[BOOK II] I Finally Lose My Cherie (2)

A heavenly silver dagger in hand, I charged at the Deera, hoping that the tall shrubs would cover my form, enough for me to get close and personal with the monster before I lunged and stabbed it straight at it's crystal. Was it the best plan ever? No, but then again I said I had a plan, not a good plan.

The Deera, unfortunately, noticed me when I was around 100 meters from it. How did I know? Well, it's bloody red eyes were staring straight at me despite how fast I was running. Spotting me, it seemed to make the connection that I must have been the one who fucked up it's horn, so it began to charge chaos energy at an even quicker rate, at a speed so quick that I'm pretty sure I heard a pair of feet shift behind me.

I rolled my eyes at that. She was the one who made me do such an impossible task, and now she's the one being worried? Typical Ivanka.

Since time was short, I decided to cut my approach short and send however much chaotic chi I could gather in the short amount of time, into my legs to take the last two steps before leaping out of the tall grass.

My brain worked quite fast - that was what a week long chi-enhancement training with Ivanka did to you - as it calculated that I wouldn't be able to reach the Deera before it turned me into burnt toast.

Luckily for me, I never meant to reach the Deera. No, what I had to do was something much, much simpler. My hair stood on ends from the close proximity of the electromagnetic beam charging up in front of the Deera's crystal. I wasn't panicked though, only watched in slow-motion as I got closer and closer to the beam that was gradually increasing in size, or was that just how close I had gotten?

And seconds right before the beam bubble burst, I moved all the chaotic chi from my legs to the arm holding the dagger, before using my leaping momentum to throw it straight at the crystal. The Deera was a high-grade monster, that would and could classify as a legendary monster if it ever got out into the mortal realm so it had the brain to see what I was trying to do, only no matter how fast it could think, I was just too damn close and it's body was just too big to dodge at such a small amount of time.

My heavenly silver dagger, cloaked in my chaotic chi, cut straight through the beam and lodged itself directly into the Deera's crystal. Remember when I said the crystal wasn't it's core for gathering chaos energy and neither was it a weak point to aim at? Well, that was only half-true. Think of how if you had both of your arms cut off. You'd still be able to walk, and live, granted after you get the medical attention but then again, it would still hurt like a bitch.

And, that was exactly what was happening with the Deera. Only, with how fast my brain was processing information right now, enhanced with my adrenaline, before the Deera could even open it's jaws and roar in pain, I landed on top of it's head, plucked out my dagger, which basically split the crystal in half and lunged forward to slice off the other, remaining horn.

SWING!

Heavenly steel flashed under the sun, forever taking away a monster's ability to cultivate chaos energy and damning it to a slow death.

The first thing I felt was a burst of happiness and pride bursting into my chest, as finally after weeks of gruesome training, I was able to complete a task for Ivanka for the first time. Then, the next thing I felt was my body being violently yanked and thrown to the side as everything in my vision warped, from standing victoriously on top of the Deera to suddenly crashing into a number of trees.

When I came to, I only felt pain. Pain, all around my body. Pain that made me unable to lift even a single finger without groaning. Blood trickled down my forehead, dripping into my lap which made me realize that my legs were bent beyond recognition.

Shit, I had been too careless. I forgot to set up a chi-cloak around me, so I had basically been hit raw.Multiple rib fractures, loss of sight in left eye, a punctured lung, broken legs and hemorrhage were the major injuries right now. Even breathing hurts now. After the loud ringing inside my ears died down, and I was somewhat able to know my lefts and rights, I heard an angry snarl from the distance. Shit. My training with Ivanka kicked in as I tried my best to hold back a full-blown sob from how much pain I was in.

I had to heal myself. Right now. Deera is coming. Ivanka. . .no, I'm not going to depend on her again.

"Pu. .*gargles*. .Puhify," My lips were busted and my lung was bleeding from the inside but I managed to mutter my emblem skill. And, I took a painful breath to wheeze out my other one. "He. .ahl."

A warm golden glow enveloped my body, immediately soothing me from the world of pain that I was in. [Purify] worked first to purify any bad blood that had pooled up inside from internal bleeding which forced me to puke it out - in a very violent and painful matter.

At this point, I couldn't hold back my tears as I hurled over black blood. My throat, lungs and nose burned from the action. Then, [Heal], an emblem skill I had acquired after my recent emblem rank up, took charge. A blanket of golden light fell over me, and seeped inside my body, healing and mending everything I had broken or crushed.

The ground started to tremble quicker. I wouldn't have enough time to heal up quick enough. But, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't enhance my emblem skills with martial arts because all that would do was cancel one or the other. I couldn't even attempt to speak, much less run away. Things started to take a turn for the worse when I started to feel drowsy, a side effect from using both [Heal] and [Purify] at the same time. With a bloodied body and a tired mind, I was in no shape or form to stand up and fight when the Deera found me.