Ashborn Primordial

Chapter 49: Clutch Rachna

Vir threw himself into a roll, barely avoiding the massive spiders bladed limb as it impaled the dirt. Green liquid oozed out, sizzling. The putrid stench made Vir gag.

Poison!? Not just a limb then. A stinger.

Vir Leaped to gain some distance, but the spider pursued relentlessly, clacking and hissing, enraged over having missed its prey.

The entire forest floor was a deathtrap. Not only was this the spiders hunting ground, but the ample space between the trees meant the beast could move around with ease. Which also meant that its underlings had no issues flanking Vir.

He backed up and kept moving. If he stopped even for a second, his enemies would surround him. More and more appeared each moment, and he soon lost count. There were at least a dozen.

Vir recognized a hopeless situation when he saw one. Horribly outnumbered, there was no way to win. Forget winning, surviving was going to be tough unless he evened the odds somehow.

He looked up. The only hope he had was to climb up onto the trunk of the Godshollow. The minion spiders hadnt chased him down the trunk, which meant it was a place of relative safety. He was unsure about the massive spider, but the thing must have weighed several hundred pounds. Doubtful that such a beast could scale a Godhollow.

Vir Leaped to the nearest tree, but the spiders seemed bent on preventing his escape. He needed more speed. The Talent only took four seconds to activate on the forest floor, but that was still an eternity, so he took micro leaps instead. He felt like that was the wrong decisionthat a fully charged Leap gave him more ground than successive partial ones, but better to keep his legs than risk losing them for more ground.

Dropping his rucksack, made him lighter and more agile; he couldn't spare the luxury of keeping it.

Threading his way through the spiders, rolling, dodging, and jumping away from their attacks, Vir arrived at the nearest Godhollow and began climbing his way up.

To his horror, the spiders behind him did the same. Worse, arachnids above him on a high limb climbed down on an intercept course.

The badrakking things were only pretending like they couldnt climb! Once more, theyd lured him into their trap. Continuing upward would only spell his doom.

From fifteen paces high, Vir charged Leap and kicked off the tree, sending him sailing through the air, back to the forest floor. He flipped and hit the ground and threw himself into a roll to dissipate the impact, but despite that, his bones shuddered.

The spiders were quick to react and were already beginning to surround him. He wasnt about to let them.

Vir leveraged his Kalari training to move like the wind, Leaping to the nearest spider. Tough chitin protected these spiders, which made their eyes their primary weak point. But hitting eyes was easier said than done, especially when they always kept two of their eight limbs in front, like a shield.

Luckily, Prana Vision gave him a better option. The Life and Shadow prana coursed through these spiders, blazing brightest at the junction of their bulbous heads and their bodies.

He brutally exploited this weakness, plunging his katar into the base of the spider's head. Since they lacked necks, the attack required a degree of precision, but Vir's aim was true. It spasmed for a brief second, then collapsed.

Vir somersaulted and jumped to the next spider, but fate wasnt kind to him. A series of hisses and clacks from the enormous spider caused its minions to pause for a moment. When they began moving again, they banded together, sticking to each other in groups of three or four.

Tch. Vir clucked his tongue. The spiders had already adapted. Going one on three against the minions wasnt going to work out in his favor.

But he had little a choice. To safely escape to the treetops, he had to thin the enemy out. Vir charged the nearest group of three. He reluctantly reached for a chakri and threw it with as much force as his newly developed biceps could muster.

The disk sailed through the air and lodged itself in the face of the first spider, killing it instantly. His second disk sliced off a pincer of another before piercing the spiders eye. Not quite dead, but injured enough that it scampered off into the distance, leaving its remaining brother all alone.

Vir descended upon the spider like a reaper, using his momentum to plunge his katar deep into the base of its head before backflipping off the beast in one fluid motion.

Unfortunately, the queen spider seemed to understand this strategy and had already laid a trap. Vir landed right in the middle of a half dozen minions, lying in wait for him.

He lost no time. Right as two spiders attacked him with their limbs, he High Jumped free, sailing clear of the danger.

As he reached the peak of his arc, he locked eyes with the spider queen. The beast almost seemed to grin at him as it launched something right at hima sticky white goop.

Webbing! Vir immediately realized, panicking. Hed escaped one trap only to fall into another.

The webbing hit him right before he fell back to the ground, sticking to his arms and legs. Vir tried with all of his might to free himself, but the material was elastic and strong. It didnt budge.

Gaaah! He screamed, as a spider slashed into his arm, leaving a deep gouge. Its friends joined in, slashing at Vir, cutting into his arms and his legs. All the while, their queen approached slowly from behind.

Vir fully understood the danger. As long as he lingered here, hed continue to take hits. And once the queen arrived, hed be as good as dead. His eyes searched the area, looking for something he could use. Anything.

His eyes searched and searched, and then finally landed on a series of boughs, far in the distance.

That'll work!

Still bound by the webbing, Vir Leaped away, but not before taking several more hits.

He crashed into a large rock nearby, and his momentum shredding the webbing just enough to free his katar. A few swipes later, and hed finally extricated himself, Leaping again to safety.

The queen hissed. He didnt need to understand the beast to know it was furious; hed escaped its traps three times now.

But it had come at a cost. Vir bled from his hand and his legs, and while the wounds werent immediately fatal, they certainly compromised his fighting ability. If left unchecked, he risked bleeding out. He had to end this, and soon.

Vir went on the offensive, Leaping onto spider minions, throwing his chakris and timing his attacks so that he Leaped again before its brothers struck him.

But even though he spent every effort to recover his throwing disks, he invariably lost ammunition. Now, down to a single chakram and three chakris, the end was inevitable.

Vir dove back into the fray, hurling two more chakris at his foes. He couldnt afford to throw any more, but his efforts had paid off. The spiders had thinned out considerably, and the queen found itself all alone.

More of her underlings would inevitably arrive, but for now, the queen was alone and vulnerable.

Vir brought his last chakram up and pretended to throw it, forcing the queen to defend itself in anticipation of the upcoming attack.

Instead, he stowed the weapon around his neck and Leaped to the nearest tree. He didnt bother to climbthe spider would hit him with its webbing attackso he did something reckless instead.

Vir bounded up and High Jumped, violently throwing himself up the Godhollows trunk. Thorny bark shredded his shirt as he vaulted up. Scanning the trunk for handholds to latch onto, he found them an instant before his momentum ran out.

He came to a stop on the trunk and looked down at the forest floor, now twenty paces below. The risky maneuver had paid off.

Vir waited the ten agonizing seconds to reactivate High Jump, then jumped again.

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The spider queen fired another webbing attack, but Vir was well out of range now. The sticky white stuff fell harmlessly below, which only angered the spider further.

Then it started climbing, along with a half dozen of its minions.

Vir watched in horror as the massive spider ripped a leg off its fallen minion, eating it before hoisting itself up the Godhollow, its eight limbs anchoring it to the trunk as surely as if it were on the ground. It didnt even move any slower than before.

Taking a deep breath, Vir continued lunging his way up the enormous tree. The spiders were fast, but he was much, much faster when using High Jump. He made it to the lowest bough that soared a hundred paces high with time to spare.

The question was what he should do now. The spider queen and its minions would be upon him in seconds, and while Vir was now out of their death trap, he doubted his pursuers would give up soon.

He peeked downthe minions had raced ahead of their queen and would arrive first.

Flight warred with Fight, and Fight had won.

If they think theyre the only ones who can set traps, Ill be happy to prove them wrong, he thought, bracing himself.

The first spider poked its head onto the bough, only to receive a katar to the face. The second one blindly followed it and received the same treatment. Both fell off the tree into the darkness far below.

The next pair were smarter. They climbed onto the underside of the bough and popped up on Virs flanks simultaneously.

Too bad for them. Such a simple tactic wasnt nearly enough to deceive him. He kicked one off the limb and sliced the forelegs off another before sprinting to the next enemy.

Vir jumped into the air and launched his last chakri at another spider, killing it as it stepped onto the bough. Vir landed on the dead beast, retrieved his chakri, and skewered the spider behind it, all in one fluid move.

It turned out that killing a bunch of these things had made him quite proficient at the task.

Vir had no time to revel in his victory; the spider queen had finally arrived.

Facing off against the beast, he quickly realized he would not win here. The spiders bulk restricted its movements atop the limb, yes, but Vir had no defense against its web attack. Which meant hed have to engage the spider at close range, against those devastating limbs that had allowed the heavy spider to climb up a tree. Not to mention that stinger.

No, he needed a better plan. One that put him in as little danger as possible. Vir eyed the boughs around him. None were ideal. He needed one that sat on top of another, less than twenty paces above the lower one.

Thanks to his earlier scouting efforts, he knew such locations were somewhat common. If he traveled far enough, he'd no doubt find it.

Vir nicked the queen's forelegs with his katar, forcing it on the defensive. But the attack was just a feint. He Leaped and backpedaled away from the spider. As much as he wanted to turn and run, he knew hed be a sitting duck for its web attack.

The beast fired its sticky webbing, forcing Vir to throw himself aside to dodge it. He barely made it.

The queen hissed, threatening him with its forelegs before continuing its pursuit.

C'mon, c'mon!

Vir searched the nearby boughs for anything that could work. His heart throbbed in his ears, jumping to another limb with the spider queen in hot pursuit.

The queen spider shared the same Life and Shadow prana pathways as its minions, which meant that aiming for the base of its head was a viable strategy.

He just didnt know if his attack would penetrate its chitin.

Which meant he had to test it to be sure.

Vir waited for the spider to launch its next web attack, which he again dodged by a hairs breadth. Instead of running, he stopped and jumped into the air, throwing his chakri with all of his might.

The disk hit the spiders back and bounced right off. A tiny slit of blood shone on its silver hide.

As I thought.

Not only was the queen bigger, but its chitin was tougher, too.

He needed more power, and he had a way of obtaining it. He just hoped itd be enough.

Vir took off again, spotting more minions tailing him on parallel branches. It was only a matter of time before they ambushed him.

Scanning his surroundings meant taking his eyes away from the ground in front of him, and he tripped as his foot caught on something. Looking down, he saw more white webbing on his shoes.

He could hardly believe this.

The queen was waiting for its minions to distract me!? Just how smart is this thing?

And it hadnt even attacked him! It aimed for his feetan easier target.

The spider queen approached the helpless Vir, chittering smugly.

Vir furiously sawed at the webbing to extricate himself.

No time! He wasnt going to make it.

In a last act of desperation, Vir Leaped, tearing the webbing with his supercharged lunge. His leg roared in protest, pulled two different ways at once. Luckily, the pressure didnt last long. He broke free and jumped off, just a split second before the spiders venomous stinger impaled itself onto the bough where hed just lain.

That was too close, Vir thought, wiping sweat from his eyes. Thankfully, he wouldnt need to run anymore. Hed arrived.

Vir looked up at the bough that stretched above the one he was on. Perfect.

Readying his last chakram, Vir took a deep breath, and High Jumped. He bounded straight up, but he paid no attention to the bough that he was on a collision course with. His eyes were glued to the spider that had just launched its web attack.

Chakram in hand, Vir threw it at the incoming webbing. The two attacks met midair, with steel winning against the organic substance. His disk sliced through half the webbing before getting tangled in it, and together, they sank like a brick to the distant forest floor.

With barely a half second to prepare himself, Vir tucked his knees to his chest and reached out with his arms, grabbing a vine that grew on the underside of the bough hed just collided with.

Using both hands to keep himself pinned in place, Vir hung upside down, staring at the queen below him. The seconds stretched agonizingly on as the spider readjusted its aim.

Hed learned earlier that the beast couldnt fire off its webbing attack in quick succession. If this plan was to work, he had to rely on that. Ten seconds was all he needed for High Jump to charge. But the spider also required a similar amount of time for its web attack.

Not one to leave things to chance, Vir briefly let go of the vine with his right hand, just long enough to fire his last chakri down at the spider, forcing it to abort its attack to protect itself.

Five, Six, Seven

The spider immediately aimed again, and Vir knew hed be too late.

Good enough, he thought. With whatever prana hed accumulated in his legs, he cut the charge short, activating High Jump prematurely.

It wouldnt be nearly as fast or as strong as the fully powered version, but he didnt need it to be. This time, weight and gravity aided him.

Vir hurtled at the spider, now directly below him, his katar extended out in front.

With the speed of an arrow, his blade plunged into the spiders chitin, eviscerating its armor. Virs bones rattled from the impact, but he held doggedly on as the spider juked and bucked under him.

It tottered perilously close to the edge of the bough.

Realizing that the beast was about to fall off in its death throes, Vir yanked his katar blade, intending to escape

Only to find his weapon buried within the beast. There wasnt any time. He let go of the katar and backflipped off, right as the spider jumped.

Vir landed on the very edge of the bough. The spider found only air to support it.

He watched the queen fall into the darkness. A sickening thud followed a moment later, followed by silence.

The queen was finally dead.

Vir stumbled back and collapsed onto the bough. Fear coursed through his body, suppressing the pain of his earlier wounds.

Disarmed, disheveled, and driven to his utter limits, the world reeled in front of him.

He forced his mind under control. He wasnt out of danger yet. The spider minions were gone?

Looking around, he found not a single trace of them.

Only then did he look up at the sky and roar, his fists extended up into the air.

You see that, father? I did it! I won!

Tears flowed down his face as the realization dawned upon him. Hed lost against the knight scout. Hed fled from the pirates. Time and time again, Riyan bested him.

But now for the first time in his life, hed fought a powerful opponent, and not only had he won, hed done it without ever relying on Ekanai. Without losing control over his own body.

Virs arms and legs throbbed, and only then did he realize he wasnt out of the woods yet. Most of his cuts had clotted, but he needed to clean off and get them bandaged, lest infection set in.

He wasnt looking forward to the sting of antiseptic but compared to a life-or-death struggle against a spider? Compared to losing to Ekanai? Hed take tending to his injuries any day.

Vir gingerly climbed down the treean effort that exhausted him far more than hed thought, as hed burned through his stamina at an alarming rate. If he hadnt learned to enhance his stamina by containing his prana leakage

He gulped. Id surely have died.

Virs feet finally touched dirt, and he limped his way to the gruesome sight of the spiders carcass. The fall had not been kind to its body, which lay mangled and unrecognizable.

He gingerly made his way to his weapon, but then, his every instinct screamed at him: dodge.

Vir barely avoided a poleax to the gut as he reverse somersaulted away, right up against his katar. He reached out to dislodge it.

I wouldnt, if I were you.

Vir froze. Both enemies now leveled their weapons at him. One wielded a poleax, while the other wore a round metal dhal shield in one hand and gripped a talwar in another.

Both wore brigandine over gambeson.

Emerald and gold brigandine.

Ash damned luck, boy. That was quite a fight. What an impressive performance defeating a Clutch Rachna on your own. Not to mention mastering Leap and High Jump at your age! A heartfelt congratulations on your kill. Truly.

Oi, the man with the shield said to his compatriot with a scowl. Enough chatter. Lets get this done with.

What do you want? Vir said as an all-too-familiar feeling of dread snuck its way up his back.

Oh, not much. Not much at all. You see We just need you to die.

Next time: 50 - Shardul The Vicious