After taking in his surroundings, Luis spoke, "So how are we gonna look for the Sand Strikers."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. You're gonna fly right in the middle of them," Noah said casually
"I'm gonna FLY?"
"Don't worry. I asked your Aunt Sera to place a net ahead it's made out of shadows it will catch you,"
Noah replied as he grabbed Luis from the middle of his shirt on the back and the top of his trousers. Lifting him up in the air at a ninety degree angle.
"Wait, wait, wait the trees!!"
"I won't miss. Just activate your golem blessing and move your aura to cover your head and arms you will survive. And I will be taking care of any strong creatures near you so fight without worries."
Luis tried to still argue for his dad to not throw him but before he could get his words out his dad threw him full speed in the air.
Instead of words coming out as he was thrown, unexpectedly to himself, Luis made a yelp out of fear.
The wind slammed into his eyelids, almost closing them shut, but instinctively, Luis moved his arms above his eyes to stop the wind.
From the peripheral vision around his arms, which Luis used to block the wind, he could see he was getting closer and closer to the top of the trees. He didn't fully know if where he was being flung through from had branches covering the sky or not but he still activated his golem blessing and moved aura in his head and arms for protection.
Luckily or by precision from his dad Luis went past the small clearing at the top of the trees leaves and branches.
Normally Luis may have taken in the view but today he didn't have the luxury. It had taken only a few seconds to go from the ground to above the trees. Which was not enough time for Luis to compose himself.
Suddenly the wind pushing his arms stopped normally it would have been a good thing but it had only stopped because Luis wasn't going up anymore. He had reached the apex of how high he was flung where he stayed for half a second before falling down again.
Looking down, all Luis could see were leaves. The amount of leaves hid the branches; he couldn't tell if he was gonna fall through leaves or leaves and branches.
As he started the fall downwards, Luis wasn't even able to get the words out to scream; he just screamed "nooooooooooo"in his mind as he fell.
Unlike when going up, Luis didn't have his body straightened. Instead, he was on his back as he was not able to change directions mid-air and was spinning uncontrollably.
Luis believed that he didn't have fear of heights but he felt that it might have changed because of today.
Luis didn't realise when he was about to hit the leaves of the trees becaus he was spinning uncontrollably but luckily he didn't hit any branches and only fell through some leaves.
Luis tried swinging his arms and legs to try and stabilise himself to see properly where he was falling, but it just wouldn't work.
He expected to fall down much longer but to his surprise he hit something. As he had spun to face down, when he hit it. He realised that it was the net made out of shadows that his dad told him about.
The net was attached to five different trees in a pentagon formation where there was a small clearing below.
Luis was about thirty five meters off the ground when the net caught him. The net didn't abruptly stop him. The net fully stretched from where it caught him till the ground fully reducing Luis's fall.
The net floated just a few centimetres above the ground when it reached the bottom before dissipating and dropping Luis very slightly.
"Ugh,"
Luis groaned from the fall, not because it hurt but because of the entire experience because it felt like a lot to him.
Luis slowly stood up to get the leaves off his shirt, Luis took in his surroundings after standing up, all he could see was tall thick bushes surronding the clearing he was in. It was too quite with his dad working with Aunt Sera there was no way this was about to be easy for Luis. Luis was about clean the dirt and leaves off his clothes but before he could his earlier suspicions got confirmed, Luis heard rustling coming from in front of him.
Looking towards the sound of movement, Luis noticed six creatures emerging from behind the trees in front of him. Their bodies were dust-coloured, and leaves seemingly clung to them, helping them blend in with the surroundings. Their black eyes gleamed as they locked onto Luis.
Luis tensed up
The creatures weren't running away
They were stalking
One of the creature's mouth twitched
Whoosh
A blast of sand shot towards his chest. Luis barely dodged to the right, making the attack hit his shoulder instead.
A dull stinging pain ran throughout his shoulder
Then, less than a second later another one attacked
Whoosh
This time, he got hit in the ribs, which knocked the breath out of his lungs.
Luis instantly activated his Lynx blessing
None of the attacks had pierced Luis's skin because of the golem blessing, but the pain was not bearable.
With the Lynx speed blessing activated, he rolled to the side, being able to dodge the next attack in time.
Luis also noticed something the attack that hit him in the ribs didn't hurt as much as the first one. The only difference he could see in the two attacks was the distance they were launched from.
Luis assumed the longer the range, the less damage it meant.
Then, the six rats all moved in closer, slowly spreading around Luis in a circle.
Luis would have moved forward to attack, but he didn't have a weapon on him. His daggers were left in the village.
His eyes darted around, trying to find something before the Sand Strikers fully circled him.
Then he noticed it a stick on the base of one of the trees. It seemed forty centimetres long, and sturdy.
Which was perfect because he needed to increase his range of attack.
Luis darted to his left across the clearing to the stick.
The rats hadn't formed a full circle around Luis. It was only a semi-circle.
As Luis ran, five Sand Strikers launched attacks on him from behind him.
Luis had expected this, so he ran along a zigzag path. Narrowly avoiding the attacks.
Two attacks hit him in the arm and leg, but Luis endured the pain and kept running, just focusing on his balance.
There was one Sand Striker in the direction Luis was running in, but it hadn't launched an attack.
It waited and waited until Luis was close to it. As soon as he was only three meters away, it launched an attack on him.
Luis quickly raised one of his hands to block the sand attack.
This time, the pain rattled his bones.
Getting closer, Luis used his other arm to try to hit the Sand Striker, but it was too agile, dodged his fist, and retreated back.
It didn't matter to Luis, though he lunged for the stick and then hid behind the tree.
Luis waited a few seconds, catching his breath, and slowly peeked from behind the tree to see that all the Sand Strikers had moved forward now in groups of two.
As he peeked, he was instantly shot at by two of the Sand Strikers.
Luis barely moved back behind the tree, seeing the sand attacks pass by where his body just was.
Luis looked down, grabbing another two sticks from the ground. He took a deep breath to relax and then tossed the sticks to the left of where he was standing behind the tree.
And then he dashed to the right of the tree. Two of the sand attacks were launched on the sticks thrown to the left
Another two were shot at Luis.
They hit him in his legs.
Both attacks were aimed at his legs, making him almost stumble. The attacks went through the golem blessing. There were tiny dots on his skin below the knee where small amounts of blood started pouring out from.
The pain was even more intense this time, but Luis still propelled himself forward, going to the two closest rats.
Luis hadn't seen the blood on his leg, but he noticed from the last attack that they were now aiming for the same spot, and if he didn't move his aura to strengthen his body where the attacks would land, he wouldn't be able to survive.
As he got within three meters again, the two Sand Strikers launched two more attacks at him. Both aimed at his head.
- - -
Luis Tatcheton
Adept Tier - two cores
Age 12
Height 5'5
Short Black Hair
Bright Brown Eyes
Host of the Phoenix Essence
Baby Rock Golem Blessing, Blessing name: Phantom Leather
Lightning Lynx Blessing, Blessing name: Tempest Flow