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Chapter 32: Distraction

More magical power raced out of him and into the wound, sending a dull thrum up into the air. The Wyrm roared and lunged at Arwin, forcing him to use even more of his power to throw himself to safety.

Arwin could feel his magical reserves starting to run out. He’d been using [Scourge] at max for the entire fight, and his sword drained power at a massive rate. He probably only had one or two more moves left in him before he was completely dry.

The Wyrm, on the other hand, had been barely injured. The damage to its leg wasn’t much more than a bad scratch, but the fact he’d managed to do anything at all to the enormous beast was a feat in itself.

“Get out of here!” Arwin yelled. “We can’t win this!”

“We aren’t leaving you behind,” Rodrick yelled back. “You can’t win this either!”

Arwin didn’t have a response to that. He grit his teeth and held the Wyrm’s gaze as it contemplated its next move.

At least Reya got out. Now only three of us will get killed.

“Hey, asshole!” A woman’s voice rang out from the trees, and Arwin nearly slapped himself in the forehead. “Give me back my dagger!”

A rock whistled out from the darkness, striking the Wyrm in the forehead and bouncing off harmlessly. Reya stepped out of the shadows and flung another rock, this time missing the monster entirely.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Arwin demanded. “Did nobody listen to a single thing I said?”

“It has the dagger you made for me,” Reya spat. “I’m not leaving without it.”

“I can make you another damn dagger!”

“Not if you die,” Reya countered. She threw another rock at the Wyrm, which now looked more baffled than anything else. Arwin nearly laughed in spite of their situation. In comparison with everything else in this forest, the Wyrm was the absolute peak. Nothing should have so much dared to look in its direction, but now a group of fleshy monkeys were flinging rocks at its head.

“How exactly do you think you’re going to get the dagger back?” Arwin asked. “Were you planning on crawling into its mouth and asking politely?”

“Do you think that would work?”

“Of course it wouldn’t,” Arwin snapped. The Wyrm bared its lips in a warning growl, but Arwin hardly even cared. It wasn’t like the monster could do anything else to them, and every second that passed gave him a little more magical energy back. If it was going to sit around in befuddlement, then it only helped him. “You’re meant to listen to my orders.”

“Well, don’t give stupid orders.”

“Surviving isn’t stupid. You know what’s stupid? Coming back to fight a high-level Journeyman monster when you don’t even have a damn class yet.”

“You’re the one that told me I was going to get a class today!” Reya snapped. “I’m doing that!”

“Getting yourself killed is not getting yourself a class!”

The Wyrm looked from Reya to Arwin, the disbelief in its eyes turning to hunger as it reared back and let out a roar. They both looked back to the huge monster.

“What do we do?” Reya asked.

“We can’t beat this thing. Our best bet is to hurt it enough that it decides we aren’t worth eating. Don’t get close, your armor isn’t going to save you from any of its attacks. Just… fling rocks and don’t close.”

Arwin beat his hand against his chest again to draw the Wyrm’s attention back to him. The maneuver worked a bit better than he’d been hoping for and the monster finally lurched back into motion, flinging itself at him like a crazed flying squirrel.

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He swore and activated [Scourge] even as [Awe] empowered his legs even further, throwing himself out of the way. Arwin hit the ground in a run and skidded to a stop, spinning back to face the monster even as it rose back to its feet.

A rock dinked off the back of its head, but the Wyrm didn’t so much as glance back. It was fed up with the game and determined to finish off Arwin once and for all. Ripples of resonance still washed out from where Arwin had struck it several times before.

If I can reactivate the magic one more time, I might be able to actually do some decent damage to this thing. But there’s no way it’ll let me at it again. I need –

Reya, devoid of a proper weapon and possibly her sanity, charged the Wyrm with a cry. It took Arwin by such surprise that it took him a moment to realize what she was doing.

The Wyrm was equally as surprised, but it recovered quickly and spun toward her, its maw snapping open. The scales covering its body rippled as the muscles beneath them tensed, preparing to pounce.

Arwin burst into motion. He didn’t have any other choice. His armor would keep the claws of a normal lizard from ripping Reya to shreds – it wasn’t a magical wall that would stop the weight of the Wyrm.

The Wyrm saw Arwin’s approach out of the corner of its eye. Its tail shot out and Arwin jumped – but the Wyrm wasn’t trying to knock him out of the way. The massive appendage wrapped around his chest. He barely managed to lift his arms into the air before the tail tightened, starting to squeeze.

Arwin’s armor cracked and groaned, desperately trying to hold the monster off and failing spectacularly. He wasn’t far from its leg, but his sword arm was pointed entirely in the wrong direction.

The Wyrm lunged, aiming to swallow Reya whole. She tried to throw herself out of the way in the same way that Arwin had, but she didn’t have [Scourge] to help her. Rodrick ran toward Reya, but he wasn’t going to make it in time.

Arwin drew on every last ounce of magic he had, letting [Scourge] erupt through his entire body. He let out a snarl, shoving the Wyrm’s tail back just enough to slip free of its grip even as it started to clear the ground. Arwin launched himself forward, moving with the Wyrm’s momentum to launch himself up the side of the body.

He was too close to the monster to rear back and swing his sword without hitting something else on accident. With only instants to act, Arwin brought the blade up – but not toward the monster.

His teeth slammed down on the blade, shattering the metal. Energy poured into Arwin’s mouth and spread throughout his body. He ripped power from the sword, draining the rest of the weapon until it was ash in the wind within just milliseconds.

Then, with a defiant roar, he drove his fist into the cracked scales. The power that the sword had once held was temporarily infused within him, and Arwin spent every last drop of power he had pushing it out through his fist, activating his greaves at the same time.

The ripples of resonating energy detonated with a brilliant crack. The Wyrm screamed in pain, twisting at the last moment. There was a loud screech and Reya went flying, but Arwin hit the ground before he could see the extent of the damage.

A brilliant flash of light lit up the air and the Wyrm roared in surprise, buying them precious seconds.

Arwin rolled across the ground, crashing into a tree with enough force to knock it back. His enhanced defenses were the only thing that kept him from passing out. Bright stars flashed before Arwin’s eyes and he drew in a hissing gasp.

Pain rocked through his back as he forced himself upright, squinting through darkness dancing at the edges of his vision. The Wyrm had landed several dozen feet from him, its momentum having carried it deeper into the forest and through a dozen trees.

The scales on its right foreleg were badly damaged, and blood poured down it like a small river. Letting out a wail, the enormous monster tried to put weight on its leg before yanking the foot back into the air.

Its eyes swiveled to stare at Arwin. Hunger and hatred mixed with fear within them as he staggered upright, baring his teeth and breathing heavily. He had absolutely nothing left – but the Wyrm didn’t know that.

“Come on,” Arwin rasped.

The Wyrm didn’t move.

“Come on!” Arwin screamed, pounding a hand against his cracked chest piece. The world swam around him, and trees danced when they should have been still.

The Wyrm turned. It slunk back into the forest, limping to avoid putting weight on its injured leg. Deep, echoing thuds echoed through the darkness and faded into the distance. All that remained of it was a drying puddle of blood on the ground and a single, cracked scale.

Arwin turned toward the others, leaning heavily against the tree. Reya laid on the ground several feet away from him, sprawled out beside Anna. Arwin staggered toward them, barely able to keep himself upright.

“Reya! Are you–”

Reya pushed herself over. The front of her chest piece, running from her shoulders down to just above her waist, had been ripped to shreds. Several furrows ran through her skin, but they were no deeper than half an inch. The armor had stopped the damage from being fatal.

“Look at that,” Reya said with a weak smile. “It held up after all.”

A laugh slipped out of Arwin’s mouth, rocking his body with such intensity that he had to grab onto a tree to keep from falling over. And, in his laughter, he just barely noticed a flicker of golden light dancing through the air.

Achievement: [Shieldbreaker] has been earned.

[Shieldbreaker] – Awarded for shattering the armor of an enemy more than 1 Tier stronger than you. Effects: You may choose to add the [Shieldbreaker] trait to 1 item you forge. This achievement will be consumed upon use.

He had absolutely no idea what Shieldbreaker did, but he could venture a guess – and it sounded like it would be perfect for his hammer when he got around to making it.

“Arwin?” Reya whispered, pulling him from his thoughts. She spoke so silently that he barely overheard her over the rush of blood in his ears.

Arwin turned toward her. “Yes?”

“I got a class.”