NOVEL NEXT Chapter 23: Tournament: Part III
The vines viciously attacked Nova. He dodged some of the vines, but there were still too many of them. They were aiming for his vital spots, but he managed to avoid them. Another barrage of vine spikes came at him, this time faster, knowing that Nova wasn't going to back down that easily.
Then, as the spikes came, he dodged to the side, below, then accelerated forward as fast as possible to get the vines off of his waist. It looked like they weren't bulging, but he gave it his all, slowly ripping the vines off of him, as another barrage came for him. At the last second, with a couple of vines nearly creating several holes in his body, he escaped, running for his life, as he managed to pass the vines. Not turning his gaze back.
He stopped, seeing how the vines were nowhere in sight. He took a breather, wiping the sweat from his temple, then cracked his bones again. Phew… that was a close one. I don't know how much energy I have already spent, but it doesn't feel good. I need to recover first, before I can get into more of these situations."
He jogged slowly, just enough not to burn too many calories, since now he had a limitation. He kept searching for Adam, as it felt like he was across the maze, which he didn't want to think about, but he couldn't help it. That thought kept gnawing at him.
I need to find him quickly… otherwise he's dead meat." He thought, biting his lip, jogging again.
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Adam, on the other hand, was taking his time, traversing and exploring the maze like it was his first adventure. First real adventure. He touched the moss, the little grass that grew in the volcanic, ashy maze. He felt the softness of the grass, the pureness. He felt at peace, but then heard another scream. This one was closer than the one before.
He kept watching in the opposite direction, thinking he was safe, which he was, for now. He had encountered a couple of "friendly" people, who offered to take him in. He had thought about it, but then he realized the grins on their faces, which made him question them.
After a brief second of silence, he realized that Nova had said before: "Do not trust anyone. If you find anyone who's trying to 'help' you, they are going to use it as a meat shield; a way to escape. So, wait until I come to find you. It may take a while, but survive until then."
He kept walking and walking, avoiding anything and everything, trying to find a way out. He was getting closer and closer to the volcano, which he was surprised about; he didn't expect the volcano to be this close to him.
As he kept walking, he encountered another person, who locked eyes, but that person left in the blink of an eye. So fast… Adam thought, frightened.
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Nova kept running, being a couple of walls away from the volcano. His eyes were still wide, and he finally spotted something. He leaned over, seeing that it was gluey salvia, which meant a monster was nearby, so he had to be careful.
He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them, all of his senses heightening, as he had done a quick little meditation he had learned from reading the books at the library; he didn't know if they would work, but now he knew his answer.
Hearing, smelling, and seeing everything in a ten-meter radius, he was as alert as he could be. Then, he heard the faint twitch of muscle, as if a bone was being cracked; it wasn't the type of crack he was doing earlier, it was a different kind. He followed the faint sound, which led him just a bit further away from the volcano, and encountered another one of the wolves.
The wolf instantly lost interest in the group of people in front of it and targeted Nova, smelling the blood of its fellow brother.
He examined the terrain, not seeing any rock or weapon that could come in handy. He decided against it; he wanted to see how strong he truly was, and this was the best way to go about it. He squared up again, but the wolf didn't follow in a circle; it instantly lunged its claws at him, sharper than that wolf he had faced before.
He barely managed to avoid the wolf, who instantly lunged back as soon as it landed on the ground. He barely dodged again, the claws nearly scratching his face. Then, the wolf howled, calling more wolves. The wolf growled at him like an angry Karen at the supermarket.
Nova cracked his bones, thinking the wolf might get distracted, but to his surprise, it didn't. Instead, it loved the sound, reminding it of how it wanted to crush Nova, ripping his organs out, having blood all over its face, as it continued eating Nova with a grin.
Well, that didn't work," he thought, narrowing his eyes, as he didn't know what to do. I guess the only way to kill it is by doing it fair and square. Damn it. An ability would be nice right about now."
The wolf lunged again, but Nova feinted to the right, counterstriking with a brutal hook to the face, but even the wolf feinted. The earlier group of people had run away, scared to death, but then Nova heard another guttural bone-cracking sound that was just behind him, and when he looked back, he saw several wolves having limbs of the early group in their mouths, which they spat in front of him.
Fuck. Nova was surrounded by the five wolves, backed into a corner. He didn't know what to do, since he was, exactly, expecting so many wolves to pick a bone with him. It made sense, since he did blind one of their fellow wolf, killing it as it bled too much and backed up on a large spike. It's heart-splitting in two pieces, its body getting cold and rotting.
Well, this is quite a pickle. Though I do deserve it. I don't know how to escape. They aren't living any blind spots, and they certainly won't let me leave without at least making me disabled. What can I do?"