new chapter! Not much to say. Just, enjoy
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Rushing this beast headlong was not the smartest move I could have made. My careless sprint followed by an overhand swing at the beast's head simply resulted in my resounding crash to the ground as I lost balance and fell when the insect moved out from under my fist. Spitting dust from my mouth I stood to face the creature once more. Kaorin was rolling on the ground in pain. Her shoulder bled from where the Wamouracampa had punctured the skin with it's foreclaw. The thing certainly ruined Kaorin's day and my intention was to ruin it's day in return. This time the Wamouracampa made the first move. It curled itself into a ball so it's outsides were totally covered by carapace. Before I could react it rolled with incredible speed in my direction. I made a sad attempt to dodge, but it was too fast. It struck at my knees and sent me barreling over the top of it's spherical form. I can crashing to the ground on my back. Dazed, it took me a moment to notice it's glistening jaws hovering before my eyes. I grunted and rolled out of the way moments before the mandibles would have taken my head clean off. As I stood the creature let out a hissing sound. Almost as if to challenge me.
"Piece of crap.", I muttered before deftly swinging my fist and connecting below it's jaw.
It's head rock back with a high screech. I took the oppertunity to throw a haymaker to it's soft, exposed underbelly. This elicted another high groan from the monster. I felt posesses with power as I threw punch after punch into the beast's belly. Suddenly, I felt a new sensation. A surge of energy I had never felt before. An all new sense. A feeling of power. I followed the compulsion to rear my hand back. A great power flooded my hand moments before I brought it foward. As my newly charged fist connected with the belly of the beast a great orange coloured shockwave engulfed my fist. A tearing, ripping sound was audible as the light from this power overwhelmed my eyes. The light dimmed, the sound vanished and so had the Wamouracampa. As I gazed upon the damage I noticed that it's entire upper body seemed to have been vapourized. Gone. Totally destroyed. I looked at my fist. It looked normal. I gazed questioningly at Shihu-Danhu, who was trying to comfort the injured Kaorin. They both stared back at me with glassy eyes.
"I didn't know you were a monk." , said Shihu-Danhu, astonished.
"I'm not!", my voice cracked in disbelief.
"You must be.", he said. "That or a puppetmaster"
"I'm neither!", I responded, still aghast at the unintentional display of power I had just accomplished.
Shihu-Danhu simply smirked. "We gotta get outta here"
"Couldn't have said it better myself.", I said finally coming around. I lifted Kaorin by her uninjured right shoulder and helped her walk.
"Mr. Prior, that was amazing." ,she said through gritted teeth.
"Yea, I thought so too...", I said wistfully as we finally reached the entrance to the cave.
We emerged into the sunlight in the middle of a sparse forest.
"Welcome to Bhaflau Thickets!", Shihu-Danhu said waving his arm as if displaying the foliage. "Al Zhabi isn't far from here so let's go"
His enthusiasm was refreshing, so we continued our journey. Kaorin limped along, obviously getting faint from loss of blood. The entire front of her blue tee shirt was now stained with splotches of deep crimson.
"Hey, little man!" ,I called. "Let's stop for a bit"
I laid Kaorin upon the ground. Her face was sheet white and her breath was coming in gasps.
"Kaorin!", I said intently to her, giving her a small shake. "Are you alright"
She didn't respond. Her pupils had become little more than specks in her eyes and her entire body was drenched in a cold sweat. Something was very wrong.
"Oh my! Looks like the poison got to her!" ,Shihu-Danhu said matter-of-factly.
"How do we stop it?", I growled into his face. His small foot kicked idly at the dirt.
"Well, the poison of a wamouracampa can be neutralized by a compound created from the blood of a Mamool Ja and Hezrakk leaf"
"Where do we get that? QUICKLY!" , I commanded. My sole purpose right now was to make sure Kaorin lived. Even if it cost my own life.
"I'll show you. We have only a few hours before the poison takes her over..."
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OoOOoO suspenseful! heehhehe might take me a bit to work on the next one. It'll be a bit longer, I hope
til then -peace-