NOVEL WEB 358. A Real Fight
The grub-babies crawled toward them, blanketing the ground with pale, moist flesh, their silvery eyes shimmering in the low light. The earth shook, sending them all trembling, their soft flesh shaking like a bowl full of jelly.
"Yuck," Ike commented.
"Yum," Wisp said, at the same exact moment.
He squinted at her. "Do you like how gelatinous they are?"
"What? Don't you humans like gelatin, too? It's noble food! Food for the nobilities! You have to boil down several horses just to get enough for one bowl, you know. If that's not worth eating, I don't know what is."
Ike looked at her. After a few seconds, he shook his head and turned away again. "You know, I think most nobles would be put off of gelatin if you described it like that."
Wisp frowned. "Huh? But why would they eat gelatin unless they wanted to lord it over horses by eating several in one spoonful?"
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Wordlessly, he shook his head. There was no way he could explain nobility and their predilections to Wisp when he barely understood them himself. Hell, maybe they did get off on lording it over horses by eating several in one spoonful, and that was why they liked gelatin so much. He didn't know. It sure didn't make sense to him that they liked eating that jiggly, slimy stuff. Then again, weren't oysters also a delicacy, and also slimy and jiggly? He raised his brows. Maybe nobles were just all about nasty snot-like consistencies in their food.
As he was considering the mysteries of nobility and their eating preferences, the babies on the ground all swirled into a single, slippery blob, then slurped back into the ground. The earth trembled. White stones toppled over as the ground ruptured, and a giant pair of pale, slimy shoulders broke through the loam. Clumps of grass scattered, and dust rained down over a very, very large baby.
It lifted its huge head and let out a fearsome cry, lips trembling and bare gums visible to the world. Face scrunched up in an awful bawl, it clawed at them with big pale hands. Its back legs kicked at the earth, still stuck deep under the damp earth.
"You're an ugly crier," Wisp commented.
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Ike shook his head. "That isn't me."
"Isn't it?"
"No, no. Recall that all these things are just pieces of a larger being, of which I am also but a shard. That thing," he pointed at the baby, "is a piece of that greater being, but it definitely isn't me. And we need to remember that and keep that truth in your heart."
She looked at him. "You just don't want to admit you're a big baby."
"I am definitely not a big baby," Ike grumbled.
Wisp raised her brows at him.
"I just want to know why all these other versions of me attack me on sight."
"Oh, so it is part of you?"
Ike narrowed his eyes at her.
She shrugged. "I don't see what's so confusing. You would attack another you. You've done it on sight every time so far."
Ike blinked. He looked at her with new understanding. "You're right."
The baby hauled its rear legs free of the ground and roared again. Setting its fat feet against the muddy earth, it launched itself at surprising speed with its pudgy legs. Ike had just enough time to brace and raise his sword, while Wisp vanished entirely, replaced by a tiny spider that hopped onto Ike's back. The baby twisted its head as it closed in, opening its toothless mouth wide. Ike smashed the Hungry Sword into its mouth, aiming for its floppy red tongue. The Hungry Sword supped deep of the baby's soft flesh, and crimson blood splashed over Ike.
The baby yowled and retreated, yanking its head back. Before it could retreat too far, spider threads shot out from behind Ike's back and bound it up, holding it in place. Ike raced in and hammered its face. The Hungry Sword bit holes in its face, while the baby screamed and howled in pain. It battered at its face with its meaty paws, striking blind, its eyes tight shut. Ike dodged the first blows, but it was relentless, and there was little space to escape in the confines between its hands and its face. One thick palm struck him, and he went flying, bouncing over the graveyard. The earth was soft, but the stones embedded in it at random were hard, and he accumulated bruises as he went rolling. He hopped to his feet and looked around. "Wisp?"
"Haha, superior spiders don't go rolling over the filthy ground. We hop free and fly like the masters of all three elements we are!" Wisp appeared on one of the few still-standing gravestones, perched on all fours once more.
"Aren't there four elements?" Ike asked.
"I've heard as many as six!" Mag chipped in as he did a flyby.
"Earth, water, air, what else?" Wisp asked.
"Fire, for one."
She tutted. "You humans, always overcomplicating things."
"I don't know that four is an overcomplication," Ike muttered. He turned back toward the baby.
The monster roared. Spittle flew from its horrific maw. It slapped the earth, sending up a splash of mud, then charged them once more. Ike stood, holding his ground. He raised his sword like he had last time, but at the last second, he leaped sideways, dodging the charge. The baby hurtled by, digging rents in the earth as it struggled to stop itself.
Ike spun his sword. It shivered in delight, the scale-teeth trembling as if to lick themselves clean. "It's time for a bit of child murder."
"Babies are so tender and sweet," Wisp sang, happy. "A big baby for me to eat!"