Chapter 342
Slightly better fodder (3)
Without stopping, Natsuki stepped in and drove her sword into the other eye with force. The strike was direct and ruthless, sinking deep as the creature reacted violently, its body convulsing from the pain.
There was no pause after.
She pulled the blade free and, with a sharp twist of her wrist, slashed across the underside of its belly. The creature's body jerked uncontrollably, its movements losing all coordination as death rapidly approached.
Natsuki remained cold and precise.
After splitting open its stomach, she thrust her sword deep into it, the blade sinking in as she guided it without hesitation, searching for its organs with deliberate intent.
She had already understood.
Earlier in the fight, she had discerned that its weakness lay in its soft underbelly—something usually hidden as it crawled low on all fours. But now, as it convulsed and thrashed, its body had flipped, exposing that vulnerability completely.
It was an easy kill.
And she took it.
The creature's movements slowed, then faltered, as the damage became too much. Its form began to fade, breaking apart as its existence could no longer hold.
Natsuki withdrew her sword.
With a simple gesture of her hand, the blade shifted direction, already moving toward the yeti creature that remained severely injured. Her focus had already moved on—ready to finish it—
But then her eyes flicked toward IAM.
And she paused.
The situation had changed too quickly.
IAM stood still, facing behind him, where another student had appeared. The student was gripping something tightly—something that struggled violently in his grasp.
It was a stinger.
Long, narrow, and almost translucent, it blended seamlessly into the low-hanging fog, making it nearly impossible to detect until it was too late.
The creature attached to it was built for speed and concealment. Its body was small and streamlined, with a thin, segmented frame that reduced air resistance. Its limbs were short but sharply angled, designed for sudden bursts of movement, while its outer layer carried a faint reflective quality that distorted its outline within the fog. Even its presence felt diminished, as if it naturally avoided attention.
Now, it struggled.
It twisted and jerked, attempting to pull itself free from the iron grip of the student, its movements frantic but controlled, as if it was trying to escape rather than fight.
Natsuki was about to call out—
But she stopped.
She recognised the student...
Her gaze lingered for only a moment before she gave a small nod, her attention shifting away as she turned back toward the battlefield.
The yeti still needed to be dealt with.
…
"Yohan?"
A smile spread across Yohan's light skin as he replied, "Finally found you."
IAM glanced at the creature stuck in his grip as his eyes deepened; he hadn't even noticed it until it got close to him, but if it wasn't for Yohan, he wouldn't have been able to react in time, and the trials would have been over for him.
Yohan was holding on like a vice grip with his gauntlets on both hands. Their design wasn't too bulky, bearing a skeletal-like exterior that reached up to his forearms, making him look almost part skeleton as his mismatched eyes were focused on the creature.
His eyes flashed with two different colours, his blue eye taking on a chilling, piercing blue and his earthy brown eye actually taking on a light red as he spoke, "what are you doing here and…" he looked over at the tyrannical figure of Natsuki "…with her?" his last words came out like a whisper, like he was talking about he who must not be named.
"It's a long—actually it's pretty short, but we still need to take down some other creatures… "IAM replied, "We aren't out of the woods yet."
Yohan followed his gaze, taking in the remaining creatures.
Then he smiled.
"Let me handle the rest."
With those words, his other free hand grabbed the head of the creature in his grip as he did a strange action.
The stinger that was aimed for IAM's neck, that was definitely poisonous, was pushed against his bicep and he actually pushed it deep into his skin.
IAM wasn't surprised as he already had an idea of the baffling actions of Yohan from the spars he had with him recently.
Yohan took a deep breath as his eyes glowed brighter, his thumb near the head of the creature pushed down and actually pushed through, making a dent as it entered its skin.
It was at this point that Yohan's veins became strikingly pronounced, dark green lines spreading up his arms at a rapid pace, pulsing almost as if alive. Yet there was an eerie calm in his eyes, unwavering as he pressed his thumb into the struggling creature, which was letting out frantic cries of pain and panic.
A fantastical, grotesque display unfolded before them. The poison from the creature seemed to be drawn beneath Yohan's skin, moving like molten venom along the lines of his arm, across his chest hidden beneath his clothing, and coursing down through his exposed shoulder, down his arm, until it concentrated in the tip of his thumb. Then, he forced it back into the creature, flooding its body with its own toxin!
The effect was immediate.
A gargling, wet scream escaped the creature's throat as its body convulsed violently. Its limbs jerked and twisted, claws tearing into the fog-soaked ground, leaving shallow gouges and smears of sticky, dark ichor. The stinger dug deeper, and its head began to swell unnaturally, bulging grotesquely as the internal pressure built.
Flesh stretched and tore.
Muscle fibers ripped with wet, tearing sounds, sinew snapping under the strain, while the creature's eyes bulged and cracked, leaking a thick, neon-tinted fluid that ran down its malformed face and pooled on the ground.
And then—
With a horrifyingly wet —Splat!!!—its head exploded.
Bone fragments and coagulated gore sprayed outward, splattering across the fog and the nearby debris. Chunks of flesh oozed and dripped, and what had been a once-sinuous, crawling body now collapsed into a twitching, misshapen heap, slowly dissolving as it began to fade away.
Just like that, Yohan had taken down a high spawnling.