So I pushed on, ignoring the way I felt my intestines trying to shift, sliding around in the newly vacant space inside my stomach. It was a rather unique pain, one that I had never felt before, a sensation that I vehemently hoped I would never experience again. But I ignored it. I wasn’t crippled, heavily injured but not crippled. I could still move, could still fight. And this thing could still die.
The drider abomination was reeling itself - its movements were slow, sluggish, as it tried to back away from me. I advanced, step by step, picking up speed as I blotted out the pain in my stomach. I broke into a run - and the creature let out a terrified shriek. The sound sent a tremor of vicious pleasure down my spine. It was scared of me, knew what was coming. The creature tried to protect itself - one of its stinger arms shot out at me, trying to impale me once again.
I wasn't distracted this time. I was angry, furious, and it was slowing down as its lifeblood pumped out of the hole I had plunged my fist into. As the wavering arm raced towards me I shifted, dropping out of the way of the strike. The stinger shot over my shoulder - and I snapped my blade up, tearing along the fleshy arm with my blade. The creature let out a shuddering cry as its blood gushed from the wound, cascading down onto my side and back. That arm was well and truly maimed now, dropping limply to the ground like a giant noodle.
Then I crashed into the monstrosity, my shoulder slamming into its face as I hit it at full speed. The impact jarred my stomach injury, and a wave of fresh, hot agony rolled across my body. But I pushed through, clenching my teeth hard enough to hear them grind audibly, and smashed my fist into the reeling drider’s chin. I didn't want this damn thing trying to buy itself time with its breath attack again, or trying to flee from me.
It tried though, scrabbling backwards on punch-drunk legs, wobbling like an off-kilter top as it tried to get away. Stunned, missing a leg, an arm crippled - I was not surprised when the thing lost its footing on the uneven soil beneath us. It went down in a heap, crashing to the ground in a jangled, purple-streaked mess. Before it could hope to recover I struck again, darting closer to its prone form. My blade lashed out, tearing into the soft flesh of the stinger arm that was still uninjured.
Far more easily than before, the Saw-Spear tore through flesh, creating a jagged, ripped up stump. Then I spun my blade around and plunged it into the ground, the curved teeth glistening with the creature’s blood just in front of its eyes. I knelt down, ignoring the way my own purple blood was staining my clothes from the hole in my abdomen.
“You die here, fiend.†I spat the words out through my pain. There was a moment of silence, the still night air hanging. Like the world was holding its breath, anxious to see what the inhuman thing did.
