Soulless Soul

Chapter 75: Desperate Gamble

For once, Sky was stunned by the contents of his own mind. The theoretical mechanics of said plan rotated in his head, a horrifying mixture of panic generated by the desperation of the cornered animal in him, a strategy which threw all rules of combat out the window and exploited the one unique, unwritten property of his spiritual essence in order to capitalize on a minute weakness in its attacks.

He couldn’t tell if such idea was born from sheer audacity or plain stupidity. Survival in the economic hierarchy of the Dungeon Array usually determined the difference between the brilliant tactical realignment and the fatal mistake; whether or not he’d live to speak of it was determined by his ability to time the execution to perfection.

If he pulled it off, he’d live to crawl out of this meat grinder. If he failed by a matter of millimeters, his broken corpse would simply be yet another name buried in the mud of the lower regions.

Either way, there was no damn way he was doing such reckless thing. He was a survivor, the kind who prided himself on thinking with a straight mind, using carefully calculated risk management and minimizing personal exposure to danger at all times.

...Right?

The Savage Beast made that decision for him. The luxury of choosing his options was violently stripped from him as said creature refused to grant him additional time in consideration of his thoughts. The harsh reality of his options was pressed down his throat by the weight of the current circumstance.

One of the Savage Beast’s remaining forelegs lashed out again with unnatural speed. The sickly dark appendage slashed through the gray fog with a mechanical hiss, its scythe-like end aimed squarely at his midsection.

Sky moved too late. His mind was preoccupied with the abstract geometries of his crazy plan, and he failed to react in time. He attempted to move his hips to the side in an effort to slide laterally through the mud to let the blow pass harmlessly through the air.

The razor-sharp edge of the appendage grazed his left leg, sending a spike of pain up his spine. The serrated edge of the chitinous plate caught the side of his leg, the sheer magnitude of the force behind the passing strike threatening to throw him off-balance entirely.

Fortunately for him, his Armor held firm, keeping the attack from slicing through his flesh. His systemic defense layer flashed in sharp, localized bursts of spiritual energy, dissipating the cutting edge of the attack in order to spare his muscles and tendons from being cleanly severed by the beast’s weaponry.

Unfortunately for him, the impact sent him rolling across the mud. The sheer force of a three meter tall apex predator had exceeded the protection threshold of the status points he’d accumulated.

It was enough to lift his feet from the mire, sending his torso spinning horizontally before tossing roughly back-first onto the ground.

Sky landed hard on his shoulder, the impact sending a jolt of pain through his collarbone as he knocked a jagged gasp of air from his lungs. His vision swam with a sudden influx of black spots as he rolled across the black sludge, his makeshift bone spear nearly slipping from his numb grip.

He didn’t have the time to properly recover before the Savage Beast charged again. The beast refused to grant him the distance to reestablish his footing and clear his vision. Powered by the agonizing fire of its own leaking azure blood, the creature lunged forward with its remaining legs, its massive abdominal plates scraping heavily against the ground as it loomed over his prone form.

No time. The realization settled in his gut like ice. He couldn’t run. He couldn’t maneuver. The walls of the labyrinth were far too restrictive and his body was far too battered for him to have the room or energy to even evade the beast’s reach.

His eyes widen in the cluster of yellow burning eyes that loomed through the mist above him.

Do it.

Instead of fleeing, Sky suddenly stopped moving. He abandoned his efforts to flee, planting his back against the cold, wet stone floor and tensing his limbs in a defiant stance. He opened his guard entirely, allowing the horror to enter his personal space.

The Savage Beast’s massive forelegs wrapped around his torso, and it took full advantage of the opening, grabbing his ribs with its remaining intact limbs like a pair of hydraulic rescue shears.

CRACK!

An unbearable pressure immediately bore down on Sky’s ribs. The sound wasn’t his bones breaking - not yet - but rather the structure of his systemic defense layer compressing under an ungodly load.

His entire body tensed, every single fiber of his muscular structure locking up in an effort to combat the force. The air was squeezed from his chest in a silent, agonizing rush, leaving his mouth hanging open in a silent scream.

It felt as if the creature was trying to crush him in half. The dense, stone-like armor of the spider bore down on his sides, the jagged serration of its plates digging into his clothing and threatening to punch through the barrier.

His Armor groaned under the pressure, but held. The numeric values in the corner of his vision flickered erratically, the glowing runes bleeding energy in their frantic effort to distribute the massive structural stress along all points along his framework rather than a specific weak point.

Every muscle in his body tighten in his desperate attempt to resist the crushing force. He planted his heels into the mud, using the friction to keep his spine from snapping against the stone beneath him. His face turned a deep, bruised crimson, the veins along his neck bulging dangerously under the pressure.

His lungs struggled to draw breath, and a sharp pain spread through his chest. Every micro- movement of the spider’s limbs felt like an anvil being dropped onto his breastbone, restricting his diaphragm until he could only manage tiny, shallow wheezes of oxygen.

For several seconds, neither side was able to gain ground. The corridor was filled with a strange, high-tension stasis, filled only with the sound of chitin pressing against spirit force and the ragged, desperate gasps of an individual fighting for his life.

The Savage Beast couldn’t crush him. Its injuries had drained too much of its baseline power, and the leaking azure ichor was robbing its muscles of the absolute hydraulic pressure needed to turn a reinforced Awakened into paste.

And Sky couldn’t escape. He was trapped entirely, within the vice-like grip of an entity that outweighed him by several tons.

Then, from above, a familiar presence descended. The mental connection snapped tight, a familiar wave of detached, cold willpower washing over his fracturing focus as his scout returned to the immediate radius.

His Soul Clone flowed over his body, merging with his Armor and reinforcing its properties. The translucent, ethereal entity didn’t strike the beast, but instead dissolved into raw, liquid darkness, wrapping around Sky’s torso like a secondary skin of hyper-dense spiritual energy to absorb the brunt of the load.

The pressure on Sky’s torso became even more unbearable. With the addition of the clone’s density, the pocket of space between his body and the spider’s limbs vanished entirely, trapping his lungs in an immobilized cage.

But his Armor held. The numbers stabilized, and the crimson glow of his core abilities flared with an aggressive, stubborn light that refused to be defeated by the dungeon’s malice.

The Savage Beast’s small eyes stared directly into his. The cluster of yellow orbs was less than a foot away, so close that Sky could see the individual lenses twitching as they register his continued survival.

Sky stared back, his teeth bared in a feral, painful snarl. He didn’t blink, ignoring the stinging sweat and mud running down his forehead.

For a moment, they were completely locked in place. Two wounded, desperate predators testing the limits of their endurance in the heart of the labyrinth.

Then the creature’s eyes suddenly burned with insane hunger. The realization that its physical strength alone wasn’t sufficient to reduce this prey to meat seemed to prompt a shift in its programming.

Its mandibles clicked together. The iron shears began to move, a thick, foul-smelling secretion dripping from the tips as they prepared to dissolve whatever they touched.

Oh, no.

The Savage Beast lifted Sky into the air. It hauled its torso up, shifting its remaining legs to elevate its entire front portion and taking Sky with it.

His feet left the ground as the creature brought him closer to its mouth. The safe horizon of the forest floor vanished, replaced by the terrifying cavern of its central maw, rows of crushing internal teeth already spinning into motion.

It was obvious what it intended to do. It was going to bypass his armor entirely by introducing him to its digestive system, letting its internal acids do the work its external limbs couldn’t manage.

Sky’s expression darkened, the absurdity of his situation overriding the immediate terror of his descent.

"Why is everyone trying to eat me?! Am I really that tasty?!" He spat the words through his grit teeth, his voice cracked and raw from the lack of air.

The Savage Beast opened its mouth, its throat expanding to reveal a wet, pulsing corridor of absolute blackness that smelled of old graves.

Sky didn’t struggle. He didn’t kick, he didn’t writhe, and he didn’t attempt to pull his torso away from the closing trap.

He couldn’t. His body was entirely restricted by the compression of the limbs.

And he didn’t need to. This was the exact position his crazy idea required. He’d needed the beast to commit entirely to a trajectory that exposed its most vulnerable assets, in doing so.

He only had one chance.

His fingers tightened around the makeshift bone spear still clutched in his hand. His right arm, free outside the immediate perimeter of the spider’s grip, rotated the calcified shard until the jagged, diagonal point was aligned with the creature’s gaping throat.

Now.

At the final possible moment, just as the wet texture of the spider’s internal mouth brushed against his collar, Sky allowed the Soul Clone to flow away from his Armor and wrap itself around the sharpened bone. The defense around his chest vanished, but the offensive potential of his weapon exploded.

The dull, pale weapon instantly became coated in darkness. The liquid soul energy condensed around the calcified shard, sharpening the tapering point into a minute edge of localized destruction that hissed at the ambient fog.

Sky gathered every ounce of strength remaining in his body. He drew on the bottom of his spiritual reserves, forcing his muscles to fire with a frantic, desperate intensity.

His ribs screamed.

His lungs burned.

His muscles trembled at the pressure.

But he ignored all of it. He shut out the pain, the noise of the labyrinth, and focused everything he was on a single spatial coordinate.

He leaned forward, using the momentum of the spider’s own lift to accelerate his movement.

And thrust.

THUD!

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