Between a Rock and a Carapace

85. The Secret Technique of my Elders

Sunk deep into meditation, my mind is cool and composed, the pain ringing on the outside of my awareness. I can take this. I can handle it. Get that healing spell going ASAP and worry about everything else later.

Pushing my legs, I drag my damaged body to some sort of cover as my two most powerful minds cooperate to throw together some Healing Magic. It only takes a few seconds, but it feels like an eternity before the spell is complete and my flesh begins to knit back together.

It isn’t enough, though, the damage is severe. Whatever that damn eyebeam was, it was strong enough to cut through my carapace like paper. I think a piece of stomach is hanging outside of my body. Yuck. I can only hope the demon was hurt bad enough to keep it from coming over here and finishing me off. My spell definitely sliced it, hopefully my acid will help create a distraction as well.

I hunker down for a few tense moments as I spin together another healing spell to lay onto myself. The second it starts ticking, I flex my legs and Dash out from behind the rock.

BOOM!

Just before the thing explodes. Nice timing, Anthony! Shards of stone clatter off my carapace, falling like rain across the whole combat area in the wake of that explosion. The sand kicks up into a wave of precious, vision-blocking dust that allows me to jink while I reach out with my Mana Sense to grasp the location of the creature.

Every second brings me closer to full health! Hold on, ant! You can do it! Even as my health increases, there’s another problem becoming more and more urgent. My stamina is falling. I’ve been dashing about like mad ever since this fight started, and I’m getting pretty darn tired!

Although I can keep healing myself and drag the fight out, I’m pitting my own physical stamina against the little demon’s mental stamina, and I’m not confident that’s a battle I can win.

Before my situation becomes too desperate and I can no longer run, I need to heal up and bet everything on the next strike! And that last exchange gave me a hint. This is going to get crazy.

I keep dodging about to buy more time. As the dust clears, I get a clear view of my opponent. The acid does appear to have done some work, along with my ice pillar. Dark blood is dripping down the monster’s arm, and one of its leathery bat wings has a gaping hole. Oddly enough, the hole doesn’t have any effect on the creature’s ability to stay airborne. There must be some sort of trickery there. It still isn’t nimbly flying about, however, rather just hovering in one place. There must be a reason for that. At least, I hope to heck there’s a reason for that.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Seemingly enraged, the creature throws out blast after blast, forcing me to dodge and dash with all my strength. That eerie mouth that appears to be suspended in midair attached to nothing, keeps grinning, as if it were the Cheshire cat. Only the mouth is large enough to swallow a sheep whole.

It’s creepy!

No matter! I’m about as ready as I’m going to get. Dragging this out is only going to make things more disadvantageous to me.

The eye appears to be drained of energy, the green no longer as bright and glaring as it was before, but over time, it’s been recovering. This could mean that the eye can’t use its mega-beam laser continuously, having to wait for a recharge. Or it could be a trick. Either way, I still have to go for it.

Reluctantly, I let go of both the Mana constructs I’ve held onto. For the plan I have in mind, I’m not going to need them, and if it doesn’t work out, I’m still not going to need them!

With all four of my brains free and focused, I hone my senses onto the floating beast with razor-sharpness. I can see it all. The heat, the movement, the Mana, even that little whisper of the future. I’m going to need all of it for this. If things go well, this scene is going to detonate under the watching Shapers like a quake.

Breathe, Anthony. Just breathe. Focus and bring it home.

FOR THE COLONY!

[I WANT YOUR PAAAAIN. I WANT YOUR FLESSSSSH! I WANT YOUR SOUUULLL! GIVE THEM TO MEEE!]

[I hope you taste nearly as good as you fight!]

The high speed dance begins as I try to close in on the monster, dashing and dodging ever closer whilst he fires off exploding missiles of death. With all of my brains on deck, the three sub-brains cooperating with the aid of the coordination cortex, I can follow the flow of the fight much better than before. I sense the spells faster, my body reacts quicker, and those echoes of the future are more helpful when I have the available brain power to take them in.

POW! POW! POW!

I weave in acid blasts to keep the monster distracted, trying to throw the monster off its game. Every little bit of attention I can distance myself from will help in the long run!

My enhanced reactions are firing on all cylinders. Even the eyeball is getting frustrated, his eye glowing brighter and brighter, and his little gestures become angrier every time he waves his hand. Feeling pressure yet, little demon? I’m coming for you!

CLACK!

I snap my mandibles hard and the sound echoes around the combat area.

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

As I race from place to place, narrowly dodging and skirting around the explosions, I continue to clack my mandibles to taunt the demon. The eye bulges with rage, the worm-like capillaries swelling with fluid as the once-smiling mouth snarls.

GWEHEHEHEHE! Yesssss. Get mad, get distracted. I’m coming for you!

As I get close to within thirty metres, I can sense the time is coming and my mind sharpens to a razor’s edge. Any second now!

I’m dashing across the creature, moving from the left to its right at high speed. This manoeuvre is going to be tough as heck. Mighty Slayer, lend me your strength!

The eye starts to flare bright as the creature raises its hand. I’m so focused, the limb almost appears to move in slow motion. With a flick of that little bony wrist, six flares of Mana spark from the monster. Six, huh? You were still holding back on me. No matter, I have you now!

Before the small spheres of destruction appear, I can already see them. Little echoes of the future, almost transparent, fly outward in a broad arc, trying to entrap me in a wall of explosions.

I leap into action, every nerve in my body firing. My legs kick and dig at the dirt as I try to arrest my momentum and change direction. My body turns to face the monster as I slide. Those ghostly future-images of the deadly spells are followed by the real thing, and the six spheres materialise and blast outward. My minds are wound so tight, I can feel them screaming in pain. I can’t breathe, I can’t think. All of my focus is on those spells and the feel of my body.

The time is coming! Don’t miss it. Miss and I’m dead. Don’t die. Don’t die! DON’T DIE!

JUMP!

The moment I stop sliding across the sand and my claws dig into the ground, I calculate the angle and jump. The future echo of the spells are already right in front of my face, the real thing a mere heartbeat behind. As I leap, my legs spread wide to allow one of the spells to pass between them before it impacts the ground beneath me.

The detonation sears the underside of my body and pain ravages my minds, but more important than that, the force of the explosion, combined with the lift from my own jump, propels me straight toward the monster at impossible speed.

[IT’S A ROCKET JUMP, FOOL! DOOM GUY LIVES IN MEEEEEEEEE!]