A shriek of pain and surprise slipped from Yori’s mouth as the cockatrice’s scaled tail whipped up to defend it from its blind spot. Unable to use his blade to both parry and attack, Yori made a quick decision. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, he chose to follow through with the effort to stab the monster, while offering up his left arm in a feeble attempt to block the snake-like tail whipping towards his head. The hard tail struck his arm with a loud crack. Yori immediately suspected the bone was at the very least fractured as pain shot through his entire limb. Though the injury was painful and, it was ultimately proven worth the risk as the blade dug deep into the beast’s spine. The cockatrice screamed out, a sound akin to a strangled sheep, as it spun and kicked at him. The creature spread its wing and flapped them in pain and annoyance. Expecting a lashing out following his attack, Yori dodged to the side and sliced at the beat’s leg. It was hard like a tree branch, covered in thick scaly skin, but his blade managed to leave a scratch. A pale yellow line was left where his dagger had scraped the partially dried blood covering the cockatrice’s leg.

There was barely a nick. Yori stood and jumped backwards while the creature continued to throw its threw its tantrum. It was apparent to Yori that he had missed the bulk of the spine since it was obvious it was not paralyzed in any way. He took a moment to study his opponent. It stayed standing atop the slain Adventurer’s head as if guarding its prey.

If its attacks have a pattern, I just may be able to win this.

He went to work trying to figure out if there was repetition in the monster’s movements if he attacked in the same as well. Yori approached the same as he had before, but this time anticipated the tail and ducked under it before stabbing at the bird-like creature. Managing to dodge the massive appendages that came towards him, Yori was a bit shocked that his planned worked.

Yes, there is a pattern! And I didn’t take any damage this time. I can do this. It appears intelligent, having tricked me, but it doesn’t seem capable of changing its attack pattern to adapt.

Taking advantage of his newfound tactic, Yori repeated his own series of attacks with rapid succession, throwing in a twist here and there. He would fake a direction, duck under its wing while simultaneously slashing at the base of the wing. He would then spin behind the beast, block the tail with the blade of his dagger, and proceed to stabbing it in the back. As it spun to face him and retaliate, he would roll under its planted leg and over the dead Adventurer, and then stab again before retreating, and he would be back where he started.

Yori repeated this process over and over until the wings, tail and leg were bleeding considerably. It took him just over twenty circuits before getting to the monster to this state. Daring some form of satisfaction with himself before the fight was over, a smirk began to crack the edge of his lips. He was making considerable progress when –

“Craw!”

Yori was in the process of ducking under the cockatrice’s wing once again, hoping that if he kept it up it would either bleed to death, run away, or lose a limb if he did it enough times. Suddenly it cried out, startling Yori to begin with, as a sharp pain shot through his entire body. The pain originated from the nape of his neck. Thinking that he had accounted for all of its attacks and weapons, Yori had forgotten one. Its large, yellowish beak was now latched between Yori’s neck and shoulder. With a whip of its head, the flesh was ripped from his body, tossing Yori into the air and launching him several feet away. This time though, the cockatrice did not wait for him to come back but launched itself in the air towards the boy. Before he had hit the ground the monster had begun its approach.

“Aarrgghh!”

Screaming in agony and frustration at his own arrogance, Yori hit the ground hard with a loud thud. His eyes had been closed to brace for impact from the ground, but he could hear the massive footsteps approaching and threw open his eyelids. His right hand flew to his wound to staunch the bleeding as he rolled to his left, narrowly avoiding the intimidating beak. Fresh blood streaked down the pale weapon now embedded in the ground next to him.

Recognizing an opportunity when he had one, Yori scrambled to leap at the creature. Through all that his dagger was still in his hand. The boy stabbed upwards into the wing, deep into the wound he had been working on. He felt tendons and ligaments snap as the wing went limp, hanging by some skin and a bit of muscle. The beast screamed and yanked its beak out from the dirt. It was furious now, pecking violently at the air and dirt around him. It was all Yori could do to crawl backwards and dodge or parry the oncoming attacks.

I need to find another opening!

In pain and bleeding, Yori;s desperation was causing him to panic. The creature was relentless, not halting its assault even for a second. He attempted to stand so as not to be pinned down and grant him more maneuverability. Managing to get his feet under him Yori felt something hard and smooth touch his ankle. The object quickly wrapped itself around his foot and pulled hard, knocking his to the ground onto his back once again. Not having much time to look at what had happened, focused on not being impaled, out of the corner of his eye Yori glimpsed the snake-like tail retreating back behind the cockatrice.

I misjudged this monster. He’s a lot more intelligent and adaptable that I had given it credit for. I’ve only got one more shot or I’m as dead as this Adventurer. I’ll time it properly and stab it in the head!

Yori readied his weapon, raising it in front of his face. It only took a split second, but the creature must have understood what he was attempting since its head never came back down to try and peck him again. Instead, its massive claw shot forward. Before Yori could react, its clawed foot was wrapped around his head. An immense pressure filled his skull as it began to squeeze.

Shit!

Immediately coming to the conclusion that this was what finished off the Adventurer, Yori’s head began spinning.

Am I going to die?

He froze for a moment, unable to think. His head was pounding, and the monster was much stronger than him. There was no chance of him wrenching his head free from its grasp.

No, I can’t die yet, not here, not now. Not when I’m so close to my goal.

Searching his mind for any idea that gave him a fighting chance, he went with the first thing that popped into his head. There was no time to second guess himself.

Since it was constantly standing on one foot, and how that foot was on his round head, perhaps it was off-balance. Yori planned on taking advantage of this. The cockatrice’s tail had wandered back towards his head. Taking the opportunity, the boy grabbed the scaly appendage and suddenly yanked as hard as he could. He put all of his might into a burst of strength. It couldn’t be maintained, but it was enough to knock the contorted bird off balance. The clawed foot released Yori in order to catch itself from falling over. Still holding the monster’s tail, Yori was rapidly pulled down towards the back end of the creature. The tail began to lift him off the ground upside down. Briefly dangling in the air, with his head a few inches away, Yori let go. Flinging his arms above his head towards the ground and his legs in an arch, he plead to every god he had just learned about the previous week to let this work.

By their divine wisdom, or maybe just pure luck, it did. His legs wrapped around the giant chicken’s neck, interlocking his feet as not to fall off. He laid stretched out, still angled with his head underneath him. The feathery back laid under his chest. This was it. It was either going to work, or he would die. Yori plunged his dagger into the creature’s back once again. He stabbed and stabbed and stabbed at the beast’s vulnerable back. It let our cries of pain and flailed its one good wing. The cockatrice had its head tucked in, trying to peck at Yori’s feet to release him, but it could not reach the boy. The beast raised one of its feet to scrape at Yori with its claws, but his legs remained wrapped around the creature’s neck. He could feel his shins being damaged and bloodied, but Yori continued his onslaught. He stabbed until the monster fell to the ground and stopped moving.

When Yori realized the cockatrice was dead, he peeled his legs from its neck and stumbled backwards. The body laid blurry in front of him. He shook his head, attempting to fix his vision. Everything was starting to go black and his body was becoming heavy. The adrenaline was waning as he became painfully aware of the blood that continued to drip from the wound in the nape of neck. His head pounded from the giant foot that had squeezed him, attempting to pop him like a grape. Blood trickled down his temple and forehead from where the claws had been embedded. A drip landed in the crease of his eye, interfering with his vision further.

It was over, he had won. He had lived and it had died. Yori closed his eyes. His body swayed under its own weight, and after a short moment of trying not to fall over, his knees buckled. Yori had only been this exhausted one other time in his entire life. Managing to catch himself, he planted his hands firmly on his knees, lowering his head between his elbows. His chest heaved as he gasped for air to catch his breath.

Yori’s eyes shot open and his heart jumped out of his chest as he felt something touch his side. Being somewhat glad that he was too exhausted and in too much pain to lift the arm holding his dagger, he noticed it was the child this monster was trying to make into its prey. She and her guardian had witnessed the entire thing, waiting in anticipation to see if Yori would be triumphant. He was curious why they had not run away, but the question quickly passed as he assumed they were simply frozen in fear. The girl was quite young. She flashed him a wide toothy grin and wrapped her arms around Yori’s leg. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying when she thought her death was imminent. She clung to Yori’s tightly.

“Thank you so much mister. You’re incwedible!”

The man was approaching from behind her. Fear was still plastered on his face as he gingerly skirted around the slain beast. Yori attempted to regain his composure as the adult came closer.

“Yes, thank you so much sir Adventurer. If it weren’t for you, I’m afraid my daughter and I would have met the same fate as our escort.”

He gestured towards what used to be their bodyguard. Yori’s gaze followed the gesture to stare at the dead man. Crimson sunk into the dirt below the corpse. Realizing what the man standing in front of him had said, Yori shook his head with a jolt of surprise.

“Adventurer? Oh, no I’m-“

“You were so cool mister! Some day I wanna grow up to be strong like you!”