At Max’s aggression, the beast snarled and huffed through its large nostrils, specks of slimy snot spraying onto the grass.
It was ten times bigger than Max, and it knew it. There wasn’t a morsel of fear in any of its eyes.
Max wondered what would happen if this beast did kill him. Would he be ripped apart and ravaged? Or would his lifeless carcass burst into blue particles and leave behind a trimmed and neatly prepared butcher’s joint of human meat for the creature to feast on, similar to what had happened to his little friend?
Either way, Max felt oddly calm about it. No more dragging himself to the office every morning to be verbally abused on the phone. No more having to admit to family members that he still didn’t have a girlfriend. No more letters from his landlord telling him his rent was increasing for the fourth time in a year.
Though he was fired up, he was strangely at peace with the idea of dying.
Being mauled to death fighting a monster in a forest? It sure beat the slow descent into ill health he was destined for otherwise.
“I’m not afraid of you,” Max said, giving the beast a smirk. “Give me all you’ve got.”
This taunt seemed to tip it over the edge. With a guttural growl, it kicked off from its thick back legs and charged.
Max was gripping the spear so tightly he wouldn’t have been surprised if his hand suddenly started bleeding.
Go for the neck, he told himself. Jab the spear straight into the right side of it.
But as he focused on the creature’s jugular, a new bit of text above its head distracted him:
Triocular Hornback
A green bar had also appeared beside it, along with the number 120. It looked like the kind of enemy name and health bar usually found above the heads of enemies in video games.
The hornback was almost upon him, getting closer and closer by the second.
As it reached him, it opened its massive, fang-filled jaw and pounced.
Now, Max ordered internally.
He dived to his right and drove the spear with all the force he could muster at a bulging vein on the creature’s neck, but it missed the mark and ended up in its right shoulder. The resistance of the beast’s leathery skin was greater than he had expected, but the spear did pierce it.
The problem was, it had gotten stuck.
In the split second Max had available, he tried to yank it out, but as the force of momentum of the beast’s charging pulled on it, it slipped out of his grip and was carried away, protruding out of its shoulder.
A red bit of text flashed to the left of the hornback’s head:
-5 HP
Max also noticed that a little chunk of the green bar above the creature’s head had been chipped away, revealing a translucent area, and the number now read 115.
This really was like a video game.
Even though he had only done 5 points of damage and he had lost the spear in the process, he couldn’t help but cheer internally. The beast had made its first attack, and Max was the one who had come out on top; inflicting damage while remaining unscathed himself.
“Take that, you twat!” he called.
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The beast skidded to a halt and turned back to locate Max, rage burning behind each of its three eyes.
It was going to charge again. But it seemed like it was going for a different tactic. It was lowering its head. It wasn’t going to use its teeth this time; it was going to attempt to use the deadly-looking horn sticking out of the top of its head.
Max needed that spear back in his possession. But how was he going to get it? He would have to let the beast charge at him again and try to yank it out with greater force. He now wished he’d at least sacrificed one or two of his takeaway and gaming sessions for a session in the gym.
It didn’t matter. He knew he had the strength deep down somewhere.
Defiantly, he stood, glaring at the beast as it readied itself for a second charge.
“Come at me,” he said under his breath.
The creature charged with even more ferocity than before, destroying the grass beneath its stampeding paws.
As it reached him, Max threw himself out of the way of the approaching horn and wrapped both his hands tightly around the protruding spear.
He was hoping the force of him going in the opposite direction to the beast would have been enough to pull it out of the hide, but it wasn’t. Instead, Max was yanked backwards and dragged along with the beast as it continued to charge.
Desperately, he clung to the spear, not wanting to lose his grip on it for a second time.
But then something happened that he hadn’t anticipated.
The spear snapped, breaking in half. Max hit the grass heavily, holding just the ragged hilt of the spear, while the remaining head of it went racing away still sticking out of the beast’s shoulder.
Max held up the spear’s hilt in front of him, and a new piece of text appeared above it.
Broken Crude Spear
Attack: 2
“Crap,” he said.
The beast still had 115 out of 120 health points. He had been pushing his luck thinking he was going to be able to defeat it using a spear with an attack of 5, never mind something with an attack of just 2.
He had to think of another plan. And he had to think of one quickly. After two failed attempts at charging Max, the beast was fuming, and was writhing around wildly like a bucking bronco.
At the thought of a bucking bronco, Max considered something. Could he get on top of the creature’s back? It didn’t have a particularly long neck, meaning it wouldn’t be able to reach around and bite him if he were riding it. And its legs were too thick and rigid to reach up and claw him off.
The only obstacle in his way were the horns running down its spine. There was only a small gap between each of the four, and they looked far sharper and deadlier than the spear.
Wait, he thought.
If the spear could snap in half, what was to say those horns couldn’t break as well?
Max didn’t yet know the rules of this strange universe he seemed to have woken up in, but with no better ideas coming to mind, he decided it was worth a try.
As the creature continued to go wild with rage, trying to locate Max, Max set his eyes on the nearest tree. It was time to put his childhood of climbing trees with his brother into action.
Without hesitating, he grabbed a low-hanging branch and pulled himself up high enough to catch a foothold in one of the tree’s thicker forks.
Geez, that took more effort than it used to, he thought.
It also didn’t help that he was still stuck in his office shirt, trousers, and smart shoes.
Taking a hold of another branch higher up, he ascended into a thicket of leaves, balancing on a branch that was just sturdy enough to hold his weight.
He looked down. The beast had seen what he was doing, and was heading for the base of the tree with its head down. It was going to ram the trunk to shake him out, and given its size and the force with which it was charging, it would probably succeed.
Max knew he only had one chance to get this right. With the creature’s back hunched over for the charge, he’d need to dive into the space between the 2nd and 3rd horns.
Not wanting to end up riding the beast the wrong way around, he shifted his feet on the branch, reversing his position so that he was facing the same direction as the rampaging monstrosity beneath him.
And then it collided.
The force was enough to crack the branch Max was perched on and send him free-falling.
But he had positioned himself correctly.
With not an inch to spare, he managed to land with a thump into the gap between the horns, and grab a hold of the one in front of him to steady himself.
The texture of it beneath his fingers felt rough, but it also felt hollow. Did he have the strength to break it off?
As the creature beneath him snarled and tried to shake him off, Max gripped the horn tightly and tried to yank it to the right. It didn’t snap, but he was sure he felt the slightest of cracks form in its base.
Avoiding a second attempt to throw him off, Max sharply yanked the horn to the left, and this time it snapped.
His plan had worked.
He held the horn tightly with his right hand in front of him, and steadied himself by leaning forward and grabbing a hold of the next available horn with his left hand.
Severed Hornback Horn
Attack: 25
Haha! Max celebrated inwardly. Now that’s more like it!
As the beast writhed even more violently, trying with all its might to throw Max off, and almost managing it, Max knew he had to take this opportunity to do as much damage as he possibly could.
His initial instinct was to simply drive it into the creature’s side, but then he realised that he was within striking distance of something much more interesting.
“Oh, you are not going to like this,” he said with a smirk, and drew his arm back, the tip of the beast’s own severed horn pointing directly at its right eyeball.