Somehow, because of how the gla.s.s covered only patches of the woods, it felt like a corruption was spreading through the forest rather than it being a new area.

Everyone here took their time and moved carefully in order to stay silent, paying attention to every details around them. As of yet, there were no indications to tell if the creature was still far or if they were right at its side.

With a bit more than thirty of them, they could cover a lot of ground despite their slow pace. They all kept looking towards each other to make sure everyone was still there and that the distance between them didn't widen too much.

Those were the kind of simple things that had to be done when facing the unknown. This is what they were challenging, it could be anywhere and look like anything. Since all its characteristics were a mystery, they needed to be ready for anything.

All they knew about it was that it was linked with the strange purple gla.s.s stuff.

As he was moving with them, Emp had the chance to look closely at some of the crystalline gla.s.s. He had first thought that everything had been turned into gla.s.s but he had been wrong. It wasn't covered in it either, it wasn't that the gla.s.s crystal had grown on top of the landscape. Instead, it was more like things had been melted into gla.s.s.

Looking at a tree snapped at its base for example, most of it remained wood. Only the part where it had been cut seemed to have turned into gla.s.s. The broken part reminded him greatly of a melting candle if it had been placed on its side. It had all been smoothed out and some of the gla.s.s structure seemed to be dripping from it despite its solid state.

If it had been turned into gla.s.s, it would have kept its details so it wasn't really what had happened. This also explained why there weren't any underbrush made of gla.s.s, it had all melted into irregular puddles covering the ground. All of it was solid now and when Emp gripped a bit of the crystal tree to break it, he saw that the inside was also gla.s.s. Since the rest of the tree remained wood, maybe the very center was still wood too but there was no way to know unless he broke it completely and that would make a lot of noise.

Just because it looked both curiously interesting and pretty, he broke off many tear shaped outcrops of purple gla.s.s on his way, placing it all in his bag. It would always snap cleanly despite its strange hardness. To him, it seemed more resistant than normal gla.s.s, maybe he could craft something out of it?

Whether they beat the creature or not, he had to remember to come back here get some more of the stuff. Marcy would be very interested by the rare material, he was sure. Even if not, he could still show it to Juniper, she might have some clue on what it was since she was an expert in gla.s.s.

As they progressed through the eerie wilderness, Emp did his best to not step into any of the gla.s.s pools. He didn't want his armor to clank against the crystal gla.s.s so he had to walk around them. The huntresses however had the opposite strategy and walked on the crystal as much as possible since the sound of their boots on hard ground was less than the crackling of twigs.

Aside from the weird mood imposed upon them by the light, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The critters and birds acted like normal and the air was fresh. If not for the gla.s.s, nothing would have told them they were nearing any sort of danger.

Or maybe there was no creature at all. Maybe it was a natural catastrophe of some kind or a magical phenomenon that had driven the wildlife closer to the village. In a way, it might have been better that way but Emp really wished it was a creature instead. A monster could be defeated to bring back the peace, a wild magic phenomenon could not.

Like that, they eventually reached the bottom of a hill. It was rising not too far on their right and extending far higher and deeper than the trees would let them see. The side they approached formed a steep surface more like a cliff than anything else.

The destruction of the terrain was more obvious here and the gla.s.s was in a much higher density. They looked around but there was nothing to be seen aside from dried gra.s.s and dehydrated plants. One thing was for certain, they were getting closer to whatever they were looking for.

"Isn't it hot here? Feels like were right under the sun." Complained one of the huntresses.

Emp agreed with what she said, he was cooking in his armor and sweating all over. It seemed that the closer they go to the thing, the warmer the air became.

Connie ignored her comment and gave some instruction while trying to stop her clothes from sticking to her skin.

"Joyce, see that outcrop of stone on top of the crystal cliff? Go up there and see if you can find anything."

"Got it boss."

She made her way around to the base of the hill and started climbing through the less steep part of it. While Joyce was moving about, Jaska came closer to Connie and pointed at the cliff.

"Don't you think it looks strange?"

"It's made of that weird purple crystal, of course it looks strange."

"No, I mean, the shape of it. Look, it looks like there a huge circle carved into it."

Everyone who heard her squinted their eyes to try and see what she meant. Now that it had been pointed out, Emp could see it too. It seemed as if a large circular shape was sticking out of it. If it wasn't so large, everyone would have missed it because of how the light reflected strangely on it.

"Is that a magic circle? Is it the cause of all this?"

"Not sure, I can't see from it."

Connie looked around and selected another huntress.

"Lakla, go take a look closer, be careful and don't touch anything. Come back once you have a rough idea of what we're looking at."

She answered with a nod and started making her way there. From where the rest of the group was up to the cliff, there was about twenty-five meters or so. It was a bit too far to see the details of the cliff properly but it was close enough for the woman to reach the wall quickly even while being careful.

She walked up to the wall and stood in front of the circle well before Joyce reached the outcrop of stone over her head. She looked at it closely, walked to its left than its right and finally crouched in front of it to look at the floor around.

Everyone looked curiously at her while she did her inspection and once she was done, she came back quickly with a serious look in her eyes.

"That's not a magic circle." She told her boss in a ushered voice. "That's a door."

"A door?"

"Yes, it's a huge disk in front of the cliff, the markings on the ground around it say that it's been moved often. There's signs of something big moving about on the crystal floor just in front too."

"How big you reckon?"

"No idea, enough to wear down the crystal after a while but not enough to scratch it since it's the only place where there are signs of constant use in the area. It might be a match to the tracks we followed up to here but that thing is too hard to keep any descent markings of the creature."

"Maybe it's where it lives."

Tacey's opinion on the matter seemed to be agreed upon by most.

"I think we should back off." Advised Jaska. "It's an unknown creature that can obviously turn things into crystal and is smart enough to make itself a door. We're not in front of a simple beast here. Might even be an unnameable of chaos."

Her words unsettled the other huntresses around them. For people like them, knowledge was an important part of the job. No knowing about what you were hunting was dangerous and stupid. Safety was all about knowing the strengths, powers and weaknesses of your quarry. That was why the unnameables of chaos where so feared. Not only were they all strong, each were absolutely unique, no two ever shared their traits.

For people like them who heavily relied on information and knowledge, those were the worst things they could possibly encounter.

"We don't know though, we haven't seen it." Pointed out Tacey.

"That's the whole point! We don't know a thing about what's hiding in there." Insisted the mage.

Connie seemed to find the idea displeasing.

"What are you asking me to do then? Call the retreat and give up on the hunt entirely? If we don't learn anything here, it's pointless to come back a second time and if we don't accomplish anything, we can say goodbye to the money."

"We'll find something else then, this is more of a job for the army than us. As long as we tell them were we found the place they'll take care of it."

Tacey opposed Jaska as well.

"We almost have nothing left. I'm not sure we can sustain everyone until we find something else. I haven't been paid in months just to make sure Connie didn't have to disband the group. Let's be honest, we don't have the money to pay for all the junk you consume for your magic anymore."

Jaska made a sour face. She knew very well how much it cost the group every time she cast a spell for them. Connie looked at the face of everyone around her to be sure they were listening and gave them her own viewpoint.

"Aside from the money we desperately need, there's no telling if the creature won't move by the time the army gets here. Think about it, how many creatures have we seen today? Why do you think they're all running towards the village? It didn't appear here all of a sudden, it moved here. That thing must be a predator and once it runs out of things to eat, it will move again. the most likely place for it to go next is Dark-glint, or close enough that it won't make a difference. If the village gets wiped out because we didn't move when we could then what are we?"

"Then we just have to tell them to evacuate for a while." Insisted the mage.

"We can't, the main trade route between the two kingdoms will get cut off if they leave. We need some sort of proof or they won't move. We need to know what's in there."

Jaska was getting very annoyed by now and would probably have been yelling at them if not for the fear that the creature would hear them.

"Argh, that's unreasonable and you know it! We don't even have our lucky charm anymore. This is just reckless."

Tacey's face tensed at the mention of their lost lucky charm but Connie kept arguing.

"Yeah, we lost her because we did something we shouldn't have. That was clearly divine punishment and we've been going downhill ever since. This is a chance at redemption that is presented to us on a silver platter. Maybe we'll get back some of our luck if we do this."

"Or maybe we're just as unlucky as ever and we should back off. Fuu, and all that heat is distracting too, I can't think straight. You, young master Emp, what do you think? You're the one paying after all."

Since he had been excluded from the conversation up to now, he had not expected the sudden question and it took him some time to form a descent answer.

"I do not mind much either way. It is true that it would at least be useful for us to know what is hiding here but if you think it is too dangerous, I do not think we will be blamed for retreating."

"Mhn, what about the rest of you?" Connie asked looking at the others.

Their opinions were varied but in the end, they agreed to continue with the job and settled for an ambush. Jaska was still in disagreement but she would not leave all her friends in trouble so she could only follow the will of the others.

"Going in its den would be crazy. It's best to prepare for an Ambush around here and attack the moment it leaves. We'll position ourselves around the entrance and all strike at once as it gets into view. Even if it's really an unnameable, do not panic, we have the drop on it, we can do this."

Following that plan, four more huntress were sent on top of the outcrop with Joyce who didn't know anything about what they had discovered yet. While they climbed from the side, the rest all took cover behind nearby trees.

Those more confident in their melee ability like Tacey and Connie chose to stand as close to the entrance as possible. Jaska did the opposite and stood as far back as her magic permitted along with her warner.

After a short discussion, the girls agreed that it would be safest for Emp to get the monster out. At first they had been against it but Emp showed them just how fast he could move away from the disc door and they decided to let him have a go at it. All he had to do was knock on the door with his hammer and fall back before the thing came out.

Once the five snipers were ready to shoot from up on the hill, Connie gave him the signal to knock on the door.

He stepped up to it, gripped his hammer in both hands and swung at it with most of his strength.

BANG!

Not only was the sound extremely loud, the crystal gla.s.s cracked and vibrated under the might of his hammer. Maybe he shouldn't have hit it so hard, now his arms felt a bit numb. He did not waste time to think about them though and turned around to step as far away from the entrance as he could.

As soon as he got there, he slipped behind a tree and held his breath. Everyone was focused on the door, nervous with the approaching battle. The tense atmosphere that gripped their hearts simply could not be compared with what he felt the other day on the sparing field.

This sensation was only the very beginning too.

Everyone here had their face red from the heat and their speeding hearts. Would the thing take the bait? Was it even in there? What if it came from behind them while they were all looking at the door? How long before it opened the door if indeed it was there?

Then, a loud cracking sound was heard, spreading fissures through their courage like those Emp had made on the door.

The temperature rose even higher as the disk rolled to the side at a snail pace. The few remaining gra.s.s blades and patches of moss cried in pain and shriveled from the scorching feeling.

Behind the door, under the trembling gaze of the huntresses, a huge beast revealed itself. A four armed creature of bulging muscles, a testimony of its incredible strength.

Since Emp had smashed his hammer into the door, he knew just how heavy this disk really was, to move it this easily, the monster must have had a tremendous power. Emp was convinced that alone, he would never be able to move it.

The thing had a hunched back pose and rested its weight on its lower pair of arms. Its head was long and b.e.s.t.i.a.l, crowned by large horns covering the sides of its head like a helm. Its ugly fur covered most of its body and two long tentacles sprouted from its swollen back.

The creature spread a suffocating smell of burnt wood along with its menacing purple gaze.

Everyone had been hiding but since they still needed to see it, parts of their faces poked from behind their covers. The monster locked eyes with every single one of them in turn as if he knew they were there from the start.

Many could not sustain its gaze and removed their head from its line of sight. They felt as if their hearts were about to burst, it really was an unnameable of chaos!

Emp himself felt a similar sensation to what he experienced when he had seen the woodland horror in all its glory. How could a single monster seem so frightening!

Unhurriedly, the thing stepped outside of its base, giving a perfect view of itself to everyone.

"Now! Shoot!" Connie yelled from her hiding spot.

All of them were deathly scarred but they were all seasoned warriors and hunters, they swallowed their fears and shot it from all sides. Even the five standing on the outcrop shot it in the back, none dared miss their chance. Thirty one bolts and an arrow from Emp flew at it in a span of two seconds. None of them went astray.

The creature should have been turned in a pincus.h.i.+on like the falsestor but it didn't.

The two tentacles over its back swelled up in that instant and spewed forth a pair of black liquid jet, one aimed on either side of it.

The liquid splashed through a few of the quarrels melting them down on the way in a hiss. Those that remained where mostly batted out of its way by its ma.s.sive horns or simply its forearms.

Of all the projectiles aimed at it, only the five that shot from above achieved to wound the creature. They pierced the skin of its back but did not draw blood.

Meanwhile, the black liquid pursued its path in the air and collided with the trees with a strength surreal enough to blast through them.

Like those they had seen before, the trees snapped where the liquid pa.s.sed through them and fell in a loud crack but this was not the sound that they paid attention to.

What they heard instead were the anguished screams of the girls hidden behind those trees. Emp saw one on his left completely cut in half by that black substance. Her upper body slid off from her legs and fell in a bush, there was no blood to be seen, all of it turned to gla.s.s in an instant.

Another just beside the one that was cut in half had a big chunk of her stomach melt and reform in crystal, loosing consciousness after a breath.

From where he stood, Emp could not see how the other huntresses fared but one thing was for certain, that black liquid was deadly. That thing was the cause of the gla.s.s everywhere and Emp hoped it was the strongest weapon available to the beast because if it wasn't, he didn't dare imagine how worse everything would turn out.

After the screams of horror and pain, he heard a large amount of names being called. The women were calling to their fallen friends in grief or panic, there were too many voices to hear clearly who reacted how.

Emp didn't really know any of them but he now knew how it felt when someone you knew left like that. The fight had only just begun and it was already an heart wrenching disaster for them. He felt really bad for them. Maybe they should just all run away while they still could. On the other hand, he had not witnessed the speed of the creature yet. Was it even possible to run now?

All of this happened in an instant and Emp had a hard time keeping track of this as well as the fight itself.

The beast released a pained grunt because of the arrows in his back and decided to turn around to see the five that had weakly injured it. Tacey and Connie having charged just after the arrows were shot arrived just as it was turning around.

With a loud war cry Tacey swung her axe at it. The creature had balled its fist and swung it carelessly as it turned around. The fist would hit Tacey's side well before the axe cut the chest of the thing.

Connie attempted to intercept the fist by pinning its forearm to its flank with her spear but her plan failed. The spear did pierce its arm but did not slow it down in the least and the shaft of the spear got snapped like a twig.

The fist nonchalantly b.u.mped into Tacey's s.h.i.+eld, brought it against herself and then pushed everything against the crystal cliff with a loud bang and a crack. The shock was so violent that gastric fluids were forced out from her mouth and she vomited all over the monsters hand.

The beast ignored her completely and stared daggers at Joyce and the others standing over it. The girls froze in fear, it was obvious what the beast would do next.

Three other huntresses came from the side opposite from Connie and Tacey as their leader screamed that they needed to get rid of those tentacles. Because of how large the monster really was, there was no choice but to jump at it if they wanted a chance to hit anything worthwhile.

Connie dropped the useless remains of her weapon and Emp did the same with his bow, they each drew a backup sword instead. Emp didn't pickup either of his magic swords because if he did manage to get the tentacle, he feared the black substance would damage them.

The huntresses reached the creature and leaped towards it, weapons raised over their heads. Their opponent reacted by straightening half of itself and used both of its arms on their side to bat them away like annoying flies. All three were hit in midair and spun away screaming.

By doing that, the monster hunched his opposite side further and Connie used the opportunity to take a swing at its neck. She would have aimed for the tentacles but she couldn't reach from where she stood with only her backup sword. The monster only needed to tilt its head and blocked the sword strike with its horn.

The beast reached out the arm it had used to smash Tacey against the wall and made a grabbing motion towards Connie. Emp chose this moment to step right onto its back. It wasn't that tall after all, it was just a small step.

He felt the creatures flesh under his boots, it gave him the impression that the huge bulge on its back was full of liquid, only contained by a thick layer of skin. The whole thing bent under his weight like a soft mattress. He would never be able to keep his balance on top of it but he didn't need to.

Only one sentence ran over and over in his head. Cut them off, cut them off. He sliced the sword close to the base of the tentacle and almost severed it. The reason it wasn't completely cut off was because the black substance was so potent that it melted the sword away before it could finish its job.

Still, what kept the appendage attached couldn't possibly hold it up and the whole thing collapsed in a fountain of black juices. The creature roared from pain, shaking the forest and dizzying those that stood close to it. The black liquid spewed from the wound and flowed freely all over its back as the almost destroyed tentacle trashed wildly. It seemed that the monster was immune to the effects of its own weapon as its skin and fur didn't melt. It only formed layers upon layers of crystal on its back.

With all the black substance flowing out towards his boots and a useless half-melted crystallized sword, Emp had no choice but to retreat and stepped far away. He was very glad he hadn't used either Flame or Ray for this.

The beast gave up on grabbing Connie and expressed vivid anger. She used the moment to sneak up even closer to it and sliced at its crotch. Furious, the thing contorted itself backward, slammed its swollen back against the ground to free up its legs and get rid of the unknown a.s.sailant on his back. Not wasting an instant, it kicked Connie hard before she could back off.

Following a thud, she was sent flying into the crystal tunnel beyond the door and disappeared form the view of everyone.

The thing had been nonchalant before but now that it had been really hurt it apparently decided to get serious. Before it even got itself back up, it immediately sprayed a lot of black liquid from its remaining tentacle towards the outcrop above them before wildly spinning on itself to search for Emp.

The girls up there cried in panic and jumped aside, Joyce even had to throw herself off the cliff to dodge the deathly substance. The huge rock was bisected by the black blade and fell over the cave entrance with a loud boom. With it being half melted, it fused with the gla.s.s floor almost immediately as it solidified into the purple matter. luckily, it didn't entirely block the path inside so Connie would be able to get back out.

Joyce fell close to Tacey and hurt her leg badly, her crossbow bounced on the gla.s.s floor and jumped a bit further. Tacey didn't react, her eyes were closed and she was slumped on the floor, she seemed to have pa.s.sed out after the first hit.

The creature trashed on the ground using that time and finally locked its eyes on Emp who tossed the useless weapon aside to pick a new disposable one.

Another rain of bolts flew from either side of the clearing, about fifteen down from the original thirty. This time around, many dug into its skin because all of its attention had fallen on Emp. Still, it barely hurt it and the monster rose back onto its feet.

"Out of the way! No melee!" The warner called from somewhere behind Emp.

The monster pounced forward towards Emp and he dodged by throwing himself to the side. Before it could adjust its charge, A long crack appeared through the crystal floor as fast as lightning and a huge spike of the same matter broke through it at an angle. The crystal spike was longer and sharper than a spear, it extended from where Emp had stood all the way to the monster. It tried to jump out of the way with inhuman reflexes but still got its leg pierced.

The structure continued to expend and tripped the beast by going completely though its left leg. It roared in pain again and with the spike rising, it got turned around and flipped upside down.

Its four hands scratched at the floor trying to free itself to no avail. While it was stuck, it was the perfect time to attack it.

Connie would have called for an all out attack but she wasn't there. Anyway, there weren't any strong melee fighters remaining in the group. Emp would have to do it for them.

Taking care so as to not be splashed by the black liquid, Emp stepped up behind the creature as it gripped the huge spike with all four of its arms. It was about to try and break the crystal formation.

Wasting no time, Emp sacrificed a second sword to cut off the second tentacle. At the same time, the monster bashed its horned head against the crystal pillar and shattered it. Black juice flew everywhere along with shards of crystal. Emp moved away in a hurry, turning his back to the creature and stepping to the fallen outcrop's side, followed by an intense sizzling sound.

The monster howled yet again from the pain in its leg and the loss of its second tentacle. The sound it made was so bone freezing and malevolent that many huntresses on the side fainted from the shock of hearing it.

The monster gripped the piece of crystal going through its leg and removed it with a sharp gesture. Blood flowed in rivers from the wound but it seemed more angry than pained. Using the spike as a projectile, it threw it towards Jaska who had cast the spell with all of its incredible strength. From where Emp stood, her figure was masked by the fallen rock but the squelch he heard was far from rea.s.suring.

He s.h.i.+vered in worry and the creature turned its head back at him again. He felt true fear but deep down, he knew they could still win somehow. The thing could not use the black liquid anymore, it only had its strength and speed for it.

Emp discarded the newly melted sword and picked a third one form the bag. If things continued like that, he would end up become the best client of the weapon store back in Bêtéclair.

If that was the case, might as well get another bulk purchase discount! He took example from the beast and threw the sword at it with all his strength. Just like the crystal shard moments before, it made the air scream as it cut through it. The monster surprisingly caught it between its huge fingers and threw it back towards him with another angry roar.

Emp felt shocked and just only managed to step to the side before the blade pa.s.sed right through where he was and destroyed itself against the cliff's surface.

The thing slammed the ground in frustration and charged towards him. With the large hole going through its leg, that charge was much slower than the previous one but it was still one of the most scary thing Emp could possibly imagine. After all, he had no idea how to defeat it or even stop its charge. Could he use the large rock to delay it?

A bolt flew from his side and struck the wounded leg of the creature. Joyce had managed to reload her crossbow with a single leg and shot it while still laying on the ground.

It didn't seem to do that much damage but it did manage to slow it down a bit further. The monster ignored her and stayed fixated on Emp who retreated behind the boulder. That rock was just a bit smaller than the beast and fused into the ground but only the bottom part was made of gla.s.s-crystal. Would an ordinary rock be able to stop that thing?

Maybe if he used the solidify spell, either he tried it or he ran away. The monster would not be defeated by a rock but it could possibly create an opportunity for him. This was the kind of idea Brenia would never have.

Emp rammed his hand into his bag looking for the rock in the instants he had before the creature reached him. He got hold of it and got it out of his bag to discover it was a piece of crystal instead. No matter, it might be even better, he didn't have the time to think about it.

He placed his right palm against the rock in front of him held the crystal in the right position to cast the spell. Almost as soon as he did, he saw the head of the creature show up above the rock. It was distorted in anger with all its fangs showing up in a snarl. There was a stick up its nose! Some sort of shaft? An arrow maybe?

He was so absorbed by the strange sight, he almost missed how the monster was drawing back its arm for a punch. He had been right, the thing would try to pulverize the bolder with him behind.

"Hold together solid!"

He hurriedly called in the magic language. Like in his spar previously, the spell only lasted an instant but that instant was critical.

The monster had put its own weight and anger behind the punch. Its fist collided with the rock with tremendous power and an atrocious crack.

Its fist dug into the rock and shattered part of it but didn't manage to break through entirely. Fissures spread through the boulder but it was its hand that sustained the most damage. Its fingers were all mangled, the bones throughout its hand must have been broken down into tiny pieces. (1)

The thing took a step back while holding its fist with its three other hands, visibly pained. Before Emp could act on it, a new wave of bolts came at it and stuck into its arms. Then, a ball of crystal the size of a horse came flying from nowhere and smacked the monster right in the back of the head. This meant that Jaska was Fine.

The boulder shattered against its horns but the heavy chock still made it collapse forward. At this point, any sane creature would have fled but not this one, unnameables of chaos never fled, they always fought crazily until the very end. He was about to go around the boulder to charge at it again when a voice called from behind him.

"Young master, I need a spare weapon."

Connie had crawled back out of the cave. She didn't look so good but somehow held herself up. He didn't think she would be of much use in her state but he granted her wish anyway and threw her his own spear.

She gave him a ferocious smile and walked to the other side of the large rock. By that time, the beast was already getting back up with insanity swirling in its eyes.

"Get up there and strike with me, can you do it?"

"What the plan exactly?"

"Let him charge at us!"

"That's not a plan!"

However, she didn't hear his misgivings with her plan as the beast made another lour roar and came toward them again.

"That's right, come here you sack of s.h.i.+t!"

The next few things all happened in the blink of an eye.

Connie readied the spear by wedging it at the bottom of the huge rock and Emp got up the boulder with a step.

The monster tried to simply bat the spear away from him but Connie moved it expertly away from its hand and back in its charging path. Meanwhile Emp got Ray out of his bag and s.h.i.+ned the powerful light at the monster.

The thing squinted and lost track of the spear which was driven into its throat with the strength of its own charge. The power of it and the resistance of its skin was too much for the spear and snapped it in two right after it drew some blood.

The monster, confused by the light and the sudden pain in its neck missed its initial attack and Emp trusted his sword towards its face. He was too far to hit but was he really? The monster was right there. He could feel it in his bones, those were the final moments of the fight, he only had to break into its head with Marcy's blade and everything would be over.

All his good spirit left him when his sword clashed against its huge horns instead. The thing had turned its head to escape the light!

Three large hands darted forward, one grabbed the left arm of Connie, one grabbed his own leg and the last slapped his sword away.

Of course, he was holding his blade correctly and did his best to not lose it but that hit was powerful. The shock was so strong he felt as if his arm would be torn off. Everything went numb instantly as his armor was destroyed and the sword left his hand to run away by itself.

Then, intense pain spread through his arm with a second of delay. The pain paled in comparison to the horror of the situation he was facing.

The neck injury on the monster wasn't a fatal blow, it was off center and didn't hit anything important. They had failed!

The monster lifted him by the leg and dangled him upside down in front of its face. At his side, Connie was similarly dangling by her arm. She attempted to deliver some kicks into the face of the monster but it was all futile.

"Boss!" "Connie!" The others screamed.

They were dragged an inch away from its face, purple eyes digging through them like some torturers rusted nail. Emp's head was spinning, he needed to do something now! His left hand fumbled through his bag looking for anything that could help him. The bag wasn't on the right side of his hips but he didn't care, he reached into it anyway. There had to be something to help, there were so many weapons there.

The thing roared again, as if to kill them by intimidation alone, their faces so close from each other that spit flew all over his cheeks. As its screamed, its hands squeezed down on their bodies. Emp felt his armor breakdown and dig into his leg. It was frustratingly the same leg he had injured last year. He heard a great amount of cracking noises but he ignored both them and the literal bone breaking pain. Even the sounds of Connie's pain could not reach him.

He took the first thing that fell into his hand and brought it over the monster's head, thinking of making a last attack on it with it. What he brought out into the light turned out to be his snack, Calla's apple he hadn't eaten yet.

From desperation and pain, he crushed the apple between his fingers. Its sweet and tender flesh broke apart and spilled juice all over the face of the monster. The acidic juice of Calla's gift burned the purple eyes and the monster brought its third valid hand up to its eyes to protect them, delaying their demise by a single instant.

A few more bolts flew at the creature but nothing seemed to matter. Only the arrow in his nostril seemed to have gone deep, like a nail into wood.

A thought flashed through his mind. Hammer it down! Quick!

He got the Thunder-chew hammer from the back and swung it with his left arm. He was upside down and it wasn't his dominant arm but he was so close it was impossible to miss. What's more, the thing was hiding its own eyes, no way it would dodge this time!

"Ahhhh!"

The hammer struck the nose of the creature, squas.h.i.+ng it against its face. It's flesh rippled, the arrow was driven much deeper into its head before snapping from the excess strength.

Its whole body went stiff for an instant before it threw all its arms in the air. Emp had no idea what sort of reaction that was but he didn't have the luxury of thinking about it.

The whole world spun around him and he felt all his organs go up into his chest. He was neither able to hold on to the hammer or his sense of where was up or down.

With its eyes wide, the monster fell on its back and both Emp and Connie were slammed against the ground above it. Emp felt all the air in his lungs leave him and he was left panting and gasping.

Then, he saw Tacey. He had no idea when she had gotten back up but she had. She raised her axe far above her head and with a scream, drove it into the neck of the monster tras.h.i.+ng on the ground.

Then, she collapsed on top of it as if all strength had left her.

There was a final spasm where Emp felt his leg be squeezed like the apple and then finally, the creature ceased all movements. Now, he could focus on the pain.

***

(1) It's a bit like punching through a cardboard panel only to realize there was a brick wall just behind it. You think it's going to be very satisfying but then its very painful instead.