Monster hunting 101, be good at getting the fuck out the way. Aegis may have been young, but he’d passed this class with flying colours, and with strength far beyond his years his legs could propel him like a rocket when necessary. So, with a bound-up creature hurtling towards him, he employed his prestigious skillset and jumped to his left. He knew he’d been a little too slow as a roaring beast’s shoulder-blade cracked into his lower body, slamming his sideways in mid-air. He bent, painfully, his armour buckling and groaning as he was thrown backwards and to the side, carried still by his own momentum even with the impact from the man-eating rhino-crocodile. The boy slammed into the dirt, cleaving up a neat little pile of grass that stuck to the chest-plate of his armour. His breathing was ragged, pained now, as he felt the stinging and familiar pain of a broken rib. Wearing armour like he did, such injuries were common as blunt force carried through to his vulnerable bones. The creature was somewhere behind him, having likely fell flat on its face with its front legs stuck together. Something wet began to run down Aegis’ stomach as he struggled to his feet, and the effort almost dropped him then and there. Blood rushed through his body, and apparently it was also leaking out of his torso as some sort of spiked object on the man-eater’s horrifying body had made its way through a slit in his armour. Aegis gasped, staggered, and then rallied, all in that order. He still had his shield, most of his strength, and his blade. He’d see that a monster met its end here today, if nothing else. He drew his blade with a leathery rasp, and circled the stricken beast, mindful of its flailing tail and claws.