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Chapter 181: Avoiding attention

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.

A loud groan filled the room and the shadows started to tear as the Flesh Abomination forced itself upward. Lillia’s hands trembled and she gritted her teeth, pouring more power into her magic.

The abomination ripped through the shadows and swung a hand for Olive. A flash of blue slammed into the monster, halting it for an instant, and Rodrick lunged. He slammed into Olive and carried her out of the way of the monster’s hand as it swept past her, catching nothing but air.

Arwin cursed under his breath and hopped back to avoid a rancid hand as it swept for him. The Abomination clambered back to its feet and turned toward Rodrick and Olive, shuffling in their direction.

“Again!” Arwin yelled. “I’ll help hold it down better this time!”

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He sprinted toward the monster’s back and it twisted, a hand flying to meet him. Arwin dismissed Verdant blaze. He dropped to his knees and slid beneath the strike. Brown fog started to pour from the monster’s neck again as Arwin rose behind it, spinning and resummoning Verdant Blaze as he swung at the monster’s shoulder.

Bone cracked beneath the blow. It spun, nearly catching Arwin with a flailing limb, but managed to keep itself from pitching over. The relentless beat of its heart pounded away, matching the blood roaring in Arwin’s ears.

He made to jump forward, but spikes of bone erupted from the Abomination’s skin, jutting out from every direction. It charged toward him, each step making the ground bounce, and Arwin was forced to throw himself to the side to avoid being simultaneously trampled and impaled.

A flash of blue wrapped around the monster, locking it in place as Arwin rose back to his feet, and strands of shadow rose up to trip the Flesh Abomination. It slammed to the ground with a crash.

Bone erupted from its back, shooting out like cancerous roots that stretched toward everyone. Arwin shattered the bones with Verdant Blaze as they grew near him, then spun to help the others.

Rodrick shattered the ones that were reaching for him and Olive. Reya and Lilla broke the strands extending toward them, protecting Anna in the process. Shattered bone rained down to the ground as the monster pushed itself back upright, more tendrils of stiff bone sprouting from its chest.

The rhythmic thump of the monster’s heart grew somehow louder.

“We need to end this!” Rodrick yelled. “It’s getting stronger the longer we fight it!”

“Repeat the previous plan!” Arwin yelled back. “I don’t have enough magical energy to try anything else, so I’ll help hold it down when it collapses! Don’t let it get the bone burst thing off again. Kill it before it can!”

Olive’s hand tightened around her sword. Her face was pale but her eyes determined as she readied her stance once more. “On your mark. I’m ready.”

Arwin and Rodrick exchanged a nod, then sprinted toward the Abomination. Bones erupted to meet them and Rodrick’s body erupted with burning yellow energy. He let out a roar and swirls of water gathered before his skin, blocking the bones as they shattered against him. He slammed into the Flesh Abomination’s shoulder, sending it reeling.

A second later, Arwin’s hammer slammed into the monster’s right leg. Verdant Blaze ripped into the flesh and shattered bone, sending the monster pitching forward. Bone spikes scraped against his helm and along his armor, trying and failing to rip through the metal.

Olive burst forward even as the Abomination pitched forward. It hit the ground with a resounding crash and the loud crack of shattering bones, but white growths were already sprouting like springtime flowers all across its body.

Arwin ignored the bones that drove into his armor and swung Verdant Blaze, shattering the ones heading in Olive’s direction. She was already mid-swing, her sword cutting through the air at an agonizingly slow speed.

Shadows slithered around the Abomination and pulled it back down as it tried to rise. More bones pressed out from it, trying to push their way through Arwin’s armor and reaching out for Olive once more.

Rodrick’s blade flashed and more bone heading for Olive shattered before it could reach her. The glowing energy enveloping him faded away as he drained the last of his magical power, but the Abomination seemed to have a limitless amount of matter to work with.

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.