Chapter 34: I remembered your name
1361 Words
The Field Boar they were trying to take down has shapeshifted into the form of an enormous nine-tailed mythical beast that has the ability to absorb the mana around the proximity.
Lilith cowered in fear while holding Adriel at a safe distance. As the occurrence of the unprecedented event, Arion had no choice but to face the enemy head-on.
"No matter how many times I calculate my survivability upon escaping... why is it always zero?!" Arion exclaimed directly in his head.
Apparently, thanks to the enemy's sharp tongue, he affirmed that he's also a chosen one who came from the earth. If he remembered correctly, he's a man that surpassed the demi-god who is considered the strongest hero of the greek mythology known as Heracles.
Overcoming a man who was bestowed divine authority sounds impossible, but everything is real and his enemy can literally devour an entire person without a trace. That's why he could hear from the gossips that a monster was devouring mages and wizards, although he didn't know they were connected.
"I shall devour everything! So first... let me taste the mana of your soul..." The spiritual chains gradually attaching to Arion's limbs that cannot be touched nor grasp, yet it continues to strangle Laken spiritually and not physically.
"What is this?!" Arion never panicked and heightened his senses. The chains came from below the soil, which is restricting his entire body. He can move and run away but he figured something will happen to him if he rushed to conclusions.
"Arion! That's bounded chains! It slowly drains away from your mana!" Adriel exclaimed to him.
"So what does it feel? This world's foundation is mana; indicating the magic itself. This skill can extract the mana in the most painful way, so let me hear your greatest scream!" He laughed like a madman, along with the howl of the nine-tailed mythical beast he possessed.
However, Arion was just standing there as if nothing was happening to him. "Oh! If you're pertaining to mana, I have none. That's why I don't feel anything at all."
"Don't fool around! A chosen one without magic? Bluffs won't work on me!" The paws of the mythical beasts tense up, chains that strangle his soul in the process of the extraction tighten up but Arion won't budge an inch.
"You're the one who is fooling around. Now take this!" Arion took the chance of the enemy's confused state. He gathered forces from below and leaped higher and higher performing a sky-dive assault.
Accumulating the entire drive on his right sole, he made sure the mechanical carapace are sideways so the corner could act as a sharp blade. Aiming directly for the head of the mythical beast, he instead kicked his jaws detaching half of the lower mouth, rendering him of the inability to bite.
"What have you..." The beast's blood spews all over the grasses. His fierce red eyes could make anyone be traumatized for eternity. But Arion never faltered and looked straight ahead of the resolution he must catch on.
"What kind of fool struggles in this world without magic? Welp, I guess you are truly blind eh?" His voice was directed at his head that's why he's the only one who can hear him speaking. Later this beast swiped upward as if he was navigating his own system interface.
"Wait..." Arion stopped while he's trembling.
"I am hiding my status information. Now I removed it, so you can see just how pitiful you are!" He roared the might of the mythical beast he is, along with the inexplicable information written above his head.
Name: (Hidden - Level too low to decipher)
Level: 192
Class: Devourer
Rank: Legend
HP: 12392084
MP: 29047261
Wisdom: 50%
Strength: 70%
Dexterity: 40%
Luck: 15%
Buffs: Mythical Fox (Morph) | High Health Regen | Supreme Mana Regen
The first thing that crossed Arion's mind is utter silence, and seconds later the silence became a thundering echo of the word 'death' upon his head. Hundreds of questions being processed inside his head crashed his mind to the point he could no longer move.
He's paralyzed not because he felt fear, but because he understood the true meaning of the obstinate and impossible existence of a predator standing at the apex of the magical world he lives in.
Numbers that reached a million, a status that exceeds a hundred percent, buffs that should defy the very science he knew, and most of all, a level that he couldn't dream of reaching overshadowed the hope he kept in his heart.
"I have a little trivia... you know that I level up whenever I devour a being, right?" This beast still had time to chat with him.
Sweat rolls right below his sideburns. "What is it...?" He gulped buckets as if he drank an entire glass of water.
"Amongst the 191 that I killed... 20 of them are chosen ones of Althas! I've devoured at least 20 of the chosen ones destined by the Goddesses. I can take their form but I will not because they are too weak. And now... with your partner, you shall be the next couple!" The mythical beast has yet again roared that pierces the soul of those who hears it.
Weakness, silence, pity, hopelessness, and utter defeat, Arion turned his back against an impossible adversary and ran for his life. He dragged both Lilith and Adriel without saying a single word, his tight-lipped mouth proves he has learned yet another valuable lesson that he wished he uncovered must earlier.
"I shouldn't have underestimated this magical world of unknown... but even so, I must run! I must run so I can live and see the end of it!" Arion shouted those words that echoed across the Boulderkeep Plateau.
Lilith can tell his cold hand is trembling, and Adriel did not saw the eyes of someone who lost all hope, and instead witnessed the blinding hope she also lost.
"You cannot escape Arion! Needles of the Fox; Pierce the Heaven!" His adversary chanted a specific spell.
Small needles as long as a skewer appeared in thin air around the mythical nine-tailed fox, and a moment later these countless needles darted in their direction; a fast projectile that can rival a bullet's speed.
At the same time when the enemy chanted magic that would spell their demise, Lilith suddenly tripped up and was left behind. Arion is aware he no longer have enough time to dodge the incoming needles while also saving Lilith so what he did was something he should do.
"Mechanical Exoskeleton: Full Throttle!" Arion exclaimed.
He jumped in front of Lilith and with open arms up to the sky, he blocked all of the incoming needles on his own. Adriel immediately managed to evade, she regretted not giving them the speed-up potion she was saving for the last spark.
"Let us confirm if you can keep up!" A roar filled his ears with fear. Still, he never received the dread of perishing.
The light Lilith saw when she first met him illuminated a false hope they kept their hold onto. Arion never faltered, he received the flurry of needles coming at him not letting a single projectile get past through his guard.
"I shall not–" Arion's sentence has been cut off when one of the needles pierced through his left eye, and the second he blinked his right eye, both of the limbs he had has been detached from his torso.
The grasp of his hands was so tight that even after his arms were cut off, its clutch stays the same. Due to the damage he received, blood spewed all over, splashing right at Lilith's face, he's unable to move or do anything.
Despair has undertaken everything, Arion ultimately accepted he would die, not until the crimson hair of a familiar girl appeared at the last flash of his life.
"I'm sorry if I'm late, Arion... I will not let you die at the hands of this monster!" The girl's voice was ever crying.
"...why... I finally remembered your name... during that one time you were late when our first subject began."
- Writer
