Trident of Pain

The air around me seemed to solidify as I uttered the word 'Freeze'.

An icy aura began to radiate from my body, enveloping me in a chilling mist. The tendril that was about to strike me was now covered in a thin layer of frost, slowing its movement to a crawl.

Seizing the opportunity, I swung my weapon at the tendril, shattering it into tiny pieces of ice that scattered across the area.

The sight of my success filled me with a surge of adrenaline.

'Good...'

The creature also seemed to be taken aback by my sudden change in strategy. It retracted its remaining tendrils, its leaf-like eyes filled with a newfound respect.

Observing the monster I noticed once peculiar thing:

The tendril that I have frozen and shattered was not regenerating like the others.

Oh...

I have found another weakness of these plant-like monsters I wasn't aware of. It seems that the information that I have obtained from the novel I read was not entirely accurate.

[ Chilly Sweep ]

Tilting my sword, I began to utilize the first movement of my Weapon Art.

The edge of my blade was immediately covered in a layer of frost, enhancing its cutting power and freezing potential.

Although I couldn't use my ice affinity against the monsters often due to my lack of mastery over it, my Weapon Art was basically made to exploit their weakness.

'It's almost too easy now...'

Cutting through the tendrils that writhed toward me with ease, I slowly began to advance toward the creature's main body.

With every step I took, the amount of frozen tendrils scattered in my wake increased and the amount of attacks from the creature diminished.

Swish...

In the end, I got rid of all the tendrils and stood before the now defenseless creature.

However, it didn't give up.

Since it had lost its limbs, the monster simply threw itself at me, though in its weakened state, it posed little threat.

I shattered its core with a swift strike, and the creature crumbled into pieces.

"Finally..."

I sighed in relief, while brushing off the sweat that had formed on my forehead.

Although I have won the fight, the situation is grim.

My mana is running low, my head is spinning because of blood loss.

I thought I could fight until the reinforcements arrived, but it seems that I have overestimated my current capabilities.

Turning back, I prepared to leave the field and retreat back to the fortress to recover, however before I could, something hit my body like a speeding truck and sent me flying through the air.

'Huh?'

The last thing I remember before losing consciousness was the taste of metal in my mouth and the searing pain radiating through my body.

***

Tap... Tap...

Chilly droplets of water fell onto my face, slowly bringing me back to consciousness.

"Damn!"

The moment my senses returned, a torrent of curses escaped my lips.

The very first thing I felt was the gut-wrenching pain that shot through my entire being. It felt like every nerve in my body was on fire, and each movement sent waves of agony rippling through me.

'I was hit by something...'

Opening my eyes, I struggled to focus on my surroundings, however, the blurriness of my vision made it difficult to discern anything clearly.

One thing I noticed though, was that it was no longer day but rather night.

With a great effort, I managed to hoist myself into a sitting position to evaluate my injuries.

My eyes bulged wide as I took in the sight of my legs... or rather, the absence of my left leg.

For a moment, I found myself staring at the void where my leg once was.

In my old world, I would have been devastated by such a loss. But in this world, lost limbs could be regrown or replaced through advanced prosthetics or magical means.

"What had attacked me?"

Turning my head to survey my surroundings I began to search for any signs of the creature that had ambushed me, however, all I found was a massive root-like trident embedded in the ground nearby.

A severed limb was hanging from one of its prongs, confirming my suspicions that this was the weapon that had severed my leg.

"Who could've wielded such a massive weapon?"

Shaking my head in disbelief, I began to crawl towards the trident.

I had a hunch that it was thrown by the Elderwood Giant, but how unlucky could I be to be the one out of countless adventurers to be the target of such a devastating attack.

Crunch... Crunch...

While inching closer and closer to my detached limb, I noticed that the sound of battle was gone.

Though I couldn't see anything clearly due to the moon being obscured by the grey clouds, the silence was disconcerting.

"Come on..."

Straining my muscles and ignoring the searing pain, I reached out and grabbed the handle of the trident.

If I could retrieve my limb, I could reattach it using Mana. While humans couldn't do that, Demons could.

"Ughhh..."

However, it is easier said than done, as retrieving my severed limb from the prongs of the trident proved to be an excruciating task.

The weapon was embedded deeply into the ground, and every movement I made sent waves of agony coursing through my body.

It was a very excruciating process, but I had no other choice.

"Aghhhh..."

====

Hello, it's me, the Author!

The chapter wasn't published yesterday as I had to revise it multiple times...

Before, it was full of cliché stuff like a 'Sword Saint' suddenly appearing or one of the main characters 'accidently' (magically) materializing out of nowhere and noticing Note.

Regardless, this was rewritten several times and there might be some unclear sentences or minor errors left, so feel free to let me know if you spot any.

Thanks!

-- Author