Cosmic energy overflows in his channels. The pill has replenished Todd’s depleted reserves, and he intends to use them.

  “Sue Ann! Get it!” Todd cries.

  He whips up his hand and aims directly at the griffon’s eye. He lets loose.

  The beast jerks backwards, the force of the water kicking its head back. Fluid strikes against the beast’s beak and splits.

  Sue Ann waves her arm and curls her fingers. A phantasmal claw appears and scratches at the beast’s throat. Thin scrapings appear across its feathers along with a thin trickle of blood.

  The beast lowers its head, protecting its neck. It charges. It charges fast.

  “Shit!” Todd emits. He throws himself to the side again. This time as he comes out of his roll, he brings his spear around and tries to stab the creature. He’s too far though. It’s turned to swat at Sue Ann, its outstretched claw digging into her shield and ripping it aside.

  Joe arrives just in time. He shoulders Sue Ann out of the way and nicks the beast’s talon with his sword.

  Todd drags himself to his feet and rushes towards the flank of the griffon. His spear flashes out.

  The beast hops its back legs away. It pivots and its neck comes down. The wickedly curved beak reaches for Todd’s shoulder. It’s too fast. He blanks.

  In that instant, Candra jumps and slams her scepter into the side of the griffon’s head, knocking it off target. Its cheek thumps into Todd’s side and throws him back four feet. Todd rolls. As soon as death is no longer inevitable, he reboots his brain.

  Candra’s skill pulls her away again before he can thank her. Joe dashes in and delivers a downward blow that scrapes into the fatty tissue of the beast’s skin.

  Alive and in disbelief, Todd throws up his arm, aiming at the joint of the beast’s leg. He fires.

  The griffon raises a claw to tear Joe apart. But its ankle twinges, throwing off its balance. Joe leans into his next strike, cutting across the beast’s claw. Scales break and the beast retracts its talon like its been burned.

  Todd’s legs shake. He’s standing still. He should be moving. Todd pumps his legs and runs to circle around the back side of the beast. Another [water spear] shoots out of him.

  This time, the griffon takes the blast in the side of the back knee. A squiggle of fur is torn out. It shuffles to the side.

  Sue Ann is rooted in place. She holds her katana out like a baton, a look of terror on her face. But at least she has the wherewithal to call upon her [phantom maul] again.

  Fat lot of good it does. The skill scratches across the face of the beast, but it shuts its eyes. Dense burnt feathers protect it from the worst damage, and the creature only suffers superficial harm. Shaking its head, it lets out a roar which is filled with overwhelming killing intent.

  Todd’s heart quails.

  But Joe is still fighting. His shield deflects a claw and his sword clips the beak. The other three cultivators shake off their fugue. Candra flings herself towards the unprotected flank of the beast and makes to slam her scepter into its ribs. Before she does, the beast spins on its heel and takes a swipe at her. Squawking in panic, she puts her shield out in front of her at the last moment. The impact knocks her spinning sideways, and so when her skill pulls her back, she lands in a heap.

  Conscious that he’s not doing much damage, Todd launches another hydrous beam at the back knee of the griffon. This time, the beast has an arm raised, so the force drops it to one knee.

  The beast nearly turns towards Todd, but Joe hits it in the flank and the thing snaps around back to him.

  Todd continues running around to the back side of the beast. He grips his spear in two hands and his leading foot blurs forward. Before he can strike though, the griffon puts its weight on its front legs, and power coils in its back ones. The beast bucks and kicks backwards, the air whooshing with the passage of its paws.

  Todd throws himself backwards as soon as he sees the beast move. His whole spine bends like a game of limbo, and his legs wheel underneath him as he keeps from falling over.

  Claws pass sparse inches past his knees and overhead.

  Todd’s dexterity allows him to put his legs beneath his center of gravity, and he raises up. He’s stumbled ten feet away.

  Well within range of his skill, he fires at the same leg as before, hoping to weaken it somehow. He rushes forwards with his spear in his other hand. This time, he’s wary of the back paws. He dances behind the beast. He waits for an opening. There!

  The creature is lunging at Joe. Todd runs and thrusts forwards. He stabs into the leg of the beast…

  Whump!

  The air is knocked out of Todd’s chest. He whites out for a microsecond. His body rolls. He inhales and then the pain arrives.

  Todd drags himself up. His spear is still lodged into the limb of the griffon. The beast kicks again and again, trying to shake it loose.

  Candra has taken Sue Ann’s sword. She curses up a storm as she rushes the beast.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Shit shit shit shit shit,” she says as she slices at the griffon.

  Todd’s chest is tight as a vice. His vision is dark at the edges. He targets the wound from his spear and lets out a lance of liquid. The beast jerks its leg out of the way. Joe and Candra capitalize on its unbalance. Sue Ann’s sword cuts a bloody groove into the flesh of the griffon. Joe bashes the monster’s beak and knocks a chip out of it.

  Todd hobbles forward, grabbing in his pocket for his last healing pill. The question is whether Randall needs it more than he does.

  In the end, nothing matters if they can’t defeat the enemy in front of them. Without further thought, Todd pops the cork and shoves the medicine into his mouth. The metal taste is riveting, its soothing energy floods into his chest. His body isn’t repaired immediately, rather the process takes time. Todd feels pops go off in his ribs as he runs.

  At first, Todd is about to blindly continue what he’s been doing. That changes when a particularly wicked idea pops into his brain. He staggers back around the griffon, where its loins are exposed. Once there, he spots the beast’s particularly robust set of ‘family jewels’ so to say.

  Todd ruthlessly raises his arm and fires. This time his beam cuts across the griffon’s nether regions, its softest most vulnerable parts.

  The beast leaps straight up into the air, legs kicking; it arcs five feet off the ground at its apex. Todd’s spear falls from the wound and lands in the dirt. Leery of being crushed, the three cultivators leap out of the way. The beast crashes down and one leg turns at a bad angle.

  Before Todd can even rise, the beast is already whirling around to face him. A searing fury fills its maddened eyes.

  Todd can’t reach his spear. He turns and runs.

  The griffon gallops hard on his tail, so he points backwards and lets loose one more skill. The beast sputters and rears back, its gait broken.

  The only thing that Todd can think to do is to put a tree in between himself and the beast. Cosmic energy pumps through his channels. He bolts out of the clearing, jams his weight on his ankle, and jukes around a thick trunk covered by thorns. The griffon scrabbles after him and slides around the tree, its talon outreached. It misses Todd by seven inches.

  Leaning hard into the turn, Todd ducks under a branch. The beast cries out and swipes again. Todd feels the air ruffle his martial gi.

  “Crap, crap, crap,” Todd sputters. His eyes are blurry, he blinks away tears.

  The griffon lets out a shrill growl in frustration. It turns the other direction to head him off that way. Todd skids to a stop and reverses course. The beast reaches around the trunk and thick thorns jab into its arm. Hither and thither he darts. The farce continues with only the tree between them. His trunk aches with bruises, his legs burn with exertion.

  If something doesn’t change, he’s dead for sure.

  Thankfully, he’s not alone. Joe, Candra, and even a dazed Randall charge the backside of the griffon. Joe chucks Todd’s spear around the side of the tree. It bounces along the dirt near him. The three hack at the griffon’s hind limbs and the incensed animal twirls to face them; long cuts decorate its legs.

  Todd picks up his spear and ducks around the tree. He keeps close to it, just in case. Hefting his spear, he stabs at the side of the griffon’s belly. The beast shies away from him and only a shallow cut is made.

  Raking its talon across the ground, the beast scrapes backwards, clawing and reaching for Todd. Todd lurches away. His heart is in his throat. The only reason he isn’t caught is that Candra cuts at its shoulder mid motion, staggering it.

  Todd is like a broken record. He cycles cosmic energy through his legs and pushes off with his feet. He forces his body to new heights. With the amount he’s using, it feels like his attributes have been increased by more than half. He explodes towards the griffon’s flank, and this time his thrust punctures its abdominal wall and pricks the guts. There’s a subtle pulse inside the beast’s body and blood sputters out of the wound.

  This close to the griffon, Todd breaks out into a cold sweat. He yanks his spear free instead of forcing it deeper, and he immediately throws himself into a roll away. The revenge strike never comes, as Randall gives out a shout and with his cutlass scores a lucky blow across the griffon’s left chin.

  The beast recoils, lifting its head to full height.

  Then it lashes out, barreling forward. It knocks Joe aside, weathering a cut on its flank to do so. It punches with its curled talon and takes Randall in the gut. The young man is thrown three feet into the air and seven feet into the distance. He coughs up a mouthful of blood as he lands.

  But the beast isn’t finished there. Even though its back legs are wounded, it vaults after him. It’s sharp beak is wide open.

  Randall has dropped his cutlass. He barely has the wherewithal to defend himself. But he does what he can. He lifts up a foot and kicks out with his cleat.

  The griffon is inevitable. Its mouth slams shut around Randall’s ankle with a snap. It shakes its head from side to side vigorously, and Randall is dragged along the forest floor.

  He howls.

  “Randall!” everyone shouts.

  Joe and Candra and Todd and even Sue Ann are sprinting towards the monster. Todd tries to repeat his success at shooting the exposed parts, but his arm is shaking wildly as he runs. He merely perforates the beast’s loins.

  The griffon releases Randall in shock, and the stocky young man bounces as he’s hurled away.

  Joe chops at the back leg of the beast and this time he cracks a tibia.

  Candra dodges a kick, rolls to her feet and then with a swing, severs a tendon.

  The beast swings around, but this time more slowly. A look of hatred fills its expression. It shrieks again as Todd, Candra, and Joe surround it.

  “Don’t let it get away,” Joe growls.

  “Let’s fuck it up,” Candra agrees.

  Todd only conjures up his [water spear] and launches it at the beast’s eyes.

  The griffon is relentless, even now. Its claw is long and deadly and Todd has to continuously dance around it. Solely by working together do they begin to make progress dismantling the beast.

  Todd jabs with his spear. Candra cuts. Candra swishes the katana. Joe punishes.

  The beast’s back legs wobble. Its rump collapses onto the ground. Todd dashes forward and pierces its side.

  Sue Ann joins the fight with Randall’s cutlass in hand. She attacks from behind, worsening the damage to its hindquarters.

  The beast begins to wail in concern.

  Joe slashes at the animal’s outstretched talon. His arm shakes with the blow, but he breaks a finger. The beast’s head shoots forward, and Joe swings with immense power. [Armor breaker] shatters the creature’s beak.

  Candra starts to feel more confident and she dices the beast’s flank with four forceful slashes.

  The beast is bleeding freely.

  Todd’s limbs are like lead. Overusing cosmic energy to supercharge his body apparently has a cost. Still, he waits until the beast is busy with Joe and then stabs it again. It swipes at him, but he’s already sped away.

  Their battle is no longer heroic. It’s a grisly chore. They are horseflies taking bites of a more advanced form of life. Eventually, Candra lands an open blow across the beast’s throat and hits an artery.

  They all pull back, heaving in exertion. They watch the creature with macabre curiosity.

  Suddenly there is a moan, and Todd is broken out of his reverie.

  “Randall!” he cries. He runs to the side of his friend.