Lights shimmered in front of Shiva’s antlers. A second later, dozens of icicles shot at the suspy sow. The monster responded with its own blast of pebbles. The two magic attacks mashed together in an explosive cloud of red dust and snow.

There was no saying who would win if Shiva and the suspy sow kept throwing magic at each other – they seemed to be equal in strength and I didn’t know which one had more MP. So we needed to create an opportunity where Shiva’s attack couldn’t be negated.

Under the cover of the magical dust cloud, I nudged Shiva’s sides with my knees, indicating to the left. She took my cue and jumped up to the closest sandstone hoodoo.

I only lightly guided her. She was trained in combat. Since I didn’t know what her entire skill set was yet, and we were still learning each other’s fighting style, I didn’t have the confidence to dictate the battle. As the weaker one, it was best for me to take the supporter role and let her fight her equal opponent. What attacks she did was up to her. But I could make sure we were in the most strategic positions for said attacks.

The sow sputtered out a cloud of dust and wiggled around to look at us. It flapped its large, distorted pixie wings and flew at us like a battering ram.

Shiva stamped her front feet and a giant seven-foot icicle grew out of the hoodoo in front of us. The sow startled and tried to put on the brakes, but it couldn’t stop or turn sharp enough. I tapped Shiva’s sides. She jumped to the neighboring hoodoo just as the sow smacked right into the icicle. The ice shuttered then broke in half from the force, the jagged edges cutting into the monster’s underbelly. The suspy squealed in pain as twenty percent of its health dropped like that. Never mind the force of the impact, the chill of Shiva’s ice was worse than dry ice.

Taking advantage of the monster’s momentary weakness, I braced myself and shot a Bubble at the sow. Maybe it was stunned enough that the slow-moving attack could hit? Bubble was my strongest attack and I only had three more left after this one.

A foot before the water magic touched the sow, just when I thought it was actually going to hit, the monster dodged to the side. The Bubble hit the frozen rubble and exploded, barely leaving a dent in the ice.

I tsked in disappointment. Disappointed at the situation, at the speed of my best attack, and at how lacking I was.

Shiva kicked her back feet out. A foot long icicle appeared and shot at the sow. The monster wobbled in the air. The icicle skimmed across the monster’s hairy chest, leaving a cut, but didn’t do any more significant damage.

The suspy sow opened its mouth wide in a loud squeal. A torrent of rocks exploded from its mouth. The attack wasn’t aimed at us, but at the hoodoo we were on. In seconds, the sandstone was chipped away and the platform under Shiva’s feet tipped to the side.

“Shit,” I hissed and tapped her sides.

Shiva was on the same wavelength. I barely touched her before she jumped to the next hoodoo. As soon as her hooves touched that one, the sow attacked the new hoodoo.

“Faster,” I commanded softly and loosened my grip on her reins while I gripped her sides with my knees.

Shiva took the lead and darted from one hoodoo to the next, her movements seemingly random.

The suspy sow turned right and left, up and down, trying to catch up to her lightning quick movements. All the while, a steady stream of rocks sprayed out of its mouth, pelting hoodoo after hoodoo. Some hoodoos fell over, sending up clouds of dust, but since neither Shiva nor the sow’s attacks stayed in one place too long, most of the hoodoo survived – albeit now littered with craters.

I gripped Shiva and leaned low for balance during the rollercoaster of movement. All the while, I paid attention to the monster, watching how it moved. Every twenty seconds the sow paused its attack, before it spewed out more rocks. Was that little gap the cooldown between magic attacks?

“Shiva, get ready,” I said low in her ear, as I counted, eyes on the suspy.

Her ear twitched, but she didn’t stop moving.

The suspy turned, following Shiva’s actions. It was always just a second too late, pelting a hoodoo with rocks just as Shiva was jumping off it. Its movements were getting more and more jerky, like it was getting frustrated.

Three. Two. One.

“Attack!” I yelled.

Shiva planted her feet on a tall hoodoo and aimed her antlers at the suspy sow. Dozens of icicles shot at the suspy. The monster squealed as they ripped through it, dropping its HP down to the red. The sow dropped to the ground, sending up a dust cloud.

“Yes!” I gasped, already tasting victory.

Dozens of fist sized rocks suddenly shot out of the dust cloud the suspy was in.

My eyes widened in terror as the attack closed in at a speed that I couldn’t compete with.

Shiva jerked, trying to jump to the side while keeping herself between me and the rocks. The rocks smacked into Shiva’s side with a sickening thud. She let out a gruff scream, the likes of which I’d never heard before.

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One rock glanced off my leg – the one that was already hurt from earlier – sending another wave of pain through my body and taking off another ten percent of my HP. I groaned, but my attention was on Shiva. If this was the pain I felt, how did she feel when five rocks hit her.

“Shiva!” I gasped through the pain.

Suddenly we started to tip. Five rocks from the suspy’s attack hit Shiva – the rest tore holes in the hoodoo we were standing on. The hoodoo collapsed. Shiva tried to jump to the next hoodoo, but her back leg buckled.

I yelled in surprise when we were unexpectedly airborne, falling down to the rubble between the hoodoos. Shiva landed on the uneven ground, but her legs buckled under my weight and her injuries. She dropped to her knees, and struggled to get up, but couldn’t. My heart bled as I watched her desperately try to protect me and yet, if she hadn’t, that fall would have killed me.

I jumped off her back and finally got a good look at her injuries. Her back leg was swollen where the rock had hit, the skin bruised and torn around the injury. Four matching injuries littered her left side. Were her ribs okay? What about internal injuries? She squinted up at me, grunting low. Even though her expression didn’t change, I could see the pain in her navy blue eyes. And her determination to protect me.

God, no piece of monster shit was worth this. I never should have taken this task. If I got hurt, oh well. It was just the karma that I deserved. But I couldn’t stand seeing my loved ones hurt.

A rock skittered across the ground behind me, followed by the suspy sow. It was back in the air, ugly pixie wings pounding with effort just to stay up.

Shiva tried to stand up, but her legs wouldn’t hold her weight.

My eyes narrowed, a pressure swelled in my chest, like a tsunami ready crash on land, washing away my pain and fear. My HP bar was blinking red, but I’ll be damned if I let that monster hurt my Shiva again.

I spun, bow appearing in my hand. I drew back an arrow and aimed at the bleeding gap on the sow’s chest. The arrow shot straight and true.

The suspy was just as hurt as Shiva and didn’t have the speed to dodge anymore. The arrow sank into the monster. It squealed, but the damage was minimal, maybe a percent at most.

My teeth gritted together. This bow was just right for me against E monsters – it was strong enough to kill them, but weak enough that I could draw the string with my weaker strength. It simply wasn’t strong enough to damage a C monster. Since I couldn't even draw a C ranked bow, so it would be useless for me to even have one.

My mind spun as I shot arrow after arrow at the suspy. The arrows didn’t do a lot of damage, but it stunned the monster for a split second each time one landed. I’d gladly take that time, until I could figure out what to do. I didn’t dare use a sword against the sow. Weak as it was, it was still twenty levels higher than me.

The suspy was earth based, so it was weak to water. My Bubble attack would deal a lot more damage, but it was too slow. How do I make it faster? Could I make it faster? I thought in frustration and loosed another arrow. The arrow sank into the suspy’s chest, joining the ten other shafts. Wait. What if…?

The monster jerked, as if startled.

My eyes narrowed. On the tip of my arrow, a blue magic ball appeared, swirling and growing bigger. The Bubbles obeyed my will, so what if I willed it to stay on the tip of an arrow?

The suspy sow opened its mouth getting ready to shoot more rocks.

I loosed the arrow. Just like I wanted, the Bubble stayed on the tip, using the speed of the arrow. It shot at the monster like a blue star with a black tail.

The monster didn’t even bother dodging – it had long learned the arrows couldn’t really hurt it.

The arrow hit in the middle of the mass of shafts protruding out of the sow’s chest. The Bubble exploded. The force pushed the other arrows inside the monster out to the side, ripping the wound wide open.

The sow paused, beady eyes wide with shock, then it squealed, loud and shrill, blood leaking from the gaping wound.

The sound barely started echoing off the surrounding hoodoos when a two foot long icicle shot over my shoulder, close enough I could feel the biting cold jet stream as it passed. The icicle sank into the suspy’s gaping chest and disappeared entirely inside.

The suspy sow’s squeal cut off with a squelch and it thudded to the ground.

Ding! [No EXP is awarded because the Host didn’t contribute enough during the battle to earn EXP.]

You garbage System. Where did I not help? I thought viciously and turned to Shiva, wincing slightly when I accidentally put too much weight on my hurt leg. She was on her feet, albeit wobbly and breathing heavily.

“Are you okay?” I gently touched her neck. “You’re so hurt.”

If a Hunter was hurt, a healer could fix it up in a minute. If a human was hurt, they could go to a doctor and get patched up, with painkillers to make life easier. Mounts didn’t have that luxury – healing didn’t work on them. Mounts – as monsters – healed naturally and very quickly. Even the weakest monsters had this ability. Things like broken bones were completely fine after only a couple days. It was so fast that stitches, braces, and other doctoring practices — outside of one certain medicine — just got in the way.

Which was good, in a way. As long as Shiva didn’t die, she was going to be okay.

But that also meant that I couldn’t do anything but watch her be in pain until it was gone naturally.

I softly hugged her neck, running my hands soothingly over her cool fur. “Just rest here while I finish the tasks,” I told her. “Save your strength for the journey home.”

I was going to be late for the work meeting after all, I thought almost bitterly. Dad was going to flip out at me. Again. With my walking speed, I should make it back to Boulder before the gates close, but any sooner would be a miracle. And then there was turning in my task. I didn’t know how long that would take. What if I had to wait in a line to do it? That’s why most Hunters tried to get their tasks done quickly – to avoid the end of day line. It wouldn’t have been a problem for us originally, but now that I wasn’t able to ride Shiva back because of her injury, I was going to be stuck in the middle of it.

But I’d gladly be late and wait, if that meant that Shiva didn’t hurt anymore.

Shiva nudged my shoulder with her chin, as if agreeing with my request. She laid down as soon as I stepped back and watched with vigilant eyes as I hurried up to the suspy sow carcass.

I didn’t get any EXP from the damn thing, but I sure as hell wasn’t going home empty-handed. As soon as I touched it, the System reacted.

Ding! [Would you like the System to harvest the carcass for the optimal drop items? Y/N?]

I paused, not expecting it. Since I didn’t get any EXP, I thought I was going to have to do everything the hard way with this particular monster. At least the System had a little pity for me. I accepted the offer and watched as the suspy sow turned into a flurry of magic snow, fading away in a non-existent breeze. What was left behind were drop item orbs that contained a pair of suspy tusks, wings, and hide. Oh, and a giant suspy turd.

*****