Dust lifted from the ground, and my vision was obscured by it. Such a thing would normally not be an issue, but in this restricted place, within this cat-like body, all I could do was strain my eyes like a mortal to try to see what happened to Eleanor—though, from the way that she acted, there was little to no hope of her coming out alive from that.
And that should’ve been the case, but there was something else going on. The lump of flesh that the monstrous minotaur used to attack was being kept in place, away from the ground. It was even shaking, as if it was trying to push something down.
Slowly, the dust cleared, and I saw Eleanor still standing. She had her eyes closed shut and her arms raised in a defensive stance, where the sword was crossed over her left arm in a desperate attempt to block.
However, it wasn’t the sword that was blocking the monster. It was her left arm. From it, a large shadow-like hand with a short forearm appeared, matching the same movement as her own left hand. It was big enough to completely cover the monster’s lump, and strong enough to keep it away. Eleanor appeared to be unaware of what was going on, as she kept her eyes closed for a while longer.
“Kyun!” I called out to her, and she hesitantly opened her eyes to look ahead, only to quickly widen them when she saw the large black hand holding the monster away from her.
“W-what is this?!” she exclaimed, trying to move, but finding it difficult as her own arm was shaking in the same way that the shadow hand was.
The minotaur got annoyed by the fact that its prey hadn’t died yet and was somehow holding it back, causing it to let out another roar, release steam from its nose, and raise the lump up in the air. With a yelp, Eleanor was lifted from the ground, following the monster’s swing. In the same motion, the monster turned to the same damaged pillar from before and swung Eleanor into it.
She looked with widened eyes as the pillar got closer to her, and like last time, she closed her eyes when she was about to crash with it. This time, there was no shadow figure to protect her, and she was slammed against the hard rock of the pillar. She let out a painful gasp, and the shadow hand let go of the lump.
Doing that caused her to fall to the ground, and at the same time, allowed the monster to continue with another swing. I was amazed to see that she wasn’t crushed by that slam, despite not having any defenses up. However, in the coming one, she might just not be able to take it.
In that moment while she was in pain, the next swing hit her, crushing her into the pillar with such strength that it broke apart as the lump of flesh continued its swing, sending both rocks and Eleanor flying into a wall. She loudly crashed into it, and then had all the rubble from the pillar bury her, away from my vision.
That amount of damage couldn't be something that she could take… She had to be dead by now…
To make sure, I leaped and hopped from side to side to get to her; to try to either see her state or get a sense of her power. Quickly, I felt the flow of magic power in her, but there was no movement on her part. She might just have passed out, and it doesn’t matter how though she is right now, if she doesn’t run, fight back, or do something about it, the monstrous minotaur was eventually going to end her.
The monster seemed to know that as it didn’t take its time and stomped its way over. It made the same huffing sounds of a beast with each step, and once it was finally right by the rubble, it reached with the only hand it had into the rocks, pulling them apart with violent swings that sent them all flying into the ceiling and other walls.
It took just a couple of digs to get to where Eleanor lay, face up, full of bruises and a pained expression with tears rolling down her cheeks. Once it saw her, it reached for her and grabbed her with its one hand. Eleanor finally realized what happened, but by the time she did, she was already trapped between the large fingers of the minotaur.
She looked with widened eyes as the monster brought her up to its mouth; a long row of bloody teeth revealing themselves to her and showing her what her likely fate was going to be if she didn’t do anything about it…
“Kyun…” I let out in disappointment. I expected her to do something by now, but all she had done was allow herself to be thrown around; by this monster, the Duke’s daughter and her knights, the shadow monster from before, and even me, as I tried to save her.
However, as I was about to sit down and wait for her end to come, she grit her teeth, and tried her best to struggle away from the monster. Her strength wasn’t enough, and the hand that was holding her hardly let go as it continued to slowly bring her inside the minotaur’s mouth.
Eleanor’s head went inside the monster’s mouth, she shut her eyes, and still wiggled from one side to another, until, suddenly, the monster’s hand exploded outwards in a mess of blood, causing it to scream in a pained holler, and allowing Eleanor to fall back down to the ground.
She wasn’t very nimble, so as soon as she hit the ground, she fell on her back.
There was the same shadow arm on her left side, almost as big as she was, with claw-like fingers that ended in pointy bits and an overall aura that caused it to release a dark miasma. She looked at her new arm for a moment with surprise, before having her attention brought back to the monster that was now stomping its feet in anger and turning a furious glare down at the person that blew up its hand; Eleanor.
She quickly realized that she couldn’t lie on the ground, and promptly stood back up, with the sword on her right hand, and that strange black hand at the side of her left arm, floating and following her arm’s movements as if they were her own.
The monster, in a desire to crush her now, lifted its club-like lump up and brought it down hard on Eleanor. She responded by lifting her black arm and catching the lump with the large shadow hand. A booming explosion resounded in this large hall, dust blew everywhere, and small cracks formed right under Eleanor’s feet as she struggled to keep the monster’s arm from crushing her.
Instead of trying to force the lump down, the minotaur chose to lift up the arm to try to slam Eleanor again, but she moved before the monster did and swung her arm to the side with a loud grunt of effort. The monster was forced to stumble to the side in the direction that her arm was moving, to the point where it was lifted off its feet and forced to crash with a wall.
Eleanor saw the monster fall on its side, and with a scream, she ran, bringing the sword to her right side and the open hand of the shadow arm to the other. The monster saw her coming and tried its best to stand back up. It placed its lump on the ground to do so, but it was too late. Eleanor grabbed the monster’s head with the shadow hand and slammed it on the wall, causing it to create yet another hole in the wall.
With a screaming swing, she stabbed her sword into the monster’s chest, right where a heart would be. The monster shouted in pain, struggling with its feet and trapped head to get away from it, but the grip in Eleanor’s hand was so strong that all it could do was whine in pain as she continued to stab again and again in the same area.
After several slashes and stabs that were showering Eleanor in the monster’s blood, she finally opened a wound big enough to show a loud beating heart. She looked at it for a moment, and then, with one final shout, plunged her sword deep into the monster’s chest. The blade stabbed into the tough exterior of the heart, and after some struggling, it completely pierced the monster’s heart.
A fountain of blood poured out of the monster’s heart, sending it flying all over the place, and bathing Eleanor in it. The monster continued to struggle on the ground, but after a few moments, the blood flow stopped and its movements slowed down, ending with just one final whimper as it completely stood still; its limbs sagging to the ground.
Eleanor was heaving heavily, her eyes set on the no longer beating heart. She stayed still for a moment until she realized that the monster was no longer moving, which is when she stumbled backwards, falling back on the ground, where she supported herself with her hands as she sat down and looked at the fallen beast.
It was then that I saw the monster’s power flying out of the body in a similar vortex to the one of the shadow monster. It was powerful, but not quite the same, as this beast was mostly a being of raw physical strength and no magic. Still, this power was more than enough for a human soldier to get in a lifetime, and right now, it was all mostly going into Eleanor.
Some of it wanted to go to me, but as last time, I simply redirected it to her, as I had no use for it.
But I was satisfied with her performance. She managed to survive yet again.
Dust lifted from the ground, and my vision was obscured by it. Such a thing would normally not be an issue, but in this restricted place, within this cat-like body, all I could do was strain my eyes like a mortal to try to see what happened to Eleanor—though, from the way that she acted, there was little to no hope of her coming out alive from that.
And that should’ve been the case, but there was something else going on. The lump of flesh that the monstrous minotaur used to attack was being kept in place, away from the ground. It was even shaking, as if it was trying to push something down.
Slowly, the dust cleared, and I saw Eleanor still standing. She had her eyes closed shut and her arms raised in a defensive stance, where the sword was crossed over her left arm in a desperate attempt to block.
However, it wasn’t the sword that was blocking the monster. It was her left arm. From it, a large shadow-like hand with a short forearm appeared, matching the same movement as her own left hand. It was big enough to completely cover the monster’s lump, and strong enough to keep it away. Eleanor appeared to be unaware of what was going on, as she kept her eyes closed for a while longer.
“Kyun!” I called out to her, and she hesitantly opened her eyes to look ahead, only to quickly widen them when she saw the large black hand holding the monster away from her.
“W-what is this?!” she exclaimed, trying to move, but finding it difficult as her own arm was shaking in the same way that the shadow hand was.
The minotaur got annoyed by the fact that its prey hadn’t died yet and was somehow holding it back, causing it to let out another roar, release steam from its nose, and raise the lump up in the air. With a yelp, Eleanor was lifted from the ground, following the monster’s swing. In the same motion, the monster turned to the same damaged pillar from before and swung Eleanor into it.
She looked with widened eyes as the pillar got closer to her, and like last time, she closed her eyes when she was about to crash with it. This time, there was no shadow figure to protect her, and she was slammed against the hard rock of the pillar. She let out a painful gasp, and the shadow hand let go of the lump.
Doing that caused her to fall to the ground, and at the same time, allowed the monster to continue with another swing. I was amazed to see that she wasn’t crushed by that slam, despite not having any defenses up. However, in the coming one, she might just not be able to take it.
In that moment while she was in pain, the next swing hit her, crushing her into the pillar with such strength that it broke apart as the lump of flesh continued its swing, sending both rocks and Eleanor flying into a wall. She loudly crashed into it, and then had all the rubble from the pillar bury her, away from my vision.
That amount of damage couldn't be something that she could take… She had to be dead by now…
To make sure, I leaped and hopped from side to side to get to her; to try to either see her state or get a sense of her power. Quickly, I felt the flow of magic power in her, but there was no movement on her part. She might just have passed out, and it doesn’t matter how though she is right now, if she doesn’t run, fight back, or do something about it, the monstrous minotaur was eventually going to end her.
The monster seemed to know that as it didn’t take its time and stomped its way over. It made the same huffing sounds of a beast with each step, and once it was finally right by the rubble, it reached with the only hand it had into the rocks, pulling them apart with violent swings that sent them all flying into the ceiling and other walls.
It took just a couple of digs to get to where Eleanor lay, face up, full of bruises and a pained expression with tears rolling down her cheeks. Once it saw her, it reached for her and grabbed her with its one hand. Eleanor finally realized what happened, but by the time she did, she was already trapped between the large fingers of the minotaur.
She looked with widened eyes as the monster brought her up to its mouth; a long row of bloody teeth revealing themselves to her and showing her what her likely fate was going to be if she didn’t do anything about it…
“Kyun…” I let out in disappointment. I expected her to do something by now, but all she had done was allow herself to be thrown around; by this monster, the Duke’s daughter and her knights, the shadow monster from before, and even me, as I tried to save her.
However, as I was about to sit down and wait for her end to come, she grit her teeth, and tried her best to struggle away from the monster. Her strength wasn’t enough, and the hand that was holding her hardly let go as it continued to slowly bring her inside the minotaur’s mouth.
Eleanor’s head went inside the monster’s mouth, she shut her eyes, and still wiggled from one side to another, until, suddenly, the monster’s hand exploded outwards in a mess of blood, causing it to scream in a pained holler, and allowing Eleanor to fall back down to the ground.
She wasn’t very nimble, so as soon as she hit the ground, she fell on her back.
There was the same shadow arm on her left side, almost as big as she was, with claw-like fingers that ended in pointy bits and an overall aura that caused it to release a dark miasma. She looked at her new arm for a moment with surprise, before having her attention brought back to the monster that was now stomping its feet in anger and turning a furious glare down at the person that blew up its hand; Eleanor.
She quickly realized that she couldn’t lie on the ground, and promptly stood back up, with the sword on her right hand, and that strange black hand at the side of her left arm, floating and following her arm’s movements as if they were her own.
The monster, in a desire to crush her now, lifted its club-like lump up and brought it down hard on Eleanor. She responded by lifting her black arm and catching the lump with the large shadow hand. A booming explosion resounded in this large hall, dust blew everywhere, and small cracks formed right under Eleanor’s feet as she struggled to keep the monster’s arm from crushing her.
Instead of trying to force the lump down, the minotaur chose to lift up the arm to try to slam Eleanor again, but she moved before the monster did and swung her arm to the side with a loud grunt of effort. The monster was forced to stumble to the side in the direction that her arm was moving, to the point where it was lifted off its feet and forced to crash with a wall.
Eleanor saw the monster fall on its side, and with a scream, she ran, bringing the sword to her right side and the open hand of the shadow arm to the other. The monster saw her coming and tried its best to stand back up. It placed its lump on the ground to do so, but it was too late. Eleanor grabbed the monster’s head with the shadow hand and slammed it on the wall, causing it to create yet another hole in the wall.
With a screaming swing, she stabbed her sword into the monster’s chest, right where a heart would be. The monster shouted in pain, struggling with its feet and trapped head to get away from it, but the grip in Eleanor’s hand was so strong that all it could do was whine in pain as she continued to stab again and again in the same area.
After several slashes and stabs that were showering Eleanor in the monster’s blood, she finally opened a wound big enough to show a loud beating heart. She looked at it for a moment, and then, with one final shout, plunged her sword deep into the monster’s chest. The blade stabbed into the tough exterior of the heart, and after some struggling, it completely pierced the monster’s heart.
A fountain of blood poured out of the monster’s heart, sending it flying all over the place, and bathing Eleanor in it. The monster continued to struggle on the ground, but after a few moments, the blood flow stopped and its movements slowed down, ending with just one final whimper as it completely stood still; its limbs sagging to the ground.
Eleanor was heaving heavily, her eyes set on the no longer beating heart. She stayed still for a moment until she realized that the monster was no longer moving, which is when she stumbled backwards, falling back on the ground, where she supported herself with her hands as she sat down and looked at the fallen beast.
It was then that I saw the monster’s power flying out of the body in a similar vortex to the one of the shadow monster. It was powerful, but not quite the same, as this beast was mostly a being of raw physical strength and no magic. Still, this power was more than enough for a human soldier to get in a lifetime, and right now, it was all mostly going into Eleanor.
Some of it wanted to go to me, but as last time, I simply redirected it to her, as I had no use for it.
But I was satisfied with her performance. She managed to survive yet again.
