BlaiseCorvin
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Reincarnator RB Dragons, ch 34
🕑 Added 2024-06-04 07:49:50 +0000 UTCKevin darted forward, trying to deliver a cut, but the monster twisted and turned before he could land a blow. The defensive move hadn't been intentional, but it was still effective enough to rob Kevin's attack of all power. In frustration, he took a swipe at the creature's monstrous blade-tipped tail and managed to almost cut it. It was as if the creature had eyes in the back of its head; the tail moved at the last moment, again robbing Kevin of a solid hit.
However, while his failed strike to the leech panther's hind legs had been ignored, the attempted cut at the tail made the big monster go berserk. It turned with a snarl like a hundred acres of breaking glass and gathered to pounce, a move that would probably end Kevin's life. Luckily, on the other side, George took a swipe at the tail himself. He was quick on the uptake, noticing the monster’s reaction at the same time Kevin had.
The big lizardman's attack was much more effective than Kevin's had been for a variety of reasons, not least of which was that the tail had been moving solidly towards him. The ruin guardian screamed in pain and outrage as Georges sword bit home. Then it turned with a sound like a locomotive letting out steam before delivering a savage couple of paw strikes at George. The Mountain Fingers' leader stood resolutely, pouring all his considerable physique and mana into withstanding the attacks. Even as the monster poured its fury into attacking George, rear paws and what was left of the tail swung around.
Kevin deftly dodged backward, much faster than he could have before having received [Elvish Acuity]. For the moment, he was still completely unharmed, and he had two things to thank for that. The first was the combination of skills and abilities he'd gotten from eating monster flesh, as well as [Perfect Seasoning]. The second was that the Mountain Fingers had taken hits that otherwise might have taken Kevin out completely.
Things were not going well anymore.
About twenty yards away, Jagna was bloody on the ground. The ork woman still clung to consciousness with grim tenacity, hauling herself towards one of the dilapidated stone buildings of the ruins. She held her spear in an iron grip, glancing back with a baleful stare full of hatred and regret at the ongoing fight.
Of the adventuring team, only Fili was mostly uninjured. Tomo was hurt and was currently running away. George had ordered it; the human woman had hesitated briefly before giving a jerky nod and taking off. Throughout the fight, Tomo had darted in as close as she dared to deliver shot after shot into the hide of the leech panther. However, she barely evaded retaliations that would have turned her into a bloody mess. All that had saved her was her own speed and some help from her magic.
All of the team would be much worse off if not for George.
George ran excellent interference, always being there with his shield and otherwise harassing the monster. Kevin was beginning to understand why the previous group had had so much trouble with this thing, though. It was amazingly resistant to damage. Even after all of Tomo's arrows and Jagna's stabs and everything the others had done, the creature had barely been slowed when it had come after Tomo.
As usual, George had been there to block, but this time the creature had spun, using its elongated tail and wicked sharp tip to clip Tomo's shoulder as she escaped its immediate vicinity. The cut had been deep, and as an archer, Tomo needed both arms to fight. George had immediately barked at her to run, telling her to come back later and that she wouldn't be helpful one way or another at the moment.
Her dominant hand limp at her side, dripping blood into the tufts of grass that covered the ruins, Tomo had looked for a second like she was about to cry before dashing off into the distance. Kevin hadn't been able to watch her for very long, but ever practical, Tomo had already been pulling a first aid kit out of one of her pouches as she retreated. If she came back, she’d be ready to help.
George was wounded too, but still functional. The big lizardman had taken multiple cuts, but his armor and his natural ability had turned the worst of them aside. However, unlike the smoothly circling monster that kept accidentally thwarting Kevin's attacks, all of George's damage mitigation had been intentional. The big warrior knew what he was doing.
But now, Kevin had no idea what was going to happen next. He wasn’t even sure where Fili was–he hadn't seen the dwarf in a while. Just as the thought crossed his mind, suddenly, Fili jumped from above off one of the higher, mostly crumbled buildings of the ruins. He made no noise at all; only the flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye let Kevin understand what was happening.
As fast as the leech panther could be, it had no warning about the plummeting dwarf until he was almost on top of it. He slammed down with breath-stealing force but didn't hesitate at all before his arm began rising and falling rapidly. The dagger in the dwarf's hand, one that he always carried, bore a sheen of poison. But the creature had been hit with other poison so far and hadn't shown much of a reaction. Maybe this is a different kind, Kevin thought.
Like George, he ran in to assist and distract the creature from what Philly was currently doing, but the monster was far too clever for that. Being stabbed over and over was also probably hard to ignore. It jumped in the opposite direction of Kevin and George. As it did, Kevin noticed in horror that slamming onto the thing's back had already wounded Philly. The leech panther's solidified, spiky fur had actually impaled him in some places.
The monster's tail whipped forward, the blade aimed at Fili's vulnerable form, but somehow the wily dwarf twisted aside at the last moment before the creature's blade struck itself. With a grunt more of irritation than real pain, the leech panther spun hard enough to throw Philly off its back. Then as the dwarf was in midair, the monster's tail cracked around, solidly hitting him in the chest.
Kevin held his breath at first until he realized that the leech panther's timing hadn't been perfect. Fili had been too close, so instead of taking the sharp, blade-like end of the tail through the chest, the effect was more like getting hit by a giant club. Fili hit the ground hard, rolling to a complete stop and lying still.
The leech panther turned slowly, surveying the battlefield before narrowing its glowing trio of eyes at Kevin and George.
This is bad, thought Kevin. George was not only the toughest member of the party; he was also the healer. Kevin was probably strong enough, maybe, to pull one of the downed party members to safety, but it would be useless if George wasn't alive to help them. It would also be useless to try saving Fili or Jagna without George distracting the creature.
Apparently, the Mountain Fingers’ leader had already deduce all of this as well, because he yelled, "Kevin! Jagna's closest to you! Actually, Kevin, Philly is closest to you! Get him out of here; I'll keep it occupied and–" He didn't get to finish what he was saying as the leech panther slammed forward, putting all of its energy and ferocity into trying to tear George apart. The stoic warrior cried out as the monster's wicked claws raked down his shield arm.
Just like that, with George’s shield held much more weakly than before, Kevin understood exactly how this was about to end. Without thinking too much about it, he ran forward as quietly as he could. When he got closer, he saw that George had been wounded on the leg too. The lizard man was bleeding out and desperately needed time to tend to his own wounds before he could do anything to save the other members of the party.
He cast [weapon sharpening] and [anti-bind] on his sword.
Kevin remembered how the monster had reacted when its tail was attacked. He wound up in midair and delivered the most powerful cut he could to the tail, right at the base of the blade, as it was standing unusually still. The strike had all his buffs, speed, and body weight behind it, as well as several lifetimes of weapons training. His longsword buzzed through the tail like it was not even there. Without waiting to see the monster’s reaction, Kevin spun, sheathing his longsword what felt like glacially slowly, but with the speed of long practice, and ran for all he was worth. His goal, a round building ahead of him, became his entire world. He didn't allow himself to hear the screams of the leech panther. He didn't allow himself to feel its chasing thunder-like footsteps. And he definitely didn't allow himself to imagine he could feel the thing's breath on the back of his neck.
The moment he was past the round building, button-hooking close to the stone so the heavy leech panther had to waste several precious seconds to kill momentum and reorient itself, Kevin polymorphed into a chipmunk. He took off, running much faster than he'd been moving before and much more gracefully. [Elvish Acuity] turned what was already a fleet-footed form into a brown bolt of lightning. The leech panther howled, sounding like it was personally offended by this new development, and seemed to chase Kevin with new energy.
After dodging around a pile of rubble, Kevin chanced a backward glance. Damn. Practically all he could see was blazing eyes and a mouth full of teeth. Without lifetimes of experience dealing with fear, it might have been too much to handle without faltering.
He headed deeper into the ruins, away from his wounded comrades. As the chase continued and he began losing ground again, Kevin got the glimmer of a plan. He just needed to find the right kind of place to put it in action. It should exist in ruins like this, right? Luckily, a few seconds later, he spotted an ideal place. The leech panther skidden on a loose pile of bricks on the ground. Kevin took advantage of the monster’s interrupted momentum to chitter, taunting it.
The angrier the monster was, the better.
The next part was going to be the most dangerous bit. He very slightly allowed his speed to slack a bit, letting the leech panther get closer to him, practically on his heels. Kevin didn't glance back to confirm it, but he could imagine the monster had its entire attention on him. So when Kevin jumped through a hole in a thick stone wall that was still mostly intact, the leech panther hadn't even seen it coming. With a terrific, bone-jarring crash, the monster slammed into the wall. Pieces of the ancient masonry fell off on the ends, and the creature’s head broke some of the wall around the hole, but the wall itself held.
Now the leech panther was temporarily restrained, covered in loose bricks, and seemingly dazed. Kevin was not willing to bet on the fact that the monster's confused state would last long so he acted quickly.
During the fight with the Mountain Fingers earlier, he’d noticed that the spikes in hardened fur on the leech panther's body were much sparser the closer they got to the monster's face. Suppressing his terror, Kevin ran back towards the monster. He went up the stone wall to one side, and then directly down towards the top of the leech panther's head in its blind spot. In chipmunk form, the leech panther, already large, looked mountain-sized.
Although dazed, the monster had been trying to slowly crane its head around to watch his progress, but it still got the surprise of its life once Kevin landed on its forehead and began savagely biting it everywhere he could. His little poison-infused teeth even ruined the creature's third eye. That gave him the idea to go for one of its regular eyes, and he ruined it. The screaming creature almost managed to shake him off, but he scrambled back to the top of its head. Kevin wasn't sure how many times he mercilessly bit the leech panther, but he got as much damage in as he possibly could before jumping off right in time. The beast surged up with a new burst of enraged energy, ruining the rest of the wall.
After being so close, Kevin felt dazed, weakened. He had a feeling that he better understood now why the creature was called a leech panther. Good thing I’m not actually using mana right now, he thought. It was probably the first time he’d ever found a silver lining in not being a mage.
Kevin ran again, glancing behind him at the wounded leech panther, hoping to see signs that his venom had been effective. A few moments later, he felt a glimmer of hope as the creature suddenly screamed in pain, frustration, and hatred. But then its remaining eye narrowed, and with a sinking feeling, Kevin realized it probably had near-human intelligence.
He could see the realization in the leech panther’s eye–it realized it wasn't going to catch him. And sure enough, the monster turned and began running the opposite way, back towards Kevin’s comrades.
Well, that is not okay. Not gonna happen. He chased after the leech panther, and the beast was seemingly unaware of him getting closer until suddenly it turned with a blood-curdling yell, lashing out with a paw of razor-sharp claws at Kevin's tiny body. Without [Elvish Acuity], the blow might have killed him, but Kevin was able to barely twist in mid-air, letting two claws pass over and under his body before he landed. The moment he touched down, almost out of pure instinct, he polymorphed into his goblin form.
His rational mind caught up quickly. Now that he was so close, with no wall to slow it down, even with the poison coursing through its body, if Kevin had stayed in chipmunk form, there was no way he could have gotten away–the monster have easily been able to pounce far enough to catch him.
The only way through this was to meet the challenge head on. [weapon strengthening], [weapon swiftness], [unshakeable resolve], [divine inspiration], [battle focus]. He pulled out the stops, exhausting all of his clerical energy to buff himself. The channeled power made an audible glow and he was forced to mumble in a language he didn’t know. Morrigan’s borrowed power made the air heavy, but Kevin’s body felt light.
His [unshakable resolve] buff had an immediate effect. Kevin was terrified but also excited as he faced down the leech panther. Its face was a ruin, and he congratulated himself for doing so much damage to the damn thing. Since he had to believe his venom was working on the thing, he assumed that just like Baron Titus, it might just take a while to work. And since the leech panther was moving and fighting, being active, he hoped that the process would be faster.
Of course, he’d have to stay alive to see the creature's death.
For several chaotic, violent seconds, the leech panther did its absolute best to kill Kevin as, in goblin form, he dodged, weaved, parried with his sword, and used every trick he'd learned in multiple lifetimes to survive the attacks with his current relatively weak body.
Every place the beast expected him to be, he wasn’t. Every time he should have spun one direction, he went the other way. Kevin took advantage of his smaller, lighter body to build momentum with his sword, letting his help turn him in unnatural ways that his enemy couldn’t predict, especially with one eye. The leech panther’s depth perception was shot.
With deadly focus, Kevin danced around the huge monster, his sword flicking out to nudge thunderous attacks even slightly off balance, his feet always finding strong purchase on the uneven ground. Not a single second was taken for granted and he didn’t allow his iron concentration falter, even as the the leech panther’s claws tore into the surrounding stone like it was made of tofu.
He counterattacked back, too. But even his strikes that would have taken off a human's arm cleanly barely did damage to the leech panther. However, as the seconds ticked by, the monster’s attacks began to slow. It panted, yowling in frustration, pain, and anger.
Kevin took a sudden chance. He used larger motions, tempting the wounded ruin guardian to expend more energy and make bigger, more powerful attacks.
The ruse worked. Of course, it almost cost Kevin his life again.
At the last moment, as the monster pounced at him with its full body weight, paws extended, Kevin slammed his own body forward to the ground. The maneuver would have been impossible if he’d spared himself any injury, ahd his shoulder and face bruttally smashed the broken stone on the ground. His nightmarish, furry enemy sailed over him as Kevin desperately tried to cut it from beneath. Demonic-smelling dark blood splattered his face as the long sword's tip found purchase. Meanwhile, the leech panther's club-like, severed tail trailed behind and tried to decapitate Kevin with a blade that wasn't there anymore. The combination of the blade being missing Kevin moving a bit after falling was all that prevented him from being killed. Even without the blade, the tail was large and extremely powerful; it could have crushed his skull. Instead, it hit him in the arm, breaking his shoulder that had already been smashed into the rock. Kevin cried out in pain and immediately rolled to his feet.
The monster turned and was noticeably much slower now but seemed to still hold a look of triumph in its one, balefully glowing eye. Kevin could understand why. He was a goblin using a longsword, and despite the unnatural strength of his kind, his sword was pretty large for his size. Now that he was wounded, he wouldn't be able to use it as adeptly as he had before. It was a similar situation to the one that forced Tomo to retreat from the battlefield.
Kevin did the only thing he could think of. His size swelled as he polymorphed into the form from his second life, a big, blonde-haired, blue-eyed man. He’d been Kevin in that life, too–Kevin Marshal, exiled Knight Bennisgow. And now, what was a longsword to a goblin wasn't unwieldy in his single remaining hand. The leech panther's eye widened in shock, and that moment of hesitation was all Kevin needed. He was already fairly close, with a stack of self-cast cleric buffs, [Perfect Seasoning], [Elvish Acuity], [Uncanny Balance], [Beastly Stamina], and [Werewolf Constitution, Minor]. With two quick steps and a skilled thrust, the point of his blade slammed into the last of the leech panther's undamaged eyes. Although the tip only went in about seven or eight inches, it was enough. The monster stood still, and Kevin threw himself away before the death throes started. If he hadn't, he might have gotten even more badly injured as the huge monster thrashed around and silently screamed its defiance in death, poison frothing at its mouth.
Finally, Kevin stood, polymorphed back into his goblin form, and approached the corpse of the ruin guardian with grim steps. He seized the hilt of his sword and wrenched it out of the monster's skull. Then he flicked the weapon before wiping the rest of the unnatural blood off with some grass. He resheathed the blade and started limping back towards where the Mountain Fingers had fallen.
Comments
Disparate Sen
The combination of the blade being missing ->[AND] Kevin moving a bit after falling was all that prevented him from being killed. wondering why Kevin didn't use the buffs sooner?
