Callan landed himself carefully on a floating broken piece of ice. The floor in a wide radius has been destroyed by the falling birds… but, there was nothing on top of the ice other than the evidence of them dropping inside the water. The floor didn’t notify any completion, that means despite the birds being underwater… they were clearly alive.
The water started to ripple with his appearance, Callan didn’t wait and jumped away to the chipped pieces until he reached the untouched ground. He placed a magic thread below his feet under the water, just for protection. Then, a bluebird jumped out of the exact piece of ice Callan landed on.
“I knew it, I can’t use much mana anymore, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight…!” He said while turning around and going into position. Callan placed the spear on top of his left hand and placed it in front of his upper stomach. With the spear standing straight, Callan used his right hand and jabbed the entire spear down as fast as he could.
|Exploding Spear Art: Second Movement - Splitting Ocean|
The bluebird was sliced in the middle and dropped to the ground like an inflatable. The ice in the same direction was also sliced in half, causing a ravine till it reached halfway to the edge of the ice.
After watching the drop, in no less than a second, his magic thread was cut. Callan jumped back and landed right into position. Both his hands tightly held the spear and spread his legs with a short crouch.
A bluebird came out of the water, destroying the ice like a bird shark.
|Exploding Spear Art: First Movement - Upward Stab|
The bluebird turned into a donut and dropped half of its body on the ice as it slowly slid into the water. Shit how many is that now? Based on past reactions, after this, they wouldn’t dare fight me one by one again.
Callan quickly recollected the events that had transpired. Every strike he had done and every actual confirmed death he had dealt. The answer was 8, it was starting to feel like a favorite number or just a really coincidental occurrence.
There were 8 more birds below the water. Then the birds moved up the water onto the ice. Callan didn’t wait until all of them were settled on the ice nor even if they had escaped the water.
|Exploding Spear Art: Third Movement - Horizontal Slice|
Two birds were sliced while one had its head cut off and three were turned into a vegetative state while jumping up the water.
“Kreee!!!” "Kreee!!!" "Kreee!!"
"Kree!!!!"
“Kree!!” "Kree!!!"
"Kreee!!!"
“Kreee!!!” "Kree!!!!"
"Kree!!!!"
"Kreee!!" "Kre!!!!" "Kree!!"
"Kre!!! "Kreee!!!" "Kreee!!!"
The screeching of the bird acted like an alarm clock that would wake up the entire neighborhood. It was like a nonstop bell. “Ughhh!” Whether it was a tactic or not, it was working.
The two perfectly fine blue birds stood on top of the ice and used the opportunity to remove the water from their feathers by shaking their body. Then their eyes turned red as their fur grew slightly thinner.
Shit! Are they evolving or something!? It has been going well! I can’t let you do this! Callan turned around and ran in the direction of the mountain with his hands sucked into his ears.
Blood started to drop from the two bluebird’s eyes as their fur kept getting smaller. When they turned into malnourished birds, they began to run to Callan.
The three injured birds started to also bleed from their eyes despite having no legs to practically move.
Callan dropped his hands from his ears and turned around.
|Exploding Spear Art: Third Movement - Horizontal Slice|
When the magic reached the birds it felt like rubbing wood with another wood. It only left a scratch on their bodies, as the birds kept getting closer. Who the fuck made these birds! What logic does getting smaller for speed also increase their defenses?! These birds are broken! Broken I say! I yell!!!!
Callan stopped as his speed was just not fast enough for these birds. He was already at the actual floor of the mountain, but there would be no point running up as these birds could definitely fly. He looked at the vegetative birds and concluded that by just expecting the reason they were still transforming despite being disabled.
The two birds attack Callan on both sides at an insane speed. Callan was completely enveloped with magic around him. He first struck on the left and quickly ricocheted to his right, blocking the other bird.
This repeated for a few seconds with no clear winner at the exchanges. The three injured birds completed their weird transformation and flew. There was a clear hole in one of those bird’s wings yet it was still able to fly by replacing the hollow part with its compressed feathers.
Compressed! Callan didn’t have much of a breather to really think of the logic behind the bluebirds. That was the first time he had a real reason. So the reason they are fast and have more defense is due to densing their feathers or maybe even their entire body and that is why their eyes are bleeding. I don’t know why in the eyes though.
He calmly thought in his head despite still struggling to escape his current fight that if he didn’t solve it soon in a couple of seconds, he would die. Limit! Time limit! He repeated in his head.
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The birds clearly had a time limit, their transformation is obvious to anyone that it was incredibly harmful. Callan shrunk himself down to the ground and raised his spear above his head lying horizontally. Then, he began to spin it from a specific pattern, performing a variation of his Fourth Movement.
|Exploding Spear Art: Fourth Movement - Dancing Troupe|
Callan escaped to the mountain and started to climb a few steps on it. Then he quickly jumped off and aimed his spear directly down, imagining a divine image coating the spear like an angel.
|Exploding Spear Art: Fifth Movement - Falling Angel|
Callan landed directly down into the water, witnessing through the edge of his eyes the incinerated half-bodies of the two birds. His entire body aches from the overuse of magic. If it wasn’t running out earlier, it had definitely inched close to it now.
Callan swam up with his spear and mind ready for an attack. He grabbed onto a piece of ice and lifted himself by throwing his body into the air.
There was immediately an attack on his side. Callan directed the opposite end of his spear and parried it. But because of his position, it couldn’t resist the impact and his spear smashed his side, throwing him far.
He slid on the ice with a groaning pain of his inside that had definitely suffered a major injury. Using his spear, he stopped his slide and went into position.
The birds were off the ground, flapping their wings like jet engines that with just one sonic boom, it was like they teleported. One immediately appeared on the right side of Callan.
He leaned to his left and tried to stop the bird with his spear by holding it like a baseball bat. Callan coated the spear with an inch thick of magic. The moment it went to half the length in just a second, Callan retracted his spear immediately.
Then, another one appeared in front of him. Thankfully, Callan had already retracted his spear, but upon impact, he was once again flung, now into the water.
Unlike common birds, the Galajaros were able to survive in water. Their feathers were already heavy and so the pressure of absorbed water in their feathers didn’t affect them much.
The moment they dropped down the water, Callan was ready to strike.
|Exploding Spear Art: Fifth Movement - Falling Angel|
He incinerated the head of the bird and he relaxed his body. Callan sank in the water focusing on recovering his unstable magic. He was able to last a few minutes in the water, so it was the best solution… well, if the birds couldn’t swim.
Callan’s magic was running rampant in his entire body, mainly because the first thought that came to his mind was that. When his magic started to physically hurt him, the thought of it running wild just stuck like glue.
He focused on every single strand, even grasping his hand to use as a reference. It was a good tactic that he had used ever since he was back on earth. Mainly used for when he sees a circle spinning and it just wouldn’t stop in his head.
Callan’s magic barrier had an unexpected reaction. Shit! I thought they could just float in water! He thought. Callan blocked with his arm, coupled with a 5-inch barrier.
He parried the wing of the bird and grabbed it. With his right hand, he stabbed into the bird and caused a giant explosion inside the bird through the tip of the spear.
Callan used the blow of the magic to swim just a short length under the bird.
|Exploding Spear Art: First Movement - Upward Stab|
It didn’t cause much damage but the bird was distressed enough to get confused for a while. Callan used this opportunity to swim back up to the shore, where another bird waited for him.
I should have just finished him, but I don’t have any mana anymore! Callan was about to reach the ice, but the bird behind him started his move. He couldn’t just stop, so he risked it and still climbed up.
The bird was far away, but it instantly noticed Callan. He moved much further inside the land and placed a single magic thread below the water, where he stood.
The bird instantly appeared in front of him and Callan blocked his spear once again. This time he imagined a thick line of magic tied around the bird, dragging it back. It didn’t break like last time and it actually worked.
Callan was only pushed to a meter off the ice. Then the bird from before appeared behind him. Callan quickly turned around and blocked its vertical slash.
It was a natural reaction… despite the cracking sounds that Callan had tried his best to ignore. With his spear raised above his head, it cracked into two pieces and flew to the sky.
Callan didn’t even have time to shed a tear. With his magic barrier, he felt the other bird had already appeared before him.
He jumped up to the bird in front of him and used its body to jump as hard as he could on the it’s body. He flipped in the air and caught the upper part of the spear, grabbed onto the other bird’s neck, and stabbed it in its eye.
|Exploding Spear Art: Fifth Movement - Falling Angel|
Unconsciously he had used his fifth movement again, giving his right arm more pain that he couldn’t even feel it anymore. His arm’s skin was already cracked like a solid desert, blood seeping at each line. If he didn’t have that black glove, he couldn’t even think of what his hand actually looked like.
But, Callan didn’t have time to stop nor even care for his pain. The bird dropped down to the ground and he limped off it. He pulled the spear out, but it was cut in half. Callan picked up the fallen spearhead and jumped into the sky, 10 meters in the air, just as far as he could with that energy left.
Then, one last time. The bird didn’t drop into the water when it was pushed. It was able to keep its balance and fly. Following Callan’s jump, the bluebird flew to him in the sky… while Callan held his spearhead tight.
It’s not even a dive… it’s just… a… fu- fucking stab! Callan opened his mouth wide, stretched his muscles far, and yelled out loud “Agghhh!!!!!”
|Exploding Spear Art: Fifth Movement - Falling Angel|
Callan dropped into the water with no more strength to swim. But, he was awake…
[Congratulations On Clearing The Fourth Floor]
[You Will Be Teleported In]
[5…]
I did it… this will take a little longer to recover… but I did it… I… did it. I survived my first floor.
Callan arrived back to the white void after the timer. He immediately raised his left hand and said. “It’s okay, you don’t need to heal me.”
Filled with the satisfaction of his victory, and drained of energy, Callan slept soundly.
[383:59:48]