Chapter 288: Whispers of a Bandaged Man

Maria stared at the spear in the creature’s hands with caution.

’Shit. I can’t believe this thing managed to dodge that spear just now. I thought for sure I caught it off-guard.’

Pressing off the ground, Maria blasted forward while thrusting the shaft of her spear in front of her body. The creature slipped past the tip and swung its torso sideways to send a counterattack towards Maria. She crushed her elbow into the other spears body and snapped it in half. Using the momentum, she carried her arm forward and tackled the creature into the stone wall, shaking the entire struture.

Vernus slammed both his hands down on Maria’s back, then sent a kick flying into her side. Maria blocked the kick with her arms, but the force was too incredible to keep her on her feet. She staggered sideways and spat blood out of her mouth before shoving her spear in the ground. She flung around its shaft, using it as a makeshift handle to send her body crashing into its face with both her feet.

Vernus swept his foot under her legs, but Maria jumped over the attack and sent another kick right into its side before having another spear appear in her hands to pierce its leg. Vernus showed no reaction to being stabbed and immediately ripped the spear from their leg before throwing it at Squabee who was flying around the air. The spear stuck itself into the ceiling right next to where she was flying, all while she didn’t so much as flinch.

Lidia dashed forward to assist Maria in the fight. Vernus crashed using both his legs to push themself off the wall. Suddenly, sharp claws appeared on the edge of its fingers, making Maria hesitate to thrust her spear close again.

’Why did it only decide to have claws appear now?! Was it holding back this whole time?!’

Lidia’s hands started growing so brightly, the entire interior had been illuminated. Instead of sending a beam of light at the creature, she held the power within her fists and sent one crashing into its side. Maria followed up on the attack by slicing down at its joints.

Strangely, it appeared to be infinitely more affected by Lidia’s punch than Maria’s spear attacks. Even though she was hitting her spear thrusts flawlessly, it was hardly penetrating Vernus’ purple skin. Lidia’s eyes glowed with raw power.

"Release the light."

Her figure became blinding. Lidia’s entire body was covered in radiance. However, Vernus didn’t flinch. On the contrary, it looked angrier and vastly more aggravated than before. It jumped toward Lidia and swiped both its claws down at her side. Lidia dodged easily and elbowed the creature in the stomach. Maria followed up with a kick to the back of its skull. Lidia grabbed the creature by its head and kneed it in its face, sending its chin flying upward. Maria shot towards the ceiling before jumping off its surface to knee Vernus in its throat, sending it crashing down into the floor, decimating its once flawless condition.

"Squabee! Go check up on Slimo while we keep this thing busy! It’s extremely persistent and our attacks are hardly having any effect!"

"Got it!"

Squabee flew towards Slimo to check on his condition while the battle between Vernus and everyone else raged on. Jacob was holding on to the stump of his missing leg while he watched the fight from the side.

’Damn it. Even with this power from a leviathan... I was still so useless!’

Jacob stared down at his severed leg that was laying on the stone floor. A dreadful idea entered his mind.

’What would happen if... I ate myself? What kind of reaction would that have on me?’

He shook the idea from his mind.

’No. I can’t think of that right now. I’ll have to make sure that thing can’t reach Sarah!’

Jacob bounced over to where Lidia had dropped Sarah and began dragging her further back into the structure where Squabee and Slimo were.

Vernus slammed his foot into the ground, cracking the entire structure around him from the force. Maria was in the middle of thrusting another spear attack forward before his foot collided and was sent off balance because of it. Vernus didn’t hesitate to take advantage of this graceful opportunity given to them. They grabbed Maria’s spear from her hands and slashed it down at her face in an instant. Blood painted the entirety of the area around them as Maria’s jaw fell to the floor. Her tongue could be seen falling out of her throat, but every part of her lower jaw had been completely severed.

Despite this, Maria didn’t stop. Vernus was now right on top of her. She grappled his body and strained her muscles with all her might. Lidia’s fist glowed brighter than the sun. It broke the sound barrier as it collapsed into Vernus’s stomach.

"RELEASE THE LIGHT!"

Lidia’s hand disintegrated from her attack, but a gaping hole was created inside of Vernus’ torso. However, they could still move. They turned around and began slashing at Maria’s body helplessly. There was nothing she could do to avoid its attacks. All she could do was wait for them to stop. Maria’s body was completely covered in deep gashes in seconds. Lidia jumped forward and kicked the beast away from her.

"Maria! Oh my gosh... you need help. We need to get you help fast!"

However, Vernus wasn’t done. It came after Lidia faster and stronger than before. It managed to gouge out her eye as it flew past her. She held on to her wound and exploded her light outwards, engulfing the entire area before she dropped to her knees, panting heavily. Even with a hole in its chest, the creature didn’t back down.

Suddenly, Maria Lidia noticed something that made her sick to her stomach. Black tendrils started coming out of the hole and repairing Vernus’s torso. It was regenerating. Lidia cursed under her breath and stood up.

’It has to be me. No one else can fight. This leviathan... can I really handle such a powerful creature?!’

However, Vernus had already began its assault with its new body. All the damage they had done before amounted to nothing. Not only that, but Vernus was stronger and faster than before. It ducked under Lidia’s punch and sent a massive uppercut into her chin, sending her crashing through the ceiling of the temple and into the brush of the forest above. It jumped upwards to meet her in the air and continue its assault.

However, it made one crucial mistake. It aimed for her stomach; the same area she was carrying her baby at. Lidia’s eyes glowed white and caught Vernus’s fist with her own hand.

"Get your hands away from my child!"

She squeezed with all her might. Surpassingly, she could feel its bones creaking under her grip. Vernus tried to pull itself away from her, but it was no use. Lidia’s crown shone brighter than it ever had before. She pulled Vernus forward and punched it as hard as she could. The shockwave from her attack was so large it knocked over dozens of massive trees around her and cleared the clouds in the sky above them, revealing the stars for the first time since they had entered the jungle.

Despite the massive attack and her power being boosted due to the creature being corrupted, Vernus still managed to move under her grasp. Lidia began falling back down towards the temple, defeated. Vernus built themself back together and screamed before swiping its large claws down at Lidia’s stomach one last time.

BOOM!

Vernus was sent hurdling into the ground, exploding the area around itself for miles. The temple was hardly holding itself together with so much earth being ripped apart around itself. Right where Vernus used to be standing was one of the stone guardians holding its massive sword in both its hands.

"Corrupter detected. This is your last day alive, Zalo scum. "

Before Lidia could even comprehend what was happening, the stone guardian shot through the air down at the crater it had made from Vernus’s body. Explosions rattled the entire jungle from their fight. She fell through the hole in the ceiling created from her body, crash landing next to Maria on the floor.

Surprisingly, Maria was still standing strong with her immense injury. She started dragging Lidia backward towards the others, away from the fight going on outside as best as she could. Lidia was fighting to remain conscious. Jacob crawled over to them both as they collapsed by his side.

"Oh my gosh... Maria... Mom..."

Jacob clenched his teeth. They were humiliated. A single leviathan put all of them in this pathetic state, not to mention right after everyone received a new power. Suddenly, the noises went quiet outside. Loud footsteps started to approach them from outside. Walking towards the back of the temple was none other than the stone guardian who left its post to fight the creature. There wasn’t as much as a scratch on either its sword or its body. It kneeled in front of Lidia before bowing its head.

"The threat has been neutralized, my queen."

Then, it stood back up and walked over to its post before going completely still once more. Jacob never noticed before, but when he looked back to where Slimo and Squabee were, he saw how upset Squabee was getting. She was still in her angel incarnate form, despite there not being a battle at the moment.

"I don’t understand! Why couldn’t my power protect you all better?! You’ve all only been scratched the last few times! What happened this time that was so different?!"

Jacob answered her question with a thought of his own.

"I think these monsters are getting too powerful for your power to keep up. If you think about it, your power is always going to prioritize you when it comes to granting luck. Therefore, if you split up your luck, it’s always going to make sure you have ninety-nine percent of that luck for yourself. That only leaves one percent for everyone else to share. However, if the enemies are really powerful, or if one of us requires a large amount of luck, that one percent is only good for minimizing damage rather than helping us win fights."

Sqaubee cursed and started dragging Slimo towards the group.

They spent the rest of their time patiently waiting for Sarah to wake up, their only hope at healing themselves of these wounds.

Three long nights of pain passed until Sarah finally began to move, but in her sleep, Jacob would hear her whisper things that made his spine shiver.

Whispers of a bandaged man.