Around the battle scene, chaos had erupted. Civilians who had witnessed the confrontation were running in all directions, their screams of terror mixing with the Locus's roar. Panic spread like a shockwave, infecting everyone in the vicinity.
Elio, still kneeling on the ground and clinging to his lance, observed the scene with horror. His aching body protested with every movent, but his mind was completely focused on the threat the Locus posed.
The monster, with six lances embedded in its body, seed montarily disoriented by the frenzy of movent around it. Its compound eyes moved from side to side, following the civilians fleeing in panic.
It was then that Elio noticed sothing strange. An odd, faint glow emanated from Marcus's lifeless body, barely perceptible in the daylight but undeniably present. With a start, Elio realized that Marcus's book had released the mana crystal, the balance that is always expelled upon death, but there were also dozens of small monster cores next to the crystal.
The Locus roared again, and Elio watched in horror as the creature began chasing a group of civilians running down the street. For a mont, he felt guilty relief realizing that the monster wasn't attacking him.
However, that relief quickly turned to terror when he recognized the direction the Locus was taking. It was heading directly towards his house.
With his heart pounding frantically, Elio crawled towards Marcus's body. He knew that taking soone's "drops" after death was considered treason, also an offense to God and the system, but at that mont, with his family in danger, he was willing to risk everything.
With hands trembling from pain, he brought his book to the balance page close to Marcus's. Imdiately, his book began to absorb the cores, even the mana crystal. His core count began to rise rapidly: 20, 30, 50, 90... until stopping at 111.
At that instant, a bright blue light emanated from his book. In front of Elio, materializing out of nowhere, appeared a small blue salamander. The creature, no larger than Von Lucien's frog, looked at him with intelligent eyes.
Elio had no ti to marvel at his new summon. In the distance, he could see his mother, Lena, probably returning from the exchange statue as she had food in her arms. The Locus was dangerously approaching her.
"Mom!" Elio shouted with all his might. "Get inside the house!"
Lena, seeing the danger approaching, ran towards their ho's door.
However, realizing that the Locus was very close, instead of entering, she stayed in the doorway, her body blocking the entrance.
Elio understood with horror that his mother was trying to protect his younger siblings who were inside.
With one last effort, Elio stood up, leaning heavily on his lance. "Salamander!" he shouted, pointing towards the Locus. "Attack!"
The blue salamander opened its mouth, and a fireball shot towards the monster. Elio felt his last mana point being consud with the attack.
The fireball impacted the Locus's side, causing 8 points of damage.
The monster roared in pain, but the attack wasn't enough to bring it down.
However, it achieved sothing crucial: the Locus shifted its attention from Lena to Elio and his salamander.
With the monster now heading towards him, Elio gripped his lance with determination. It was his only remaining weapon, his last hope. As the Locus approached, Elio raised a silent prayer to God and the system, begging that the lance in his hand would be enough to bring down the creature.
The Locus roared, its jaws opening wide, ready for the final attack.
Elio, with his heart pounding in his chest and muscles screaming from exhaustion, raised the lance with trembling hands.
Prepared for the throw that would determine not only his fate, but that of his entire family. Elio knew this was his last chance.
With a heart-wrenching cry that mixed pain, fear, and determination, Elio threw the lance with all his might. Ti seed to slow down as the weapon traveled through the air, leaving a bright trail in its wake.
The lance impacted with a nauseating crunch in one of the monster's eyes. The Locus roared in pain, violently shaking its head.
Black ichor gushed from the wound, but to Elio's horror...
The creature was still standing.
"No... it can't be true," Elio murmured, panic growing in his chest.
The Locus, now enraged and more dangerous than ever to the unard young man, focused all its attention on Elio. With terrifying speed, the creature lunged at him.
Elio tried to run, but his legs barely responded with a few steps, he knew it was futile. Without mana and with his resistance almost depleted, he was easy prey for the relentless predator chasing him. He still kept moving. Thinking: If only he could take it one step further from his ho, one more step…
Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his torso. The Locus's claws had caught him, squeezing with monstrous force. Elio scread in agony, feeling his resistance plumt. Five points vanished in an instant, leaving him on the brink of death with only two points remaining.
The world beca blurry, the edges of his vision darkening. Elio could feel the Locus's fetid breath, its jaws opening to deliver the final blow. At that mont, a thought crossed his mind like lightning: "It's in those monts when we discover what we're really made of."
"No! I'm not made of fear!"
With a strength born of pure desperation, his eyes fixed on the lances still protruding from the creature's body. One of them was within his reach...
Ignoring the searing pain that ran through every fiber of his being, Elio stretched out his leg. With a cry that was half pain, half triumph, Elio kicked the lance. The weapon detached from the Locus's body.
Elio felt his ribs were about to give way, but he refused to give up. With a desperate movent, he stretched out one of his arms.
His hand closed around the lance's handle. The cold tal against his skin felt like a promise of salvation.
The Locus brought Elio closer to its maw, ready to tear his head off in a single bite. Elio could see every horrible detail of the monster's jaws, the razor-sharp teeth, the viscous saliva dripping.
In that instant, when death seed inevitable, Elio attacked. With a roar that rivaled the Locus's own, he plunged the lance into the monster's exposed throat.
The weapon's tip penetrated deeply, piercing through muscle and whatever constituted the internal anatomy of the creature's head. The Locus shook violently, its roar turning into a choked gurgle.
Elio didn't let go of the lance. With the last vestiges of his strength, he twisted it and pushed deeper. He felt sothing crucial give way inside the monster.
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