Zero Potential: Chapter 28 (Patreon)

Chapter 28

It’s not really retreating if you are trying to find a tactical advantage, and in this case, that is exactly what Terra was doing. She quickly spun around and began running through the main hallway that was so wide that even with her arms fully extended she would not be able to touch both sides.

Normally, a wider area would be advantageous for her fighting style, but not this time, as most of her strikes and movements would easily be countered by the size of the massive slyvern she was up against. Instead, she decided to go back, towards one of the smaller side trails.

While she was certain the large slyvern could still maneuver through those smaller caverns, especially with the slyvern’s known burrowing capabilities, Terra had a plan. The plan was simple, go to the smaller tunnels, climb up, then jump on the opponent’s back.

Of course, such an act would easily be countered by the slyvern that was actively following her. For now, she had a slight head start as the movement of the massive slyvern was slowed, due to it being forced to wiggle its way free of the debris that had fallen on top of it.

Flicker.

The slyvern matriarch tasted the air, its long arm sized appendage darting out and dancing rhythmically in the air. Its movements so fast, and the tongue so long that it darted out past Terra.

Smiling brightly, Terra used the moment to strike.

Slink.

Her right hand shot out and reacted before her mind even registered her actions. She moved on reflex alone, as her mind had already created a plan. Now it was just time for her body to act on that plan.

Splash.

Hiss.

The giant tongue fell to the ground, Terra’s obsidian blade easily carving through the soft flesh of the snake’s flickering tongue.

As the tongue fell, a green cloud of gas arose. This was a sign of just how poisonous this slyvern was, as poison had managed to permeate every inch of the beast.

The beast momentarily paused as its mind registered the pain.

That was all the time that Terra needed to pull ahead, completely avoiding the poisonous smoke and acid from the bisected tongue and move forward.

Now with the slyvern effectively blind within the confines of the tunnel, Terra once again switched her auras to Obfuscation Aura.

The immediate drain upon her magic was noticed immediately. For she had only managed to regenerate a bit of her magic back with the few seconds that she had her Magic Aura activated. Still this was needed, she was inside the monster’s lair, where it had the immediate advantage. Now it was Terra’s job to take away that advantage.

Tunnel on the right, too tight.

Tunnel on the left, just right.

While the tunnel on the right was possibly ideal for her to climb up, she knew the serpent chasing her would not be able to enter properly.

That was why Terra went left, to the tunnel that she was certain the matriarch slyvern would not need to burrow any further.

She darted in, feeling the minds of lurker spiders, and other creatures in the tunnels. At first Terra thought of eliminating them, especially while they were unaware of her presence, but instead she decided to use them to her advantage.

Running midway through the tunnel, this was the point where she was just far enough away from the entrance that the slyvern chasing her would have to turn and readjust its movements. While also far enough away from the lurker spiders and other scavenger creatures that made nests within these tunnels. At this exact spot, that is where Terra made her move.

Flickering quickly between auras, she made her movement.

Commanding Aura.

Instantly, a wave of violence spread out from her as she felt all the minds in the immediate area spark to life with rage and hatred.

Then with their minds awakened, Terra immediately switched back.

Obfuscation Aura.

With that, all the creatures that had been charging forward from their resting positions suddenly paused. During this time Terra reached out to the sides of the tunnels and placing her dagger clenching fists against the walls, and using the sides of her feet to anchor her position, she began spider climbing up the wall. With deft movements, she climbed to the top of the seven-foot-tall cave, managing to move her body with practiced motions, where her back rested snuggly against the cave ceiling. The tips of her blades providing easy purchase for her to leverage her body up.

Rumble.

The slyvern matriarch had used the time to both catch up and begin making its way into the tunnel. Simultaneously Terra, who had been in the exact center of the cave, began slowly inching her way forward.

Crumble.

Dirt and debris began to fall as she made her way forward, but her actions were hidden by the violent thrashing caused by the slyvern striking into the walls and violently wiggling its way forward.

Bracing.

The tremors caused by the slyvern were jarring, almost causing Terra to slip from her high perch.

On reflex, the slyvern opened its mouth in an apparent attempt to taste the air, but quickly hissed in pain at the realization that its main sensory organ was missing.

Of course, the already riled up lurker spiders, feeling the menacing intention of the slyvern entering their lair acted the way Terra had hoped. They struck out.

Lurker spiders jumped onto the face of the enormous beast.

Thrashing.

With that the slyvern desperately flailed about, its face crashing into the spiders and battering their bodies against the walls.

Thud.

During this time rocks and debris from the ceiling began to fall. Terra too had to release her grip, as the wall that had been supporting her through an exertion of force crumbled away, causing Terra to drop the three feet down to the back of the great beast.

Terr of course, had been preparing for this this moment. With speed and precision on her side, she twisted her hands slightly. Causing the blades in her hands to switch from pointing out towards the walls, to point down towards the beast’s long and exposed back.

Thwick.

The blades sliced through the thick scales of the creature easily. Especially as most of the hard outer coating had already been stripped away through the beast’s desperate attempts to worm its way out of the cave in.

With her actions finally exposed, Terra once again shifted her aura. This time to Magic Aura.

Thrum.

Instantly she felt a surge of energy enter her, as the ambient mana around her began to pour into her, filling her nearly depleted core.

The surge of energy was so great, and the sudden release was so enjoyable that Terra let out a breath of relief.

SLAM.

Only to have that air instantly forced out of her as the slyvern violently twisted its body upwards, slamming Terra into the ceiling.

While Terra herself was dealing with the fact that the bucking slyvern had violently slammed her into the ceiling, the slyvern had inadvertently dug the longer than a mere dagger obsidian blades deeper into its back. Terra also had issues with this, as her chest felt like it was on fire, as the sudden crash had clearly crushed her ribs, fracturing them and forcing the air out of her in slow pained gasps.

Hiss.

The snake cried out in a muted horror that defied comprehension. As the serpent was on the cusp of awakening mental attacks, a fact that was proven by the way the soundwaves created by the serpent instantly caused Terra’s eardrums to rupture and bleed.

Still, this amount of pain was nothing for Terra, as she shook her head and forced her mind to focus.

Realizing her state, Terra twisted her wrists once more, this time trying to turn the blades so that they would lengthen the wounds already generated by the first attack.

Thrashing.

The beast began thrashing, as it began forcefully reversing its path out of the cavern. The movements caused Terra to wince in pain, but she quickly dismissed such feelings, like pain. As pain was what would cause you to tense up and lose focus. Pain was enough to turn the side of a battle for the untrained mind, and Terra’s mind was fully trained, at least when it came to the art of dismissing the sensations of pain. Terra went to that part of her that was closed off, detached from the world. From here, she could think and react clearly, from here she could take down the being of ultimate evil, even with wounds that were deep enough to kill a weaker individual.

With her focus reestablished, Terra twisted the blades once more so that the were facing towards her. Then with an act of defiance, she spread her legs out, and desperately tried to gain traction against the short walls.

Rip.

The traction, little as it was, was enough as the sharp blades, aided by the violent movements of the serpent caused the wounds created by the dangerously sharp obsidian blades to rip and tear the hardened scales of the beast.

Now that the blades had been able to penetrate the skin, so long as Terra had a slight angle to the blades, that allowed them to slide under the protective scales, her blades were able to rip and tear their way through the beast’s hide easily.

Glowing black blood began to rise from the beast.

Once again Terra’s newfound instincts told her of the potency of the blood. While Terra didn’t have the blood curse, its momentary applications still seemed to be present, as the blood that she saw while poisonous was powerful. In her mind, Terra knew of many dark rituals that could utilize this blood to make her stronger.  These were trainings and lessons taught to her among many past lifetimes so she could see the signs of occultists and those who wished to consume the spirit of slain enemies. While she had never actually learned the dark rituals themselves, the signs of attempted spirit consumption were well known throughout the empires.

Then shaking her head again, Terra focused away the thoughts of dark rituals involving blood. Right now she had to defeat a giant beast, one that was now leaving the smaller side tunnels, where the beast’s range of motion was limited, and wiggling its way back to the main chamber.

This was where Terra had to be perfect, or at least in her past life she would have to be perfect. Right now, despite having felt her ribs clearly crunch and break under the strain of being slammed into the ceiling, her Immortal status was already playing its role.

Pop, wheeze.

Her ribs popped back into place, allowing her to take in a full breath of air. Normally such fast-healing times would only be possible with the aid of magic, and long channeled magic at that, but this was different. This time her body healed automatically, but even still, she never left her mind space. Once there, in that detached form that was close to nirvana as possible, Terra decided to act.

Now that Terra found herself in the main chamber, where the widths on each side of the serpent were elongated, Terra enacted the second phase of her plan.

Quickly kicking her legs to the side, she swung right. Then using her momentum, she dragged her blades deep, as she sliced and cut her way down the side of the giant beast, using her body weight and the force of her movement to help tear and pull her way free. As two distinct lines sliced their way deep down the side of the beast.

Splash.

Burning toxic blood crashed onto Terra’s face and skin. Instantly, Terra could feel her skin bubbling up and creating burn blisters that sparked red first and then white.

The pain, if there was any was already gone as Terra was still in her mind space. Meaning, now she could be as mechanical and methodical as she wanted with her attacks.

As soon as her feet reached the bottom, she collapsed to her knees, driving the blades a few more inches down the sides.

Then just as the beast was beginning to register the pain, and began thrashing about trying to crush Terra again, Terra jumped.

The effect wasn’t perfect, particularly with the fact that Terra only managed to halfway clear the beast.

Pinned.

Terra was pinned against the wall, where the corrosive blood of the slyvern was on one side, while the dirt wall was on the other.

Tingling.

Despite having all pain receptors turned off, there were always sensations that were hard to suppress, like the sensation of something tickling you right at the core of an injury.

Still these sensations were easily avoided, as Terra desperately began to scramble, climb, and claw her way up the side of the great beast.

It took time, but Terra was eventually able to dig her blade in long enough for the pain to register with the beast once more.

Whipping, twisting, writhing.

The beast spasmed violently, as it was clearly no longer able to think rationally. This was when Terra fueled by the drunken sense of success, forced her broken limbs and body over the side of the beast. It was clear that the forces had fractured her hip, and her right leg, while her left foot felt like it had almost been twisted off entirely.

Still, this was not enough to stop Terra, particularly as she could already feel the odd tingling sensation of her Immortal curse coming to life and offering a slight healing process to her body.

Fueled by the desire to finish this, Terra once again dug in both obsidian bladed daggers, and pierced the beast’s back, before sliding down the opposite side.

Scrape, tear.

This time Terra only managed to make it down halfway, before she felt her momentum stop. She was right there, only a few inches remained from where the hard scales of the back gave way to the weaker scales of the stomach region. The stomach of course had to be softer, due to the need for both flexibility of movement, and the fact that most callouses would be worn away from constant movements.

Slam.

Terra felt her body slam into the side of the wall once more.

Once more Terra undeterred used this additional force to press her blades deeper.

Slam, slither, slam.

What happened next was an hour of Terra repeatedly being slammed into the side of the walls as the giant beast undulated its way back and forth.

Ten.

Twenty.

A hundred.

Terra felt her body get slammed into the side of the wall over and over again, so many times that she lost count. As she did, she made sure to cut deeper and deeper into the burning and corrosive blood of the serpent.

Only too late into the mess did Terra realize the truth, that the beast had likely died a long time ago, and that all this thrashing about was just the death throes of the wild beast as its body tried to catch up to the fact that the beast’s spirit had left long ago.

Slam.

Still, Terra held on, until she couldn’t. The world went black, as she could no longer force her mind to remain in its detached state.

Darkness.

Slam, slam.

Terra awoke to feel her body healing, thanks to the curse of her Immortality. Only to find that her body registered pain everywhere. In addition to broken and crushed bones, her skin was in the process of being healed right before her eyes. Only to have that very skin be burnt away.

Her entire life was pain.

Terra’s enchanted clothing had long since burnt away, leaving before just Terra in her raw form.

Finally, Terra awoke to find herself in a pool of burning corrosive blood. Blood that no longer held any effect on her body, as her skin that was now forming seemed to have an immunity to such irritants.

When Terra finally came to, she was aware that hours had to have passed, as the beast that had been violently wriggling from side to side was now still.

This was when Terra took inventory of her possessions.

Around her neck, she still wore the pendant from Lady Montague’s family, the one that awakened her bloodline. On her back she could feel the Staff, near her hands were her blades. Blades that Terra swore she could hear calling out to her, and only resting, once she felt their reassuring grip within her palms. Then she found the pouch that held her arcane power stones. Or at least what remained of the pouch, as the leather that had held the stones were gone. However, the arcane power stones, showed how they were items of legend, as they showed no signs of a scuffle at all.

At this point, Terra also paused to take inventory of herself.

Her bones had all been shattered at one point, but were all now in the process of healing back to their perfect form. In fact, if anything Terra felt that her bones were almost being repaired in such a way that they were stronger than before she got hurt.

Next she felt for her mana.

To her relief, when she called, the spark of mana that was inside her sparked to life with a vengeance. As she had apparently passed out with her Mage Aura activated the entire time.

There was one major draw back to the battle, and that was the fact that her hair, had been burnt away. While she was fairly certain that her skin would grow back, she was not aware as to whether the same held true for her hair. Though if all she had to worry about was her hair after such an ordeal, then she considered herself lucky.

The next thing she had to do was deal with any other creatures that might remain. In her mind, she nearly panicked as she remembered the fact that the male slyvern had also survived the initial crushing attack. At least, that was what Terra had remembered.

Staggering her way to her feet, she mentally prepared herself for round two.