A booming sound echoed through the air, and I found myself outside the giant's neck. My heart raced as I realized the severity of the situation.
The giant's skeleton's neck was as hard as a rock, detaching from his skull. The skull fell towards the ground, but I didn't look back.
I knew that severing his skull wouldn't result in victory. I had to destroy the core in his abdomen.
I sprinted, avoiding his hand, my danger sense signalled the arrival of trouble. Instinctively, I dodged and moved away from where I was standing, just in time to avoid his hand.
My defence was still screaming about the threat, and before I could regain my composure, his other hand grabbed me and moved towards his neck.
My heart pounded in my chest as I struggled to break free from his grasp. There was a hole in his neck covered by a purple membrane, which was being reinforced by that giant core.
I struggled as some cracks travelled down his finger, and I broke one of his fingers. But his grip on my body didn't loosen, and he forcefully staged my left leg in the membrane.
I felt immense pain like countless hot needles were piercing my leg. I struggled, but my other leg was outside and in good condition.
Physical strength, battle sense, and hired battle skills were not enough to escape or fight him. So, I thought of using mana to reinforce my limbs.
Fighting the immense pain, I concentrated on the surrounding mana, trying to move them and strengthen my limbs.
The mana reinforced and strengthened my hand, creating a layer of protection around it. The hand of the knight was crushed, and he fell towards the membrane.
Like the first time in battle, I used and maybe because of my survival instinct, I was able to manipulate it.
, I reinforced my right leg with mana and propelled myself towards the membrane. My right hand landed on the membrane almost instinctively, and I jumped, piercing it and travelling in the air.
The knight was there searching for his skull to put it in the right place when I saw my left leg devoid of any flesh, on where one is visible.
I fell to the ground with a force that broke some of the ground itself, creating a deep hole. The impact broke my right arm, but I crawled back into the cave using my right leg and left arm. Leaving behind a trail of blood that was visible on the black soil and reaching the core that I stored.
I realized that I had been overconfident and had overestimated myself. I had fought with a monster, and now I had lost my leg and arm. But I didn't cry over spilt milk. Instead, I thought about what I could do now.
"The impact broke my right arm," I thought while gazing at my arm that was entangled. It was bent weirdly, taking the shape of broken wood, blood was dripping from it.
"No worries, I can stay here to learn to control mana or possibly develop some spells that I can use, " "before that. I have to heal my leg,"
, crawling towards the purple marble that was scattered all around. I sat in the centre of it, or rather, I lay at the centre of it and closed my eyes, seeing the field and manipulating the rate of conversion. If Multicoloured particles.
I absorbed them in my body, trying to heal my injuries. The pain slowly subsided, and I felt my leg regenerating. It was a slow process, but it was working. As I lay there, I thought about what had happened and what I could do differently next time.
"I need to be more careful and not underestimate my enemies. I also need to work on my mana control so that I can use it more effectively in battle," I muttered to myself.
As the hours passed, I continued to absorb the particles and focus on my mana control. It was a long and arduous process, but I was determined to become stronger and better prepared for the next battle.
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[{Authors PoV}]
On the ship, Alen and his party members had reached the island safely. It was time to start their journey. In the centre of the party around him were Rossa, Naro, Joseph, and the captain of the ship.
Arthur was beside Rossa, weakly standing with the help of a wall. He was supposed to go with them, but he was injured. His skin started to rot, he had difficulty walking. The black line on his neck was proof that his curse was spreading.
"Don't worry, I'll be okay," Arthur said, looking into Rossa's eyes with affection visible on his face. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Go save Martha. It has been two days since she was kidnapped."
"Okay," Rossa replied. But before Arthur could say more, Rossa interjected, "Let's get married when I come back."
All the party members turned towards them. It was a surprise because they all knew Arthur's and Rossa's life story and their encounter when they were the first outsiders to join Alen's party. Together, both of them had their adventure.
They were always together. The party was waiting for them to confront each other and tell their feelings, and they did.
"As you wish," Arthur replied.
Both Rossa and Arthur were about to indulge in breathless kisses, but Joseph reminded them that they couldn't kiss each other right now because of Arthur's curse.
"You know why," Joseph said, and both Arthur and Rossa sighed. They had lost themselves in the moment and forgotten about Arthur's condition.
All of them exited the ship parking in the sea. The further journey would be on foot with continuous battles with undead skeletons or zombies.
"Okay, our priority is to find a suitable place, and I know a perfect place. It's a cave. Undead can't enter that cave. It will be our first stop," Alen said.
The group set out on their journey, hoping to save Martha and find a cure for Arthur's curse.