Of course, because there was no way this fight could be in our favor, we immediately encountered a major issue.
Mathew ran, keeping low to the ground as to make himself a smaller target, and went in to try and get an attack on the crab, but when he prepared himself to receive, dodge, or counter a massive dark claw, he realized the crab was completely ignoring him.
The crab scuttled at me instead, with surprising speed for its size, and raised its claws overhead just to drop them over me like black meteorites. The claws moved so quickly they blurred, and I barely managed to get out of every attack.
Each strike from the crab left a permanent impression in the ground, sending debris in every direction and shaking the cave itself.
The crab lowered itself to the ground with every strike, allowing Mathew to mount the back of the huge garg. I had thought I’d have to fight this fight alone, but Mathew apparently wouldn’t allow that. Just because the crab wouldn’t fight him didn’t mean he’d leave it alone.
The crab, as expected, gave no mind to Mathew making his way up its back, aiming for the stalks on which its eyes rested. Continuing to come after me, the crab’s tunnel vision prevented it from noticing Mathew, who was coming up behind it to cut its eyes off. This would be an easy fight...
Was what I thought. Mathew prepared a great swing at the crab's eyes, but when his sword made contact, a loud metallic clang echoed through the cave, and Mathew fell over from the recoil of his own strike.
Mathew’s blow had simply bounced off. His pitiful sword and magic supply was no match for the crab's corruption reinforced shell. It likely wasn’t a matter of sharpness of the blade though, my massive amounts of magic that my blade sucked in acted to nullify the corruption, and allowed my attacks to be effective.
“Mathew! Back off and think of something! I’ll keep him busy.” There’s no point of him possibly getting hurt when the crab could pretend he wasn’t there and fight without issue.
“Right!” He responds dutifully.
I had learned from trading blows with the crab that, one, it’s extraordinarily fast, it perceives my swings almost before I know I intend to attack, a lot like Uncle Chris had in our training, and two, I could block its attacks. I had been unable to dodge a couple strikes from the monster and was forced to recieve them with the blunt of my blade. While they weren’t impossible to block, they were heavy strikes that would take a toll on me if I tried to block every one.
That in mind, I tried to think of what I could do in this situation. Memories of my tireless training with Uncle Chris flashed in my head. This felt strangely similar, at least in the sense that I was utterly outmatched. It wasn’t like some stupid dirt cloud would work on this massive crab either. Thinking back, how did that work on Uncle Chris? He was smarter than that.
Pushing that thought out of my head, I focused, as similar as this felt to Uncle Chris’ training, this was no sparring match, one misstep could mean my death, and by consequence Mathew’s death too, since he likely couldn’t make it out of the main room of the cave alone.
The crab was relentless, it wasn’t cautious like the dragon garg or wolf gargs, it came after me, blow after blow was dealt, leaving the cave’s ground littered with craters. Rocks flew, and I barely had time to think. When one claw was dodged, the other was already whistling through the air with me as its target.
If someone didn’t notice me being there, it’d look as if the crab was a child throwing a tantrum, pounding on the floor relentlessly.
We made circles around the cave, and all Mathew could do was watch, if he took one of this strikes, he couldn’t block, and there’s no way he could dodge this many consecutive lightning speed blows, I myself was forced to recieve a good number of them, so this was truly my first one on one battle to the death.
I wasn’t exactly getting injured, but having to block the massive blows constantly sucked the energy out of me, and I was forced to constantly back off from the crab. It gave me no chance to go on the offensive, while a hail of black blurs came from above my head.
“DON’T BLOCK, STAB INTO ITS CLAW WHEN IT HITS YOU!” Mathew shouts a suggestion.
Taking the advice, I watched for an opportunity I’d otherwise use to block, and when I see it, I raise my sword up, to let the crabs blow work against itself. The garg sees what I’m doing and tries to stop its claw from coming down on my sword, but even it can’t stop itself when it puts that much force into its swings.
The crabs claw is pierced by my blade, and the tip of my sword peeks out the other side of its large pincer. I had successfully landed a blow, but it was really underwhelming. The excitement of retaliating had raised my spirits for but a moment when I realised that I hadn’t slowed the crab at all.
Gargs are controlled by a parasite, unless you cut off a limb, or totally destroy the brain, they remain animated. They feel no pain, and no exhaustion, they push the host to the absolute limit of what their enhanced bodies are capable of.
While I hadn’t managed to do any serious damage, I had managed to learn something about the crab. It can’t stop itself when it commits to a strike. Could I use that to gain an opportunity to cut off a claw?
As I think that, the crab’s relentless offensive hadn’t wavered in the slightest. It had a kind of rhythm to its strikes, like it’s slamming the ground in time with some distorted song. I use this predictability to jump to the side earlier, and jump up to where the crab’s claw connects to its flat body, raising my sword overhead to sever its limb.
As I soar through the air, something heavy struck me in the side, and I flew into a cave wall. I slid down, coughing up blood, while my vision went hazy. I saw the blurry figure of the crab move towards me and prepare to deal the finishing blow.
Just as it was about to hit me, my world blurred like it does when I drove the Invisible Horse, and something slapped me in the face.
“Snap out of it Ray!” Mathew’s muffled shout filled my ringing ears.
He must’ve jumped in and pushed me out of the way to save me, reliable as always.
I was still hazed, but I could move. I got up, supported by Mathew, and ran while he supported me with his shoulder, as I shook off the lightheadedness.
I was sure I couldn’t block an attack if I had to right now, I had to keep running and recover to some extent at least. My massive pools of magic increased my natural healing abilities, but I was pretty drained, so even that wasn’t likely much faster than the average person.
As long as the crab was absentmindedly pounding wherever it saw me, it wasn’t much of an issue to dodge. After you figured out its tricks, the crab wasn’t that scary. We were left in a stalemate where I couldn’t hit the crab, and it couldn’t hit me.
All I could think of was trying to hack off a claw when it tried to hit me, but last time I tried I was slammed into a wall. I’d have to cut it even closer than I already had, close enough that the crab’s claw might brush the hairs on my arms, if I ever hoped to cut a claw before it could swat me away with the other.
It seems way too risky, but what else could I do? I had Mathew as insurance sure, but he could only get me out of a situation if I got knocked out, not revive the dead.
This crab is working off a pattern isn’t it? I tried to think of how I could abuse it as I continued to dance around the massive blows. It was getting harder and harder to move as the ground became more and more irregular with every strike.
I kept thinking and thinking to no avail, it just wouldn’t click, I felt like it was on the tip of my tongue, the way to defeat this garg. Frustration built inside of me, and I wanted to just run at this stupid crab and slash it to bits, not play this endless game of chicken.
My impatience grew into annoyance, when suddenly I noticed something moving out of the corner of my eye, it’s Mathew. He’s running over and over at the crab, being knocked away by a kick that feels almost like an afterthought.
“What are you doing you idiot! You can’t even hurt that thing!” I yelled out to him.
“I also can’t leave you to fight on your own!” The conviction of his declaration shook me.
“Are you stupid? Let me take this!”
He said nothing, absorbed in the fight.
It was almost pitiable how little chance he had at standing up to such an individually strong beast, and yet he didn’t waver, there was no fault in his step and no doubt in his eyes. Here I sat with the power to defeat this thing, throwing a tantrum in my own head, with both our lives on the line.
Be him stupid, or brave, or both, his actions gave me courage and purpose. I had to defeat this crab, to pay him back for saving me from the lizard garg, and for not leaving my side here, in a seemingly hopeless fight.
Having steeled my resolve, a plan came together in my head. All the pieces of this life or death puzzle had finally been collected. I understood my opponent, I understood myself, and I understood for which we both fought. With that, I’d raise my sword and bring down those which stand in my path.
“Mathew, I got a plan!” I call him over to me and back off away from the crab.
He sprinted over to me and asked, “What do we have to do?”
“Can you push me under the crab just before its claw hits me?”
He looks at me like I’m crazy, “Push you?”
“Listen, you’re faster than me, and I need to get under the crab as quickly as I can to get it before it dodges. I can’t cut it close enough with my own speed, so I’m borrowing yours.”
He seemed to understand, and nodded at me.
“Cut it as close as you can, I can’t let the crab react and dodge. The longer it takes me to dodge, the more sure of itself it’ll be and make it easier to get it once I’m under it.”
Another quick nod from Mathew told me it’s time to put the plan in action.
I engaged the crab once more, and the now familiar sound of the crab claw whistling towards me sounds out when I’m close enough, only this time accompanied by quick footsteps coming in behind me.
I flew forward when I felt Mathew’s hands press on my back, and rolled with the momentum. I came out of the roll quickly and used it to get in a crouched position and launch into the underside of the crab holding my sword overhead.
I pushed every ounce of magic I could into my sword when I pierced the crab. I felt my sword pop out the top end of the garg, and brought my blade through its body, splitting it in two.
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