Monster Hunting 401: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure Andrew Karevik (ebook reader below 3000 TXT) 📖

me, encasing me in a bulky, rigid protection. This change did not seem to register for the tallbeast, and it continued to claw away at my chest, though now it was trying to break through several layers of monster bone reinforced with steel.

The suit’s design was not really meant for a person lying on the ground, meaning I was stuck. I could wriggle out of the suit, but that thing would shred my flesh in a matter of seconds. Already, I could hear the sounds of the bone fracturing and the steel beginning to open up as the tallbeast slashed away in a frenzy. My only defense was that my head was concealed by the helmet of the frame. If the tallbeast saw my exposed head, it would undoubtedly try to get me.

“Trig!” I shouted. “Status?”

“My legs are fine, it was just a glancing blow,” Trig replied, his voice addled and woozy. He sounded out of breath and in pain.

Gritting my teeth, I decided to chance pissing this tallbeast off. I raised a heavy, armored hand and lunged at one of the beast’s arms, catching it by the wrist. It was strong, but I was much stronger. With a grunt, I yanked down with all my might, rolling to the left, trying to throw it off me while also getting up at the same time. The armor did not want to comply with this kind movement, but I made it work.

There came a loud snap as I pulled on the arm, and much to my dismay, the damn creature’s arm popped right off, like it was nothing more than a rotting tree branch. The beast stayed in place, its now three arms violently tearing through my armor, continuing to burrow through single-mindedly.

“Damn it!” I shouted, releasing the arm. I should not have done that, for the moment the arm came free of my grasp, it immediately came to life and began to slither like a snake into my armor. I shuddered from the sheer grotesqueness of the sight, the pale, body-less arm squeezing itself into one of the small holes the beast had created.

Next thing I felt was burning hot claws rending my stomach, tearing through my skin like it was nothing. I stifled my pain and immediately pulled the quick release on the suit, prompting the ejection mechanism to disengage me from the interior. I crawled out of the large armor, grabbing at my gut, seizing hold of the violent, wriggling arm and pulling it out of me. It had almost burrowed inside, and I could see blood pouring everywhere.

Yet, in spite of this injury, the Amorphous ability from my charm paid off, big time! The blow to my midsection and intestines was treated as nothing more than a simple attack on my body. Yes, my health dropped by 20%, but injuries of that magnitude were usually fatal, though not right away.

I snapped the wrist of the boney arm, causing it to fall limp, and threw it aside, staggering away from the Titanframe. The tallbeast seemed not to notice that I was missing, continuing to tear through armor, more and more. Its back was exposed, and I took the shot, summoning my bow to my hands. Yet, before I fired at its hind parts, a thought came to me. The limbs popped off, right? I glanced at the dead arm on the ground. It had shriveled up after my killing blow, useless and impotent. Shooting the whole creature would get it right up on me, and my tunic and slacks were rugged enough for hiking, but not for resisting claws of that strength.

I strung up a multi-shot and angled my weapon so that I could hit the creature’s underarms. “Let’s see if this works,” I muttered, firing three arrows at once. They sailed through the air with lightning precision, striking each underarm at once. Immediately, the joints began to glow bright yellow and the tallbeast let out a hideous scream. Green blood sprayed everywhere as the limbs popped right off, struck with overwhelming force from my enhanced bow.

The creature turned and bounded towards me, leaping left and right, armless but still in possession of all four legs. I fired as fast as I could, but it was too quick. Too quick for my bow, yet how about magic? I snapped off the Weigh Down spell, targeting the back legs of the tallbeast. The invisible weights of telekinetic force wrapped around the limbs, causing it to sink down in midflight, its legs jerking backwards at full force. The body twisted back and forth like a ragdoll, and I fired more shots at the legs that weren’t weighed down, hitting them and causing them to detach.

In the distance, I could see the disembodied arms slithering around the ground like snakes, but these were not intelligent, nor particularly aware of their surroundings. They slashed and cut at nothing, sometimes striking each other, like animals with no sense of self.

Without its front legs, the tallbeast had no chance. It tried to move, but each weight slowed it down so greatly that it almost looked as if it were moving in slow motion. A hailstorm of arrows quickly put the defenseless creature down. Without arms to defend itself, or legs to leap about, it was little more than a stationary target.

The beast slumped over, dead. The wriggling limbs all ceased to move as well, shriveling up and dying, one by one. This fight was over, but the battle wasn’t done. I turned, clutching my stomach, and tottered towards the sounds of fighting back at the main trapdoor.

Trig was battered and bruised but still standing. He was panting hard, his chest rising and falling rapidly, yet he didn’t back down.

“I’m out of mana,” he huffed. “This thing just won’t die.”

I glanced at the L’Gara to see that it had ceased trying to fight entirely but was still very much so alive. The wounds it bore were sealing themselves up, regenerating like the own gaping hole