Chapter Seven: Slay the Great Kut-Ku!

"God, that thing looks goofy."

Shadow Stalker shook her head as she backed down the hill, moving carefully so that nothing gave her presence away. No grass waved, no branch snapped.

I stayed where I was, examining the kut-ku. I had to admit, I could see her point. The thing was mostly shades of red, which made the banded plates of its armor even more lobster-like, though its beak, claws, and ears all shaded to a light yellow. The wing membranes were blue, and I thought I could see some more blue around its tiny little pinprick eyes, but the distance was too long to be sure. But even apart from the colors, it really did look more goofy than the yian garuga had. Part of that might have been that it was more front-heavy. Its tail was shorter, and it lacked the cluster of spikes at the end, leaving it looking much more like a regular reptile's tail. The beak was thick and blunt, though it still had the jagged underbite. That, along with the huge ears that unfolded every time it looked around, made the head look bigger than it was, and made the already thin neck seem scrawny.

I finished my observation and shimmied down the hill after Shadow Stalker.

"Pretty goofy looking, yeah," I agreed, once I was out of its direct line of sight.

"So fill me in," she said. "How does it fight?"

"If it's anything like its cousin, it'll probably rush us," I said. "It'll be clumsy, though. Fast, but clumsy. But fast. Don't try to out-distance it, but evading isn't hard."

"Fireballs?"

"When it's angry or frustrated," I said. "They seemed to be a backup plan, rather than the go-to."

"Alright, easy enough," she said. I could hear some tension in her voice, but without being able to see her face I couldn't tell if it was fear or anticipation, and she didn't give any other signs. She was totally still, no fidgeting or anything. "How should we do this? Signal the others, then head in? Try to sneak around?"

"Um..." I said, thinking. "Monsters are supposed to hate people, or at least they're really aggressive toward us. We could lure it into a trap, except I don't know how much good that would do, or if we've got enough time to set something up while it's drinking."

"Probably not," she said.

I took a moment and looked toward the hill where Rifle and Rune were set up. Rifle had his gun out, and he was lying prone, sighting along it. Rune was a bit farther back, below the crest, wandering around and writing her sigils on anything big enough. She already had a dozen things floating around her. Mid-sized rocks for the most part.

I waved, and Rifle glanced my way, making a few hand gestures that I didn't understand. I took out my sword and miming running toward the monster, stabbing. He responded with an incredulous look and a rapid shake of his head.

"Okay, we're going in," I said, turning to Shadow Stalker. "Straight rush, no fancy stuff."

"That's retarded," she said, then gestured toward the monster. "After you."

I gave her a quick salute with my sword, then checked my shield, where it was strapped to the opposite forearm. It was solidly in place. I nodded, a sharp motion, and swallowed. My heartbeat was already speeding up, and I could feel a tingling in my fingers and toes.

"Alright," I said, standing up and walking toward the monster, accelerating even though it was still hundreds of feet away. "Let's do this!"

Off to the side, Rifle slapped a hand against his forehead, then went back to sighting down the barrel of his shotgun. He said something, and Rune's head snapped around. She abandoned her work and crawled up behind him, her empowered objects floating near her.

"Looks like backup's sorted," I said, glancing at Shadow Stalker as I ran. She didn't reply, ghosting along in her shadow state, but she did give me a thumb's up.

We'd started a good distance away, and the nature of the terrain meant that the wyvern wasn't in sight the entire time. It would have been possible to make use of the dips and valleys to stay low and sneak up, possibly with Rifle providing directions. There was a simple reason I didn't do it, though.

I didn't want to.

Last time, the yian garuga had kicked out ass, and if this wasn't quite the same as a chance at revenge, it was close enough for me.

The kut-ku noticed us as we came down the final hill, the one that led to the watering hole it was using. It hopped in place, once, spreading its wings and raising its head up high, beak gaping and ears extending to their full height, like a thin, scaly frill attached to the back of its head.

It made a noise halfway been a squawk and a caw, clawing at the ground, splashing water behind it. It was loud, but not intolerably so.

"Come and get us!" I shouted back at it, brandishing my sword.

Whether it was the taunt, or just the fact that we were closing in despite the obvious threat display, it charged. Its legs were skinny, but the claws on its feet were still menacing, and it advanced just as fast as I'd been predicting. As I'd also predicted, it was clumsy, but with the mass and speed it had that wasn't really a problem for it.

There was a bright flash, and a moment later I head the flat crack of a gunshot, echoing off the nearby hills. I blinked the light away, but the monster didn't seem to have it as easy. I figured out what had happened just as it plowed into the ground beak-first, tearing up the grass. Rifle's support. A flash-bang launched from his shotgun.

I closed the last thirty feet to the monster in a flat-out sprint, leaping up and delivering an overhead slash to it just behind the beak, aiming for its eye. My sword bit through scales, the jagged, curved edge of what had once been a monster's crest drawing blood from the kut ku's face. I missed the eye, though. Too small a target, with thick ridges of horn or bone protecting it.

Dazed and possibly blind, the monster still reacted to the attack. It surged to its feet and stormed in a circle, its beak, wings, and tail flailing around, stomping and tearing at the grass with its feet. I ducked, bringing up my shield in time to intercept the swinging tail – the impact was still enough to make me grit my teeth – then dived away, rolling to avoid the claws.

It cawed again, a hoarse, angry sound, very much like the yian garuga's roar but without the depth and resonance that had made it so painful. I rolled over, keeping ahead of it, and slashed out with my sword, but the scales on the leg were too hard, and I couldn't get any penetration.

Black streaks came in over my prone form, sinking inches-deep into the solid plates of the kut-ku's back, and it cried out again. It didn't recoil, though. Still blind, it charged , wings flapping, beak gaping, and the tip of a thick, red tongue protruding just enough to see, headed straight in the direction the attack had come from.

Which meant, among other things, that it was coming straight for me.

I curled up, covering myself with my shield as best I could while the monster trampled over me, but thankfully the claws missed me, shredding the ground ahead and behind me instead. Shadow Stalker, for her part, entered her breaker state and ghosted away, letting the kut ku vent its anger on nature rather than her.

I sprang up and started sprinting just in time to see Rifle lay down a barrage of fire from his hilltop. He worked the action of his gun smoothly, pumping, firing, and loading new cartridges so quickly that I could barely distinguish what he was doing, even with my enhanced senses.

The kut-ku reeled under his fire, a variety of shells hitting it one after another, targeting its face, neck, and wings. I couldn't make out most of what happened, but by the time I closed in and he stopped shooting, fire was clinging to its beak and one of its wings, and it dripped blood from dozens of tiny cuts and a handful of bigger ones.

I didn't jump this time. I came in low, swinging upward at the underside of the tail. If the information on the yian garuga held true for the kut ku, it would be at least slightly vulnerable there.

Either it wasn't, or my swing just wasn't strong enough, because my blade glanced off just like it had against the legs, barely biting in.

The kut ku spun around, snapping at me with its beak. It didn't come close, still reeling and having trouble seeing. I countered its clumsy attempts, going for the throat, behind the beak, and the ears, but I had little more luck there than I had before.

"Shit!" I swore, backpedaling as it flapped its wings, leaping backward and lifting off, gaining distance. The wind from its takeoff was enough to send me to the ground, and I did my best to roll with it, crushing the grass and coming up wet and muddy, but unharmed.

I shook my arms, clearing the mud as best I could. Then my eyes widened and I dived to the side just in time to avoid a fireball spat in my direction. I slid on my stomach, grinding more mud into the rings of my armor, and staggered to my feet, side-stepping carefully to avoid another attack.

"This thing's tough," I said, raising my voice enough that Shadow Stalker could hear me as she circled around, looking for another opening. "I think our intel was off."

She shifted out of her shadow state for a moment. "I think you're right," she said. "Head's tough, not like we were told." I saw a few bolts sticking out there, likely failed attempts to shoot the eyes, though I wasn't sure when she'd managed that. "Try somewhere else?"

I paused, watching the monster as it lowered its head, clawing at the ground. Getting ready to charge. "Tried the face, neck, tail, wings, and legs," I said, speeding up as I circled around it. "No luck."

It was clumsy, so lateral movement worked well against it. As I'd hoped, it charged, and I turned, sprinting sideways, evading it. Its charge didn't lead to a fall this time. It caught itself, spun around, coming back for another charge.

"Shit!" I swore, turning on my heel, moving to get out of the way. It stopped close by, digging its claws into the ground and fanning its wings for balance, and its head darted down at me, trying to crush me with its beak.

I threw myself backward, avoiding the first strike, but it kept coming. The yian garuga had done something similar, and I'd ended up with broken ribs. I parried the second strike with my shield, but the force of the blow send me skidding. I went down on one knee, shield above me, braced with my sword arm, ready for the followup.

It didn't come, thanks to Rune. Her support arrived in the form of a rock falling from above, hitting the monster right behind the ear and sending it face first into the ground. It squawked indignantly, its breath sending up a spray of mud and water, and I took the opportunity to scramble away, circling around to its side.

Despite being hit by a fifty pound rock going at what had to be close to terminal velocity, the monster got up without issue, turning its head in all directions, searching. It was clearly fully recovered from the flash-bang.

"Hunter!" Shadow Stalker called. "Try the stomach! Scales look thinner there, and its been trying to protect it!"

"May as well," I muttered, closing in. The hits to my shield had left my arm numb, but I was recovering fast. A few bites to eat would have helped even more, but I figured I was good to get in close again.

I feinted up at its head, then side-stepped a rake of the claws, ducked under a brutal peck of the beak, and dropped to my knees to get underneath it, lashing upward with my sword, shield held to protect me from a stomp or a kick.

Shadow Stalker had been right. My blade bit in deeper than before, parting scales and sliding between armor plates, showering me with spatters of blood. In just a few seconds I'd inflicted more damage than even Rifle's barrage had.

Of course, the monster wasn't about to ignore that, but its response wasn't what I'd expected. It shrieked of course, and stomped down at me, trying to crush me or slice me open, but my shield was in place and I took the hits without much difficulty. That much I'd planned for. What it did next, though, I hadn't. It flared its wings, then beat down hard. The wind send me tumbling, and the monster rose up startlingly fast. Just a few wing-beats saw it going almost fifty feet straight up.

"No way," I said. "No way that's possible."

Possible or not though, it was happening. Once it was in the air, the kut-ku let out a cry, then beat its wings harder, going into a dive for a moment before swooping in a circle and heading away at speed. A few of Rune's rocks floated in its direction, but they moved too sluggishly to catch up.

"Did it just... run away?" Shadow Stalker asked, coming out of her shadow state beside me, still staring up at the receding form of the monster.

"Yeah," I said. "I guess it did."

"I don't know whether to be satisfied or pissed off," she said.

"Go with pissed off," I said, climbing to my feet and trying to shake off the mud that clung to me. "Definitely pissed off."

"We have to follow it," she pointed out. "No kill, no bounty. We're not here to just chase it away."

"I know," I said, holding my sword up to inspect it. "Shit. Blunted the edge."

"Well duh," Shadow Stalker said. "Hard as you swing that thing, I'm surprised it didn't break."

"Guess I don't know my own strength," I said, pulling a sharpening block out a pouch and getting to work. "Wish I'd noticed sooner, though. I could have done some real damage at the end there."

She scoffed. "Don't pull your arm out of your socket trying to pat yourself on the back."

"No promises," I said, holding the edge up to my eyes, turning it around, checking for damage. The monster-crest blade had held up surprisingly well, considering that I'd been smashing it against the unyielding scales of a wyvern, and it had taken an edge again with ease. Part of my power, maybe? How I'd made it? I didn't know, but I filed the information away for the future.

"Hey!" Rifle called, trotting toward us, his shotgun held to his chest, eyes tracking around the area. "Let's move!"

Behind him, Rune floated on top of another, larger rock, crouched down with her robe pooled around her, hands gripping the edge of her ride for balance.

I glanced to Shadow Stalker, but she was already gone, perfectly silent, ghosting ahead of the two of them in her breaker state.

"Well," I said to myself. "No point being left behind."

I caught up with Rifle in seconds and fell in, loping along beside him. He navigated the terrain well, as I'd seen before. Not as well as Shadow Stalker, even before taking her power into account, but he'd probably be better than me if I didn't have the strength and stamina to ignore little concerns like rolling hills or shallow rivers.

"Why didn't you keep up the attack?" I asked him as we ran. "A bit more like that and we might have had it."

"Can't," he said between measured breaths. "I only carry fifty shells most times."

"Why not more?" I asked.

He shot me an annoyed frown before turning back to his survey of the sky, tracking the monster as it flew away from us. "Not everyone is a brute," he said. "Some of us have to consider our kit more carefully."

"I could have carried some," I said. "Or Rune could have."

"Not the time," he snapped. "You idiots were the ones that wanted to go in fast."

"That's fair," I said. "Well, whistle if you want my attention."

He gave me a quizzical look, but I was already off, accelerating into a run that was just shy of a sprint. I would have followed Shadow Stalker, but she was already out of sight, so I settled for moving as quickly as I could after the monster and assumed she was doing the same.

The yian kut-ku wasn't as fast as the yian garuga had been, but in a lot of ways that didn't matter. It was airborne, moving in a straight line toward its goal, and we had to meander around the terrain as we tried to keep up. Keeping up, of course, was a relative term. It outpaced us basically without effort. It wasn't as fast as a plane, or even as fast as a car on the freeway, but it was still far, far faster than we were, and if it had just gone in a straight line until nightfall there wasn't anything we could have done.

Luckily it didn't. Likely because, despite being an eight-foot-tall, two-ton monster, it was still pretty low on the foot chain. I knew from close to personal experience that there was at least one rathalos in the general area, and from what I'd read one of them would make an easy meal out of our target.

Unluckily, when it chose to land it wasn't in another piece of easily accessible grassland. When it finally circled down out of the sky, it did it by flapping its way down into the canopy of a forest. Not near the edge, either. It came down – as best as I could see with the way the hills and cliffs bounded the miniature sea of trees – pretty much in the middle.

It took another five minutes of running to reach the edge of the forest, and I came to stop to find Shadow Stalker already there, pacing back and forth and peering into the shadow of the trees.

I joined her, but she didn't seem to be in a mood to talk, and we waited in silence for another five or ten minutes until the others caught up. Rune was still on her rock, skimming close to the ground, and Rifle was sharing it with her. I wanted to say they were moving slowly, but it was probably still a faster pace than either could have maintained on the ground.

"So," Shadow Stalker said, rounding on them. "We don't need paint bombs, huh? Enhanced senses should be enough to keep up?"

"It was a bad call," Rifle said, hopping down off the rock and walking over to us. "I'll cop to that, and remember it for next time. For now, let's get moving."

"We have a plan? Or are we just gonna bumble around the forest like..." Shadow Stalker paused, snapping her fingers.

"Retards?" I suggested. "Idiots? Stupid..." I paused myself. "Bears? They shit in the woods, I'm told."

"Whatever," she said. "Go with retards."

"I've got a good sense of range and position. I know where the target landed," Rifle said, pointing into the forest. "Just under three quarters of a mile that way. I'm not as good at navigation, though. At least not when distances are as short as they will be in there."

"Good enough," Shadow Stalker said. "I've got this. Just follow my lead." She glanced toward Rune. "You gonna be able to keep up on that, little miss Hitler Youth?"

"Fuck you," Rune said, sneering. "I'll be fine. Just do your job, Shad-"

"Stop!" Rifle said, sweeping his arm down between the two of them. "Not the time. Shadow Stalker, go. Rune, with me. Hunter, stay close. There's not enough space to spread out and keep in contact."

Shadow Stalker stared at Rune for a moment, then turned and stalked into the forest. She pulled a thin tube from a pouch at her waist, then used a thumb to flick off the cap. A stuttering stream of sparks sprayed out, and she went into her shadow state, disappearing into the gloom, only the thin trail of light giving away her position.

The rest of us set off after her, and I limited myself to the pace Rifle set. Rune, indeed, didn't have trouble navigating her rock between the trees, though she did spend the time repeatedly reapplying her power, shuffling around and tracing patterns on it. Each time, it gained a little burst of speed, before gradually slowing down again.

"So, what were you gonna call her?" I asked, after a few minutes.

"Why?" Rune asked. "Gonna jump in to defend your girlfriend?"

"Nah" I said. "I'm just curious. I've never been good at stopping halfway, or leaving things alone."

Rune looked at me for a moment, her lips pursed, her hair and hood hiding the rest of her face. "Whatever, it was lame," she said eventually. "Just forget it."

I shrugged. "Fine," I said. "So, why'd you drop the rock earlier, rather than use you power to smash it into the monster?"

"Works better than way," she said, moving over to trace another rune on her mount. "Unless I spend the time to really cover something, the speed's never great, and the more runes I put on something, the faster they fade. It's easier to get a few runes on a lot of things, then move a bunch of them into position and drop 'em. Squash the enemy."

"Fair enough," I said. "Why'd you only drop one, then?"

"Didn't get them into position quick enough," she said, her voice a little bitter. "Plus, once I drop something, that's it. No control. Didn't want to hit you." She paused for a moment. "Wouldn't have minded hitting the bitch, though."

"Enough," Rifle said. "Snipe at each other on your own time, but getting at each others' throats on a mission just leads to disaster. Don't do it. Period."

"Whatever," Rune said again. Her voice was defiant, but her shoulders slumped.

We continued in silence after that, and I kept my eyes open, but I didn't expect any trouble. The kut-ku wouldn't have landed here if there'd been anything threatening to it in the area, and Shadow Stalker effortlessly led us past any smaller monsters.

My eyes caught on something for a moment, and I stopped, then bent down. A bright blue mushroom was growing in the shadow of a tree. I reached out to pluck it, then continued on.

"What's that?" Rifle asked.

I held the mushroom out toward him. "Dunno, just caught my eye. I was thinking about the teleport bomb that Gunner made, I guess."

Rifle eyed me. "That's a different species, unless I remember wrong."

"Nah, you're right," I said. "Like I said, it caught my eye."

"That's..." he said, looking closer. "cantharellus cibarius-caeruleum. I think. Similar to chanterelle mushrooms on Earth. Edible, but with some unusual chemical-concentrating properties. Fine to eat on its own, but if you ingest anything toxic with it, it'll make the effects worse."

"Huh," I said. "Good to know."

"Your power telling you anything about it?" he asked.

"Maybe," I said. "It's pretty squirrelly unless I- Actually, did I tell you this already?"

"You did not," he said. "We never really sat down to discuss powers."

"Must have been someone else, then," I said.

I spent the next few minutes telling Rifle the specifics of my tinker power. He listened, nodding occasionally, though most of his attention was clearly on the forest around us.

Eventually we neared the spot he'd indicated, and our pace slowed. Shadow Stalker stayed closer, hiding the sparkler with her cloak, only revealing it in quick flashes if we started to drift off course. Eventually she stopped, signaling us with a few brief glimpses of the sparks, and we crept forward, Rune lowering her rock to nearly scrape the forest floor.

When we caught up with her we found ourselves in a small clearing, with sun streaming down from a gap in the canopy. Leaves and broken branches littered the area, indicating that the gap was newly-made, or at least newly-used. There were a few tracks, too, pressed deep into the soft earth, leading to a rock face on the edge of the clearing.

Or more accurately, to a hole in said rock face. A cave, small enough that the kut-ku had probably had to crouch down to enter.

"A den?" I said. "A nest? What's it called, when the thing's a weird monster-bird-wyvern?"

"Doesn't matter," Rifle said.

"Which means he doesn't know," Shadow Stalker whispered, joining us. "What?" she asked, when Rifle gave her a look. "If you knew, you'd totally have told us."

"Strong point," I said.

Rifle reached up to run a hand through his hair. "We need a plan," he said. "Going after a wounded animal in its lair is dangerous, and we won't be able to give you long-ranged support this time."

"Fuck that," Shadow Stalker said. "We've got its number. We go in-"

"If it's there," I said. "Been a while now, and I can't smell any blood."

She turned to me, and I tapped my nose through my mask. "Enhanced smell."

"We go in," she said. "If it's there, we kick its ass. You two squishies can stay out here if you want, play backstop if it runs again."

"No," Rifle said. "We'll come with you."

"That easy?" I asked.

"Just go," he said, glancing down at his gun. He did something to the bottom and pulled out a number of shells, slotted them into his bandolier, then loaded others.

We went. Inside, the cave was bigger than I'd expected, spacious enough that even the yian garuga would have fit with no trouble, assuming it could get through the entrance. It was also dark, but my vision adapted easily, and even before that I could hear the monster's breathing. Not as rough or powerful as I would have expected for a creature of its size, but it still had a presence.

The kut ku was sleeping, wounds still evident, but not bleeding, already partly healed. It was curled up, wings and legs tight to its body, head tucked in next to its belly. It kicked in its sleep, and clicked its beak. I froze, but it settled back down, and I continued my advance.

I hadn't expected it to be asleep, and that was both a dilemma and an opportunity. An opportunity because we could set up something big. A dilemma because nothing we had on us was big enough to put it down in one go.

Of everything we had, Rune was the biggest gun. I turned around and gestured to her, pointing at her rock, then the roof of the cave. She glanced to Rifle, and he nodded. Then she hopped off the rock, her landing making a rustling sound in the dry grass and branches that littered the floor of the cave, and her rock moved forward without her.

It was definitely big. Half a ton, if I had to guess, or more. It hovered toward the ceiling, a dozen feet off the ground, and moved into place above the monster.

Rune gestured sharply, and the rock fell. It hit the kut ku with a crunching sound, wing bones breaking, and the monster shrieked, only to be hit in the face with another flash-bang from Rifle, followed up by Shadow Stalker tossing a few yellow flash bombs of her own. They went off, setting the wyvern to flailing, tail and legs lashing out. I rushed in again, going for the underbelly.

Even having its bones broken didn't slow it down, and it shrugged off the rock with ease, scrambling upright and spinning around, tiny eyes clenched shut and beak snapping, searching for the source of its pain.

If I wasn't the source, I quickly added to it, pushing in under it and cutting away, opening gashes in its stomach, deeper this time. Deep enough that I thought, with a bit more, we might kill it.

Apparently it thought so too, because it didn't try to stomp me or peck at me this time. It backpedaled frantically, and its head shot down, spewing up a fireball right between its feet.

There was no time to dodge. I blocked the impact of it with my shield, but burning fluid sprayed down around it, coating my glove and sleeve with slick flame, washing down onto my chest and shoulder.

I did the only thing I could. I stopped, dropped, and rolled, sword and shield clutched close to my body, trailing fire along the floor of the cave, fighting back a scream as the pain burrowed through my armor and into my flesh.

My head spinning, awash in adrenaline, one thought flashed through my mind. How had Wingtip shrugged this off so quickly?

As I rolled, I got flashes of the fight. Everything happened fast. Shadow Stalker threw another bomb, this one white, and a ringing note hammered through the cave for an instant, like a split-second clip of someone hitting a tuning fork, turned up to eleven-thousand. The kut-ku reacted more strongly than it had to my attack on its vitals, rearing back and going stock-stiff, dazed.

Rifle and Shadow Stalker both followed up on the opening, letting loose as many shots as they could, while Rune rushed over to me, collapsing down and smothering the fire with her robe, part of the hem held in both hands, beating at me.

The kut-ku recovered before she finished, letting out its own shriek of anger, beak dripping with fire that sputtered and sizzled as it hit the dry foliage of its nest.

It rushed us, and I reacted as quickly as I could, shoving Rune away hard, then covering myself with my shield. This wasn't like before, though. The monster's feet gouged chunks out of the cave floor as it came, its wings spread, half-stumbling with the speed.

At the last second before impact, I realized that – excepting a bit in the middle – this was just what had happened to Wings. Fireball, followed by bulldozing rush.

Then it hit me, and the force knocked the wind out of me, sent me flying.

For the second time in under a minute, I spun around and around, through the air this time, fast enough that everything blurred. Then there was a crashing sound, and I came down on something warm, hard, and moving.

My shield-hand darted out, trying to get a grip on something, and the ground heaved beneath me. Except it wasn't the ground. I'd come down on top of the kut ku, right after it had smashed into the wall of its own cave.

I got a grip for a moment, but then the wings flapped as it half-stood, half-flew upright, and I was tossed off. I swung my sword as I fell, but it glanced off the armor on the front of the wing.

Another sonic bomb went off right beside me, making my ears ring, but the kut-ku ignored it, too furious to register the pain. It started forward, kicking at the ground, gaining speed and charging right at Rifle, but its head was raised this time, and it spat a fireball with each step, the sticky, guttering balls of chemical spit hitting the ground with dull detonations, not targeted but definitely panic-inducing.

I climbed to my feet as quickly as I could, but my balance was still off, and I wasn't thinking well. I stumbled a bit, then ran after the monster, even though I knew I'd never get to it before it hit Rifle, or be able to stop it even if I did catch up.

Rifle glanced to the side for an instant, but didn't dodge, then focused on the kut-ku and rapid-fired more than half a dozen shots from his shotgun at the charging monster, each impacting around the eyes, even as the head flew crazily back and forth, spewing fire. If any actually hit an eye, though, I couldn't tell.

Then Rune's rock flew into view. It didn't move quickly, but it didn't need to. The kut-ku was furious, moving with power and speed, but very little control, and the rock weighed a good portion of what it did. It impacted the monster's side, sending it off-balance, and it passed Rifle by, missing him by a wide margin.

It didn't stop, though. It smashed into the cave wall and recoiled, spinning around and starting its rush again, still dousing the ground around it with bursting balls of fire.

"It's out of control!" Rifle yelled. "Hit it!"

He suited actions to words, reloading and unloading on it again, but I could already tell his shots weren't doing enough damage. They hit hard, and drew blood, but even slugs that would have taken down a bear weren't even slowing the wyvern down. Maybe if we'd had more time, or he'd had more ammo, but we didn't have either.

The kut-ku smashed into the wall again, then braced one clawed foot on the rock and kicked off, flapping for a moment to spin itself around, raising a wall of dust and fanning the flames even higher. It gave off its ragged, croaking shriek again, the fire in its mouth bubbling up and glowing brighter. Then it rushed, once again heading straight at Rifle.

He made a 'tsk' sound, lowering his gun, glancing around without any apparent haste, looking for a way out.

Rune had given it to him last time. This time it was me.

I intercepted the monster, meeting its rush with my blade held in both hands. Right hand on the grip, left hand on the pommel, bracing, pushing it in as hard as I could. With its head held up, spitting fire, its belly was exposed, and my blade sank in right up to the guard.

It staggered, but it didn't stop, and the force of its charge was bone breaking. It sent me flying again, except this time I lost my grip on my sword.

I spun for a moment, hit the ground, bounced, and came to a sudden, unexpected stop.

I coughed, something wet hitting the inside of my mask, and looked up. I was leaning up against Shadow Stalker, and she had an arm around my shoulder. We were both on the ground, and I could only imagine that she'd fallen while catching me. Her other arm, the one not around me, was clasped to her chest.

"Got you-" I stopped, coughing.

"Yeah, got me too," she grit out. I hadn't seen her take the hit, but from her voice it had been a bad one. "Fucker might be dumb, but it's tough."

"It is that," I said, clenching my throat to keep from going into a coughing fit. I swallowed, and it hurt. I swallowed again, and it was a little better.

Rune's rock fell again, though how she'd known where the kut ku would be, I didn't know. It went down, burning fluid pouring from its beak in a stream as the rock crushed it. I didn't hear bones break this time, but at least its berserk rush was finally stopped.

"Back to it," I said, forcing myself to my feet. My arm and side tingled where I'd been burned, and my chest and hip ached, sharp enough that I suspected broken bones, but I staggered forward, gaining speed with each step. Behind me, Shadow Stalker fired without getting up, and I slewed to the side, clearing her line of fire.

Her bolts took the wyvern in the legs, hitting it in the heel and the back of the knee right as it tried to rise. It had more than a dozen of the black shafts sticking out of it now, Rune had hit it at least three times, and rivulets of blood dripped down from slashes all over its stomach, or from dozens of places where Rifle had hit it, but it kept going. It forced itself upright, beady eyes slitted in anger that easily crosses species, and its ears unfurled again from its head as it stared me down.

Just then, another white sphere rolled in from the side, bursting with a ringing tone right under the kut ku's beak, and its stubborn rise turned into a sudden sprawl, its legs kicking out at the shock of the noise.

"Get it!" Rifle shouted. He'd tossed the bomb, I realized, and he was right. I'd never have a better chance than this.

I lunged forward and grabbed the hilt of my sword, yanking at it, not to pull it out, but to cut in deeper. I dragged it down the wyvern's stomach, and this time blood didn't drip out. It didn't run in little channels down its scales. It gushed and spurted as I dragged the blade down, muscles shaking with the strain. It was hard. Incredibly hard. My feet slid on the loose clutter of the cave floor, and I braced myself, leaning in, pulling as hard as I could.

The blade moved in fits and starts, and the monster flapped, panicked now, trying to throw me off. Rune's rock fell again, once more crushing its wing against its body, and both Rifle and Shadow Stalker added their fire to the mix.

It wasn't enough.

The monster threw me off and surged to its feet. I hadn't been expecting it, and I kept hold of my sword this time, the blade coming loose with a wet sucking sound as my feet slipped and I fell to the floor.

It cried out in rage, red foam pouring from its beak. Blood, rather than fire. It took a step, then two, claws contracting, scraping the ground. An advance, not a retreat. Something slippery and wet slid out of the huge, gaping cut in its stomach. Its wings flapped, broken, uneven. Then it took one final step, and fell.

Nobody moved. Nobody even breathed. We stared at the fallen form as its last breath rattled out, slowly trailing off into silence.

"I..." Shadow Stalker started, then flinched as her own voice broke the silence. "I don't think it's that goofy, anymore."

"No," Rune breathed, stare still fixed on the dead monster. "No. Holy shit."

I clambered to my feet, stepping over to the still form. It looked smaller now, lying twisted on the dirty cave floor. Not at all the same as it had been less than a minute before.

"The ears," Rifle said, his voice wavering. He cleared his throat. "They'll do for proof of a kill." He looked around, but nobody replied. "We should get moving," he added. "We should go."

"No," I said, tearing my attention away from the kut ku's body. "This-" I closed my mouth with a click, trying to think of what to say, how to phrase it. "This was something else. I want- I need some time. Give me some time."

"What-" Rifle started.

"I get it," Shadow Stalker said, talking over him. "Rifle, Rune, come on. We'll guard the mouth of the cave."

Rifle stared at her for a moment, then nodded. The three of them left together, staggering out of the cave, leaving me alone with the kill.

"Alright," I whispered. "I know you can't hear me, and you probably wouldn't agree if you could, but that..." I shook my head. I felt stupid, talking to a dead monster. I kept going. "That was something special, and now... You will be too."

With that, I pulled my carving knife from its sheath at the back of my belt and placed it on the ground. Then I got out my glue, my acids, my chisel, and I got to work.