Chapter 44: Not Gonna Give Up

The momentary distraction caused him to not notice a Jawfiend taking advantage of it to bite onto his arm.

"Arrghh!!" Arion howled as the Jawfiend dug into his arm with its strong jaw, making him feel like a hundred knives were stabbing into his flesh.

However, surprisingly, the Jawfiend's fangs didn't sink as deep as Arion expected, thus still allowing him some freedom of movement.

But because Arion lost his momentum, the other Jawfiends took advantage of his distress to leap towards him.

Arion's pupils narrowed as he noticed the incoming assault from the horde. He quickly twisted his feet by a certain angle till the dangling Jawfiend, who was still biting onto his left arm, collided with the other Dreadlings leaping towards him.

*Kreee!*

One of the Jawfiends accidentally bit into the Jawfiend that was biting Arion's arm, causing it to let go of Arion's arm and fall down in pain, screeching.

Arion didn't have time to check out his injury, but he could feel blood oozing out from his injury. He only hoped that the Jawfiend didn't inject its terrifying venom into his body. Otherwise, he will be a goner for sure.

He did not let the pain hold him back and used every last bit of his will to pull his arm forward and slash the Jawfiends in front of him.

However, Arion was oblivious to what was happening to his injury. Without his knowing, his wound stopped bleeding on its own, and cells were slowly being regenerated.

He kept moving his arms like a madman, slashing left and right, striking down on the heads of the Jawfiends.

Because he was unable to focus on all of them at once, he got bitten on his legs and other parts of his limbs.

Whenever a Jawfiend bit on his limbs, he would quickly move his axe towards that Jawfiend and put it down before it could deal a worse injury to it.

However, his body was getting bloodied, and he looked like someone who emerged out of a pool of blood. He also had no idea of the large figure that was slowly making its way towards Arion.

Arion was starting to feel dizzy from all the injuries, and the fact that he was still able to swing his arms was a miracle when he felt that he should have died a long time ago.

But even though he was preoccupied with taking them all on, he noticed that none of the Jawfiends were targeting his vital points but merely going only for his limbs, as if trying to immobilize him.

He also didn't feel like they injected any venom into his system since he was at least conscious, and the intense pain from their bites had made his nerves numb while his muscles were pumped with adrenaline.

He wondered if the Jawfiends had some sadistic tendency to kill him slowly by not going for his vital points.

However, Arion's body seemed to go on overdrive as the blood in his body began to circulate faster while closing his wounds. This was the main reason he was still standing despite the innumerous bites on his limbs.

And as seconds passed, the Jawfiends felt as if they were biting onto the bark of a tree instead of human flesh.

*KREEEE!!*

A loud screech from ahead startled Arion since he felt as if his ears were ringing just because of how loud and eerie it was.

The Jawfiends suddenly stopped attacking and backed away at the same time as if in a disciple manner.

"Huh...what the hell is going on…" Arion incoherently mumbled as he looked around with his blurry vision to see that the Jawfiends retreated.

His legs gave away as he fell on his knees, feeling extremely tired. Not even in his previous life did he have to undergo such a harrowing experience.

But he still didn't let his guard down and gripped his axes tightly as if they were glued to his hands.

He wondered if god took pity on him and made the Jawfiends back away. But of course, this was just his hopeless wish while his guts were telling him that things were not getting better at all.

He finally lifted his gaze forward after feeling a heavy and ominous gaze from something ahead that seemed to send chills across his body.

"What the hell...." Arion mumbled in despair when he saw a four-metre tall giant spider with a proboscis that seemed to extend at least two meters.

Its stinger seemed as sharp as a needle, and Arion was sure that one sting from it was enough to pierce through his measly body.

He couldn't clearly notice its feature due to how dimly lit the whole area was, but he was able to vaguely see that it had a hard outer black shell and had similarities to the Jawfiends he had been fighting before.

'A Queen Jawfiend?' This dreadful thought appeared in his mind, and now he felt as if all the puzzle pieces were fitting.

He felt that the reason the Jawfiends weren't trying to kill him was that they were saving him for their queen, who apparently must have given them orders to not kill him and only immobilize him till she was ready to eat him.

He could see that the Queen Jawfiend was no joke and that he would definitely be lucky to even scratch it, unlike the other Jawfiends he killed.

But Arion mustered all his courage and stood on his feet, gripping both his axes as if he were clinging onto his life, "Haa...Haa...I am not gonna...give up...Come at me!"