Read Novel Full Chapter 808: Battle
Chapter 808: Battle
The tentacles kept coming.
They tore through the air in violent arcs, slamming down with enough force to turn solid stone into rubble, yet neither of them was truly pressed.
Michael moved like a blur.
His body twisted and shifted with unnatural precision, every step landing exactly where it needed to be. His Law was active, copying the traits of Wisdom, his tamed space beast, and the effect was immediate. His perception stretched. The world seemed to slow just enough for him.
Each time a tentacle descended, he was already gone.
Rynne was no less composed.
She was not as naturally fast as Michael, but speed was far from her only advantage, nor was she lacking in that department. Her armor shimmered faintly as she moved, runes along its surface activating in sequence.
A tentacle snapped toward her waist.
She pivoted mid-step, the armor flaring as it redirected the force grazing past her, sending her sliding backward. She used the motion to spring upward, narrowly avoiding another strike that shattered the stone beneath her feet.
They dodged. Again. And again.
To an outside observer, it might have looked almost effortless.
But neither of their hearts settled.
Michael’s eyes never left the mass at the center of the clearing. His breathing remained controlled, but his mind was sharp, alert to every inconsistency. He could feel it. The attacks were powerful, but simple. Too simple.
Rynne felt it too.
This thing had slaughtered everyone whose bones now littered the cavern. Beings strong enough that their remains had endured for over two thousand years. There was no chance that crude, whipping tentacles were the extent of its capabilities.
"Stay sharp," Michael said quickly as another strike slammed down between them.
"I already am," Rynne replied, landing lightly on a raised slab of stone as it cracked under the impact beside her.
The tentacles suddenly changed.
One tentacle slammed down as before.
Another detonated midair.
The explosion was muted but violent, a compressed burst of force that twisted space and sent shards of stone flying in every direction.
Michael reacted instantly, slipping sideways, but the shockwave clipped him anyway. His body was hurled back several meters, boots carving deep lines into the stone before he managed to regain his balance. The impact rattled through him, but nothing broke.
Michael clicked his tongue.
"That’s new."
Rynne fared no better.
A tentacle curved toward her, then suddenly went weightless, its form blurring before phasing halfway out of reality. It reappeared at a different angle, grazing her shoulder and sending her spinning. Her armor flared brightly, absorbing the brunt of the force, and she landed hard on one knee before springing away again.
Neither of them was injured.
But both of them had been hit.
More tentacles joined in.
Some crackled with lightning, arcs snapping between their segments before discharging in sudden, focused bursts. Others dragged streaks of frost through the air, the temperature dropping sharply wherever they passed. One slammed into the ground and released a wave of gravity that distorted the clearing, pulling rubble, bones, and even loose mana inward for a split second before releasing it violently.
The battlefield became chaos.
Michael pushed himself faster.
Still, he was clipped again.
Not because he was slow.
Because the pattern of attacks was just wrong.
The shift was immediate and brutal.
Michael felt it before he could name it.
The air screamed again, but this time it was layered, distorted, as if multiple forces were tearing through the same space at once. The breathing metal pulsed harder, its glow deepening to a violent crimson.
One struck high.
Another tentacle struck low.
A third did not strike at all.
Space folded.
Michael dodged the first by instinct, body snapping sideways in a blur, but the ground beneath his feet vanished as gravity inverted without warning. He fell upward, stomach lurching, only for a freezing current to wrap around his torso midair. Frost crept instantly across his body, locking his movement for a split second.
That second was enough.
A tentacle phased in directly in front of his chest and detonated.
The blast smashed him through the air like a thrown weapon. He crashed into the cavern wall hard enough to crater it, stone collapsing around him as his body slid down in a cloud of dust. His vision swam. Pain rippled through his ribs, sharp and real.
He forced himself to move.
Another tentacle pierced the wall where his head had been a heartbeat earlier, the stone folding inward like wet clay around it.
Michael rolled, coughed once.
"So that’s how," he muttered.
Across the clearing, Rynne was faring no better.
Three tentacles struck her in sequence.
Lightning first. Gravity second. Impact third.
She blocked the lightning with her armor, but the energy did not disperse cleanly. It crawled across her runes, disrupting their rhythm just long enough for the gravity wave to slam into her. Her body was dragged sideways through the air, armor screaming as it fought the force.
Before she could stabilize, a blunt tentacle crashed into her midsection.
The blow folded her around it.
Rynne hit the ground hard, skidding across stone and bone, smashing through ancient remains that shattered like glass under her momentum. She rolled twice before managing to stop herself, one knee digging into the floor as she tried to rise again.
The tentacles did not give her time.
One split into dozens of thinner strands that pierced the ground around her, pinning stone, bone, and debris into a rising cage. Another slammed down from above, releasing a localized pressure field that crushed inward.
Rynne screamed as the force hit.
She planted both hands on the ground, armor flaring blindingly as she forced mana through it, resisting the compression by sheer will. The stone beneath her shattered completely, but she stayed upright, muscles trembling, teeth clenched.
As for why she was not using her law, it was simply because she had no evidence she could defeat the breathing metal with that move.
Just a few weeks ago she had destroyed her strongest armor in the battle with Michael, and though she had many others like this one in her storage space, just a second of weakness before she got into a new armour could literally make things worse for her.
Except she used "that" move.