The rodent moved with surprising agility, side stepping the blow and tackling her in the leg. The beast's oddly shaped teeth dug into her, tearing out a small chunk of flesh off the front of the limb as it passed. She was lucky. It was as unfamiliar with fighting her as she was it. Its lack of experience left it unaware of her tibia, the presence of which prevented it from doing even more damage.
Still, it was painful, incredibly so. Claire's knees nearly buckled, but she managed to kick the critter off before it could do any more harm.
It charged at her again after it landed, fangs bared and ready to strike. But she was ready for it this time. Sort of. The rodent was much faster than her and she had yet to pull back her weapon following the thrust, so she ended up meeting it midcharge with the makeshift spear's butt. Getting hit in the side of the head threw the creature off course and caused it to fly into the wall beside her at full speed. She used her momentum to complete a revolving sweep with the tip of the blade, spinning around and slashing the beaver-like beast across its back before it could recover from its self-inflicted head trauma.
Claire smiled to herself, thinking that combat wasn't anywhere nearly as difficult as the knights had always told her. Her confidence was replaced by contrition without a moment's delay, however, as she soon realized that the attack, which had been backed by all the force she could muster, had failed to prove itself significant. Her bone spearhead had slid off the semiaquatic monster's pelt without piercing it. No blood was drawn, no fur was cut, and no harm was done.
The creature lashed out with its tail before she overcame the shock. The heavy, mace-like weapon sent her hurtling up the corridor. She was lucky it hadn't flung her the other way. She likely would've hit a wall had it sent her flying downhill. The combined forces of gravity and the treemuncher's attack would've been enough to break nearly any bone.
Landing on the mossy ground, however, allowed her to skid to a stop and escape with "only" a fractured arm.
The pain was intense, much worse than the hellhog's half hearted, unintentional swipe. Claire was unable to fight back her tears. She was in so much distress that she even allowed the occasional sob to escape her. But she didn't give up. She clenched her teeth and used her spear to force herself back up as the oversized rodent once again began charging at her tail-first.
This time, her furry opponent took to the air, swiping downwards with its rear as if to target her head.
The halfbreed ducked to avoid the attack, lashing out with a stab as the two passed each other by. Again, the blade failed to pierce its fur, but the impact to the base of its tail at least seemed to bother it.
It didn't break into a fourth charge right as it landed, instead taking a few moments to stumble about and chitter angrily, as if disoriented. This left Claire confused. The one handed blow she had just struck was significantly weaker than the two handed slash the beaver had shrugged off only moments prior.
She checked her own health as she slowly circled the critter. Surprisingly, she still had about half. She expected her HP to be far lower. The excruciating agony that pulsed from her near-broken arm was magnitudes worse than what she had felt when the ritual had drained three fourths of her life force. Another equally welcome surprise came in the form of the beaver's newfound caution. Every time she moved, it would do the same, maintaining the amount of distance between the two as would a fencer, a similarity Claire chalked up to coincidence.
She was wrong.
It was staying just far enough for it to pounce at her without putting itself in reach of her spear. Having judged that its five meter leap was punished due to the length of the time it spent in flight, the rodent sought to initiate a similar attack from a shorter distance. The moment its pain eased was the moment it kicked off the ground. The beast dove straight at her chest, swiping the bulky appendage that was its weapon from left to right to crush her frame at its core.
This too was met with an unfortunate counter. Claire dodged towards the tip of the oversized rodent's tail, moving past it right as it readied its blow. And as the two crossed paths, she once again struck the spot she targeted previously. Spending a few moments circling her foe had allowed her to not only realize that she had uncovered a weakness—which led her to move her grip further up the shaft in order to better target it—but also that she had a combat-attuned active skill at her disposal.
With an entirely unnecessary and utterly embarrassing shout of "Double Stab!", the halfbreed created a translucent duplicate of the weapon's tip, one that seemed to somehow exist in the same place as it, but also not exist at the same time. Ignoring the bizarre contradiction, she drilled the spear straight into the base of the rodent's tail. Adding to the situation's eccentricity was the fact that only the invisible attack drew blood. Sort of. It didn't pierce or directly wound the creature, but Claire noted a crimson splatter as ethereal as the false blade accompanying her strike.
She let go of the weapon and drew her two others before the beaver hit the ground. She dashed right at it, aiming at its eyes, the only other weaknesses she was aware of. One of the Double Stab enchanted strikes landed exactly where she wanted it while the other slid across its pelt. That, however, was not to say that it was unproductive. The fur near the beaver's face was thinner than the rest; her blade managed to dig through it and gouge out a piece of its cheek.
Though at an advantage, she wasn't out of the woods just yet. Its sharpened fangs dug into one of her arms, holding it in place, and forcing her to repeatedly stab it with her free hand, every strike enchanted.
It was a desperate struggle. She couldn't quite seem to finish it, and it couldn't quite seem to gnaw off her arm. Both were frantic, aware of their rapidly draining resources. Claire was finding it harder and harder to put force into her swings. And the prospect of breaking down and crying seemed ever more attractive.
But in the end, right as her health dropped into the single digits, she came out on top.
Log Entry 490
You have slain a level 17 caveveaber.
This feat has earned you the following bonus rewards:
- 2 points of dexterity
- 7 points of vitality
- 1 point of wisdom
Log Entry 491
You have unlocked a new spawnable food item.
Log Entry 492
Makeshift Weapon Mastery has reached level 2.
Log Entry 493
Double Stab has reached level 2.
Log Entry 494
You have acquired the Spear Mastery skill.
Log Entry 495
You have acquired the Dagger Mastery skill.
Log Entry 496
You have leveled up. Your health and mana have been restored and all harmful status effects have been cleansed.
Your primary class, Rogue, has reached level 4.
You have gained 3 ability points.
A wave of relief washed over her as a wave of notifications spammed her log. She began to heal the moment she pulled her hand out of the veaber's mouth, rapidly regenerating to a state of perfect health.
Claire waited for her hands to stop trembling to finally retrieve her equipment. She considered taking apart the beaver-like creature in order to use its hide as a sort of armour, but she had no idea as to how she was supposed to go about dismantling it, nor did it seem like there was enough fur to make even a simple shirt. Given that it obviously couldn't fit inside her pouch, she decided to leave it behind, at least for the time being.
"Never again."
Mumbling to herself, the halfbreed resumed her trek up the corridor.
"I'm never fighting one of those things ever again."
Needless to say, she was wrong.
Rounding a few corners led her to discover not one but two identical creatures with their heads poking out from the walls.