Chapter 47. Rank Six

The ground began to tremble every few seconds—something enormous was walking ahead. Slow, but unbelievably heavy.

I heard the crash of breaking stone, and fragments flew in our direction. A few hit me—nothing serious, just a couple scratches. Rem was fine.

Then another sound followed. The stone fragments that fell to the ground suddenly turned into glowing birds and vanished. Almost immediately after that, something broke again, and from time to time chunks of stone flew toward us, but they disappeared after a few seconds. Those must have been golems.

Rem stopped, and dozens of magic circles began appearing around us—large ones, each about four meters in diameter. Golems started stepping out of them. Huge, eight-meter stone giants. I think there were around thirty.

As soon as all the golems had appeared, the magic circles vanished, and the golems immediately rushed forward.

A potion vial appeared in Rem’s hand. She drank it quickly and tossed the empty vial onto the ground. Fifteen to twenty seconds later, the noise ahead became even louder. More debris flew our way, more shattered stone.

And it looked like the fog was beginning to thin—as if someone was waving a gigantic fan. Through the fading veil, I saw the silhouette of something unbelievably large ahead. It methodically destroyed smaller figures in front of it.

A few seconds later, I saw that figure more clearly. And then it became obvious that those “smaller” silhouettes in front of it were Rem’s eight-meter golems. Which meant that creature was at least five times taller than them.

About forty meters tall. And since it looked quadrupedal, its length had to be seventy meters—maybe even eighty.

What even is that thing?

Its body was black, like it swallowed light. Its head… no, can you even call it a head? It was a massive maw. One continuous mouth. Tentacles writhed around it. Two especially massive ones stood out on the left and right—those were the ones it swung, smashing Rem’s golems like toy sand soldiers.

Stone shards flew in every direction.

Even more magic circles appeared around us—the same large ones as before. New golems started emerging. I think around a hundred. Without wasting a second, they immediately charged toward the huge creature.

Another potion vial appeared in Rem’s hand. She drank it quickly and, just like before, threw the empty vial onto the ground.

Meanwhile, the monster kept crushing golems as if they were toys.

I didn’t know what to do. Should I rush that thing too? No. Those golems were strong enough. And if even they—in such numbers—couldn’t handle the monster, then I probably couldn’t do anything either.

Besides, Rem wasn’t attacking. So I should stay put too. The moment she moves in, I’ll follow her.

And if something happens, I can always teleport both of us into the training room. So it’s better to stay close to Rem.

And then something flew overhead. A flash of light—incredibly fast—and it struck the monster right in the head. The blinding brightness made me squeeze my eyes shut.

The next moment, a deafening explosion roared. Even from here, about three hundred meters away, I felt the heat of the shockwave.

What was that? An ally?

Maybe Sherial? She’s Rem’s partner. Though… is she capable of an attack that destructive? Considering what Rem can do, it probably really was Sherial. After an explosion like that, there was no way the monster could survive, despite its size and power.

When the light faded and my vision gradually returned, I saw something unbelievable.

The creature was still standing.

A third of its head was gone—the charred edges were still smoldering—and one of its massive tentacles was missing too.

Its remaining head was pointed straight toward us.

Also, all of Rem’s golems that had been fighting it seemed to have been destroyed by the explosion itself.

The creature began moving toward us—slowly, but steadily.

Magic circles appeared around us again. About a hundred.

And the creature started speeding up.

The golems managed to appear and surged forward, but the creature was already close. It smashed the golems aside, heading straight for us. I tightened my grip on my sword without thinking.

So… what can I do?

I have the Berserk skill. I activated it.

The fear that had been locking me down retreated, replaced by boiling rage. I moved forward.

—Back!—Rem shouted, but I still lunged ahead. Time to finish this creature.

It kept destroying golems right in front of me. I saw the remaining tentacle sweep them away like toys. But I didn’t stop.

Attacking the head is useless—it’s too high.

To hell with it. I’ll start with a leg. If it falls, then I’ll deal with the head.

My target is clear.

I charged straight toward its leg.

And in the next instant, something hit me from the side—from the left. Something enormous. Painful. But bearable.

Even in midair I realized what it was—a tentacle. The same one it used to smash golems.

The creature was quickly getting farther away…

No—I was the one flying farther and farther away from it.

Damn it. It tossed me like a toy.

A few seconds later, I slammed into the ground, rolled dozens of meters, and finally stopped.

Damn it.

I’ll show that creature what happens to anyone who makes me angry.

I tried to get up, but I couldn’t.

What the hell?

I looked at my arm.

My left arm.

What is… that?

It looked wrong. Too wrong. More like a stump of meat barely held together than an arm.

I tried moving my legs—they didn’t respond.

My right arm looked a little better than the left, but… it seemed broken too.

What the hell?

I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t answer. I could only lift my head a little. Looks like I didn’t break my neck. Although… damn it, blood was flooding my vision. I couldn’t see with my left eye anymore.

And yet… I felt fine. Too fine.

How?

I opened the status window.

A little over 30,000 HP.

What the hell?!

I lost more than two hundred thousand HP from a single hit?!

And in general…

Okay, I need to drink a potion.

No. First I need to kill that creature for what it did to me.

No… first the potion.

Damn it, it’s hard to focus.

Berserk makes it hard to think clearly.

Okay, turn it off. Turn it off…

A-a-a-ah..!

No, no.

I activated Berserk again, barely managing to switch it off for a moment.

It hurt too much.

Even with Berserk active, I felt pain… but not as much. More like irritation than real pain.

So… how do I restore my health?

My arms don’t work. My legs don’t either.

And it looks like my HP is still dropping.

I stared up at the sky and activated Alchemy. A third-rank healing potion appeared about forty centimeters above me.

Okay. Now I need to catch it with my mouth.

From that distance it shouldn’t be a problem. The vial appeared in a convenient spot. I opened my mouth wide, and the potion started falling.

Yeah. No problem at all.

The vial hit my lips and teeth, bounced aside, and fell to the ground.

Damn it. Damn it!

Okay, I have two attempts left. I don’t have enough mana to create more than that at third rank. First- and second-rank potions probably won’t help in my situation… though if it doesn’t work, I’ll have to try them too.

I activated Alchemy again.

A third-rank healing potion appeared right above me. I was ready and waited for it to fall. And it did.

I caught it.

Now I need to open it. Open the cap with my tongue? No, to hell with that.

I clenched the vial between my teeth.

The glass cracked and shattered. I felt the liquid flow down my throat and begin spreading through my body.

Warm, deeply soothing energy.

A few seconds later, I could move my right hand. The left still wouldn’t obey. I checked the status window—my HP stopped dropping. No, it started increasing. Already over a hundred thousand… and still rising. It stopped just below one hundred thirty thousand. When I came to my senses a little, I spat shards of broken glass out of my mouth.

Okay, my right hand works now. Another week—and I’ll be able to get back into the fight.

No, to hell with that—what am I thinking? I’m thinking wrong.

I deactivated Berserk. The moment I turned it off, pain flooded my body again. But this time it wasn’t as bad as before—bearable.

I focused again, created another third-rank healing potion, and this time, while the vial was still in the air, I caught it with my right hand. I opened it and drank it.

That pleasant sensation again.

I lay on the ground for about twenty seconds without moving. I could already feel my left arm and move it a little. With a bit of fear, I looked at it.

Oh. Looks like it was fine. The wounds had healed, and it no longer looked like torn meat. It was just an arm—just covered in blood.

I sat up, picked up the potion I had dropped earlier, and drank it.

And ten to fifteen seconds later, I was completely fine. HP fully restored to one hundred percent.

Well, except for my appearance. My clothes and almost my entire body were covered in blood. Though there were no wounds anymore—everything had healed.

Now that I think about it… why the hell didn’t I teleport into the training room? Yeah, I know, I took a hit and got thrown into the air. But I think even teleporting midair would have been safer than falling to the ground.

Or was it better this way? The floor in the training room is stone, and here it’s soft earth.

Damn it… whatever.

The battle was still going. I could hear the noise in the distance.

Damn, how far did that creature throw me? Half a kilometer, probably.

Alright. I need to help Rem.

I headed toward the fight.