Melvin crashed deep into the coarse pile of salt, and for a moment, his whole world turned white. More pain flared.
The salt invaded every blister, every torn line carved into his flesh by boiling mucus and whip recoil. It burned worse than the slime had. It gnawed into his exposed skin and mixed with his blood, forming a paste that clung stubbornly to his wound.
The poor lad wanted to scream, but it died in his throat. Instead, he bit down on his teeth in endurance, knowing full well that this was the sacrifice he had to make in order to defeat the Sea Slug.
Across the narrow space between two tall pillars, the abomination retracted its appendage and drew its maimed limb back toward its bloated mass, making its flesh bubble before folding inward.
It was going to exercise patience for its prey to crawl out of his defense.
From inside the cart, Melvin pushed himself upright. White crystals clung to his hair, his lashes, and his torn clothes. He looked less like a man now and more like a corpse dredged from a frozen sea.
He turned toward the retreating Sea Slug, then his eyes darted downward to the marble floor. The severed wrist of the creature writhed on the marble like a dying serpent before dissolving into a viscous puddle.
Once again, Melvin returned his gaze to the iron bars.
The cart was chained tightly to the thick iron links, wound several times through the frame. He ventured closer to the iron bars, and with trembling fingers ran them across the chain until he found the fastening point.
Luckily for him, the chain wasn't locked but just twisted seamlessly.
Letting out a ragged breath, he loosened the chain, and soon it was free with a heavy clink.
Without hesitation, he wrapped it around his waist four times and secured the slack. The weight dragged at his injured ribs, causing him to grimace in pain, but he withheld his endurance.
Next, he sat back into the salt and yanked off his boots, tossing them onto the marble floor. Then, summoning Aftertick in his left hand, he plunged down again, rolling through the pile until every inch of him was coated.
When he crawled out of the cart, he was no longer merely injured. He was now an embodiment of salt.
White coated his lashes. It caked into his hair. It fused with blood along his arms and legs. The wounds still bled, but slower now, clogged by grain and grit.
Now, he must defeat the Sea Slug once and for all to avoid further casualties. With Aftertick gripped tightly in his left hand, he glanced back at the cart.
"Thank you for being available at this time for me," he muttered hoarsely to the non-living pile of salt.
As long as he was still alive, he must fight this fight until the end. He, for once, never planned to die prematurely, and that is why the massive creature in front of him must pay dearly for all injuries inflicted on him.
'Bastard!'
Ahead, the sea slug shifted. The severed limb was slowly regenerating—it had regenerated halfway. But as soon as it sighted its prey out from his defense, it lashed out in a speedy attack.
A wing-like appendage shot forward, slicing the air in a horizontal arc meant to divide Melvin cleanly in two. But Melvin leaped with a hiss of pain onto the cart's edge, using it as leverage, and launched himself toward the incoming blade of flesh.
He landed on top of the appendage, and almost immediately, the wing-like flesh began to recoil, shortening to withdraw having missed its target, but Melvin didn't care. He began running up the appendage with each passing second.
Each step tore at his burned skin, but thanks to the salt coated throughout his body, his movement on the slick mucus was swift and smooth.
Seeing this, the Sea Slug sent a second appendage flying toward him from the side. Before it could connect again with its prey, the poor lad ducked into a low bend and made a brief, forward movement on both his legs and hands before rising once again.
The Sea Slug didn't relent. The appendage returned, thrusting toward him in a horizontal arc from behind, but Melvin jumped and flipped backward, landing on the second limb without slowing.
At that same time, he swung the whip, cleanly slicing the appendage that had served as his foot ladder. The flesh soon split into two, causing the creature to shriek and reflexively thrust its healthy limb forward.
Melvin didn't slow down. He continued running forward on the second appendage, Aftertick trailing diagonally behind him. The chain around his waist clattered with each stride.
The healthy hand lashed toward his skull, and he tilted his head just enough for it to miss by a hair's breadth.
The limb shot forward, whistling through the air before Melvin's eyes. He didn't lose that opportunity.
He struck. Aftertick cracked once. The tip kissed flesh.
The limb split from that precise point of contact, severing cleanly as if the world itself remembered the strike.
'One appendage and second limb gone,' Melvin mused and continued his steps upward.
The slug shrieked with a high and distorted sound that did not belong in mortal air, and all its remaining appendages lashed wildly.
The one beneath Melvin surged upward in violent recoil, flinging him skyward.
He did not resist but went with the flow.
Momentum carried him into a somersault. In midair, he unwound the chain from his waist and seized it in his right hand. Then descended rapidly onto the creature's helmet-like head.
The surface was slick and hot beneath his bare feet. The dark openings that looked like eyes across its face narrowed toward him.
Dismissing further details, he moved before the creature could react.
He swung the chain to loop around one of the ridged protrusions near its crown. Then forced the loosened fastening shut with a sharp jerk, locking it in place.
The creature convulsed but couldn't struggle against the fastening. The hands it could have used to do so were gone.
Without paying it attention, Melvin swung the free end of the chain, letting it smear through the mucus coating the slug's head, coating the iron links in glistening slime. Then he hurled it outward.
The chain whistled through the air and wrapped around the nearest stone pillar to the left, looping twice before tightening.
A slight grin curled upward Melvin's chin. He recognized this stone pillar very well.
Not dwelling on the momentary recognition, he pulled the chain into a tensile taut and jumped backward, just in time to evade the incoming attacks of the wing appendages of the Sea Slug.
He let himself fall freely beside the abomination, landing hard with bent knees, feet skidding across the marble like a skipping stone over water.
Pain exploded through his legs, but he forced himself upright regardless. The whip still hung from his left hand.
Salt drifted from his shoulders like falling ash. He needed to act faster than he did before the salts totally dissolved away.
He raised his face toward the monster, breathing raggedly, eyes blazing despite the agony twisting his body.
"Say your last prayer, bastard!" he whispered and lunged forward.