Eric leaped back again to avoid another claw strike. His mind belatedly jumping into gear after his body, he gave a shout to draw the attention of the others, then attempted to strike back at the large creature. His sword made no mark whatsoever, only reflecting off a hard shell. He was forced to jump back almost immediately to avoid being grabbed, and unwittingly slammed himself into the rear of the cart, which had come to a sliding stop.

Dazed and confused, Eric felt a sharp pain on his sword arm as a giant pincer appeared out of nowhere, appearing to be on the end of the creature’s tail. It locked down on his forearm, rendering his sword perfectly useless. He kicked and punched frantically, but he might as well have hit it with a feather, for all the good it did him.

With a loud screech, the creature yanked its tail back, pulling Eric with it. For a moment he lost any sense of what was up and down as the creature spun him around, swiping the tail back and forth. His sword hand slammed into something solid, and he was forced to let go of his weapon. He realized that the creature had a certain level of intelligence to it, and had made that attack with the specific intent of disarming him.

He tried to call out again, but the creature slammed him down onto the ground behind it, and it was all he could do to draw air back into his lungs. Blood gushed from where his arm had been pinched, and he could feel himself going a little dizzy. Was this really how he was going to die? Just after finally deciding on a definite path of training?

Then he heard a mighty warcry, and, turning towards the source of it, he could just make out the dark shape of a figure charging the creature, large broadsword whistling down and smashing into the large shelled head. That stroke clearly hurt more than Eric’s attack, and the creature recoiled, more of that horrible screeching sound cutting through the rain and thunder.

“Stun it!” Moran’s voice came faintly through the rain. Eric couldn’t understand what he was talking about. Sure, a mage could probably stun the creature for a second or two, but there weren’t any mages among their group. The best they could hope to do was cut off its thick tail or kill it before Eric was shaken to death.

Suddenly, Eric felt another sharp pain, but this one seemed to rock through his entire body. Then he was miraculously free, as the creature twitched and let him go. Eric could just make out the sign of electricity flickering across the tail of the creature, originating from an arrow that had struck mere inches from Eric and stunning the creature. Max, he thought with a sigh of relief. Thank god they had an archer who knew some magic with them, he thought.

Johan and Jameson were around the beast in a heartbeat. As the spearman jabbed at the creature’s flank to draw its attention, Johan grabbed Eric by his good arm and dragged him back, out of the range of the flailing tail. Eric tried to shake off his grip, but he was too weakened by the damage he’d taken, and Johan’s grip was like iron.

“Are you okay?” Johan shouted at him, dropping him and pulling something from the pouch at his belt. It looked like a small yellow bead, no bigger than a pea. He drew back his arm and hurled it at the giant scorpion-like monster. It was lost to sight in the rain, then another burst of electricity appeared, followed by another screech of rage.

His head a little clearer now, Eric got to his feet, searching the nearby ground frantically for any sign of his dropped sword. He could tell without asking that the monster was a Crawler, based on what he’d heard. They’d just left the swamps, where the Crawlers were known to nest, but evidently, one had spotted them and decided to attack. He finally spotted his sword, lying half-concealed in the thick mud directly under the beast. A flash of lightning arced across the sky, and he could see it in detail.

Easily ten feet tall and eighteen feet long, it closely resembled a scorpion. But where the many legs of a scorpion would be, there were four powerful clawed legs, and the tail ended in a crab’s pincer instead of a stinger. He couldn’t see the head clearly, but it more closely resembled a wolf than the flat, multi-eyed head of a scorpion. The entire body, from head to pincer tail, was covered in thick black plates of armor, the very same that had stopped Eric’s attack.

Jameson let out a cry of pain as the tail whipped around and slammed into him, sending him flying. Then the creature rounded on Johan, a huge clawed paw coming down out of nowhere and slamming into his shield. The blow rocked Johan, but he remained upright, grunting with the effort of blocking it. Huge lines of silver were left in the metal shield, bright scars nearly half an inch deep.

Eric dove for his sword but was forced to jump aside as the creature lunged for him. He could actually feel the force of the tail as it missed his face by centimeters, and his heart leaped into his mouth. He didn’t want to imagine what would have happened had that actually connected. He ran to the side, and the creature turned with him, tracking his movement, clearly not wanting him to regain his weapon.

Johan jumped forward after regaining his composure and struck twice at the Crawler’s flank, but was defeated by the thick plates that covered its body. The monster didn’t even seem to feel the blow, too busy scuttling forward to continue its attack against Eric. From behind, Moran gave another warcry, cutting into the right hind leg. His weapon was the only one that seemed to have any effect, judging by the screech of agony that the creature released.

In the few seconds it took for the monster to turn on Moran, swiping furiously and forcing the sergeant back, Eric managed to yank out the shorter, silver blade that Ehran had given him. He held it in his left hand, his right still too numb with pain to do much, and dashed forward. He could feel the Quickstep skill activating, and before he knew it, it was directly under the breast, slashing the smaller blade at the underbelly of the Crawler.

There were no protective plates there, and his blade scored a long, deep gash, sending blood spattering into his face. It stung as it landed, but was almost instantly washed away by the torrential downpour. The creature’s howl of pain was lost in another clap of thunder, but Eric sensed it turning. He moved with it, trying his best to stay behind it, avoiding both its claws and that massive tail.

Four arrows arced over Eric’s head from the carriage where Max was located. Three scattered harmlessly off the shells, but the fourth slammed itself out of sight in a weak point of the body armor with another spurt of blood. Their attacks seemed so weak in comparison to the brutal force of the creature’s movements, but they were clearly hurting the beast.

“We’ve got it on the rope!” Moran shouted, slamming his shoulder into the beast’s flank to stop it from smacking Johan with its tail. “All together now!”

Eric snatched his longsword from the ground, holding onto it with all his strength as he charged the monster once more. Its tail struck him a glancing blow as it turned on the spot, but he retained his feet, and with a shout of rage, cut back and forth with the two blades. His vision was flooded by the sprays of blood from the belly. Jameson had seen Eric attack from beneath and copied his action, the quick jabs of his spear opening narrow but deep wounds.

Moran aimed another mighty stroke at the Crawler’s head, but his foot slipped in a patch of mud, and his feet slipped out from under him. The Crawler was on him in a flash as he hit the ground, its jaws opening wide to bite down on the sergeant. Before Eric could react, however, another arrow slammed into its head with a burst of bright light. It reeled back, blinded by the flash.

Johan found another weak point in the armor and carved a deep gash on its front-right leg, nearly severing it at the joint. Then Jameson struck twice more with his spear, and Moran was able to roll out of danger. Eric cut, again and again, his right hand not doing much, but making up for it with the smaller weapon in his left. He jabbed the gifted blade into the soft belly with all his might, sinking the weapon to the hilt.

He tugged as hard as he could, raking the long knife in a straight line. Blood practically flooded out of the long gash he made, drenching him completely as he gutted the monster. It was boiling hot, but he ignored the pain, rolling out from under the beast with a surge of fierce satisfaction. He ended up beside Moran with his skin blistering, weapons raised to strike again. It was quite unnecessary.

The Crawler had stopped screeching now. It took a few feeble steps forward, claws rising to strike Eric down, more of that clicking noise coming from its mouth. But it had lost too much blood, and after a moment or two, its heavy body collapsed onto the muddy track, letting out a loud whining noise before falling still.

Amidst the continual crashing sound of the rain striking the earth, Eric was distinctly aware of his own heavy breathing as he stood, weak-kneed, his body still coursing with adrenaline. His mind had seemed to lock up again, unable to process the moment until Moran put a hand on his shoulder, gripping it firmly.

“It’s dead,” he said loudly. “Well done, Eric. Well done indeed.”

Eric glanced at his sergeant blankly, blinking away the blood and rain that cascaded down his face. “Its…. dead?”

Moran nodded confirmation, a fierce grin spreading across his face. “Nothing could survive the kind of injury you just gave it.”

As if they had been waiting for the words, his legs finally gave out on him, and he collapsed down onto the sodden track with a moan of relief. The ever-present window of text on the corner of his field of vision told him he had only two out of five health, and the status was reflected in the weakness of his limbs. Even Moran looked haggard, holding his ribs tenderly.

“Come over to the cart,” Johan said to the two of them. “Let’s take a look at those wounds.”

Johan gave them a quick but thorough examination, announcing that the sergeant had three broken ribs and a fractured wrist. He bound the ribs tightly and merely shrugged at the wrist. There wasn’t much he could do about it, he’d said, as the gauntlets that Moran wore worked just as well as any wrap.

“It’ll hurt like hell for the next two days,” he told his sergeant with a grin. “But as long as you don’t get into any fights, you’ll be fine.”

Moran nodded his gratitude as Johan moved onto Eric. He rubbed that familiar stinging ointment into the deep wound on his forearm and bandaged it tightly, working quickly and ignoring the hiss of pain that Eric gave as he patted the finished product.

“It’s lucky that Crawlers don’t have any venom,” Johan said with a shake of his head that sent water flying. “Just visit Emma when we get back for a potion.”

“Oh, damn!” Eric exclaimed. When Johan tilted his head in confusion, he reached into his pack with his left hand, pulling out the bottle of red liquid he’d bought weeks ago. “I keep forgetting I have this.”

Johan smiled faintly and left him to down the potion in one. It was distinctly sweet, Eric thought, like a Kook-Aid mix with too much sugar. But it had an almost immediate effect, as he could feel energy coursing back into his body, and his health was raised by three points. He could even feel a faint tingling from the wound in his arm, and he was sure that it had just healed a little.