Chapter 33:Too Slow to Survive
Peter froze for a fraction of a second, trying to understand what had just happened, but he was forced to immediately leap backward to put himself out of the beast's reach.
The surroundings seemed to come to a halt for the first time since the beginning of the fight. The monster noticed Peter's unnatural strength and stopped, watching him carefully for a moment, as if trying to make sure it was still the same person.
Selene had also noticed her companion's unbelievable feat and stared at him with her mouth open, then shouted.
"How the hell did you do that?!"
Peter himself was stunned by what he had done. He knew how it had happened, but he had no idea how to explain it in the middle of a fight, so he brushed it off with a few words.
"I don't know! But we have a chance to gut this freak!"
Almost immediately, he lunged forward, trying to slash the creature with his sword. Caught off guard, it stepped back while raising the nearer limb to block, but this time, instead of shallow damage, the blade sank deep, all the way to the bone.
The creature let out a scream full of pain and swung at Peter, trying to get rid of the attacker, but he was already out of range.
Despite the successful strike, something felt wrong. He studied the beast carefully, trying to understand what didn't add up.
In the meantime, Selene had managed to get behind the creature, ready to attack, but Peter stopped her, raising his hand.
"Wait! Something's wrong."
A puzzled Selene looked at the monster and replied.
"What do you mean?"
Peter hesitated for a moment, still watching the creature while backing away beyond its reach, when he realized the severity of the problem. The creature was moving at its original speed again.
He immediately looked at its hind limbs, searching for the wounds inflicted earlier, but all he could see were faded scars where they had been.
'Damn it.'
Peter cursed inwardly, then shouted again.
"It's regenerating! The wounds on its legs have already healed!"
After a closer look, Selene noticed the scars and asked.
"So what now? Do you have a plan?"
"We have to kill it quickly! Otherwise, we'll be in big trouble!"
"Okay, but how are you planning to do that? If you get too close, you'll die in a single hit, even with that weird strength you suddenly have!"
At the same time, Peter felt all his muscles stretched to their absolute limit, and fatigue was beginning to set in. There was very little time left to end this fight.
"I'll think of something, but you have to draw its attention. Otherwise, we'll be playing cat and mouse until one of us dies!"
Selene nodded in understanding and ran toward the beast.
For a moment, Peter thought she was going to attack it head-on, but when she was a few meters away, she hurled another frozen stick at it, striking its spine.
Enraged, the creature turned toward the attacker and charged at Selene, swinging from above. She was already fleeing, fast enough to avoid the blow, yet slow enough not to lose its pursuit.
Peter acted immediately.
He rushed toward the monster, trying to circle it from the right while making as little noise as possible, aided for the first time by the cloak's spell.
An opportunity presented itself moments later. Selene ran between two closely spaced trees, forcing the beast to smash through them to get through, slowing it down.
Peter closed in as it struggled with the obstacle and delivered a horizontal slash across its ribs, breaking several bones.
When it tried to turn toward him, it got wedged between the two trees it had just passed through, buying Peter time to make one of the boldest, or dumbest decisions of his life.
He dove beneath the creature and drove the sword straight upward, plunging it into its chest, then pulled it along the direction he was moving.
The blade tore through internal organs, including the lungs, because the beast's next roar was hoarse, and black-red blood spilled from its maw. The sword stopped only at the ribs.
Peter tore it free and rolled as far left as he could, narrowly avoiding a limb that would have pinned him to the ground.
He got up instantly, ready to fight, but the sight before him made him pause.
Instead of seeking revenge for the pain, the creature retreated, then turned toward the open field and began to run.
Peter realized it was trying to escape and warn the rest of the group, so without wasting time, he sprinted after it with all the strength left in his legs.
Almost immediately, he had to dodge trees that were rushing toward him faster than he was used to, a privilege of enhanced endurance. At the same time, it felt as if his muscles were being torn apart, and his lungs were breathing shards of broken glass.
He couldn't fight much longer while flooding his blood with magic.
Then he burst into an open space, seeing the monster several meters ahead. He was gaining on it slowly, too slowly.
He gathered himself and accelerated.
His senses felt dulled, sounds came from far away, his vision played tricks on him, but he saw that he was already a meter from his target.
Guided by instinct rather than reason, he leapt onto the beast's back, driving his sword into its spine to keep from falling.
Feeling the pain, the creature slowed and began to spin in circles, trying to throw him off, but Peter ignored it. He was thinking of only one thing.
'Now I've got you! Stop jumping around, or your death will just take longer!'
He plunged the sword into the monster's back again and again, struggling to stay mounted.
After a moment, when the creature dropped to all fours, Peter tore the blade free and swung at its neck.
He felt something brush against his consciousness and realized that his sword had met no resistance.
He looked down, expecting to have missed, but the monster's head had been cleanly severed from its body.
Along Thaurmor's arc, a gray, translucent trail hung in the air, emanating from the runes on its blade. It vanished almost instantly, just like the sensation that had grazed his mind.
Peter lost his balance and collapsed to the side, feeling his muscles give out from the excessive strain.
For a moment, he struggled with himself and tried to stand, but then he stopped and stared helplessly at the sky.
In the distance, he could hear Selene shouting something at him, but through his dulled senses, Peter couldn't understand a word.
His mind was empty, yet at the same time filled with noise after the exhausting battle.
The lethargy was broken only by a message that appeared before his eyes.
[You Have Defeated Exiled Beast, Cinder Maw]
After reading the message, Peter finally came to his senses and tried to check whether he was injured, which wasn't easy considering that his muscles refused to obey him.
Before he managed to do anything, Selene appeared at his side. Fear was written all over her face as she asked whether he was all right or something along those lines, but the first thing Peter did was force himself to raise a hand and stop the torrent of words pouring from her mouth.
"Shhh! Not so loud. My head is splitting."
A slightly embarrassed Selene asked in a quieter voice.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. At least as far as I know. But I feel like I've tumbled down the stairwell of the tallest skyscraper in the world. Now help me stand up."
After hesitating for a moment, Selene helped Peter to his feet.
As soon as he stood upright, his head started spinning and he nearly collapsed again, but Selene helped him keep his balance.
Even though his legs felt like they were made of cotton, Peter looked around and realized they were roughly a hundred meters from the cluster of trees, which was an impressive distance to cover in just a few seconds.
Then his gaze fell on the massive carcass of the creature that had caused them so much trouble.
Selene was also staring at the corpse and said.
"It looks even bigger up close. By the way, how did you manage to cut its head off in one strike? Was it because of that new strength of yours? How does it work?"
"It's a technique I learned the theoretical aspects of some time ago. I'll explain it to you later."
Selene wanted to ask something else, but then, about a meter away from them, Veilwing landed, the bird that had been responsible for their troubles in the first place.
Peter instinctively tried to reach for his sword, but it was lying somewhere in the grass, and even if he had found it, the chances of him being able to use it effectively right now were slim.
Selene stepped in front of him with her sword drawn, ready to fight the creature, though uncertainty was clearly visible in her movements.
However, instead of attacking, the bird did something unexpected.
First, it spread its wings and let out a screech eerily similar to that of an earthly raven.
Then it lowered itself toward the ground in a gesture resembling a bow.
Only when a confused Selene lowered her weapon did Veilwing return to its natural posture.
A moment later, flapping its wings, it hopped over to the fallen corpse and began tearing into the flesh.
But instead of eating it, the creature grabbed several chunks in its beak and placed them at the feet of the still-bewildered Peter and Selene.
Only after making sure they had noticed the gesture did the bird return to the body and begin feeding in earnest.
Peter and Selene exchanged looks before Selene finally blurted out.
"What the hell is this supposed to mean?"
After a moment, Peter replied.
"I think it's making us an offering. Maybe as a sign of truce?"
"A truce? What do you mean?"
"It seems to me that this bird isn't stupid. It probably lured that first creature here to kill us so it could feed on the remains. But now that we came out of the fight victorious, it decided it's better to side with us. At least, that's how I see it. Ravens are intelligent creatures."
Peter thought aloud, but Selene had another question.
"Do you think this creature is the same as the ravens in our world? It may look similar, but it's about six times bigger, and it's a native of Ether."
"Whether it thinks the same way, is dumber, or even smarter doesn't really matter. I think it's worth accepting this strange offer."
He paused for a moment before adding.
"But I wouldn't eat that meat. We don't know if it's edible for humans. Who knows, maybe only other creatures of Ether can feed on it."