Chapter 66 - Fist and Claw

  As the sheet of liquid fire plummeted from the sky, the Karabos leadership reacted with remarkable speed. They dashed away from the impact point as fast as their legs could carry them, all of them rushing off in different directions. Most of them were clear of the impact area by the time the rain of burning gasoline hit the ground.

  Only one of the Karabos leaders was still in the danger area. That one didn't last long as blazing liquid poured all over him. He collapsed as a living torch. The gigantic crab fared better, though. Its armor was thick and much more resistant to the flames that poured all over it. But the gasoline kept burning, crisping the shell more with every second.

  The titanic creature reared back and shook itself, trying to dislodge some of the flammable fluids. All it accomplished was to dump burning gasoline on some of the smaller crabs still scuttling away from it. The impact zone around the enormous crab became an inferno, throwing the entire enemy force into disarray.

  I knew the creature wasn't going to stand there long. It had to move either forward or back. Which way would it choose? I hovered a moment, waiting to see. All at once, it scuttled forward through the flames and smoke, moving ahead at a much faster pace than it had been traveling previously.

  I suppose it was the flames that had it racing forward like that, but I’d just turned our primary opponent into a torch that was heading straight for our defensive line. I had to stop it. With a shout, I dove toward the creature, flying directly in front of it, rushing toward the creature's vulnerable mouth.

  Both my fists struck with enough force to produce a shockwave. The impact stalled the titanic crab in its tracks and left both my hands feeling bruised. I dodged a swipe from one of those van-sized claws, then another. Unlike most of its smaller brethren, this crab was big enough and high enough rank that any of its attacks would definitely cause me damage. If it caught me in one of those big claws, the thing could potentially slice me right in half. It was injured, but it wasn't finished.

  If I wanted to tackle this thing, I was going to have to rely on speed and agility, not brute strength. Another claw came slicing across, aimed at my head this time. I dipped under it, then came up on the other side, grabbing the claw in mid-swipe. I tried to lift the crab like I had so many others, but it was far too big for that. All I succeeded in doing was driving myself back down toward the ground.

  The crab assisted with that, swinging his claw with me still attached directly toward the pavement below, trying to pound me beneath its limb. I let go and flew clear, feeling all the while like a bug trying to avoid a giant fly swatter.

  "Hey there, big guy," I shouted. "Still too slow to nail me. Come on, then. Let's dance.”

  I pivoted, carefully staying within the creature's line of sight, but moving in a direction away from my friends. Now that it was badly injured by the fire, I figured if I could lead the beast back toward the water, maybe it would take off and leave us alone. At first, it seemed like my idea might work. The crab pivoted partway as I swung back towards the Government Center subway station. But as soon as I moved too far away from the wall I was trying to defend, it snapped its attention directly forward again, marching straight toward the defenders.

  Whoever was controlling the crab had to still be giving it some sort of commands. Even though I'd removed the leadership from the back of the monster, they still had it under their power.

  I scanned the battlefield looking for the actual enemy. Somewhere in the middle of the mass of confused Karabos were their leadership. They had to be the ones controlling the big crab, and they were the ones who I ultimately had to take down in order to end this. But between the flames, the smoke, and the smaller crabs and Karabos infantry still running in all directions as they tried to reorganize themselves, I couldn't spot the leaders anymore. They had taken cover by camouflaging themselves in the middle of their other troops.

  That meant I needed to deal with the crab directly. There was no other alternative, not if I wanted to stop it from killing my friends behind the wall. I darted in front of the massive thing again, slamming home a pair of punches directly into one of its delicate eyes. It withdrew the eye back under the shell, pivoting its other eye on the end of its stalk so that it could watch me closely enough to swing at me with both massive claws. I did a fancy mid-air pirouette to avoid the attacks, dodging sideways one way, then the other.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  I had its attention again, but I wasn't doing enough damage to finish the monster off. I darted over the still-burning back shell until I reached one of its rear legs. Once I was there, I grabbed hold and pulled with everything I had.

  Amazingly, the crab stopped its forward motion. My tug was hard enough that it was straining to take another step. Then it did, and hauled me along with it. I almost lost my grip, but maintained my hold and then twisted hard. With a tremendous crackling sound, the leg broke free, tearing free from the base of the shell.

  That definitely got its attention! The crab stopped cold, then whirled back toward me, faster than I would have imagined it could move. One of those gigantic claws came straight at me, open wide so it could slice me in half, but I shoved the creature's own leg into the claw instead, flying up and over the attack. The claw snapped closed as soon as the leg was placed inside of it, shattering the armored limb with explosive force. Bits of carapace went flying in all directions. Clearly, I was going to need stronger weapons.

  I darted back toward the rear end of the thing to try the same tactic a second time, but before I could grab hold of another rear leg, a Lightning Bolt came out of nowhere. I tried to dodge, twisting as fast as I could, but I wasn't quite quick enough. The bolt caught me with a glancing blow, but that was more than enough to knock me completely from the sky. I fell thirty feet and smacked into the pavement hard enough to leave me lying there, dazed and stunned.

  I scrambled back to my feet as quickly as I could, and was almost too slow anyway. The enemy forces had seen me fall, and they definitely wanted me dead. Every smaller crab and Karabos infantryman in the area was headed my way.

  I hesitated before taking off. I had a choice: face them on the ground, or take to the air again so that I could deal with the big guy. After a moment’s consideration, I opted for the airborne assault. These smaller troops didn't matter all that much in the long run. It was the one enormous crab and the Karabos leadership we really needed to deal with.

  Almost as soon as I took flight, though, another Lightning Bolt streaked toward me. Still regenerating from the first attack, I was too slow to dodge this one. I tried my best, but I knew it was going to impact, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Seconds before it struck, a large globe of water appeared in the air in front of me. The Lightning Bolt struck the water, exploding the sphere into a thousand tiny globes of rain. The Bolt itself was stopped completely.

  I glanced around for the source of the life-saving spell and quickly found it. Alex was soaring his way through the air toward me.

  "Was that your handiwork?" I asked.

  "Sure was," Alex replied. "What? You didn't think I was going to let you have all the fun by yourself, did you?"

  I laughed. "I was starting to wonder, actually."

  "I'm hurt," Alex replied, “Wounded to the quick.”

  "I'll bet you are," I said. “Since when do you have Flight, anyway?”

  “Since today. Got a lucky drop,” Alex replied.

  I knew that drop had to have come from a fallen Peristera, and I wondered how many of our allies had gone down in the fighting so far. I was glad they’d come to help, but hated the losses anyway.

  “Come on, let's see if we can finish this. Did you see where that Lightning Bolt came from?" I asked.

  "Yep, I've got him in my sights," Alex replied. "Hold on. I'll mark him for you."

  Alex quickly cast another spell, creating a hovering sphere of water about two feet across, directly above the offending Karabos's head. It was that big one, the highest-ranked Karabos I'd seen on the back of the giant crab. He was tier six, which made him high enough rank to be an existential threat to either of us. But we were to him, too, and now that I knew where he was, he was in a lot of trouble.

  I cast Gust of Wind, hoping to send him flying backward before he cast another Lightning Bolt at us. The spell knocked him back a few paces and disrupted his cast, but it was too weak to do more than that.

  "Alex, can you cover me while I get close enough to deal with this guy?" I asked.

  "You know it," Alex replied. "I've got you. Go for it."

  We flew down at top speed, Alex lingering a bit further behind me. A Lightning Bolt fired up from below, but Alex blocked it with another sphere. A second bolt shot straight toward my face. He caught that one too. More spells fired our way—a combination of Ice Blasts and Lightning Bolts. I wove my way through them all, dodging what spells I could.

  In seconds, I’d closed the gap. I raised a fist as I flew the final dozen feet, then slammed a punch down with all the Strength that I could muster. The Karabos leader met my blow with one of his own, raising his claw to meet mine. It was a pure test of Strength and Armor, his against mine. My fist met his claw as we both struck with all the power in our bodies and resisted our opponent's attack with every ounce of magical armor we had.