NOVGO.NET Chapter 1940 A Small Skirmish
Chapter 1940: Chapter 1940 A Small Skirmish
— Kat —
“I wanna fight it,” admitted Kat.
It was a bit later in the day and they were taking a short break, using this giant ice cube with a monster inside of it as a wind break. This wasn’t like the statue, where there was a chance it was just a feature of the landscape. This was an obviously hostile monster, poised to attack, and a number of orbs attached to it. It was actually a little interesting.
Inside of the ice cube was something a little like a mix between a bear and a badger except with four arms. It had white fur, long claws that could be used for digging or impaling foes, and a long fluffy tail that seemed to drag across the ground. It also, currently, had a big bundle of orbs all tied together around a stick the monster had in its mouth. In theory you could get the orbs out without freeing the monster… in theory.
And Kat found she wanted to fight the thing. The orb reward was pretty good, but that wasn’t why. Kat just… felt somewhat compelled. After the slog that was the primordial fight, where it wasn’t really her strength or skill but her last ditch frantic effort that won the day… Kat wanted a proper brawl. Of course, that meant just her having the regeneration to take a few hits.
“Is it really worth it?” asked Hedera, currently leaning against the ice. “It’s a good bunch of orbs sure but you have no idea how tough the thing is. I mean… what if it breaks out and does some serious damage to you? I don’t recognise what this is exactly but from size along it should be somewhat formidable.”
“Eh… I just kinda feel like fighting it,” elaborated Kat. Hedera looked at her like she’d just declared she wanted to torch an orphanage and Kat pouted. “What? It’s not that ridiculous is it?”
“I… I suppose I had come to the conclusion that you were an exceptionally careful individual that tried to avoid fights where possible. I hadn’t realised you were still a battle junky despite that,” sighed Hedera.
Kat winced, “Um… look no but also yes I suppose? I don’t always enjoy combat and I guess that the actual fight isn’t too satisfying. I mean, I’ve seen REAL battle maniacs, in fact…” Kat’s memory flashed back to a large set of ice boots. “… it was just recently I was forced into fighting one. I’m really not like that… but well… I do want to fight it.”
Hedera sighed, “Well if that’s what you want to do I’m not going to stop you,”
Lily transformed next to Kat, shivering a bit in the cold without her fur… but it was worth it to glare at her girlfriend. “Look Lily, I get you’re not entirely pleased…”
“That’s an understatement. We really don’t need to fight this thing…” sighed Lily.
“Yeah, and I’m not disputing that… are you actually going to ask me not to fight it?” asked Kat.
Lily sighed, “You’d really accept that as an answer… and I’d feel bad for asking because of it,”
“Well… would you feel worse if I fight it? That’s the question isn’t it?” asked Kat.
“Fine, go fight the monster…” sighed Lily.
“I will… though can you be ready to grab the branch from its mouth?” offered Kat. Lily just rolled her eyes but transformed and readied a shadowy hand. Kat smiled and started to chip away at the ice. She considered going for the main body, but it was easier to grab the orbs. The thing would certainly jump out at her when she managed it.
For all that the ice was allegedly trapping the monster, it was easy to chip away at. Not even five minutes of effort and Lily was able to extract the orbs. When the rest of the ice shattered a moment later, Kat wasn’t surprised in the slightest. She slid forward and stabbed the monster right in the neck. It countered by slamming its claws into her, and forcing her into the ground…
Kat split into water and reformed above it, letting her weight slam down on the back of the things head, forcing it into the ground. The monster responded by digging its claws into the dirt and hurling two large chunks of rocks at Kat. It was only mildly accurate and Kat was able to slide under them both, while trying to stab it along the back. This was a lot harder. Her fans were sharp, but the monster’s fur was really thick. She cut away a bit of it… but not enough to get to skin, let along muscle or something important.
It made Kat wonder if she’d managed to actually get its throat, or if she’d just sliced at some fur. Kat didn’t have long to think though, because upon missing the attacks, the monster flipped around, trying to throw Kat on the ground and roll over her. Kat considered jumping off, but that would just put her in range of the claws. Instead, she accepted the damage. When Kat was slammed into the ground a moment later, her wings were nice and flat.
She managed to get through the roll without taking any real damage. The ground wasn’t as lucky, but Kat didn’t care about that. Instead, she was looking for more ways to injure the monster. She couldn’t slice into it, and setting it on fire with her demonic fire wouldn’t be much better. The thick fur would keep her attack from doing real damage for quite a while… but she definitely had the time and reserves to take it out that way.
Seeing as Kat was stills tuck to its back, the monster decided to do the smart thing… and both run away and try to get her off. It started to dig down into the snow, and soon the earth, with a completely and very deliberate disregard for the fact that the tunnel wasn’t large enough for Kat to remain on. In theory anyway. The ground wasn’t that tough, and Kat could get pretty flat against herself. The monster also wasn’t perfect in its digging, which helped leave space.
Kat wasn’t sure how deep this thing was planning to go, so she started to burn it. Moving the demonic fire up towards its head to try and get rid of it more swiftly. The monster reacted quickly to this new assault. Slamming its back and sides into the walls, trying to smother the flames as best it could and failing.
It was doing something though, Kat was being slammed against that same ceiling. The fur helped a bit, giving way before she did, and the rock was the same… but it still wasn’t fun. Kat’s hands gripped hard onto the fur to keep herself in place as the monster desperately tried to deal with the fire… before it just suddenly collapsed.
Kat tried to see if it was still alive, pressing a hand against the monster but the fur was in the way. Slicing away at that… didn’t help either. The thing had a thick layer of fat and she was just in the middle of its back. Moving to the neck area didn’t really help either, it was too fat to feel the beat of its heart. Though it did show that her initial attack at its throat had succeeded. Blood continued to pool under its neck.
Kat nodded at that. Her demonic fire hadn’t been enough, but apparently that first attack had been. Kat was just turning away, when she felt a disturbance, whipping her head around she was barely in time to see the monster’s massive jaws closing in around her. Kat had only a moment to think of the best move… but it was obviously just turning into water.
The mouth slammed down so hard Kat could HEAR its teeth cracking. It had been an all-out attack designed to take her out even if it meant breaking a few teeth and perhaps its jaw. It really didn’t have any other choice. When the monster realised that it had ’missed’ Kat, it started to panic, thrashing around and slicing at just about anything in an attempt to find something the claw through. It was… a bit sad perhaps.
*Hmm… not as satisfying as I’d hoped. This thing had no chance.*
[Hey, you were the one that wanted to fight it.]
*Yeah I know that, and I don’t regret the decision to fight… but I guess I was hoping for something closer to an epic battle with a bit of back and forth. This was just… overkill really. A stab to the throat took it out and that feels really cheap.*
[Kat… Hedera is shaking. Sure she’s scared of everything, but it was a serious threat. The fact that you’re Rank 4 means you’re stupid durable and you can just turn into water. It really isn’t fair to… basically anything here when you fight it.]
*Yeah, yeah. Let’s keep looking for this town.*