Chapter 399 The Beast Falls (1/2)
Air, sound, even light itself seems to drain away as the Gravity Bomb tears its way though the s.p.a.ce between us. Even deep in her frenzy, Garralosh has enough awareness to know that the dark, rotating sphere screaming its way towards her face is bad news. Her claws dig into the ground as she attempts to s.h.i.+ft her momentum. It's an impossible task.
She's too d.a.m.n big, even with her high level skills a.s.sisting, she can't possibly turn that s.h.i.+p around in time. The piercing wail of the Gravity Bomb drowns out all noise as it streaks towards the giant Croc and Garralosh barely manages to turn, getting her head out of the way, before the spell strikes her in the side.
Broken and leaking blood onto the floor, I watch the sphere slam into my foe and then expand. Like the eye of an angry G.o.d opening, the sphere flashes open in a split second and tears into reality. The sound is unbelievable. I'm sure that Garralosh is screaming, bellowing in pain, but I can't hear any of it. The ground is being ripped into the air and sucked into the spell. The air is being dragged in from over a hundred metres away. The flow of air causes the wind to rise which cascades onward until a raging storm has arisen, the gravity bomb in the centre. The wind circles and shrieks, so quick I feel as if it could cut me. Particles of dirt caught in the storm stab at my wounds as I struggle to stay on the ground.
My legs are so d.a.m.n weak!
My wounds have really piled up, and the healing isn't coming through fast enough! I can feel my body trying to st.i.tch itself back together, muscles knitting, carapace healing over, organs closing themselves. I need all the strength I can get to anchor myself to the ground. In desperation, I trigger my healing gland once more, a pathetic trickle of healing stimulant drains into my system. It's not enough.
My muscles are crying out in pain. My minds, no longer distracted by the formation of the spell are hit full force with the severity of my wounds and I struggle to cope. To block it out I sink deep into the cold embrace of the meditation skill. The needs and wants of my body fade slightly and I watch my work unfold with a detached curiosity.
The Gravity Bomb is pitch black. Even the light around has grown dim, the edges of the sphere are almost impossible to make out. It's hard to even see Garralosh, as she suffers the direct influence of the spell. It hangs in the air where it first expanded, motionless, whilst the rest of the world is destroyed around it.
CRACK!
With a snap that rings in my ears as it echoes from the distant trees the ground cracks and s.h.i.+fts. Directly beneath the miniature black hole I've created, the rock is being pulled upward. Great, jagged rents appear and extend in moments as Pangera, here in this place, begins to be pulled apart. Still the air is howling and descending in a twisting spiral. Dimly I'm aware that even the clouds overhead have begun to move, to turn as the winds reach even the atmosphere.
”Senior!”
The pheromones barely register to my antennae before they are s.n.a.t.c.hed away by the wind.
”Hold on, Senior! You aren't going flying today!”
It's Vibrant. She stuck close to me during this entire battle and even now she refuses to abandon me.
”Get out…” I wheeze, but she doesn't seem to notice.
”Sorry about this, Senior!” She chirps, irrepressible even in these circ.u.mstances, then I feel her bite down on my carapace and dig her claws into the dirt. Just in time. I'm holding on with all my strength, but my legs … well… I don't even have all of my legs at this stage, never mind the state of the ones I do have. As a matter of fact, just the two of us might not be enough.
The pull from the Gravity Bomb is ridiculously strong. What Garralosh is feeling, caught in the middle, I can hardly imagine. Bit by bit, my claws begin to lose their hold on the ground. It also doesn't help that the ground around my feet is losing hold on itself, and is starting to break apart.
”Let go of me Vibrant!” I push out. ”No point coming with me!”