[center][h1][color=00aeef]Link[/color][/h1][/center] [center]Word Count: 1009 [/center] [center][color=00aeef][b] Level 7[/b] [/color] - (60/70) + 6[/center] [center]Location: Carcass Island ~ Kosm's Beach[/center] [hr][hr] The creature must have sensed Link's presence as he slowly approached. It twisted around to look at him, staring the hero down and tilting his head. In that moment Link had to wonder what, if anything, was going through its mind. What was the second thing, after despair, that it felt? Confusion? Apprehension? Surprise that there existed creatures other than itself? Or could it not see anything with those milky eyes, freshly born yet already so old? Whatever it felt then, that feeling was swallowed up in the creature third emotion. Whether it mistook these beings that stood before it for the monsters that had slain its mother, or like New Southern was simply lashing out in an effort to assuage its own grief, the sight of the seekers filled the creature with a vitalizing ocean of pure rage. It let it out, howling at the sky and charging at the closest of them. What speed! It's anger gave it wings, bring it upon Link far faster than its malformed body had any right to move. It jumped clear of the opening volley from their side in a stroke of what Link mistook for luck, raising its inborn weapon above its head as it flew at him. Link prepped his shield to try and block the attack, but before he knew it he found himself side hopping to avoid it. It was an unconscious thing, a pure muscle reaction that confused him for the split second until the creature slammed into the spot he had just been standing and carved a furrow in the Beach from the sheer power of it. Link body had understood how strong that attack would be before his brain did, and it was only thanks to the haste granted by Ace that it had reacted fast enough to avoid it. He couldn't avoid the next one though. He was still in the air when the creature continued its assault, throwing out its arm in a wild swing toward him. Link braced himself, holding the shield with both hands, but the impact was still withering. The shield exploded into a scattering of blue shards. It dissipated much of the attacks force, but the blow still reverberating up his arms and through Link entire body as he was batted away. He whipped out his sail cloth for a moment, using it to halt his momentum before he was thrown too far, and landed back on the sand. By that time, though, the creature had already moved past him and was laying into the others. He stood for a moment, his arms throbbing. Then, steading himself enough to Grip his sword, he charged back into the fray. It was terrible, but in a way it was magnificent the way it fought all of them. Not prepared to take a direct hit from a creature that had all the strength of a hinox built into that comparatively tiny frame he circled it like a wolf, waiting for it to turn its attention to someone else before jumping in with a quick couple of hits to draw its attention back to himself and give Geralt or Bowser an opportunity to strike at it. Even like this, though, none of them were safe. The creature could snap it's disgusting weapon in any direction at a moments notice, cleaving into anyone that pushed to hard. It's movements were erratic, but they weren't the wild flailing of a beast. That was made more apparent by how it tried to keep them between it and their ranged support. It's style was unrefined, but it fought like a man and it only had room to grow. Bella demonstrated first hand what would happened if you gave the creature time to wind up and hit you, it's heavy blow landing and smashing apart the abyssal's entire hand. Seeing this Link charged in, blasting the creatures back with his ship gun before lunging forward and stabbing it under the ribs with all his power. His sword was pushed out by an eruption of blood that coated the front of his body before quickly fading to a trickle. Those geysers were their own problem, keeping his attacks from pushing in, but at least he'd given Bella time to back off. The fact that the creature now turned its attention on him, at a range where he could never hope to dodge it, was immaterial. Ms. Fortune was the one who saved him, coming screaming out of the sky to land a solid blow of her own and arresting the monsters attention enough for him to retreat to a safe distance. As he did it came for the flexible cat girl, but she had many ways she could dodge attacks than the others and could take lost limbs better than any of them. As Link started forward after catching his breath to try and give Ms. Fortune a chance to do the same the creature employed a new tactic. It dropped its weapon, attached to its wrist by something not unlike one of Ms. Fortunes own tendons, and swung it in a wide circle to both fend them off and attempt to kill the cat girl. It barely missed her as she scrambled away, and as it whirled the blade around for a second pass Link again opened up with his ship cannons. Uncaring if they broke on him that moment he pumped round after round into the creature. His opportunity to pound it with cannon fire was extended as it ripped something off its own weapon and buried it in the dirt, an explosion erupting all around it moments later. Ms. Fortune moved in to take his place in melee range. The next exchange of blows ended with him screaming and charging back in, his mind quivering as someone he could have protected arced through the air overhead. He couldn't do anything about that now. He would have to leave it to Blazermate and just take their place in keeping the creature from going after the backline fighters.