"I'm gonna need you to distract it." Viran said.

 

"I don't even know how fast that thing is." Red replied. "It's gonna kill me."

 

"No, it won't." The man seemed unaffected by Red’s complaints. "Listen, it may be stronger and faster than you, but it's still just a dumb monster. We're gonna take advantage of that and you'll attract its attention first so I can strike it while it's distracted. If it's still alive after that we'll change our strategy, but I need you to do this."

 

Red didn't immediately respond. Looking over at the monster, he could see its retracted scythe-like arms reflecting the shining light of torches in the wide tunnel. If he did fight against it, the boy knew that he wouldn't get as big of a margin of error as he did against the centipede. One mistake and that thing would chop him in half. Red considered running away, but if those things killed every single slave down here including Viran, he didn't fancy his chances of surviving alone.

 

Not to mention, he and the old soldier had a deal to help each other escape this place and Red didn't feel comfortable simply walking away from it.

 

"How should I do this?" The youth finally spoke up again, looking for Viran's advice.

 

"I've seen this type of monster before." The man replied. "It attacks in snaps. Its pounce is extremely fast, but if you can predict it happening then dodging it is easy. Keep your attention on its upper body." After finishing that up, Viran inverted his grip on his knife. "Now go! Who knows how long that thing is gonna just keep eating."

 

Red didn't need any further incentive. Approaching the insect, the boy calmed his nerves down, making sure that his body was ready to move in a second. He reached over and picked what looked like a stone axe off the ground with his left hand, while his right one held the iron knife Viran had given to him some time ago.

 

As Red got within 8 meters of the thing it finally seemed to notice the approaching figure. Its large beady eyes stared unblinkingly at the boy while the rest of its body remained completely still. Red felt a shiver run down his spine. If the area was darker, then it was very likely a person would miss the huge insect standing in wait for its prey, the dark carapace blending very well with the cave walls.

 

When Red finally got within range of his target, he hurled the axe with all his strength in the monster's direction. The weapon twirled in the air and reached the beast in a split second, striking true against it. However, it simply clunked against its tough carapace harmlessly. The creature didn't even flinch, and it seemed to take a second to register that the small thing in front of it had just tried to attack it.

 

The monster slowly reared up, retracting its scythe arms close to its thorax while still standing in place. The boy stood five meters away from it, what he assumed was outside of its range of attack, but suddenly a premonition of danger washed over his mind. He saw a flash, and all Red could do was throw his entire weight to the side in a desperate dodge.

 

SWISH

 

A sharp noise of splitting air passed over his left ear. Red tumbled to the floor in a roll, splintered stones peppering painfully against his back. A second later he was able to see what had happened.

 

The monster's upper body had stretched unnaturally as it leaned forward, its extended scythe arms doing the rest of the work to narrow the distance between them. Its natural weapons were buried in the cave floor, not even the hard rock being capable of stopping the sheer cutting power of the arms.

 

Viran had failed to mention the thing was able to double its attacking range by stretching its body. Or perhaps he simply didn't know. However, Red was certain of one thing, and that was that it made no effective difference how far he was from the creature if it was still able to strike from so far away.

 

Hurrying to get onto his feet, the boy started to put some distance between the creature's arms and himself, circling it with as much speed as he could muster. The monster's eyes accompanied his movements as it retracted its sharp limbs from the ground. This time it didn't stay still and it started moving forward with an impressive speed. Red found the fact that such a big monster was able to run so fast a bit jarring, but he didn't have time to consider it.

 

The beast closed in very quickly and prepared for another pounced with its arms, this time much closer to its target. Red, however, was aware of the force behind its attacks so he didn't stop moving. He would not give it a chance to aim at a still target. Following Viran's advice, the boy paid attention to its upper body as the beast got ready to attack.

 

'NOW!'

 

With a quick thrust of his back foot, Red imitated his mentor's movements and pushed his entire frame to the side with as much strength as he could muster in his legs. Sure enough, a fraction of a second later the monster attacked. Once again, pieces of rock flew into the air from the area of impact, but the boy had successfully avoided certain death once again.

 

Rolling around the ground from the sheer momentum of his dodge, Red stood in a crouched position as he looked back at the monster. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed. In the ground where he once stood the beast had lodged its scythe arm into the floor as he had expected. However, it had only used one of its limbs to attack. The one remained retracted against its body, primed and ready to pounce.

 

The creature's eyes impassively followed Red's figure all along. Suddenly, it moved. The boy didn't have to think and pushed himself off the ground with all the power he could muster at the moment. Another flash. This time though, a misty explosion of dust and blood came with it.

 

Red rolled sideways to escape the blow, but his back was suddenly flaring in pain. It took him a second to register before he felt the blood trickle down. At that moment the boy couldn't be bothered to assess his injury, all that he was aware of was that he was still alive. With a tentative movement of his body, Red assessed he could still move with some difficulty as he ignored the flaring pain. He was more than used to it at that point.

 

Looking up, he was suddenly surprised to find the creature staring down at him merely a few meters down. During his dodge, the youth finally noticed that he had ended up between both of the monster's arms and stuck to the ground at each of his sides. The giant insect freed its arms again. This time there was no preparation, it simply brought them down swiftly on its prey.

 

The attack was slower than its pounce, but Red was also not in a good position to dodge. In a split-second decision, the boy decided to evade the blow by moving forward and in the beast's direction rather than away from it. He was successful in avoiding the blow even as small rock splinters hit his already injured back. This time, though Red suddenly found himself below the creature's body.

 

For a moment, the monster seemed to have lost sight of him and the boy took full advantage of that opportunity. Red grabbed his knife with both hands and stabbed up into the creature's body.

 

CLANK

 

A shower of spark came from the monster's carapace and a white line formed in the area he had just attacked. The boy had failed to penetrate the beast's sturdy exoskeleton, much to his surprise. Even the centipede's defenses weren't able to block the knife's stab, but it seemed like this monster's defenses were much harder than those of its fellow insects.

 

At the same time that Red's attacks failed, he had also revealed his position to his opponent. The bug suddenly leaned down and looked beneath its body. A scythe arm shot forward with no hesitation even from that awkward position, aiming to impale the boy. Red didn't stay in place and dived in between its hind legs to escape the attack.

 

After successfully evading it, the boy tried to slash its abdomen with his knife. Another shower of sparks and yet another failure. Red was about to get some distance before the monster suddenly twisted in place. The boy crouched down in a hurry and a strong gust of wind passed over his head, as the beast's scythe missed by a thin margin. He could almost swear a few strands of hair were cut during that attack.

 

Still, somehow the creature seemed to be enraged by the slippery prey, and its attacks came down in quick succession. Another overhead slash with one of its arms came Red's way, and he cursed Viran in his head for telling him the creature only attacked in bursts. His training was paying off though, and the boy once more pushed off his back foot to narrowly avoid getting slashed in half.

 

Red was doing far better in this fight than he would have thought, although he could only barely keep himself alive. This kind of battle where a single mistake meant death was, to a point, thrilling and it pushed the boy to improve and perform far past his limit. His awareness nearing its peak, Red dodged another slash and further increased his distance from the beast.

 

As he stepped back, however, his back suddenly hit something. Looking back, Red was able to see the rock wall. He had run out of space, but the monster didn't stop in its attacks. Raising both of its scythe arms in the air, it was ready to bring them down upon its prey and finish it off once and for all. Just as Red was wondering whether or not he would lose an arm here, he saw a shadow moving from the corner of his eyes.

 

A sudden shower of green blood and one of the monster's hind legs were cut clean off its body. The loss of balance tipped the creature to one side and allowed Red to safely dodge its attack. Adjusting his eyes, he was just in time to see Viran retreating a safe distance away from the monster, as the beast angrily slashed at the area he had just stood in.

 

"The joints are its weak points!" The man screamed and continued to dodge the monster's now desperate attacks.

 

This was all Red needed to hear to snap into action. Taking advantage of the sudden change of focus of his opponent, the boy dashed forward aiming for its middle leg, on the opposite side of the one Viran had just cut. The creature's relatively thin leg had four parts, including its spiked foot, and a total of four joints he could target. However, most of them were far too high for Red to reach without jumping, so he decided to go for the one he could reach.

 

With a quick dive, he reached the monster's limb. Grasping it with one hand for support as the beast moved around, his right hand stabbed down with his knife in the joint connecting the foot to the rest of the leg. Red felt a strong resistance but his weapon managed to dig in nonetheless.

 

The monster felt the pain from his attack, and it was just about to turn around before Viran advanced and distracted it once more. Red took this opportunity to twist his knife and drag it across the joint with both hands. It was a strenuous task, but with the effort of someone who was putting his life on the line, the boy soon succeeded.

 

The monster buckled as its foot was severed from the rest of its leg, having the majority of its support cut off from both sides of its body. Befitting an unintelligent creature, it flew into a rage and targeted the opponent who had injured it last. It was a mistake it wouldn't have much time to regret, however.

 

Viran dashed forward as the giant insect turned around and grabbed onto one of its scythe arms. The monster tried to shake him off but to no avail. The man stabbed down, and with a clean motion, the beast's main weapon was split from itself. But the old soldier didn't stop there.

 

Before the severed limb could even hit the floor, Viran had already grabbed it with his free hand and, with a heave, cleaved the monster with its own scythe right between its eyes. The beast fell onto the ground, still alive but suffering in great pain. The man didn't stop though, dislodging the stuck scythe from the monster's head with the help of his foot before striking down again.

 

Red could only stare in wonder, as the creature's twitches slowly faded away under Viran's assault, and the man stood victorious on top of it, completely covered in green blood.

 

A god of death.