Chapter Ten: The Giant Enemy Crab
"Son of a bitch!"
I ducked under a swift swipe of a claw, or at least tried to. It came in fast, without warning, and I wasn't quick enough. The enormous slab of white-striped red chitin – it was easily bigger than I was – lashed out and knocked me off my feet, sending me rolling along the ground.
More flash-bangs came in, battering the monster's head, bursting in a cacophony that made my ears ring and my head ache even from ten feet away, but the huge crab didn't seem remotely bothered. It shuffled in place, feelers questing out, turning from me to Rifle, before finally settling on me again. It turned in place, a complicated maneuver with so many legs, and began scuttling toward me, claws held up and out, pincers clacking.
"Shit!" I scrambled to my feet and backed away, shield held out defensively for all the good it would do. "I thought you said you'd keep its attention!"
"I'm trying!" Rifle shouted, unloading another barrage at it. His shots slammed into the legs, claws, and shell. Given the angle, its head would be out of his line of sight, covered by the huge frill of the skull it was wearing. Chitin and bone chipped away with each hit, but nothing more, and it kept advancing.
"Go for the joints!" I shouted as the claws came in again. Again, it was fast. No windup between the claws being still and them swinging at me. Easily as fast as the kut-ku or garuga's attacks, for all that the crab had to outweigh them many times over. I hopped away from a swipe, ducked another, and took a third on the shield, stumbling back. It was relentless, though, attacking almost mindlessly, without any hint of thought or strategy.
I ducked down, holding my shield above me, bracing. The claws pounded down on me, sending clouds of sand into the air with every strike.
Shockingly, I held. For all its size, and for all the speed with which it could move its claws, there was less force behind them than I'd thought. Either it was weaker than it looked, or for some reason it wasn't hitting as hard as it was able.
The steady pounding on my shield faltered, then stopped, and I could hear the crab chittering louder, its legs working, sending little shockwaves through the ground every time they came down.
"Good call on the joints!" Rifle called. "Just had to keep it still for a minute!"
"Yeah, great!" I answered, forcing myself to my feet. The daimyo hermitaur was moving away, leaving the enormous skull-shell facing me, like a second head. One of its legs was leaking purple fluid from the joint, presumably from where Rifle had hit it, though it didn't seem to have slowed it down at all.
Rifle himself was moving away, pacing the crab, keeping the distance between them steady as he loaded his shotgun, eyes flicking down to his bandolier, carefully choosing his ammo.
I assumed he knew what he was doing, so I left him to it, turning to sprint toward Shadow Stalker.
She was still on the ground when I reached her, and she was in bad shape. It was hard to tell through her concealing costume, and none of her limbs were twisted or broken, but the way she moved said everything. Her head wobbled as she looked up at me, and her hands were shaking. I was no kind of doctor – I'd never even done first aid – but I could tell that wasn't good. That kind of impact...
"Power- Power didn't work," she slurred, her voice rough and cracking. "Couldn't phase through it."
Hearing her voice like that, something clenched tight in my chest. I reached for her, ready to pick her up and carry her back to the cart, then froze. Could I do it? Forget just escaping the monster, would Shadow Stalker be alright for the hours-long trek back to the cart, through the blazing desert, then more hours as it returned to the portal?
My breathing sped up, and I froze, hands inches away from her.
I had no idea what to do.
Behind me, I could hear the hermitaur pounding the ground with its claws, and a rapid crack-crack-crack as Rifle shot it. He didn't have my stamina, or any kind of enhanced speed. He was good, seriously skilled, but he wasn't going to be able to keep up the pace forever. Sooner or later the monster would be headed back toward me.
My hands started to shake, and then it was like a switch got flipped in my head. Like a rail-line, my thoughts switched from one track to another in an instant, and something that had been poking at me for hours suddenly came into focus.
I dropped my sword to the sandy ground and started furiously searching through the pouches of my armor. Even before I had any idea what I was doing, I knew what I needed. First-aid kit and half-full water bottle were obvious. I unscrewed the cap of the bottle and rammed it into the sand, twisting it around to dig it in, keep it upright, then virtually tore open the first-aid kit. I discarded most of the contents, ending up with a handful of tubes – the contents of which I was only vaguely familiar with – and a rolled bandage.
The herb I'd picked earlier was next to hand, and I shoved it into my mouth, tearing off hasty but precise amounts of the leaves, stem, and roots. I chewed them up, then tilted my head back and squirted part of one of the tubes into my mouth, gagging on the flavor. I kept chewing for a moment, then unrolled the bandage and spit the greenish gray, pulpy mass into it. I wrapped the bandage around it, then squeezed it into the water bottle, straining the mixture, keeping the waste out.
One more step.
I worked my mouth silently, trying to get rid of the taste as I fished out the last necessary component. The mushroom I'd picked while tracking down the kut-ku. This part was easier. It was already dried, a consequence of sitting in my pouch for most of a week. I tore off about half the crown and crumbled it in my hand, squeezing a few judicious drops from several of the tubes of medicine into the mix as I did.
Timing was critical, here.
Once the mushroom paste was the right consistency, I rolled it out between my hands, then fed the resulting strip into the water bottle. Temperature control would have been good, but I didn't have the means. I just had to hope the ambient temperature was high enough.
I lifted the bottle out of the sand and swirled the mixture of water, herb, mushroom, and medicine around, holding it away from my face to avoid the fumes. Then I screwed on the cap, gave it four hard shakes up and down, and unscrewed it again.
At some point while I'd been working, Shadow Stalker had lain back – or fallen back – onto the ground, and she was still sprawled there. "Here," I said, holding the bottle toward her. "Drink."
"I just saw you-" she paused. Her voice was, if anything, weaker than it had been. More shaky. "Saw you chew that shit up, and spit it into the thing. That's gross."
"We've shared more than enough spit at this point," I told her, thrusting the bottle at her again. "What's a little more?"
She eyed the bottle. "That- That looked like some tinker shit. What's it gonna do?"
"Not sure," I said, jiggling the bottle. "Drink."
The ground shook behind us, and we both flinched. The monster chittered loudly, mouthparts clacking, and hammered the ground with its pincers.
"Whatever," she said, then reached out for the bottle. Her hand shook, and she fumbled, her fingers glancing off without grabbing hold.
"Fuck!" I swore. I leaned forward, pulling her mask away from her face, and she didn't protest. The inside was slick with blood, and I could see more dripping down, coming from her scalp. Either cut by the edge of the mask, or...
I stopped that train of thought cold, reaching down to hold her chin with one hand while I poured with the other. The fluid that came out of the bottle was bright green, like fresh grass, and as thick as melted ice cream. Her throat worked, swallowing, and then she choked, batting me away.
"Gah," she said. "That tastes like raw-" She stopped, convulsing, her jaw clamping down and the muscles in her throat standing out. She curled up, limbs stiff and shaking, then her back arched, something between a groan and a scream working its way out from behind her teeth.
She stayed like that for a moment, whole body tight as a spring, while I watched with wide eyes, the fight forgotten.
It was over as quickly as it had begun. From the time the first drop hit her lips to the time she slumped limply to the ground couldn't have been longer than a few seconds. I barely had time to worry that something had gone horribly wrong, that I'd made whatever injuries she'd sustained worse, before she was up again, hand grasping at my collar, not even the least bit shaky.
"That fucking hurt!" she said. "Motherfucker! What was that?!"
"No idea," I said. "Healing, I think? It probably would have worked better on me. Or hurt less, anyway."
She paused, then let me go and stood up in one fluid motion, eyes flicking toward the ongoing fight. She stretched quickly, then patted her head, her shoulder, and her chest.
"Fuck, you're right," she said. "I feel fine."
I stood as well, screwing the cap back onto the bottle, stowing it, and picking up my sword. I left the remains of the first aid kit where they were.
"Just a warning, but it's probably conditional," I said. "Most stuff my power does is, one way or another."
"Noted," she said. "So, what's the plan?"
I followed her gaze, watching the fight. The monster was still pursuing Rifle, and from the distance it had moved, I hadn't been tinkering too long. Less than a minute, certainly. He was unhurt, and the daimyo bled its thick purple blood from a handful of new wounds, but they were obviously minor.
"No idea," I told her, glancing down at my sword. "I doubt this is sharp enough to go through its carapace, and it's sure as shit not gonna penetrate the shell. Your power didn't let you phase through it, so I doubt you'll be able to phase bolts very deep."
"We won't know until we try," she said, then pushed my shoulder. "That means you too. Get in there."
I started jogging toward the fight. Rifle took note of me, flicking his eyes in my direction for a moment, but didn't take his attention away from the monster.
I came in low, and the hermitaur didn't notice me until I was on it, too intent on pursuing Rifle. I sped past the skull-shell, keeping my steps as light as I could, then jumped. I brought my blade down on a leg, going for a joint, but the way it was moving that wasn't possible. I hit the leg itself, and my blade bit in with the sound of crunching chitin, but that was all. No blood flowed, and the monster didn't even slow down.
Well, if it's just gonna ignore me...
I matched my pace to it, moving with it, my shield-hand held to its shell, feeling its movements as I tried to stay out from under its pounding feet. Rifle had said the underbelly was its weakness, and if it ignored me long enough, I might have a chance to hit it.
It wasn't going to be easy, though. Despite its size, the underbelly was still only a few feet from the ground, the enormous legs arching up to well above head-height before bending down again.
Black streaks came in from behind me, punching into the shell and the claw. Shadow Stalker. They sank in, but not far. Only inches each, and the daimyo didn't seem to notice.
Rifle added his support too, seemingly figuring out my goal. He stopped and braced himself, letting the monster come, and unloaded on it, but his attacks had no more effect than Shadow Stalker's had.
I took the chance anyway, swinging under the legs as they steadily pumped up and down, pistonlike. The underbelly was a virtual mess of interlocking chitin, moving and flexing, with only tiny spaces between the plates, visible for moments at a time as the limbs stretched, then retracted. I swung and stabbed, chipping away, and the plates were definitely thinner there, but not thin enough. I barely did any damage before having to catch my balance and stumble away.
The crab kept going.
"Damn it!" Rifle shouted, lowering his shotgun and spinning around, sprinting away.
The monster really was stupid, and normally I would have counted that as a serious advantage. But coupled with its sheer toughness, that stupidity just ended up being single-mindedness. Forcibly charging after an opponent was a good strategy if they couldn't hurt you.
My thoughts were interrupted as the crab slowed to a stop, its feelers waving above its head. They were long, as long as the legs, and I was just beginning to wonder what it sensed when it suddenly burst into motion, walking sideways, directly at me.
It raised a pincer and swiped it down at me before I could even get my shield up, the motion a blur. It hit me low in the chest, at the bottom of my ribcage, and I hit the ground hard enough to bounce. That, in the end, was probably what saved me, because the follow-up strike with the same claw whiffed badly.
I climbed back to my feet, backing away as it advanced, still broadside to me, though that didn't seem to limit its speed at all. I blocked another swipe, stiffening my knees and staying upright, countering with a slash at its elbow joint. For once it bit in deeply, drawing blood, and the monster hissed and clattered its mandibles, stopping in place.
It sank down and drew its claws in toward its body. They locked together almost like a shield, covering its front and sides, leaving only its head visible, though it was so far back that I'd have to actively climb over the claws to be in range of it, and I didn't think the monster was planning to sit still long enough to allow that.
More bullets and bolts came in, slower now, probing for a weakness that wasn't there. The crab ignored them, feelers waving.
"What the hell are we supposed to do here?!" I shouted, partly serious, partly just out of annoyance.
"This!" Rune shouted from above us. An enormous rock plummeted down, smashing into the hermitaur's shell, crushing the creature to the ground with the sound of cracking bone.
"Were you waiting for someone to ask that?!" I shouted up at her.
She grinned, hovering atop another rock, with another half-dozen floating around her. "No, you've just got good timing!" she shouted back.
A grinding noise drew my attention back to the monster. Despite the fact that the rock had to be over a ton, it got up without effort, legs unfolding from beneath it with no more difficulty than when it had first crawled out of the ground. Flakes of bone showered off it as the rock slid down its shell, but that was it.
"Whu-" I started, but that was all the time I had before the rock exploded.
The shockwave hit me harder than the monster had, sweeping me off my feet and carrying me away in a sandstorm of dust and grit. I tumbled, bounced repeatedly, and completely lost track of myself, stopping with a splash of water frigid enough to send a shock up my spine.
I tried to breathe, choked, and realized I was underwater, sinking. My armor and gear were too heavy. I tried to swim upward, but my sense of direction was fucked, and I found myself colliding with the bottom instead. I scrabbled against the rock, flipped myself over, then kicked off, swimming with all my might.
I breached the surface with a gasp, ears ringing, blinking against a huge patch of purple in the middle of my vision. I could barely see the shore, and I made for it, climbing out of the pool to see the crab sprawled on the ground, skull-shell cracked and bleeding thick black smoke into the air. The horn, which it had used to attack Shadow Stalker and Rune, was half its length, broken, though the tip was still jagged and dangerous-looking.
My vision and hearing recovered quickly, and I could hear Rune cackling from her mount, fifty feet above ground.
"How'd you like that, bitch!" she shouted, standing up and flipping the downed monster the bird. "You ain't shit! I blew you the fuck up!"
I stumbled to my feet, water streaming off my armor, and shook my head, clearing it of the last lingering effects of the explosion.
It wasn't just the monster. The sand around it had been scorched black, and shards of the rock Rune had dropped were embedded everywhere, like shrapnel.
"What the hell was that?!" I called up at her, approaching the hermitaur carefully. It wasn't moving.
"That was a hundred and fifty pounds of C4!" she replied. She threw her arms up with a whoop, then staggered, crouched quickly and grabbed on as her rock wavered.
"You brought high explosives!?" I asked.
"Hell yeah!" she replied, laughing breathlessly. "I told you we came prepared!"
"Rifle said that!" I replied. "Or something like it! Not you!"
"Same difference!" she said.
"You know you could have fucking killed me!?" I shouted.
"You're tough!" she shouted back. "Besides, that was fucking awesome!"
I had to agree with that. It wasn't how I would have gone about killing a monster, but it had been pretty sweet.
Ahead of me, one of the feelers twitched, and I jumped back.
"You're kidding," I said, as the crab once again climbed to its feet. Purple blood spurted out of the gaping cracks in the shell, and one of its legs was limp, dragging on the ground, but it didn't seem any slower than before.
"No way!" Rune shouted, echoing my sentiment, if not my exact words.
"Hit it again!" Rifle called, his voice faint with distance. I glanced in his direction, but he'd taken refuge a few hundred feet away, crouching down behind one of the rock pillars that dotted the area. He, at least, had probably known what was coming, and acted accordingly.
"I can't!" Rune replied. "That was all the C4!"
"Just drop another rock, then!" he shouted. "Anything! Don't let it get its balance!"
That, I decided, was good advice. I hadn't done much damage yet, but it was hurt now. Its armor was cracked. That had to be worth something.
I charged in as Rune dropped another rock, the runes covering it flashing for a moment before disappearing. It hit the monstrous crab like the first one had, pounding into its shell and driving it back to the ground. Its legs flailed, gaining purchase, and once again it shrugged off the attack, climbing to its feet.
It lashed out at me with a claw as I came in, just as quick as before, and I caught it on my shield, my rush turning into a backward slide as I fought to keep my feet. I powered through, crouching down and stepping in as hard as I could, weathering another attack, then coming in below the claws, right in its face.
Up close, it was ugly. The head was small, set into a thick armor plate just below the frilled lip of the skull-shell, with no neck. Its mandibles formed a jagged circle, like a puckered asshole made of chitin, and the eyes were right above it, faceted but small and beady. The feelers emerged from between the mouth and eyes, like a huge mustache, twitching and waving with grotesque motion.
I slashed at one of the feelers, chopped it off, then went for the eyes, stabbing. It didn't have any eyelids, and I was inside its guard now. The claws could only press me in closer, and I was fine with that. I braced myself, ready to feel the crushing pressure from behind, sure that I could take it.
Its attack took a form I hadn't expected. Foam bubbled from its asshole of a mouth for an instant before erupting in a geyser. It hit me dead-on, throwing me off, the pressure enough that my ribs creaked and my armor cracked.
I hit the ground and slid, fast and hard enough that the spikes on my armor screeched against the rock, a cloud of sand left in my wake. Thankfully I didn't actually tumble this time. Unfortunately it left me directly in front of the monster as it advanced, barely slowed by another, smaller rock dropped from above.
"Hunter!" Shadow Stalker cried out, coming to a stop beside me and grabbing my arm, trying to haul me away.
"I'm fine!" I assured her, scrambling to my feet again. It was true, I realized. My chest hurt, and I was sure I'd have an impressive set of bruises in the morning, but that was it.
"Bullshit!" she insisted, pulling at me, and I went with her, jogging away from the monster, circling around. It was fast in a straight line, but it had to stop in order to turn, and couldn't seem to move diagonally. Just forward or sideways. I guess Shadow Stalker had realized it as well.
After a moment she let go, and I ran beside her. She turned to me, looking me up and down. "How the hell did you take a hit like that?" she asked. "What the hell?"
I rapped my breastplate, causing a flake of the kut-ku's carapace to fall to the sand. "Good armor, I guess," I said.
She eyed me skeptically. "We should think about pulling out," she said. "This isn't something we can kill."
I stumbled, then caught myself and kept running. "You're willing to give up in the middle of a fight?" I asked, unable to hide my surprise.
"Nothing wrong with a tactical retreat," she snapped. "Better than getting killed by something out of your league. Don't be a retard, Hunter. We should go."
"To hell with that," I spat. "This thing pissed me off. I want it dead."
I broke off from her, ignoring her shouted objections, and headed for the monster again.
Of course, having said that, I had no kind of plan. The front and sides were both dangerous. Its strikes were too fast, and that water canon – I refused to think of it as a spit-gun, or worse, a vomit-launcher – had hit me hard, despite what I'd told Shadow Stalker. Worse, even when I did close with it, my sword wasn't sharp enough to do any real damage. I might be able to hurt it over time, bleed it out, but I had no idea how long that would take, and it could easily be me that lost the battle of attrition, rather than the monster.
Worse, I had no illusions that the others would be able to avoid more injuries as the fight went on, and they weren't anywhere close to as tough as I was.
Without a better idea, I angled in behind it as it turned in place, single feeler questing out, trying to find a target. My eyes roved over the shell, searching, looking for the spot that had bled, earlier. It wasn't hard to see. A space near one of the skull's eye sockets had cracked away, leaving the red carapace underneath visible. Better, the carapace was rent open, a gaping crack over a foot long, wet with purple blood.
Whatever she thought of my rush, Shadow Stalker still provided support, circling around in shadow-form, wispy, her crossbows spitting bolts at any injury or weakness. They hit in the joints, beneath the edge of the shell, and on the face. From the sound of gunfire, Rifle was hard at work too, though I knew that the best they could do was act as a distraction.
I clambered up the shell, grabbing at it with my shield-hand, scrambling for the site of the injury. It wasn't easy. The crab was in motion again, though I couldn't see where it was headed with the frill in the way, and the shell wobbled drunkenly, almost enough to shake me off.
I made it, hooking my arm into the edge of the crack and plunging my sword deep into the monster, again and again, working it around, leveraging the wound wider, searching for something vital inside.
That got a reaction, but not the one I'd expected. An intelligent creature might have reacted to remove the threat. It might have tried to shake me off, and given how hard it was to stay on when all it was doing was walking, it probably would have succeeded. I'd been expecting that, willing to roll with it and try again later.
Instead, the enormous crab hissed, rising up high on its leg and opening its claws wide in a display of what would be – for another creature – anger or threat, before crouching down, claws planted flat against the ground.
I braced myself, digging my blade into the wound, but I wasn't remotely ready for what came next.
The crab surged upward, all its limbs – legs and claws – springing straight in an instant, sending it hurling upward into the sky. A ten-ton crustacean, jumping better than anything I'd ever seen.
Of course, I thought, in the tiny moment I had before the force of the leap tore my from my perch. It would have to be that strong.
After all, it had speared up out of the ground hard enough to send two people flying. The strength needed to do that from underground would mean that doing it above ground would end up with it having enormous jumping power.
Even as I realized that, flying through the air, already bracing myself for the inevitable fall, I saw its real target.
I had no idea if it had managed to somehow connect Rune to the rocks that she'd been dropping, then made the leap to assume that my own attack on its back had come from her as well, and in the end it didn't matter. Whatever the reason, she was the target, and the sluggish dodge she attempted wasn't close to quick enough to get her out of the way.
The daimyo hermitaur collided with the rock she was riding, and while it didn't explode as hard as the one that had the C4 attached, it wasn't that far off. It shattered into pieces, and Rune screamed, the sound cutting off almost instantly as she tumbled away in the midst of a shower of debris.
I hit the ground first, and sprung up just in time to be knocked off my feet as the ground quaked with the impact of the monster's landing. Rune fell last, and I knew there was no way she'd survive it. Not after an attack like that, not from that height.
She didn't hit the ground in a sprawl, though, her body breaking against rock or sand. At the last second, Shadow Stalker phased into sight, catching her, deflecting the impact into a roll, arms locked around Rune as they both tumbled across the sand. They spun dizzily, Rune's robe and Shadow Stalker's cloak billowed around them, making it impossible to tell what was actually happening.
They came to a stop a moment later in the middle of a cloud of sand. It settled onto both of them, turning their blue and black costumes a dull tan.
I took a step toward them, then turned as the earth shook. The daimyo was charging straight at me, foam bubbling around its mouth, mandibles working, chewing at nothing.
"Shit!" I swore, slewing sideways to avoid the rush. It swiped at me as it closed, pincer moving even faster than before, slicing at the air, but I was already out of reach.
I kept running, circling it, heading for its back quarter, where I figured the claws couldn't reach. It turned with me, not quick enough, and I lashed out at its legs, chopping at the joints.
It spun in place, pincers snapping, and flailed at me. I ducked and wove around it, blocking and attacking. We exchanged strikes, my sword biting into chitin, drawing blood, and its pincers hammered down, shaking the ground and nearly buckling my knees when they hit my shield. I kept circling, and it kept spinning, neither of our attacks slowing in the least.
Another water-beam spat from its mouth, but missed as it braced itself against the ground, and I dove in at the legs, sword swinging. I finally did enough damage, and it sprawled, legs spasming, shaking the ground with the impact.
It clawed and flailed, pronged feet scraping against the sand, and Shadow Stalker appeared out of nowhere, phasing into visibility right beside me.
"Hey," she said, her hand dipping into one of my pouches, coming out with the water bottle I'd mixed the medicine in earlier. She was gone as quickly as she'd arrived.
The crab kept attacking, even from the ground, a claw coming out of nowhere and back-handing me, knocking me away. I kept my feet for once, ready to spring back in, but an explosion stopped me.
It hit the claw, right at the elbow, sending chunks of carapace flying.
Rifle.
He was crouched out in the open, shoving something down the barrel of his shotgun. A short tube with a head that flared out before tapering into a cone. Once it was snug in the barrel, he leveled his gun and fired again, the object streaking toward the monster on a column of flame.
A rocket, I realized.
It hit the crab in the same place the first rocket had, the detonation sending a shockwave over the sand in every direction. Smoke and flame billowed for a moment, and when it cleared the monster was on its feet again, headed straight for me. It was hurt, though. The shell around its elbow joint was split and blackened, smeared with purple blood, and I could smell seared flesh.
I had to admit, it smelled good.
I swallowed quickly, moving cautiously to meet it. The monster shook, pounding the ground with its uninjured claw as it came, the other held close to its body like a shield. Foam sprayed from its mouth as it hissed and chittered.
Worried? Afraid? Angry? I didn't know if it was even smart enough to feel emotions like that, but I sped up anyway, sensing that we might finally have the advantage.
"That's it from me!" Rifle shouted, standing up and hurrying toward Rune. "I'm dry!"
I didn't take the time to respond, too focused on attack. I side-stepped a water jet on the way in, then grabbed the injured claw, using the leverage to turn my forward momentum into a spin, aiming for the elbow.
It was hurt worse than I'd thought. My blade bit deep into the wound, deeper than it had into its back. It swung its claw, trying to dislodge me, but I held on, hacking and chopping. It was slower now, I realized, whatever frenzy had sustained it waning away. I took the chance, letting go and dropping to the ground, then springing back toward it, wrapping my shield arm around the claw, clamping on with my legs. I stabbed and slashed as fast as I could, my arm a blur.
Then, before I realized it, I was through. The hermitaur swung its arm, trying to dislodge me, and something broke. The claw came free, tumbling to the ground, and I went with it.
The monster stood there frozen for a moment, down a limb – two, counting the broken leg – and I stared at it from the ground, panting. Then it crouched down, its remaining limbs digging at the sand, and started to burrow.
"Damn it! No!" I swore, bolting upright for the millionth time, staggering forward. Too late. It was already spinning in place, corkscrewing down into the ground. By the time I reached it only its shell was visible. I swung at it anyway, and my blade bounced off. Then it was gone, leaving nothing but a patch of loose, bloodstained sand to show where it had been.
I stared at the sand for a moment, panting, arms hanging limp at my sides.
It was the wrong thing to do. Without warning, the broken horn speared upward from the sand, hammering into my stomach with incredible force, cracking my armor, driving the wind out of me, and sending me flying.
Thank god, I thought as I flew. A few inches lower and it would have hit me between the legs.
I hit the ground, yet again, and lay there, trying to suck in a breath and failing. The ground rumbled , and the horn speared upward, twenty feet away. A few seconds later it did it again, in another spot. I froze, doing everything I could not to give away my position. Again and again it speared upward, aiming blind, hitting nothing.
Then it was gone, the ground rumbling one last time, the sound receding out of the area and fading into the distance.
"Did it run?" I wheezed at nobody, sitting up and looking around. My stomach twinged, and I fought back a surge of vomit. "Ow."
"God, Hunter," Shadow Stalker said, appearing out of nowhere again to crouch down beside me. "You alright?
"Gimme a minute and I will be," I said, trying to get my feet under me. My stomach rebelled again, and I gave up. "Ow," I repeated.
She moved to support me, one hand on my shoulder and the other at my lower back. "Shit," she said. "I gave Rune the last of that potion. Wish I hadn't, now."
"Potion?" I asked. "Really?"
She shrugged. "You mixed it up from herbs and mushrooms," she pointed out. "Seems like a fitting name."
"Guess so," I said, then fell silent. My eyes roved over the area, but I saw no sign that the daimyo was still around. Apart from my labored breathing, the place was silent.
Eventually I heard the sound of footsteps crunching over the sand, and Rifle approached.
"I'm a bit surprised you're alive," he said. "That likely to change any time soon?"
"Asshole!" Shadow Stalker snapped, arms tightening around me.
Rifle held up his free hand, the one not holding his shotgun, in a pacifying gesture. "Don't take it the wrong way," he said. "I'm just weighing our chances."
"I'll live," I said. "Give me five minutes and I'll be ready to get back in the fight."
"Don't be stupid," he said. "This mission is a bust. I'm calling it off. As soon as you can move again, we're headed back to the cart. If you can't walk, Rune will carry you."
I glared at him, anger pushing away the pain, and struggled to sit up, but Shadow Stalker held me down.
"Shut up," she snapped, sounding as angry as I felt. "Just fucking shut it, Hunter. We're done. We lost. Fucking accept it."
"We didn't-" I growled, and she punched me in the gut. I gagged, my whole body going tight for a moment. I fell back, panting.
"We lost," she said. "This isn't worth dying over."
"Fuck!" I said, balling up a fist and slamming it onto the ground beside me. "Fuck! Fuck!"
"You done?" Rifle asked.
"I'm done," I confirmed, letting my head drop to the ground. I lay there for a minute, staring up at the blue desert sky. Rifle left, but Shadow Stalker stayed with me.
"Are you gonna be okay, Hunter?" she asked. "Like, really?"
"I'll be fine," I told her, doing my best to keep the bitterness from my voice. "A day, maybe two. I've been hurt worse."
"Good," she said.
Eventually the pain died down, and I climbed to my feet, Shadow Stalker holding on to support me. Once I was upright I shrugged her arm away, and she took a few steps back.
Rune was already up, and I didn't feel like questioning her to see if she was alright. She glanced at me, then said a few words to Rifle. He looked me over as well, but wisely didn't say anything.
We got ready to go in silence, and for once I had no urge to break it. The others refilled their water bottles at the pool, and both Rune and Shadow Stalker waded in, coming out shivering and dripping. Rifle didn't bother, simply waiting for them to be done then marching back toward the canyon we'd come from. On the way there my eyes fell on the broken claw of the daimyo hermitaur. It was huge, seven or eight feet long, and at least four across. It probably weighted half a ton.
I walked over to examine it, but nothing was coming to me from my tinker power. Just a dull sense that, yeah, I could make use of it. But that was all.
A kick set it wobbling, and a few drops of purple blood fell to the sand.
"Hunter?" Rifle asked.
I didn't reply. I just grabbed some straps from a pouch, and started tying them to the claw.
If nothing else, I would at least have a trophy.
Maybe I'll make it into a couch.
The trip back to the cart was a blur. I remembered plodding through the desert, dragging the claw behind me, and I remembered the rocking of the cart, but it was all just flashes. Nothing substantial. Wisps of memory that were more like dreams.
I finally woke up back at the portal station, as the sun was setting. The cart wasn't moving, and it took me a minute to realize that we were probably docked.
There was something wrong, though.
I sat up, blinking, trying to figure out what was happening. It was loud. Too loud. Panicked voices, some shouting, some giving orders, trying to establish control. My breathing sped up, and adrenaline pushed some of the fatigue from my system.
"What's happening?" I asked.
Shadow Stalker's head snapped toward me, but it was Rifle that answered.
"An elder dragon," he said, his voice incredibly calm given what he was saying. "It's hitting Boston."