Chapter 363: Astral Dungeon Trial: Rending Flesh and Space
We pounced.
But our attacks were not aimed at each other.
No, they were aimed at the actual spatial layers between us.
My clawed hand was laced with spatial energy tore through the spatial layers, allowing the feline looking monster to slash into said tears and completely cut space open, tearing a rift that led somewhere else.
And the moment the rift was formed, all of the purple nebulae crystals started to shake and dislodge from the space they were locked into.
When suddenly they all started to be flung into the rift, causing it to warp and distort its fractured shape into something new.
I was pulled out of my stupor when one of said crystals smashed into the upper part of my left arm, tearing flesh and breaking bone, sending me crashing into the floor from the force it pushed me with.
"Gaaahhhh!!" I screamed in pain as my face was planted into the floor. And it hurt like hell with the jagged, shifting floor surface that didn’t care for my presence either and began cutting into my skin.
I gritted my teeth as I winced in pain as I forced myself back up with my right arm whilst dodging the few remaining crystals that flew by.
It wasn’t fun doing all that whilst my arm was in agonizing pain and dripping with blood, but I held it up as my [Hyper Regeneration] did its thing as I bobbed and weaved between the last of the purple crystals pierced into void of darkness that the rift had become.
Finally, it was over and all the crystals had vanished.
Immediately I fell to the ground on my side out of exhaustion and miraculously found it was solid. In fact, the whole room was a completely pure blue astral stone with no purple crystals to be seen.
I crawled over to a wall and slumped against it, taking a necessary breather to process what just happened. And I could see that the feline monster did the same, though it didn’t seem to have sustained anywhere near as much damage as I did. Just a few cuts here and there.
I grimaced at that slightly, a little annoyed that the monster had gotten out of this unscathed whilst I hadn’t.
Either way, now I was able to see what had happened to the rift and all the purple nebulae crystals it had sucked in.
The rift had transformed into a circular portal, or maybe a gateway of some kind, filled with an inky blackness that just seemed to go on forever and led to nowhere within the extremely thin film of space it covered.
Surrounding it was a shimmering, solid purple mist made out of what looks like tiny cubes, likely what the purple crystals were for, with visibly sharp edges that cut space whenever it flickered round the edge of the portal that seemed to just lead into an eternally dark void.
I wasn’t in any shape to go through it, and it didn’t seem to be closing up any time soon, and would likely remain there for quite a while, allowing me to recover from my injury.
The feline monster laying down and doing the same across the room, on the other side of the portal.
_
_
_
I had no way to tell the time, but it felt like at least half an hour had passed, but my wound had barely closed up at all. It had stopped bleeding for the most part, but it was extremely slow to recover.
The feline seemed to have recovered a lot faster and easier than I did though, which annoyed me even more.
It got up with a light grunt and began walking over towards me, passing round the gateway and prowling towards me.
I tensed up, gripping my arm even more as my breathing hastened. I was in no shape to deal with this right now. I did not need to have failed my test already. I did not WANT to have failed it so soon.
I probably could do something, like cover my hand in astral flames and ward it away or fling some spells at it or teleport or something, but nothing would work, and I’d still be stuck in here with it. And going through the portal in my current condition would be suicidal
So... It looked like that was all I could do as the feline monster slowly pranced its way to me, and upon reaching me, towering over me slightly, as I was laid slumped against the wall.
There was nothing I could do against it as it loomed over me. I closed my eyes and accepted ’Fuck. I thought I’d last longer than this. It’s only been what? A few hours and I’ve already failed... I guess I need to work on my survival then...’
Yet nothing happened. Eric didn’t save me, I didn’t feel any magic, nor did I feel the monster clamp its maws into me. I could faintly feel its breath landing on my left arm, causing it to twinge in pain.
Cracking my eyes open, I saw that it held no hostile intent towards me, and was simply staring at the wound on my arm with a fierce gaze.
I observed it for a few seconds before taking away my right arm to lift myself up the wall I was leaning against a bit more so that my face was now level with it, slightly turned to the side and presenting my bleeding arm to it.
Bracing myself for it to either tear it off with its powerful fangs or slice it off with its deadly claws, I closed my eyes once again, preparing for the worst.
I was not however, prepared to feel something wet and slimy start brushing my wound, sending waves of unexpected pain to rush through my system.
"GGGYYYAAAAAA!!!!!" Instinctually I shoved the monster away, falling to the floor in the process, making my semi-detached arm to be in more pain from smashing into the floor.
Looking back with wide eyes and rapid breathing, I slowly shuffled away from the creature, both confused and fearful.
Just what exactly had it done? Did it inject some kind of poison into me? Or was in some other nefarious purpose?
But that was when I noticed something. My wound was actually properly healing now, with my flesh actually starting to regrow, albeit slowly.
Looking down, it had stopped bleeding entirely and was now visibly expanding outwards to reconnect and restore it to its proper state.
The only thing was that I could see that my bones weren’t as lucky, and although my regeneration somewhat numbed the pain of my flesh being knit back together, the fragments of my upper arm were not coming back.
The monster purred to get my attention, and I knew clearly that whatever it did was helpful, so despite my mind wanting to get away from this thing, my instincts told me that this creature could help me out in my recovery.
So, I braced myself for it to continue its oral ministrations on my bloodied arm, holding it in place as I presented it to the creature.
I heard it make its way over to me step by step and felt its breath washing over my healing arm once more before it started licking it once more.
"GGYYAAAHHH!!" I groaned and whined in pain as it licked my torn bloody flesh, but I did feel the effects of what I think is its saliva start to work its magic and whatever was plaguing my flesh and inhibiting my regeneration was fading, and fading fast.
Soon enough, after about a minute or so, my wound was for the most part healed. But I could still feel that my upper arm bone was still broken and fractured. Meaning my left arm was now basically useless.
Still, I got up and bowed to the feline creature, not knowing if it understood why I was doing this or not. But I did it anyway.
Thankfully it did seem to understand, lowering its head also before it then headed into the gateway portal thing in the middle of the room.
When it was left, I had just one thing to say. "What the fuck did I encounter exactly?"