The ballistas might be strong, but it would be hard to aim it against an extrely fast moving target, even with my modification.
Verina would attempt to use her spell-musket, and Lupina wouldn't take the chance unless she was 100% sure of her shot.
However, both of them would definitely change their focus when the Sandstalker revealed itself.
"How can a Calamity Object be nad Sandstalker but can also burrow under normal ground…"
There weren't any Calamity Objects in the vicinity outside of the Shardfiend and the Sandstalker, so I should wrap this up before the next wave of ordeal arrived.
Both the spiraling moon and Hollow Star were definitely enjoying this performance.
"Right there!"
Tightening the body of the pike in my armpit, I charged forward with every thrust of fervor that could be generated by my greedy vessel.
I set my sight on the trajectory of the appearing afterimages of the Shardfiend, lining up my direction of attack.
A glimring light sparkled for less than a half second, and then a noticeable blur of an incoming shard was aid toward .
"Darn it."
The shard projectile grazed my upper arm, but it wasn't enough to prevent my relentless assault.
Right before I reached the ten ter distance between the two of us, I flicked the body of my 5 ters wooden pike and repositioned my hand to an overhand grip.
Breath crimson steady, and eyes filled with fine bloodlust latching onto my enemy.
With my whole inertia traveling forward to the ground, I thundered these blessed muscles and dexterity that I was granted with, and began to dastardly hurl my weapon of war.
The throw broke the sound barrier, delivering the equivalent of eight-tis the speed of an average baseball pitch with the equivalent mass of a five kilograms dumbbell.
As such, when my attack hit, it would hit hard.
And in this case, it hit.
The 5-ter-long pike, propelled at the speed of sound, slamd itself into the Shardfiend with a deafening crack, greatly staggering the monster into a weakened halt.
A huge chunk of its crystalline head shattered under the trendous impact, sending fragnts flying in every direction like a violent explosion of glass.
The pike broke upon impact, with the front end splintering and the rest of the pike either snapping or bending due to the extre forces involved. Afterall, the Shardfiend's crystalline structure, while brittle and prone to shattering, would still be hard enough to cause substantial damage to the wooden pike.
As I was still relentlessly moving forward, I grabbed what was left of the scattering, shattering pike, and hurled a devastating swing toward the center inertia of the Shardfiend.
Again.
And again.
Into an insurmountable amount of pieces.
Until the very formation of its soul's anchors holding its entire existence broke apart.
"If the damage done to the physical vessel is overwhelming enough, the soul will just detach its anchor, huh."
And when the soul was no more, its regeneration stopped working.
I still had the Consciousness buff that Verina applied to in our ohrtending crash course, so I could see the connection of the body and the soul of an existence whenever I wanted to. Albeit, it wasn't as effective as before.
"Now, where are you…"
If these Calamity Objects acted as an actual entity with a goal to accomplish, they should possess so sort of instinct for self-preservation.
Just like how the Shardfiend ran around from place to place so that its survivability increased instead of staying in one spot like a mindless zombie, they should possess a logical train of thought for what was safer, and what was not.
And for the Sandstalker, the least thing they could do was to attack who was positioned far away from my cover and allies, instead of the two people atop of a fortified four-ter-wide wooden wall made from the deforested half of an entire bio.
"It's here!"
As my feet caught the increasing tremor below , I began to run around while minding the entities' potentially dangerous remains.
I glanced back at the direction of my lovely fortress, and I saw that both Lupina and Verina were preparing their aims respectively. They knew what was about to transpire.
And then the event struck, two Sandstalkers erged from the surface in a violent splash of debris. Their hulking mass and size alone would erupt the ground by just moving their limbs upward from beneath the ground.
It slled like an earthy red iron.
Not all of them had erged from the ground. The trembling of the dirt amongst the chaotic smoke of debris implanted a cautious reminder in , that I need to keep moving lest I want to be mangled dead and sacrificed for the amusent of the moon and black star.
I moved my whole body. I saw one of the Sandstalker was struck by a devastating ballista's bolt, and I saw one of them was hit by a flaring projectile of combustible inferno.
I saw the tracing imagery of the monster beyond the surface, I heard my heartbeat prancing to the aortic rhythm on my veins.
The fatigue from dealing with all of these Calamity Objects started to weigh on . It was only when I tasted my own salty sweat that I realized how soaked and cold my body was from all of these fighting.
—Injuries—
[Left Hand: Torn ligants (moderate - 25% pain, -30% manipulation)]
[Right Hand: Blistered (minor - 10% pain, -10% manipulation)]
[Left Arm: Muscle strain (moderate - 20% pain, -15% manipulation)]
[Right Arm: Deep laceration (moderate - 35% pain, -40% manipulation)]
[Chest: Bruised ribs (moderate - 20% pain, -20% breathing)]
[Back: Muscle spasms (moderate - 25% pain, -15% manipulation, -15% movent, -15% breathing)]
[Left Leg: Cramped (minor - 15% pain, -20% movent)]
[Right Leg: Pulled hamstring (moderate - 25% pain, -25% movent)]
[Feet: Blistered and sore (moderate - 20% pain, -10% movent)]
[Overall: Exhaustion (severe - 40% pain, -30% blood pumping, -30% consciousness)]
This body wasn't ant for war.
"Everything is darkening…"
My Pain had reached a 235% threshold. A single loss of focus would result in falling down and laying helplessly like a dehydrated fish.
Verina and Lupina were probably in a similar state. Though I did ensure that they wouldn't be taking as much of the wounds and fatigue as I am, since their knowledge and experience were much more crucial for to survive the Ordeal of the Midnight.
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