The ground rushed beneath my boots as the beast barreled forward, its massive claws gouging trenches through the stone. Up close it looked even worse than before. Bone plates scraping against each other as it moved, jaws wide enough to take my arm off in one bite.
"Don't get eaten!" Emily shouted behind me.
"Great advice!" I shot back.
Lyrielle moved first.
She stepped to the side with precise footwork, her white hair whipping through the air as her blade flashed again. The sword carved a shallow line across the wolf's flank, drawing another spray of dark blood.
The beast twisted toward her instantly.
That was my opening.
I swung.
The rusty blade slammed into its ribs with a dull crack. The impact rattled my arms, but the strike forced the monster to shift its balance again.
"Nice." Emily muttered behind me.
The Ravager roared in fury and lashed out with one massive claw.
Lyrielle ducked under it smoothly.
I wasn't nearly as graceful.
"—Whoa!"
The claw clipped my shoulder as I tried to jump back. Pain shot down my arm as I stumbled across the rocks.
Not deep.
But definitely not pleasant.
"Careful!" Emily yelled.
'Careful?! I already got hit! Is her Brain lagging behind?'
The Ravager spun toward me, sensing the easier target.
"Ah… great."
Before it could lunge again—
A flash of green-purple light streaked past my shoulder.
Emily's attack slammed into the Ravager's side with a sharp crack.
The beast staggered as the energy burst across its ribcage, crackling briefly before fading.
"Hey ugly!" Emily shouted. "Over here!"
The monster snarled and turned toward her.
Lyrielle didn't waste the distraction.
She moved like a shadow.
Two quick steps forward.
Her sword struck again, once across the beast's leg, then again across its shoulder.
Precise and ontrolled.
'Where did she learn how to fight like that...?'
The Ravager howled and tried to snap at her.
She leaned back just enough to avoid the jaws.
"...She's ridiculous." I muttered, regaining my footing.
"Right?!" Emily said.
"Emily."
"Right, right!"
The brown-haired girl exhaled and dropped into a fighting stance.
The faint glow of mana around her hands faded as she reached down and pulled a short blade from her belt.
"So much for staying in the back." she muttered.
The Ravager lunged again.
This time it went for Emily.
She darted sideways just as the claws slammed into the ground where she had been standing.
Lyrielle struck again from behind, her blade biting into the creature's back.
The Ravager roared and spun wildly, forcing all three of us to jump back.
Loose stones skittered down the slope as the monster reared up, breathing heavily.
Blood ran from several cuts across its body now.
But it was still standing.
Still dangerous.
"Why isn't it dying already?" Emily groaned.
"It's a few levels above the one's i fought." I said, tightening my grip on my sword. "I assume you two also fought weaker Beasts prior to this one."
Lyrielle wiped a thin line of blood from her blade against her sleeve.
Her golden eyes remained calm.
"Yes. But It's slowing down."
I blinked.
"...It is?"
She nodded slightly toward the creature's front leg.
I looked closer.
One of its movements faltered slightly.
The leg she had cut earlier trembled whenever it put weight on it.
"Oh."
A grin tugged at my lips.
"Now I see it."
Emily noticed too.
"So we just have to keep hitting it."
'Is this girl actually slow?'
"It will collapse eventually." Lyrielle said simply.
The Ravager snarled again, foam gathering at the edges of its mouth.
Then it charged.
All three of us moved at once.
Lyrielle stepped in to meet it head-on.
Emily darted to the side.
And I raised my sword, ready to flank from the side.
The Wolf snarled again, foam gathering at the edges of its mouth.
The beast lunged straight for Lyrielle, jaws snapping wide enough to bite her clean in half.
She didn't retreat.
Instead, she stepped forward.
Her blade flashed upward, striking the creature across the face. The cut wasn't deep, but it forced the beast to jerk its head sideways.
Emily seized the moment.
"Move!"
Lyrielle shifted back just as Emily thrust both hands forward.
Green-purple mana gathered between her palms and burst outward like a compressed wave.
The blast slammed into the Ravager's injured leg.
Crack!
The beast screamed as the limb buckled beneath it.
"Yes!" Emily shouted.
But the monster wasn't finished.
Even half-collapsed, it lashed out wildly. One massive claw tore across the ground where Emily had been standing a second earlier.
She rolled aside, barely avoiding it.
Lyrielle moved again, her movements calm and precise in way I thought to be impossible in such a deadly situation.
Her white hair flicked across her shoulder as she dashed forward and slashed across the beast's back, opening another long cut.
Blood splattered across the rocks.
The Wolf twisted toward her with a furious roar.
That was my chance.
I rushed in from the other side.
The rusty sword cut across its ribs again, forcing the beast to stagger sideways.
It snapped toward me immediately.
"Yeah, I know," I muttered, backing up. "I'm annoying."
The wolf lunged at me.
Too slow this time.
I stepped aside just enough for its momentum to carry it forward.
Lyrielle struck again the moment its weight shifted.
Her blade cut across the back of its neck.
Not deep enough to kill it.
But deep enough to make the beast stumble again.
Emily didn't hesitate.
She dashed in beside me, blade flashing as she stabbed into the creature's flank.
It shrieked and tried to bite her.
"Not today!"
She yanked the blade free and jumped back.
The beast swayed now.
Its breathing had grown ragged.
Blood dripped steadily from half a dozen wounds.
"...It's done." Emily panted.
Lyrielle watched it carefully.
"Almost."
The Ravager growled weakly and tried to lift its injured leg again.
It failed.
The limb collapsed beneath its weight.
The beast dropped to one knee with a heavy thud.
For a moment it just breathed.
Slow and labored.
Its red eyes flicked between the three of us.
Then it gathered itself for one final desperate lunge.
Lyrielle stepped forward.
But I was already moving.
"I got it."
The Ravager pushed off the ground—
But it was too late.
I drove the rusty sword forward with everything I had.
The blade plunged straight into its throat.
The creature choked violently, its claws scraping uselessly against the stone.
Then its body went still.
Silence settled across the slope again.
For a moment none of us moved.
Then a bright notification burst into view.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Level Up!
+10 Attribute Points
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
A second message followed instantly.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Level Up!
+10 Attribute Points
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I blinked.
"Oh?"
I opened my status window.
Level: 3
"...Two levels?"
Emily leaned forward slightly, peeking at me.
"Did you level up?"
"Yeah... Twice."
Her eyes widened.
"Twice?!"
Lyrielle glanced at me briefly before returning her attention to the Ravager's corpse.
"He landed the killing blow." she said calmly.
"Besides, he must have slain other Abyss Beasts before."
Emily groaned.
"I guess that makes sense."
I looked down at the massive dead beast in front of us.
Then at my sword.
Then at the notification still hovering in the air.
A slow grin spread across my face.
"Guess im doing pretty well for my first day."
The purple flames began flickering faintly across my palm again.
The Wolf's corpse lay motionless on the stone, like a perfectly cooked Steak on a silver platter.
And this one definitely looked like it might be worth a lot more than the others.