Chapter 71: Insectoid Battle (Patreon)

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The painful sound continued to echo around the arena as Cayden ran forward, getting louder the closer he got to the monster. There was no notification from [Mind is a Temple], which meant the attack didn’t have a mental component, so after a glance to check on his teammates, Cayden gritted his teeth and continued on.

Marvenal was a few steps behind him, and though his face was screwed up in a rare expression of emotion, he seemed otherwise unbothered by the auditory attack. Velic was still back near their tunnel’s exit, and he didn’t seem unduly hindered by the noise, at least not that Cayden could tell from a quick glance. Delphia was nowhere to be found. The plan was for her to shadow Cayden and Marvenal from a distance, staying far enough away to avoid drawing the monster’s ire yet close enough to heal them as needed; perhaps her stealth skills were enough to avoid Cayden’s gaze during midday on the open sands of the arena, or perhaps she had already abandoned the plan and was hiding back in the shadows of the walls – either way, Cayden put her out of his mind. There was only a single monstrous opponent; as long as Cayden was the one being targeted, she wouldn’t be in danger.

With that in mind, Cayden reached the middle of the arena and slowed his run, activating [Taunt] at the same time. The noise cut off in an instant as the monster’s head turned toward Cayden, its compound eyes seemingly focused on him.

Cayden prepared for the monster’s charge. His [Inertia] was set to its maximum possible amount. His claws were bared. His opponent was [Taunted]. He was ready.

That was when the creature leaped, sand flying as it covered the distance between them in a single, mighty jump.

Cayden’s eyes widened as the monster’s massive body descended on him, and he frantically tried to backpedal away. But with his [Inertia] increased, his acceleration was slow, and he couldn’t dodge in time. The insectoid creature’s massive abdomen – thorax? – landed directly on top of him.

It wasn’t as heavy as a blow as it otherwise might have been. His higher [Inertia] drained some of the momentum behind the attack, and the monster’s legs weren’t flexible enough to avoid partially catching its own weight. So though he was pushed onto his back and embedded in the sand, he was mostly uninjured. He tried to bring his claws to bear to scratch at the massive body pressing down on him, but didn’t have the leverage to do more than scuff what he could now confirm was hard carapace.

For a good three seconds, but felt much longer to Cayden, he was trapped like that, pinned between carapace and sand, too weak to push off the monster or dig his way free. He worried that Cassius might panic and prematurely pull him from the match, but when it didn’t happen he presumed the skill had some method of monitoring his health.

Finally, the monster raised its body off the ground, freeing Cayden to pull himself from the gargoyle-shaped indention after it. The monster stepped away, [Taunt] no longer having any pull now that the monster perceived him as ‘defeated.’ From his position still partly beneath the monster, Cayden saw Cassius’ legs as the rogue stepped up to engage the monster in his place, and more surprisingly, he saw Delphia’s black robes as she dashed across the sand toward the creature.

No, she wasn’t running directly at the creature – her angle wasn’t quite right. She was running to an area just behind the creature, where Cayden had been temporarily trapped.

Cayden grinned. At least she wasn’t a coward.

Unfortunately, Cassius didn’t have a [Taunt] skill of his own, and the monster turned towards Delphia, her running form drawing its attention.

Cayden’s grin widened as he ducked out from underneath the monster, reactivating [Taunt] before it could leap again. From this angle, he could see the two massive hind legs of the creature that it used to propel its leaps, reminiscent of a grasshopper. It was lowering itself in preparation for its next leap, but [Taunt] caused it to stumble, and Cayden was quick to take advantage of its temporary vulnerability.

He struck out at the nearest hind leg, slicing at the joint above his head. Unlike his previous attempt to use his claws, he had much better leverage this time and was able to aim toward the weak point in the monster’s carapace: his claws passed through the joint like butter.

Unfortunately, they weren’t long enough to completely sever the appendage, and the monster leaped six feet into the air, turning on him with a hiss. The hiss contained none of the painful volume of the earlier clicking, and the leap was clumsy as its half-severed hind leg flopped uselessly behind it. But despite the injury, it was far from defeated.

Cayden, though, was confident. It had already revealed two of its tricks, neither of which were successful, and he doubted it had many more. It was once again targeting Cayden, this time with its back toward Velic – a perfect opportunity for their damage dealer. He couldn’t see Delphia or Marvenal around the monster, but that was fine. Delphia should know that he was okay and could back off, and Marvenal would be able to attack the monster’s rear or act as a secondary engager now that Cayden was back in the fight. Which left Cayden to focus on his own role: keeping the monster’s attention wholly focused on himself.

Exactly where he wanted it.

The monster lunged forward, its mandibles snapping at Cayden’s chest. He skipped back, slower than he otherwise would be had his [Inertia] been normal, but fast enough to avoid the probing attack. He slashed out in retaliation, missing his target of the monster’s eye by a wide margin. That was fine, though; he wasn’t on a solo delve, fighting alone against the monster. He just needed to keep it honest and force the monster to earn any hits it landed on Cayden.

For a few seconds, the dance continued. The monster lashed out at Cayden with probing bites of its mandibles, and Cayden dodged while retaliating with his own dissuading slashes. It was much less aggressive than it had been in the first few seconds of the battle, and Cayden wondered how much the leg injury was affecting it. But that changed as the monster let out an angry hiss, similar to the noise it had made after Cayden’s attack on its leg, as it committed to a full-on charge.

There was no way for Cayden to dodge. Instead, he leaned forward and dug his feet into the sand with his claws upraised.

Even bracing himself and with his increased [Inertia], Cayden couldn’t compete with the force behind the massive bug creature’s charge. He was knocked back into the sand with the mandibles wrapped around his chest, the force they exerted increasing with each second. He was extremely durable, resistant to cutting, piercing, and bludgeoning attacks. But as the pincers tightened, he struggled to breathe around the pressure being put on his chest.

One of his arms was wedged tight against his side while the other was outside of the monster’s grip. He slashed down at the mandibles with his free hand, but he barely scratched their hard surface. Grabbing one side of the mandibles, he pulled with everything he had. It wasn’t enough to free himself from its grip, but it gave him just enough room to bring his other arm up and push against the mandibles from the inside.

He had only been trapped in the monster's grip for a few seconds, but he breathed in relief as the pressure on his chest lessened, allowing his lungs to reinflate. And then, he kept breathing, staring into the monster’s eyes as it continued to try to crush him.

He might have been able to reach the eyes with his claws if he stretched, or certainly the fleshier bits around its mouth. But either of those actions would require him to give up his grip that kept the mandibles from crushing the breath from his lungs. And why should he? He was already doing his job, and the monster’s hissing was growing louder with each passing second. Cayden couldn’t see any attacks that Velic might have been making, but he presumed they were there. He just needed to survive, to hold the monster’s attention for as long as possible.

The monster shook its head, likely hoping for Cayden to lose his grip on the crushing mandible. But it wasn’t prepared for how difficult it was to shake Cayden. He wasn’t any heavier, but his increased [Inertia] made it feel as if he was to the creature attempting to shake him, and it didn’t have the strength to do more than wiggle from side to side. It tried to run forward, to carry Cayden away from his teammates, but Cayden dug his feet into the sand, fighting it every step of the way. And without hopping, the monster was much slower on its feet.

They were locked in a stalemate, Cayden and the creature. But Cayden wasn’t alone, and as its attempts to crush him grew frantic, he felt a savage joy bubbling up in his chest. It couldn’t manifest as laughter, as Cayden didn’t have enough air to waste, so he just smiled a savage grin instead. At this rate, they would easily win their match. It was just a matter of time.

Cayden didn’t know his opponent’s level of intelligence, but it was at least smart enough to come to the same realization. So after one last final attempt to crush Cayden, it released him and turned away from its durable opponent. But Cayden snarled and recast [Taunt] before it could take another step toward his teammates, pulling the monster’s focus back on him.

He wasn’t used to monsters so quickly ignoring his [Taunts], but neither was he used to his teammates doing more damage than him or monsters being durable enough to withstand more than a few hits. Perhaps the [Taunts] were ineffective if the target received enough damage from another source? It was something to keep in mind.

Luckily for Cayden, [Taunt] was a cheap skill in terms of mana cost. Two more times the monster attempted to turn away from him, and each time he was able to recast [Taunt] to bring its focus right back. His mana was getting dangerously low, but its movements were getting more and more frenzied, until finally, without warning, it froze, toppling over on its side a moment later.

They had won.

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Cayden wandered around the monster, curious about what had finally finished it off. He presumed it was a skill of Velic’s, but he’d neither seen nor heard any attacks from his roommate during the battle, and he wondered what could take out such a large monster so quietly.

Unfortunately for his curiosity, examining the monster didn’t give him an obvious answer. He spied two small holes that looked to be cleanly drilled through the carapace on the monster’s back, and he noticed the monster’s other hind leg had been cleanly sliced through in the same location that Cayden had attacked, but there was nothing to indicate the mode of attack. The holes in the monster absolutely reeked, so Cayden didn’t spend long examining them before stepping away.

Marvenal was waiting a few feet away from the monster, his sword still in hand while Velic walked across the sand to join them from his position at the edge of the arena. Cayden turned to look for Delphia, only to start when he realized she was standing right next to him. She raised a hand towards Cayden’s arm, but before she made contact, Cayden blinked and they were back in the dark of the tunnel where it all started, his bruises gone as if they’d never existed – Cassius’ skill at work.

“Right this way, students,” an attendant called, and they were led through an adjoining tunnel, never seeing the next batch of students called to take their test.

Eventually, they were led to a classroom attached to the same arena, where the attendant gestured for them to enter before turning back down the tunnel. One by one the teammates entered the mostly-empty classroom, where a single person waited to address them.

“Well, after that performance, it seems I’ve got my work cut out fer me,” Instructor Barry said.

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