"Glacier!"

A blast of frigid air engulfed the torso of one of the Lurkers. The sound of crackling ice could be heard as the creature's body stiffened from the neck down. Gurk took hold of the frozen creature, the center of its body glistening as the sunlight that came in through the windows reflected off the ice. He plopped it down outside by the entrance, right in front of Janus. Despite the lower half of the body being frozen solid, the Lurker's head and hands could still move, albeit very limited. The creature darted its head around in a jerky manner. The narrowed eyes it once had when it first saw Janus were gone. In their place was a pair of wide eyes that made it look scared.

"There, Janus. It's frozen stiff. Please tell me you can at least hit an immobile enemy!" Itzel pointed at it with one hand while looking towards Janus. He inched closer to it, waving his hand in front of the Lurker's face. It winced when Janus' hand got too close. He then formed a fist, ready to throw a punch until his eyes locked with those of the Lurker's. Even though he was in the stance for a strike, he didn't follow through. "Janus," Itzel said, annoyed. "Please don't tell me that you feel bad for this thing."

"It's just so... defenseless," Janus replied. The creature moved its head away again as it started to make a long, drawn out clicking sound with its mouth.

"It's going to deteriorate, regardless. Remember? In an hour or so it'll melt into a sticky black puddle."

"I know, I know. But it still feels... kinda wrong."

"Can I hit it?" Ven asked. He threw a two-punch combination and then ended the string of attacks with a jumping kick. "I can kill it!"

"You're going to let a six-year-old show you up, Janus?" Itzel watched as the child moved closer to the incapacitated Essencima. With all the might that his small arms could muster, he pushed onto one of the legs of the Lurker. Slowly tipping backwards, it's panicked clicking grew louder as it fell onto its back. The creature's torso shattered, sending bits of black ice scattering across the ground and silencing the Lurker for good. Ven jumped up and down to celebrate when he saw the remains of the creature motionless.

"I did it!" He shouted. Gurk lowered one of his hands, to which Ven responded by giving him a high-five.

"Good work, Ven! Maybe you should tag along with us instead of Janus." Itzel gave the child a pat on his head.

"You mean it?" Ven said with a sparkle in his eyes as looked up at the woman.

"I was joking, kid."

"Easy," Gurk said to Janus, pointing at the bits of the creature.

"Fine. If a child can do it, so can I. Hopefully." Janus walked inside the building and quickly took note of the locations of the three remaining Lurkers. There were two in each of the room's far corners while the last one stood towards the center of the opposite wall. He slowly approached the one to his left, making sure that he didn't take his eyes off it. The Lurker remained still; it appeared to be nervous rather than scared as it took a few steps to the side to try to create as much distance as it could between itself and Janus with the limited space it had.

Just go for it, Janus thought to himself. Don't hesitate. Just attack. His slow and methodical walk turned into a short sprint as he turned his shoulder to the monster. He went in for a tackle, aiming for the body of the Lurker. He closed his eyes and braced his entire body for impact. With as much speed as he could gather, he barged towards the creature. He felt a veiny hand go across his back followed by a solid wall cutting his sprint short. He bounced backwards and landed on his arm. As he looked up, clutching onto where he had collided with the wall, he could see the remaining three Lurkers snickering with a harmonized, piercing hiss.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"This isn't going to work out," Itzel said to Gurk as she shook her head. "This guy knows absolutely nothing about fighting!" They both watched Janus rise to his feet and take an improper boxing stance. He wobbled back and forth, inhaling deeply as he eyed the Lurker from top to bottom. The creature became more confident, taking another step forward upon seeing that Janus wasn't as much of a threat as the other three that accompanied him. "Janus might actually get killed by three Lurkers."

"Help?" Gurk asked.

"Please."

"I've got this!" Janus shouted back.

"Gurk. Freeze another one for him. Please?" Itzel said.

The crocodile nodded. He dashed to the other side of the room and blasted the Lurker that Janus was facing with his Glacier Breath before it had time to run away. Like the first one, it was frozen stiff except he made sure that the head was iced over as well. He then dragged it back outside and placed it next to the one that Ven had shattered. The frozen chunks were starting to melt, leaving behind black pool while the more solid parts of it slowly turned to gas that floated towards the sky. Janus made his way out. His head was down and he was far too embarrassed to make eye contact with Itzel.

"Here," Itzel took hold of Janus' arm and made him face the frozen creature. "Follow my lead." Itzel took a proper fighting stance. The right side of her body faced the creature, with her toes pointing towards it. She had her right fist raised to roughly the height of her chest and extend about a foot in front of her body. Her knees were bent slightly as she balanced her weight on her toes. "Get into the same stance as me."

Without saying a word, Janus tried to mimic the woman's stance. He slowly angled his body the same way but bent his knees to far down and curled his fists up too loosely. Seeing that his posture was off, Itzel began to move Janus' limbs so that they were in the proper position. She straightened his back first. Then with her feet, nudged Janus' legs into the proper position before taking hold of his arms so that she could move them into place to throw a punch.

"And now tighten up your fists," she said. Janus did so. "How does that feel?"

"A bit better."

"Good. Because your stance was awful. I thought you studied physics? Shouldn't you know how force works or something? No way you could throw an effective punch with the way you were standing and had your fists."

Janus paused for a moment. He blinked as he looked towards his hands and then his legs. He then threw a slow punch forward with his right hand as he let out small gasp. "I think I get it now!" he exclaimed. Janus performed a jab, this time at full speed. "How was that?" he asked of Itzel.

"Much better! Did bringing up physics make something in your brain click?"

"I'd say so. Never really considered how important the basic laws of physics are when fighting, but it's starting to make sense to me now.”

"Good! Now it shouldn't take much to defeat a Lurker as Ven has clearly shown. All you need to do is land one solid hit and it should go down. They're more fragile than a pane of glass. And since this one is frozen stiff, it pretty much is just glass. Even if your punch wasn't enough to take it out, I'm sure the force of the fall will be enough to put it out of existence."

"I got it." Janus eyed the frozen monster once more, practicing a few jabs that ended inches in front of the Lurker's face. He took in one deep breath before deciding to commit to a full attack. He took one step forward, and with all his strength, hit the creature in its icy face with a right punch. He saw a small chunk of the creature's face break off as it toppled backwards. Like the other Lurker before, it shattered across the ground, but in far more pieces. Janus shook his hand, shaking off the slight sting that his knuckles had after hitting the frozen solid monster. He grinned, nodding his head as he looked at Itzel.

"Not bad, right?"

She kept her arms crossed in front of her chest. Despite Janus’ successful attack, she remained unenthused. "Not good either,” Itzel said. “Let's see you take on something that can actually move now."