The Author Reincarnated As An Extra-Chapter 42: • The One Who Fought a Squid (2)

His first instinct was to make a run for it, or to summon the [Writhe of Command] and warp out of there. His legs trembled as the creature slithered slowly, like it was scanning his level of threat with those skull-shaped faces embedded in its skin.

Deremiah held his sword tighter, slick with sweat, as his mind raced with half-formed plans. None of them felt good enough.

He glanced in Elora’s direction where she had fallen, checking if she was moving and also if she was looking at his direction.

Thankfully, he saw that she was getting on her feet and he saw her head was also turned away from him, unaware of his predicament. If there was ever a time to use his power, it was now, while her attention was elsewhere.

With a sharp exhale, Deremiah summoned as much Void needed from his Core and extended them outwards through his body. Doing so, his body dissolved into the bubbling, purple goo.

He reassembled a fair distance behind the beast, staggering slightly as the power’s toll fairly rocked him off his feet. After using that warping ability, he could feel how dangerously low his Void Reserves were, but he didn’t have a choice.

There was no way he could face the monster head-on.

The NeonSquid’s movements slowed, like it was surprised as to how he had suddenly disappeared.

The pulsating glow dimmed momentarily as the skull-like faces scanned for him. Then, one of them flared bright red, locking onto his new position.

Deremiah saw it find him and he quickly sprinted down the hill. A resonant screech tore into the air from the beast as it twisted its massive form, pulling those long, slimy and slithering tentacles with it.

Two of them lashed at him.

"Shit!" Deremiah dove to the ground, rolling to avoid the first strike. He got to a kneeling position and swung his blade upward, deflecting a second tentacle, though the impact of that rattled his arms to the bone.

He glanced at Elora’s direction. She was still not on her feet.

"Shit!" he swore again. Another tentacle came from the side; he blocked it by using the flat of the blade as a shield, but the force drove him back, his boots skidding against the mossy ground.

And just then, he saw a shadow fall over him. His gaze moved just in time to see a massive tentacle descending, ready to swat him like a fly.

The [Writhe of Command] burst from his chest in an instant, forming a purple tentacle of its own with the exact same size and striking the attacking appendage mid-air.

The tentacle recoiled with a squelch, and the [Writhe] sucked back into Deremiah’s chest after giving him a moment to scramble to his feet.

He raced deeper down the hill, breathing heavily. ’That took even more energy out of my reserves,’ he thought. ’I don’t have much left to sustain me through this fight!’

A tentacle tried to grab at him, but he leaped and landed on top the umbrella of a mushroom, the tentacle wrapped around the stem instead. He jumped right on time before it pulled the mushroom right under his feet, and he continued to bolt down the hill, continuously glancing at where Elora had crashed.

Unlike the NeonSquid’s nature, it chased after him, snaking down the hill with the multiple tentacles coiling around disgustingly.

Deremiah leaped over plants and slid through stems, but the beast didn’t give up the chase, and his movements grew sloppier as fatigue set in.

He started to get very desperate.

Where is she? He glanced at Elora again, praying she would rise. This was the dawn, wasn’t it? Shouldn’t it give her endless energy and persistence?!

’Come on, stand up and save me!’

The spores in the beast’s head glowed deep red and then it fired a blast that struck the earth right beneath Deremiah’s feet.

The explosion pushed him off the ground, and he crashed on the stem of a giant mushroom. "Ugh!" he groaned as air was forcefully pushed out of his lungs in the collision.

He lost grip of the sword and clutched his stomach in pain, trying to catch his breath at the same time.

Then, something began to coil itself around his right leg. Feeling the slithering movement, Deremiah looked down to see one of the tentacles wrapping itself around him.

His eyes widened. "No. No. No." He tried to reach for the Corrupted blade but was pulled back by the NeonSquid, lifting him high into the air.

"No!" he strained his open palm and the blade raised from the ground and flew into his grasp. Then, Deremiah pulled his upper body, swinging the sword and attempting to slice the tentacle that had captured him.

Unfortunately, his body wasn’t flexible enough to bend like that, and the tentacle’s skin was extremely thick.

As he was lifted up, the tentacles pulled him closer to the mouth region which began to form. Deremiah saw the bubbles pulping as the opening tore a hole in the beast’s face and began to widen.

His gaze moved to where Elora was. Unless she would do something right now, he was about to squid breakfast.

However, she wasn’t there.

His heart dropped. ’Where the hell is she?’

"Raaaeeeeeooooww!!!" the NeonSquid exclaimed in terror. From its left, Elora came flying into the fray, vines following after her like living shadows, twisting through the air as they attacked.

She channeled Aether into her legs and landed a superkick against the NeonSquid with devastating force. Her boot connected with its translucent body and at the same time, she pushed so much Aether to her sole creating a blast that resonated in the dermis of the beast, causing it to reverberate and stumble backward.

Deremiah was thrown free from its grasp, tumbling down a massive leaf that bent under his weight and depositing him onto a cluster of glowing mushrooms.

Feeling a bit dazed, he decided to sit there and allow Elora to take over the fight. ’I have to manage my reserves just in case she gives me an opening.’

He held tight to his sword and watched her fight. Elora was more focused than she had been before.

Swift and unstoppable, she darted around the beast, not even attacking or anything of sorts, but just jumping and ducking the tentacles as the beast tried to hit her like one would do a fly.

Behind her, her vines followed, extending continuously. Every movement she made, every jump, every turn, every tentacle she danced around. The NeonSquid seemed to have no idea what was happening to it, but Deremiah could see exactly what she was trying to do.

Once she was finished, she leaped from the beast and landed expertly on the ground. And the rewards of her efforts were displayed.

The NeonSquid was completely entangled in a web of vines. All the vines that had followed her movements around the beast now had it ensnared in a completely inescapable position.

The monster wailed and cried, letting out those disturbing mumble-like sounds as it tried to escape the entrapment.

Elora’s eyes narrowed, then she outstretched her hands. The vines obeyed her command, tightening their grip on the creature until it was impossible for it to make any movement at all.

Then, the vines erupted with thorns, razor-sharp and strong enough to at least pierce into the extremely dense, rubbery skin of the NeonSquid.

From these punctures, green blood oozed out as the beast writhed in agony. Determination tore into Elora’s face as she kept her hands outstretched, pouring every ounce of her Aether into the attack, driving the thorns deeper.

Deremiah, still on the ground, watched in awe and disbelief. ’Is she... actually going to kill that thing?’

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