Time slowed.
The creature was mere inches away from him, claws stretched out to gore through his head.
『Level 3 Thrall {Servant-Class}』
'Level 3, huh? So not as bad as the goblin warrior,' he thought, studying its anatomy and body positioning to get a feel for the exact trajectory it would take towards him.
It flew at least a meter off the ground, so it wouldn't be too difficult for him to dodge the attack if he ducked. But if he was going to win this, he had to think even further than that.
'Its skin looks scaly... is it armoured?' he pondered. However, he couldn't get an exact answer by just looking at it.
He needed more information.
His eyes scanned the surroundings for the best place to dodge towards.
A fallen shelf was just a few steps away from him. 'That should work.'
He sent the instruction to his legs to duck and roll under the attack. And at the same time, he prepared to summon his dagger.
'Queen's Gaze.'
Time returned to normal, and Han's plan was set in motion.
He rolled under the attack, and the thrall slashed through thin air, crashing straight into the door behind him.
While it was still recovering, he lunged towards the fallen shelf, using it as cover to quickly crawl under another shelf into a different aisle.
'Good,' he thought, watching as the creature slowly got to its feet through the mirror at the corner of the store.
It just stood there, staring at its unbloodied claws in confusion.
'Now I need to test how durable those scales are.'
"Where... are... you," the thrall murmured, its voice like shattering glass.
Han took a moment to catch his breath before dashing out of cover.
"Queen's Gaze!"
Time slowed once again, and the thrall's head was still turning to look at him.
He focused on the thrall's torso, the largest target on its body, to reduce his chances of missing, before sending instructions to his arm to throw the dagger.
However, he had to spend several seconds micro-adjusting each instruction to ensure it flew just right. After all, he wasn't a sniper, and his accuracy wasn't all that good.
Before finally...
'Queen's Gaze.'
His dagger hurled through the air like an arrow, hitting just inches off its mark.
"Fuck."
It wasn't enough. The dagger just bounced off the creature, barely leaving so much as a scratch.
Han dove for cover once again, throwing shelves behind him.
He could hear the creature laughing as it chased after him, wings flapping so hard he could feel a gust tickle the back of his neck.
'8 more seconds...' Han thought. Eight more seconds until he could use the return skill on his dagger. However, the thrall was lightning quick, catching up to him in just 4.
As it was about to launch itself at him, he stopped time once again, calculating the best route of escape, before returning it back to normal.
He dodged to the right, and the creature dove into thin air once again. However, it had learned from its previous mistake, giving itself a little spin, so that the tip of its claws would cut into Han's arm.
The creature slammed against the floor, and blood trickled down forearm.
"Nice, nice," Han whispered. "You're fast, I'll give you that. But you're not all that smart, are you?" he smiled, taunting the creature to come at him again.
The creature growled, getting to its feet as its bony wings spread out. "Food...talks... too much."
An instant later, it launched itself at him, claws stretched out in front of it like a thrall lance.
"Return!"
Blue particles appeared around Han's hands, but before the dagger could fully form, he slowed time once again.
'Okay. So your scales make you invulnerable to my attacks,' he thought to himself, staring at the creature's crimson eyes. 'But what about those eyes of yours? They can't be armoured too, can they?' he thought, calculating the exact power he would need to reach up to the thrall's head while dodging its attack.
After rerunning the micro adjustments a few times, he returned time to its normal flow.
The creature sped towards him.
He dove into the air...
"Fuck!" Blood stained Han's shirt, and a burning pain spread through his body.
The thrall had changed its trajectory at the last moment, managing to pierce the side of his stomach, goring a hole straight through.
However, he fought the urge to scream... he wasn't going to die just yet.
He'd been able to get a grip on one of its wings, disrupting its flight pattern.
He hung on for dear life as it crashed to the ground, momentum still carrying it forward. Han rode it like a sledge, climbing towards its head while it tried to fix its flight pattern.
By the time it got itself off the ground again, he was already stabbing at its eyes.
He felt the warmth of its blood soak his hands, and it felt.... amazing.
He stabbed at it again and again.
The creature screamed out in pain, trying to toss him off with barrel rolls.
However, Han had already gotten a taste of this wild thrill, and he began laughing as he poked even more holes into its eyes.
Blinded, the creature crashed into the service counter, shattering through before slamming into the wall.
The thing was a tattered mess, neck twisted unnaturally and barely moving. But Han didn't care.
He stabbed, and stabbed, and stabbed again.
And as the creature murmured a faint wail, he stuffed his finger into its eye socket, getting a good grip to jam the dagger in even deeper.
When he was done, the thrall's eyes were a gooey mess of blood and red-eyed flesh. And Han's hands were numb from all the tension.
『Quest Complete!』
『The player has gone above and beyond in completion of the quest... special rewards have been unlocked.』
Han got off the creature, clutching at his bleeding stomach. He felt dizzy from all the barrel rolls, and a burning pain was spreading from the wound. However, he was still smiling.
'Why?' he thought, falling to his knees as he lost all feeling in his legs. It seemed the thrall's claws had been poisoned.
As his vision dimmed, he let out a crazed laugh. 'Why did that feel so good?'
『Special rewards processed!』
『...』