Zenkoh's Adventure

Chapter 22

As Irya readied her rapier the horned terror had already leveled its horns at her. As it charged her trying to impale her on its horns Irya managed to dodge out of the way, but as soon as she did the horned terror stopped and reoriented itself and began charging again. She was barely able to get out of the way the second time, this repeated a few more times, the tireless undead construct not giving her any time to catch her breath.

Just as it came bearing down on her again Maria managed to kick it in the side of the knee throwing it off balance. Before the horned terror could regain its balance Maria then kicked it in the side of the head causing a crack to form on its skull. As it was trying to get back up Irya kicked it on the opposite side of the skull, causing another crack to form.

Irya then rushed up to the horned terror and using the guard of her rapier uppercut the underneath of its jaw. This time though, the witherlings head didn't come off, in fact the horned terror acted as if she hadn't done anything at all! The witherling then lashed out with one of its claws, raking Irya across her left arm as she tried to get out of the way.

Irya: Shit! I had really thought that was going to work! All I got for my trouble was hurt.

Maria: looks like there's no easy way to handle this one! We're actually going to have to fight with it.

The horned terror had managed to stand all the way back up, stock-still. As soon as Maria went to move it rushed in! Irya barely avoided being gored by its horns and as Maria tried to dodge the charge it stopped its charge and lashed out with its right claw, biting into Maria's left side.

Maria: Ah! Dammit, that hurts!

After that it proceeded to rush her down, Irya trying to topple or off balance it anyway she could. She did finally get it to stop chasing Maria down when she had used her rapier to stab it where its knee met its leg causing the joint to lock up and it topple over. As it fell it made a wild swipe with its left claw trying to hit anything it could, preventing Irya and Maria from attacking as it fell.

As the horned terror got back up it now had a slight limp preventing it from moving at full speed. Seeing this Maria and Irya waited for it to get close before both of them kicked the limping leg at the same time! A crack was heard as the witherling fell back to the ground while trying its best to swipe at them with its claws.

Just as Maria was about to finish it off there was a blood-chilling screech and before their eyes everything they had done to the horned terror was undone. They watched as the cracks on its skull receded into nothing and then its leg mended and it stood back up with no issues.

Maria: Right, that other thing is in here too!

As Zenkoh was fighting with the death shrieker it let out a bone-chilling scream before leaping at her. She just managed to jump to the side to get out of the way. After it missed Zenkoh rammed it with her tower shield after getting a running start. The shield slam pushed the death shrieker back before it made an attempt to rake Zenkoh across the face with one of its claws but she just hid behind her tower shield. It may sound awful when the claws scraped across the shield but she could bear it if it meant her face was fine. As she looked over her shield Zenkoh could see the death shrieker was preparing itself to use its more physically damaging shriek! Zenkoh immediately braced her shield, she couldn't afford to be knocked over with how big the thing was. From behind the tower shield Zenkoh could hear a bellowing screech that was slowly pushing her back! The ringing in her ears was also disorienting her. When she was sure that it had finished Zenkoh unbraced her shield and shook her head from side to side trying to get the ringing to stop.

As Zenkoh looked up she could see the death shrieker using one of its shrieks to heal the horned terror! With all the speed and strength she could manage Zenkoh rushed the death shrieker and tackled it using her tower shield and smashed it into the wall. She pushed with everything she had, trying to crush it against the wall. After a moment it began to push back against the wall and it was moving her! She redoubled her effort, she couldn't let this thing get free otherwise it would just heal the horned terror again. Several minutes of them pushing against each other there was a low cracking and popping sound coming from the witherling!

With one last mighty shove Zenkoh smashed it back into the wall and while it was smashed up against the wall several cracks and pops could be heard until there was a loud snap! After that the witherling fell apart and didn't get back up. As she looked over she could see the other two still fighting with the horned terror but had managed to crack its skull in several spots, it appeared to be limping on the one leg. As she started to make her way over to help she saw Irya knock its legs out from under it and then Maria stomped it giving its skull another crack.

Zenkoh: Let me show you how it's done!

As she said this she lifted her tower shield over her head before slamming it down as hard as she could. Irya watched as the tower shield came in contact with the horned terror's skull before shattering it, sending pieces everywhere.

After that display of strength Maria sat down so she could heal herself before they went further.

Zenkoh: Well what do you know? You CAN get hurt!

Maria: Really! Is this the time for that?

Zenkoh: Yes!

Irya: I get you guys are having your fun but we really need to hurry up and catch Kenzo!

Zenkoh and Maria: Yes, we know!

After that Maria had finished healing herself and stood up. As they made their way out of the room into the connecting corridor they could only hope that Varna and her witherlings hadn't slowed them down too much to catch Kenzo.

As Kenzo walked through a hallway he finally reached a door. When he tried to open it the door didn't budge, locked! Not having any more patience for this place he took out his lockpick and got to work.