The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 261

Chapter 261

Chapter 261: The Bridge

“Stop screaming!” I snapped, my legs a blur as we sped through the endless meadow of glowing white wildflowers and blue grass.

“Then tell them to stop chasing us!” Regis howled, zipping through the air beside me.

Behind us were hundreds, if not thousands, of rodents, each the size of a puma, with glowing purple claws...and all of them were incredibly pissed off at us.

“I told you not to go poking around those giant holes!” I retorted.

Regis sped past me, afraid of getting scratched by those purple claws again. “How was I supposed to know that thousands of giant rats were living in them!”

Anger bubbled up. “What exactly were you expecting then? Giant snakes?”

“No, I was just thinking if we were going to find another treasure trove or some—”

“Regis, Gauntlet Form!” I cut in as I whirled around and skid to a stop.

An aura of black and purple flared from my right fist, growing larger as the army of giant rodents rapidly approached.

Using two ‘charges’, I released an explosive blast that distorted the very space it touched, killing a few dozen rodents.

Immediately after, I hooked my index finger in the ring attached to the pommel of the dagger, unsheathing it with a brilliant white arc.

Focusing aether on my arms, I soon became a torrent of blade and fists, cutting, stabbing, and striking every giant rodent within range.

Wielding a dagger was difficult at first. Despite the similarity in shape to a sword, the style of fighting using a dagger had proven vastly different.

It was fun though. Utilizing the ring at the bottom of the hilt, I was able to hook my finger through it, freeing up my hand to strike or parry with a palm. The shorter length of the dagger meant that strikes and slashes were faster and more concise, allowing for sharper and more volatile movement.

Corpses of the giant purple-clawed rodents lay strewn about, dying the beautiful blue grass around me in crimson.

Before the rest of their horde could arrive, Regis and I turned back and started to run. We continued running and slowly chipping away at their forces for several hours while searching for an exit within this seemingly vast field of ocean-like grass.

What was worse was that, unlike the chimeras and millipede, most of the rodents’ bodies didn’t contain aether—only their claws were coated in a dense layer of aether. This allowed them to actually injure Regis and made them very cumbersome to kill with little benefit since I was using more aether than I was regenerating.

“Over there!” Regis shouted as he picked up speed.

I saw it too. Out in the distance, there was an all-too-familiar teleportation gate glowing brightly, beckoning us. It was only after we drew near it that we realized it wasn’t going to be that easy.

Separating us from the gate was a chasm at least 30 yards wide with no end in sight on either side for us to go around.

“What do we do?” Regis asked as my mind spun, looking for a way out. Behind us was at least a thousand rodents hell bent on killing us— all the more angry after we had continuously killed off their brethren.

Pumping out more aether from my core, I picked up speed as well, gaining some distance away from the horde of rodents. As we got closer, my eyes picked up two columns both on the portal side and on our side as well.

“I think there’s a bridge there!” I said, pointing to the two columns just a few dozen yards ahead. I could only hope that there was a mechanism that connected the columns on either side together.

I skidded to a stop just in front of the two pillars that were about three shoulder-widths apart. But when I saw what had happened, I cursed aloud.

There were thick rune-inscribed chains coming from the columns and falling down the crevice. At the bottom there was a stream of red, and by the heat that could be felt all the way from here, I knew that it was lava.

That was why there were no grass or flowers growing this close to the crevice.

“Well...there was a bridge,” Regis said dejectedly, looking down into the abyss. “I wonder what did this?”

“Not what. Who.” I seethed, punching the tree-sized pillar of stone before turning back to face the army of rodents.

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to try and kill all of those creatures,” Regis groaned.

“Not exactly,” I said. “I have a plan but you’re not going to like it.”

Regis stared at me, deadpan. “Has there ever been a plan that I liked?”

***

I hid behind one of the columns, replenishing my core using a rodent claw that I had severed and stored in my bag while I watched Regis scream as he fast approached. Just behind him was the horde of rodents desperately clambering atop one another, swiping savagely at Regis. _{frёewebηovel.cѳm}

“I hate you!” Regis howled as he drew near.

I waited until he was about a foot from the cliff before releasing the same aetheric aura that I had used to immobilize the giant millipede.

By the time the frontline rodents realized that they were running towards a cliff, it was too late. The air around them grew heavy as the aetheric aura spread. The waves of rodents behind the first row weren’t able to stop in time either, crashing into their brethren and falling off the cliff as they desperately clawed at the air.

Meanwhile, Regis continued to hover in the air, inviting the giant rodents in the back that weren’t yet aware of the cliff to try and kill him while gleefully laughing like a maniac.

“Come on, you pea-brained rats! Try and touch me with those manicured claws of yours now, bitches! Hahahaha!”

“Now!” I roared as the final wave of giant rodents clambered atop their brethren and leapt off in a desperate attempt to reach Regis.

I used most of my aether to burst forward, pushing off the column for maximum speed.

With aether shrouding my body, I stepped on the heads of the crazed rodents, climbing on top of them to get as close to the other side of the crevice as possible. With the river of lava below me, my eyes scanned the route that I would be able to take to get to the other side.

Just before the giant rodents under my feet began falling down, I leapt off the crest of the rodent pile.

I pushed away the thought of missing my footing and falling into the river of lava that was blowing hot air even all the way up here. I doubted that even my vivum-enhanced healing abilities would be able to regenerate me faster than the lava would eat away at my body.