C55- Depths of the Nest (2)

"Well... I think it's time for me to head back. That thing probably grew it's legs back."

"How can you tell?"

"I can hear it."

"How?"

"I am using magic to make the sound coming from that way faster so that it reaches my ears."

"And?"

"And, I am currently hearing something walking..."

"Go away, quickly."

"Right..."

After being shooed away by Clair, Corvin headed back to the giant roach. While passing by Amy, suddenly, she held his arm. She handed him a bottle with a special wide mouth that is blocked by a piece of cotton, usually used to coat a surface with medicine.

"?"

"Take this. I made a really bad poison from some mushrooms. It doesn't smell, so that thing shouldn't be able to detect it."

"What do you mean bad?"

"Well... I wouldn't want that anywhere near myself, even though it should be more effective against bugs."

"How bad would it be?"

"...A sizable drop can kill an adult human with it's current concentration without giving enough time to find an antidote."

"...Great..."

"Well, good luck!", said Amy with a smile.

Corvin was going to complain about how a cheerful attitude wasn't motivation when all of them were leaving him alone to fight that thing, but as the only proper swordsman among them, he could only blame himself for not finding a friend who could fight like him.

As he heard the sound of the roach walking get closer, he pushed himself in the air with magic silently to surprise the bug. He applied the poison on his sword and carefully closed the lid of the bottle tightly. His white sword was now covered with a coating of a bright yellow liquid.

As he glided towards the roach, he relly faintly felt something coming from the side towards him. If this was about half a year ago, he wouldn't be able to feel it, but because he got better at his magic, he started to feel the vectors around him, like and objects speed. Of course, he needed a lot more training since currently he could only feel the fast moving big objects that are close to him.

Clank!

As he instinctively blocked the oncoming attack, he was surprised by how sneaky the roach was. The giant bug had suddenly appeared to the left of him without making any sound. The dim blue light inside the corridor coming from the shining moss lined up on the ceiling made the pinkish bug look black, and the dim light caused it to blend with the dark coloured stone walls of the nest.

'Huh? But the steps..? Am I hearing the steps from the bugs in the room?'

Because of Corvin's lack of attention while talking with his friends, he didn't realize when the roach stopped walking and started to wait for him in an ambush.

He retreated a couple of meters and tried to focus on his environment to get used to the bug's camouflage. After his eyes adjusted from the light his friends carried to the dim light of the corridor, he could see a shadowy eliptic figure on the wall.

As he gazed at it, the roach suddenly jumped towards him, and he ducked under the oncoming kick, and stabbed the roach in a small gap between two plates of it's exoskeleton under it's abdomen.

'Tch... It's too soft...'

The inside of the bugs abdomen was too soft to be punctured with a single and shallow stab. He tried to move the sword and slash the bug, but the curve of the exoskeleton prevented most of the movements of the blade, and he had to pull the sword back and get out from under the bug.

'I just need the poison to work... I need to find somewhere else.'

He jumped when the bug swung a leg towards him, and the bug pushed itself off the ground with it's other legs and tried to bite Corvin while in air. Corvin pointed his sword towards and pushed himself into it's mouth with magic.

Clank!

The roach caught the sword, but because it didn't have long mandibles like ants, it couldn't bite Corvin and could only stop it's head from being stabbed. Corvin tilted his sword to pry open the mandibles, but the bug backed away before he could stab it's head.

Corvin started attacking the roach's legs like before, and even though he was more focused on his attacks to just get the poison inside the bug's body, the bug was adapting his attacks and was only pushed back without being wounded by the sword.

'The legs aren't working either.... The only remaining option is under the wings...'

Corvin focused his attacks forward to corner the roach. The bug retreated further towards the giant room. After two minutes of defending, the roach was now pushed back to the stone platform that connected the corridor to the rest of the honeycomb room, and Corvin used his magic and body to push the roach off the platform.

Whirrr~

The roach opened it's elytron and wings to fly back to the platform. Before landing, the monster checked where Corvin was, only to find no one at the platform.

Swish~ Squish!

Before the roach could turn back to the platform, Corvin jumped off the platform and used his magic to get behind the monster. He drew a semicircle in the air while swinging his sword and plunged the blade deep into the bug with a wide slash. Most of the yellow poison coating stuck to the bug's body and he completed his magic assisted jump with a graceful landing on the platform.

Kick! Thud!

"Khak!"

Corvin was kicked into the walls of the corridor right as he landed. The bug closed it's elytron after landing on the platform.

'Right... The poison needs a bit of time to work.'

Corvin wiped his forehead and readjusted his light blue armour that shifted sideways when he hit the wall. The roach leaped towards him, and he raised his sword to block the attacks. He wanted to push the bug off the platform again to give time for the poison to kill it.

Corvin and the bug exchanged blows one after another, and after five minutes, he was almost completely exhausted.

'Why isn't the poison working? Does it have resistance to poison?'

The roach didn't die after getting a wide slash with powerful poison all over it, it didn't even look like it was losing power much. Corvin gritted his teeth in frustration and continued trying to push the roach towards the end of the platform.

"-♪♫"

"?"

Corvin started to hear Noah's whistles again. He couldn't give attention to anything other than the bug with his current mental state, so he wasn't aware of where he was, and he thought he had been pushed back towards his friends enough to be able to hear Noah's whistles. So he forced himself to push the roach more and further down the corridor. Without realising, he pushed the roach off the platform, and just as the bug was falling, he felt the waves in the mana filling the space and someone placing their hands on his shoulder.

Swiish~

A streak of white light flew past Corvin and headed towards the roach which was trying to open it's wings to fly back. The white streak of light hit the monster crosswise in the area between the abdomen and the head, decapitating the roach.

THUD!

With a loud sound, the head fell all the way down to the stone floor of the giant room and crushed an unsuspecting ant.

"Are you okay, Corvin?"

"Noah?"

"Yes?"

"Were you preparing for that?"

"Yes. Am I not smart?"

"...Noah."

"Hm?"

"You should have attacked the body instead of cutting it's head off..."

"Why?"

"You know, I have another fun fact about roaches actually...", said Corvin with a sinister smile.

"...No..."

"Did you know that roaches can live on instinct for a while, even after losing their heads?"

WHIIIRRR~