The Yeti pulled itself toward me on all fours, pushing through the snow as if it wasn’t there. I couldn’t help but tremble a little as it grew closer, its nine-foot frame making me look like a child trying to fight a full-grown adult.

Still, I held firm, I had to stop the Beast here or it would get past me to the others. Worse, I was restricted in how I could do so, I needed to keep its attention while not blocking Linnea’s limited line of fire.

Taking a deep breath, I opened fire as it reached a point twenty feet away from me. While I was still far from the best shot in the world, the Yeti was so large, nearly anyone could have hit it.

My first shot splattered across its chest, barely even phasing it. My second and third shots got similar results, then my fourth one hit its face, and it screamed in pain. Got it, I thought, drawing my aim up from center mass to its head.

While this resulted in me missing shots, each time I landed a hit somewhere on its head, I got a reaction. I backed up a dozen feet as I continued firing, this left twenty feet between me and the others.

That was as far as I was willing to retreat. While I continued firing, I stopped moving and stood my ground. The Beast was rapidly growing closer and Linnea still hadn’t opened fire on it. She must still be dealing with the last wolverine, I thought, worried. I hope she finishes soon.

When the Beast reached five feet in front of me, I used the last of my time to reload my pistol. I’d need the full clip if I wanted to have any hope of bringing it down.

Then it was upon me and it was all I could do to avoid its attacks. It came in swinging, its arms hooking in from both directions. I dodged left, ducking under the swing and circling behind it. I fired into the side of its knee as I did so, hoping that was another weak point.

Its answering screech told me it was, and I continued firing into its left leg. Then it spun to its right, faster than I’d seen it move so far, and caught me in the chest with a right hook.

The hit blasted me back off my feet, and I was sure I heard something crack. Tough though I may be, I was in no way prepared for the ludicrous strength it held within its massive frame.

For a moment, all I could do was lay there winded. Then I saw it advancing toward me and fear gave me the strength to roll onto my feet. Can’t let it hit me like that again, I thought, feeling the tenderness in my ribs.

Luckily, I had enough combat experience at this point that I was able to keep hold of my gun. I backed away again, enticing it in the direction it had come from. The further I could get it away from Linnea and Elana, the better.

Then a blast of plasma hit the back of its head, drawing its loudest roar from it yet. No longer interested in me, it turned back to face the rock Linnea was firing from.

Fuck, I thought as I reversed my direction. While I appreciated the assistance, I would have preferred to lead it further away first. Though I guess she saw me take that hit, I thought as I tried to shoot it in the back of the knees.

It was hard to hit such a small target while the Beast was moving, however, I finally got a hit after half a dozen misses. It stumbled as the fire ate into its joint before turning back to me.

Then it stumbled again as a bolt from Linnea struck it in the side of the head, blowing a chunk of its ear off. Good, I thought as I continued firing. Looks like we can keep it distracted by alternating our attacks.

It looked like Linnea had realized the same thing as she waited till I caught its attention again before firing. For nearly a minute we alternated attacks like this before the Yeti bellowed loudly and ducked its arm to the ground.

For a moment I just watched in confusion, then I saw the snow-coated rock it was pulling from the ground. I still had its attention, so I dived to the left, grunting at the pain in my ribs as I hit the ground.

It was worth it, though, as the rock whistled past on my right, disappearing out of sight. Just how bloody strong is this thing, I thought in shock. I was pretty sure nothing made of flesh should be able to throw something that far.

I turned to the Beast, seeing it stumble off balance from its own throw. It’s on its last legs, I realized with a grin. It was time to finish this. I shifted my aim back up to its head and slowly advanced forward, no longer worried about its attacks.

I grew more accurate as I got closer, my hits gradually improving from being half misses to hitting nine times out of ten. While I had to pause once to reload before continuing, it wasn't long before I reached the Beast. Even then, it wasn’t until I finally got within reach of its arms, now hanging uselessly at its sides, and fired directly up under its chin that the Beast fell.

A moment later, a Combat Report confirmed its death.

Combat Report:

Outcome

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You killed 1 x Great Yeti Level 5

Your Companion killed 3 x Dire Wolverine

Rewards:

You gain 124 XP

Level Up Achieved

Congratulations, you have reached level 5.

Huh, I mused, not having realized I was that close to leveling. I guess It makes sense, though, I thought as I considered the last few days. I’d been about five hundred short after the Lake Beast fight.

Then I fought what, twenty-three fights over the last three days? While the shared XP has dropped a bit with Elana here, I was still averaging about twenty XP a fight. That would have put me about forty XP short before the fight.

Honestly, I was a little annoyed at leveling up now. While the extra stats would be extremely nice, I was expecting to get another class skill at level five. I had wanted to save that skill to match my first Psionic Ability.

I wasn’t entirely sure how skills and abilities interacted, however, I had seen a lot of locked class skills when I chose Psi Sense. It made sense to me that there would either be a one-to-one mapping, or at least an ideal skill to choose depending on what ability I got.

For now, I ignored the issue, moving back over to check on my companions. “Are you both OK?” I asked as I slowly made my way over, hampered by my ribs.

“Are we OK?” Elana nearly shouted at me. “You're the one that just got punched by the largest boxer that ever lived. How are you even still alive?”

“You’ll get used to it,“ Linnea laughed as stumbled up to her feet. “Jared’s build appears to be focused on taking as much damage as he possibly can.”

I shook my head with a snort as I walked over. “Hey, you don’t have to put it like that,“ I replied with a laugh of my own. “It's just that Toughness is the only useful stat I have right now. I plan on changing what I’m doing once I get my first ability.”

We continued bantering as we patched ourselves together. The humor helped us to shake off the last of the shock from getting ambushed. It had been a while since we’d been surprised like that and Linnea getting taken out right from the bat was the worst start to a fight we’d ever had.

If Elana hadn’t been able to distract them while we regrouped, I didn’t know what would have happened. Well, I kind of do know, I thought with a shudder. I just didn’t like to think of us all lying dead in the snow.

“Elana,“ I said as I turned to where she was helping Linnea find a set of bone healing pills. “A few days ago, you thanked me for bringing you along. Today I’m the one who should thank you. If it had just been Linnea and me, we likely would have been forced to respawn today.”

She blinked in shock before her face burst into a bright blush. She opened her mouth to speak, just barely starting on an objection before Linnea silenced her.

“He’s right Elly,” she said while smiling past her sister at me. “You did better than either of us thought you would. While you might not have the damage output we have, you more than showed your worth today.”

“Now,” she continued, pulling attention away from Elana’s clear embarrassment. “We’d better get moving. How long do you have before you need to log out, Jared?”.

I checked my interface, wincing at what I saw. I’d had no idea the fight had taken so long, though thinking back, I realized we had made the Beasts wander back and forth for a fair while.”

“Three hours, forty-six minutes,” I replied with a grimace. “We’ll have to push it if we’re going to make it to the facility in time.” Taking my own advice, I down a set of painkillers and bone-healing pills before heaving my pack back onto my shoulders. I would have to deal with my level-up later.

Even with the painkillers, my ribs still hurt, however, it was at a level where I could push through it. The ladies gathered their packs as well. Linnea looked even worse than I felt as she pulled the strap over her injured shoulder.

I began to offer to carry it for her, however, she cut me off before I could get two words out. “Don’t even think about it, Jared,“ she said with a glare. “I’m not some injured damsel, I can carry my own gear.”

I blinked in surprise before waving my hands in an apology. “Of course,“ I responded. “I shouldn’t have thought otherwise.” Better remember that for next time, I thought with a wince.

“It's fine,“ she said, her glare turning into a smile as she walked past me. “And Jared,“ she continued, her voice growing softer as she laid her good hand on my arm. “Thank you for getting me out of there.”

“Being crushed to death would not have been fun.” She finished with a bright smile before turning to leave.

“You're welcome,“ I responded, a little confused by the abrupt change in her emotions. Then again, she is on some pretty serious painkillers, I mused as I followed her back toward the pass. I probably don’t need to read too much into it.

We moved at a hustle through the pass and into the valley behind. It would have been nice to get a look at the terrain we were moving past, however, the sun had already set behind the mountain peaks by this point.

We could only see in front of us by putting our watches into torch mode. Even then, it was hard to see well with only small circles of light projected ahead of us.

Thankfully, we encountered no Beasts within the valley itself. I felt this was rather unusual, but wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. It may just have been that this was the yeti’s territory and no other Beasts dared to venture inside.

I sighed in relief as the wall of a building loomed out of the darkness in front of us. While I’d been able to track our progress on my map, part of me had still been worried that it would somehow not be there when we arrived.

I was down to my last ten minutes, so that would have been catastrophic. As it was, we had to break out into a jog as the wall came into view. It hurt to push ourselves like that, injured and tired as we were, however, we had little choice.

We followed the wall along for a hundred feet before we came to a massive set of sliding doors. While they were closed, you could see the seam in the middle where they would part.

Elana rushed forward as she spied them, advancing to an old, worn panel on the side. “I should be able to get this open,“ she shouted back over her shoulder. “Just give me a minute, I haven’t really done this before.”

I glanced at my timer with a wince before responding. “Sorry ladies looks like you might have to drag me inside.” I had less than two minutes left.

Linnea shrugged beside me. “Don’t worry about it,“ she said, bumping her good shoulder against mine as she did so. “We’ve made it far enough, I’m sure we can get you inside if needed.”

Sure enough, Elana was still fiddling with the door as the last seconds counted down. With no other choice, I pulled off my pack and lay down on the snowy ground. “I'll be back in six hours exactly,“ I said as my remaining time hit zero.

The last thing I saw was Linnea nodding in response. I really hope this works out alright, I thought as my surroundings faded to black.