Glancing back, Nyx checked the distance between the monster and Avelyne's unconscious body. He had led the creature away for some time now, and dodging its slashes became harder and harder, thanks to his blood loss. If only he at least had something to stop the bleeding.
'This should be enough.'
Even if the creature would try to go after Avelyne, he couldn't drag this on any longer or he would collapse. His legs were about to give up and his breath had become ragged—his body didn't receive enough oxygen.
Another slash came down on him. Nyx sidestepped like the times before, but this time he was a bit too slow, letting the beast's claws scratch his shoulder, losing his balance for a second from the impact.
Sensing the opportunity, the monster's instincts flared—lunging forward, ready to bite Nyx's head off with its giant maw. Eyes widened in shock—without wasting a single second, Nyx jumped back, barely avoiding having his head crushed between its strong jaws.
His vision started to blur. One of his legs finally gave up; his body was already far past its limits, but Nyx had to push through somehow, or kill this creature with his next move.
'Fuck, that's bad.'
The monster jumped at him. Using the rope, Nyx threw the end with a loop towards the monster's neck, jumped to his right, and pulled with all his might, throwing the beast off-course. It crashed to the ground on its side, momentarily stunned.
Nyx lunged forward, using the rope in one hand to strangle the monster and the other to pull himself closer against the creature's head.
'This better work. I am dead for sure.'
Using the sharp wooden shard in his side, Nyx plunged it deep into the monster's eye. He knew that he wouldn't be able to hurt the beast otherwise. Its skin was too thick, and at the end of the day, a wooden shard was just that—wood.
Nyx pulled himself closer and closer, letting the shard pierce further through its skull. The beast screamed in pain, throwing its head left and right, trying to shake him off.
Each second felt like an eternity, but Nyx didn't let go—he refused, even when his body was already shutting down. To let go now meant death, and he wasn't ready to die like that.
Using his last strength, Nyx pulled himself a bit closer. The creature stirred once, its body stilled, and collapsed on the ground.
A moment passed in silence. Nyx was finally allowed to take a deep breath and relax a bit. He had impaled himself on the creature and would soon have to get himself free again.
'HAAAAA, couldn't I think of something better?'
It was then that his thoughts were interrupted by a sweet voice that whispered into his ear.
[Congratulations for your first kill, Nyx!]
[You have slain a spawn of the Broodweaver.]
Sweat and blood were rolling down Nyx's face. Had he really just killed this monster before even fully awakening?
'Damn, who would believe such a story?'
His eyes felt heavy; his whole body felt like it had been pulped to mush. Even huge amounts of adrenaline couldn't numb this pain or exhaustion. And yet, through all that, a smile crept up his face. It had been so satisfying to kill this monster with his own hands—it was a feat almost worthy of legends, he believed.
Nyx would have loved to rest a bit longer, impaled on the monster's body, without a care in the world. But to his disappointment, he couldn't allow himself to rest any longer. He could hear the noises of ongoing fighting in the distance, and he knew that the knights would probably lose.
If this thing here had been a spawn of a bigger monster, it was probably the one that had attacked the carriage, and that was bad news. Beasts had their own hierarchy: starting with mindless ferals, who were the weakest and only lived on instincts, to savages, devils, warlords, tyrants, overlords, titans, and the accursed eternals.
And if this creature was a spawn of the bigger one—it would be at least overlord level. Creatures below couldn't create lesser versions of themselves. A tyrant could enslave other monsters without a mind ability, but not spawns.
Exhaling slowly, Nyx gritted his teeth and tore himself free in one motion. Blood spilled on the ground—Nyx staggered forward, taking shaky steps in Avelyne's direction. If he could wake her up somehow, she would be able to heal him, letting him live a little longer.
'Please wake up.'
Nyx rattled her shoulders, desperation gnawing at his chest. When she didn't respond, he slapped and pinched at her, more violently this time—but she still refused to wake up. He made one last miserable attempt, trying to wake her up, using his blood like cold water.
Avelyne snapped awake with a violent jolt. Torn back to consciousness, she looked around with furrowed brows, trying to make out the situation. Her eyes widened when they landed on Nyx.
"What happened to you?"
Before Nyx could answer, she had already moved, laying him on the ground, hovering her hands over his pierced side. The air around her began to glow with a faint blue light, and energy filled Nyx's body, refilling his blood and strength, repairing his damaged organs and bones, and closing his wound.
'Better than any energy drink.'
Nyx thought as he relished in the blissful feeling of being healed.
Slow, unsteady footsteps closed in from their left. Both of them turned their heads in the direction of the sound. Standing there was Caelia. It looked like she had regained consciousness before Avelyne, but her condition was almost worse than Nyx's had been.
Guilt gnawed at his stomach. Seeing her more clearly now, he realized just how bad her wounds had been. She had shielded him from the attack but hadn't even bothered looking out for herself and had gone to Avelyne instead to let her heal him first.
It should have been obvious: if he was already in such a bad state to begin with, how could she have been better? She might be stronger than him, but that didn't mean she couldn't get injured. That one of her arms was missing was already telling enough.
"I am fine, please—please look after her."
He spoke in a dry voice, his eyes pleading.
Avelyne just nodded, understanding just how much this weighed down on him. Without saying another word, she turned to Caelia and began healing her. Nyx didn't know if she could regrow missing body parts with her healing, but he prayed that she could.
Caelia's healing had barely begun when it came—a loud, hungry howl.