Chapter 181: Avoiding attention

Chapter 181: Avoiding attention

A wave of rotten fog rolled out of Flesh Abomination’s exposed, bloody neck. It was a thick brown color and it rolled across the ground toward him like the tide coming in. Arwin didn’t know what it would do, and he had absolutely no plans of finding out.

He bounded over the fog with a small boost from [Scourge] and landed on the monster’s shoulders, bringing his hammer down into its back. The Flesh Abomination stumbled and fell forward into its own fog.

Arwin launched himself off it, landing safely outside of the rancid monster’s range. The endless thump of its heart echoed through the room as it rose, apparently unbothered by the large dent in its back.

Rodrick and Olive stood on the other side of the monster, biding their time until the smoke dispersed before attacking. Flesh stitched back over the monster’s wound as it lumbered toward Arwin.

I’m evidently going to have to hit it harder if I want to do serious damage, but I really don’t have the energy to spare swinging Verdant Blaze around with reckless abandon.

Rodrick took several steps back and sprinted forward, water splashing at his feet as his armor accelerated him. He leapt over the dispersing fog, clearing it in one jump, and rolled past the Flesh Abomination as the monster swung a lumbering hand at him.

The monster’s fist slammed into the ground with enough force to shake it. Cracks spiderwebbed out across the floor and it lifted its hand, debris raining down from its purpled, swelling fingers.

Rodrick came to a stop beside Arwin, turning to face the monster. Olive worked her way around it, her sword drawn, eyes searching for an opportunity to attack. The monster wasn’t fast, but it was definitely strong.

“Lillia, how much shadow do you have to work with right now?” Arwin asked. He and Rodrick backed up toward the center of the room. They remained close enough to keep monster remained focused on them so it wouldn’t turn to any of the others. “Can you hold this thing down?”

“Not very well,” Lillia called back. “We saw how strong it was. I could maybe trip it up for a second if Reya was helping. It doesn’t look like attacking would do much more, though.”

“Okay. Reya, get ready,” Arwin said. “Be prepared to use [Imprison]. I want to knock this thing down. Once it falls, Lillia — hold it down. Olive can then go for a strike, and it’ll be your job to make sure it can’t hit her while she’s doing that.”

“Which leaves us to knock it down?” Rodrick guessed.

Arwin nodded and lowered his stance. “Unfortunately. Do you have it in you to activate your berserker skill again?”

“Yeah, I reckon I’ll make it,” Rodrick replied.

The Flesh Abomination lurched forward and reached out for both of them. Rodrick’s sword flashed down as he dodged to the side, leaving a glowing cut along the monster’s skin. Flesh peeled back and blood sloughed from the wound, but the abomination barely even seemed to notice.

Arwin ducked under the monster’s other hand and thrust his foot behind the large monster’s legs before twisting his body and slamming Verdant Blaze into the creature’s chest with a [Scourge] empowered blow.

Bone crunched and the abomination stumbled back. An enormous weight slammed down on Arwin’s leg as the monster tripped over it. It pitched back and crashed to the ground. Even with his greaves protecting his leg, he felt the bone snap beneath the monster’s weight.

He let out a snarl of pain and fell, catching himself by slamming his hammer’s head to the ground like a crutch. A bolt of yellow light shot from Anna’s hands and slipped into his leg, setting the bone and pulling away some of the pain.

Arwin didn’t have time to thank her. The abomination’s wound was already starting to knit shut and it was halfway back to rising to its feet. He swung Verdant Blaze once more, striking the monster in the top of the chest and throwing it back to the ground.

[Scourge]’s reserves were already dangerously low. He wasn’t sure how many more swings he had left in him, but they needed the monster pinned down. As soon as it hit the ground for the second time, bands of shadow shot up and tightened around its arms.

Olive strode forward and brought her sword down toward its chest.

Even more jagged bone sprouted from its body, forming a carapace over its arms and reaching for Olive like grasping hands.

Her sword drew closer and closer to its chest, but the bones were faster than she was. Concentration creased Olive’s features and her knuckles were white around the hilt of her blade. She had no plans of dodging.

A wave of blue light slammed into the monster. The bone growth slowed to a halt for a flicker of an instant.

Olive’s sword bit home. It cut clean from one shoulder of the monster down to its abdomen, tearing through the monster like nothing was there. Smoke hissed from the creature’s flesh as the sword’s edge flickered with fire. Loud twangs rang out, but Olive didn’t stop to see what they were.

She pulled her sword down and slid it free of the Flesh Abomination’s pelvis. The two halves of the monster sloughed away, revealing several cut metal strands.

The bones growing from the monster cracked and crumbled, falling away as it collapsed, losing the will to fight. All the pieces making it up lost their cohesion and detached from each other, leaving only the still-thumping heart just to the side of where Olive’s blade had carved through the monster.

They all caught their breath for a second. Arwin’s armor had several grooves running through it from the sharp bones, but they’d failed to penetrate deep enough to do any damage. Judging by the glassy stare in Olive and Rodrick’s eyes, the Mesh had acknowledged their victory.

Arwin had to admit that he was mildly surprised that he hadn’t gotten anything himself. Achievements weren’t easy to come by, but this had been far from a simple monster. Sure, it wasn’t fully organic and seemed to have been made partially at Jessen’s behest, but he doubted Jessen had planned for the monster to start Overloading from all the extra magical energy in the dungeon.

It wasn’t like that was an easy fight. But if it didn’t give me an express reward... does that mean I already got it?

Rodrick blinked the Mesh away. His features twisted with disgust as he looked down at the heart and he turned his sword around in his grip, preparing to plunge it down.

“Hold on,” Arwin said hurriedly. Rodrick shot him a baffled look.

“What, you want to do it yourself?”

“No,” Arwin replied. He looked down at the heart as it thumped away, seemingly unaware that it was only meant to do that when it was inside a body. “But I think I might have a use for this.”

“I’m not cooking it,” Lillia said. “Even I have limits.”

“Thank god, but that wasn’t what I meant,” Arwin said. He knelt beside the heart and carefully lifted it from the gory remains of the monster it had been animating. He tried not to gag in disgust at the pulsating organ. “I can craft with scales and other monster parts. There’s clearly magic in this, and it definitely isn’t edible for anyone with half a brain. I think I can use this.”

“It’s going to squish when you hit it with your hammer. What will you even make?” Anna asked.

“I’ve got no damn idea, but I’ll find out soon enough,” Arwin replied. He stuffed the pulsating heart into his bag and pulled the flap over so he didn’t have to look at it any longer. He nodded to the others. “Now let’s check out the rest of the room and get out of this dungeon before we draw too much—”

The words of the Mesh snapped to life before Arwin as a rumble shook the dungeon beneath his feet.

High-Journeyman Ranked Dungeon Break has been averted due to dungeon completion by [The Menagerie].

“—attention,” Arwin finished, his words falling from numb lips.