Chapter 26: Green and Red

Miguel reached the summit of the hill without further incident. From there, he looked towards the mountains, now in near darkness, and listened again for the footsteps of Razor-lizard Rex, as he had named his recent foe – or any of the other monstrous beasts.

So far, nothing. He appeared to be alone. There wasn’t even any sign of more yiqu.

He found the now-extinguished torch that he had thrown at Rex before falling through the cave roof, and picked it up, putting it into his backpack.

With the coast clear, it was time to get to work.

Equip shovel

Most of the earth that he had dug from the hole had been dumped down the cliff off to the side, but he was able to fill it by placing in some flat rocks over the gap, and then moving a small layer of earth from the areas around about to cover up the remaining void. He hoped the repair would hold – the cave roof had looked like rock, so he must have chanced upon the one weak spot.

Had that been good luck or bad? It was hard to say. Now that he was no longer facing the enlarged razor-lizard, he wondered how badly wounded it had been. Perhaps he had been close to killing it without realizing!

It was a pity that he hadn’t yet learned the ‘enemy stats’ command at that point. If he had only known, he could have figured out how close to death it had come.

Now it would really suck if the beast had healed all that damage by feeding on the other dead razor-lizard... but sadly, that seemed all too likely.

Unequip shovel

With the patch-up job done to his satisfaction and their base one step closer to being secure, Miguel began to move away from the summit again, heading back down the stony slope. As he went, he reflected that he hadn’t yet stumbled or fallen on his way. Granted, this time he wasn’t being chased. But perhaps that bump of two extra points into agility was already making a difference.

And as Aluna had said, getting extra agility could end up being worth more than a couple of hit points if it meant not getting caught and bitten by one of their attackers... or falling down a cliff, or a myriad of other possible harmful outcomes of being clumsy!

Halfway back to the huge boulder, Miguel was almost starting to relax when he heard a familiar thumping.

It was now almost dark in the sky, the last of the evening sunlight from the direction of the lake was gleaming red on the hillside and reflecting off the rocks, making it harder to look around. He stopped, listening. Which direction was the sound coming from? He wasn’t sure, but he didn’t think it could be the trees. If it was, then surely he would see some movement among the undergrowth, or the long head of monster protruding.

Equip bow

Equip arrow

Miguel started to walk again, slowly and cautiously, listening hard and looking in every direction. It was possible that the beast was on the move, but hadn’t detected him. All the same, he felt like every one of his senses was on high alert, and suddenly the possibility of the enlarged razor-lizard rearing up from behind a nearby rock felt all too real. His hands were even shaking as he held the bow.

Then he paused again. He saw a flickering light to his right and some movement near the wooden chest and took aim, only to realize that rather than a dinosaur, it was Sid and Aluna. They must have come out to make good on the plan of taking the chest into the cave – or perhaps they had also seen the advice about using the blood for healing, and decided to try it for themselves.

Just then, Miguel again heard thumping foodsteps, much louder and faster this time. And they were coming from right behind him.

He swung around, just in time to see a razor-lizard charging down the slope, straight at him. It wasn’t Rex, however. Instead, this one looked very like the original pair, before they had fought. It was dark green in color. Big, yes, but not as big as Rex had become after winning that battle.

He let fly with the arrow. The missile flew in almost a straight line, such was the power of the composite bow. And as the razor-lizard approached, giving its distinctive rattling roar as it came, the arrow slammed into the roof of its mouth, and burst right through its flesh in a spray of blood.

Notification: You have gained 40XP

“This way!” called out Sid.

Unequip bow

Miguel turned and raced towards his two companions.

“No – lead it over towards the boulder,” corrected Aluna, pointing. As she shouted, she herself was moving across the patch of stony ground between the chest and the boulder.

Wondering if she was thinking that they should all shelter in the crevice again, Miguel ran straight towards her. She paused, a dagger equipped in each hand, apparently ready to strike the creature when it reached her. Miguel was only a few yards from her when she called out again: “It’s a trip wire, man! Move over to the boulder!”

Miguel skidded to a halt, nearly fell, but righted himself. He then moved across to the left as Aluna ran further down the slope. The razor-lizard kept going towards the woman, and sure enough, hit against a near-invisible line of cord that the companions had at some point stretched between the boulder and somewhere near the wooden chest.

Its front legs stopped but its body kept going. With the momentum from its downward charge, the lizard crashed down onto the slope, landing on its front, long neck and head with a bang, and giving out a hissing screech as it did so. Its clawed feet were left writhing in the air, and there came a twang as the cord then snapped from the impact.

Now, Sid was charging forward, torch in hand. Dodging past the slashing claws, he thrust the flaming torch into the monster’s exposed underside, causing it to roar again and thrash even more vigorously, then struck it again.

Equip bow

Equip arrow

Standing near the huge boulder, Miguel steadied himself, aimed, and shot. Like Sid, he was able to hit the exposed area of flesh on the beast’s underside, and his arrow buried deep into its abdomen...

Notification: You have gained 40XP

But how much damage was he doing? He decided to find out more, and called out a command: Enemy Stats.

Attacker profile Type: Razor-lizard, Type One Maximum hit points: 180 Current hit points: 104 Speed: 16 Attack: Bite, claw, charge, trample Maximum damage: 40 XP gain: 800 (progressive)

So... the beast still had more than half of its hit points. And worse – he was now out of arrows.

Miguel now hurried around the back of the creature as it flailed around, trying to get closer to where Sid was attacking it.

Equip torch

As he had hoped, the torch came automatically to his hand – but it was still unlit, extinguished. Miguel very much hoped that this was due to it having been left on the ground, and not a lack of whatever fuel that the thing ran on.

“Sid – I need a light!”

“You got it, man.”

Sid pulled away, pressing his own torch to Miguel’s... but at that same moment, the creature finally righted itself, and twisted towards them. Its neck flexed, and its enormous head came down toward Sid’s. The big man saw the danger just in time, turning so that its bite impacted his shoulder rather than enveloping his whole head. All the same, he screamed in pain, writhing as the razor-lizard’s long row of curved teeth grasped him firmly, and then sunk deep into his flesh.

Miguel’s torch had sputtered to life, and he knew there was only one thing he could do. He pressed it firmly high onto the top of the beast’s head, between its eyes, knowing that it surely couldn’t cling onto Sid while it was being burned...

Notification: You have gained 40XP

It was an easy hit, and he was correct – the creature let go of Sid, and turned on Miguel instead. As Sid fell to his knees, writhing, bleeding, and screaming in pain, Miguel hit out at the razor-lizard’s face with the torch again, but missed.

He was vaguely aware that Aluna was somehow behind the creature, perhaps stabbing at it its tail area with the daggers. How much more damage could it still take? That was unclear, and Miguel didn’t feel he had time to read through its stats again.

He dodged one bite and then ducked a slash of its claws as it reared up, but a follow-up butt with its head sent him flying across the ground, a blast of pain spreading across his side. The initial injury was followed by a second notification as he hit the rocky surface:

You have lost 8 hit points You have 9 hit points remaining You have lost 2 hit points You have 7 hit points remaining

He felt stunned, but Miguel knew he had to act quickly if they were to win this fight. Fortunately he was still gripping the torch, and it was still burning.

Gritting his teeth and trying to stand up straight despite a feeling of dizziness that the last attack had caused, he hurried closer to where Sid was lying bleeding on the ground, and threw the torch directly at the creature’s forelegs, just as he had done with Razor-lizard Rex before. And again, the flames licked up the monster’s legs for a moment before it noticed the pain. The creature then reared up and bellowed.

Now, Aluna was below it. She slashed several times at the green scales of the creature’s exposed stomach as she ran right under it, this time splitting the skin and causing entrails to spill out, and scarlet blood to splatter onto the stones in the twilight.

The beast had to be close to death.

Surely.

Equip bow

With no choice but to use his bow like a club, Miguel lashed at the struggling monster’s head once, twice, three times, making a good contact at least once:

Notification: You have gained 40XP

He dodged another bite, then took a glancing blow from the claws of one of its front legs:

You have lost 3 hit points You have 4 hit points remaining

Simultaneously, Aluna was stabbing her daggers into the creature’s flank and its rear legs again and again. The fight was on a knife’s edge... but now it was Aluna’s turn to take a bad hit. The creature lashed out with its tail, and the woman was knocked to the side, where she lay stunned.

Now it advanced on Miguel again. Aware that he didn’t have many hit points left, he turned to defense, blocking one blow after another with the bow, and then dodging a bite.

He was stepping backwards up the slope all the time. Neither Sid nor Aluna were moving. If he was going to win this, he was going to have to do it without a proper weapon, and on his own.

Then, as he took another step, a loose stone moved under Miguel’s heel, and he fell to his back.

You have lost 1 hit point You have 3 hit points remaining

The wounded razor-lizard gave a triumphant roar, and raised its head above him.