Heimarian Odyssey

Chapter 189: Interference

The battle near the swamp was still ongoing after some time. Locke watched from behind the boulder and saw the humanoid figure covered in various scratches, out of which its green blood leaked onto its tattered clothes. Even though it wasn't directly struck by the crocodile, it couldn't avoid brushing against its scales or the rocks nearby when it evaded, but that was still far better than being captured by the crocodile and swallowed up instantly.

Then, the crocodile seemed to have had enough of the creature's toying around and gripped the ground with one claw before it opened its jaws wide, causing a blue glow to form within it. The temperature in the surroundings instantly got a few degrees lower as the blue frost bomb formed.

When the humanoid creature saw that, it yelled in terror and did its best to run away, ignoring the obstacles and the other claw the crocodile attacked with. When the bluish ball finished forming, it blasted out towards the creature; no matter how fast it was, it didn't seem to be able to outrun the blast.

With a loud boom, the creature's body started to freeze over. There was a black light coming from its hands that seemed to recede a little from the frost before it was eventually overwhelmed by it. Eventually, everything quietened once more, leaving behind only an ice sculpture of the short humanoid creature.

The crocodile now opened its mouth and panted, seeming a little exerted from the effort. Apparently, the frost blast wasn't something it could use with abandon.

It slowly left the swamp and crawled to the side of the frozen creature, before opening its mouth and swallowing it whole. Nothing else but its feeding could be heard.

Seeing that it was busy eating, Locke made his move. He motioned for Irene to come before he bent down and charged forwards in a great burst of speed, not slower than the humanoid creature from before one bit.

When the crocodile spotted Locke coming, it roared in shock. It ignored the half-swallowed sculpture and spat it out before getting ready to greet its new foe. It felt like Locke was much more of a threat than the creature from before.

The sculpture it spat out shattered into many pieces, showcasing another potential fate of falling to the crocodile. Soon, Locke drew his green longsword and infused his light-green impetus into it, thrusting it towards the crocodile's snout.

The beast felt the threat from that thrust, but could only barely twist its body to avoid letting it hit its head. However, Locke easily changed it into a horizontal swipe, allowing him to cut into the crocodile's neck.

It wailed in pain as frosty blood spurted out of the gaping wound. Locke could feel the chill despite the armour he had on. The crocodile was sweeping wildly with its tail, forcing him to take a few steps back. Then, it raised its body slightly once more to charge its frost blast up, lowering the ambient temperature as it did so.

Feeling the change in the environment, Locke raised his shield to cover his head before charging back in with his sword. This time around, the blast took less time to charge. Before Locke could approach it, the blast was already fully formed and unleashed in his direction.

The icy ball shattered and covered the surrounding area in a frosty blue mist that obscured the vision. The crocodile carefully pulled its right foot back, its keen instincts telling it that its foe was still alive. Then, its fist-sized eyeballs turned towards the swamp. It was planning to run.

But before it could do anything else, a silhouette appeared in the mist. Locke's body was covered in the green glow of impetus as he charged out magnificently. Even so, frost could be seen around his body, especially at the stubble near his chin. He wasn't completely unscathed.

The crocodile roared and charged to meet its foe. Locke had come at it from the direction of the swamp, so it still had to avoid him to be able to escape. But Locke knew that it was far from peak fighting condition. It was the perfect time to take it down. He let the impetus in his body surge as he rammed towards the crocodile. He didn't have much of a choice as the surroundings greatly inhibited his range of movement, so going straight on was the only choice.

Thankfully, he had put on his heavy armour before entering the cave. The light-blue armour was still in great condition even after Locke rammed the three-metre-long crocodile. With a loud wham, the crocodile lost one of the scales on its face from the impact. Locke's armour suffered a right dent near the shoulder position.

The crocodile's wounds didn't bleed too much as it had frozen it shut. This was the true might of a mid-level major monster. There was no way any normal beast would be able to last so long after a surprise attack like that.

Gripping his sword tight, Locke decided to end the fight quickly. He had used up much of his impetus from the repeated clashes, and he had to make sure to conserve them, for who knew what other dangers lurked in the darkness around them?