Chapter 56: Horsing Around
[Horsedra - Level 7 Demon]
It would have been amusing if it weren’t mildly terrifying. To reiterate, I grew up in the suburbs before moving to the big city at a young age: before this, the largest animal I’d ever had charging in my general direction was someone’s angry dachshund. Even Harvey didn’t try to take the charge head on, and I was pretty sure he had a substantial head start on me in terms of physicality. Instead, he waited just long enough for the demonic thoroughbred to commit to the charge, before vanishing.
The Horsedra struck a humanoid shaped shadow, one that did very little to slow it down, while Harvey reappeared behind it, sword raised for a deadly downward stroke. Against an ordinary horse, that would have been the end of matters, as even if Harvey didn’t kill it outright, the subsequent mobility kill would have still sealed the deal. But, because good people didn’t get nice things in Frontier, the Horsedra dug its front legs deep into the ground, shedding the entirety of its momentum in an instant and snapping a kick back to meet his sword.
Harvey turned to shadow again, this time reappearing by my side. He was breathing heavily now, a faint sheen of sweat covering his brow; clearly, whatever he was using to cheat death carried a heavy cost in stamina, because he’d barely taken six steps from my perspective. It was still the right choice, I reflected with a wince, as I watched the broken fragments of what was once Harvey’s sword sail off into the distance: there was no surviving that much force.
“Ideas?” I asked, as the enemy pulled its front hooves out of the ground, one at a time, turning to face us once more.
“Wear it down from a distance,“ Harvey ordered at once, crossing his arms with his hands in his sleeves.
They came back out with a pair of heavy throwing knives, making his weapon of choice crystal clear.
[2 Gilt withdrawn.]
I didn’t have anything quite as nice, but that was fine too, because I didn’t need to inflict large wounds; any would would do, so long as it triggered the effect of Death and Taxes. When the Horsedra charged again, it maintained focus on Harvey, and for once I was happy not to be the centre of attention. His knives flew, one after the other, aimed low at the legs. One missed, sliding just below an upraised fetlock, while the other buried itself in the Horsedra’s thigh, drawing a whinny of pain from one head, a roar of anger from another, and grim focus on the middle head, one that kept the whole disciplined, even if its charge faltered thanks to the wound on its flank.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
My coins didn’t have that same degree of penetrative power, so I was forced to be more precise, targeting the eyes, which were thankfully quite large: some of the biggest of any land mammal, a small part of my brain reminded me, drawing from ancient memories of days spent browsing Wikipedia. That said, largest was a relative term, and they were only two inches across, so I had to time it carefully. I was staring at the enemy’s eyes of course, to perfect my aim, which gave me an extra second of water as they burned bright crimson, and three mouths opened. Normally, I’d have been happy to hear facts straight from the horse’s mouth, but the delivery this time was far less desirable, because apparently the name wasn’t for sure, and the Horsedra had breath weapons in reserve.
I still threw my coins, because in that instant when flames ignited in three enemy maws, it was also locked on a firing trajectory and thus couldn’t dodge in turn. With an immobile enemy before me, my aim was true, and my twofold coins put out two of its eyes, both on the middle head.
[30 XP gained, because we all love a bit of eye scream.]
Sadly, it still had four in reserve, making it far less crippling than it would be on a normal opponent, even as Death and Taxes activated, spreading necrotic rot down the middle head. Then, the enemy exhaled, and fiery death was upon me. Three heads, three fireballs, travelling fast enough to close the distance in an instant. One went for Harvey, one flew completely wide after I blinded the shooter, and one final ball of white hot flame was coming for my life. There was no time left to dodge, not after I sacrificed that to take my own shot, so I was forced to improvise.
[Cheese Wheel Withdrawn.
Bag of Oatmeal Withdrawn.
Dirt Withdrawn.]
The cheese wheel went first, taking the direct hit and turning to ash, but earthing the majority of the momentum behind the fireball. The rest went into the oatmeal, which was a bag in the old sense; not the hundred gram bags found in modern supermarkets, but an entire sack the size of my abdomen that would take two grown men to comfortably carry. Finally, a thin wall made up of dirt in front of me, to catch any stray embers before they landed on my clothing. All told, it was definitely a spur of the moment formation, one that was only missing the kitchen sink, but it worked, and it’s not stupid if it works.
I turned to my left, to see how Harvey was doing, to find him on fire. Only, he wasn’t rolling around on the floor, screaming in agony, so I suspected that not all was as it seemed. That belief was validated a moment later, when the Horsedra also caught on fire, and proved quite vulnerable to its own weapon of choice. Most of the middle head was already gone, thanks to my necrotic talents, and now it was suffering from burns all along its surface. Surely, I thought to myself, the Horsedra was on its last legs, and it was. Too bad that meant one final surprise for the two of us as well.