Online In Another World

"Salamander!"

He immediately called to the lesser spirit of fire, commanding it with his will to fly up and begin emitting a light that filled the entirety of the dank abode of whatever approached. The sudden burst of light revealed it to him–a sight both confusing and terrifying.

It was but a few feet away from him, its large, abhorrent face far too close to his own. The creature possessed dark-green, scaly skin with an incredibly long neck that allowed it to lower its head enough to meet the crouched human eye-to-eye.

Those eyes of its were maddening; pitch-black irises that continuously swirled, spiraling like a hypnotic hex of chaos. Curved, swirly horns that looked like branches protruded from its unsightly head.

It possessed large, buck teeth and a humanoid face, yet a body that resembled that of a bipedal dragon with fearsome claws and small, seemingly useless wings stretching from its back.

There was a confusingly pleasant smell that gave off from the perplexing beast's body and breath; like rich, sickeningly sweet candy. Caramel? Chocolate? Strawberry? Perhaps all of it, all at once; a complete attack on his sense of smell.

What is this…? He thought.

Almost as if reading his mind, it was Blimpo that jumped up, calling out as sweat dripped from his chin, "--I-It's him…! I heard it occupied a cavern, but I didn't expect it to be this one…!"

Just then, it unleashed a mix of a banshee's wail and a roar that emitted with a tremendous force, causing Emilio to stumble back before he moved with the momentum, flipping back to gain distance from the unknown behemoth.

"Huh?! What is it?!" He called out.

"The Jabberwocky!" Blimpo told him.

It was the worst case scenario; intending to avoid conflict, he found the exit from the chasm now blocked by the monstrously huge inhabitant of the cavern as it beared its twisted claws and mangled teeth.

Just great. Perfect, he thought tiredly.

Just as he took as he moved his arm forward to issue a command to the lesser spirits, he found himself completely thrown off.

Huh? He thought.

Though he definitely pointed his arm in front of him, for some reason, it moved left. As weird of a moment as it was, he tried raising his hand, only for his hand to instead move downward.

Huh?! He thought.

–There was something perplexing going on, as if the wiring in his brain had shifted entirely. As he looked to the left, he found himself instead looking upward towards the ceiling; looking to the right brought his gaze down.

Hearing the footsteps of the perplexing beast approaching both him and his companion, he did the only thing he could think to do in the moment, stomping down as he summoned a wall of stone to block the beast's path for the moment.

"Blimpo, can you move?!" He called out.

The elf responded, "I can move…just not the way I wanna! This is the Jabberwocky's power! I've heard about it!"

"It is? What is it?!" He called out.

Though they were conversing, it was difficult for them to even look at one another as the motor controls over their bodies was completely fiddled with.

"The Jabberwocky is known as the "Beast of Absent Reason"...It makes you lose control over your senses then preys on you!" Blimpo told him.

It was complete disorientation of the highest degree. In the mind of the young man, the first thing he likened it to was as if all of the controls on a controller were inverted, or worse, completely scrambled.

"Well, isn't that just a pain in the ass," he mumbled.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

On the other side of the rocky wall, massive impacts slammed against it repeatedly, causing it to begin being swarmed by cracks as its structure faltered.

"'Milio, it's coming!"

"I'm well aware!" He responded.

There wasn't a moment wasted in taking action as he summoned the internal heat dormant within him, allowing the scale armor to manifest itself over his armor, even enveloping his metallic arm in its lively protection.

[Dragonheart System Activated]

[Current Stage: 3/10 | Dragon Warrior]

Attempting to take a step forward, he found himself instead moving left, causing him to instinctively try to correct his mistaken step as he moved to the right, which promptly made him move backwards.

…Dammit! It's annoying, but it's strong! If I can't adapt, I'll lose! He thought.

Trying to move in any sense while the Jabberwocky slammed against the stone wall, surely coming to break it within moments, he was stuck only stumbling in circles, the same as Blimpo. The world spun around him as simply trying to guide his body in any direction left him spinning around without a single clue of how to control his movements; dizziness grew and subsequently, nausea did as well.

"'Milio!"

The desperate warning came from the elf just as the wall of protective stone was shattered, and stomping in came the grotesque beast with its snapping teeth and shuddering whiskers that extended from its mouth like wiggling tails.

Its elongated neck moved like a whip, causing the maddening beast's head to swirl around as its bulbous body charged towards the Dragonheart, preparing to attack him.

Every step of the way, something tries to stop me. What the hell is wrong with everything?! It doesn't matter…I don't need to move–right now, just do something! He commanded himself.

If there was one thing he was sure of, the ability to manifest magic was unaffected by the alteration of his senses; that was an invaluable asset to him as he summoned his counterattack.

"--Back off!"

Though he was unable to properly face the incoming monstrosity as he stumbled about, he managed to invoke a bludgeoning pillar of stone rising from the ground, slamming straight into the belly of the beast.

There was enough force from the low blow that it knocked the Jabberwocky partially into the air, lifting it from the ground as gargle left its mouth.

"Nice!" Blimpo called out.

"--Watch out!"

It was difficult to keep up while moving his own vision was challenging, only witnessing the monstrous entity spit out a massive spray of steaming liquid straight at the two below.

In a swift action, he raised another barrier, conjuring a curved wall of rock for himself and the elf.

HISSSSS

The liquid sizzled against the stone, managing to chew through it, though it was stopped. Nonetheless, it was a frightening thing to look out for.

"...Good save!" Blimpo thanked.

"Just stay put!"

Not wasting a moment, the Dragonheart raised another wall around the elven man for protection just as the Jabberwocky shot out tendrils from the pores in its body, anchoring to the ground and landing with a thunderous impact.

If my theory is right, then this should work…! He thought.

Standing his ground, he flexed his entire body, summoning [Draconic Might] in tandem with an aura of healing, washing out any foreign intrusions from his body as he expelled it with the bubbling heat and purification.

FWOOSH

A brisk shock wave emitted from the propulsion of mana, though as he moved his arms around, looking side-to-side, he found his senses to be returned to normal.

"Alright! It worked!" He announced.

"Huh? What did?!" Blimpo asked from behind the rock walls.

"Don't worry about it! Just give me a second!"

For the moment, he couldn't quite get to the elf as the Jabberwocky was stomping towards him with its unusual form, spitting out more of its acidic fluids. It tried stamping him out like a bug on the ground, stomping down with its abnormal feet of talons that were webbed together.

It hardly felt territorial for its dank, musty cavern of moss and bones, but more malicious towards the young man himself.

He repeatedly flipped back as the acidic spit was hurled in his direction, assessing the creature before launching an offensive of his own.

What was the trigger for disrupting senses before?...All it did was roar out; was that enough? Come to think of it, I think the Verma tribe were capable of magic effects with screaming…Is this similar? He questioned while evading the monstrosity.

Either way, it seemed more efficient to him to simply grab his companion and make a run for it to the exit of the lair of the Jabberwocky, rushing over to where Blimpo was kept.

"--!"

A shadow briefly loomed over him as the air seemed to halt for a split-second just before–

THUD

–The Jabberwocky intercepted him from reuniting with his friend, landing down as its cheeks puffed up along with its chest as if sucking in a lofty amount of air.

Is it preparing to unleash a scream again!? He thought.

The first instinct that came to mind was to utilize wind magic in an incredibly precise manner in one of two options: either to create a sound-negating barrier around his body or to take the air from the Jabberwocky's lungs.

However, both usages of magecraft were vastly complex to use in the moment without the proper perception to aid him, resulting in–

"WAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO–!!!!!"

–The sound that left the Jabberwocky's mouth came out like a distorted radio wave, shaking the entirety of the cavern and engulfing the young man in the disorientating attack of sound.