I slowly approached the king class craw with butterflies in my stomach, excited but slightly scared for what was sure to be a hard fight. Once I’d gotten reasonably close, I took a deep breath and started a spell pattern for my ice spear. It was completed without it noticing me, and I released it without much fanfare, targeting its legs in the hope of affecting its maneuverability.

    It impacted right on target, but I noticed with dismay that it only sunk in a few inches rather than cutting through it like it had with the smaller beasts and it turned around with a roar, a noise none of the other craw had made. I started for a second, then realized that it was probably calling for all of the craw I had slaughtered.

    I smiled at my realization that the adds to the fight were already gone, as I’d surely have been doomed if I had to deal with all the craw in addition to this giant. I quickly drew up a force bolt, releasing it at the same leg the ice spear had hit in hopes that I could eventually whittle it down enough to cripple the beast. It impacted with a slight cracking sound, and the giant craw, realizing that none of its minions were going to come stop me, charged at me.

    The beast that looked like the offspring of a crab and a tarantula was fast, or at least faster than the smaller craw had been, and I quickly drew up another spell pattern, this time for frostbite, and released it as it closed the distance between us quite quickly. It impacted with its crackling sound, and froze over one of the unwounded legs of the beast.

    It slowed down, but not nearly as much as I was hoping, and it broke free by the time I’d prepared another force bolt. Deciding to go all in on my plan of attempting to cripple it, I released it at the leg I’d been attacking, hoping that I could at least wound it enough to slow it down. It hit with that crunching sound I’d gotten used to, but didn’t seem to have done much, and by this time the giant craw was on me.

    It sent one of its giant scythe like claws flying towards me at neck height, and I ducked as fast as I could, but still felt like I had lost some strands of hair, the thing was fast, and only my experience with the attack patterns of the smaller ones had saved me. Acting out of habit from the smaller craw, I stabbed out with my spear, stabbing in only an inch into the joint of the arm it had swung at me.

    The thing clearly had a much thicker shell than the smaller craw, and it was going to take a monumental amount of effort to slowly wear it down. Jumping back to avoid the swipe from its other claw, I stabbed out again, this time being even more unsuccessful than the last with the unstable footing from having had to jump out of the way. Preparing an ice spear in my off hand, I ducked under another swipe of its claws and released it at the things eyes.

    The eyes of the other craw had simply exploded, and I was hoping to get a similar result, but this craw simple shrunk down the stalks the eyes were on to dodge the ice spear, likely a response similar to how humans will blink if you send something at their face.

    This time, rather than swipe at me with one of its claws, it simply charged at me, attempting to bowl me over. Diving to the side of the wounded leg, I instantly prepared another force bolt and released it at the same spots I’d left the wounds from before. It impacted a bit high, but I simply grumbled at my poor aim while running to the side as it tried to charge me sideways, diving down when I saw its claw raised to the side.

    I barely made it under the claw, but had to roll to the side as it attempted to stomp on me while I was on the floor. It’s legs missed me by maybe an inch as I rolled away, and I got up as fast as I could as it turned back to face me, its eyes swiveling on the stalks to keep them facing me.

    I stood at the ready and started preparing another force bolt, deciding that it would probably be the best use of mana since my ice spear had barely penetrated the furred shell of the thing. I released it as it swung one of its clawed arms at me yet again, and I jumped over its blow towards my feet, cursing as I realized what was about to happen.

    This time, when the other claw came flying at me while I was in the air, I got my spear in between it and my body, and somehow the wood, or what I was beginning to doubt was a normal kind of wood, held, only getting a slice about halfway through it, but the blow sent me flying away.

    I slammed into the wall of the cave, and fell down to the ground, gasping for breath. I slowly struggled to my feet as it approached me again, and managed to get off another force bolt off at its leg, this time getting a more prominent cracking sound. Looking over at my health, I’d lost almost half of it in one blow, so I chugged a potion in the hopes that I could at least keep my health high enough to not get instantly killed, though a direct blow to my body would likely one shot me.

    I ran forwards a bit to meet the beast, not wanting the cave wall behind me to limit my mobility. It seemed to be surprised I was charging it, stopping its momentum and almost seeming to back up a bit, and I took advantage of the reaction, stabbing in towards its body, but retracting the spear quickly so I was ready to dodge the swipe that came my way.

    After dodging, I stabbed out with my spear again, hitting it in the joint where I’d stabbed before, and it sunk in a bit easier this time, reaching a couple inches in before I yanked it out. Smiling, and thinking this was doable, I stood at the ready, preparing another force bolt while I waited for it to  swipe at me.

    This time, when it swiped, it turned its body entirely, and I ducked under it, my hands touching the floor to push me back up quickly as it went over me. I released my force bolt at its body, unsure of being able to hit its leg when it as turning, and stepped in to stab at its back. Right after however, I noticed it wasn’t stopping the spinning motion, and I cursed and dived back down as it spun around with the same claw and nearly hit me. I pushed myself back up and stabbed out, this time catching it center mass, and was actually pulled along as it continued to spin before falling down as my spear dislodged from its body.

Stolen novel; please report.

    I pushed myself back up as quickly as I could as it came back around with its claw and slashed low, but I was too late and got what felt like my leg getting chopped off. In trepidation, I looked down, thankfully noting my leg was still attached, but in a massive amount of pain. I downed another of my healing potions, and limped backwards, looking to get some breathing room for if it continued to spin.

    I kept spinning for another couple of seconds, likely unable to see clearly with how fast it was moving, and I was able to get another two force bolts off at it before it noticed I’d left its range and stopped its motion, turning towards me and charging forwards. By this time, the wound in my leg was tender, but it felt useable, and I readied to meet it.

    I stepped forwards, only to realize I was starting to become utterly exhausted, so after dodging to the side to avoid one of its swipes, rather  than capitalize on it and stab outwards, I took the free time to grab one of my stamina potions, pop the cork, and downed it.

    Not having the time to recork it, I simply let it fall to the floor, something I would either grab later or replace when I got back to town. It then swiped with both its claws at once, and I was forced to attempt my dive in over one and below the other. I was mostly successful, but my spear got caught by the upper one and sent me rolling further than I expected, getting some bruises from the hard ground.

    Getting back up, I notice the king class craw was already on top of me, and hastily jump back, but still get a cut in my chest from the claws. Feeling the trickle of blood and stinging sensation, I put it out of my mind for the time being and released another force bolt, impacting the already wounded leg. This time, it finally had a proper effect, caving in the leg where it hit.

    Smiling as I’d finally gotten a real wound on the beast, it roared like it had at the beginning, and charged at me, trying to body slam me. I dive to the side, and release another force bolt, this time causing the leg to bend a way it wasn’t supposed to. It turned towards me, slightly slower as I downed a mana potion and released it at its arm. I’d taken out some of its mobility, now to go for its offensive ability.

    It hit the arm, and sliced a relatively shallow cut along it, and I ducked down as fast as I could to avoid the claw flying at me, stabbing outwards as it passed me, this time not catching it in the joint, but in the arm nonetheless. When it swung its other arm at me and started to twist its body, I knew what to expect and jumped back to avoid its spinning, only to be pleasantly surprised.

    In its attempt to spin, the three legs it still had were insufficient to keep supporting it, and it fell to the ground, impacting with a massive thud and a cloud of dust. Taking advantage of the time it was down, I released a couple of ice spears at its body while it got back up and started to turn towards me.

    They didn’t stick far in, but I knew from the beginning that I would have to whittle this guy down rather than kill it easily. Releasing one more ice spear as it was turning, this time managing to hit the wounded arm. Before it was fully facing me, it scuttled sideways towards me faster than it could move forwards, catching me by surprise, and one of its legs lashed out at me, catching me in the chest, knocking me backwards. I rolled when I landed, and was soon standing upwards again and downing my second to last health potion.

    I had time to release one last ice spear when it reached me again, scuttling sideways towards me yet again, but this time with its sickle like arm back to the side getting ready to swipe. Ducking down to avoid the slash, I stabbed upwards into its body as the arm facing me was the mostly unwounded one.

    My spear sunk in maybe an inch before I pulled it out, and I prepared another ice spear as it turned to fully face me, releasing it right into the center of mass where its mouth was as it finished its turn. This ice spear sunk in about half its length, much further than any other attack, and I smiled, I had finally found a weak point.

    Stepping backwards to avoid another swipe, I stab out at the wounded arm as hard as I can, the spear sinking into one of the wound already there for about half the length of the blade. It roared in pain again as I continued to step back to avoid the next swipe, downing another mana potion so I could continue to send ice spears its way.

    As I continued to weave to the back and sides, I released a couple more ice spears and sent them down the gullet of the beast, stabbing out with my spear at its arms as I wasn’t able to sink my blade in far enough to wound the beast the way my ice spears were.

    By this time, the beast had a good amount of blood leaking out its mouth and the other wounds on its body, when it seemed to speed up. I cursed, of course it would have an enraged mode. At this point, I wasn’t fast enough to both dodge and attack, so I solely focused on defense, hoping I wouldn’t slip up and die from one hit.

    I took a couple more light hits, but nothing serious until it charged at me again, pushing out with the unbladed sides of its claws, knocking me back and into the wall. I coughed as the breath was knocked out of me, and barely managed to duck under the claw that went past my head, slicing through the rock for a foot or two, making me wonder what the hell kind of wood my spear was made of. After the blade had gone through a bit of the rock, I took the time while it was pulling it out to stab out at its arm a couple of times before the other claw ended getting sent at me, rolling to the side as its other arm became stuck in the wall as well.

    I had time for another two ice spears before it got free and turned to me, and released a third for good measure once it was facing me, landing on the wounded arm with a cracking noise as it seemed about ready to break it completely.

    I downed my last stamina potion, and stood at the ready, the thing was going to go down soon, and I wasn’t going to let down my guard at the last minute. The next few minutes were focused solely on dodging as it slowly bled out, though I did manage to fully sever the wounded arm with an ice spear, and from then on it was easy to dispose of the thing, only having one claw to attack from leaving me plenty of openings to exploit.

    I took a deep breath as the thing finally collapsed. My potion stock was mostly gone, down to just one mana and one health potion, but I had won. I let out a shout of victory before practically falling to the floor in exhaustion, ignoring the popup telling me I had leveled up for the time being. At this point, I could feel massive amounts of soreness throughout my body, and I could feel all the bruises and scrapes I had gotten rolling to the sides on the hard floor.

    After resting for awhile, and eventually deciding to put the point into vitality, I got myself up, and headed over, it was time to harvest my loot. I put my hand against the craw, and noticed that the loot was the same, the claws and the meat, so I quickly got to work, cutting open the legs at the joints and taking out a truly massive amount of meat, making me wonder if even my magical backpack could hold it.

    After collecting a good deal of time’s worth of meat, I got to work on the claws, slowly extracting them from the pincer half of the claw, taking only the sharp scythe like object. At this point, I thought for a second, maybe I could get a spear made out of the things, they were clearly a good deal sharper than my current spear head, and they weren’t steel so they wouldn’t interfere with the mana flow, and besides, my spear was starting to show some serious cracks in the area it had been halfway cut through.

    Standing up straight with a groan from the soreness and various small wounds, I mostly limped my way towards the exit the king class craw had been guarding, smiling as I once again felt the sun on my skin.

    Looking around, I seemed to be at the same lake I had been at before, but a good deal of distance from where I had fallen in. Deciding to head back to town for some well deserved R&R, I started walking, very slowly, as my body was protesting about the effort.

    The way back was relatively uneventful, the molts and ents being easy prey after my experience with the multiple craw and brags. I soon made it back to town, and headed in, it was time to turn in all of my loot and see how much I would get for it.