Chapter 36: Rabid Moles [2]

Sofia grits her teeth as she grips both of her sabers.

The Rabid Mole was wounded, but far from finished.

Blood trickled down from the wound on its forearm that was hidden under its coarse fur, and its small eyes were fixed on Sofia, burning with anger.

"Raaaahhh!"

It roared, and slammed both of its forearms on the ground.

BOOM!

The ground trembled with the force of the blow, and Sofia stumbled.

It was all the opening the Rabid Mole needed.

It lunged at her.

’So fast!’

Sofia cross her sabers in front of her in defense.

CLANG!

She was sent flying by the blow, her feet leaving the ground as a forceful pain shot up her arms, and before she could right herself, she landed face first on the ground and rolled, dirt getting in her mouth.

She groaned in pain as she tried to stand, coughing as she forced the air back into her lungs.

Her arms were shaking.

The gap in their power was far greater than she had thought.

Even if she managed to hurt it by using the weak spot, it did not mean she could overcome the gap between them.

It was several stages stronger than her, being an E+ ranked monster.

Not only did its mana capacity far exceed hers, but their natural power, durability, speed and instinct was also greater.

Even if she knew its weak spot, she would also need the power to exploit it.

And at the moment, she did barely have the strength to even withstand its attacks.

The Rabid Mole dragged its claws on the ground before charging at her again.

Sofia gritted her teeth.

She could not let it dictate the battle.

She rushed forward, aiming for the injured foreleg of the creature.

The Rabid Mole slashed at her with its good claw, but Sofia ducked under it, and slashed at the wound she had inflicted earlier on the creature.

This time, she drove the blade in deeper, making it bleed profusely.

The Rabid Mole roared in pain as it tried to crush her under its bulk, but Sofia moved back in time, albeit barely.

The Rabid Mole’s injured foreleg swept across her side.

BAMM!

CRACK!

Sofia felt something give way as she was sent flying sideways, landing on the ground with a heavy thud.

It took several seconds for the air to return to her lungs, the pain on her ribs making it hard to even move her fingers.

One of her sabers had fallen from her hand, several feet away.

Sofia glared at it.

’Damn it.’

She had underestimated its power.

No matter how well she read its attacks, she could not always react in time, and even when she managed to exploit its weakness, she could not deal a decisive blow with her current strength.

Meanwhile, the simplest of attacks from the creature was enough to incapacitate her.

The Rabid Mole turned to her.

Its injured foreleg dragged on the ground, but it was not enough to slow it down.

Sofia forced herself up on one knee, her hand shaking as she picked up her other saber.

She had come here to the Spirit Realm to grow stronger, and if she ran away and hid from every enemy she faced, she would never be strong enough to accomplish anything.

But there was a difference between challenging herself, in order to grow stronger, and throwing her life away.

She understood the difference.

But she was not ready to admit defeat just yet.

"Come on, then..."

She croaked.

"Show me what you’ve got."

The Rabid Mole charged, and Sofia threw herself to the side to avoid its attack, and twisted her body, forcing her saber into the wound of the creature’s foreleg.

Once more, she managed to wound it, but as she tried to pull her saber free, the Rabid Mole slammed its other claws on the ground, sending a barrage of dirt and small rocks flying her direction.

Sofia raised her arm to protect her face as a sharp rock grazed the side of her forehead, drawing blood.

She stumbled back as the Rabid Mole charged at her again.

It was faster than she anticipated.

It struck her square in the chest with its shoulder, and Sofia found herself lifted off the ground, before slaming back down on the earth, the saber she had in her hand flying away from her.

She struggled to her knees as her arm went limp.

A wave of fear surged within her.

Not because she wanted to live, but because she understood the truth.

No one would know if she died here.

And the people she wanted to defeat would go on living, as if nothing had happened.

’Lorenzo...’

Her thoughts drifted to his face.

Then Aldric’s.

Sofia clenched her fingers tight around the dirt ground.

’I’m not dying here.’

She forced herself to roll aside as the Rabid Mole’s claws tore through the ground where her head had been.

The creature roared furiously, and Sofia crawled away from it, but her ribs screamed in pain with every movement, and she found it hard to breathe properly.

She could not win like this.

The thought dawned on her, and it sent ice down her spine.

She had found the weakness of the creature, but that did not mean she had the power to finish it off.

She understood the concept behind fighting.

But she did not have the power to do what she knew she should.

The Rabid Mole raised its foreleg, and Sofia looked up at the sweeping claw that was coming down at her.

She tried to move, but her body was slow to react.

’Shit!’

BOOM!

The ground shook from a forceful impact, but the pain that should have come with it never arrived.

Instead, a broadsword blocked the strike of the Rabid Mole’s claw, and a figure stood between Sofia and the creature.

Sofia blinked away the blood that was trickling down her forehead.

Noah.

He pushed against the claw of the Rabid Mole, boots digging into the ground as he forced mana into his body.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

His voice was stern as he looked at Sofia.

Sofia shook her head.

She was about to speak, but a deep pain shot through her side as Noah pushed back against the Rabid Mole, forcing it to step back.

The monster roared furiously, and swept its other foreleg at Noah, but the young man deflected it with his blade, although he was forced to take a few steps back as he did so.

His expression darkened.

Even with the superior equipment and combat experience, facing an E+ ranked monster who was just about to adavance to D- rank head on was not something he took lightly.