287 The stuff legends are made of
The shock of the alpha's death sent the other dogs scurrying, but they were hardly the only obstacles in their path. As Nero ran through the grass, his flames freezing their long stems and shattering them, he was suddenly assaulted by a few strands of seemingly ordinary grass.
They weren't even cursed. It was just that these individual blades of grass seemed to have the ability to sense prey. Unfortunately for them, their senses failed them today, as Nero's fires were not forgiving. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Yet while the grass froze before it even touched him, Nero realised the danger this presented not for him, but for the rest. If they were suddenly attacked by the grass around them, they might not be as protected as him.
"Watch out for the grass!" he yelled as he began waving his spear like a scythe, cutting out a much wider path for everyone to follow.
But he had run barely 10 metres when he felt a deep vibration within the ground. He was reminded of the Beach worms, but felt that the vibrations were much greater this time.
Either way, in this moment, with all his senses heightened and him exerting himself to the utmost, he reacted instantly.
He turned and flung a flaming Snowflake, this one much larger than the ones he normally used, and threw it towards Dave who was limping along behind the group.
Dave saw the Snowflake coming, and his pupils constricted as horror painted his expression, but he was not fast enough. He could not react in time.
Just as the Snowflake was coming close, the ground in front of him burst, and a tree root shot up towards him, aiming to pierce his throat. Yet the root never reached him, for the Snowflake cut through it, losing much of its momentum and becoming deviated and flying aside.
The ground underneath everyone trembled, as if something just below the surface was writhing, while the now burning, cut off root quickly retreated into the ground. No one stopped or paused, and in just a few seconds, they left the range of the root, yet new dangers were abound. A number of birds Nero did not recognise began circling overhead, while from a distance he could see something running through the grass towards them. The tavern was still over 4 kilometres (2.4 miles) away, and the time was running short.
But the more he fought, the more momentum he gained, since the flames coating his body were turning deeper in shade from absorbing all the ambient heat. With the Recovery token steadily supplying him with the aether he used, he could maintain such heavy expenditure all the way. Hopefully.
The birds overhead cawed, and then dove down on the group, aiming for the very back, away from the flaming Nero.
Yet three flying blades met them in the sky, while arrows of fire and ice were shot out by others. Nero Snowflakes previously had limited range, since he had to manually throw them by hand, but now with his increased strength that was no longer a concern.
Snowflakes cut through the birds, while Nero fought against more grounded foes himself. It was not actually fighting that troubled Nero, for he would injure and then push away. It was when the enemies attacked his group. For most, a Snowflake or two would work, but for some Nero had to run back and fight himself.
"Nero, I can't find a weakness of its body," Clarissa yelled desperately, but there wasn't much that could be done about it now.
Nero spread the flames from his body onto the ground, creating a wall of flames between him and the group that continued to run forward. Rapid winds blew through the hill as the chill of the winds began to freeze the land, and the flames grew deeper in colour steadily.
Yet behind the wall of blue flames, Nero stood firm as he looked at the creature. It had spread its wings now, with a span of 4 metres (13 feet) across, covered in an armour that looked devilish. Even constrained to the Neophyte level, Nero felt from this creature a power so devastating he knew for certain that he would not be able to defeat it.
The creature extended its forehead, pulled out the spear from its forehead, and brought it to its mouth. With a single bite, the creature snapped the metal spear in two, and then began chewing while maintaining eye contact with Nero.
The sight was impressive, intimidating, and carried a hint of a spiritual attack in it. But Nero was not one to be cowed. He did not fear death, so why would he fear this creature?
Instead, freed from the flames on his body, he switched from Cryoflame to Virtuous Moonlight, and prepared himself for a confrontation.
The pale, silver moonlight was enough to cause all other creatures to bow. He would now find out if it was still effective against this creature as well.
"A futile attempt at delaying me," a deep, rumbling voice rushed over to Nero, surprising him. The creature could talk?
But he did present the opportunity for conversation, as with a single flap of its wings the creature rushed forward with a blinding speed.
Nero did not even attempt to use the Virtuous Moonlight. Even if the creature itself stopped, its forward momentum could not be eliminated. Instead, he leaped aside as he grabbed his card case, hoping to quickly find the two cards he was looking for. He wanted to find Words of Wisdom and This is Us, yet he did not have a single moment to look through his cards.
The creature attacked with such ferocity and speed, that Nero was forced to focus all his attention on dodging. Even then, he barely managed.
A single misstep would mean certain death, and that filled Nero's entire being with excitement.
In another dimension, facing a talking monster much greater than him in strength, capable of killing him with a single blow. This was the stuff legends were made from, and he was living it!
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