Chapter 52 - In a "Pinch"

Could it be, because of the merging process they were unable to let go of one another?

I remembered the gruesome process of their heads melting together as one,

while I did not want to remember this, it did explain why there was one twice the size of the others. I hoped this was all of them… That there wouldn't be more coming after me.

But nothing could be said for sure, seeing as this was a fast jungle with all kinds of wildlife in it. I hoped after this battle it would all be over, to have a moment to lower myself to familiar ground… I steeled my resolve in the hopes of finishing this quickly.

Using my remaining energy to conjure the technique I had learned through the battle with the other giants. Putting up a barrier of flame, hoping the others would stay away.

Quickly the world showed that my hope was misplaced…

The group of mantis filled with rage rushed towards me, they too had learned from their previous experiences, knowingly they didn't close in too much, instead, they observed the surroundings of my technique. The only thing missing for them must have been a bag of popcorn or maybe marshmallows even? Almost like I was the campfire for them to chill at.

This worried me, I knew I was outnumbered, but I had to finish this quickly if I was to come out victorious. My previous battles showed how quickly they could adapt to the situation at hand which presented quite big a challenge…

I had no energy left to shoot out the flames but did have enough to use some other basic attacks at my disposal which I had kept hidden on purpose. Techniques truly used when in a pinch. I had to stay in position, for the time being, holding on until an opportunity of attack would present itself. The group of mantis on the other hand were done observing and slowly closed in from all sides, aside from the bigger one that is.

As if it was commanding the others, he stayed at the sidelines observing how I would react.

Which made me think he was trying to get me to show my hand before he would.

This was to be expected as they too had gotten at a disadvantage. Seeing how their brethren had fallen one by one at my hand.

It showed a certain cunning, respect towards the opponent even? Something which I hadn't seen any of my opponents do before. By this time the little ones had all surrounded me and began raising their arms. Not like you would expect. Like how someone normally would raise their hands if an officer would say; "Freeze, throw your hands up in the air!"

No… This was different… Each of the mantis had raised one of their arms and continued to lower and raise the opposite of what they had raised from the start, making a propelling movement of some sort. The wind began to propel around their arms showing signs of gusts forming. It was at this moment I realized what they were planning on doing. Since they couldn't snap the fire away with sheer pressure, they had devised a different plan to try and blow away the flames.

In a way, this could prove to be helpful to me, yet I didn't know what they were planning…

For the time being, it looked like they were summoning gusts of wind, allowing the flames to grow larger by the increase of oxygen. I relaxed for a moment,

that was when the attacks had begun without warning.

Hurling intensely sharp gusts of wind towards my flame armor trying to break through and cut me in the process. At first, it felt like they wouldn't get through. Which was when I decided to charge in on those in front of me. One got scorched by my flames, while the others dodged just in time leaving seven remaining mantis in the group.

The others picked up the pace and swiftly began to launch their gusts towards me.

This was when one of them succeeded in slicing straight through the wall I had put around me. Penetrated it in mere minutes I was truly shocked. Even though it recovered quite quickly, my had in fact been breached.

I had to think fast before they could succeed in neutralizing my armor.

Now was the time, I needed to make my bursting wall of flames heavier,

heavy enough for it to make it impossible to penetrate.

But could I really? There was nothing I could coat it with for it to sustain long enough to withstand the attacks. What I could do on the other hand was playing my final trump card.

Which like used before with more difficult and bigger opponents had proven its worth multiple times. I decided it was now or never and conjured my potent liquid toxins.

Shooting them out aimed at my opponents, they had not expected me to go in the counter-attack, which had shown to be an effective countermeasure against the gusts of wind.

Three more mantis were hit, instantly getting dissolved by the potent toxic after-effects.

If that was still not enough, the now burning toxin had ignited around their bodies burning them to a crisp like the giants before them.

Their leader immediately called back the remaining three, it now had seen the last attack which I had hidden from them, allowing him to gain the advantage. What is decided to do next was so simple that I had not seen it coming. It began flapping its wings in conjunction with the others allowing them to create a strong enough wind to blow my flames upwards.

I knew I had no other means to fight them but the basic ones. There was one final way to regain some lost energy, but did I really want to do so? My tail had been chopped off. Had I already eaten it? Quickly I had come to the conclusion that this was not the case, but at the same time my tail was left higher up than where we were right now. Which effectively made my final chance of regaining energy a non-existent one. As soon as my flames were completely dispersed I rushed towards those who had burned to a crisp hoping I could scavenge some remaining energy. Which I truly needed to defend myself.

Slices of air got launched towards me, in a desperate attempt to catch me in the act.

Quickly I crawled underneath the branch avoiding certain demise.

The remaining group of mantis now targeted the branch I kept climbing down on,

slicing and dicing it up in small pieces. Thankfully I had made it to the stump of the tree, gaining momentum for the descend downwards.

The leader had located and pinpointed my location ordering the smaller ones to rush towards me, without a moment's notice the tree remaining mantis began hovering about the branch and rushed towards me. In this time I had reached one of their fallen comrades and had begun munching down on it.

The others who closed in saw this and honestly couldn't care less, doing what their leader ordered them to do they closed in withdrawn claws pointed at me. Having regained enough energy to conjure the needed poisons I immediately began my counterattack against them.

Having the lower ground and knowing how they propelled themselves in the air gave me the advantage I had been waiting for. I knew I had to give it my all which was why I immediately depleted my mana in a massive barrage of poison blows which I hurled towards the flying mantis that closed in on me.

All three of them tried to react and dodge the barrage, but couldn't do so in time.

Two of the three had their wings dissolved, crashing to an unsightly demise.

A smile formed on my face for a moment as their death was truly absurd.

Made me think of those unfortunate souls who could fall of buildings while not intending to.

With the last one remaining, I knew I had to do something drastic as I had little to no energy left yet again. The last remaining mantis charged in towards me. Prepared for the worst I readied my claws.

The mantis seeing as how it was the last one had taken my reaction speed into account,

calculating how I could react made him a fierce opponent.

Although I knew it was reckless I had no other choice than to take the mantis head-on.

Quickly closing in we both knew there really was only one chance left.

Both anticipating the worst I let the mantis come to me. Its momentum gave him an edge over me, but if I could time it just right I would prevail.

The mantis now face to face with me sliced down with immeasurable speed.

At that moment I quickly crawled underneath the branch I had been waiting for the mantis.

Vanishing in an instant the mantis had sliced the branch off. It looked down to see if it had caught me, but couldn't find me. Little did he know I had crawled underneath the branch towards the bark of the tree. Quickly I took this chance while its back had presented itself to me. I sliced off its wings making it slam into the remaining part of the branch.

Within that moment I sliced off his arms with my claws leaving it completely defenseless.

I knew the bigger one was still watching and decided to feast on its minion while I still could.

Filled with rage the leader lowered itself to the area where I stayed to replenish my energy.

The energy which I needed to bring an end to this madness…