The Stargazing Witch & The Dungeon Planet
Chapter 49: Monster Among The Stars

Chapter 49: Monster Among The Stars

The large transparent crimson beast hovered in the forming asteroid belt, and the suicidal lunatic was still floating there with the sword in his stomach.

Starting from its eye, it slowly flowed out of the crimson crack, like water before it fully formed in the void of space.

It stretched around the rocks in an almost snake-like body–the golden eyes sure looked like a reptile’s. But not the rest of its body, as it had almost humanoid arms, four of them in total, the tail and head were mostly just void as the transparent body faded away in those areas, and in the centre of its body was a concentrated glowing crimson light.

Many would be terrified, I could feel the pressure radiating off the creature trying to make all around it submit, however, even when facing such a beast, I really could only laugh, “Hehe, of course, another bloody monster!” 

It wasn’t that long ago since I faced the monster at the concert, and now Dominous Hood brought out another seemingly relatively easily. I was very glad this fight was taking place on a destroyed moon and not a city this time.

The man lifted his shaking arm, and confidently pointed at me with a desperate ferocity. 

Less than a second after he pointed, the creature was moments before consuming me.

Fuck!

I quickly burst out of the way as it zoomed past, barely making it while also dodging its attempt to grab me, but within moments it turned around and was still after me.

Space around it shivered as it tore through everything to chase after me, its non-existent month deleted all that entered it.

(“ … Now that is surprising ”)

What is fucking surprising?! 

I yelled back, I didn’t need colourful commentary right now.

(“ If you were facing this creature in its true form, I would be ordering you to run as fast as possible ”)

But by that logic, then clearly it is not in its true form! Well, that's one fantastic thing. 

(“ Yes it is. What you are facing right now is a projection, going into what that means– ”)

Yes, yes I know what a projection is. Faced more than one bastard that could do that, if you have something to say that makes this projection different say it now or be quiet!

I deflected a spear that tried coming from behind, but I didn’t have a chance to break it as the monster was already right at my doorstep again.

To be honest, seeing the creature did reawaken a small fear in me, its transparent nature, its size, and its presence, reminded me of the gigantic creature I saw on my way to Earth. I had no idea if there was a connection, and right now wasn’t the time to ask.

Damn, I need to deal with these pesky weapons first!

The weapons were less dangerous and slower targets, but they were still dangerous enough that I needed to get rid of them. 

The commander finally decided to speak again, coughing first, he began to triumphantly gloat, “There is nothing you can do! This monster is unlike anything in existence, it's unrivalled by the common ranks of humanity!” 

What jargon is he speaking about now? I thought to myself.

(“ Nothing, I think his brain is rotting away, this beast is still far within humanity’s reach after all, so deal with it ”)

I don’t need sass right now! 

I replied to the commander, “Yeah, yeah, it’s just a bloody projection dickhead!”

That comment got the commander to shut up for a good second.

I continued to dodge and saw the opportunity I was looking for.

In an attempt to attack the commander, the monster jumped between us and waited a moment before it launched forward.

The two spears fired from different directions towards me, each glowing on a venomous green light.

I dodge one and kick the other into the sphere that was floating nearby.

[Incinerate]! 

Without wasting a moment, an explosion of flame shot forth and burned the two items. Neither were destroyed, but they stopped moving for a millisecond. I reached forward and grabbed both and used my super strength to crush them.

As the second sphere shattered into glass-like pieces, a large pain filled my body but I bit my lip causing it to bleed and held on. There was one spear left but that wasn’t my immediate problem.

The monster shot towards me by breaking through the large boulder between us.

I tried dodging but knew I was going to still smash into it so I lifted up my guard.

Arghh!

My arms smashed into the creature's side moments before it tried to grab me.

The armour coating of starlight shattered upon grazing the monster's transparent skin, however, the impact sent me flying without too much issue.

“Drat!” 

I was physically fine, but the actual issue was my resources weren’t looking good.

Name: Ceella Stella (Celestira Luxpoir) | Race: [Human?]

Mana: 19% Starlight: 48%

Using any normal skills ran the risk of running dangerously close to empty. I was a decent bit off, but my main form of movement was [Burst] and while it was mostly mana-friendly, it wasn’t meant for continuous flight. 

I used the rocks as leverage and jumped off them to avoid and manoeuvre the creatures' attacks–shattering the small rocks into crumbs in the process. I reformed my outer layer of starlight armour for protection.

“It doesn't matter what you do!” The commander yelled again, “You will never escape!”

Looks like he is going crazy from the blood loss. 

(“ Or the drain on his life force, technically both could be true ”)

Any remains of the calm-ish demeanour the bastard had now completely washed away. I wanted to kill him immediately, to not only shut him up but also because it might make the monster disappear. 

He hadn’t moved from his spot, which led me to believe he couldn’t move. He was looking worse by the second, and a part of me thought I should just dance around until he died due to the cost he had to pay. But I was worried he could send this monster to Earth and… I really wanted to kill him.

So I waited for an opportunity to attack.

Avoiding the monster became easier as it was limited in its attacks, probably thanks to it being a projection. I tried injuring it but nothing I did seemingly did anything.

After the last spear tried to stab me from behind again. I knocked it away not wanting to waste a second destroying it as an opportunity appeared, the commander fell forward coughing up a black tar. 

Chance!

The monster did another lunge towards me as I tried to reach my objective, each of its hands snapping to grab me.

With a quick [Burst] I avoided the monster and as it turned around, I flew towards the commander to finish this.

Then I wasn’t even seconds away from the commander, but as I prepared my attack, he vanished from view.

Fu–!

The commander had teleported behind me and slashed instantly with a large phantom greatsword that slammed me.

In the instant I saw him, blood poured out every one of his pores and I could hear his bones rattle with unstable mana. He could die within seconds. He risked everything and now I was right in the monster’s path.

The monster let out an impossible roar which shocked the rock and stone and its large head slammed into me with its tip of its transparent void of head drilling into my stomach.

The monster crashed into my fortified chest but my starlight shield shattered again and this time I couldn’t get away, the armour failed to hold up as well.

Its crimson body drilled into me. The armour surrounding my stomach tore apart like it was paper against a drill, my flesh was being shredded, cut into numerous pieces while pain continually shot not only through my body but also my soul. As if a hammer was smashing an old wound, the pain in the soul was maddening. 

But I needed to focus. [Sol–ar Bom–B]! 

I cast a skill in my mouth and crushed it with my teeth.

Boom!

The [Solar Bomb] exploded and pushed everything back besides the monster, but importantly my body launched backwards far into the distance.

Crash!

And I smashed right into a nearby piece of debris.

While I was spending a moment wallowing in the pain, Espr decided to chip in.

(“ Well it looks like the extra strength I gave you saved your life ”)

“Shu–t up,” I coughed and stood back up as my teeth reformed. The beast had stopped attacking as the commander had stopped pointing at me for a moment thinking I was finally dead, and he took a breath to recover himself.

(“ It might be a projection, and honestly a weak one, as it doesn’t have the intelligence the original creature has, let alone all its strength but it is still a different grade altogether. Touching its projection without protection will cause unnecessary harm ”)

Se–e! That is! W-hat you should’ve mentioned earlier! My mind shook, still recovering from the shock of the impact.

The wound stitched itself together and regenerated until they were in the state before I got hit. The auto repair functions of the armour also tried to kick in but only fixed the damage plating by a couple of centimetres. 

The commander looked down from his perch now noticing me, genuinely shocked at what he was seeing, “What kind of monster are you…?” 

“Just one that enjoys looking at the stars,” I replied. My helmet slightly shattered, revealing part of my face and my left horns which grew ever so slightly longer.