Chapter 10 A way in the dark
“I can’t let you stop me!”
Vandal’s face turned ice-cold. A ferocious strength surged from deep within him as a glowing Echo Mark flared to life in his body. Instantly, his internal organs rapidly shifted and strengthened, transforming into those of a bone-mouthed bear.
He pushed all thoughts of his internal changes aside and channeled every bit of his resonance energy into his fists.
Stamping his foot hard into the ground, he anchored himself.
BAM!
Faruk’s heavy fist slammed into his face with brutal force. Vandal’s nose broke with a sickening crunch, but he didn’t budge. His feet dug deeper into the dirt as he absorbed the blow. A sharp, electric pain exploded across his face, his nose swelling instantly and throbbing with intense tenderness. In the same breath, his small but empowered fist shot forward like a cannonball, smashing straight into Faruk’s stomach.
CRACK!
A sickening bone-crushing sound rang out.
“Gaaahhh!” Faruk’s eyes bulged in shock and agony as the air was violently driven from his lungs.
He flew backwards, tumbling helplessly through the air.
Before he could even hit the ground, a massive black-glass spider lunged forward. Its long, dagger-like legs snatched him mid-air.
“No! No, Get off me! Elder! Help… AAAAAAHHH!!”
Faruk’s terrified screams filled the air as the spider rapidly wrapped him in thick, silky webs, mummifying him alive. His desperate cries were quickly muffled as the creature dragged his struggling body into the dark bushes and disappeared.
Kennedy stared in utter shock, his eyes wide with disbelief. Even Emeka froze, the whip slipping forgotten in his grip. The boy who had just overpowered a fully grown adult warrior now stood before them like a nightmare come to life.
“He’s somehow gone berserk from the Mawrot essence… yet he’s still sane?” Kennedy muttered, desperately trying to make sense of the madness he had just witnessed.
A cruel smile slowly twisted across his face.
“My turn, kid. You answer to me now. You are mine!”
Kennedy leapt forward like a predator closing in on wounded prey. The moment his foot touched the ground, he exploded forward with terrifying speed, moving like a gust of wind. The raw power of a Stage Six Resonance warrior was overwhelming, far beyond anything Vandal could hope to withstand.
“You can’t escape me!”
Kennedy yanked out a red vial and hurled it to the ground. Flames erupted violently around them as he charged after Vandal, the fire licking at his heels.
Vandal ran with everything he had, propelling himself eight meters straight toward the nearest black-glass spider. Kennedy’s outstretched hands were already inches away from grabbing his small frame.
This was it… his final gamble.
“If you don’t help me right now,” Vandal snarled through gritted teeth, “I’ll kill myself!”
He forced his other eye wide open.
Its pupil dilated with a sickening pulse, exposing a deep abyssal chasm that seemed to swallow all light. A ring of fiery crimson energy swirled around the endless black void, pulsing with ancient, hungry power.
Vandal launched himself forward with arms spread wide.
A spider’s razor-sharp leg came stabbing down toward his skull, but at the last second, his abyssal eye locked onto the spider’s own eye.
Kkeeeeerrrgh!
The black-glass spider suddenly shrieked and twisted violently. Its deadly bladed leg changed trajectory mid-strike, no longer aiming for Vandal, but swinging straight toward Kennedy’s head as the old man closed in.
Kennedy’s expression changed abruptly. He quickly formed a water shield and blocked the strike at the last second.
Shiiink!
He felt a warm sensation spreading from his stomach. Looking down, he saw a small hand had stabbed deep into his abdomen. Blood flowed out, mixed with a hint of sickly green ooze.
“Bleegh!”
Kennedy coughed up a mouthful of blood. He savagely kicked Vandal in the gut, but the force of the kick sent the boy flying backward into the bushes.
Another bladed leg came hurtling toward Kennedy. He blocked it again with his watery shield. At that moment, five black-glass spiders launched simultaneous attacks on him. Just as their deadly blades were about to descend, a whip lashed out and wrapped tightly around his waist, yanking him backward to safety.
The five bladed legs, coming from different directions, stabbed into empty dirt instead.
Vandal coughed out blood as his back bounced off a tree. He fell headfirst onto the ground. An intense pain was once again spreading throughout his body.
“It’s… it’s coming back. Damn it!” Vandal clutched his gut. The Mawrot essence was gaining strength again. Since he was no longer actively combating it with his own poison, it had already begun rotting his organs and melting the flesh of his intestines.
“I can’t stay here… I… I have to keep moving.”
Vandal forced his feet forward, running in a staggering manner. The ground had begun to vibrate as if something massive was approaching.
The sound of long, sharp legs stabbing into the earth was drawing closer to his location.
“Shit!” He forced himself to keep running. Crouching from the pain, he could feel the Mawrot essence heading straight for his brain.
“I can’t let this thing turn me into a zombie. How did it come to this?”
He kept dragging himself forward, swallowing mouthfuls of air, until he heard the sound of water flowing in the distance.
Only a few minutes later.
“This is so beautiful… I don’t remember this part of the forest in any of my stolen memories.”
Vandal stared in complete awe at the new landscape spread out before his eyes. A large waterfall cascaded down, its water curtain disappearing into a deep pool. White splashes sprayed onto the giant rocks along the shore, while water droplets leaped and sparkled like pearls. Dense water vapor rose above the pool like a misty net.
The gut-wrenching pain quickly dragged him back to reality. His head felt like someone was slowly driving a kitchen knife into his brain.
Two of the spiders arrived at the clearing first. One of them immediately shot its web at Vandal.
“Damn it all to hell!”
Vandal quickly jumped into the freezing pool like a swift arrow. The coolness of the water rushed into his pores, bringing a brief moment of relief from the intense pain.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
Six giant spiders leaped into the water one by one. They floated above the surface like boats, their eight massive legs churning the water as they swam aggressively toward Vandal.
“Shit! Shit! I can’t swim fast enough! This pain is twisting my insides!”
Vandal frantically tried to push away from them, but they were already within striking distance.
His eyes widened in terror.
Sixteen bladed legs stabbed down viciously toward him.