I was not going to go down to a Rampager or a Reaper on a normal day. Today.... it could go either way. I'd already explained Rampagers, so I needed to go over Reapers.

Kamaitachi were evil little bastards with claws sharp enough to cleave through most anything and teeth sharp enough to make Red Riding Hood's wolf jealous. They had eight feet to hold all their claws and they were regularly ten feet in length. They were never alone either. If you found one Kamaitachi, you were about to find a lot more. Their slim, flexible bodies let them wrap themselves around your body as they attempted to introduce your throat to their teeth.

Reapers were worse. Like the Kamaitachi they often reached ten feet long, they just liked to go beyond that up to twenty feet. They had a set of double teeth and their jaws were strong enough to bite through our armor; maybe the only Scourge that could do that. For even more fun, they had another two sets of feet for a total of twelve clawed feet that they could use to eviserate their prey. Toward their tail ends, they produced several detachable stingers that they could use to slow and wound their targets. They always brought friends to their parties.

With a bellow the Rampager began to swipe at me with its claws in an attempt to remove me from its shoulder. I was able to dodge them by quickly moving to the other shoulder and stabbing down and yanking to direct the damn thing away from my Cadets. It worked and as I watched the ground spin away to face another direction I saw the two Reapers that had just shown up. Stalking toward my Cadets.

Without waiting for the Rampager to take another swipe at me I kicked off its shoulder and charged the Reapers. It almost worked. One of them hissed and ran to meet me while the other took off toward the others without any more attempts at stealth.

"Carrie, you better take care of that damn thing until I'm done here!" I yelled toward the Cadets as the Reaper running toward me, sprang at me. While it was in the air, I took the chance to swipe at it and took off two of its back feet while rolling out of the way of the charging Rampager behind me.

I heard the meaty thwack the two made as they collided and then I heard the Reaper screech in agony before I saw it flying toward my head, wounds opened across its sides. The Rampager gave another roar and charged after its impromptu missile as I ducked beneath it and sheared another foot off. Before the Rampager could reach me, I used my thrusters to shoot to the side. While in motion I grabbed one of my throwing hatchets and sent it flying toward the Rampager's eyes. I was pleased to see that I'd hit it; the Rampager wasn't pleased to see that, but now it was half-blind, I hoped that would make it easier for me to dodge.

While I was admiring my work with the Rampager and the hatchet, the Reaper I'd been fighting also charged at me. I was barely able to avoid its coils as it attempted to run up my body and made sure I gave it a good cut for its efforts. Before I could ready myself for the next attack from either one, the Rampager grabbed me and threw me.

In a fight you don't usually have time to take a look around at everything else. You have to keep an eye on everything without focussing on anything, kind of like when you drive. As I flew through the air I took the opprotunity to check how my Cadets were doing. Carrie was keeping the other Reaper at bay with her shield while another two Cadets used their spears to keep it from going after the others. The three Cadets that had started this whole issue were being led away from the fighting by others and they were also being checked over for the most serious wounds so that first aid could be given. I had time to take all that in and start processing it when I hit the ground once, twice, three times before rolling for another several feet.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Dizzy and disoriented, I sprang to my feet and dove to a side in time to avoid the Reaper's charge and the boulder the Rampager had thrown at me. I needed to take one of them out of the fight and fast, otherwise I was going to be hurt even more than I already was when one of them got lucky and coordinated an attack with the other. I settled on taking out the Reaper first. It was fast and had the most potential to hurt me. I needed it gone.

As I moved to engage the Reaper, it arched its back and flung its tail at me, sending three stinger bolts flying toward me. I dodged two of them and was able to deflect the other with my sword as I raced toward it. With a hiss, it moved to meet me and tried again to wrap me with its body, I let it this time. As the Reaper wound itself around me I told Cai to activate the thrusters and then reverse them to send us into the ground at twenty feet up. I hoped it would stun the Reaper and not me. While in the air I watched the Rampager charge beneath my feet wildly, then Cai reversed the thrusters and I tried not to bite my tongue.

As soon as we hit, the Reaper's grip went slack and I was able to push my arms free enough to drive my sword into its skull. One down.

Before I could free myself, the Rampager was charging back at me and nearly on me. To avoid that, I rolled to the side and tangled myself further in the Reaper's body. By luck, the Rampager's charge smashed it into a large rock that it had probably meant to drive me into, stunned by the impact, the Rampager wasn't able to recover in time for me to untangle myself from the Reaper.

Once I was free, I faced down the Rampager and charged it. It noticed my charge and roared before meeting mine with one of its own. As we drew closer, I jumped and, again, activated my thrusters to drop kick the Rampager in the face and send it to the ground, missing several teeth. Before it could rise and attack again, I was swinging my sword down on its head and ending the fight.

Now I had to check on my Cadets. Carrie and her spearmen were still holding the last Reaper at bay, and the others were already gone enough to take the other Cadets to safety. Good, that meant that I just had one more Guardian to kill.

With a running start, I jumped into the air again and fell down directly on the Reaper's back hard enough to hear a crunch and watch as its back and tail went limp and became dead weight for it. Great. Before it could react to me and try to fling me off, Carrie was smashing its head with her shield to daze it before burying her axe into its brain. Last one dead.

"Good job Cadets," I told them as I flicked Scourge blood from my sword. "Maybe next time you kids can take the Rampager."

I saw the three of them finally look behind me and see the dead Guardians I'd left in my wake. The spearmen shared a look and shook their heads before high-fiving and turning back to go to the camp. Carrie took her helmet off and glared at me before she spoke.

"I'm not a kid," she said firmly. "Don't treat me like one."

"Whatever, let's head back," I told her, stepping off the Reaper's corpse. "And put your helmet back on. Cai, are there anymore Scourge lifesigns in this zone?"

"No, there are none." Perfect, time to go home.