HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

Archie grinned as he tear the parasite that cornered him and made a hole in his chest. His hands were surprisingly strong compared to before because he now could control not only his bones but also his muscles. He gained as much muscle as he could and now there was nothing that could stop him from killing the parasite.

His regeneration ability improved very significantly that it could immediately heal in a minute. He realized that as long as he had the regeneration ability, he could modify his body at will. He felt like he got some kind of revelation from fighting with the parasites for a whole day. He never felt so powerful and superior in his life, but now he felt like nothing could stop him.

The veins that popped under Archie’s skin on his forearms, hands, and fingers were gruesome to look at. The veins weren’t actually his veins because of how hard they were and how stuff they were that it was difficult for him to move his hands and fingers. Those veins were belong to the parasite, it wrapped under his skin like a tissue to protect Archie’s muscles, flesh, and bones from danger.

Archie thought to himself that he might be able to fight The Mother, and so he decided to give it a try.

The witches didn’t move from their spot and watched him from above, they both were surprised when they saw Archie walk into the lake and approached The Mother.

“He’s now overconfident about himself, I’m afraid that I should go down there and be ready to save him before The Mother going to use him as a uterus for her children.” The black-haired witch said as she stood up.

The red-haired witch nodded and saw the black-haired witch jump off of the cliff.

Archie shoved his hand into the parasite’s mouth and came out from the back of its head. His hands were in their original size because he realized that size didn’t matter, what mattered was how sturdy and how jacked his hands were. It was easier for him to move around rather than he had to extend his fingers and claws.

Archie walked all the way to the middle of the lake which took him an hour to reach there. He glared at The Mother who kept calling the parasites to come to her side. He kept moving forward as he butchered the parasites that blocked his way to The Mother until The Mother herself faced in his direction.

Archie was frozen as The Mother faced him and started to scream and growl, then something came out from under the water. Something that looked like a tail came out from behind her, it kept going upward and it was higher than The Mother herself. Before he could think about what that thing was, another one appeared, then another until there were a dozen of them behind her.

The Mother screamed and each tail started to spilt itself into three, Archie just realized that it wasn’t a tail but it was a mouth because there were hundreds of sharp teeth inside each one of them. He started to regret his decision and immediately took a step back but then he realized that he was already surrounded by the parasites.

Archie tried to break through the parasites by killing them until he felt something coming toward him from behind. He jumped as the mouth-like tail tried to stab him from the back, he came out from the water and saw the mouth-like tail pierce through the parasites and skewered them then tear them into pieces as the mouth-like tail itself up.

Before Archie could properly stand, another mouth-like tail flew toward him and he immediately dove down into the lake. As he dove down, his whole body trembled and he looked to his left when he noticed another mouth-like tail was swimming toward him at high speed. Archie tried to block it with his both hands but it took him by surprise when it pierced through his hands like threading a needle and then pierced through his chest.

Archie was brought up to the air as the mouth-like tail started to split itself. Archie couldn’t do anything but bear the pain until he decided to pull his hands off of the mouth-like tail. Both of his hands were split into half but they regenerate immediately, he then tried to push himself out from it. He managed to free himself before the mouth-like tail open its mouth.

“That was close…” Archie said as he was falling down into the lake.

Before he could touch the water, another one pierced through his body, then another one pierced from behind. Archie couldn’t breathe as both of them started to spread its mouth, he clenched his teeth as he extended his hands and fingers then put both of his hands on each mouth to prevent them from opening.

Archie grunted as he tried as hard as he could to prevent the mouths from opening. “I can’t hold them any longer…” Archie said as he gritted his teeth.

The moment he slipped his hands from them, a wave of water appeared from below him and swallowed Archie whole. The mouth-like tails were forcefully pushed out from Archie’s body, and then the water pulled him into the lake and was pulled so fast back to the shore.

Archie was thrown to the wall as the black-haired witch came out from the water and walked toward him.

“I like your confidence but I never thought you would be that stupid to think you would be able to survive once you face her.” The witch said as she rested her hands on her waists.

“I’m just testing how strong she was, but now I know why you called her The Mother…” Archie replied as he looked at his chest and stomach that was slowly regenerating themselves.

“Now she’s going to be so pissed because of you…” The witch said as she shook her head and sighed.

The moment the witch said that The Mother’s scream and growl were so loud that they hurt Archie’s ear. He covered his ears and closed his eyes, but then he noticed that the witch in front of him fell to the ground as if she was in pain. Archie opened his eyes and tried to grab her but the eerie scream and growl prevented him from removing his hands from his ears.

Archie watch the witch in pain and then he saw the red-haired witch fall from the cliff as she screamed in pain. Archie was so confused and had no idea what to do but then suddenly dozens of roots pierced through the walls and grabbed them and pulled them into the wall. Archie was being wrapped by the roots and pulled into the wall as well.

It was a unique experience as he watched the ground around him being pushed and dug by hundreds of roots around him. That power he witnessed was unbelievable because knowing that a single person could do so everything at the same exact time must be hard.

Archie didn’t know for how long he was dragged by the roots, but he knew it was at least more than an hour and the screams and growls from The Mother could no longer be heard. As he thought about it, his whole body clenched and stiffened while his heart pounded rapidly that it hurt his chest. He could feel an immense amount of danger that came from far down below him.

Archie looked down where the soil was, and he couldn’t stop looking down there as he started to hear loud banging and thumping from there. He never felt that kind of fear before, way much worse than the moment he faced The Mother. His mind was telling him that he need to get out of there as soon as possible but at the same time, he was curious about what lived below him.

Archie was pulled up to the surface and was thrown away up into the air then landed on his feet.

“That was close, wasn’t it?” The green-haired witch said as she came out from the tree’s trunk and walked toward Archie.

“Yes, thank you for saving us,” Archie replied as he nodded. “By the way…” Archie continued. “What’s down there? I felt an immense amount of danger that I was terrified by whatever that live down there.” Archie asked as he pointed at the ground.

The green-haired witch looked down at the ground. “That…”

“You don’t need to know what resides down there, Archie…” The black-haired witch said as she stood up and held her head. “Whatever going on in your head, I suggest you ignore it and forget it because it’s something that you don’t want to know.” The black-haired witch said as she stared at Archie with a serious expression.

The red-haired witch looked at Archie as she took a deep breath. “We will tell you once you’re ready, Archie.” The red-haired witch said. “For now, just focus on killing that man because today’s is the last day and you have to go back or the humans that you care about will be annihilated.” The red-haired witch continued.

Archie looked at the sky and it was dawn already. “It’s been seven days already?” Archie asked.

“Here, you need to recover your power,” The green-haired witch said as the trees’ branches offered him meats and other things on them.

Archie grabbed one of them and looked at her. “Thank you, I will eat all of them then I will go back to the city,” Archie said as he chewed the meat. “I will kill him no matter what.” Archie continued as he glared at the abandoned city in front of him.