An Abominable Encounter

Arcelius stood still over the murky waters. His eyes flickered from over the trees and through thickened mist. There was a sense of looming around them as if many eyes were watching from atop shrouded branches and behind thick leaves.

His two companions laid low under the marsh. Only Ms. Crock's eyes protruded over the waters alongside her snout as if smelling the air. Mr. Wormy, on the other hand, was slithering gently nearby with only his top slimy half visible over the marsh.

The atmosphere around them was tense as Arcelius scanned their surroundings. He wasn't sure what was wrong, but he knew there was something wrong. His senses were tingling and warning him that something lying ahead was a threat.

What kind of threat? He wasn't going to let himself find out the hard way.

He checked his inner magic and mana circulation to see if he was, at least, able to fight in some capacity. His mana circulation was still beyond optimal and his inner magic was diluted with the magic he had drawn in from nature.

None of this was good news if he was going to fight in a lengthy battle. However, he could still cast a few spells which weren't too damning to use. Enhancement Magic was on the table but limited as well.

Most frustrating of all was his problem with his named divine sword, Forbearer. It was nowhere near him when he awoke and when he tried to summon it when he could, it did not materialize in his hand.

He didn't know what was wrong. Maybe it was punishment for his lost against the traitors. He could still feel the connection which meant the weapon hadn't abandoned him.

It couldn't have been destroyed either, it was impossible to destroy a named divine weapon. It could be damaged sure, but never fully destroyed.

To add to his frustration was the fact he wouldn't be able to summon any part of his divine armor. Not with how pathetic his inner magic was. It wouldn't even be able to repair itself given the current state of his mana circulation.

Arcelius sighed and clenched his fists. His body began to glow a mild golden hue as he gently poured magic to enhance his body. His two companions huddled around his legs.

The murky waters were terrible for movement while the thick mist dampened his still recovering senses so fighting with pure physical skill and prowess wasn't gonna be easy either.

It was better than nothing.

Just as he was finishing enhancing his body, several bulbous tentacles with human hands on each end struck out from the water in front of him.

His two companions dove under the marsh as he pulled up his elbows to block the incoming attack. The tentacled hands came violently at Arcelius and struck with tremendous force. One after the other, the tentacles slammed against his guard with all their might, seemingly keen on breaking his arms.

The Enhancement Magic pulled through and he was able to tank the attack. Pain flared up around his arms, however, he still wasn't in any good shape to fight.

The tentacles hurled themselves back and their eerie human hands opened and faced Arcelius. The sight of human hands somehow attached to the tentacles of some sort of vile creature made Arcelius sick.

"Show yourself you foul beast!" Arcelius roared as his palms began to shimmer.

The tentacles came again, but this time as one. Arcelius met them with a Magic Slash. He swiped his shimmering right hand across the misty air and a slash of divine magic pierced through.

Like a tear through reality itself, the slash tore through the mist and sliced through many of the tentacles in its path before dissipating into orbs of gold. A terrible shriek sounded beneath the now troubled waters and a great many ripples erupted forth.

The murky waters bubbled as the shriek lasted, appearing as if the swamp itself had begun to boil with tremendous heat. Yet there was only the coldness and dampness of the swamp.

If Arcelius was like any other mortal, he would've been covering his ears and cowering at the monstrous sound. But he was no mere mortal, not for a long time.

He stood fast and steady as he faced the bubbling waters in front of him. His companions were nowhere to be found but he assured himself they were okay. Water worms were fast and so were the reptilian predators from what he could remember of their kind. It was smart of them to dive under as soon as the monster made itself known.

He wasn't counting on his companions to protect him nor join him in his struggle. Even though they had some sort of connection or bond, they weren't some summoned creature. They were natural, and of the natural world, they were bound not to lay their lives for him.

"A foul beast like you should know some manners!" Arcelius bellowed as he slammed his feet into the riverbed. Golden cracks struck forth, traveling towards where the tentacles sprang and the waters bubbled before a great force exploded outward from underneath.

And so the monster was made to breath the misty air. A flat creature emerged from whence the tentacles came. It was like a sack of flesh that which had been flattened just like how a baker would flatten dough. Many eyes of many shapes were plastered around its center and flickering about. In the very center of the abominable creature was a gaping mouth with layer upon layer of sharp teeth.

"What in the-" Arcelius stood dumbfounded at the sight. He had seen nothing that could compare to its ugliness and there was something nagging at him from the back of his mind that this creature was not one of his master's creations.

All the more reason for him to vanquish it.

With the creature still recovering from his first attack, Arcelius seized the initiative. He thundered forward towards the abomination with hands blazing and met its responding tentacles with slash upon slash.

Severed noodles of misbegotten flesh splashed into the water as Arcelius made quick work of the creature's uncoordinated defense. It shrieked another hellish sound as it bore its gaping mouth at Arcelius.

With a quick jump, he dodged its layered teeth and struck it from the side with a piercing punch. The abomination seemingly wailed as Arcelius' fist sunk through its skin and pulled out flesh.

The murky waters started to turn from muddied to bloodied as the foul, stinking blood of the abomination leaked from the many wounds it now sustained.

But the tentacles seemed never ending as more sprang forth from underneath. The waters rippled and splashed as the two were locked in a violent dance. There was a certain theme to their confrontation. It seemed like the abomination had intended to make itself known as the predator and Arcelius its prey, yet the distinction had blurred, somehow slowly reversing.

The abomination threw tentacle after tentacle at Arcelius, intent on breaking his enhancements and pierce his body. Its human hands grabbed, punched, pulled, or pushed.

Yet Arcelius proved formidable and answered with his own flurry of attacks. Slashes of divine magic minced through the air and tentacles alike like knife slicing butter. He flowed as fast and as elegantly as he could, taking advantage of the ripples and splashes to either boost him or shield him.

In fighting with magic, one of the most important things a magic user could do was to dance as he fought.

He spun and twirled and swept. With the elegance of a mighty dancer turned warrior, he began to predict the brutish attacks of his tentacled opponent and began dancing around each strike.

However, he was still not in fighting condition. Two and three tentacles struck from the side and rear, cracking his enhancement and dealing severe pain.

He grunted as it happened, spinning and jumping to escape the rest of the strikes that followed. Sweat poured from his face, mixing with the bloodied waters that had splashed all over his body.

He scanned his opponent for the short second it moved to recover. Tentacles kept emerging around it and attacking. If he was to kill the abomination for good, he needed to kill its brain. A lengthy battle to cut it down into various pieces instead would be suicide.

The question was, where was its brain?

Arcelius charged once more, leaping to and fro, evading each tentacle that dared strike. Splashes followed in his wake as strike after strike tore through water and upended muddy soil.

The abomination grew ever more frustrated as more and more of its tentacles were severed from its being. Shriek after shriek threatened to cut off its own voice as the pain that grew from its many wounds began to take its toll.

As if learning from experience, the abominable creature gathered its tentacles into a coordinated set of tendrils and began lashing at where Arcelius was expected to move.

The sudden change in the creature's strategy caught him off-guard as freakish strikes struck him three times in a row.

Arcelius heart raced. He felt his enhancements failing and pain began to creep its way into his joints. He was expending more magic than expected and if this went on, he would be rendered helpless, and killed.

However, the abomination had made a mistake. By bunching up its tentacles into a bundle of tendrils, it gave Arcelius the chance to slash the bundle of unholy tendrils entirely.

With a grunt, Arcelius unleashed the biggest magic slash he could cast. It appeared as a searing blade that unfurled from his glowing palms like sword from scabbard. It seemingly tore through the air, traveling through the mist like a scythe through wheat.

The slash sliced through the tendrils with ease. The tentacled hands went limp as it did, falling into the bloodied waters in a rain of rotting blood and flesh. The abomination shrieked, but as it did, Arcelius had moved up its back, clinging to the lump of flesh by digging his fists under.

The abomination thrashed and flailed and before it could unleash more tentacles beneath the murky depths, Arcelius punched his fist through what he assumed to be the location of the abomination's brain.

A blood curdling gurgle sounded from the creature's mouth and all life was seemingly drained from it. The abomination fell mouth first into the bloodied waters, never to trouble the swampy marsh again.

Arcelius withdrew his hands from the now steaming corpse. He was naked and battered. Blood that stank more than it had any right to was slathered all over his skin. He sighed.

Pain flared up throughout his body and he felt as if he was going to collapse right then and there. Fortunately, he felt a nudge on one of his legs and found Ms. Crock and Mr. Wormy floating by his side.

"Where the hell did you two go?" He asked as sweat poured from his drenched, panting face.

Ms. Crock suddenly opened her mouth and lo and behold, between her jaws was a tentacle or three. Arcelius wasn't sure how many, they were all gnawed.

Mr. Wormy didn't show anything but there were what appeared to be bruises all over his body.

He wasn't fighting alone after all.

"Thank you..." Arcelius found himself saying. It was weird at first, thanking these relatively small creatures that had stumbled upon him, but he did so nonetheless.

"Now, do any of you know what the hell that steaming pile of misbegotten flesh is?" Arcelius asked as all three of them turned to look at the corpse.

Mr. Wormy and Ms. Crock nodded together.

Arcelius raised a brow at his companions and shook his head. Whatever the thing was, it was powerful, and it was hideous. He remembered no such creature roaming the swampy marshes of Daigmun during his time as a mortal. Not even when became champion did any creature of such description was known.

"I have a lot of things to learn about..." Arcelius said softly, "But first, I need to take a break."

Arcelius slumped down on the blooding waters, finding it deeper than what his legs implied. Mr. Wormy and Ms. Crock swam to his side, wriggling and snarling respectively.

His journey had only just begun.