The mountain of flesh tendrils flailed about in the air, blindly lashing out in every direction. Fena scrambled back, just barely dodging a tendril the width of her body as it slammed into the earth beside her. A feeling of crushing regret crept over her as she crab-scurried back from the wall of flesh- instead of letting the monster impale its core on the sword like she had hoped, she had merely revealed what was truly inside the former deer: a writhing, blackened mass of ever-expanding flesh.

Antony scrambled back up to his feet, hauling up the little elf as he went. His horse was nowhere to be seen, having wanted nothing to do with the monster, but at the very least they still had their weapons. Without a moment’s hesitation the two mercenaries rushed towards the monster in perfect synchronization- Antony in front with his spear levelled straight at it and Avairy sweeping off to the left in an attempt to encircle the monster.

Its tentacles flailed about in rage and pain, forcing the pair to dodge and weave like leaves on a wind. The writhing mass of flesh was completely blind, unaware of where its opponents actually were, but a slash of Avairy’s swords drew their attention onto her- all the tendrils dove towards her at once, forcing her to leap back.

Using the distraction he was given, Antony sprinted towards Fena, who was still struggling to get back to her feet. He grabbed the closest arm he could reach and dragged Fena clear of the tentacles, unfortunately not noticing how horribly mangled it was under the thick layer of black gore that now coated the woman from head to toe. Fena couldn't suppress a slight scream from escaping her lips as Antony pulled her up, but she shook him off once she regained her footing.

“Are you okay?!”

Fena dismissed the concern with a quick jerk of her head. "Fine- be careful, those flesh tentacles are insanely strong," she gasped, breathless from the pain.

"How do we kill it?" asked Antony, taking her words for granted. He had no time to question what happened or what the monster was. Fena shook her head as she watched Avairy dodge and dance between the monster’s tendrils like a graceful ballet dancer. Its movements were blind and indiscriminate, yet they still seemed to be able to track the elf’s movements perfectly.

"I- Give me a moment and I’ll figure it out…."

“Let me call Devurst,” interjected Antony. “He might be able to help-”

“No time!” Fena scowled. “I can do this on my own!”

“This isn’t the time for- Look out, Avairy!"

Antony’s shout came too late as a sly tendril of flesh ducked under the elf's guard and smashed into her ribs, unfurling like a whip as it did so. Fena heard an audible crack as the elf was sent flying across the road and into the ditch wall with a violent thud. But the monster was already after her again- before her body even hit the ground it unleashed a terrifying swirl of blackish violet tendrids that eagerly hunted her body.

Antony leapt in to save her, but Fena was faster- closing the distance with the monster in nearly an instant, she swung a wild haymaker with her one good hand into the mass of the largest tentacle with all the fury and fear she could muster behind it.

*Boom!*

It felt like punching a granite rock- Fena let out another cry as the bones in her hand cracked against each other. But the tendril’s reaction was much stronger; it immediately recoiled, an enormous dark and purplish bruise forming where her fist had landed. Fena could see new tendrils growing within the muscle she had punched, seeking to heal the damage she had dealt by replacing it. But there was no wound for the tendrils to escape from; unlike the prior attacks, her injury had not punctured a hole, and so the new tendrils had nowhere to go. Suddenly the entire tentacle began to twitch and jerk about as new flesh grew within old, fighting each other for space. A strange yet horrifying moan of pain emitted from where the creature's mouth used to be, and Fena stepped back as the tendril she had punched began to flail about uncontrollably.

Unlike the bear, this monster only seemed to know how to grow muscle. Its hide was incredibly tough to stretching damage in order to contain the pressure within, yet seemed to be weak to piercing attacks- like how it was easy to poke a hole through a piece of paper yet far more difficult to pull it apart. As such, the monster’s biology sought to fill its puncture wounds with flesh, and packed its internals so densely that nothing could break much further past its skin. But now that there was no hole from which the new flesh could escape…

A malicious grin came over Fena's features. All she had to do now was punch it- The monster's regeneration would do the rest.

Without a single word to the others, Fena began wildly attacking it with everything she had. Kicking, punching, even headbutting it; nothing was beneath her. She even used her ruined arm, elbowing the monster with it while ignoring the pain with gritted teeth. She didn't care; the pain was fuel to her- fuel to her rage, her hate, and the burning desire to destroy both the monster and herself.

The monster switched its attention away from Avairy, sending all it had towards this new threat. Antony rushed to check on the wounded elf as Fena attacked like a wild feral beast, covered in gore and dealing as much violence as physically possible. No longer was she trying to dodge the monster’s limbs- no, now each limb was met by a fist, each feeler blown away by an elbow- it was carnage in its purest form.

Gurgles and screeches emanated from the pile of flesh as Fena let out a scream of rage herself. The creature’s limbs twitched and bubbled as the tendrils within fought to escape, destroying themselves in the process. Before long it couldn’t even defend itself anymore, having completely lost control of its own tentacles; all the thing could do was curl in on itself as the battle quickly devolved into a one sided beatdown. The creature of pure terror was now a victim in the face of something far worse.

Having pulled Avairy out of the battle, Antony rushed back to help, his spear at the ready- but stopped upon seeing the effectiveness of Fena’s strategy. He was no fool on the battlefield, and so it took but a moment for him to drop his favourite weapon and join in on the melee.

But as soon as his fist struck the monster’s flesh, he let out a yelp of pain as his knuckles fractured against the monster’s skin. There was no way he would be able to keep up with Fena- his punch had done barely any damage anyway. Despite being an athletic male anweiran, his strength was nowhere near close enough to inflict the damage that Fena was.

Antony took a step back as he watched the destruction. Fena was more demon than human as she let hell loose upon the monster; her eyes were bloodshot, and spittle flew from her gritted teeth. Her fists were a bloodied mess of torn skin and exposed bone- at least, the parts that could be seen under the thick layer of black viscous gore that belonged to the monster. Avairy stumbled up behind him as he did so, clutching her rib from where she was hit.

“What the fuck… the fuck is she…?” whispered the elf, astonished by the disturbing display. “Some kind of berserker?”

“She certainly fights like one… but even berserkers aren’t that strong,” answered Antony. “But that thing is still alive so I don’t know how long-”

*CRACK*

A loud crackling sound was heard -almost like a snap- and all the fleshy tendrils of the creature suddenly collapsed to the ground. Fena didn’t notice at first; her fists continued to swing, over and over again, until she realized that her fists were now sinking into normal, soft flesh. Whatever internal force that had been holding the monster together and driving it forward had shattered, and the flesh released all its tension at once; like its entire body had simply unclenched. Like the bear, the pile of meat that was once a deer immediately began to decompose, but this time much faster. A horrible stench erupted into the air as the meat took on a variety of concerning colours and turned into a foul liquid that seeped into the ground.

“What. The fuck,” came Avairy’s voice.

Fena didn’t respond as a wave of dizziness washed over her, the consequences of her adrenaline fueled battle now checking in as her own tension faded. She groaned and bit her lip as she took a look at her arms; her left one had lost its hand, having finally been torn off during the rage fueled violence. Blearily she looked around for her hand- there it was, lying not too far from the monster’s corpse. She scooped it up before the other two noticed. Her other hand was still attached at least, but she could see the white bone of her exposed knuckles.

Fena let gravity overcome her and collapsed onto her butt, curling her body around her ruined left arm to hide it as she did so. Hidden from view of the others, she held her left hand against the stump of her wrist and waited. It would take a few minutes for her healing to reattach it.

“The fuck was that thing…” said Avairy, poking what remained of the body with her sword. A small gout of black blood burst from where she punctured the flesh, but quickly trickled away into nothing. Antony sighed and shook his head, kneeling down next to Fena as he did so.

“I’m not sure I want to know to be honest. That was… something, Fena. Come on, let’s get you to Anna. She needs to take a look at you.”

But Fena shook her head, shirking away from him. “I’m fine. Just get me a bandage or two.”

Antony frowned. “What are you talking about… your fists must be ruined.”

“It’s just a flesh wound, it’s fine.”

“But-”

“I said it’s FINE!” snapped Fena. The anweiran took a step back with a shocked and hurt expression. A pang of guilt ran through her at the sight, but it was quickly overruled by the annoyance at his care; she didn’t need anyone’s attention. Avairy had taken an injury as well- why wasn’t he doting on her?

Avairy grabbed Antony’s shoulder and pulled him back. “Come on, leave her be, Antony.”

“I-” started Antony again.

“Give her a moment, okay? Besides I think I broke a few ribs over here," said Avairy with surprising sensitivity to Fena's thoughts. She pulled the anweiran away, leaving Fena alone in her pain.

"The elf is cleverer than she looks," commented the Crow from where it perched on the monster's remains. It cocked its head slightly, before bending down and tearing off a chunk of rotting, putrid flesh.

"Ughfhh. Thastes kind of… wubbery," it enunciated as it choked down the decaying meat. Fena didn't respond, curled around her wrist as it healed. It felt like little bolts of electricity were running through her limb as the nerves reconnected, accompanied by an overwhelming sense of soreness caused by her muscles regrowing and reattaching. It was… unpleasant- disgusting even. Far too familiar to the monster she had just killed.

"Wowee… crazy what the human body is capable of, huh?" said the Crow as it watched Fena gasp and groan in pain. "Well, if it actually was capable of that… you're something else entirely."

"I- know-," groaned Fena as she felt her wrist bone click back into place.

"Still, I knew you could do it! You should've had more faith in me from the start! Now you're the hero that saved the day, all on your own. Just like you wanted, right?"

"Wh- what?" Fena looked up at the bird with an expression of pained confusion.

"That's what this all was about, right? The whole, 'No! I can do this on my own!' shtick you shouted earlier. Why else would you have sent your only ally away at the start of the fight?"

"N-no… no I just-”

“No? No… no, it was because you wanted to protect them, right? To keep them safe from the big bad scary monster.” The Crow cocked its head again, its tone turning patronising. “Some people might take offence to that, you know. The fact that you think your friends can’t look after themselves.”

Fena shook her head desperately, trying to voice her objection from between gritted teeth.

“No- I- If I can’t die, why should anyone else risk their- their lives- to help?”

The Crow answered her with a snort. "Sure. The valiant heroine sacrificing herself for everyone else. It's a pretty good narrative."

“I-I’m not-”

“What’s going on here?!”

Fena looked up to see Rosewell riding up with a gang of adventurers behind him. A wrinkle on his nose at the smell tainted his heroic expression, but he nonetheless carried with him the air of a beloved, charismatic leader. It made Fena want to bury herself in the dirt to hide her filthy wreck of a body.

“What the hell- Antony, did I not order you to wait for the rest of us?!”

Antony looked up and frowned, his usual cheery expression having long disappeared. “Fena was in danger. If we waited, we wouldn’t have made it in time.”

“She wouldn’t have been in danger if she hadn’t charged off on her own in the first place!” snapped Rosewell. He gave Fena a gaze of pity mixed with frustration. “Fena -look- I know you feel the need to prove yourself to us, but this is just reckless. Not only did you endanger yourself, but Antony and Aviary as well. Please don’t be so selfish next time, okay?”

A wave of humiliation washed over Fena, quickly followed by anger- at Rosewell, for lecturing her while his hands were still clean, at Antony for his meddling concern, and at herself, for feeling this way in the first place. She pulled herself to her feet, clutching the still healing hand under her other arm, and began stumbling her way back to the carriages.

“Hey! Are you even listening to me?!” called Rosewell.

“We get it, twat,” interrupted Avairy. “But Fena’s one of ours. We’ll deal with her shit ourselves.”

Rosewell flushed at this, frustrated at being denied. “Respectfully, Miss Aviary, I was put in charge of this mission by the King-”

“And respectfully, you can shove it-” Avairy snapped back, stopping only when Antony put a hand on her shoulder.

“What Aviary is trying to say is that as mercenaries, we deal with our own matters internally,” said Antony placatingly. “Fena’s behaviour was questionable, I agree, but it’s an internal company matter. We’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“I am your Captain-” argued Rosewell, but Antony was ready.

“Yes, you have been placed in charge of this specific mission. You have the ability to order us around the battlefield. But at the end of the day, we answer to Lady Andrea Montegrie, and if you have a complaint with one of our members, you can take it up with her. Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

Rosewell watched as Antony swept past him, pulling Avairy who was making various rude gestures with him.

“Want me to stop them?” asked one of the adventurers, but Rosewell shook his head.

“No… just get this mess cleaned off the road. We need to keep moving.”

The adventurers nodded and set to work, none of them noticing, or perhaps daring to question why Rosewell’s knuckles had whitened on the hilt of his sword.