The Matron and I locked gazes, hers fierce, piercing, like a hawk. Do hawks exist in this world? I mean, wolves must exist in some form or another since the system labeled this creature as a Harpy Wolf, but maybe that’s just what my personal blue screen translates the actual name to? Or are there ‘normal’ animals along with ‘monster’ animals coexisting on this land? Huh. Something to look into for sure. Right after I, you know, survive.

Our staring contest stretched on for what seemed like an eternity. A gust of wind blew a speck of dirt into my eye, making me blink first.

As quick as lightning, the Matron struck. She lunged forward with a screech, throwing out a claw in an attempt to disembowel me in one blow. I threw myself backwards, the claw nearly catching my clothes as it caught the empty air above my contorted figure. Following through with the motion, I turned my dodge into a full backflip, creating some much needed distance.

However, the Matron didn’t stop with just one attack. She launched towards me, her second claw spread open, trying to trap me in its grasp. Noting the position of her front limbs, I made a calculated evasion, bringing myself to the side of her incoming claw, leaving her unable to transition into a third attack. With her defenses wide open, I opted to deal the first true strike. Feet planted, shifting the momentum of my dodge into my upper body, I swung my [Rising Sun] in a two-handed grip right into the Matron’s side.

It was a bad position for a blow, so I did not expect to do more than superficial damage, maybe tear out some chunks of flesh and feathers if anything. Imagine my surprise when my lovely morningstar barely knocked the Matron back a foot or so. What kind of defensive power is this?!

My shock nearly cost me, as the Matron recovered quickly enough to lash out at me once more, this time using her wing membrane for extra reach. I hastily jumped back even further than I did before, taking a moment to reevaluate my opponent. Judging by the feeling I got when my weapon bit her body, I theorized that her feathers were likely as strong as, or maybe stronger than the material of my [Rising Sun]. Also, with such a large figure capable of flight, I should assume that either her bones are just as strong and lightweight or she uses magic to assist in staying airborne, or a mix of both. Glancing attacks, even with my spikes, are not likely to do much here. I should try to hit her as directly as I can, the coat of feathers would somewhat soften the blunt force, but if I could get the spikes to pierce through and then rip out of her, then I would have a fighting chance.

If that doesn’t work, well...I would have to get extra creative earlier than I thought.

The Matron attacked again with a screech, swiping at me from the left then the right. I continued to dodge backwards, leading her off the road and into the surrounding forest. Taking the fight into the more densely packed areas, I used the trees to help block her attacks. The Matron clearly didn’t like this tactic, as she almost rampaged through everything in sight to get to me, shredding the wood regardless of if I was in range or not.

This blasted thing has far more stamina than I do.

“Come on, you oversized chicken-puppy!” I taunted her, hoping she would lose herself.

While she may not have quite understood what I was saying (my language skill does not extend to entities that cannot use spoken words), she certainly got that I was insulting her in some way. A headache inducing screech followed as she started targeting me directly again, shrugging off any obstacles in instead of smashing through them like before. Well, that might have backfired a little. Still, with less destruction going on, I was actually able to start using the terrain to boost my own abilities.

Quickly glancing at the area to memorize the position of the trees, I prepared to strike for real damage. First, I avoided a claw attack with a leap to the side. While in mid air, I activated Double Jump at the cost of 10 Mana, instantly forming a platform under my feet to kick off of to gain more height. Right before I reached the apex of my second jump, I kicked off of the tree that my trajectory had propelled me towards, sending my body through a third jump over the form of the Matron in just a few seconds. I swung my body in a small circle and, with the assistance of gravity, drove my morningstar into the right shoulder of the Harpy Wolf.

As I suspected, the feather coat mitigated the blunt damage significantly, but clearly did not block all of it. The spikes on my weapon were able to dig right in, and I let my body weight help in yanking it the whole thing back out as I fell to the ground. A meaty piece of the Matron’s shoulder joined me.

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If the Matron was loud when she was angry, she was absolutely ear shattering when I ripped out a part of her. She reared up in pain, flailing around with her chest widely exposed.

An idea struck me in that moment. I was not proud of it, but pride means nothing in the face of survival. I was not yet at the point where I would risk taking a hit from one of her claws.

With a mental apology to women everywhere, I rushed forward and smashed my [Rising Sun] into her disturbingly magnificent breasts.

What is more disturbing than lovely human boobs hanging off of a crossbreed between a nightmare chicken and vicious wolf? Lovely human boobs that practically explode in a splatter of blood and flesh right into the face. Thankfully I was able to close my eyes in time to prevent blindness, but ugh, this will be an absolute pain to clean up later.

The Matron’s screams went so high that I could barely hear them anymore, I think her voice actually gave out. Not too surprising, really, considering that her lungs may have been punctured by the multitude of spikes on my weapon, along with her heart.

Just as I was about to tear out my weapon and her rib cage as one, I noticed an immediate change to the feathers on her body. They all stiffened simultaneously, pointing away from her flesh and turning her into a crossbreed between a nightmare chicken, a vicious wolf, and a well endowed hedgehog. The air, heavy with the stench of blood, now filled with the scent of ozone...oh no. No, no, no, no, no. Don’t you dare-

For the umpteenth time today, I threw myself backwards and activated Double Jump, this time in rapid succession, abandoning my weapon inside of the Matron’s dying body. Though I prefer to use this ability only sparingly to conserve mana, my instincts demanded that I created as much distance as possible. Dash was out of the question with no straight path to follow, so I pushed myself to jump almost parallel to the ground to get away. At the last possible second, I used a final Double Jump to get behind a boulder for cover.

It was almost not enough.

CRACK!! BOOM!

I heard the sharp blast of electrical discharge behind me, and felt the impact of dozens of items striking the forest around me. It was over in a single moment. Giving myself a minute to calm down, and to check on my depleted mana, I steadied my breathing and peeked around my boulder shield.

Wow…

The area was littered with dark brown feathers...feathers that were embedded into the ground, the trees, even the rock I was hiding behind. The trees...the feathers didn’t stop at the first or second, but the third layer of trees. There were clear holes in all the rest where they passed through.

I would have been absolutely shredded if I was a couple of seconds slower.

Shaking my head at the near death experience, doubting that it would have been the death I sought, I made my way back towards the now plucked body of the Harpy Wolf Matron. I had to be careful, as the feathers strewn through the ground were still stiff and sharp enough to cut me. It seemed that this was the Matrons final attack, maybe only triggered in or near death. Her body appeared to unleash an electrical burst that shot out her feathers like an omnidirectional railgun.

If I were an outside observer, I would call it awesome.

Actually, if I were an outside observer, I would probably be dead.

Maybe this is why those two archers high tailed it out of the area after they couldn’t stop me from killing the last Harpy Wolf, they knew that even if I killed the Matron they likely would not have survived the aftermath.

They didn’t expect me to be capable either. Oh well.

Drawing close to the body, I saw the handle of my morningstar sticking out from underneath it. I winced, hoping that the weapon was still intact. It really is a good piece of equipment and I hope to be able to use it for a while longer. Slightly holding my breath, I pushed the Matron’s body over to the side and found my wonderful weapon very much one piece, just covered in blood and...roasted gore. Huh, definitely a ‘final stand’ sort of ability if it cooks itself in the process.

Resigning myself to a couple of hours of both cleaning myself and my [Rising Sun], I turned my eyes to the most interesting item on scene.

The Matron’s core.

According to the books I read in the bandit camp, every monster in this world has a core. With such a powerful owner, this core could be something quite different from what I got off the slimes. It only lay a short distance from the body, as opposed to the launched feathers, which were several yards away at the closest. I reached over to pick it up and was welcomed by not one, but two notifications.

You have obtained your first Elemental Core.

Congratulations! You have obtained one of each of the known Core Categories.

You have earned the Title: “Well Rounded”!

...Why does that sound so lame…