Chapter 32 – Pugilism? (5)

Chapter 32 – Pugilism? (5)

Rowan watched with a small smile as the armored bloodspawn flew across the tunnel, crashing to the ground more than a dozen feet away.

The concentrated mana was far more effective than he could have ever imagined.

He took a moment to catch his breath as he began to condense more energy within him. Across the cave, his opponent clambered to its feet and charged him.

The bony armour adorning its body was cracked and entirely missing in some places, but it remained, defending its owner’s vital areas.

He was by no means in good condition, either.

The two wounds he’d sustained were festering away, growing with each passing second. They were a constant burn in the back of his mind.

The bloodspawn had already been beating him earlier, but now that it’d injured him, it would be even worse. Rowan doubted he would soon be unable to fight close-range at all. He needed something else.

To Rowan’s surprise, his mana pool was still a little more than half full, even after the intense fight. It did make sense, though.

He had more than ever, and while his chains consumed the most mana out of everything he fought with, he’d still only really used them at the end of the last exchange. And even then, he hadn’t extended them all that much, only using them as a shield. Now, that would change.

Stretching out both of his arms—his fractured left arm not quite as much—he sent his chains forward, pouring mana into them as they extended. Unless it was a short, short distance, his chains just crawled along the floor when he used them.

But that made them predictable and relatively easy to avoid. So, as the steel links surged outwards, Rowan lifted them into the air, keeping them afloat.

At first, it was easy, but as the chains continued to lengthen, it became more and more difficult.

Unable to hold them up for much longer, Rowan began to swing his arms, using the chains like whips.

They swung about, striking against the walls of the cave and, at the same time, the bloodspawn continued its charge, running straight into the chains.

The mana infused metal crashed into the creature over and over, cracking its armor and causing it to stumble with each blow. But each time the chains struck it, they acted with a mind of their own, trying to wrap around the armored humanoid, hindering his attempts to beat his opponent down from afar.

He even tried balling up the ends for more force, but the way the chains constantly [Bind] the creature meant that they would innevitably return to their original state.

The bloodspawn continued to advance, marching through a storm of steel.

As it moved, Rowan continued battering it, trying to halt its advance. He kept trying to build up momentum with his chains, but each time they touched the beast, they clung to it, acting without his input.

It might’ve worked with more chains, but after the creature had destroyed some of them, he simply didn’t have enough to properly bind it unless he wanted to spend an exorbitant amount of mana.

With a curse, he shot his mana blade forward, buying himself time. He’d been aiming for the chest, where the armor was damaged, but the humanoid stumbled just as the dagger neared it.

The mana construct hit its face head on, sliding off the thin layer of bone serving as a mask.

Gritting his teeth, Rowan tried again. The blade pulled back before shooting forward once more, this time driving itself into the bloodspawn’s abdomen. The creature fell back, a length of steel links forcing it to retreat even further.

But after just a few steps, it let out a scream and began to advance once more.

With yet another wound on its body, it was only a matter of time before it died. But he didn’t know how long that would be, and he doubted he could hold out for however long that time was. So he had to finish it now.

Rowan let out a scream of frustration. His chains weren’t fucking complying! They kept trying to [Bind] the bloodspawn!

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He didn’t need that right now. He needed something different. But the skill simply wasn’t designed for what he was doing; it was meant to chain enemies and nothing more. He needed something more.

Sweat dripped down his brow as he concentrated, pouring every last ounce of mental strength he had into keeping the chains in line.

He didn’t want to [Bind]. He wanted a weapon. He needed a weapon. Something that wasn’t constrained like the skill currently was. And yet, the chains, the very origin of his class and power, refused.

The bloodspawn was closer now, just ten feet from him. Its armor was chipped and cracked from the constant barrage of attacks, and each step it took was wobbling.

His attacks were working better, too. Becoming more efficient and obeying him better by the second as he figured out how to command the chains.

But still, the creature advanced. Rowan stumbled backwards, but too much of his attention was on killing the creature to properly retreat. He doubted he could even run now, anyway.