Neither of them moved.
The creature’s dark eyes held them from across the clearing with the patience of sothing that had never once needed to rush.
Up close, the scale of it was difficult to process. The spine running the length of its back was taller than Damon standing upright, the six legs planted wide in the sedint, leaving small craters where they stood.
It looked at them the way humans look at ants.
Then it moved.
It traversed with an eerie silence, crossing the distance faster than it had any right to. The ground trembled slightly with each stride, but the soft earth beneath made each of its stomps silent.
Damon didn’t linger.
He stepped into the shadows and ca out of the creature’s flank, just as Nyla’s hamr ca crushing at its side.
The monster lunged at her just as Damon drove his sword into the joint between two carapace plates along its side.
The creature turned toward her.
But instead of piercing right through its armoured plate, Damon’s sword caught and as the monster shifted, he was wrenched sideways, losing his grip for a mont before pulling free and stepping into the shadows once more.
Nyla’s hamr crashed against its front left leg with a deafening blow.
A large crack ran along its exoskeleton with a sound of breaking ice. The leg buckled and the creature reared for a second, releasing a shriek that carried across the entire sea floor before it regained balance with its other legs.
Nyla was already moving, circling around and swinging her hamr against another one of its legs.
The second her hamr connected, the creature swung.
One of its legs swept low and too fast to evade, catching the girl on the shoulder and sending her spinning into a nearby boulder.
At the sa ti, Damon stepped out of the shadow above the damaged carapace and dropped onto the creature’s back, driving his blade right into the split plate.
The blade found sothing real this ti, and the second it plunged deep into the creature’s flesh—
The black ice blossod.
The shriek that ca out of the monster’s maw was a lot rougher now, the painful sound reverberated through the clearing as Damon’s ability tore its insides.
But before his attack could finish the kill, the creature moved with a desperate, violent motion and threw him off.
He hit the ground hard, landing a couple of ters away from the monster and near Nyla, who was already moving.
But the girl would have no need to fend the monster off as a dark figure rose above the monster.
Black Knight drove its longsword straight into the creature’s head, finding a small gap that gave way almost instantly.
By the ti Damon got up to his feet, the monster already slumped to the ground, and a loud notification rang in his head.
[You have slain a Level 68 Abyssal Ridgewalker]
[New Monster Index bonus: 10 Stamina, 7 Strength, 9 Vitality, 4 Mana]
[You have reached Level 62. You have received 1 Stat Point.]
[You have reached Level 63. You have received 1 Stat Point.]
The mont the notification finished playing in Damon’s head, heavy rain hit them without warning.
The heavy droplets of water hit Damon’s armour before reaching the small gaps and seeping into his clothes underneath. The dark sky above didn’t change, the rain ca completely unannounced, and unlike the soothing rain Damon had always loved on Earth, this one was a lot heavier.
But before either one of them would complain, they both raised their arms in handmade cups and began collecting enough droplets to take small sips.
"It’s drinkable," Damon stated out loud, though there was really no need for it as Nyla was already drinking it.
They lingered for a good couple of minutes, catching and drinking the cold, fresh water and soothing their thirst until sothing else got their attention.
The ground beneath them was already dissolving, and the water rose quickly, reaching their ankles within that short mont of rest.
"We need higher ground," Nyla said while Damon’s gaze was already searching for one.
At first sight, there was none. The rock formations were too shattered, and the passage behind them was flooding too fast to trace back.
Then, his eyes caught it.
He saw one of those enormous creatures he had seen from above in the near distance. Not only could it give them a higher ground, but its inside looked hollowed out as if eaten by scavengers.
"There," he said, and the two of them began to move quickly toward it.
They reached it just as the water rose to their shins. Damon was the first one to step into the hollowed-out inside, using his black ice to make passages between massive bones where there were none.
Then, as he reached a massive bone that he could not identify, one that looked more like a platform, he settled down.
"There is no point moving through that rain, so we have to wait it out," he reasoned out loud just as Nyla reached him.
They were both drenched now.
The heavy rain found its way between the gaps in their armour, reaching their clothes and soaking them completely.
They both dismissed their armours. Nyla’s cropped top and shorts clung to her skin like wet paper, highlighting every detail of her amazing figure.
Damon stole a glance without realising it, before he quickly turned and began to lie flat. "We should get so rest while we can."
As his eyes closed, he could hear the girl shift closer toward him. Then, he felt her arm co across his chest, and her leg hook over his as her head settled into the space just below his shoulder.
Damon’s eyes opened as he looked down at her. "No space elsewhere?"
She propped herself up, and her gaze t his "I’m exactly where I should be."
But then, her eyes trailed around him before she suddenly leaned toward him. "...I think you’re right."
She moved on top of him.
Her wet skin clung to his as she pressed her body forward. Her hands landed on both sides of his face.
"It’s not exactly what I ant—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the girl moved, and her plump lips pressed gently against his.
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