Chapter 329 The Jabberwocky

This isn't like the first roar...What the hell is this?! He questioned.

Before he realized it, the contorted howl echoed in his mind, igniting a feverish sensation throughout his body as the scenery around him crumbled. Though he tried to rationalize that it was a hallucination, the madness of it all left him stagnant.

Skies of swirling emerald, trees that curved and expanded, growing continuously into various shapes, and a constantly expanding-and-contracting ground; It was the Jabberwocky's personal domain of mania.

Where the hell did it drag me?...Is this like the Unending Nightmare's ability? No, it has to be a hallucination, right? He questioned.

Nonetheless, it wasn't as though he was left alone there, the Jabberwocky itself confronted him, though in its own realm of insanity, it had grown vastly larger as its green skin turned to a glowing yellow and its swirling eyes were a kaleidoscope of shifting colors.

So much for making it through without a fight, he thought.

He reinforced himself with further magical energy in caution of whatever tricks may rest in the sleeve of the infamous beast.

The moment he moved his hand forward to toss an azure fireball towards the hovering, amalgamated beast, he was suddenly flung into the air.

"--Nnh!"

Rather than falling down or continuing to rise up, he was violently spun in every direction, making all sense of direction seem implausible to gather.

...I'm not playing these games! He thought.

"I don't have time for this!"

Through an expulsion of mana, he broke free from the unseen hold, immediately thrusting his fist forward despite the Jabberwocky being some distance away. A projection of his punch came from a construct of reinforced, azure flames, rocketing towards the beast with a massive size.

VRRR

Before his eyes, he witnessed the strange inner realm of the Jabberwocky transform as a man-faced tree rose from the ground, opening its mouth and swallowing the bright-blue fist he invoked.

The human-faced, colossal tree pursed its lips before spitting the flaming fist back at the Dragonheart, only it was altered to a fellish, emerald flame.

"--!"

Before it could reach him, he conjured a shield of water in front of him, causing an eruption of steam to occur from the clash.

For some reason, his senses kicked into overdrive as he felt something approaching him from behind, quickly spinning around to use a massive blast of shredding wind against it, though he found there was nothing behind him.

"Huh...?" He thought.

Any control over his motor functions were simply fumbled, if not disabled entirely, as the chaotic realm spun around him and his sense of balance flipped itself to-and-from repeatedly and sickeningly.

It's in my head!...It's in my head! I can hear its voice–I can feel it! It's gnawing away at my sanity! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! He thought.

There was no doubt now given to the validity to the beast's infame; it didn't even seem to attack him right away, allowing him to stew in the madness of its echoing, screeching call as he stumbled around on the uneven ground.

It was a foe that surpassed the standard perceptions of strength; a power that bypassed physical might and trespassed natural defenses–an attack on the mind that overwhelmed.

Attempting to conjure his flames, he found himself only lobbing fireballs and spewing streams of fire in random directions without ever seeming to hone in on the Beast of Absent Reason; there almost seemed to control over the maddening effect, as if the twitching and noises made by the Jabberwocky commanded the reverberating demerit.

It brought him to his knees; a fever flooded his body as his head felt as heavy as a boulder upon his shoulders, stirring in a sickness in his stomach as he fought against the urge to heave the bile from his interior.

I need to break out of this; the only way I can do that is if I strike the source, he thought.

All he could do to mitigate the effects of the Jabberwocky's howl was jolt himself with a volatile charge of his own internal mana; it was akin to using a defibrillator against his own chest as if restarting his heart–the charge of mana pumped through his body and diminished the Jabberwock's sickening influence.

Complicated thoughts only began jumbled in his mind; arranging such fluttering thoughts through the fog of the Beast was no different than trying to assemble the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. It was a tangible sensation–the degradation of his own sanity, whisking away like steam from a boiling pot.

Focus, Focus, Focus! He thought simply.

The Jabberwocky began an assault at least, seeming to do so only once he had reached a certain stage of degraded thought, tossing flying boulders that rained down from the sky as he sprinted forth, flipping around to dodge the descending debris.

There was far too much of it; the long-necked beast of crooked teeth and disgustingly sweet odor manipulated balls of rock telepathically, only tapping its feet against the ground with continuous rubble as it continued its meteor shower upon him.

Even with absent sanity, he enveloped his sword in wind, forsaking precision and unleashing sharp gusts that split each rock that came his way as he progressed closer and closer to the beast.

Win, win, win! He thought, repeating in his mind.

–If complex thoughts couldn't be forged in his broken mind, then all he had to do was embody the necessity for victory; the desire for triumph; the obligation to survive. It was this almost primal way of thinking that allowed the Dragonheart blood to flow and pump with a draconic vigor freshened and sharpened.

Every step he took rushing forth, he left a trail of azure flames in the shape of his footsteps, causing the Jabberwocky's realm of madness to begin burning as he closed in, even being hit by some of the thrown rocks, but relentlessly stomping forward nonetheless.

It was through this deprivation of sanity that new techniques spurred, unhindered by doubt and restraint and bolstered by chaos–

[Dragonheart: Laughing Wyverns]

As he jumped up, he shot his hand forward just as the Jabberwocky spewed a beam of fellish energy from its mouth, intercepting it with a dozen, enormous serpentine dragons of azure flames that cackled, continuously moving their jaws up and down with sizzling laughter.

Each of the wyverns of fire laughed out, breathing flames that curved and wriggled in unorthodox angles, making it completely unpredictable as they whipped around and managed to strike the body of the Jabberwocky.

"Rraaagh!" The Jabberwocky howled in pain.

It was through the absence of sanity that he moved without the chains of rationality weighing him down, forgoing all doubt and instead only sending himself forward as he ran across the continuously shifting ground.