Chapter 013. A miscalculation in her part
“No wonder we had slipped out effortlessly.” Miroh remarked in a hushed tone, stunned.
But it doesn’t change the fact that their actions can be considered as going against the sovereign of the royal family and the Convent.
“But will everybody be okay?”
“Don’t worry. Keid will not just let anyone in. And nothing will get traced back to us since our tyrfings has already reached the intangible realm.”
Miroh could finally let go of his worries and let out a drawled ‘oh’. “You’re right. Wow, I just realized. I actually met a real magnae personally. I’ll probably still have a dead tyrfing if not for her.”
Miroh uttered a quick prayer of gratitude for the goddesses in his heart.
“Are you a believer of the female saints?” Azah asked casually without any fluctuations in his tone.
Miroh nodded his head, gazing away distantly as if reliving a forgotten memory. “My mother was killed by leviaths during the fall of Keziah. Luckily, me and my sister was saved by an Red Autumnwind soldier.”
He held up his sword, which had already return back to its normal state, next to the leviaths.
“The gods had bestowed us the ability to fight back against these monsters. And created the barrier that protected us since this kingdom begin. I think that’s enough to prove their divinity.”
“You’re right, kid.” Azah’s smile didn’t reached his eyes. Nobody noticed how he clenched his hand in a tight fist.
He wouldn’t be the one who’ll extinguish the faith in this guy’s heart.
Ayla got tired of arguing with Caelum and turned her attention to the other two people, who were stuck closely while acting all suspicious.
”What the heck are you two doing—LOOK OUT!” Ayla’s face changed drastically at the sight of the leviath’s mouth coming dangerously fast to their direction.
The two leviaths had catapulted its whole body using its fully regenerated arms to jump on them. Instead of regenerating all of their limbs, they localized their regeneration ability in a specific body part.
‘Sly bastards! Acting all weak to let our guard down.’
Her body moved on their own and pushed Miroh away just in time before the first leviath’s head would’ve killed him on the spot before it could eat him.
“Wh-what?” Miroh stammered, disoriented at the rough movement and Ayla’s outburst.
The leviath was unaffected by the hard impact to the ground and use its arms steadily to move about. It’s jaw still unhinged as if impatiently starving.
“The fuck? They regenerated their arms this quickly?!” Caelum swore, avoiding the second leviath’s mouth and shooting its eyes.
The second leviath screeched in anger, darting its head wildly sensing the humans’ slight movements. Unfortunately, its body still remain steady even with the compromised vision.
“Hey, are you okay?” Ayla shouted amidst the ear piercing screeches and the sound of weapons hitting something hard.
“Y-yes.” Miroh nodded, holding Ayla’s outstretched hand to stand up.
He unsheathed his tyrfing, while the blazing blue flame like glow ignited in unison.
Such quick calibration would’ve baffled them in another time, but that was the least of their concern once the first leviath move to bite their head off once again.
Miroh handled the leviath far better this time. However, they were in a stalemate on how to solve this.
“This is hard. How can we not kill them and still have a head?” Miroh asked Ayla after slicing the first leviath’s fingers with his tyrfing, retreating beside Ayla.
Ayla had long been pondering by herself when she snapped her finger to catch Miroh’s attention. “Hey, I have an idea. Help me lure this leviath to the other leviath with bombs. I’ll help those idiots first.”
“Mhm, okay.” Miroh nodded seriously. Thankfully, Azah gave him leftover bombs as a precaution earlier. This is much better than beating the leviaths up.
Ayla didn’t waste any more time and left him with the leviath.
The leviath was angry at the escaping prey and wanted to intercept Ayla’s path when Miroh throw a handful of explosives to deter the leviath from chasing Ayla.
”That’s right! You’re chasing the wrong enemy.” Miroh taunted, tossing a small explosive smugly in his hand.
The leviath had jumped in alarm once the explosives had set off like a cat hissing with bristled fur.
Miroh looked up at the leviath’s disfigured humanoid face in unconcealed disgust. He caught the small explosive he was tossing then pulled the string in one move.
“Now, roll over.”
On the other side, Caelum and Azah were doing a terrible job of keeping up with the leviath’s speed.
“Fuck this. Let me kill this motherfucker right now!” Caelum gritted his teeth. His mood had switched drastically realizing his arrows weren’t hitting the leviath.
”Just hit its legs…or hands. Whatever that thing is!” Azah shot back. He, who is more adept to close combat obviously can’t go head to head with the leviath’s speed.
“How about you try hitting it? While I try to stab it with my bow?” Caelum laughed angrily.
He hadn’t even released the trigger when the leviath noticed Caelum and adeptly avoided the arrow’s sight. “Fucker stay still!”
Caelum swore from the bottom of his heart. His usually suave composure had long been stripped off after missing the first three shots.
However, aside from its problematic speed, the most damning thing of it all is how the leviath seem to have some divine protection against Caelum’s arrows to completely miss its limbs.
Containing a pesky leviath is a lot more challenging than they anticipated. This is a huge miscalculation in their part. Either way this run had already fallen from the start.
“At least this leviath doesn’t like biting people’s head.” They heard Ayla mutter as if an innocent bystander to their conversation.
“Darling? What about Miroh?” Caelum asked at the same time an explosion happened.
”That’s him blowing stuff up. Don’t worry, we have a plan.” She patted each of their shoulders then leaned over from behind them.
”Just keep up your pitiful archery so it won’t stray away. It obviously likes you.” That was intended for Caelum as she gestured the leviath with her head playfully.
The leviath stretched their regenerated limbs as if taunting Caelum to hit them with his best shot.
Caelum’s face crumpled in dismay. “It just pisses me more.”
“Be careful!”
Ayla suddenly jumped onward, hastily called out her tyrfing while on air.
She angled the blunt side of her tyrfing to hit the leviath’s head from the side. The leviath was thrown to ground in awful mess after its legs fail it.
The leviath was just bidding its time until the timing’s right before it pounces on them.
Unfortunately for it, Ayla had notice the incoming rows of razor sharp teeth before it’s too late.
“Fuck that surprised me!” Caelum placed a hand on his chest. The way the leviath screeched savagely after Ayla successfully intercepted it almost pop their ears off.
Ayla wanted to not waste more time letting the leviath run havoc with her next move when they heard Miroh’s voice shouting desperately behind them.
”MOVE BACK! MOVE BACK, EVERYONE!”
”Wah, that’s dangerous! What is he thinking?” Azah exclaimed with a dumbfounded look on his face.
”Azah, Caelum, go to him! Quickly!” Ayla left them with her urgent tone, going straight to first leviath.
”I got it. I got it!”
Caelum and Azah chased the rampaging leviath intending to save the person whose desperately clinging for his life on top of the leviath.
Ayla removed other thoughts from her mind, trusting Caelum and Azah to save Miroh in time. What she’ll do next requires more concentration than before.
The first leviath she injured was already on its feet, glaring at Ayla with overflowing bloodlust.
She waited for the leviath to make the first move in hopes she could entertain it briefly until the two leviaths were in position.
As if on cue, the second leviath’s screech become more aggravating like professing a hymm for a demonic ritual as their distance to one another shortens.
For ordinary humans, it will likely send shivers down their spine.
‘1…
2…3!’
Ayla propelled her legs upward with her aurora just when both leviath’s heads crashed on the ground from where she stood. With this more advantageous position, she sent forth a gigantic version of her intangible tyrfing from nowhere.
She couldn’t hold the tyrfing this magnitude any longer, and the polearm cruise down like the wrath of an almighty god.
As soon as the polearm burrowed deep in the hard ground, countless pale green spikes also shoot up from the ground at the same time.
These spikes became a formidable prison for the two leviaths as it completely annihilate any chance of escape from their clutch.
From an outsider’s perspective, it would seem like straight out of a creepy art installation inside the mansion of an eccentric billionaire.
The spikes acted too unforgiving from the way the leviaths hung a couple of feet from the ground horizontally with spikes skewered in their body except the neck and face.
Everything gradually calmed down as the leviath ceased their movements except for their ragged breathing. They were still habitually regenerating based on the steams emitting out from multiple places.
Ayla stumbled on her feet as soon as her feet touched the ground. Her face scrunched up at the uncomfortable tinnitus that erupted out of nowhere.
Something snapped in her brain like a tiny zap of electricity, petrifying all the nerves in her body to go numb.
‘Ah. It’s happening again. I probably got carried away…’
That was her fleeting thought as the sky spun above, and white and black splotches enter her vision.
Azah was the one who noticed Ayla’s anomaly by coincidence, holding her anxiously to prevent her from hitting the ground.
“O-oi! Ayla’s gonna pass out!”
Ayla couldn’t hear what they were talking as if she was submerged underwater. She couldn’t move an inch of her body as if every nerve endings has been severed out.
The last thing she saw was Caelum’s chilling gaze made an eye contact with her before she fell unconscious.