Chapter 15 | Centipede

“DUCK!”

“Why does it need to have that many eyes!? What kind of spiritual beast is this?”

“Don’t breathe in the pink smoke it’s spitting; it will erode your energy pathways.”

“You should have killed me if you were going to humiliate me like this!”

Theo barely managed to dodge a scythe-like mandible clamping shut right above his head. The ear-rattling noise caused him to lose his footing, get tangled up in a red carpet, and fall flat on his face. Fortunately, the ten-meter-tall centipede skittered right above him, its slippery and chitinous white abdomen sliding past centimeters above his face. If even a single leg fell on him, it would be his end.

Lying dead still, he waited for the centipede’s entire body to pass by before pushing himself up, taking off into a shaky dash once again.

They were currently running through a vast dome-expanse of… blankets, rugs, and mattresses. They were of all colors, textures, and perfectly normal size. But the entire expanse was made of them, hills of cotton, trees of tassels placed throughout.

The smell of clean linen filled their noses. Theo found it especially nostalgic and relaxing, somewhat reminding him of his grandmother for some reason.

Obviously then, there was this mutated entity, which had taken the shape of a gargantuan centipede, the faceless head of Leila hanging in its front, adorned with hair and a set of dark-purple mandibles.

The main difference it had was the eyes that seemed to pop randomly on its surface, then ebb and flow; some disappeared, some reappeared. They all had these unnerving, purple pupils that seemed to stare right through him.

He, Long Tian, and Satou carrying Tanaka were currently running up a hill of blankets, colored in a range from red to orange, giving it an autumn-like feeling.

“This thing is not leaving!” Theo shouted. The centipede heard him and tried turning around, but its truck-sized body had to be maneuvered in wide arcs. Taking the chance, Theo barely managed to catch up to the others.

“My legs are constantly dipping into these blankets,” Long Tian complained with a terrified frown. He then mumbled something about ‘Cloud-Treading Steps’ and ‘Sword Kinesis’ before shutting up.

Theo on the other hand stopped himself from complaining. Sure, the terrain was a big problem for them, but it was an even bigger problem for the centipede, with many of its legs constantly being restrained by the floor. If not, they would already be dead.

“The entities of the tower don’t tire,” Satou said with a frown. This centipede was the entity he had mentioned having to run from before. Although it was a single one, he couldn’t fight now either. He wasn’t by himself this time, making it impossible to escape at full speed without abandoning the others while also making it really hard to fight it off.

The centipede kept skittering up and sliding back down the hill, which would have been amusing to watch, if Theo’s imagination didn’t keep flashing him pictures of being ripped apart by the thing’s mandibles, that is.

As the trio reached the top, Tanaka Kazuo held on Satou’s shoulder like inconvenient luggage, they started scaling down the hill’s other side with hardship.

“Just jump down!” Theo shouted before doing as he said. He pushed off and rolled down the soft hill, much faster than what he could manage with a maintained descent.

While Long Tian did the same, Satou simply launched forward and landed even further. Once down on level ground that stretched toward one of the exit doors, they got back to running.

The centipede showed above the hill not long after, its chitinous carapace shining under the ever-present dim lighting of the tower.

“That’s not the exit, is it?” Theo asked, lagging a couple of steps behind Satou. Fortunately, he had too high of a vitality to get tired from this much running.

“It isn’t, but the centipede will have a hard time crossing through the small opening. Not to mention, the outermost circle of the tower is practically a circle of interconnected domes. There might be an outpost there.”

According to Satou’s unnervingly strong sense of direction, they should have headed straight forward for an exit. But halfway through their escape, they had to switch their direction toward one of the passages on the side because of its proximity.

“An outpost?”

“You see how varied these domes get, right?” Satou said. Theo nodded. “Some are good for setting up bases. The outside forces will settle in them and act as outposts in the tower. As the tower is in the Human half of the continent, there is a high chance it’s a human outpost.”

With a nod, Theo turned his head and took a look at their pursuer. The centipede had struggled quite a lot digging itself out of the pile of mattresses it had found itself in. So there was more than fifty meters of distance between them. Maybe a couple of seconds’ worth of distance for the centipede, but padding nonetheless.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Bringing his hand back without stopping, he spammed a couple of arcane shots, shots that splattered and sizzled against the centipede. Although it didn’t do too much, it made the thing hiss in agony and slow down ever so slightly.

They kept running through the lands of cotton. His inhuman perception warned him of an unnatural grogginess rising from the depths of his consciousness.

“It’s not good. This place seems to have some sort of mental erosion effect. I feel groggy!” Theo shouted. Long Tian narrowed his eyes for a moment, before they shot open. Satou was much calmer, first to respond.

“I feel it too.”

“It feels like a distraction formation array. Esteemed Father used to have one around his private garden. One would fall asleep before they even realized.”

“Then how do we escape it?”

“I don’t know!”

“Then why talk about it!?” Theo retorted amidst strained breaths. They were still quite a bit of distance away from the passage to the next dome. The centipede gained ground every passing second.

I have to resolve this on my own!

Without further ado, Theo turned his attention toward his mind palace. The semi-complete cube floated silently in the darkness, humming a gentle buzz. He approached the wall and thought about what to write.

I can’t really hurt that thing, and even if I could, I don’t know if my mana pool would be enough to truly finish it off. I need to restrain it.

A simple solution was to use a net of arcane mana. With its sticky nature, and the centipede’s lack of dexterity, it would grant them the window of escape they desperately needed.