Chapter 30 – Fighting to Live (2)
"You don't look so good… How about some water?"
As the snake chased her, firing a few small balls of acid at her, Mahara ran from side to side and skillfully dodged them. At the same time, she used the gaps between the snake's attacks to provoke the snake even more.
Screaming between attacks, she made exaggerated and flashy movements with her shield. She also spread her aura around herself, creating a sort of mist that almost hid her body and made it difficult to perceive her movements.
*Tsss*
Therefore, even with the serpent's heightened senses, Mahara could create gaps in the serpent's perception, which it used to hide the scimitar's movements. Furthermore, the serpent was often fooled by the direction of the shield, which Mahara randomly changed to create gaps to attack.
*Splash*
*Splash*
*Splash*
So the snake continued firing her balls of Acid, which became more and more precise, consequently becoming more difficult for Mahara to dodge.
*Splash* *Splash*
"I think this is the limit…"
After dodging several attacks, Mahara immediately realized that the snake had already analyzed her movements and adjusted its precision. It would be a matter of time before she was hit by a ball of acid…
*Tsss-Tss-Tss*
And just like it did before, the snake suddenly stopped its movements and rose to its full height, it seemed to have a sinister smile on its mouth. Its horns began to glow even brighter, the red color spreading even further, covering about 1/3 of the snake's entire body.
Its scales became even more prominent and looked slightly goosebumped. Its eyes also turned crimson red and a blood-colored mist was expelled from its loreal pits. This was a clear sign that the snake was becoming more and more serious in its hunt.
"Yeah, we're screwed." Said Mahara, upon realizing that the snake had changed its appearance again. On her face, a nervous smile was barely contained, her hands also tightly gripped her scimitar and shield.
*Thumpp* Sshhhhhh*
Without warning or even time to prepare, a large sphere of boiling acid landed a few meters away from where Mahara was. The splashes that reached her immediately corroded her clothes and the anielite protection was also corroded.
The acid became more powerful, that was a fact. But it was also a fact that the casting and preparation time had been shortened to almost zero…
There would be no more room for error, Mahara thought as she looked at the pool of acid still boiling on the sand.
*Thumpp* Sshhhhhh*
But just as she thought this, another sphere of acid landed exactly in the same place as the previous one.
"!!!!!" Astonished, Mahara immediately looked at the snake.
*Tsss-Tss-Tss* *Ggrrhhhnmm*
And there she was, with a predatory gaze focused on Mahara, with a devilish smile on her face and snaking through the air as if she were dancing. Everything about the snake made Mahara understand that the snake was having fun…
The snake was showing that it could have ended the game much earlier… And now, it wanted to play a little more…
*Thumpp* Sshhhhhh*
The main clue was the third ball of acid that landed exactly in the same place as the other two and just a few meters away from Mahara. Just like the previous two, Mahara was unable to notice the preparation and launch time…
It was almost instantaneous…
"We are so screwed."
The only alternative left for Mahara was to run, to run desperately and as fast as possible to try to dodge the attacks that she had no idea where they would come from.
*Thumpp* *Thumpp*
From side to side…
*Thumpp* *Thumpp*
In a zigzag…
*Thumpp* *Thumpp*
In a straight line…
Mahara spent 3 whole minutes running desperately and dodging - by luck or coincidence - of the deadly acid balls.
The snake, in turn, did not even bother to follow her… On the contrary, the snake stood still while its prey ran away. And soon Mahara realized why she wasn't being followed...
But as soon as Mahara reached a considerable distance, about 150 meters from the snake, she realized why she wasn't being followed.
Mahara found herself trapped in quicksand…
Without any plausible explanation, Mahara knew that that lake of quicksand would not be there naturally. It was at this moment that she realized that she had fallen into the snake's trap…
The snake meticulously guided her towards this place, it was probably also the snake that created this gigantic lake of quicksand.
"Sigh... So that's why she wasn't using her aura to full capacity… Anya, are you listening?" Realizing the situation, Mahara used her aura to find and send a message to Anya.
"I'm listening…" Anya replied, a few seconds later sending a reply message.
"I'm trapped in quicksand, a perimeter of 500 meters or more. The aura contained in the sand matches Crotalus's aura, it's a trap."
"I already know, Mahara. Actually, it's not just 500 meters, almost 40000 square meters is the area of SOLID ground where we are, the ONLY area of solid ground… We're surrounded, Mahara, she's slowly turned the entire area within a 400 meter radius into her trap. And the circle is closing in…"
"Hahaha, she had us from the start… She really was just playing around. Hahaha…"
"Stay there, don't try to resist because the sand's strength is amplified to hold level 3 beasts easily. It's useless and will only speed up the process. We'll do our best to keep her busy."
"Understood… Be careful."
"We will…"
"All I can do is wait patiently for death or a miracle, Hehe. " Mahara thought, as she tried to get into the sand to increase the contact area.
"Aura, please give us strength." Anya said, as she ran around the snake and looked for a blind spot to launch a strike.
"AhhhHHH" Meanwhile, Sonia was getting the snake's attention and trying to attack with her nodachi.
*Tlink* *Tlink* *Tlink*
Unfortunately, Sonia's most ferocious attacks, even when strengthened with aura, did absolutely nothing to the snake's resistant scales.
"RETIRE, SONIA." Anya shouted, as her senses alerted her that the snake was emitting aura.
*Thumpp*
As Sonia threw herself back with force, a ball of Acid hit almost exactly where she was. It wasn't close enough to hit her precisely, but it was close enough for considerable splashes to hit her.
Which would certainly be enough to get past Anielito's protective layer and corrode her skin and muscles. Without a doubt, Sonia's two legs could be neutralized...
*Tsss*
Fortunately, Sonia escaped unharmed, but the snake realized that something was wrong... The last attempts to neutralize a target had been frustrated by Anya... This shouldn't happen, her shots were fast and silent, almost imperceptible even for Level 4 Aura Beasts like her.
But she soon realized that she was focusing on the wrong target. The priority should be to neutralize the prey that could detect her attacks...
"Hheeyyy, where are you looking, coward?? I'm here..." Sonia shouted, trying to get the snake's attention.
*Tlink* *Tlink* *Tlink*
"Heeeyyyy..."
But unfortunately, even launching several blows with her Nodachi, Sonia was unable to get the snake's attention. Anya also realized this, since the snake was moving towards her and taking her as its priority target.
"Sonia, charge up a full-power attack and aim for the horns. I'll distract it…"
As soon as she said that, Anya immediately started running. The snake also followed her closely, while simultaneously firing a few acid balls at her.
But this time, the snake had no intention of missing its shots…
*Thumpp**Thumpp**Thumpp**Thumpp*
Each of its balls were heading precisely at Anya. The aim was perfect and the speed was fast enough to give her no time to dodge.
But as if she had already predicted this, Anya had left a lit explosive device in her hands. She had a vague idea of throwing it at the snake when she had the chance and making it lose its concentration.
But when she realized that the snake wouldn't give her a chance, she ran to buy enough time for the fuse to burn out. Then, she threw it at the snake as soon as she noticed the aura fluctuation in the snake's horns.
*BOOMMMM*
It was the precise timing… The explosion occurred about 30 meters away from Anya, enough to throw her back a few meters. But it was also enough to completely interrupt and disperse the snake's shots.
The fireball rose more than 20 meters and the smoke from the explosion took over the snake's vision. The shock wave also created a cloud of sand that clouded the snake's vision for a few seconds.
The heat from the explosion and the taste of carbon and salts in the air made the snake's brain want to retreat immediately. All of this made the snake's senses lose Anya.
Even so, the snake did not give up its hunt and began to circle the area of the explosion in search of making visual contact with its prey.
Anya, in turn, wasted no time and once again she had another explosive device ready to be thrown at the snake.
*Boommmmm*
Another explosion occurred and the snake again the heat of the explosion and the taste of carbon and salts in the air made the snake's brain want to retreat had its senses clouded and it lost sight of Anya.
But again it recovered and looked for Anya again. Who again had another explosive device in her hand ready to explode... And for the third time she threw the explosive device at the snake.
*Boommmmm*
But this time the snake was not caught in the explosion...
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