Run? Crow thought to himself. All the things he faced, he didn’t understand why he felt this thing was so troublesome. He wanted to draw and shoot an arrow, but instinct said otherwise.

Grabbing a piece of scrap metal from his Vortex Pin, he threw it back the way they came. Throwing the object didn’t attract the thing, but when the scrap metal hit the ground, the Dobhar-chu’s body tensed. Head and fur turned toward the sound, and it hopped-ran toward its prey.

Knowing Faelan didn’t hear the conversation, he bolted toward her and said in a low voice, “run!”

Crow and Faelan bolted across the cavern. As they moved away from the original Dobhar-chu, more otter-like creatures slithered out of the holes. In the water, those beasts were swift, but on land, their elongated bodies and short legs slowed them down. How they ran and hopped simultaneously made it appear like they were trying to swim on land. Even if they were slower, they were still faster than an average cultivator.

“Fuck me,” Crow growled as he fired arrow after arrow at the things. None of them did any damage, but the force of impact bowled them over. He watched as their fur twisted and lined up with the impact point of the arrow dispersing the kinetic impact. He might have leisurely observed their uniqueness if he wasn’t on their dinner menu.

All physical attacks against them were almost useless as they continued accepting attack after attack without showing the slightest harm. It was to the point Crow didn’t even bother to use his Star Arrow’s explosive capability. Primarily because he believed it might harm or kill one or two, but overall the effect wouldn’t be all that great. Instead, he’d be wasting an arrow that might be necessary later.

His vine abilities weren’t as effective in this environment because they became inflexible and jagged, like thorns. There was just too much Stone Mana present. A druid circle might help, but it would transform his vines into an elemental counterpart containing either Stone or Water Mana—neither of which was helpful in this situation.

The water vines were unhelpful because they could restrain a few, but in the end, he’d just exhaust himself to death. Stone attacks were still predominantly kinetic, despite being a spell. Earth might help, but the ground is still mostly stone, so he couldn’t forcibly create something like a mud pit. Fire, ice, and maybe lightning carried a penetrative attack that ignored defense somewhat, but other than his Night Fire, he didn’t have techniques that used those elements to attack. Thinking along that line, he felt he should devise a method like the vines that could show the most potential as a fire-based attack.

Cooree! Cooree!

The beasts let out a series of whistling sounds as they communicated. Crow knew that wasn’t a good sign as it indicated intelligence and potentially pack animals.

More and more of the things filled up the passage, and he had a harder time dodging them all. There were a handful of cuts on his arms from their vicious tails, and Crow could see the taint of their mana. The flesh around the wounds was black as if frostbitten, which it technically was.

“Faelan, come to me. I’ll send you inside.”

“You sure?” She asked; her blades never stopped deflecting the beasts. It was all she could do because their fur would lock her weapon into place, so she couldn’t remove it. She had already lost a few daggers that way which only made her angry.

“Yes. I’m afraid this corruption won’t be easily solved if you get hit. I’m protected because of my heavenly fire.” As she watched, the black flames inside him burned away the damaged flesh, eradicating the Dobhar-chu’s ice-type toxins.

Faelan knew Crow was right and that she could easily become more of a burden than an aid in this situation. Mara might be his general and tactician, but she couldn’t compare to Faelan’s combat awareness on the battlefield. Instead of protesting, she nodded in agreement.

Feinting toward the closest beast, she jumped sideways, and Crow grabbed her. Immediately after coming in contact with her, he didn’t hesitate to send her inside. Lily arrived before him and pointed toward the right wall.

Unsure what she was up to, Crow followed her direction. Dodging the constant barrage of attacks, he kept following the path his little fae directed him. The route was easier because there weren’t as many beasts in these areas.

With so many beasts after him, his only option was to use his future vision. It was easy to use, but prolonged use gave him a vicious headache. Not only that, but he swapped weapons and used his falcata because he could imbue it with Night Fire.

Afterward, he wove through the beasts without slowing down. His blade finally drew blood, but he wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. The moment one of those things died, the sound of their whistling changed. It was more aggressive and jagged—worse; it felt like they were chanting a spell. The mana building up behind made him feel threatened.

KaBoom!

Crow felt the cavern wall beside him explode, sending shards of rock outward like shrapnel. He wasn’t sure if that was supposed to happen, but luckily most of the damage was absorbed by the Dobhar-chu instead of him.

It wasn’t until he felt himself getting smashed into the far wall that he felt the pain of getting struck. The attack was too sudden to respond, and Crow climbed back to his feet amid a pile of beast corpses. Stumbling, he kept running but glanced toward the explosion. What he saw almost made him pass out from fright.

There was a Dobhar-chu that was as big as a wagon. Its tail flailed about with the fish fin on the end, reaping lives like a scythe.

Now it wasn’t just Crow that was fleeing. Beasts and man were escaping in all directions, trying to get away from that monstrosity. In all the madness, he made it through the minefield of holes but ran into more trouble—Scath.

The noise brought them in droves, but they weren’t after him. He killed the few that had noticed him but ignored the rest.

COOREE!

The whistling sound of the giant Dobhar-chu caused the first wave of Scath to explode. It even rattled Crow’s Soul, causing him to spit up blood. Thankfully, he was tougher than both the beasts and the Shadowmen. Nevertheless, if he had been directly in front of that attack, there was no telling what it would’ve done to him.

The suction force that followed forced him to stab his blade deep into the stone and hold on. Turning back to see what was happening, he saw the very nightmare he imagined—that enormous mouth devouring everything. Corpses, beasts, and the remaining Scath flew toward that gaping maw and disappeared into its darkness.

Shuddering, Crow could only hold on until it passed.