Watching the creature intently, Raian prepared to attack. Leaning forward and constantly on alert, he concentrated all his weight on his soles, ready to dash forward. The ambition, the excitement, and the thrill of battle turned him into a hungering beast.
Before he could dash forward and unleash his full power, the creature's jumbled-up right claw began to twitch unnaturally. Startled by its sudden movement, Raian hesitated only for a moment. In that brief hesitation, the giant scorpion towering before him commenced an insurmountable attack.
Previous predictions of its mangled right claw were all wrong. The claw wasn't mangled nor crippled. It was in optimal condition to unleash hell on Raian. Like a flicking finger releasing all its tension in a moment's time, the curled-up right claw launched upwards imitating a praying mantis from its resting position. Expanding easily the claw which quadrupled Raian's width doubled its reach. The claw rose and then descended in an instant, giving Raian no chance to dodge.
Realizing his chance of evading had faded, Raian gritted his teeth and activated his aspect full throttle, trying desperately to enhance his defensive capabilities in time. The previous dream of dodging vanished, and the will to endure rose after it. With a large THUD, the nightmarish right claw descended upon his head. Able to move his head thanks to it being the fastest-moving human part behind the eyes, he redirected the course of the claw to hit his abdomen.
Knees rising up and forearms at the front, Raian took the claw full force sharing it across his body. Maybe if he had mastered the basics of Redirection Kata, there could be a world where he evaded the strike, but this wasn't that world.
Inner organs churning from the impact, bones shaking underneath multiple layers of muscle and skin, Raian reeled in pain, temporarily unable to move from the heavy blow.
Watching the events unfold, Liala quickly got up and was about to intercept when Raian roared, "Do not intervene, I got this."
Akin to a hunter not waiting for Raian to recover, the scorpion relentlessly continued its onslaught. Its left claw moved forward, opening like a claw machine, ready to pinch him to the afterlife with its comical claw. Rolling to dodge the left claw, Raian dashed sideways, evading another strike from its right claw.
Now with the initial hesitation gone, it was finally time for some payback. Even with the aspect fueling his body with vast amounts of surging strength, the damage from a single blow was still heavy. Running and dodging, Raian clutched his abdomen, feeling the bruises forming in real-time as he rolled around, looking for an opening. Trying to roll underneath its large body, Raian planned to attack it from behind.
After a successful dodge, he used the opening between the scorpion's attacks to get behind it. Somewhat effective in his makeshift dodging technique, Raian was able to reach the creature's rear but couldn't attack. Watching the vulnerable, unguarded back of the scorpion, Raian wanted to punch through its tough exoskeleton and decimate its inner weaker body parts. The initial damage of the descending blow had now faded, but the leftover injuries stabbed sharply every time he moved, fueling his desire to kill the scorpion.
Filled with such desire yet unable to attack, Raian cursed his aspect and its honorable bullshit and summoned his cursed vitality. Realizing Raian was now behind it, the obsidian-colored scorpion quickly turned around to face him.
Chugging hastily, Raian drank the crimson liquid, but only a certain amount. After being tortured many times by its curse, Raian instinctively knew how much he should intake to avoid being incapacitated by the pain. Now back in stage one, both of them readied for round two.
Despite the doubled pain, its threshold had already reached the maximum. Now reducing slowly over time. Raian dodged the descending strike by jumping sideways. He watched how the scorpion attacked and meticulously planned its timings.
After getting a solid idea of the scorpion's patterns Raian bolted with inhuman speed finally starting to attack.
Head first and low he baited the right claw to shatter his skull, taking the bait the claw eventually descended hitting nothing. Grabbing the claw as it was reloaded he now had clear path to the monster's head right before him.
Opting to grab its huge head instead of simply punching it, Raian clenched his forearm muscles, raising his body in the air. Holding himself facing downwards, he used his abdominal muscles to launch both knees to strike the scorpion's head before anything could interrupt him. Delivering a devastating blow filled with his will to kill, Raian performed something he saw on webtoons beautifully. Staggering from the blow, the scorpion's exoskeleton cracked as the body dropped to the ground. With no obvious damage done to its innards, it moved back inevitably, shaking its head and body but not attacking Raian when he was near the head.
'Smart bastard,' thought Raian as he quickly punched the opened crack on its head. He aimed to bait the scorpion to attack near its head. Trying to use what he learned from Redirection Kata to let the claws hit its head, the plan failed the moment the scorpion started moving instead of attacking.
As the scorpion continued to move, trying to shake him off when Raian's eyes widened in fear, he had a sudden realization, enveloping his body in cold chills. He forgot about the stinger.
Underestimating the scorpion before he could fully understand it's arsenal, Raian had made a beginner's mistake. Turning his body as fast as he could, Raian barely moved out of the stinger's way. The stinger missed his back but unexpectedly hit his left arm's volar, penetrating to the bone. Thanks to physics, the stinger, while having the strength to penetrate through, only pierced it, dragging Raian along.
Thrown along by the stinger's might, Raian was launched off the scorpion to the ground.
Hitting the sands and rolling a few times, he got up steadily, looking at his wounded left arm.
The poison's effects were immediate, instantly turning his arm purple and rotten. Thinking on the spot, Raian imitated a knife with his right hand, plunging it in right above the stinger wound. The freshly selfmade wound bled outwards,the first aid was effective.
All the blood carrying the poison couldn't deliver the poison to the rest of his body, effectively neutralizing the poison. Perhaps barely neutralizing was the right word. Now, Raian couldn't feel his left arm and couldn't even properly move it how he wanted. Summoning the potion for the second time, Raian poured it over the poison, hoping for something good to happen.
*Thud*
Looking ahead, the scorpion slowly made its way towards him again. Feeling a little helpless, Raian contemplated his situation. With his left hand rendered useless, the odds were not in his favor at all, but he still smiled. Looking closely, the cracked spot on the scorpion's head was starting to bleed, and there was a large scratch mark near the shattered shell, dripping purple blood. It seemed like the obsidian scorpion accidentally hit itself as well.
Turning to check where Liala was, Raian nodded, seeing her sitting still some distance away.
'I guess the odds aren't that bad after all.'
Filled with renewed vigor ran forward.