NOVEL WEB Chapter 7: Chapter 7: First Battle
'Damn camouflage!'
Ezra leaped aside, his heart pounding like a war drum as he summoned his sword. The monstrous crab landed with a thunderous thud that reverberated through the air, its massive claws snapping hungrily as it lunged at him with relentless fury.
In that electrifying moment, his blade materialized in his grasp, and he slashed at the incoming beast. To his astonishment, the massive crab spun mid-air, showcasing an agility that belied its rigid form.
It deftly wove past the blade, its menacing pincers darting toward his chest with lethal intent. Ezra's pupils expanded in shock, adrenaline surging through him like wildfire, igniting every nerve in his body. His heart thundered in his ears, drowning out the chaos around him. Time slowed as he felt the primal instinct for survival kick in.
With a burst of instinctive reflex, he tilted his body at an unnatural angle, narrowly dodging the snapping pincers that sliced the air where he had just stood. The crab crashed into a nearby boulder with a deafening thunderclap, sending stone shards through the air and leaving a web of cracks on the boulder.
Seizing the moment, Ezra lunged forward as he swung his sword.
The crab pivoted, raising its pincers in a desperate defense.
But Ezra was ready; he retracted the sword while summoning his bow on his free hand, deftly swinging the bow to intercept the pincers.
The impact reverberated through his arm with a stubborn resistance, yet he gritted his teeth and pressed on, pushing one pincer aside to reveal a vulnerable gap.
Ezra's eyes narrowed, and he unleashed a powerful slash, cleaving the beast in two. Blood splattered across the jagged rocky boulder.
Ezra stood alone amidst the chaos, breathless.
[First Order Mortal killed: Terra Crab!]
[+1 Gear acquired.]
[+1 Soul Vitalis.]
Ezra panted, his heartbeat slowly returning to normal, but a sharp, stinging pain erupted in his ankle, causing him to stagger. He quickly used his bow for support.
'What a sharp blade. Maybe it would have gone through the pincers, saving me the trouble of using a bow for support.'
He checked his panel, and his lips curled into a smile when he saw his new gear. He quickly summoned it, and an earth-brown armor wrapped around him, including his head.
---
[Terra Bulwark]
[Rank: Mortal]
[Order: First Order]
[Type: Armor]
[Description:
Stalwart Defense: Provides excellent protection against physical attacks, ensuring the wearer can withstand blows while remaining agile.]
---
"It really is a First Order armor; just a single, basic ability. Or am I being too greedy after starting with peak gears? At least it covers my nakedness. Throughout the battle, I had to protect little Ezra, and it kept dangling with each movement like it was trying to get diced," he mumbled before walking up to the crab, digging through its skull with his blade, and extracting a translucent crystal.
He didn't waste time and absorbed it.
[+2 Mana absorbed.]
'Good. I need only 8 more mana value to move to the second order,' Ezra thought. He quickly used [Soul Reflection] to summon the spirit body.
When the blue, ethereal form appeared, he sent it to scout ahead while he limped behind due to his injured ankle. He swiftly left the crab behind, as the blood might attract other monsters in the area.
After walking for a few minutes without seeing any monsters, Ezra halted.
'Didn't they say this place is teeming with monsters? Or am I in the wrong spot?'
Narrowing his eyes, Ezra controlled the spirit body to climb the hill beside him. The spirit body ascended quickly. When it reached the top of the short but broad, jagged hill, Ezra looked around and noted all the landmarks.
'A hill with rocky terrain in the center, a destroyed temple at one corner enveloped in faint black mist, and a forest surrounding us… hell no! This place… it's one of the dangerous zones.'
He heard a sudden crashing sound from below and looked down. Gazing below, Ezra spotted Seraphina battling a few crabs at the mouth of a cave, with several dead ones lying behind her.
Angling his head to the black mist, Ezra gazed into the distance with the spirit body and spotted a horde of crabs rushing from the temple toward Seraphina. Although the eyes of the spirit body didn't improve, the massive horde rushing in wasn't small to be missed.
"Shit!" he cursed.
'Should I leave her? No. I could reach her before they meet up and escape together. She's already killed seven crabs with only a few scratches, so she must be strong.'
Without delay, he controlled the spirit body to scout ahead while he started circling the hill. Halfway around, he slowed down when his spirit body spotted Seraphina running forward. Suddenly, she paused and began walking warily while scanning ahead.
"Idiot, those things are behind you!" he cursed under his breath as he walked from behind the hill to expose himself.
However, the moment she saw him, she raised her axe and was about to throw it.
"Hey! Hey! It's me!" Ezra yelped when he saw her stance.
"Ezra?!" Seraphina exclaimed. "Great, let's go. Something scary is coming from behind."
She ran past him and continued to escape, her speed swift like a panther. Ezra turned and limped awkwardly, using his bow as a walking stick, while sending his spirit body to scout ahead.
Unfortunately, the distance between him and Seraphina kept growing wider. Seraphina, unable to see Ezra, turned and saw him limping in a comical manner. She would have laughed if not for the situation.
"Too slow. Injured?"
"Yes," Ezra groaned.
"Unsummon your 'walking stick'," Seraphina said.
"What?" Ezra asked, completely confused.
Without a word, she ran up to him and lifted him onto her shoulder like he weighed nothing, continuing the escape. Her speed remained impressive even with Ezra on her shoulder.
"You can't just lift a grown man like that!" Ezra grumbled as he quickly dispelled the bow.
"One more word and I'll drop you," Seraphina threatened.
Ezra instantly shut his mouth and focused on his spirit body. That was when he realized something—Seraphina was running at double his maximum speed when healthy, but his spirit body managed to keep a hundred-meter distance ahead.
Ezra snapped out of it when he spotted a crab sleeping on a boulder.
"To the left. Crab ahead," he whispered to her.
"How did you know?" she asked.
"My ability."
Seraphina shifted her trajectory and continued sprinting toward the forest in the distance without a word.
"On your right is another one."
"Two crabs straight ahead."
…
With Ezra's guidance, Seraphina successfully escaped and reached the border of the forest unhindered.
However, the moment she entered, Ezra felt a prickling, chilly sensation—a feeling he had begun experiencing after awakening. Maybe an instinct.
But he wasn't the first to react; Seraphina slowed down and dropped him on the ground without care, her axe poised to strike as her eyes scanned the surroundings.
Ezra quickly stood up with his sword raised. He was annoyed by the way she dropped him, but he knew the priority—his safety.
Even with the aid of the spirit body in the distance, Ezra saw nothing ahead. It was eerily silent, save for their soft breathing.
Suddenly, jagged green vines shot from the ground, snaking around their legs with a vice-like grip. They twisted violently, dragging them upwards into the shadowy embrace of the tree above.