"Fucking hell," Eric cursed under his breath as he continued dragging his body while his lower limbs followed uselessly, broken bones jutting out of his torn flesh. "I'm not killing a dying mage...like a coward. To hell with the awakening."
The system's notification stayed floating before him, blinking ominously as if trying to grab his attention no matter what.
Eric wanted to pretend he couldn't understand what the new quest was all about, but he didn't last for long. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed a little stump in the ground and he was finally a few inches away from Winter. The sounds of steel blades against the tough, metallic hide of the beast rang in the air, each clang came with a whooshing sound made from the blades cutting through air before hitting the target. Bux and Summer grunted as they fought the monstrosity, straining their limits even though they didn't seem to be making a lot of damage to the beast.
Eric felt useless...and guilty. The beast was probably here because of him. It might count as a coincidence that the beast screeched at about the same time the system announced the massive reduction in his LUCK stat point, but he knew it was so much one. Now, these brave men stand a chance at death should the fight go any longer without the beast's death.
Even Winter, the one who was supposed to handle this better was knocked out, probably on the brink of losing her life.
'And all I have to deal with is a System informing me to kill a struggling mage to consume her mana...and awaken.'
'Can you fucking read the room?'
[It's a jungle, not a room]
Eric sighed. He reached his hand towards the closest thing he could touch on Winter—her hair. It felt very warm, like there was a heater installed under her scalp. It must be the effect of being able to control fire. He nudged her slowly, moving her head which was half buried with her face down into the soft ground.
There was no satisfactory response aside a deep groan that sounded like it was born from her deepest core. She was really in pain, although there was no facial reveal to prove that, she laid perfectly still.
"Win...ter," his voice cracked as he felt that lingering coppery tang at the back of his throat.
'What am I to do?' he dragged his limp legs closer with his hands. At that moment, his hand brushed past the sharp edge of Winter's soul weapon, the blade that looked like a farming sickle. Though a slight touch, it sliced through the flesh of three of his fingers, drawing blood in its wake. The pain shot through him, piercing at first, then spreading all over his arms till it took over his chest in a burning sensation. It was like a flame torch was lit in his chest, purposely to burn him in torture. It was indeed the Soul weapon belonging to a Fire Mage.
Immediately, the screen came on.
*Chime!*
[HOST HAS MADE DIRECT CONTACT WITH A SOUL WEAPON]
[HOST'S FUSION WITH SOUL WEAPON: 100% COMPLETE]
[The sickle is now yours to control. Grab it to confirm the connection you now have with a soul weapon]
Eagerly, Eric grabbed the sickle by the handle, turning it to take a better look as the reflection of the weird, orange moon shone on it.
Instantly, he felt a tremor run from his hand down the rest of his body. His body jolted like he was being tased. He closed his eyes, enjoying the oddly satisfying feeling.
"I can feel it. Such a wave of pleasure. Ha!"
But he remembered the sickle has a twin, since he had seen it faintly when Winter pulled them out of an invisible space when the red-bellied hounds were stalking them. In his books, the weapon wasn't going to appear cool if it was a single one.
'Where did she drop it?' He searched round with his eyes, squinting to notice a glow on the dark ground, but he saw nothing. Only Summer's longsword occasionally caught the light as he swung it powerfully against the resistant monster.
'She must have fallen on it.'
'Wait, did she...'
"Winter!" he screamed as he immediately pushed her by the shoulder, turning her unresponsive body over so she wasn't lying on her belly anymore. The soft earth took the shape of her body, digging down a few inches.
Her pale face, stained with the dark earth pointed up at the trees with her eyes calmly closed, like she was enjoying a peaceful nap. Eric traced his gaze over to her belly, worried that she might have impaled herself with her soul weapon after she fell. But he was relieved when he saw that there was no wound, or no thick red coating her already red clothes.
Instead, he found the second sickle on the patched ground where she was rolled away by him.
'No, I wasn't worried about her...'
'It's just the sickle. Yes, I only feared she'd swallowed the sickle...'
[Indeed, host. Indeed.]
Winter stirred a little, opening her mouth slightly to let our a soft groan that bore testament to her anguish. She was still unresponsive even after Eric tapped her lightly, quite comforted that she might make it through after all.
WHOOSH! CLANG!
"Aaaaaaaarrgh!" Summer yelled in pain, as his longsword snapped in the middle, causing a reverberating sound rippling through the jungle upon his last impact with the beast. He stumbled out of its attack range, grabbing his thigh as blood gushed out of the large wound where the beast's natural blade had seared him. Bux remained, facing the beast while swinging his mallet-like weapon. He stood his ground, circling it round, and again set for another face-off.
Summer's slow cry of anguish created a background track, while Bux swung the hammer, making a whooshing sound that sounded in tune.
'They will all die. They are dying already.'
[Well, won't you help?]
'How? I'm healing very slowly. I can't even stand on my own.'
[Ugh! I hate that you can't do some basic calculations on your own...]
[You have the soul weapon! You can definitely control it from where you lay uselessly. I mean, why do you think it's called a soul weapon? Because it gives you a jolt when you hold it? C'mon]
"Don't scold me like you're my parent. How do I control it?"
[You only have to think of it. You already have a strong hold on the sickle. Lift it with your mind and play it like a game]
Lift it, he didn't. He dropped the two discs, raising his hands and making them fall from a higher ground. The discs came rolling down, but just a few moments from touching the ground, he psychically wished they stopped.
They did, hovering in the air while turning slowly at a fixed point.
Eric felt the overwhelming control he had over the discs. It was like he was moving his own arms but in a far better and lazy manner. If only he could control a lot of other things with his mind. 'Telekinesis might be the best skill ever for a lazy bum like me.'
Raising his face up with a sudden jerk, he willed for the discs to bound straight for the target, the beast.
That was when he took a proper look at the monstrosity in their circle. The name he had in mind—Grotesque—might be such a wrong description, because this beast had a unique and imposing figure, and bone curdling at that.
It had a little head which took only a tiny fraction of the rest of its body. The most prominent feature of its head was the two big, glowing red eyes that had a black slit for pupils. Its mouth was just a thin, hard line with extensions jutting out like the feelers of an ant.
It stood about seven feet tall when it raised itself on his hind limbs, always screeching with every attack it rendered. Its body was rough but lustrous and tough, almost like he wore plates of armour to protect a delicate part of its body. It had six crustacean-like limbs, two of which were at the back, useless for attacks but solid and stable enough to support its overwhelming weight. The two middle limbs were long—the longest—and they always moved, swinging wildly at its opponents since it had better reach and even better protective layer against attacks. The middle limbs had sharp, sword-like shape for hands, and the sword hands were jagged on the edges, shaped like saw blades with a pointy end.
The topmost limbs, massive and befitting a monster, were simply shaped like human hands, able to grab and crush. For nails it has hideous long claws, deep brown and dirty to the eyes.
Eric felt like puking just from the mere sight of it. An offensive odour also accompanied the beast's movements, which must have been why he found himself unconsciously wrinkling his nose.
'I love fighting hideous monsters...but that's only in games.'
'Let's see how long I last with this weapon.'
WHOOSH!
The two discs cut throught the air, sailing past Bux who's back was turned to Eric. The grumpy man must have sensed the incoming attack, so he turned away from the beast, pivoting on his heels and tried to hack them down, swinging his hammer powerfully at the two discs.
But Eric immediately moved the discs away from the hammer's reach, zooming then higher out of range. And with a powerful will, sent them slicing through the still air straight to the top of the beast's head.
The discs hacked at the beast's head repeatedly before it could be quick enough to brush them away. Eric took the discs out of its reach while circling them round and over its head.
The repeated attacks on the beast's head had only made a few scratch, nothing fatal enough to crack the hard exoskeleton.
The beast's attention was now completely shifted away from Bux. Although there was enough open space for an easy attack on the beast, Bux lost focus and wouldn't use his hammer. Instead he stared heatedly at Eric who was sitting innocently by a tree, cradling his broken leg like it was child.
From the look on Eric's face, it was hard to tell if he was the one in control of Winter's discs, because he only stared at his own shadow, sniffing like a crybaby. But he kept the discs moving without even looking, sending them in and out of the beast's attack range while hacking uselessly at the tough skin.
Summer gawked also, looking from Winter who was still unconscious to Eric who seemed out of focus. Of course, there was no way "the squirm" would be able to control a Mage's Soul weapon. He knew other mages who had tried to take control over another mage's soul weapons but failed. So, Eric was indeed out of the question, to him.
But both Bux and Summer kept staring, lost for words at the strange happening. Was Winter controlling the discs even while unconscious? Or has the discs grown a mind of their own and helping them out?
Eric looked up once again, pretending to be amazed at the scene as well. The beast continued trying to bring the discs down without success. He saw Summer ripping his sleeves off and with the fabric, tied the sick wound the beast had cursed on him. He let out a painful sound, nodding his head back as he knotted the piece of cloth before standing up gingerly.
"Don't gawk for long, Bux. We'll settle the disc matter later. Let's kill this bummer monster first," his voice sounded thick with fury.
Eric stared simply, happy that they won't be staring at him again. "Go fight, you bums while I play my game from here," he muttered under his breath.
With his broken sword, Summer lunged at the beast, yelling from his core. Bux followed, grunting like this was never meant to last this long.
Eric continued trying to find a weak point. For now, the only possible weak point was the beast's eyes, but it was hard to penetrate because the discs will simply be swatted away like a fly should he start a direct frontal attack.
'Time to get serious,' he sat up, fully focused, determination written on his face.
But he lost his focus after a few seconds because at that point, Winter suddenly jerked up, rising from her lying state with a face that was near as pale as the colour of her hair.
And the first thing she tried to grab was her soul weapon.
"Where is it?" she gasped, still dazed.