The loud crack echoed from the faraway trees like the sound of a logging axe. Edwin raised his mace, inspecting the large divot it had dug into the thick tree. He had chosen a trunk that disappeared somewhere into the middle of the dam, hoping it would transmit his polite knock directly to the inhabitant. He brought his weapon down a second time, the jarring impact reminding him of his hours of training with the dummies in the practice yard. The mace fell a third time, and Edwin stopped to listen. Maybe it wasn’t home anyway. After a few seconds of silence, he hit the tree again. As he raised his hand for another strike, he noticed waves lapping up the embankment he was standing on. He looked to the right, where the felled trees disappeared under the water, and met two large eyes that were just breaching the surface. Edwin took a step backwards, opening his mouth to call out to his party, when the direbeaver reached the shore and clambered up the embankment.

It was huge, at least as big as the beetle had been. It towered over Edwin when it reared up on its hind legs and fixed him with an angry glare. Coarse, brown fur covered its body, slick from the water, and a paddle-like tail the size of a rowboat was visible behind it. The creature bared teeth as big as Edwin’s hands at him, and the curved direhorn on its brow made it hard to believe it was related to a cute, peaceful animal.

A crossbow bolt whizzed past Edwin, burrowing into the beaver’s torso.

“Come on, run!” Bordan called from behind him, and Edwin finally pulled his eyes off the giant murderous rodent in front of him. As he spun around and started pumping his legs, the last thing he saw was the direbeast hissing in anger and falling to all fours to give chase.

Edwin bolted through the clearing, weaving between gnawed stumps. Most of his attention was on his feet, as the uneven ground could make his dash end rapidly if he didn’t pay attention, but a quick look towards his goal showed his companions prepare to receive the monster that was hot on his tail. Bordan was ahead of the other two, spear held low, while Leodin was reloading his crossbow with practiced motions. Salissa stood next to him with balled fists, a determined look on her face.

A second bolt zipped past Edwin and elicited a pained screech shortly before he reached Bordan. Edwin ran past him, then halted his momentum to join his fellow fighter. He had thought the direbeaver to be directly behind him, but as he turned around, he saw the creature was still a dozen meters away.

“I’ve got it!” Bordan yelled, moving between the two and ramming the back of his spear between the roots of a stump. The monster didn’t seem to consider him a threat and charged straight at him, snapping with its oversized teeth. They clacked together a hand’s breadth before they could close around Bordan’s head, as his spear sunk deeply into the creature’s torso. The wooden shaft creaked in protest, and Bordan let go of it and scrambled backwards. He yelled something, but his words were drowned out by the direbeast’s furious roar. It was deafening, pushing Edwin back like a physical strike. The jolt pulled him out of his observation, and he charged at the beaver with determination. A third bolt sank into the monster’s flesh, but this time it didn’t even acknowledge it. It reared backwards and clawed Bordan’s weapon. While the movement dislodged it from the trunk, it had penetrated too deeply into the monster to come out easily. Edwin arrived and swung at the direbeast but had to abort his attack to block a handful of long claws with his shield. His momentum carried him slightly past the beaver, but it stopped caring about him the moment he was out of sight. Instead, its bloodshot eyes fell on Bordan, the little human who had hurt it so. The former soldier had pulled his sword from its sheath, but the weapon seemed inadequate against the massive creature.

“Salissa! Now!” Bordan yelled, his voice shaky for the first time since Edwin knew him. The beaver advanced towards the older man, climbing over the pointy tree trunk, and Edwin slammed his mace down on its back leg. Thick fur and thicker meat dampened his strike, and the cracking of bones that he’d hoped for never came. Moments later, however, the fire arrived.

Salissa’s flame wandered over the monster’s front, drying its fur with a hiss of steam. It staggered, covering its face with a foreleg while screeching in surprise. Moments later, patches of fur started to burn away as the mage kept up her conversion. Edwin swung his mace at the distracted monster, but a twitch made him miss his target and hit the shield-like bone armor on its back instead. The armor cracked, but his weapon failed to penetrate. The beaver spun around, and suddenly Edwin’s feet weren’t standing on the forest floor anymore. Sky and ground rotated before his eyes, as he realized what had happened. The beaver had swung its tail around, slapping Edwin away like a meaty ball with an oversized paddle. He braced for impact as the ground welcomed his return. He slid along the dirt in a tumble, then his head and shoulders crashed into another trunk. A flash of pain pierced his skull, reverberating down to his toes and back. He stayed there for a moment, curled up, until his enhanced physique kicked in and dulled the pain. He rolled to his knees and stood, surveying the battlefield.

He was maybe ten meters from where he had been before, looking at the beaver’s turned back. The monster seemed to be fighting Bordan, although Edwin couldn’t make out the man behind the creature’s bulk. Leodin was aiming his crossbow, but there was no trace of Salissa. With an angry growl, Edwin gripped his mace tighter, only to find that he’d lost it in the tumble. His shield was strapped to his arm, but his weapon hadn’t been, and he looked around frantically to find it. It wasn’t where he had fallen, and after a few, painfully long moments he realized that it could be anywhere. Finding it in the messy clearing full of the remains of gnawed trees and low underbrush would take time he didn’t have.

He didn’t have a weapon now, and for a few seconds, he froze. What was he supposed to do? Keep searching for his mace? Attack the direbeast with his bare hands? The beaver moved to the side, and Edwin spotted Bordan, stabbing at the creature with his sword to keep it away. The sight of the man wielding his backup weapon hit Edwin like a bolt of lightning, and his fingers felt at his belt. For a few seconds, he was sure he’d lost it, but finally his searching hand pulled his dagger from its sheath. Now armed again, Edwin charged back into the fray.

He didn’t stop his run when he reached the fight, instead putting his momentum behind the weapon and ramming the long dagger into the beast’s back up to its hilt. It growled and flicked its tail at him again, but this time Edwin didn’t get caught off guard. He dodged the swipe, then attacked, stabbing the massive creature several more times. Again it spun around, snapping at Edwin as if to bite him in two. Unable to retreat quickly enough, he barely managed to put his shield in the way. With a dry crunch, the direbeaver’s oversized teeth turned the top half of his wooden shield into kindling, narrowly missing his arm. Edwin scrabbled backwards, but the monster didn’t follow up. A feathered bolt sprouted from its neck, and it let out a mourning cry, batting at the projectile. Bordan stabbed it, and it turned back to defend itself again, but its movements were sluggish and one of its feet was dragging behind. The many wounds were finally taking their toll.

Edwin shook the destroyed shield off his arm, taking two steps and jumping onto the monster’s wide back. Hanging onto the bony protrusions, he stabbed at its neck and face with his dagger. It swiped drunkenly at him, but Bordan used the distraction to close with his sword. Leodin’s crossbow snapped again, adding another injury to the dozens of bleeding wounds while the monster’s movements became slower and slower.