The beast’s steps were thunder, each one reverberating through William, a sense of danger tingled up his spine and as if on instinct he dove to the left. The beast’s jaws snapped down on the spot where William had just been standing, causing a ripple of force that shook the air in a wave. A wave that William physically felt wash over him. He didn’t linger however, to freeze was to die. William got to his feet in a heartbeat as the monstrosity began to turn, adjusting it’s momentum. His courage faltered as he could now see the whole width, height, and breadth of the beast. He knew that this was not going to be a quick kill, at least not for him. The beast lunged again, and William darted to the right this time, anticipating that the beast might expect him to go left again. This was confirmed briefly as the beast kicked out to the left as it’s jaws snapped together, and William took the opportunity to deliver a [Mana Investment] imbued [Swift Thrust], to the back of the beast’s neck. William was relieved as he felt the blade tear through the thick meat.
He had hoped to sever some vertebrae, but he had felt the blade hit bone and just glide past it. He knew then that a paralyzing move like that wouldn’t work against his foe. The beast halted and let out a shrill roar, clearly pained but mostly angered. William dashed backwards then, putting space between him and the beast. It didn’t take long however for the beast to close that gap and William was forced to dodge again. He chose to go left again, hoping the beast wasn’t smart enough for pattern recognition. He wasn’t so lucky that time unfortunately, as the beast baited him with another bite and intercepted William with a claw attack. William’s high dexterity most likely saved his life then as he was able to block two of the three razor-sharp claws from ending his existence, but the third managed to tear into his forearm down to the bone.
The force of the impact however, destroyed his buckler and sent him flying back thirty feet until he hit a tree, the air being punched from his lungs. He sputtered and spat up some blood, then saw the bleeding arm; an arm missing one buckler. Only the tattered straps remained. He felt something in his heart ache briefly then, like the loss of a dear comrade. He was drawn from his gloom in an instant as he heard the thunder barreling for him. Getting to his feet once more, he drew one of the Mythril daggers, and hurled it towards the beast. It struck true, the power of [Dagger Toss] combined with the Mythril edge and the momentum of the beast to devastating effect as he saw the left side of its lower jaw get cut clean through, dropping to the ground in a bloody mess. The beast’s momentum kept it going however even as it roared in agony. William did a less than graceful roll to the side, still shook up from the impact and injury he had taken. The beast slammed into the tree and a sickening crunch sounded as the force snapped the other half of its crippled jaw.
William felt a little bit sick from the sight and sound but stood upright again, this time less dazed fortunately. The beast stopped its assault and started to let out a crippled whine of pain. It’s claws were sticking out further now, and it’s eyes assessed William, but it didn’t charge for him again, visibly defensive, like a cornered predator. The two just stared at each other then, both bloodied and on guard. Nothing much happened then for around an hour. William decided to sit down on a nearby log and try to activate the healing and stamina regen function of resting. This was a demonstrably foolhardy act as the beast dashed forward with it’s claws again. He had but a millisecond to dodge and sprint to the other side of the clearing that they found themselves in. The beast had waited for him to drop its guard. “Clever bastard” William thought, giving the beast a disdainful look as it repeated the same act of faux vulnerability. He saw the splintered log that had briefly been his perch underneath the front paw of the beast and winced at the thought of him being the same way if he hadn’t dodged.
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William found himself in an awkward spot. His sword wasn’t strong enough to cut the bones of the beast and he had no clue where the heart would be on the fell creature. His buckler was also gone, a noble sacrifice. He also couldn’t run. The beast was cautious enough not to blindly charge him, but if he turned to flee, he had no illusion that the beast’s speed would eclipse his own and his body would become a tattered mess of bones and bloody pulp underfoot. On a plus side, his arm was starting to knit shut on its own, ever so slightly. Higher Vitality apparently meant higher rates of recovery. It wasn’t anything special, and would take a couple hours to heal. He was tempted to try for more attacks and hopefully use Syphon from his sword to heal the injury, but only one claw had done the injury in the first place. The beast had six paws totaling eighteen claws, each incredibly sharp. He didn’t anticipate coming out of such attempts unscathed.
It took several more minutes of brainstorming before he had a revelation almost causing him to slap himself; he had five more Mythril daggers to use.
William sheathed his sword and pulled two more daggers out. The beast’s eyes widened slightly and it quickly got to its feet charging for William; fiery determination in its eyes.
William threw the two daggers using two uses of [Dagger Toss] at the frontal legs of the beast in response, a move the beast hadn’t anticipated. The two daggers skewered the legs at the knees, causing the beast to slump and slow down slightly, with enough time gained for William to jump out of the way once more. Drawing two more daggers, he slashed at the hind legs at the knees too, the sharpness of a slash from Mythril blades gouging deep into the joints, crippling them. The beast was incredibly slowed from the four damaged legs and roaring more pain, it shuffled away in a crippled motion, accidentally exposing its side for William to draw a final dagger and toss it towards the upper half of the beast’s torso, hoping to hit something important. The dagger hit its mark and plunged to the hilt into the beast, causing the beast to roar, whine, then sputter. Something important had indeed been damaged. William saw the beast slowed tremendously as it leaned on the two middle legs not able to significantly use the front or hind legs any more. He took the opportunity to draw his sword and with enhanced momentum form the Speed runes on his boots, he flew at the beast plunging the blade deep into it’s chest.
The beast tried to dodge but failed, and as it was impaled, it leaped with its two decent legs ten feet into the air, intent on squashing the now disarmed William. With a mad dive and scurry, William threw himself out of the landing zone of the beast as it’s full mass slammed into the ground. William rolled onto his side to assess the scene, and smiled as he saw that the beast was unmoving and wheezing its last breaths, as he felt the Syphon effect had healed his arm. His smile soon faded however, as he saw the ground under them begin to crack and creak, before it started to crumble from where the beast was, dragging it down. William tried to get up in time, but as he went to do so, his footing was swept out from under him as man and beast plummeted into darkness.