Well, it was happening. Sae charged to the top of the hill and ran down towards the creature on the other side with a grating battle cry that immediately caught its attention, while the rest of the party scrambled to keep up with him.
The creature itself was an eight-foot long quadruped with mud-matted brown fur that covered its body like a shaggy coat all the way down to its limbs, partially concealing the long claws at the end of its four feet. While such bulky features might have gotten in the way for any other creature, the Bog Walker wasn’t at all limited by them.
As it heard the battle cry, it quickly turned to face the source with a snarl, revealing razor sharp teeth and a pair of red eyes that pointed straight ahead; this was definitely an apex predator. It wouldn’t take a naturalist to see that the Bog Walker didn’t approve of the intrusion into its territory, and it was ready to defend it at the cost of blood.
The party’s blood.
Sae quickly closed the distance between the two, and despite his screaming, was able to maintain enough of the element of surprise to capitalize on a single, unblocked strike. His sword slashed through the Bog Walker’s fur, cleanly parting many of its mud-caked strands, but drawing no blood.
The monster let out a roar and countered with a slash of its own claws. Sae jumped back just in time, not letting his chainmail test the blow, and called out to the rest of his team.
“Come on guys! Don’t make me kill this thing myself!”
“We’re here!” shouted Pireni in reply. She set herself up some distance behind Sae and got her bow out. Skeya positioned herself equidistant from the other two, ready to recite a chant of healing at a moment’s notice. Artyom followed out slowly, but had already applied his ally strengthening spells the moment Sae began his charge.
Sae continued to trade blows with the monster to little effect for either side; matted fur was too thick to pierce and the armored man’s deft footwork kept him out of range of any attacks.
Pireni didn’t stay still however, nocking an arrow and taking careful aim. After several seconds, she let loose, and her arrow struck the Bog Walker on the side. A light trickle of red began to seep out and mix with the mud in its fur.
The creature reeled slightly from the first real damage it had taken during the fight, but not by much. Sae grinned, thinking it was stunned by the surprise blow, overextended his next attack expecting to finish it off.
His mistake cost him several links in his armor, as the beast took advantage of the misplay and slashed at his midsection with full force, rending many of the metal loops that made up his chainmail.
“You forgot to use your skill, Pireni!” shouted Sae as soon as he realized what had happened. His armor saved him from any actual injury, save for that to his pride.
“On it, [Piercing Shot]! You forgot to activate your own skill too, you know!”
“Oh, that’s right. [Sharpened Edge]! Now I’ve got you… huh?”
While the two were bickering, the Bog Walker assessed the battle and came to an interesting conclusion.
It realized that its attack did very little to the prey in front of it due to the shiny jingly thing on its chest that was somehow stronger than its own claws. It would have to push the prey onto its back and rip its face apart with its teeth to do any real damage. Next, it understood that the other prey that threw the sharpened stick at it was an actual threat, capable of causing harm. It would be best to avoid for now.
However, the red-haired prey didn’t have the shiny jinglies or sharpened sticks.
Sae faced forward once his focus returned to the battle, only to see that the Bog Walker had abandoned their fight and was running away… straight towards…
“Skeya!” frantically shouted Pireni the moment she realized what was happening. She pulled out an arrow while running after the creature, but realized she wasn’t skilled enough to hit it when they were both on the move.
The beast was right in front of Skeya now, its maw opened wide ready to feast.
The cleric screamed in terror as the monster’s jaws were about to tear into her midsection. Everyone watched in horror at the inevitable, forcing their bodies to move faster, react quicker, aim better; anything. Anything to save their friend. But deep down they knew; deep down they were resigned to what was about to happen.
“Olympian’s Speed,” he said in his mind, yet the explosion of magic at the quick and dirty cast and the wind parting in his wake screamed the spell’s name as Artyom came flying towards the creature in a mad dash.
The three adventurers didn’t even see him move from his original spot before his foot had already sunk into the Bog Walker’s side. What they heard though was a muted thud from the matted fur absorbing much of the impact, and the faint whisper of, “Tungsten Body.”
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Even after the foot made contact, everyone waited with bated breath for a solid second before the force finally transferred into the Bog Walker’s body and sent it flying several feet forward.
Artyom grimaced. From practical experience, he knew that the speed and body hardening spells would be enough to impart a deadly amount of energy into a target without hurting him. Into a weak target.
Artyom’s specialty was in helping armies take on other armies; tipping the scales just a little bit, but in a way that added up for each soldier present. Singular boss monsters always required some kind of improvisation.
“What are you doing? Run! Get out of here!” Artyom shouted at the others, who were still in a daze.
Rather than doing as they were told, the group looked hopefully between him and the Bog Walker, who was now getting back up and looking for a new, easier target.
“What are you staring at? The thing is still alive and you aren’t safe! It will kill you!”
That last sentence snapped everyone back to the reality of the danger they were still in. Pireni and Sae began to run back over the hill they came from, while doing their best to keep Artyom between them and the monster.
Artyom continued to stare the creature down, and once the other two were out of sight, he gently took Skeya’s hand and led her back where they came, eyes continuously locked on the Bog Walker.
To its credit, the monster remained in place, knowing that it was outmatched by the man standing between it and an easy meal.
----------------------------------------
The party kept running for twenty minutes, and only after Artyom used his life-sensing spell to confirm they weren’t being followed did the party collapse to the ground in exhaustion.
“Hey, Artyom,” said Sae in between hard breaths. “Why didn’t you, hah, finish off the Bog Walker? You totally, hah, had it on the ropes.”
“Sae,” said Artyom very calmly, drawing out his name while staring down at him.
The armored man slowly looked up with an annoyed look before freezing.
“You dumb motherfucker!”
Everyone turned towards Artyom with a look of shock.
“I know you’ve never faced a real monster before, but you’re the leader; you hold your teammates’ lives in your hands! Have you considered that fact even once during your time as an adventurer? That everyone will follow what you say and do? And if they die because you didn’t think about it, it’s all your fault?!”
The three stared at the man from Earth, their mouths agape. Sae worked his jaw as if to vocalize a response, but nothing came out. The misting in his eyes made it seem that tears would come before words.
Artyom wasn’t sure if it was because of the verbal battery or because he said a bad word. It was a Fairytale world, it could have been either of the two.
Yet…
Artyom sighed. It was a Fairytale world. Actual danger was almost nonexistent in a place like this; how could Sae have learned about the actual risk of death in a place where it was rare except from old age? All the recruits at TOAL, being from Earth, generally understood the kind of danger that existed out there. And those who didn’t would have it beat into them through training or exposure to the “real world.” Sae didn’t have that luxury.
Artyom schooled his expression into something more paternal and looked at the armored man with patient eyes. “Sae, I know you care about the rest of the team, that you want what’s best for us all. You charge to the front and make yourself a target so the rest of us won’t get harmed. It just so happened to fail today.”
Sae nodded silently, his eyes beginning to dry ever so slightly.
“Why do you think that was?”
Sae was silent for a second, then he replied. “Because it went after Skeya?”
“Yes. And why did it go after her?”
Another pause. “She was alone and unarmed?”
Artyom replied with a nod. “So how do we change that?”
Sae was silent once again, lost in thought. Artyom was about to interrupt him with the obvious when Skeya spoke.
“What if I stand close to someone who can defend me?”
Artyom looked over to her and nodded affirmatively. “Alternatively, we could arm you and make you as dangerous as Sae, but that’s not something we can do at the moment. So we’ll go with your suggestion.”
“You’re probably the strongest, so she should stand next to you,” said Sae.
Skeya looked at the two excitedly.
“Nice, taking the initiative and laying down a plan,” said Artyom with a quick smile. “One small problem though: my attention is going to be entirely on maintaining my spells, so I won’t be able to pay enough attention to protect Skeya.”
“Then how about next to me?” asked Sae. He shook his head a second later and continued, “Wait, I got easily distracted during the fight too, and my attention has to be on whatever we’re fighting so it can’t be me. How about Pireni then?”
Artyom snapped his fingers. “There we go! Pireni already has to pay attention to what’s around her to keep away from enemies, so it’s not much different if Skeya tags along.”
Skeya looked slightly disappointed, but still nodded resolutely.
“So while we’re still planning, does anyone else have complaints or difficulties they’d like to bring up?”
Pireni, as if on cue, spoke up. “Yeah, whenever I try to shoot arrows, I have to try really hard not to hit Sae.”
“Alright, and can you think of any way to stop that from happening?”
“Well,” began Pireni. “If he weren’t in the way, that would help. So he can either move out of the way, or I can position myself so I’m not facing him!”
“That should work,” said Artyom with a nod. “So now it’s my turn to chime in. I need to be defended as well, so I’ll also stand next to you.”
“I guess we get to stand next to each other after all,” said Skeya with an innocent smile.
Everyone took some time to digest everything that was said. When Artyom thought that their lost confidence had returned, he spoke up. “So, team leader. Do you think we’re ready for another go?”
Sae’s eyes lit up in determination. “Yeah, let’s do it!”