Chapter 50 Storm of blades (1/2)

I have a little breathing room whilst the workers deal with the monsters next to me and I decide to use it for maximum effect!

Turning on the spot I present my famed commercial plaza down the tunnel. The enemy are only meters away so aiming isn't really necessary, once in position I unleash my acid!

POW! POW!

Two blasts sizzle their way through the air before impacting directly into the ma.s.sive torsos of these horrendous thres.h.i.+ng machines. The acid immediately begins to hiss as it burns into their flesh, hardening and sticking as soon as contact is made.

Hopefully I've managed to slow their blades down a little!

Enraged, the two monsters start to bull their way forward, slas.h.i.+ng wildly with their limbs, even cutting into the rear of their two still struggling allies!

When the blade slices through the air and impacts into the monster to my right I seize on this chance and rush forward! If one of the weapons is stuck in that poor guy then it won't be able to be swung at me! This should create an opening.

I burst forward and then cut immediately to my right, running directly under the lodged blade and up onto the wall of the narrow tunnel and then directly onto the roof. The ceiling isn't high enough to be out of reach of those sharp limbs but of the four blades only the upper two will be able to reach, cutting the number of worries in half.

I also have to consider I won't be quite as nimble upside down but I feel like it's my best chance.

Cras.h.!.+

The monster in front of me rips its blade out of the grievous wound it has caused its own ally and s.h.i.+ft its entire body to throw weight behind the strike it directs at me, slamming the gleaming, hard edge directly into the rock in front of me.

Go!

Instinctively I leap, avoid the blade and landing on the powerful arm from which the cutting blade emerges. My feet scrabble to grip on the s.h.i.+fting flesh of the creature before my claws manage to arrest my momentum and dig in, allowing me to run over the shoulder and onto the creatures back.

POW!

I take the chance to fire another shot and the blade monster next to this one, splattering the beast across its flank with stinging acid. The creature turns as much as it can in the narrow s.p.a.ce and I finally manage to spot the eyes above that savage beak, tiny red orbs that seem to burn with hate.

Shrieking loudly the insane creature brings its upper two blades down on me with terrible force, the sharp edges whistling as they cut through the air.

Desperately I roll to the side, almost succeeding in dodging the strike!

Crunch!

The two blades smash down into the body of the creature I'm standing on, mortally wounding it. I lose two legs on my left side as collateral damage, the limbs sheared clean off close to my body.

The pain is intense! I didn't think they'd be so crazy as to smash down on their own ally like that! They caught me unprepared.

Instantly I activate my regeneration, welcoming the explosion of freezing cold within. I won't be able to get my legs back properly but it will surely help a little.

Moving is excruciating but I scramble forward desperately, climbing onto the blade arms before the monster can retract them for another strike. The limbs from which the blades extend are powerful, thick with ropes of dense muscle. If I want to cut through this It's going to be difficult, time to find out how my infused mandibles will go.

As I open my mandibles wide I activate my upgraded mandibles with a thought. Instantly I feel mana gus.h.i.+ng out of my core, flooding through channels and directly into my mandibles. I engage Crus.h.i.+ng Bite at the same time and my mandibles begin to glow brighter and brighter, as the mana builds in them they start to release blue steam.

Take this!

SNAP!

Infused with the mana I've managed to regenerate since my last practice, my mandibles shear directly through the monsters limb, cutting it directly off!

Holy Cow! That was effective! But it used half of my remaining mana, I'll only get one more of those.

My foe roars in pain as one of its deadly blades has been removed and I desperately scrabble with my remaining legs to claw my way onto the monsters back, a place of relative safety. By this time my regeneration has done all it can for me, restoring eight Hp but it's not enough to complete bring my missing limbs back, two small stumps have emerged from the remaining sections of the missing legs. I can wiggle them a bit but they are a long way from a complete leg.

More of these vicious monsters are crowding in the tunnel behind, trying to shove forward, their razor beaks shrieking as they slash wildly into the air. How many of these stupid things are there?!

I need to finish this one off and then retreat to get my bearings back.

Crus.h.i.+ng Bite!