Chapter 40 - Facing the Tardigrada Monster
My sensitive hearing, far more acute than that of humans, immediately sensed a tremendous pain. It was as if my eardrums were pierced by nails, driving deep into my head. My hands couldn't bear the intensity of the sound that flooded my senses. Though the howl lasted only a moment, my strength was drained simply from trying to withstand the ear-splitting noise.
My body almost collapsed onto the ground, if not for my mind's quick command to stay alert in the face of this monster. I threw a glance forward. The creature before me, a giant white bear-like monster, resembled a polar bear with its thick, snowy fur. It stood about three stories tall, with two pairs of hands and two pairs of legs, its heavy, sagging body swaying with each movement.
For a brief moment, I recalled a lesson from Biology in my old world. This creature closely resembled the Tardigrade, a microscopic animal that resembled a bear. Its head, with only a mouth and no eyes, was eerily similar. It was as though this creature in front of me had once been a Tardigrade, magnified by a magnifying glass like something from a cartoon, then given a serum to grow fur all over its body.
Yes, that was the creature standing before me now! Without hesitation, it took a stance and charged toward me.
"Damn it! How did this happen?" I cursed, fuming with frustration.
Without wasting a moment, I immediately took off, fleeing from the creature. I ran between the trees, hoping that the monster would struggle to chase me through the dense foliage.
My ears picked up the thudding sounds of heavy steps behind me. It seemed the bear-like monster wasn't fast. I could tell by the intervals between its footsteps that it was moving slowly. It seemed its heavy body hindered its speed. After a while, the footsteps behind me faded away. I wondered if the creature had given up the chase, thinking I had managed to outrun it.
I slowed down and glanced back, but to my surprise, I didn't see the strange creature anywhere.
"Wait! How could something that big just vanish like that?"
In that moment, just as I was lost in my thoughts, the answer was revealed above me. It wasn't a metaphor, but quite literally, the bear-like monster was right above me.
Damn it! I immediately rolled to the ground to avoid the attack. If I hadn't done that, I surely would have been struck down. My body shuddered in terror when I saw the tree I had been standing next to earlier split in two by the creature's claw.
For a moment, I froze, staring at the tree. It was a close call. I shuddered at the thought that had I not managed to avoid it, my body would have been split in two. This damn creature! It could jump that far! Not wanting to end up like the tree, I immediately sprinted away from the giant bear.
No matter how far I tried to distance myself from it, the Tardigrade-like creature always managed to catch up with its long leaps. Its small steps were merely the preparation for its long jumps. I swore, if it were human, this Tardigrade would certainly win the gold medal in the long jump at the Olympics.
Perhaps that's how it had gotten in front of me earlier, in the Turnia Flower fields. It had leapt from a great distance. But why couldn't I detect it with my Super Sense?
"Dammit!" I shouted, my back slamming into a tree root as I rolled across the ground.
The Tardigrade didn't give up; it seemed to not know when to stop. On the other hand, I was exhausted from continuously evading it. It felt impossible that it would just let me go. What was I supposed to do? Fighting it in my exhausted state wasn't a wise choice. Using Esze would drain my energy further. If I ran out of energy and the monster still wasn't down, I'd be done for.
Just then, I heard the sound of flowing water nearby. It sounded like a river! If I ran to it, maybe the creature would stop chasing me. I forced my tired legs to keep running, desperate to reach the river. Not long after, I found what I had hoped for ahead of me. The river was wide and seemed deep. The current was swift enough to carry away something or someone.
While following the current would take me further down the river, pulling me farther from the camp, it was better than being hunted by this Tardigrade monster.
I arrived at the edge of the cliff by the river, three meters below where the current flowed. I turned to look behind me, realizing I couldn't hear any footsteps or the sound of broken trees anymore. The creature was jumping!
Without wasting another second, I jumped from the cliff, fleeing to safety. The moment I leaped, the Tardigrade monster charged after me. A second's delay and my body would have been torn in two.
Just before hitting the water's surface, I pulled out the Viglet of Hope and began chanting a spell.
"Vitr Stit!"
The underwater world welcomed me. My eyes, which could see in the dark, worked just as well underwater, as long as the water remained clear. I could see small fish swimming away from the creatures like me, and the riverbed covered in stones. If the situation had been better, I would have enjoyed the view.
A moment later, my body was enveloped in a gust of wind from the tip of the Viglet of Hope. The wind formed a thin membrane at first, then turned into a swirling ball that surrounded me. This was the wind-based defense spell Almira had taught me. Normally, it was used to block enemy arrows. But in this case, I used it to keep from sinking and being swept away by the strong current.
The wind bubble lifted me, keeping my body afloat before eventually disappearing. Had I not cast the spell, I would have been swept away and probably wouldn't have resurfaced until I was nothing more than a corpse.
Contrary to my earlier assumption, the Tardigrade monster didn't stop chasing me, even after I submerged into the water. Instead, it seemed to have an easier time tracking my movements, simply following the current. The monster leaped several dozen meters ahead to the riverbank, where it now stood on a narrowing portion of the river that jutted out into the water.
Slowly but surely, I was getting closer to the Tardigrade waiting above me on the cliff. The monster raised its claws high and prepared to strike me down. The narrowing of the river to only five meters left me with nowhere to go.
This was truly a critical situation! If I didn't do something, it would strike me!
In that split second, I had an idea. It wasn't the best one, and it was risky, with only a 50:50 chance of success. But it wasn't like me to surrender without trying.
The river's current grew stronger as the width of the river narrowed, making it harder for me to stay afloat. With the situation becoming more dire, I lifted my hand while still holding the Viglet of Hope. Slowly but surely, the distance between the Tardigrade and me began to shorten, leaving just a few meters between us.
From this close distance, I could see its face clearly. The monster didn't have eyes, a nose, or ears. All that was there was a massive mouth filled with sharp teeth. I shuddered to think what would happen if my head got caught in its mouth; I probably wouldn't even be recognizable.
The Tardigrade raised its right claw high and prepared to strike downward. A fraction of a second before its claws would pierce my body, I aimed the Viglet of Hope at its face.
"Vitr Blast!"
The moment the spell escaped my mouth, a white aura gathered at the tip of the staff. The wind swirled into a ball the size of a softball, and I fired it directly at the Tardigrade's face. As the ball of wind made contact, I took a deep breath and submerged myself beneath the water.
Once again, my underwater vision failed to detect what happened above, but I saw a large shadow fall from the cliff and crash onto the riverbank beneath me. Rocks and soil tumbled into the water, creating ripples behind me.
I didn't know what had happened up there, but I had to ignore the curiosity. I had to stay underwater, following the current, to distance myself from the Tardigrade. I had planned to disrupt its concentration with my attack. Once its focus shifted, I could hide and use the current to escape.