Chapter 32: Megapede

Chapter 32: Megapede

As the last of the carnivorous blooms fell, Silas and his companions took a moment to catch their breath. The glade was now littered with the remains of the deadly flowers, their petals and stems strewn across the ground.

But their respite was short-lived. A thunderous rumbling shook the earth beneath their feet, and the trees at the edge of the clearing began to sway and bend. Something massive was approaching.

Silas readied his war hammer, his eyes scanning the treeline for any sign of movement. Beside him, Jace, Rowan, Lyra, and Nadia took up defensive positions, their weapons at the ready.

Suddenly, a monstrous creature burst through the underbrush, its segmented body undulating as it charged towards them. It was a megapede, a gargantuan centipede with a heavily armored exoskeleton and venomous mandibles.

Jace leapt into action, his hands moving in a blur as he summoned a hundred duplicates of himself. The army of Jaces swarmed the megapede, their daggers flashing as they attacked the creature from all sides.

Rowan raised his hand, and a massive shape materialized beside him. It was Steggy, his loyal stegosaurus companion, but now grown to an immense size. The ground shook as Steggy lumbered forward, his spiked tail swinging. Rowan then summoned a majestic horse, its mane a mohawk of unicorn horns.

Lyra's eyes glowed as she focused her magic on the megapede. Time seemed to warp around the creature, slowing its movements to a crawl. The megapede struggled against the temporal chains that bound it, its legs twitching feebly.

Nadia nocked an arrow to her bow, the tip blazing with the intensity of a miniature sun. She let the arrow fly, watching as it streaked towards the megapede like a bolt of pure light. The arrow struck the creature's armored hide, exploding in a burst of radiant energy.

Silas charged forward, his war hammer crackling with mana as he brought it down on the megapede's head. The creature let out a shrill cry of pain, its exoskeleton cracking under the force of the blow.

But the megapede was far from defeated. It reared up, its maw opening wide as it unleashed a spray of corrosive acid. Silas and his friends scattered, narrowly avoiding the sizzling liquid.

Rowan's summoned steed galloped forward, its unicorn horn mohawk glowing with magical energy. The horse lowered its head, impaling the megapede with its horns. The creature thrashed and writhed, its movements growing weaker.

Jace's duplicates continued their relentless assault, their daggers finding the chinks in the megapede's armor. Lyra maintained her temporal hold on the creature, keeping it trapped in a state of sluggish motion. Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com

Nadia fired arrow after arrow, each one a searing bolt of light that pierced the megapede's hide. The creature's movements became more erratic, its attacks growing desperate.

Silas's eyes flashed with determination as he saw his opening. The megapede, weakened by the relentless assault of his companions, reared up once more, exposing its soft underbelly.

"How did you do that?" Jace asked, his voice hushed. "I've never seen anyone extract two cores from the same beast before."

Silas shook his head, a grin spreading across his face. "Luck," he said. "I have a feeling it's going to come in handy."

"Luck?" Jace said, confused.

"I literally have a stat called luck and it's high, so sometimes weird lucky things like this just happen to me," Silas said.

"How does that work?" Lyra asked.

"Quantum mechanics," Silas said.

"What is that?" Lyra asked.

"You'd have to talk to my mom. I have no idea," Silas said.

As the group gathered the mana cores from the fallen carnivorous blooms, Silas noticed a peculiar pattern. Roughly a third of the flowers yielded an extra mana core, identical to the original ones. He couldn't help but smile, knowing that his luck stat was at play once again.

Silas had come to expect these fortunate occurrences, as his unusually high luck stat often manifested in unexpected ways. Whether it was finding extra resources, stumbling upon valuable information, or even escaping dangerous situations unscathed, Silas's luck seemed to be a constant companion.

He carefully collected the additional cores, marveling at their luminescent beauty. Each one pulsed with a soft, mesmerizing glow.

"Looks like we hit the jackpot," Silas said, holding up a handful of the extra cores for his friends to see. "These will come in handy for crafting and enhancing our abilities."

Jace let out a low whistle, his eyes widening at the sight of the bonus cores. "I've never seen anything like it," he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "You really are a lucky bastard, Silas."

Lyra and Nadia exchanged impressed glances, while Rowan simply nodded, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Silas grinned, pocketing the extra cores and mentally calculating the potential applications for this unexpected windfall.