If I thought the Hellhounds before this were scary, then I can safely say that this one was terrifying. A massive dog-creature with arms and a mace for a tail easily put the smaller specimens to shame in sheer terror factor. This time though, rather than back up a few steps and trip like I had with Hellhounds, I dove to the side and was able to avoid being hit by any part of this one. Score. Also unlike with the Hellhounds, there was no other creature for this one to get its mane tangled with, so it was back in action before I could get in a hit of my own. No score.
As the huge Hellhound charged me, this time content not to jump at me, I tried to hype myself up for the swing I would have to make that would hopefully hurt it. No dice there. Turns out spending some time learning how to actually swing a sword had done something for my form. It made it impossible for me to lay into the charging Scourge like a pro baseball player hitting a home run. I was too busy worrying about making sure that the sharp edge of my sword hit rather than just hitting the damn thing whether it bruised or cut it.
Instead of me hitting it, the Guardian slammed into me with a full tackle and started jabbing at me with those stingers it had. Before one of them was able to hit me, I was already falling back on the move I had thought of to get out this sort of thing, and hopefully hurt it more than it hurt me. I pulled myself backward, falling to the ground and bunched my legs to my chest as best I could before kicking as hard as I could into the Hellhound's chest. I was able to kick it hard enough that between that and suddenly falling to the ground that it released me and was pushed back before the stingers were able to stab me.
As fast as I could, I sprang to my feet and eyed the Hellhound warily, I didn't want it to catch me off-guard like that again. Eyeing one another again, we circled like we had before it came at me the first time. After a moment, I was the one to charge at it and start our fight again.
Bringing my sword back, like I was going for a huge slash and leaving an opening for the 'hound, I raced toward it and screamed a warcry. I tell myself it was a warcry but it was probably just me screaming. The Guardian bought what I was planning hook, line, and sinker. It rushed to meet my charge with a howl of its own and spread its arms wide in an attempt to catch me and give me another hug. That's what I was aiming for though. As soon as I saw it spread its arms, I put on an extra burst of speed and changed my aim for one of its arms. As we closed on one another, I hacked down with my sword and nearly fell over when I went straight through the muscle and bone and left the Hellhound one armed.
Of course I didn't come out of that unscathed myself. At least two of the stingers hit me, my armor saved me again, and the tail-mace-thing smacked me in my ribs really hard. I was pretty sure I felt something crack in my chest when it hit.
"Rickshaw," Cai interrupted, he never did that, "I am detecting at least two fractures to your ribcage. You will have to fight through the pain and the discomfort. I cannot aid you with this now."
As I tried to process Cai's words, I did my best to stand up and realized I didn't need him to tell me I had a broken rib or twelve. I could feel it everytime I tried to raise my arm or move or just breathe. Still I felt the trade-off was worth it. I had managed to take the Guardian's arm and that meant that it couldn't just hug me to death like it tried to; now I just needed to take off its tail and I'm pretty sure I could finish this soon after. Just had to watch out for those damn tentacle stingers.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Trying not to cry from the pain, I did my best to move like I was uninjured, bad idea but who's counting, and readied myself for another round with the souped up Hellhound. Almost as soon as I got eyes on the thing it was rushing me full speed again and this time it was using its remaining arm as a fifth leg to move just a little faster. Before I could move out of the way it was on me and slashing with its claws and stabbing at me with its stingers. I was able to avoid the claws but the stingers still got me at least one more time, and this time I felt my armor give just a little. Not enough that it broke skin thankfully, someone on high was looking out for me I guess, but it still hit hard enough that I was sure if I let another stinger hit me then my armor was toast and I was going to be too dead to care then.
Unlike before, when our clashes had opened enough space that one of us had to charge the other and close distance, this one left the Hellhound right next to me. Lucky for me that meant I could get a swing in with my sword and managed to cut through a few of its tentacles. Lucky for it, it meant that I was right there when it swung its tail around at me and tried to brain me. I learned two things that day; my mother had always been right to say that I was a hard-headed idiot and the Wardens made really good helmets.
Other than making my head shake like a bobble-head doll, the blow from the tail wasn't able to do any damage to me. I was happy about that cause I was finally able to stab the Scourge in its side and open a pretty good gash along its flank when the two of us jerked away from one another. Seperated again, the Hellhound and I eyed one another for a third time; me bleeding from my forehead where I had hit my helmet harder than I thought and it missing an arm and several tentacles from its mane, not to mention the new cut along its side that bled heavily.
"Come on Fido," I said, raising my sword to my shoulder and trying to ignore the pain from my ribs, "let's end this already."
Whether it understood what I was saying, something I doubt, or it took my stance as something aggressive, it was, the Hellhound growled at me and began to approach me with much more caution than it had before this.
As the Guardian approached me, I tried to steady myself so that I could move quickly when it sprang at me. I wasn't disappointed. With another howl, the Hellhound charged me again and as it approached did something I would never have expected. It drove its remaining arm down toward the ground and used it as a pivot point to whip its tail at me with all the speed and power it could muster. I was just barely able to raise my sword enough that I could block its tail from hitting me. At least that's what I tried to do. Instead, I brought my sword up and watched as the Hellhound Guardian hit the edge of my blade dead-on and cut its own tail off.
As the end of the tail flew around me, hitting me with the bloody end that spurted just a little blood on me as it flew away, the Hellhound and I seemed to freeze at the unexpected outcome of its heavy blow. I recovered first and thrust my sword into the Hellhound's torso, as close to where I had when I killed the first one and hit the sweet spot as I could manage, and finally killed the damn thing. I know I did because I saw the tentacle mane stiffen up before going limp with the rest of the body and dragging me and my sword down to the ground with it.
"Cai, I think I won," I said, exhaustion creeping in at the same time pain began to really grip me. "There's nothing else close by or on the way is there?"
I never did hear his answer since I passed out.