I quickly weighed up my options. The shadow foal that I’d watched feeding the stallion had returned its attention to the stricken raid party, and had only just begun attacking his latest victim (yet another generic-looking barbarian, this one with skulls on his shoulder pads and a lion’s head garishly tattooed over his chest). I had no discernible way to read the barbarians HP (or none I was yet aware of, at any rate), but I had to assume that having been freshly targeted, the player was in less danger than the two warriors who’d been under sustained attack throughout. One of the victims was a long-robed wizard-like character, and the other a shaven-headed barbarian gripping two bone-like axes. Off the two, the bearded spellcaster looked to be in a much more critical condition, his robes were soaked in blood from multiple wounds, all caused by the shadow foal’s razor-like teeth. Deciding that this was my damsel-to-be, I promptly charged at his attacker from its blind spot, driving my sword deep into its muscular exposed back.

-[ You stabbed the shadow foal for -30 HP damage. ]-

-30, eh? Now that’s more like it. Of course, it would help if I knew how much HP the damn thing had to begin with.

The beast howled and thrashed but I pressed the attack, twisting the blade in the hope of inflicting further damage.

-[ You wounded the shadow foal for -12 HP damage. ]-

Bingo. The monster continued to screech, and I made to twist the blade further, hoping to drive it deeper as I drilled through the creature’s flesh. But with another violent thrash, it broke free, almost twisting my sword from my hands in the process. I recomposed myself quickly, but the shadow foal was already locking its gaze onto me. Shit. Now facing the creature head-on, and feeling much less the braver for it, I panicked. The creature snarled, then sprung at me. As I fell back, I selected my pilfered cryo-grenade from my inventory and tossed the item into the leaping mob’s face with all my might. A translucent layer of blue crystal began to form around its skin, freezing it in place.

“Let’s see how you like it, eh?” I goaded. The creature was now completely vulnerable, so I quickly got back to my feet, lunging forward and slashing my blade across its ugly, vulnerable face.

-[ You wounded the shadow foal for -10 HP damage. ]-

I would have liked nothing better than to merrily hack away at the ugly asshole until it finally fell, but that wasn’t my mission. Other members of the raid party were still being casually worn down behind me. The wizard had been spared, for now at least, so it was time for me to move on, and worry about the inevitable defrost when the time came.

I studied the two frenzied mobs as they systematically hacked into their chosen prey. They were alternating between tail-thrusts and gruesome bite-attacks, oblivious to everything else around them. If my previous attack was anything to go by, I had no hope of felling the frenzied beasts with a critical hit. The frozen foal would have been perfect test subject upon which to search for a weak spot, if I had the luxury of time that such a trial and error approach would require. But that wasn’t an option. And just running at the creatures madly slashing at their backs wasn’t enough. I had to fight smarter.

As before, I charged the next mob, this time using the element of surprise to make a wide arcing slash at its spindly legs, severing three of the four from its left-hand side for a total of 60HP. As anticipated, the creature let out an unholy screech. it almost toppled before writing itself.

Damn. So close, I thought to myself.

I’d hoped to sever all four, robbing the creature of its mobility, but it just about maintained its poise. Severely hobbled, the foal turned its attention upon me, trying its best to attack in awkward limping lunges. I parried its tail, twisted my body, and through my entire weight against its side, putting everything I had into tipping the beast over. My actions were rewarded with a satisfying crack as the final leg gave way, bent in a direction it hadn’t been designed for, unable to support the combined burden of the creature’s weight and my own pressure. Unsatisfied with the 20HP worth of damage to the mob’s broken limb, I readied my sword, leaping to my feet. The beast thrashed on the cold dungeon floor, howling in pain. Its wails only intensified as I drove my blade deep into its exposed belly.

-[ You severely wounded the shadow foal for -50 HP damage. ]-

“Why won’t the fuckers die?” I gasped, wiping my brow. Again, I wished more than anything that I could see the creatures max HP. For all I knew, it could be one more sword strike away from death. But it could just as easily have HP in the hundreds, and time spent carving away its remaining HP was just extra time for the remaining foal to murder the other barbarian. Hell, for all I knew, he was dead already, and the creature had moved onto another. Like it or not, I had to continue to move on.

I quickly discovered that the third mob had indeed moved onto another opponent. Unfortunately, I discovered this the hard way, as the frenzied beast came crashing into me, throwing me off my feet and sending me tumbling across the room.

-[ Shadow foal charges you for -30 HP damage. ]-

-30? Shit, that’s over a third of my max HP. I seriously need to level up my resilience.

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I dragged my partially dazed head to face in my attacker’s direction. I guess it couldn’t listen to its siblings’ howls of pain any longer and decided to lend a hand. Or, you know, a few legs. I could also see its original target (the bone-axe wielding barbarian) frozen in the distance behind it. He was awash in blood, his lion tattoo barely visible underneath a crimson layer of his own gore. But he was still standing, and that meant I’d done my job. Just like the quest asked, I’d delayed his impending death. Now I just had to worry about my own.

Suddenly concerned that the parent creature may possess the same inclination toward rescue as my attacker, I quickly clocked the boss lurking to the side of the room. To my relief, it had no interest in intervening and continued to stare intently at the gun mage. I had no idea why it found the player so damn fascinating, but whatever the reason, I was glad of the distraction.

Alas, that distraction only led to my own, as the remaining foal followed up its attack by sprinting towards me, pinning me down with its front legs and biting deep into my vulnerable back.

-[ Shadow foal bites you for -40 HP damage. ]-

-[ Warning, you are under the effect of a bleeding debuff. Effect: you will continue to lose 4HP per minute unless the injury is healed. ]-

I screamed. Down to my last 10HP and in excruciating pain, I tried in vain to pull up my inventory and select the healing potion I had stolen from the barbarian earlier. But I was groggy and the pain was slowing my actions. Before I could select the much-needed item, I was violently yanked to one side, as the shadow foal (still biting deep into my back and side) began violently dragging me toward its master.

Shit. I’ve been tenderized, and now I’m being served up, I fretted.

Pain, unlike anything I’d ever experienced flared through my avatar as the creature mob-handled me. Focusing my will, I fought through it, selecting the ‘miscellaneous items’ tab in my inventory and calling up the stolen healing potion. I grasped it for dear life as the creature dragged me to its master like a bloody offering, discarding me a few feet from its huge grinning head before charging off to fetch dessert.

The creature’s attention had finally shifted from the gun mage because it was now entirely fixed upon me. It lazily leaned in and sniffed my bloody avatar. That tiny hesitation gave me the small window of opportunity I needed. I fumbled at the lid of the bottle, yanking the cork free and downing the potion in one go. A strange sensation washed over me, as my flesh began to knit itself together, and the pains that wracked my body faded away.

-[ You have received a healing buff. Full health restored. ]-

Yeah, for all the good it would do me. I wasn’t certain that my theory (that the boss considered eating a fighter with full hp a waste of XP for its children) was anything more than an attempt to rationalize a mindless beast’s irrational behavior. Its parenting skills were questionable, after all, when you considered how it had happily allowed them to play with the dangerous warriors, not even stepping in to intervene when they got hurt. But even if I was right, I knew I was probably only delaying the inevitable. I perked up a little at my next thought on the matter: hang on, that was a good thing. It was the quest, after all.

The boss seemed uncertain of its next step, its head slowly turning back and forth, splitting its attention between the allegedly fascinating gun mage, and the apparently tasty noob.

Perhaps it had decided that my renewed health made me more trouble than I was currently worth, or maybe my XP theory was on the money. Either way, it howled, then went back to staring at the gun mage. And that threw up a dilemma. I’d bought the wizard some time, and probably done the same for the shaven-headed barbarian. The quest required me to distract all the enemy. Was I seriously expected to intervene on behalf of the gun mage, too?

My heart began to pound when I realized that the last mobile foal was again approaching me. Shit. The howl had been a summons, and the little bastard was on its way back to soften me up again. Without the element of surprise, I was completely outclassed, and it was only a matter of time before the damned thing was tossing me back at its lazy master’s feet. Granted, I could potentially repeat my previous tactic: I still had the bundle of healing herbs that I purchased before I entered, after all. But that strategy was only good for one more go. Beyond that, my odds of survival were looking grim.

Oh well. I’m as good as dead now anyway. For the sake of my quest, I may as well be seen to be attempting to rescue the gun mage.

Yup, it was time to do my good deed for the magical cowboy wannabe. I was going down, but I sure as hell wasn’t going down without a fight.

I charged at the bosses back leg, hoping to glance it hard enough with my blade to get the bastard’s attention, but without slowing my own momentum in the process. A clang rang out as the pitiful strike connected, barely shaving 2HP from my foe. But did the job. I now had the snarling shadow stallion’s undivided attention. Lucky me. I kept running, retreating behind the boss before the smaller mob could pounce on me. But I’d forgotten about the boss’s trump card. That damned scorpion-like tail lashed out at me, sweeping my legs out from under my avatar, sending me crashing to the unforgiving floor. The damage (10HP) was minimal, given the power of my opponent, but the blow had only been intended to stop me in my tracks. I looked up just in time to see a tortured face with a spike protruding from its open mouth come wailing down toward me. Shit!

On instinct I rolled, the stinger scratching my flesh and tearing through my flimsy cloth tunic as it pierced the stone floor I’d lay upon seconds beforehand. The wound was only a scratch, but it was a scratch from a stinger the size of a damn sword, and it robbed me of a further 12HP. I was down to 58HP already, and it hadn’t even hit me properly yet. But at least I was still alive. For now.

I was suddenly distracted by a message in my head…

-[ Quest complete. You have successfully delayed all three enemy combatants, granting the raid party additional time to recover. Reward: 1 rep point. 10 gold. Increased chance of rescue by the raid party. ]-

Damn the distraction. I’d barely registered how narrow my escape had been before realizing that the tail had already drawn back, and it was rushing toward me again. This time, it was coming in at an angle, positioned to follow me if I attempted to dodge. And it was aimed firmly at my chest. With no hope of escape, I tried my best to parry the blow with my sword. But it was futile, the creature was vastly more powerful. The sword shattered, followed by my rib cage.

-[ Shadow stallion impales you for -55 HP damage. ]-

-[ Warning: This is a critical strike. You are under the effect of a bleeding debuff. Effect: you will continue to lose 20HP per minute unless the injury is healed. ]-

And the main problem with that was, I only had a grand total of 3HP left to lose. That said, as I was raised up into the air upon my horrific skewer, I quickly realized that I probably didn’t have a minute left anyway. I was in absolute agony.

From my elevated position, I could see the entire raid party still standing there, frozen as before. I’d bought them extra time, but there was no way of telling when the debuff would wear off. So much for my increased chance of rescue, then. I desperately tried to reach into my inventory, pain crippling my attempts to focus on my status menu as it finally glimmered into view. Blood choked my avatar as I entered the ‘miscellaneous items’ screen. I had one bunch of healing herbs. I prayed it would be enough.

I never reached it. The world abruptly flipped around me as a violent flick of the boss’s tale sent me spinning into the air. And the last thing I felt was the jagged rows of teeth shredding my tender flesh, as the darkness finally consumed me.