him dizzy. It started spinning harder and harder until he felt needles piercing his skull. It was also pulling him forward. [Let go now!] Lucen instantly released the spear. It was a pleasure to be free of it really. Warmth coursed through his veins as [Blood Rebirth] began fixing his ragged body. When he opened his eyes, he sat up suddenly, coughing blood and a couple of teeth. He glanced around quickly, still a bit dizzy. He was surrounded by red and purple crystal stalagmites, the ground was rough and unbearably hot. He shot up once he realized where he was. The spear had pulled him onto the Red snapper Fiend’s back. He staggered for a moment, fighting back the urge to puke. All the mana he stored in his blood was used up. No more automatic heals from [Blood Rebirth]. The injuries the repulsion caused him were that bad. It would have most definitely killed him if not for the healing. He leaned over one of the spikes on the Fiend’s back, gasping for air, and studied the maze of spikes. There was no clear path to the middle. [Your thirty seconds are up.] Lucen’s eyes widened, shooting up to the Fiend’s four eyes. Two were pointed at him and glowing an intense red. Fuck. That was game over. Unless... His two hands shot up and aimed right at the glowing eyes. He stuck out his index fingers and grinned, summoning the runes for [Suntouch]. Faster than the Fiend’s red beams could fire, Lucen shot two streams of golden light from his fingers. The two lines drilled through the Fiend’s eyes and the red light gathering in the eyes exploded violently. Lucen dove between two spikes and cradled his head as heat and force washed over him. The Red snapper shook from the force of its destroyed eyes, Lucen felt like the world was shaking as the snapper stumbled. Lucen cracked open his eyes when it felt like he wasn’t in a furnace. His armor was steaming hot, the red cloak his mother made him was on fire. He put the cape back into his storage and stood shakily. It was a miracle that the cape wasn’t destroyed by the repulsion earlier. He needed to get to the center of the shell before the Fiend regained its poise. After that, it would use its repulsion ability to blast Lucen to kingdom come. He jumped onto a high spike and surveyed the back of the Red snapper. It was a maze of sharp spikes, any fall here would be death. But he had to jump from one to the next to get to the center on time. He grunted in pain, leaping off the spike to another. He continued this process, bouncing from one deadly pillar to another. He saw a golden light lance descend from the air and shatter against the Fiend’s back, sending a cloud of red, purple and blue dust into the air. Fireballs and heavy columns of stone landed with thunderous crashes and Lucen slipped and fell from a spike. He managed to kick off another spike and narrowly avoid being impaled, landing in a narrow space between two cracks. His forehead smacked against the hard spike, drawing a hiss from his lips. Then Lucen heard a hum. He crouched to his knees as the repulsion force rolled over the luminescent spikes. The wind roared in his ear, tips of spikes were blasted free and their dust filled the air. The Fiend was destroying its shell just to kill him. Couldn’t blame the beast though, he had been rather annoying. He saw something silver glint in the air, flying away. It was his spear. He dismissed it back to his storage. Lucen narrowed his body, thankful for the fireball that knocked him down into this narrow space. Once the pressure resided, Lucen was moving again. Only twenty seconds till the Red beam was recharged. A shadow covered him. He glanced up and found the two pincers coming down on him. He summoned his spear, mind racing. How would he deflect this? He still needed to save mana for his— Two figures soared towards the Fiend’s arms. Duran and Garin. Garin roared, summoning his obsidian hammer. He swung hard and the sound of stone crushing carapace split the air. Duran’s luminous blue mana surged. A golden arm exploded from his back, a giant greatsword in its hand. The greatsword came down with fury, splitting heaven, cleaving right through the arm of the Fiend. They both glanced at Lucen briefly, an annoyed frown dotting their faces. "Thank you," Lucen groaned, launching himself off the ground with a burst of [Surging Flames]. He saw the soft spot, holed up between a circle of spikes. He cast [Serpent’s Call] reluctantly, his mana drained into the spell and Lucen funnelled it into the spear. A serpent’s head formed from the white light pouring off the spear, hissing violently. Lucen pointed it at the Fiend’s soft spot, and activated [Starfall].