Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Ultimus Chapter Thirty-Two: Danger of the Darkness

As the flames of the napalm burned the horde of creatures that was in its reach. Andrew looked shocked at Erica's need for his help. But he still didn’t think he had enough Element shards to detonate the jars and clear the horde they had to deal with.

“I need to reserve my shards for my regular arrows, I’m running low. If we’re dealing with th-”. “If we can block the entering horde, we can deal with a smaller amount with our tames. They’re small enough that all of us can fight them, and they would be no threat to us while we are on our mounts.” Erica told Andrew. Andrew hadn’t really thought of that. “— Plus… you have your other bow, and your knife still. If you run out of ammo for your Tek Bow, and we do need to fight any of these with weapons. We got weapons, we’ll be fine to fight them.” Erica added. Andrew again, didn’t think about that as a possibility. He supposed that if he had weapons besides his Tek Bow, he could use what they needed to ignite the napalm that was needed to end this. He looked at Erica and smiled.

“Let’s do this then.” Andrew said with determination in his voice. Erica gave a malicious grin at the sound of this. She turned away from Andrew and looked at Paul.

“Paul, can you help clear some of the horde so we can completely cut them off?” She asked. Paul looked at her for a moment. Mulling it over as though there was something else in his thoughts. Then, he nodded his head firmly.

“Aye, but I wanna ta make sure that Freya is safe. We’ve left her fer far too long.”

“Åh, du bekymrer deg for mye.” A voice said. This voice seemed to have come from a little distance away from them. Andrew turned to see Freya, riding Phil toward their direction. Both were drenched and stained in blood, with Phil having a few good-sized gashes on his chest and arms. Phil held both of Freya’s axes in his hands, making them look like small hatchets in his hands. Meanwhile, Freya had shifted her sword to her hip instead of her back. With her bow in hand, she rode Phil over to the rest of their gathering.

“Freya!!” Andrew shouted excitedly. He was glad to see her make it out of there, though it also made him concerned that she was able to do something, that none of them could do alone.

She smiled at his excitement and nodded in acknowledgment of it. The others immediately turned to see that Freya had indeed made it through her own, violent way. Paul seemed extremely relieved to see her alright, the expression on his face almost reminded him of a facial expression his dad would use when Andrew was safe.

“Glad ta see yer alright las!!! I was just about ta go help ya and yer fight to aid Phil.” Paul said as he rode Grace around. She smiled.

“Jonathan kom deg i forkjøpet. Han kom med Angrboda da jeg var tom for piler.” Freya answered. Paul seemed surprised at whatever she had just said to them.

“Ah, glad he was able ta help ya just in time.” Paul said. Freya nodded awkwardly.

“Ja… kan jeg spørre hvorfor han rir Angrboda? Jeg mener ikke å høres frekk ut, men jeg vet hvordan han rir tamhestene sine. Og jeg er ikke en fan av hvordan han behandler dem.” Freya stated. Andrew was confused about what she was talking to the others about, like he caught a few names appearing here and there. But it was difficult to know exactly what she was talking about, especially when she was saying a lot.

“Sorry Freya, we had to split up to deal with the horde, Jonathan and Paul had the best chance, and they grabbed the mounts. Once we cut off the horde with the fire, we will take care of the few monsters that are cut off. We can get you on Angrboda. But right now, Andrew, Paul, and I are gonna take care of the big horde problem while Angrboda and Jonathan are distracting them.” Erica said. Freya’s face seemed to drop as Erica said this, she seemed somber for a moment, before she twirled an arrow in her fingers at Erica’s words.

“Å, du skal drepe resten av disse syke skapningene? Jeg skal hjelpe disse syke med å få en edel død.” She said as she grabbed the arrow and stuck it on her bow string.

“Great, the more to fight these things off, the sooner we get rid of them. And the sooner we get rid of them,—” Erica said. She looked at Andrew who gripped his bow tight as he prepared for what was about to happen. “— the sooner we can get out of here.” Andrew nodded at Erica’s words, and so did the others. Erica smiled and pointed in the direction of the horde with her rifle

“Charge!!!” Erica shouted. With Paul and Freya leading the charge as they went into the hell horde. Andrew watched in both horror, and almost satisfaction as Grace and Paul devoured one side of the horde maliciously, while Phil and Freya slaughtered the horde so violently. He watched Phil quickly end raptors, carnos and so many other creatures by swift decapitation or violent guttings with the axes he held. Freya was simply decisive with her shots as they rode in: While on the other side, Paul was almost the barbaric one as he rode/tried to control Grace into the horde. Grace though only wanted to ram, and clamp her jaws at any of the countless creatures that ran into her jaws. It was devastating to watch; yet, it was captivating to watch Paul and Grace ride into the fight.

“Andrew!! What are you doing?! Charge!!” Erica shouted at him as she pointed at where they needed to go. Andrew snapped out of his trance. He immediately kicked his feet and had Knight Sky charge in the direction that Erica wanted him to go. Erica seemed to jump as she watched him bolt towards her. Both she and her Smilodon jumped and darted ahead of Andrew and Knight Sky.

As they ran into the heat of battle. Erica launched the first of her Napalm Bombs. The unprepared Andrew soon aimed, adjusting his aim, then holding it on his target as the bomb twirled in the air for a moment until it was far enough out that Andrew fired onto it. Causing a gargantuan flash of light and hellfire to rain down onto the large wave of animals below.

“Do you mind giving me a heads up before you throw another one of those in the air? I need more time to prepare.” Andrew shouted. Erica gave a sarcastic chuckle.

“Sorry, meant to give you a heads up, but we gotta wait a couple seconds before the next one. We need to give these a good gap between.—” Erica shouted out. Andrew shouted with a quick “Alright!!” back.

“—The fires will spread to each other quickly with how hot they’ll burn the creatures. Soon, there will be a massive wall with only four or five more of these thrown into the wave.” She continued. “Gotcha!!” Andrew shouted again. She looked back at him with a quick glance.

“Alright, pulling!!!” She shouted as she threw the next bomb into the horde. Andrew focused, aimed, and fired as it reached a good distance in. Releasing more unholy Napalm onto the infected creatures.

“Could you give me more time next time?” Andrew asked. But he didn’t think Erica was listening, or she simply ignored it, which, given how she was to him, was probably the more likely thing happening. The flame’s heat was so hot from the new Napalm, that it was almost too hot for Andrew to be riding where they were. But another moment passed and they were at their next target location, far away enough that Andrew no longer felt the unbarring heat.

“Pulling!!” Erica shouted ahead of her action of throwing the next bottle. Giving Andrew plenty of time to draw back and aim with no rush on his target. Unleashing another giant flash and explosion on the creatures, melting the hides of the infected.

“Looks like one more should do it!! We got a cliff coming up on us!!” Erica shouted. Andrew looked at his numbered ammunition. He was surprised to see he had enough for a few more explosive shots. Which would leave enough energy for twenty or so regular bolts of energy. He smiled, then shouted.

“Let’s do this then!!” Erica looked back with a smile.

“Then here, don’t miss!! Then stop or you’ll run off the cliff!!” Erica shouted as she threw the last bomb. Andrew was shocked at the unexpected action. He quickly drew his bow, aimed, and fired as it hit its mark. Then, he yanked on the reins of Knight Sky, and kicked his feet out, fearing that they would have a near-death experience with the cliff. However, Knight Sky was easily able to stop well far enough away from the edge of the cliff face. Stopping so abruptly that Andrew flew off and landed a couple of feet in front of Knight Sky on his back. Andrew groaned as the heat of the fire grew against the left side of his face. Knight Sky let out an irritated groan at Andrew as he looked down at his rider on the ground. Andrew could hear Erica laugh at what had probably occurred with him.

“Overreact much?” Erica said still laughing. Andrew groaned as he picked himself up and got back onto Knight Sky quickly.

“I was imagining a more gradual and suspenseful stop I guess than reality.” Andrew said. Erica continued to chuckle.

“Yeah, I could tell.” she said. Andrew then looked to his left to see how quickly the Napalm fed into the other fires. And created a thick wall of fire that didn’t seem like it was going to fizzle out any time soon. It not only killed the creatures that were in the fire’s area of effect, but the wall had become an effective barrier against what horde was left on the other side. Andrew then looked to his right to see how small the horde they had left to deal with was. There were only maybe a hundred or so creatures left, and it was quickly decreasing with Grace, Phil, Freya, and Angrboda clearing them like they were cardboard targets.

“Well, I think we can join them in the crusade now that we’ve cut off the horde from replenishing.” Erica said as she rode up alongside Andrew. Andrew nodded. He looked in a pouch on his saddle and saw the bow Freya had made for him earlier. He had maybe sixty or so arrows to go with it.

‘Might as well use that before using my Tek Bow, the arrows are easier to get than Element by the looks of it. Plus I can always ask for someone to make me more if I need to.’ He thought to himself. He collapsed his Tek Bow and grabbed the wooden one Freya made, he set an arrow on the string and looked at Erica.

“Let’s do this then!” Andrew said as he then charged into the horde and began to fire his bow at the horde of creatures. He then heard Erica’s Smilodon snarl and then heard its hiss as it started attacking a creature behind Andrew and Knight Sky.

Andrew and the others made quick work of the smaller numbered horde since they could no longer get reinforcements. Andrew noticed how quickly the horde was dying. It almost seemed unnatural with how quickly they seem to replenish their numbers before. Andrew had seen Jonathan destroy with ease dozens of carnos and raptors as he rode Angrboda. He seemed to enjoy killing them with her more than he should have. He could almost hear him laugh as they stomped a carno into the ground under Angrboda’s foot. It kind of concerned Andrew how much he seemed to like killing them this way. So brutal and violent, without any remorse to it.

Freya and Phil were both just as destructive yet simply quicker with their kills. Even more so, less so enjoying it and more doing it because they needed to. Freya kept to a small range around Phil’s flank, killing most creatures riding up on his flank in one arrow shot. While Phil simply decapitated creatures in front of his view. Grace and Paul simply mauled the horde wherever they went. It wasn’t a game of enjoyment. It was just to kill them. Though, Grace did seem to like killing the creatures more than Paul; As he was trying to control her when she didn’t seem to want to be controlled at this time.

As time went on, Andrew and Erica both somehow started competing in who would make the most kills. Andrew was surprised that it even happened. One minute, it was just them taking out creatures as they fought. Then, Andrew said out loud that he assumed he had killed at least twelve creatures since they joined the others in fighting the small band of horde left after allying off and hopefully killed the rest of the horde. Then he heard. “Is that all? I got sixteen!!” He looked over at Erica with confusion written on his face. She simply smiled at him.

“Bet I can kill more than you by the end of this!!” She shouted as she then had her Smilodon grapple one of the creatures down to the ground and execute it with its saber teeth while she guarded him with her rifle. Andrew was just flabbergasted.

“Are you serious!?” He shouted. She smiled at him crazily.

“What, are you chicken you’ll lose another competition?” She shouted. Andrew gave a small glare before grabbing three arrows in his hand. And sped fired them into three separate creature heads.

“You’re on.” He shouted back. She smiled back at him. Andrew was even more confused by this. What was up with her being so… nice or friendly with him? Why under the most stressful of situations was being all game wanting and nice to Andrew? Maybe she was just trying to keep herself calm. Maybe she just liked being in life-threatening situations. Whatever it was, he liked not having her hate him. He thought he did at least.

Now they were neck and neck at twenty each. Erica had the advantage of her sabertooth cat being able to quickly kill. But Andrew clearly had a faster reload speed and kill rate with his bow. The problem now though was that they were running out of creatures to kill. Most of the horde was gone now, with only a few stray stragglers in the midst of the sea of the dead. Andrew and Erica both watched as Paul and Grace took out of the last carnos while Jonathan and Angrboda literally snapped a raptor in half with her jaws.

Andrew and Erica then both spotted one of those Chali—what's it in the middle of the battlefield. Erica's eyes almost bulged as she took aim with her rifle at the creature’s head. But she got cut off from pulling the trigger by Andrew’s arrow going through it first. It jumped and started staggering. Then a second arrow of Andrew’s landed in the skull and dropped the animal dead.

“That makes twenty-one. And by the looks of it—” Andrew said as he looked around the battlefield. Seeing nothing but dead bodies littering the floor, there was not a single corrupted creature left alive. “—That makes me the ultimate victor.” Andrew continued with a smug smile. Erica scowled in irritation.

“I let you win.” Erica said with a tinge of spite. “Oh, nah huh!! I won fair and square!!”

“Dette er ikke tiden for å leke, dere to. Det er forferdelig som har skjedd.” Freya said cutting in. She didn’t seem happy. She seemed somber as she gave glances between the two of them.

“Besides. If that’s all two you’ve killed. Then you lose cause I’ve killed 84 since I’ve gotten on this Rex.” Jonathan said smug as he rode over on Angrboda. Freya looked at Jonathan with a cold glare.

“Hundre og syttitre siden dere fire stakk av. Der, ingen av dere vant dette, og dette var ikke verdt å konkurrere om. Nå, stig av Angrboda og sett dere på hesten.” Freya said, almost spitting the words out at Jonathan. He huffed at whatever she said. Erica’s demeanor seemed to become gloomy as they both watched Jonathan drop a rope ladder from the top of Angrboda’s saddle as he started to go down the ladder. Freya got off Phil’s shoulders. She looked at Phil and smiled as she grabbed something from her pocket and gave it in trade for her axes. It was some purple berries. He looked down at them with a scowl on his face, which didn’t seem like him to do, at least from the shot time he knew him. He dropped Freya’s axes on the ground and took the berries in trade. He seemed less like himself with how he acted, and almost grabbed them grudgingly. She smiled softly at Phil, but he didn’t smile back. He turned his back and started eating the berries as he wandered a distance from the group.

“Takk, venn.” She said as she then turned and walked past the irritated Jonathan. She then climbed her rope ladder up to Angrboda’s saddle. Andrew then looked over at Jonathan, who was getting on his horse in a puff. He looked over at Andrew and glared at him.

“What are you looking at, your next victim?” Jonathan spat. Andrew felt guilty at those words.

“I just wanted to know what she said to you.” Andrew asked. Jonathan rolled his eyes.

“It is none of your business what she said. But if you must know, she said she won. She cheated and kept score from the start.” Jonathan said with his tongue in his cheek.

“Alright, let's get out of here before anything else happens.” Erica said. Everyone seemed to acknowledge, except Paul. He was looking over in the direction of the monster. Andrew then realized it was still there. It was just watching them, its cyan eyes just stared into their soul. Unwilling to look away from them. It looked like it was thinking as it looked down upon them. Andrew had no doubt that it was the leader and commander of the horde who came after them.

“What’s it doin’? Why hasn’t it attacked us?” Paul asked aloud. It almost looked at them with a scowl. Before its eyes flickered back to a deep magenta as it let out a low-toned rumble. Everyone’s eyes widened as this

“What is it doin’?” Paul asked. The fear in his voice loomed. Andrew knew that this couldn’t be good. This was the same thing that happened when the horde of creatures first started attacking. If this god, or even ‘Titan’ were leading the corrupted, it might be sending a message to more of its guards.

“We need to get out of here, now!!” Andrew shouted.

“Why?” Erica asked. Which was answered by an ungodly roar. Alien to anything Andrew had ever heard before. It was a high-pitched, repetitive screech. It almost sounded like an echo as it roared. Andrew looked at Erica, who had fear written on her face. He looked at the others who all had the same expression. Only Freya seemed to be prepared for whatever battle was coming

“What is that?!” Andrew asked with fear building in his voice.

“Jonathan, I thought those lived in subterranean environments!? You said they couldn’t be in light unless raised in the light!?” Paul said exclaiming. Jonathan just looked around as though he had seen something supernatural.

“I—I thought that was the case, but it may have only been a poor assumption.” He said, stuttering as he began.

“YOU ASSUMED!! SCIENTISTS SHOULDN’T ASSUME THING JONATHAN!!!” Erica shouted. Andrew didn’t understand what this all meant that they were saying. The two began to bicker. While they did, Andrew noticed a strange burst of dirt coming from the ground that he noticed was circling them. Andrew didn’t know what it was, but he didn’t like it. He didn’t know what to do though, should he shoot an arrow into the ground? That didn’t seem like it would do anything, but maybe it was worth a chance.

Andrew then realized that Jonathan had said something about subterranean, didn’t that mean something that lived underground?

“Guys, what is this thing?! And is that what you guys are talking about!?” Andrew shouted, pointing at the dirt cloud. This got everyone to quiet down the bickering instantly. It was at this moment that everyone could hear the dirt and rock crumble and crack. Andrew could feel the earth rumble and shake under Knight Sky’s feet, it shook with the force of an earthquake. Phil was a distance away now, but even he reacted to this rumbling with distaste. Pounding the ground with his feet and his fists. Andrew heard Freya say something as she tried to get Phil’s attention. Then, everyone did. They started shouting at Phil to stop, begging him to come over with the others quietly. But he didn’t listen. He snarled and growled at the ground like a rabid dog, beating it senselessly. The dust cloud stopped its circling and made a beeline for Phil. Phil started roaring like a great ape and beating the ground harder with his fists. Freya then had Angrboda charge towards Phil, trying to outpace the dust cloud for Phil.

Paul and Erica started shouting at Freya while Jonathan seemed to be frozen at the events occurring, Paul and Erica were shouting that it was suicide and she’ll get herself killed. Andrew was lost, he didn’t know what was going on. He just wanted everyone to run away so no one would die. He too, tried to yell for Freya to stop. But she didn’t stop, trying to outrun the dust cloud while she shouted at what could only be Phil. She shouted and shouted at him, but he didn’t react. He continued to snarl at the ground, pounding the ground with his hands and feet. Showing his hate and anger at the Earth for its earthquake rumblings.

Andrew watched as Freya tried her best to have Angrboda run faster to outpace the cloud, but she simply couldn’t. Andrew could hear her yell “NEI!! NEI!! PHIL!!!” as the dust cloud made it to Phil quicker, then, disappeared. Along with the quaking. Phil stopped with the roaring and the attacking of the ground. For a moment, silence consumed the world for that moment, but only that moment.

Andrew watched in horror as a monster came from out of the ground, snatching Phil by the legs. Phil let out a roar of agony and fury. Freya and Angrboda stopped dead in their tracks, frozen and shocked at what was happening in front of them. Andrew drew his bow on the animal and fired. Just for the arrow to bounce off its hide like rubber. Its hide was too thick to be penetrated by his bow. He looked at the monster to see what was up with it, hoping to spot a weak point to hit through.

The monster was just as big as Freya’s Rex, with large long back legs as though it walked on two legs like a carnivorous dinosaur. Its head was completely bizarre, almost like a triceratops with fins and spines, its jaw was that of a carnivorous mouth. Its forearms were long and extraterrestrial, thin and long with large claws on its three fingers. Spikes and barbs covered the rest of its body, and tail, but some parts of its body are missing just like with other corrupted. Its body was covered in the corrupted Element that had covered nearly everything on this planet, much like the creatures, this monster was being eaten away by the element, parts and pieces of its body missing. Only being supported by the element in those holes.

As it got to its feet and Phil started attacking its face, crying out in pain as he did so. The monster then reached its forearm upwards and lowered its head towards its claws. The claws reached for Phil and… Andrew watched in horror as Phil was dismembered limb from limb by the monster. The sound of bones being dislocated, broken, and flesh being torn filled the air. Phil screamed out in pain the loudest Andrew had ever heard him scream. His scream almost sounded like he was human. Blood dripped from Phil’s dismembered arms, and it poured from his body as the blood was being pumped through the body still. Phil screamed and roared before the monster dropped his arms, reached up for his head, and twisted…

For what seemed like a lifetime, silence engulfed all of Sanctuary. No shuffling sounds, no gust of wind, no brush rustling, no fire crackling, not even a breath was taken. Andrew and the others watched as the monster swallowed Phil’s body whole. Then the creature looked at the survivors and smiled. Its smile was demonic, blood dripping from its mouth and claws. However, its eyes were what attracted Andrew’s attention the most. They glowed purple magenta, the same color that the eyes of the raptor that killed Reuben and the one that tried to kill him, they glowed the same color just like the monolithic beast that stood above them this very moment. Then Andrew realized… This wasn’t hunting, this wasn’t an order to attack at random, this was a message, one with thought and malicious planning.

“Oh my— it’s— it can control them.” Andrew whispered. The silence was broken, but Andrew didn’t notice that someone had heard his statement. But only one. As he wasn’t the only one who broke the silence. Atop Angrboda roared Freya with a barbaric roar. It was true emotion. Angrboda followed with a roar of her own as they charged the monster. The monster roared back with its hellish-pitched sound. That was called a roar, and they began to charge them at a greater speed. The two charged each other; and clashed in what became an incredible fight. Angrboda reared her head back and shoulder checked the monster, absolutely outclassing it in weight, and knocking it back. Then Angrboda pivoted and snapped her jaws closed on the creature’s neck, and just kept digging, although it seemed to do nothing. The monster tried to fight back and get itself free from Angrboda’s jaws, but the Rex’s jaws were locked tightly.

Andrew then watched Freya do the most insane thing he had ever seen. She climbed across Angrboda’s neck and as Angrboda was latched onto the monster with a single sword in a backwards grip, then jumped onto the skull of the monster. Holding the sword over head and turning in the middle of the air. She roared as she shoved it into the monster’s skull. Sticking the sword into the upper forehead of the creature. The monster didn’t react to this. It was like it didn’t feel it. Freya slid as she landed on the forehead. Sliding down and catching herself on the monster’s nose horn. She then grabbed one of her axes and slammed it into the skull as a third fastener to hold onto.

The monster finally broke free of Angrboda’s jaws, and the fight was on. The monster then started its assault on Angrboda. Beginning to use its forearms to swipe at Angrboda with its claws. Hitting her with a few good hits, but Angrboda was able to outmaneuver the monster in the last few attacks. She then rammed into the monster. Freya continued to get jostled on the monster’s head, but she held her own. Andrew’s mind began running with fear and worry about this all happening. That the Titan was able to control the creatures and had done this to torment him. That this was all his fault, and he could get more killed. He was simply frozen in place. Trapped in his own thoughts as he stared down the titanic fight ahead.

~

Roars in the distance caught everyone’s attention away from Freya and her Rex fighting the monster. Erica Paul, and Jonathan then saw a small horde coming through the dying flames. But the animals coming through were giants. Rexes, giant giraffes, Spinos, and giant jumping lizards charged their way. Paul pulled out his pistol and began loading it again.

“Erica, and Andrew, start shooting the Rock Drakes from this distance. Don’t let them make it through the no man's land. Jonathan, you and I will use our guns on the Spinos, Paracers, and Rexes. I’ll get closer in though so Grace can attack them. Make sure none of these creatures make it to that Reaper until Freya can handle it.” Paul said. Jonathan pulled out his shotgun and then both charged into the battlefield. Erica nodded, she looked at and saw that Andrew was still stunned at everything going on.

“Andrew. First thing we need to do is move so we are out of the danger zone before we attack the Rock Drakes.” Erica ordered. But he didn’t answer. He was just frozen in place.

“Andrew?” He didn’t respond. Erica then saw Angrboda throw the Reaper in their direction. She gasped aloud as she yelled out “ANDREW!!”, hitting the butt of her rifle against his horse’s rear. His horse roared out as it began to bolt out of the way. Erica followed and both missed the large altercation that could have taken them out.

Erica noticed Knight Sky slowing down. As Erica caught up and rode alongside him. She noticed that Andrew had snapped out of whatever trance he was in.

“What the H&$# man!!! What was happening out there!?” Erica snapped. Andrew looked shocked.

“I’m sorry, I got stuck in—” “NO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS. YOU COULD HAVE DIED IF I DIDN’T SAVE YOUR A@@ BACK THERE!!! IF YOU DIE UNDER MY WATCH, PAUL AND FREYA WILL BOTH HAVE MY A@@. AND I CANNOT DEAL WITH ANOTHER DEATH TODAY, SO IF YOU DO THAT AGAIN I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF BEFORE YOU CAN MAKE A STUPID STUNT LIKE THAT!!! UNDERSTAND!!!” Erica shouted. Andrew stared at her for a moment and then nodded.

“Good, now you and I are ordered to go deal and make sure no Rock Drakes make it to Freya and her Rex, while they fight the Reaper.” Erica said. Andrew looked confused.

“I— what’s a Reaper? And what’s—” “I’m not finished. I’ll answer these small questions later.” Erica said cutting in as she dismounted Ajax and looked through her saddle bags for more rifle bullets.

“Right now, I want you to grab your weapon of choice, get some arrows on the knock, and kill some feathered rex-sized lizards and hope to whatever mumbo jumbo Freya believes in that she and Angrboda can kill that creature of another world. Capeesh?” Erica continued. Andrew looked at her for a moment. Though he looked like he was going to object to something.

“My bow won’t be able to hold back any animals that are as big as Angrboda. This effective range is probably about two times her length. I can’t hold them back.” Andrew answered. Erica glared at him before she loaded a bullet into her rifle, aimed, and fired it within a few moments. She was not in the mood for this crap.

“You still got any juice for the Tek Bow?” Erica asked aggressively. Andrew looked over at her and paused for a moment. Trying to process an answer.

“Yeah… yeah, thirty shots left.” Andrew answered.

“Good. Then switch that puppy on, and kill these overgrown lizards!!” She said as she unloaded her cartridge. Andrew reengaged his Tek Bow, switched it to its normal setting, and drew back on the string. And releasing a bolt of energy.

~

Still holding on to the sword and her one axe as the Reaper. Freya held on for dear life as her Rex drew the attention of the Reaper away from her. She was in a blind spot of the Reaper on top of its head, and the Reaper wouldn’t be able to feel her until it was too late. Its extremely thick hide could even protect it from even her beast’s bites. But one thing she knew about durability. That with enough chopping in the same place, even the strongest of trees could fall to a mere human. And that’s what she planned. To chop away. She grabbed her other axe and used the back of it to hammer the sword deeper into the skull to secure herself for a time. Then, once deep enough to feel okay with. She started slamming the axe into the Reaper’s skull. She chopped and chopped at the Reaper’s skull. Breaking slowly through the tough hide with each chop.

With each chop she made into the creature’s skull, memories of Sylas flowed into her thoughts, and tears for each of those thoughts came along. How they met, the conversation they had, and what he had been through during his three years on the Ark, and how he was imprisoned for most of it. She remembered the two of them meeting Paul and Erica, and joining their crusade, her introducing them to her few other friends, his first time taming, and their many adventures in that place. She had become good friends with him, deeper with him than with the others. Which made her pain all the more rage-filled as she swung her axe. For the last few weeks with everything that had happened, she had been too careless with their… friendship. Was that what he would have called it? Was it a friendship at all? That’s what made it worse of all for her, she never got to say how much he meant to her. He was a beacon of light in her heart when he was around, a man who brought a smile to everyone’s face whether he meant it or not. She wished she had told him he was a friend she never had, and was the first person who had ever treated her as nothing more than a human being. She never got to say any of it though, maybe no one got to say how much he meant to them all. She knew plenty who definitely didn’t, or couldn’t. With how everyone was so preoccupied in these times than in the beginning. She then fought so hard for his pet, his best friend, Phil to live on. She couldn’t lose him, even if it meant killing so many animals who weren’t asked to become monsters. But she even failed that too, she failed Phil, and she failed this beast...

Anger built up in her as she swung the axe harder. She held no fault in Andrew for what happened with Sylas. She could not see a bloodthirsty man in that heart. All she saw was a broken child, that is what she saw in him when they first met, and what she saw when they found Sylas dead. She knew he already felt unnecessary guilt over it, though. No, what she blamed was herself for his death. She blamed her voice, she blamed her inability to comfort Andrew, which led Sylas to do it. She saw he was dealing with unnecessary guilt not saying what the grave was, or even whatever happened with that grave before. She hated that he felt guilty for not telling them this or wanting to even speak of it. It was clear he held honor and love for who or what was buried in that grave. Something he found hard to speak of. She could understand that type of pain, that type of guilt that fills a soul. He was an honorable man for even burying them in this world of the dead.

She wished she weren’t cursed to be unable to speak to this man. She wished she were able to comfort Andrew in his pain before Sylas had died. She wished that she had taken Sylas’s place. It should have been her, it should have been the monster that had slain so many lives, not the light that brought joy… it should have been her. But, the monster had been awakened once again, and she would not let her enemy go alive.

She hadn’t realized that deep within her thoughts, she had made herself deaf to the roars and screaming she was unleashing from her tongue. She hadn’t even realized how many times she had nearly fallen off at this point, and recovered back into position to continue to unleash her grief. The anger and pain of her broken heart for her friend blinded her to all of this. This pain and anger turned quickly into wrath and hate towards the animal she was fighting. She didn’t realize her hand gripped the handle of the sword and axe so hard, that her hands began to bleed. As she broke through the hide, her eyes widened as she unleashed her full fury. Beginning to chop harder into the thin layer of flesh on the skull.

This though, would finally catch the notice of the Reaper, as breaking through its thick hide would let it feel the sharp, piercing pain of her axe. She smiled, good, a fight for her to truly take pleasure in. She whistled Angrboda to attack the Reaper, Angrboda obliged with a sudden and powerful ram to the animal’s side. Causing the Reaper to stagger, Freya was still holding onto her sword, while her right hand switched to the axe that was acting as a third fastener. She smiled. It had returned its focus on the Angrboda.

“Tålmodighet, bare litt til, jente. Udyret vil være dødt om noen få treff til.” She said. She grabbed the axe she was chopping with at the Reaper’s head. And she started chopping into the Reaper’s skull once more. It shrieked in pain as she started swinging again. Angrboda took this moment to grab the Reaper by the neck. Again, most of her bites weren’t getting through deep enough simply because of how thick the Reaper’s hide was. But this gave her an idea.

“Jeg fikk en gang beskjed om at «øye for øye», for noe jeg gjorde, la oss vise deg den samme respekten som mannen sa til meg.” she said as she sheathed her one axe and grabbed the fastener axe, and swung into the eye of the Reaper. It shrieked in pain as it was pinned by Angrboda.

“God.” She said. As she then started swinging again back into the skull. This time in an X-shaped motion with every two swings. As she did, she felt the Reaper fight out of the pin a jostle under her. She grabbed onto her sword as she continued. After a minute, the Reaper broke free of Angrboda’s grip. Angrboda refused to let the Reaper breathe as she attacked it. Freya then felt the Reaper lower itself and saw that its head was moving away from Angrboda. Almost looking as though the Reaper was turning from her. She realized it was about to do a tail attack on Angrboda. She stabbed the Reaper’s hide again with her axe and positioned herself between the three points to hold her in place. She then felt the fast jerk as the Reaper spun, and hit Angrboda in the face with its barbed tail. Slicing through part of her face. The Reaper then started attacking her. And dogged her for a moment before Angrboda shoved her body and knocked the Reaper back away from her. The Reaper was beginning to win against Angrboda. But Freya was close, she just needed Angrboda to hold out a little longer. She yanked the axe out of the Reaper’s hide and slammed it into the skull that was beginning to show. Continue on to chop where she had left off.

Finally, after a few minutes of chopping Freya heard a thunderous crack. She pulled herself up with her sword to the hole she made to see the skull she was cutting into break open in a four-way crack. She gripped the axe tightly and then hit the weak point with the pommel of the axe, breaking the skull more, giving room between the fractured point to reach her hands in. She pulled herself closer to the opening and gripped the fractured bones with her hand as she tore them out of the way. She looked inside to see the brain, her target. It was out of reach for her axe, but not her sword. She looked at Angrboda and the Reaper below her. They were still fighting, and at this point, the Reaper hadn’t even noticed she was attacking it anymore.

She adjusted herself closer to her sword and the hole she made. No longer being able to stand on the nose horn. She hacked into the hide of the Reaper one last time with her axe. She let go of the axe and looked at her sword. It held it with one hand, and blood dripped from the handle as she held it. She grabbed it with two hands and yanked it out of the Reaper’s hide. She held the sword in her hand for a moment before looking at the hole she made, and the brain inside. She held it in a backward grip as she aimed, and then slammed it into the Reaper’s brain. She then twisted the sword in her hand and yelled out in heartaching pain.

“For vennen min, og for alltid for ham til jeg gir mitt siste åndedrag!!”.

Hearing a dull shriek as she stabbed it in the brain. She released one of her hands from the sword and grabbed the axe. As she held both the axe, and the sword; she felt the sudden feeling of a drop, and the sound of a thunderous crash of the animal collapsing below her.