Anna dodged the swing of the monster’s claw, spinning and crouching simultaneously. As she completed her spin and faced the shelled monster, she thrust her sword upwards at one of the only unprotected areas it had—its eye openings. Her strike was calculated, years of practice behind it, killing the monster instantly.
“Aaghh!” she exclaimed. “How many of them are there?” she added as she jerked her sword sideways, removing some of the blood on it.
“Enough that we can’t just talk. Agh!” Alex grunted as a claw closed on his arm.
A fireball flew through the air, striking the monster on the shell covering its face, singeing its eye stalks through the openings. “Pay attention!” Stella yelled, throwing some more fireballs from the top of a bus.
Marcus, wielding Eric’s spear, kept the monsters that ignored the others from climbing the bus and used a modified taser when they got too close. “Duck!” he yelled, throwing a bomb at the gathering crowd.
The four of them were currently fighting four legged crabs that stood upright. Most of their face, was fleshy and protected by chitin that could open and close. The chitin face armor also had two openings from which their stalk-like eyes could peer through. Their only method of attack was their claws, with only some of the monsters having an abnormally larger and stronger one.
Farther down the road from where the others were fighting, Eric landed heavily on the hood of a car. “Unnnh,” he grunted.
A giant diamond-shaped crab approached him with astonishing speed, grabbed his left leg, and swung him forcefully against a nearby SUV, causing Eric to spit blood upon impact. The monster tried to swing him once more, but Eric held the window frame of the SUV firmly. The crab monster increased its strength, and so did Eric, forcing the door open. Eric could feel the monster’s claw dig deeper into his leg and considered letting go, but before he could make a decision, the monster pulled with even greater force, removing the SUV’s door, and pulling them together.
As Eric was swung to the other side, he quickly noticed he would pass in front of the monster’s face. An idea formed. Once the giant crab began to swing him, he quickly chose when to throw the door and let it go. A moment later, the monster recoiled, letting him go.
Eric fell on his side and grunted, “Unh.” He hurried to his feet, faltering as soon as he put weight on his left leg. “What is with you fucks and my legs?! First the barghest and now you!” he exclaimed as he ignored the pain and ran toward the tallest car he found and began to climb it.
The giant crab recovered and frantically searched for Eric. Spotting him climbing a postal office truck, it rushed at him. Eric secured his footing and, after dodging a single swing of the monster’s claw, jumped on top of it, grabbing the monster's eye stalks to keep himself from falling. The crab thrashed violently, trying to throw Eric off its shell and away from its eye stalks.
Eric held firmly to both stalks, he then shifted his body so that both his feet were in front of him, he then yanked on both stalks with as much strength as he could muster, using them as leverage to stand up. The crab thrashed around violently, snapping its claws in the air, unable to reach Eric due to its odd shape. Suddenly, Eric stopped feeling resistance as he pulled, causing him to roll backward and fall atop another car, both eye stalks in hand.
The giant crab started striking at its surroundings, not knowing where its target was. Eric got up hastily, the crab somehow turning to face him. Eric analyzed his situation and noticed that not only did he have no weapon, but he also lacked combat skills. Without hesitation, he ran around the crab and headed toward his friends, the crab following behind.
The monsters that had surrounded the four, were greatly diminished. Anna’s strikes were deadly and precise, often only needing one to kill the monsters, and as long as Alex was aware of their big claw, he could crush their shell with ease. Stella had increased the efficiency of her fireballs, which allowed her to fight from a safe distance even longer. Marcus had improved his bombs even further, being able to immediately kill any monster that was beside it when it exploded.
Their only problem had been the giant crab, who kept getting in the way and was basically resistant to all of their attacks. So, Eric took it upon himself to distract the monster and took it away.
“What’s that?!” Marcus asked loudly.
Stella turned to look at the same thing Marcus was, and after a moment, she shouted. “Hurry! Eric’s coming back." She jumped down from the bus, her fireballs becoming much more precise. “Come on,” she told herself.
Everyone rapidly turned to the direction where Eric had left and saw him running in between cars and dodging random swings.
“What are we supposed to do? We couldn’t hurt it before!” Alex exclaimed as he struck the shell covering the monster’s face with all his might, the impact caving it in.
“I have an idea, but I’m not entirely sure it will work,” Anna said as she finished off the last monster. “I need a bit of time and for none of you to be in front of where I strike.”
“You heard her,” Stella said, readying herself.
Eric’s improved stats allowed him to maintain his stamina effortlessly, so even after a long run, he was merely breathing heavily rather than panting or gasping for air. So, when he returned to where his friends were, he caught the spear that Marcus threw at him, ready to fight.
“What are we doing?” he asked as he walked to stand next to Alex.
“Buy Anna time and don’t get in her way,” Alex answered.
“Got it.”
Soon the giant crab was before them. Stella and Marcus began to throw their respective projectiles at the crab, missing more often than they’d like.
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“What did you do to it?!” Stella exclaimed, unable to ignore how frantic the monster had become. “It won’t stand still!”
“Nothing!” Eric answered loudly, his voice almost drowned out by the sound of destruction. “Just took its eyes!” he added.
“That’s doing something! Get it to stop moving!”
Following Stella’s words, Alex and Eric rushed at the crab and started attacking. Alex focused on breaking the chitin on two of its legs, and Eric focused on stabbing the joints.
The giant crab thrashed about, disoriented and unsure of where to go, following the vibrations caused by movements like Eric's running. Even though it knew where its enemies were, it still couldn’t see them, so its attacks weren’t as dangerous as they should have been. The situation only worsened for the crab as fireballs and electrical bombs started to hit it. The damage it suffered was minimal because of its hard chitin, but it still caused it to be disoriented, losing track of its attackers until they struck once again.
Alex found little luck with his endeavor to break through the monster’s chitin. However, he was quick to realize that he lacked the power to do anything meaningful and shifted his focus toward trying to stop its movement. With few options readily available, he grabbed one of the legs he was attacking previously, in an attempt to keep its focus on him.
Eric, on the other hand, found some success. He eventually broke through the weaker chitin in its joints, forcing it to pull back its leg for fear of further damage. Sadly, for the six-legged crab, two legs were the most it could have out of commission on one side before its balance started to suffer. So, when Eric started to attack one of its hind legs, it instinctively raised it, and all of its weight was put on a single leg. Alex, noticing this, let go of the one he was holding and tackled the struggling leg. The giant crab didn’t fall but struggled to keep itself standing.
“Move!” Stella yelled at the two. “Anna’s moving.”
Since the beginning of the battle, Anna had removed herself from it. Using what her grandfather had taught her, she isolated herself, concentrating entirely on her objective: the moment when she first touched the sword that was left for her as a gift. As she recalled that moment, she was flooded by many things—confusion at the letter, confusion at the dead people, and exhilaration by how right the sword felt in her hand. She pushed through the various emotions, focusing on one sensation: the sharpness that the wind possessed. The ease with which it cut through her immediate surroundings, even injuring Alex.
Anna immersed herself in that sensation, allowing it to envelope her as much as she could. For a moment she felt some danger, but it quickly subsided. She then focused on the edge of her sword, imagining that sharp wind enveloping her blade, her sword slicing through everything. And then it clicked. The sword in her hand remained unchanged, but she was sure that her sword was now sharper than ever before.
She opened her eyes and, while remaining as calm as she could, began to advance, ignoring the noise and chaos occurring before her. As she reached the giant crab, she raised her sword above her head, holding it firmly in a practiced stance, and brought it down on the monster.
Eric retreated immediately upon hearing Stella’s warning that Anna was moving. He observed how she approached the monster at a steady pace, making a clear and visible effort to remain focused. His gaze eventually fell on her blade, and upon noticing that there was something different about it, he felt the anger once again rising from deep within him.
Throughout his entire life, he had only experienced this anger a total of four times, and three of those occurred in the last couple of days. He was becoming increasingly familiar with it, even beginning to distinguish what caused the anger. What he felt now was so intense that he could easily pinpoint the reason, it was disgust, disgust at whatever was enveloping Anna’s sword. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew there was something fundamentally wrong. No, it wasn’t just wrong, it was corrupted.
Clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, Eric struggled to push the anger down, exerting great effort to keep it in check.
Anna’s sword fell, severing part of the crab’s right side, including its claw. Everyone watched in awe as her blade sliced effortlessly through the crab’s chitin—a shell that endured multiple different kinds of attacks that had barely left a scratch. Now, Anna’s sword cut through with no resistance. The giant crab, slow to register its new situation, failed to react to what followed.
As everyone was admiring the act, Eric, struggling to contain the anger, instead redirected it. He lunged at the new wound with a savagery he didn't know he was capable of. Stabbing, yanking, and tearing, he carved out the crab's insides. He drove his spear in over and over until he no longer felt any resistance, easily piercing through any angle. Flesh that got in his way, flesh that he tore with his bare hands, allowing him to stab deeper and deeper. Until finally:
Giant crab +1000 credits.
Eric, breathing heavily and covered in blue blood, raised his head to his friends. “What... now?” he asked them, his heart beating rapidly as he kept Anna away from his line of sight.
“What was that?” Stella asked as she approached, clearly surprised but not as much as the others.
“Nothing, just getting rid of something,” Eric answered, moving away from the giant crab.
She got close and whispered, “Not talking about the crab, are you?”
“No.”
Stella took a deep breath, accepting Eric’s answer. “We’re not that far away from the incursion. This was what? the third patrol we’ve encountered.”
“Fourth,” Marcus corrected, noticing that Stella wanted to shift the topic.
“Right, fourth. And I don’t think any more are coming, look, we can already see the incursion from here,” she said, pointing at an empty dirt field in the distance, where the pillar of light was coming from. “If there’s any more of them, they will see us coming, and we'll see them.”
“Not like we have a choice,” Alex said, moving to help Anna, who was visibly exhausted.
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Anna said, refusing Alex’s help. “He’s right. We don’t have a choice. If what Ratsvalcheck said is true, our best shot is right now.”
“Ratsvalch,” Marcus said, correcting Anna.
“Regardless of whether what he said is true or not, we don’t know enough about these monsters to let them be,” Eric said, the anger gone, now looking at all of them. “We can’t risk them getting a foothold that’s this close.”
“I guess we’re all in agreement then?” Stella asked.
Everyone gave a nod in return.
“Let’s go then.”
----------
David saw the shadow of someone approaching. “What do you need?” he asked as he continued to cut down a tree.
“Just wanted to know if you needed help,” the owner of the shadow asked in a commanding tone.
“Ughh, Diana. What do you want?” David asked, annoyance flooding his words.
“I already told you; I want to help.”
“You sure you don’t just want fuck with me, like you did with Stella? Huh?”
“I already apologized to her for that,” Diana said, her tone the same. “You can’t blame me for being scared in that situation.”
“Nah, that doesn’t excuse your attitude,” David said, turning to face her. “Stella might not care about how you acted, but her friends might.”
Diana shivered a bit, a recent memory coming to mind. “I’m not here to fight. I just want to help.”
David paused, taking a closer look at Diana. “Okay. Go and help with Eric’s cabin,” he said, pointing at it.
“Not that,” she said in a sharp tone.
“Why? Did you do something to him as well?”
“No, it’s just,” Diana hesitated, struggling to form a sentence. How could she explain that she was afraid of him because of a single glance that she received after he fought outside the gym. What’s worse, she was sure that Eric himself was oblivious to the effect he had on her.
“If he hasn’t done anything and you haven’t done anything, then go help with his cabin,” David said firmly. “And if you really don’t want to... just finish before he’s back," he added and turned back to what he was doing.
Diana turned to face Eric’s cabin, which already had people clearing the debris. She clenched her fists and walked forward with her own determination.