"Judging by my experience and knowledge," Eliza said, "it is at least a Feral Horror, and at the very most a Beast Fiend."
’A very good observation,’ I thought, impressed despite the cold dread still sitting heavy in my chest.
"Do any of you want to deal with it?"
Theodore and Arthur exchanged a look, then both turned toward Moynukz, then back toward Eliza. Neither of them said a word.
Mary still showed her expressionless face.
Eliza sighed, the sound carrying more exhaustion than irritation. "Alright. I will deal with it."
’Should I fight it? No. I am not experienced enough. These people have all put in real hours with real weapons. The only time I have ever actually killed something with a blade was in a video game, on a screen, with a controller in my hands and absolutely nothing at stake!’
She took a step forward, spinning both axes in a slow arc, mud squelching beneath her boots.
[Quest Activated!]
[Quest: Defeat The Beast Flesh: Moynukz]
[Reward: 55 Plot Points]
[Failure Would Result In Death]
[Time: 25 Minutes]
’What the f*ck!’
The words left me before I had fully finished thinking them, "I will deal with it!"
Arthur, Mary, and Theodore all turned toward me at once, surprise plain on every face.
Eliza paused mid-step. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, Captain!"
She studied me for a moment, then let out a short, low chuckle and waved me forward with one axe.
’You can do this. You have an Awakened sword, an Awakened glove, and a bloody System behind you. Maybe even plot armor, if the universe is feeling generous today.’
I had half expected someone to say something encouraging on my way past them. Nobody did. I found, oddly, that I preferred the silence.
Moynukz dragged itself toward me, mud sucking wetly around each footfall, another shriek tearing loose from its throat as it closed the distance.
’Crap!’
That was the only thought in my head as I threw myself backward, Moynukz’s claw snapped shut in the exact space my face had occupied a heartbeat earlier. The serrated edges came together with a sound like a door slamming, close enough that I felt the wind of it against my cheek, close enough to see mud still clinging wet and dark to the jagged ridges of the pincer.
I hit the ground hard, landing flat on my back. The bad news was that I was now sprawled in the mud with the second claw still hanging somewhere above me, and no obvious way to put distance between myself and it. The good news was—nothing.
I rolled sideways on instinct.
The second claw came down exactly where I had been lying, the impact sent a shudder through the ground. If I had hesitated even half a second longer, that blow would have caved in my chest.
I scrambled to my feet just as the first claw swept sideways in a wide, horizontal arc. There was no time to dodge properly, so instead of trying, I raised my sword and let the claw collide with the flat of the blade, bracing with everything my arms had.
The impact threw me clean off my feet.
I sailed backward through the air, shoulder screaming, and hit the mud again, this time rolling with the momentum instead of fighting it, the same way Draeus had drilled into all of us during sparring: tuck and roll rather than let the fall break something important.
I came up on one knee, breathing hard, sword still somehow in my hand.
’At least that put some distance between us.’
Moynukz lowered its head and shrieked again, and this time I forced myself to actually study it rather than simply react.
’It has armored scaled covering his body.’
The armored scales covered almost every part of its body, thick and overlapping, dark with mud, but along the underside of its jaw and around each of its five glassy eyes, the plating simply stopped. Nothing there but soft, exposed flesh.
’That is the only place a blade will actually mean anything.’
The problem was distance. My sword was short. Its reach, between the claws and that horrible overlong neck, was not. Getting close enough to actually reach that soft, unarmored spot around its eyes meant getting close enough for either claw to end me in a single strike.
I did not have a better plan than that anyway.
The claw lashed out again, faster this time, and I was a half second too slow reacting. The edge caught my forearm, tearing through my sleeve, a thin line of pain blooming hot and immediate across the skin beneath. Not deep. Not enough to stop me. But enough to send me stumbling backward into the mud, sword nearly slipping from my grip.
There was no time to recover properly.
Moynukz surged forward, and instead of scrambling away again, I forced myself to stay exactly where I was, sword raised, bracing for the impact I knew was coming.
The claw closed around my raised forearm and shoulder, and pressure slammed down on me all at once, it made my vision blur white at the edges, my ribs screaming in protest as the serrated edges dug in without quite breaking through.
I gritted my teeth and did not let go of the sword.
Moynukz couldn’t fully crush me. Apparently, the layers of my coat had been reinforced—a minor benefit of noble tailoring that Vane’s etiquette lessons had never bothered to mention.
But I also could not pull free. We stayed locked like that for one long, agonizing second, its claw grinding tighter, my own strength barely enough to keep from being folded in half.
Then it drew me toward its open jaw.
’Why does everything in this world want to eat my face specifically.’
I did not fight the motion. I let it pull me closer, closer, until the heat of its breath washed over me and those five glassy eyes filled my entire field of vision.
Eliza saw what was happening and immediately ran towards me and Moynukz.
I put my hand in the pocket and threw the substitution charm in the air, with the snap of my finger I was above Moynukz, in the air.
I willed the glove to life.
Fire roared out from my palm, wrapping the blade in reddish-orange flame, and with the last of the strength left in my crushed arm, I drove the sword forward into the nearest eye.
The blade sank in to the hilt, flame pouring in after it, spreading fast across the unarmored flesh around the socket. Moynukz’s shriek changed instantly, no longer a hunting cry but something raw and wounded, and the pressure crushing my ribs finally, blessedly, began to ease.
I twisted the blade, driving it deeper, and the creature’s claw fell open entirely.
I dropped straight into the mud, gasping, ribs aching with every breath. Moynukz staggered two full steps sideways before its legs simply gave out beneath it, the whole massive body collapsing into the crimson mud with an impact that sent a wave of muck crashing over me all over again.
For a moment, I just lay there, sword still glowing faintly where fire clung stubbornly to the blade, staring up at the moon.
[System Alert]
[Quest Complete: Defeat The Beast Flesh: Moynukz]
[Plot Points Awarded: +55]
[You Have Acquired A New Gift]