Chapter 29 – Fight to Live (1)
"Take up your weapons… There's no way to escape, so we must fight. If we're going to die, we must die fighting," Anya said as she stood up and placed the Command Wire in her bag.
The barrier was slowly dissipating, but it gave the three women time to grab their main weapons, secondary weapons, and several explosive devices.
Anya, contrary to her light and weak appearance, was armed with an extremely heavy and sturdy twin-bladed war axe. The axe's handle was almost as thick as her arm and measured about 1 meter in length.
Mahara, in contrast, was equipped with a round shield set and a long but slightly curved scimitar.
Sonia carried a Nodachi measuring over 110 cm, encased in a sheath adorned with small gold threads and red fabric.
All three women had daggers and long knives strapped to various parts of their bodies, such as their waists and boots. Each also wore a belt loaded with six explosive devices, and a spare sword was secured on their backs.
As the barrier continued to weaken, they worked together to cover Hendrina's body with a camouflage cloak, masking her scent and blending her with the sand's color.
"I wish I could say we're not in danger. I could lie and tell you that help will arrive in time, or that resistance is pointless…" Anya began, her tone steady yet grim as she prepared to address the group.
She paused, glancing at the sky where Windor still hovered, showing no signs of interference. She looked to the other side, ensuring Hendrina was concealed properly.
"We have no chance of winning the battle ahead, girls. We are weak, young, and inexperienced—that's a fact. It's also a fact that, at best, we might defeat an experienced level 3 beast. But what we face is a Level 4 Aura Beast. An enemy that could take on 15, maybe 20 of us, and still emerge without serious injuries. Winning is far from possible. It's a utopia."
She walked to Sonia, locking eyes with her as she spoke. Then, she tightened Sonia's loose straps with precise movements.
"We're not fighting to win. We're fighting to survive. We must avoid injuries, take no risks, and stay cautious. Be cowards, yes—better to live as cowards than to die in a hopeless battle. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
Anya moved to Mahara, adjusting her gear as well. Because of the height difference, she had to step behind Mahara to secure her belt and straps.
"Hit and run, dodge and backstab, distract while the others strike. No heroes today, we will fight like cowards to survive like cowards. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"UNDERSTAND?"
"YES."
"YES."
"Then... MAY AURA PROTECT US. AAAAAHHHHHHH!"
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!"
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Crack. Tlimmm.
TSSSSSSS.
As the barrier shattered, the three women advanced in sync, with Anya and her axe leading the charge.
The serpent, which had been buried in the sand with only its eyes visible, surged forward with incredible speed.
"Split up!" Anya shouted as soon as she realized the serpent was targeting her directly.
Mahara went left and Sonia went right as soon as they heard the instruction. But the snake kept advancing towards Anya, and soon reached her.
When it got close enough, the snake opened its mouth and intended to bite Anya and swallow her whole. The size of the mouth was more than enough for this, since the snake was over 20 meters long and its head was almost 3 meters from one eye to the other.
At this size, the snake could easily swallow a buffalo whole without even dislocating its jaw. It would be very easy for it to swallow Anya whole, and the acid in the snake's throat itself would kill her in a matter of seconds.
But Anya anticipated the attack. With the momentum of her axe, she leapt into the air, spinning into a triple front flip.
Thunk.
The sound of the blow was muffled as if it had hit a soft cloth that drained the force of the impact.
But fortunately, the sharp blade of the axe at high speed combined with the circular movement, the blow violently hit the snake's jaw, breaking some cartilage inside its mouth.
Tssss
A little disoriented, the snake stopped its advance and rose to more than 4 meters in height, and searched his prey.
But Anya had by this time already run to the snake's blind spot and was circling towards its tail.
"Let's dance, bitch." Meanwhile, Sonia sprinted along the serpent's opposite blind spot, yelling to draw its attention.
Her taunts worked—the serpent fixated on her, ignoring Anya and Mahara near its tail. The serpent lunged at Sonia, but she dodged, countering with her Nodachi.
"Hehe, you didn't get it right…" Sonia scoffed, as she skillfully dodged the snake's first attack.
Tsss.
Tlinkk.
"Did that hurt?" Sonia teased, sidestepping another attack and striking again.
Tsss.
Tlinkk.
"Come on... Be faster."
Tsss.
Tlinkk.
Tsss.
Tlinkk. Tlinkk. Tlinkk. Tlinkk. Tlinkk.
Over and over, the pattern repeated: the serpent attacked, Sonia evaded, and her Nodachi struck. Though her blows didn't penetrate deeply, they left marks that irritated the beast.
SSSSSSSS.
"Well… It's your fault for being so slow."
Frustrated by its inability to hit her, the serpent then adopted another tactic. It closed its eyes and soon its horns began to emit a red glow.
Soon, the serpent opened its eyes again, and it didn't take long for it to locate Sonia. From its horns, a cloud of red aura began to expand rapidly as it grew denser, infiltrating the scales and accumulating mainly inside the serpent's mouth.
A macabre smile seemed to form in the serpent's mouth as the color of the scales on its head turned red.
"Heyy what's up, bitch? Resorting to cheap tricks now? That's what losers do," Sonia taunted, retreating instinctively as the aura expanded.
The serpent unleashed a massive sphere of boiling acid, over two meters wide, hurtling toward Sonia at terrifying speed. With no time to think, she threw herself sideways, trusting her instincts.
Sonia had little chance of dodging it if she relied on calculating the ball's trajectory. Her combat instincts screamed at her to just throw herself in a random direction with all the strength and speed she could.
There was no time for her to calculate the trajectory; she could only try to dodge randomly, trusting in luck. Which fortunately worked.
*Splash*
The acid ball missed its target by a few meters, but it was enough to splash a few times on Sonia's clothes, which were immediately corroded, stopping only at the protective layer made of Anielito.
"Shit..." Sonia exclaimed, still shaking from the adrenaline that ran through her veins from going through a deadly experience.
Unfortunately, the snake opened its mouth again, but this time it formed three spheres of acid simultaneously, each the same size as the first...
"Son of a bitch..." Surprise, anger, fear, there was no way to define just one emotion for what Sonia was feeling at that moment. But one thing was certain, she had little hope of dodging the next attack.
Thwack.
To Sonia's rescue, Anya's axe hit the weakest part of the tip of the Serpent's tail, which made her lose her concentration as a cut was opened in her skin.
"MOOVE" At the same time, Sonia heard a scream from Mahara who was running towards her.
*Booommm*
*GRRrrghhhhhhhhhh*
But before she could react to the scream, an explosion occurred in the place where Anya was. Sonia was worried because she couldn't see Anya, but Mahara soon reached her and pushed her roughly saying:
"Don't lose focus. Anya is fine, she placed a bomb in the cut on the tail and got out in time. Go quickly and don't delay the rotation. Prepare a heavy attack while I distract her."
"Oh... Right... Uhumm I get it."
Somewhat confused, Sonia quickly ran to the Serpent's blind spot while the Beast was distracted trying to find Anya, who had fled and camouflaged herself in the sand.
At the same time, Mahara also took advantage of the Beast's distraction to run at full speed and launch a powerful attack with her scimitar.
*Grrrgghhhh*
Which worked very well, as the serpent turned towards her and made a grotesque noise as acid dripped from its mouth.
"Now it's me and you, my dear…"
__________________________________
Did you like this content? Leave a like to show your support! 💬 And don't forget to comment: your opinion is very important and helps enrich the discussion. Let's keep the conversation going!
Do you like my work? 🎨✨ Consider supporting me on Patreon! Your support allows me to continue creating amazing content for you. 💖 Visit: [patreon.com /UndeadNazar] and be part of my journey!"