Dis, Fred and Gred all tore forward, their hours-long trek not slowing them down in the slightest, for their bodies were sustained with mana. Ethan backed away as far as he could, and watched as the three goblins converged on the thing.
Dis bit down on its leg, and Gred dug his claws into its back and tried to rip out the two enormous chunks of flesh. Lastly, Fred grabbed hold of its right arm and bit down, hard, on the thing’s hand. Only an instant after the attacks landed, though, did the thing burst into action.
Its body split in two, its sides lined with jagged teeth. An arm-sized tongue jerked out of it and grabbed onto Gred, dragging the goblin into its mouth in one move. At the same time, it savagely pounded Dis’ head with its free arm and knocked Fred off of its right with its split head.
Fred was attacking again almost before he hit the ground, but Dis fell to the ground limply. Gred’s arm and a chunk of his shoulder and torso were eaten in a single bite, but Ethan finally acted. Tremendous quantities of mana flooded the summon links, and Dis began to move again as Gred’s flesh began to rapidly grow out again. Fred burst with strength, slamming into the thing’s side with the force of a bull and knocking it to the left, causing Gred to slip out of the thing’s tongue and, for the most part, out of its mouth- aside from his leg, which was chomped off a moment later and regrown the next.
Ethan reached into his pocket and gripped the Mana Orb, using its power to stand in for his own, which was being drained incredibly rapidly.
‘I can only do this for… twenty seconds, max.’ Ethan thought, as the goblins and the freakish creature continued to fight. The goblins continuously incurred grievous wounds, but all of them just barely managed to save themselves from instantaneous death- and as long as they survived, they healed in mere moments.
The issue was that, while the goblins were holding up, the creature wasn’t incurring any serious damage. Chunks of flesh were torn out of its body and deep gouges ran throughout, but no blood left its body, and it fought with the same strength and hatred as before.
“Use your weapons!” Ethan shouted at the goblins, despising his past self for telling them to save the fragile weapons until he ordered them to do otherwise.
Fred was the first to respond, as the other two were still caught in the scuffle and he had the weapon on him. The goblin drew it from where it hung on his loincloth, and then leapt into the air.
The jagged metal spike that adorned Fred’s Shardtree branch slammed into the right side’s head, and then… all hell broke loose.
Both sides of the split body screamed at once, their scream piercing- literally. His ears rang, and he felt something hot dripping down them. It affected the goblins even worse, due to their sensitive hearing and closer proximity.
Gred was caught by its snake-like tongue again, and was yanked into its mouth. This time, though, it left nothing up for chance, as it moved the goblin in order to bite down on its head.
Just before Ethan felt the summon link snap, he received the sensation of having his head torn off and consumed, just like Gred had, and it took everything in him not to vomit.
There was an upside to everything, though.
‘It only moves its tongue or body- never both at the same time. Its right head is barely moving now, too.’ Ethan realized. He shoved the information through their summon link, as well as orders.
“I’m going to lower the influx of mana you’re being sent, so stop fighting so stupidly. Use your weapons, and fight to stall while I flee. Try not to die, and if one of you gets grabbed by its tongue, the other must attack. Aim for the left head.” The message was long, and it took Ethan a moment to infuse the complex intent into his mana and send it down the summon link.
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He wasted no time in escaping. The pounds of adrenaline running through him pushed his exhausted body into a sprint towards where Cred and Alyssa were- which wasn’t far, now that he concentrated on the goblin’s position- twenty yards or so.
Ethan ducked behind a tree and reached for Gadget… but the dog wasn’t behind the tree that Fred had left him at.
‘Fuck,’ Ethan thought, whirling around to face the abomination, but utter terror was all that met him. The creature only paid peripheral attention to the goblins as it charged towards him at a speed a being so wounded shouldn’t have been capable of.
“KILL THE SUMMONER!” The left side of the creature’s head screamed the moment it was noticed, and the right side groaned in agreement. It was only ten feet away, and it lunged to close the final short distance. He screamed at his body to move, but it remained frozen in place. Seconds seemed to pass as he watched, mortified, as his death came closer and closer.
…And then, Gadget slammed into the abomination from out of nowhere, with the speed and power of a vehicle. The thing’s thin and long maw full of razor-sharp teeth had been so close that, when it jerked to the right, shallow cuts were left on his neck.
It and Gadget slammed into a thick tree, the sickening sound of snapping bones resounding like the gong of a temple’s bell.
Fred and Dis were still feet away, having been far slower than the abomination without the tons of mana flowing into them, and Ethan’s instincts screamed that Gadget’s life was in mortal danger as the creature let out another scream- this one not as piercing, but filled with rage and agony. One of its crooked, lanky limbs grabbed at Gadget’s limp form, and then…
Its hand grasped something green.
∑
Alyssa froze when she saw the horrible abomination flying through the air towards Ethan’s throat, and she watched in awe when it was flung twenty feet away, into the tree. Her mind was blank, the situation too much to process quickly, but the same hadn’t applied to her guide. It tore forward with impossible haste, and only after it had crossed half the distance between her and it did she notice what had caused it- Ethan’s dog, Gadget, and the abomination’s mangled limb moving towards the defenseless animal.
Her body finally began to move, even before it received orders from her mind. Mana flooded through her body and, in three steps, she was halfway there… but still too slow.
‘Gadget’s going to die,’ The shockingly clear thought scared her deeply. Cred was still feet away from the animal, and its hand was closing on Gadget’s neck…
But Cred suddenly burst with power, crossing the last few feet in the time it’d take her to blink. Its hand closed not on Gadget’s neck, but on the tiny goblin’s head, and an expression of horrible rage overtook its left face, as it clenched down with all its might, and the goblin burst apart.
Before it could even try to grab Gadget again, Alyssa was there. Her fist slammed into the split body’s left head, and it exploded with gore. She struggled to hold back her flames, so as not to destroy the dog, but she luckily didn’t have to for long, as Fred grabbed the animal and ran with everything he had. Luckily, Dis stayed back, likely on Ethan’s orders, and she finally released her grip on her mana.
The abomination exploded into flames, and she was engulfed in horrible agony.
∑
You have slain a Cleftfiend.
You have gained a level.
You have gained a level.
You have gained a level.
For slaying an Abomination, you are offered: 0.5 Strength. Deadline for declination: 5 hours.
Ethan hardly paid any attention to the text in his mind as he hobbled towards Fred, who was clinging onto the limp dog like his life depended on it.
‘Fuck. He better be okay… please, Gadget…’
Ethan tore the dog from the goblin’s arms the moment that he could, laying the dog on the ground and pressing his ears against his chest. He heard a beating heart, but no breathing. Fear clutched his heart, but an eons-long second later, Gadget took a shallow breath. Ethan looked the dog all over, but none of his limbs were blatantly broken.
With an impossibly relieved sigh, Ethan carefully hugged the dog as carefully as he could, before finally releasing him and sitting back.