Spearbound Ch. 45

The mole’s whiskers twitched before its eyes locked onto him. Kade could feel the air around him shift. Something was coming his way, and he acted before the mole released another loud roar.

Kade cursed when his feet couldn’t find purchase in the sand. He had tried jumping down the dune but slipped like a clumsy fool. He could only stare at the mole’s colossal form as its amber eyes lit up with glee.

It completely ignored the sand spikes Eliza was pummeling its body with and slammed a massive claw into the ground below it. The desert split open, fissures racing towards Kade and swallowing all the sand that was in its path.

The [Free Points] he put into [Speed] paid off. With barely enough time to spare, he leaped to the side, rolling down the dune ungracefully, but he didn’t care. It got him out of the rapidly expanding fissure.

Kade slammed his [Soulrend] into the sand and sank the blunt end as far as it could go to slow his descent and regain control of his body. He stood tall, ready for whatever the mole would throw at him next, but saw something extremely concerning.

The mole was no longer paying attention to him. It was looking at where Eliza was.

Even a brushing glance would be enough to end Eliza.

Kade commanded Hellion through the bond to distract the mole as he jumped back on top of a dune. Hellion didn’t delay and dove, screeching loudly at the mole’s face.

“Kade!” Eliza screamed. “The path ends here. This thing is the pillar!”

Kade looked at the mole with fresh eyes.

This must be why I could finally see the path. The pillar was right in front of me.

Hellion screeched as it tried to distract the mole, but only succeeded when it targeted the whiskers. The mole was slow relative to the baby ember falcon as it tried to swat it away. As Kade expected. If it were any faster, he wouldn’t have told Hellion to act as a distraction.

Kade gripped his [Soulrend] and tried to find weak spots on the mole’s body. Unfortunately, Eliza would be of little help since there was little point in trying to attack the mole with sand. The mole lived inside the sand, so it wouldn’t be bothered even if millions of sand spikes were thrown at it.

He shifted on the dune and immediately saw the mole’s amber eyes lock onto him. Hellion distracted it again. Its whiskers were twitching like mad.

Kade wasn’t sure what to make of that, but Hellion had already kept it busy for several seconds. It wouldn’t be long until the mole realized Hellion was only an annoyance and not something to be concerned about.

“Eliza! Retreat and get out of this thing’s range. Sand won’t work on it,” Kade shouted. Eliza hesitated only for a moment before quickly backing away.

Kade noted the mole didn’t react to their loud voices, but its eyes locked onto Eliza’s form when she stepped backward. He slammed his [Soulrend] into the sand and tried to bring its attention back to him.

Its whiskers were twitching again.

… Its whiskers are more sensitive than the eyes.

Kade commanded Hellion to back away, just out of its reach, and fly around the mole while making the loudest racket it could.

The mole’s eyes locked onto Eliza’s retreating form and acted as if Hellion didn’t exist despite the bird doing its best to be a menace.

Kade rushed forward when the mole raised its arm to attack Eliza. His movement did precisely as he assumed it would, drawing the mole’s attention to him.

There was probably a far better method to take this titanic mole down, but he couldn’t exactly call for a meeting and sit down to devise a detailed plan. This meant he would have to resort to his default: jump in and try to stab his [Soulrend] deep enough to kill the mole.

Kade saw the mole switch its target. It slammed its claw into the ground once again. Its previous attack had stripped the ground of all the sand, leaving a dry, cracked bed as the surface. He saw the mole’s arm flex and expected a second fissure to form.

However, a large spike burst through the ground before Kade, almost impaling him if he hadn’t been able to avoid it at the last moment. It still left a large gash on his body where he couldn’t avoid contact.

It was like touching a chainsaw. The surface of the coarse sand spike ripped through his skin like paper.

Kade was happy that it was a mostly superficial injury and didn’t affect him in any way other than increased annoyance. He was more concerned about how similar movements led to two different attacks.

It made the towering mole far harder to predict.

Kade came to a halt just outside its range, and he became far more wary. Everything pointed to the mole being at a severe disadvantage when in close combat, due to how it lumbered from its massive size. He had thought there would be far more resistance to getting close than that single attempt at impalement.

He ordered Hellion through the bond to fly up and watch for spots where it was safe to act as an annoyance.

Kade expected things to go wrong, but that didn’t stop him from diving right into the battle. Fighting a mole that towered a hundred feet above him likely looked hilarious at a distance, but to Kade, it felt like he was getting a taste of what it might have felt to fight the patriarch—a patriarch that didn’t hilariously outclass him.

He sprinted forward, dust kicking up behind him. He was no longer on the sand but on the dry, cracked bed.

The mole’s arm might as well be miles away as it roared and tried to stop Kade’s advance. He aimed his [Soulrend] at a vulnerable spot between the mole’s rocky plates near his leg joint.

He activated [Armor Break] right before the blade was about to make contact and drove his [Soulrend] with all the power he possessed.

The mole’s scaly armor snapped shut faster than Kade’s eyes could comprehend. His [Soulrend] glanced off the armor, sending sparks flying at the contact, and it nearly wrenched the weapon from his hands from the recoil.

Kade heard the interface try to get his attention as he darted back, comfortably avoiding the claw that smashed into the ground where he had stood a moment before. He leaped forward, foreseeing the spike that would try to impale him, and glanced at the interface at the same time.

[Armor Break] inapplicable.

He feared the [Arcana Level] difference would make this the case. [Armor Break] only worked with the molten orcling because of the beatdown he put on it beforehand. This mole was at full strength. 

Kade darted back to the area just within the mole’s range after it pulled its claw out of the ground. He circled the beast, keeping a close eye on his movements as he tried to find an opening to take. Even a hint would be enough, but there didn’t seem to be a weakness in its armor.

Of course, this is with the assumption that armor in every spot on its body would snap shut to enhance the protection.

Kade found himself lost. Nothing in the environment could give him an advantage, and this mole seemed impenetrable.

He widened his eyes when a blurred whip the length of the building swung at him. He could barely keep his grasp on his [Soulrend] as he tried to get out of the way, but he was only partly successful.

The whip hit the ground with such force that it sent Kade flying tens of feet away into a dune. Just as his head was about to bury itself in the sand, Kade realized the whip was actually the mole’s tail.

Kade knew the next attack would come from below, and he also knew that he wouldn’t be able to get out of the dune in time to avoid it. Hellion came to the rescue.

He felt the bird’s anger through the bond as it swooped down to act again as a menace. Hellion was smart enough to realize the whiskers were the key to gaining the mole’s attention and targeted it unrelentingly.

Kade pushed himself out of the dune in time to see several sand spikes shatter against the mole’s face. Eliza had jumped back into the fight.

She had seen the same weakness in the mole center on its whiskers.

Kade spat out the sand in his mouth and followed suit. He would use the distraction the two were providing and try to climb this mole.

If it wanted to be the size of a tower, he could treat it like one.