Teva’ryn was no Survivor of Hundred Battles, but he had gone through his fair share of fights. He had fought against the Highlanders ever since he had grown into manhood, and he had faced hordes of Zzartok during the Great Breach. Yet for all that, he had never felt so helpless as here on this foreign-strange planet.

Eight segmented limbs, each segment as large as a tree. A bulbous-uneven body as large as a castle, fused to a massive pair of legs by thick pulsing veins. A gaping orifice where the two body parts met, just above its crotch, with multiple rows of man-sized teeth glinting inside. What was Teva’ryn supposed to do against such a monstrosity? An army wouldn’t have been enough to fell such a creature. The only choice was not to face it at all.

Teva’ryn looked back as he ran, making sure that Devi’lynn was following him still. She had left the clones with the excess baggage behind, but had no trouble keeping up the pace. For once, Teva’ryn was glad that Devi’lynn had an athletic-fit body instead of the Sylven ideal; she obviously knew how to run, which increased her chances of survival significantly. By contrast, the Humans were lagging behind with their slower and clumsier bodies.

“Watch out!” Devi’lynn yelled, and Teva’ryn ducked his head as a small black object sailed past him. Randel popped into existence in front of him, stumbling a bit as he landed.

“Ahead, not good!” Randel said between gasps of breath.

The ground shook in the very next moment, and a quick look back told Teva’ryn that the titanic being had fallen to its knees. Its insect-like appendages were able to touch the ground now, smashing trees aside as they reached for the retreating group. Thankfully, their length wouldn’t be enough. The group had put enough distance between them and the creature that it wouldn’t be able to catch them anymore, not unless it fell over to flatten-squash them with its upper body.

“Ahead!” Randel shouted again, and Teva’ryn slowed down just in time as another monster appeared, bursting out from the cover of the trees. This creature was much smaller than the first – about three times of Teva’ryn’s height – but moved surprisingly fast for something of its size. The monster swung its segmented limbs at Teva’ryn, but he ducked underneath them—then decided to go on the offensive. Calling on his magic, he thrust his left arm forward to shoot a barely-visible hand out of his palm, connecting to the monster’s knee. Teva’ryn then ordered his phantasm-arm to reel itself in; since he was much lighter than his opponent, this move launched him toward the monster. He swiped his shoddy sword at the creature’s shin, and when he passed the leg he made a backhanded slash against the back of its knee as well. His sword didn’t cut too deep – it wasn’t sharp enough and Teva’ryn was afraid of breaking it – but the attack was effective nonetheless. The creature stumbled, crying out with a painful-sharp chittering sound.

> Weapon Skill discovered: Hamstring

Ignoring the contraption’s message, Teva’ryn got ready to dodge the retaliation—which never came. The monster was targeting Devi’lynn’s clones instead as she sent them charging forward one by one. The Humans used this opportunity to rush past the two of them, heading deeper into the woods. Teva’ryn made his own escape too, keeping an eye on the woman in case she decided to be foolish-bold. It turned out that he was looking in the wrong direction, however.

“Teva’ryn, back!” he heard Randel’s shout, and jumped aside just in time to avoid getting stomped into the ground by a third monstrosity. The creature stepped over Teva’ryn with its enormous legs, heading toward—

“Lady Devi’lynn!” Teva’ryn yelled in panic. The woman was bogged down by her crippled opponent, still creating her simulacrums. The third monster shrieked, knocking over a tree as it barreled toward the defenseless woman. Teva’ryn reacted almost by instinct. He thrust his left arm forward, launching a phantasm-arm at Devi’lynn. The woman was behind the monster unfortunately, so the arm hit the charging creature’s leg instead. Fine, then. If Teva’ryn could hinder the monster just for a heartbeat, if he could give Devi’lyn just one more moment to escape, it would be all worth it. Teva’ryn dropped his sword and extended his other arm in the opposite direction, shooting a second phantasm-arm at the tree behind him. Time seemed to slow as he waited for the monster to step on its other leg, then—

He reeled his arms in.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

White-hot pain bloomed behind Teva’ryn’s eyes immediately as both of his shoulders were dislocated at once, and he nearly blanked out immediately. Whether he held on for a single heartbeat or five, he wasn’t even sure; the next thing he knew was him lying on the ground, looking at the monster’s back with dazed eyes. He couldn’t feel either of his arms, but that was anticipated. He couldn’t see Devi’lynn either, which was more worrisome. A splash of orange-and-red flames hit the monster’s side. Someone shouted his name. Had they managed to escape, then? Someone was lifting him up, the dull-throbbing agony in his shoulders intensifying. He found himself supported by Tamara on one side and Imaya on the other. The pain was too much when he tried to take a step, and he fell to his knees.

That was when he saw Devi’lynn ahead of them, creating new simulacrums still. The sight gave Teva’ryn a second wind, and he rose to his feet with the help of the Human women. They started to run. To hinder the monsters, Simon was throwing flames and Tamara was throwing her magical orb at them. The trees slowed down the bulbous creatures too. Even so, the monsters were closing in.

Tamara shouted something that Teva’ryn didn’t understand. Another monstrosity arose from among the cursed mass of trees, standing in their way. Randel met the creature head-on, his black weapon shaped like a sleek sword. The monster tried to squash him with its foremost insect-limb, but he pivoted out of the way and struck, leaving a deep gash on the creature’s pale-gray appendage. He did so without flinching; Teva’ryn recognized it as the dead-certain look of someone who knew they would win. Randel darted under the monster before it could have retaliated and jumped up onto its foot. This put him in striking range of the knee, and so he didn’t hesitate to plunge his sword straight into the monster’s flesh.

As the monster chittered in pain, Randel yanked the sword out with a shower of blue blood and jumped off the foot, stabbing at the ankle next. The creature had enough of it however; it opened its gaping maw wide and bent its knees, falling forward. Randel reacted by flinging his sword aside, slamming the blade into the tree in front of Teva’ryn. The monster collapsed on itself to crush Randel, but the Human man just popped out of existence and reappeared at his sword. Randel blinked then, seemingly surprised that his weapon got wedged into the wood. He yanked at the sword with one hand first and then with two, failing to pull it out of the tree-trunk. He gave up soon enough and freed his weapon instead by shrinking it down to a dagger. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he then looked up to match Teva’ryn’s and the two women’s staring eyes.

“What?” he asked in his Human tongue, then said a few short sentences—probably to remind them to keep running. The monster Randel had crippled was unable to stand back up, leaning its grotesque-bulbous body against the trees to gain some support. Even so, it attempted to crawl toward the group.

Teva’ryn clenched his jaw against the pain as he extracted himself from the women and started to jog. It was his arms and chest that throbbed with dull-numb agony, not his feet. Running didn’t alleviate his pain of course, but then he wasn’t expecting to run for much longer anyway. The group was on its last legs; Randel was practically shaking from exhaustion and the others weren’t faring much better either.

“Heads up!” Devi’lynn yelled, startling Teva’ryn. She was holding his sword, pointing it forward. “To the cave, Teva’ryn!”

With one last lingering look at the weapon in Devi’lynn’s hand, Teva’ryn adjusted his course. Now was not the time to reprimand the woman. As they got closer to the rock formation Devi’lynn had indicated, Teva’ryn could see that there was indeed a cave; a large gap in the stone extending so deep that its end faded into distant-darkness. Imaya was already standing by the entrance, covering their retreat with her bow. A futile gesture, since arrows were unlikely to do much against the lumbering creatures. The rest of the Humans entered the cave in short order, then – seeing that Teva’ryn wouldn’t go in without her – Devi’lynn sent one last simulacrum at the approaching creatures before following the others.

The closest monstrosities were almost upon them when Teva’ryn stepped into the cave with Imaya in tow. The stone-corridor was dark, even moreso after the creatures behind them blocked the entrance, trying to reach in with their segmented limbs. The flame-globe in Simon’s hand was their only light source—until everyone’s collar came alive with light.

> Quest completed: Huge trouble

> +1 Feat

>

> Congratulations, your level has increased!

> Level 4 reached.

Teva’ryn willed the messages to disappear, walking further down the cave. He stepped over Randel – who was sprawled out on the ground – then sat down by the wall and summoned the main page of his collar. His image sat in the middle of the eldritch-projection, looking haggard-tired, just like himself. The magic-picture had a light-red tint at his arms and shoulders, while his chest area was painted yellow. With the damaged muscles he couldn’t do much, but relocating his shoulders would at least lessen the pain.

Before Teva’ryn could ask Devi’lynn to help him, Pell approached him, placing his shoddy sword at his feet. The black-skinned Human then pointed at his shoulders, asking something. It wasn’t hard to figure out that he wanted to help, and after some deliberation Teva’ryn accepted his offer.