NOVEL WEB Chapter 224: The Terror of Gravity
Above him, the hand-shaped entity morphed again, its flesh twisting and condensing, being shaped into something else.
As it changed—
"Hyaaaah!"
A feminine shout filled his ears before he witnessed a flash of visceral fire cut across the shifting form of the Moon. Recognizing that cutting swiftness was easy for him, even more so as he saw the figure land beside him with a graceful slide.
Though they were equipped in the same, black, form-fitting armor that showed her feminine physique, he already knew–
"Charlotte!?--" He called out.
"...I made it! I'm sorry I was late–!" Charlotte quickly apologized as her helmet dismantled briefly, showing the genuine guilt in her pearly irises.
Finn disregarded any need for an apology, stepping in front of his companion, "Save it! We've got bigger problems right now!"
The slashed and burned flesh of the Moon disregarded the fire, pushing it away with an exhale of the holes across its form. It reshaped itself again, morphing into whatever form it desired.
"That attack didn't do anything–!?" Charlotte looked over, finding the results of her opening assault to be nearly fruitless.
"It can manipulate its body in just about endless ways. Even more annoying…It seems capable of disrupting skills–I don't know the limit or timing of it, but it's nearly gotten me killed twice already," Finn advised the spellblade.
Standing there beside here in that crater ruled by the extraterrestrial horror, rained down on by gravity in the collapsed crater, he felt some fear of her being there with him. Yet, at the same time, he felt relief–a sense of relief in not having to fight alone in a battle he thought nearly impossible.
"Before I came here, I received a message from Nikko—communications are flickering, but it's better! He said he might be able to bring out reinforcements soon," Charlotte hurriedly said.
"Reinforcements? I hope so—" Finn remarked.
[Gravitational anomaly detected.]
The sudden shift in pressure commanded their attention, bringing him to look up, finding the morphing entity taking on a rather troublesome shape—
"What…is that?" Charlotte asked.
It expanded to a great scale, stretching its pale material into wings that spread, a neck that extended, ending with a malevolent maw. The form was anything but "humanoid", more bestial, more fantastical:
"—A dragon," Finn recognized.
A nebulous beast, covered in holes that whistled with wind passing through. It possessed no discernible face beyond a mouth that howled with a sharp ring.
"Ngh!—" Charlotte winced.
It felt like a thousand needles being jammed into his ears; the entity did not approach, but its screeching cry was heinous enough.
"Suit…! Reduce our hearing, or something—!" Finn shouted.
[Deafening exterior sources of noise | Adjusting frequency.]
It brought the ringing down to a silence, though he could still feel his skull throbbing from the blaring sensation.
"Hey, we can communicate through our suits—can you hear me, Charlotte?" Finn asked, glancing over at the girl in the very same equipment.
A nod came from the armored spellblade, "Yeah, I hear you. That thing…How do we even hurt it?"
"I'm still trying to figure that part out," he answered, watching the moon-made dragon touch down against the crater.
It constantly morphed; more wings spread from its back, its flesh fluctuated, pulsating and flexing like a beating heart. One of its arms raised, sweeping across the gravel with a terrible hum behind its limb—
"Incoming!" Finn warned.
Charlotte got in front of him, placing her blade in front of them as it spun rapidly, "—Hold on!"
["Lapis Garden"]
The spinning sword conjured a spherical barrier of serene light, engulfing the two just as the pretending dragon swept its arm.
Like a budding flower, it wrapped around the two while the land around them was ravaged by the shock wave.
"What kind of force is this—?!" Charlotte struggled, keeping her hands near her rotating weapon.
It felt as though the ground was crumble apart, sounding like the sky was being torn as nothing but dust was seen outside the barrier.
"It's gravity—well, not in the sense we know it. The "Moon"—it uses that concept like a formless blade," Finn observed, watching sediment fly by like a tidal wave.
Against such a terrible force of nature, it felt like attempting to fight the ocean with nothing but his two hands.
"I can't hold it much longer—!" Charlotte grunted.
"That's fine—we won't get anywhere just hunkering down, anyway," Finn assured her, readying himself as the barrier began to crumble.
The moment the protective layer shattered, he bolted forward alongside the spellblade. While there wasn't any plan discussed, they both followed an unspoken route, following one another's movements.
The pretending beast lashed out, moving as though it wasn't used to its own body. Feet stomped, the tail slammed against the ground, its jaws snapped, and its claws swept.
["Flicker"]
As one of the pale hands carved across the crushed gravel right for him, he vanished, reappearing right past it. It wasn't just the limbs that needed to be avoided; random spots in the ground were rained down on by lethal spikes of gravity.
'Can't get caught in that,' he observed, quickly stepping to the side just as the spot he once stood was crushed.
The goal was to get close, though that itself seemed like a challenge as he stepped within a few meters of its body.
'Heavy—-' He realized.
Just short of stepping into it, he could see the ground just ahead of the tip of his boot being actively crushed. It was as though the Moon itself existed on a different plane; thin air, splattering gravity—impossible to reach.
As he noticed the intense layer of pressure around its huge body, it slammed a hand towards him—
He quickly slid back as the draconic claws landed into the mushed ground with a thunderous impact. Experience more tales on empire
'Crap…! Can't let it touch me, can't let it get close even—' He thought.
Staying in one spot was a death sentence, staying on the move while pillars of gravity rained down. At the same time, he could see Charlotte evading in the same manner, stuck on the defense.
Flipping his body around, drifting along the pieces of unstable debris across the crater, he wound up back beside the spellblade.
"—Can't get close!" Charlotte huffed out.
"Yeah, it's veiling itself in gravity. A pain in the ass," Finn observed.
The Moon pretending as a dragon simply floated, hovering in place with its vast body. Its wings spread, though merely a decoration in flight. At the very least, it wasn't as aggressive, treating the two more like pests that could easily be ignored.
"Any ideas?" Charlotte asked.
"Thinking still. You?" Finn returned the question.
"Sorta…Maybe," Charlotte hesitantly answered, breathing out through the sleek helmet.
"If you've got something, say it now—our friend there isn't gonna hold out for long," Finn hurriedly said, looking up towards the floating disaster.