[The Primeval Apocalypse] - Chapter Nineteen (collaboration with u/hydrael)

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The Primeval Apocalypse by Robert Keene and Alex Raizman

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It took a moment to recognize what the attacker was. Despite my new night vision, its brown-gray dappled fur made it blend in with the surroundings even while in motion. It was a five-foot long cat, with disproportionately huge seven-clawed paws. Its giant snout housed two layers of serrated, shark-like teeth, around two giant saw blade-shaped canines.

Felt like it had been years since I’d seen a Megantereon. As ambush predators with tremendous Stealth abilities, you simply wouldn’t know it was nearby unless it determined that you were isolated and weak.

On the scale of the average predator in the apocalypse, it was tiny. Even Noaich, at his early age, was larger by volume. But pound-for-pound, nothing was more ferocious than a hungry Megantereon.

The only thing that saved my life was my Intuition ability. Because I spotted the creature before it struck, I was aware of the attack and got a lucky proc. The system determined that parrying was the skill that won the coin flip, and so my body instinctively whipped out my axes, interposed the weapons between the oncoming claws, and caught them before they could find their way into my shoulders.

Even as the sharp parts were held at bay, the monster’s weight came down behind it, flattening me to the ground on my back. I had a split-second to think before those saw-edged fangs opened me up, and so I did what I do best.

I used my head.

I activated Skull Bash as I jerked forward to hit the beast in the snout with my forehead. The stun effect was brief, but more than long enough to kick the creature off of me. The Megantereon’s small size meant my strength stat was sufficient to get it clear and roll away.

It recovered just as I got to my feet, and the stare-off began.

The Megantereon was somewhat intelligent. There was a reason why it attacked me even though I was clearly allied with the big reptile beside me. It had tangled with humans before, and knew we normally had poor night vision. Its Stealth should have held until after the strike, letting it deal a mortal wound and then dance away while I bled out.

But I could see it and avoided the strike.

The monster had to re-evaluate its choice of prey.

It wasn’t sure if it could take me in a proper fight.

I knew it definitely could. A few good swipes and a bleed effect and I might be breathing my last inside of an hour. Megantereon also had unusually thick hides for their small size, and so dishing out damage in return was unlikely.

My lucky streak would have to hold if I wanted to survive, let alone win.

It had been a long time since I’d had a proper fight with something. All my tangles with the Mandrills had been hit-and-run, with a focus on the run. The brief battle with Noaich’s mother had been me getting my ass promptly kicked before the fight was interrupted. There had been a few hunts where we’d killed monsters for meat, but those had been few and far between, and while I definitely carried my weight, but James, Richard, and Rebecca did the real heavy lifting in those encounters as pure DPS classes.

I hadn’t been in a solo encounter since joining up with Jamestown.

It was true that I wasn’t alone, but I couldn’t risk losing Noaich. Not so early in our adventure to something so stupid.

“Stay back,” I said firmly to Noaich. “This is going to get dangerous.”

Can fight, Noaich said, growling low in his throat. His thick tail lashed as he coiled, as if to pounce.

“You can help,” I said, “but I don’t want you fighting. You won’t get stronger if you get gutted the first night.”

The Megantereon was confused by the exchange. Wild Empathy meant that it could understand me, and that probably spooked it worse than me seeing the attack coming. I tried to imagine if I was hunting rabbits and one of them dodged a shotgun blast and then turned and looked me right in the eye before speaking in perfect English.

I resisted the urge to ask the giant cat what was up.

“I want to tell you that this doesn’t have to end in violence,” I said carefully, “but I think we both know that’ll be a lie. I can’t trust you to give up the hunt, and you can’t trust me because you’ve seen enough humans to know better.” I shook my head and raised my weapons. “This is just part of the natural order, now.”

As a means of agreeing with me, the cat lunged. The Megantereon’s primary strategy was to attack from above, using its giant fangs to issue a deadly first strike, and so its attack was less effective while lunging from right in front of me.

I hurled myself aside, avoiding the attack narrowly and dragging my right handaxe down the monster’s left side as it passed. The thick hide stopped me from doing serious damage, but I could feel the hide tugging on the weapon, and a plume of fur went flying from the strike.

There was something I’d wanted to test.

I issued a mental directive to Noaich, trying to activate his Howl ability just as if I was activating one of my own abilities. True to my expectation, he immediately threw back his head and let loose a fearsome roar, though there was a slight delay.

That would make things much easier to coordinate.

Power coursed through me. The Howl buff made me feel much stronger, and I didn’t want to wait for the cat to attack again. Driving forward after the agile predator, I hacked at it with both weapons before it could circle around for another pounce.

I caught it across its hip, and the increased damage of Noaich’s support meant that I didn’t just shave off a chunk of fur, but actually split the hide, opening a surprisingly deep wound. I hadn’t expected that, and it was clear that the Megantereon hadn’t either, and it hit the ground in a stumble, nearly falling over. I found myself scrambling to keep up, launching myself at it recklessly to follow up on the opening.

Claws churned the air, stopping me from hacking the beast apart in the scant opening. Its polydactyl forepaws covered a tremendous space to keep me away, but I was still able to fake towards its face with one axe to create an opening to strike it across the belly with the other. Activating Maul with the strike, the blast turned the wound into something much bigger and deadlier.

Not just leaking blood, but fountaining.

The Megantereon wailed. It was a sound so horrifying that it cut through the adrenaline all the way to my bones. Wild Empathy translated the sound into a shriek of pain, but the undercurrent of it wasn’t terror, which I first suspected.

But anger.

Rage.

It wasn’t concerned for its survival. It was more concerned about mine.

There would be no attempt to escape.

It was going to kill me or die trying.

That was all the warning I had when the creature rolled to its feet in a lightning-fast motion before it launched itself into my face. The first paw caught me right on the top of my head, swiping seven rents across my scalp. My whole head was suddenly hot and wet with blood. The flinch from that pain meant that the saw-edged fangs of the creature snapped shut on only air instead of digging into my throat.

I managed to keep the beast from dragging me down by turning away and flailing my arms, breaking its hold.

As soon as the Megantereon hit the ground, it reversed direction and leaped up at me again, claws flailing at my chest, leaving deep scratches in my leather vest. I tried to wrestle it away, but that only caused it to snap and bite at my hands.

If I was going to survive, I would have to fight offense with offense. I was no longer a tank hybrid class. If I was going to win this fight—and any fight in the future—I would need to stop trying to outlast its attacks.

I had to try and kill it before it killed me.

Emboldened, I activated Enrage.

For good measure, I added Bloodbath as well.

Throwing caution to the wind felt wrong in my head, but hacking away at the beast—enhanced by all the powers I could muster—felt good in every other part of me. Instead of trying to push it away, I leaned into its attacks in order to slam a handaxe into its shoulder, planting a deep wound there. I could feel my scalp starting to knit together as Bloodbath healed me for a portion of the damage dealt.

The creature’s next snarl of pain filled me with satisfaction instead of fear.

I hacked down into it again. This attack caught the top of its head, and its skull deflected the blow, but not before I cut into the skin there.

The deflection made the attack cut away a big chunk of flesh.

For just a second there was a flash of bone before the welling blood covered it. Blood poured down the Megantereon’s face, and its attack grew frenzied.

I tried to match its fury. As its claws scraped at my armor and tore at my flesh, I hacked into its body with my weapons again and again. It roared its rage at the pain, and I found myself screaming right back at it.

This wasn’t the fight between man and beast.

This was a fight between two beasts, both clawing and kicking and spitting the whole way.

My rage ceased to be just a buff that was increasing my damage. My vision went red.

I hacked and hacked and hacked.

Claws and teeth tore at my flesh, but the only response my mind could formulate was to tear right back.

It wasn’t until Enrage wore off that I realized that I had won. The monster was torn asunder, and I was coated in blood. An awful lot of it was my own. At some point, Last Stand had been activated, keeping me alive through the fight.

“There we go,” I said, trying to pretend I was calm and in control. “So that’s how you fight one of those.” I looked over at Noaich. “You were taking notes, right?”