Celeste's eyes widened. The smell of death poured out from the creature's gaping mouth, and if she didn't act quickly she was almost certain to be joining whatever was rotting within his stomach. Her eyes flashed to the sword lodged in his gut. She tugged hard on the blade, but it didn't budge in the creature's iron-like grip. There was no way she was going to simply pull it out. In that moment, she made a decision. A sacrifice would have to be made to survive. Celeste opened her hand as far as she could, given the hooks within it, and jerked her arm back with the full force of her weight. There was a sickening sound of tearing flesh a a shower of blood, but the woman freed herself from the trap. She slid backwards, just out of reach of Taggerung's jaw, blood pouring from her left hand, which hung at her side. For a moment, there was a seething agony in the torn hand. She had no way of knowing how serious the damage was, but she didn't have time to examine it at the moment. She felt the familiar numbness wash over her. The pain eased up, and she felt a heat like a raging fire rush through her body. Her pupils shrank to a near invisible size, and a glare crossed her face. She lunged forward towards the creature, who was now headed mouth-first towards the ground, and made a hard, arcing stab towards one of his saucer pan eyes. The woman moved at a near incomprehensible speed now, and the fury and force behind the strike would be enough to drive it through armor. Her mind was free of any thought but killing the monstrosity that stood before her. This was life or death.