Ashley

I pant in exhaustion as I run straight towards the mini boss, dripping sweat along the way. And when I reach the creature’s leg, I aim behind myself and spray a bunch of water while jumping up into the air. Sending myself flying straight to the first marking in the goliath’s leg at about half of the way up its calf.

Something I only feel safe doing now because I’ve paused the livestream.

While I soar through the air, I finally summon forth two blades of energy. Blades that I immediately proceed to stab into goliath to latch onto the monster.

My actions quickly seem to confuse the creature as it wobbles a little bit, the purple light looking a little unsure about where to go. But I ignore that as I furiously climb up towards the joint, unable to fly due to some strange energy in the room weighing me down when I try. And I reach the joint right when the creature’s purple light is beginning to focus on this leg.

And the first thing I do is dismiss one blade before spraying hot water into the joint with my hand partially inside of it. An angle I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish from the ground.

I wince as a bunch of the water splashes on me, burning me more than a little in the process.

Instead of stopping, though, I just continue spraying its joint with hot water until it begins to glow with a faint red light. Even as my own skin blisters around my arm that’s inside of the joint. And after that I quickly switch to cold water, sighing in relief when it splashes onto my arm and rapidly cools it down alongside the stone in the joint.

I would’ve used the flamethrower skill I got to heat it up instead of the water, but with the joint being built as it is, that wouldn’t have worked. Not without completely burning my own arm to cinders, that is.

Even just using the hot water… has my arm blistering with bubbles of blood popping all over the skin.

And it hurts. Like hell.

But I keep spraying the cold water despite the pain it brings from coming into direct contact with my now-red arm, even if the cold is still a little soothing. Because the joint is starting to crack a little.

Only a little, though. And by now, the goliath is starting to raise its foot again.

So I stop spraying and immediately summon another energy blade before stabbing both my blades straight into the joint. Not to damage it, although that is a nice benefit of the action, but to keep myself on its leg as it slams its foot into the ground, sending my lower half flying upwards into the air before slamming into the knee above me.

I grit my teeth as I hear more than a few bones cracking from that, but I manage to keep my grip. Only because the energy blades are connected to me through the energy.

Then the goliath’s leg goes still again, the creature having to recover from the recoil of its own movement as my lower half flops down with very little strength remaining to dangle down the creature’s leg.

While I’m doing this, I feel my wounds very slowly healing. But I’m still gaining more wounds faster than they’re healing. And I can’t help but keep an eye on my health as it rapidly drops down lower and lower. All the way to dangerous levels.

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At this rate I’ll run out of health. And when that happens, goodbye to my regeneration. Other than what Minor Regeneration can handle on its own.

Despite that, I pull out one of my energy blades and repeatedly slash it down on the already cracking joint.

Once. Then twice.

Three times. Four.

Over and over again, all the way till the goliath begins to raise its foot again.

Only for the thing to finally shatter when I slam the blade down one last time, making the rest of the leg continue rising up a little bit as the leg below the knee starts falling back to the ground. And while I’m still clinging onto the upper half of the knee with my other blade, I make sure to begin activating Assimilate. A skill I’ll keep activating whenever it gets close to ending all the way until this battle is finished.

Then I hear a loud roar coming from above me. Likely from the goliath.

And the roar makes me suddenly lose all feeling in my body as I begin falling after the lower leg.

But I’m not the only one who begins to fall, since the goliath is now missing half a limb. Which does wonders to ruin its balance.

So we both fall, with me falling straight onto the creature’s severed lower leg before rolling down, slamming one bone after another against the stone of its leg, and the goliath tipping over like an unbalanced statue. All the way till it slams into the ground and begins cracking all over.

Just like a fallen statue.

But by the time I finally slam into the ground, I can’t feel a single thing in my body. I can’t raise my head, I can’t move, and I can’t feel any pain.

The only thing I can see is a bunch of misplaced bones in the corner of my vision like my arm which seems to be pointing the wrong way, along with the sight of the goliath having fallen to the ground.

Then silence fills the chamber.

A tense silence that fills me with a faint sense of anxiety along with a bunch of questions.

Is the creature dead? If so, where’s my notifications?

Why can’t I feel my body?

The only question I can find an answer to, even if only a very vague one, is how hurt I am. And that one I find the answer to by opening my status and looking at my health bar.

A bar that is completely empty now, making it so that I won’t be healing any more.

Other than Minor Regeneration.

Which is bad, considering that I still see bones out of place and literally sticking out of my skin, briefly making me feel kinda happy I can’t feel anything.

Then that happiness is shattered when all of my feeling returns to me, and I can move again.

“Ooowww…” I groan out loud, only being able to make a very quiet noise due to the pain and feeling a lot of pressure in my chest.

I try to lift my head and succeed a little, albeit with a lot of pain attached to that movement. But it’s worth it as it gives me a view of the goliath’s entire body shining purple as it struggles to lift itself up.

My lips quiver a little bit from both the pain and the realization that it’s not dead yet. Not even with all of the cracks across its massive body.

If there were something else I could’ve done other than this reckless plan, I would’ve taken it. But I couldn’t. There just isn’t anything I can do against this thing without doing something like this.

I just don’t have the strength to damage it without tricks like this. And I was only able to manage this after rapidly depleting my health searching for a weakness on its body that I could reach in time before being thrown off.

Despite my situation, though, I don’t let it shatter me. Instead I open my Skill Tree and rapidly search through all of the skills I currently have unlocked. Searching for something that can save me. Even when I can’t move.

Even when I’m half dead.

The goliath continues to climb up higher and higher, only to slam one of its fists into a nearby wall to balance itself with its missing limb. Then it continues to rise, and I notice its eyes glowing with a pale yellow and bright purple light split half and half in its eyes. But with the yellow part rapidly fading till it’s nothing but purple.

Paralysis. That’s what it was doing to me.

It used some sort of brief temporary paralysis skill on me.

But what about Unchained? Does that not affect paralysis? Or is it because I’m so injured?

Regardless of why, the pain begins to get to me as my vision starts to blur in and out.

I lose my strength to hold my head up, making it fall down to the ground again. But before I lose consciousness, an idea comes to mind.

Right as my vision begins to grow dark, I activate Dark Howl, making my mouth shoot open and let loose a horrific howl.

One that immediately makes the goliath slip right when it’s about to reach its full height again.

Then it comes tumbling down.

Right towards me.

But my vision grows dark before I see it hit the ground.