The creature rolled one shoulder, and cracked chitin sloughed away in pieces, exposing a newer shell beneath — smoother, darker, already knitting itself whole. The wound I'd opened moments ago was simply gone, as if it had never been there.
It wasn't healing. It was adapting.
"So that's your trick."
The antennae on its head twitched once. Then it vanished.
I didn't bother chasing it with my eyes this time. I let instinct answer instead, sweeping the spear behind me a half-second before its claw came down.
CLANG!
The impact split the ground under my feet, fractures webbing out across the chamber floor. It twisted its wrist and the claw slid along my spearhead, reaching for my throat.
I leaned back just far enough — the hook caught my cheek instead, and warm blood ran down into my collar.
I answered with the spear's butt, driving it into its ribs. It barely staggered. Its tail was already coiling around my ankle.
"Oh, that's cheating."
