Keane clung to the thickest branch of what seemed to be an ancient oak tree, not that he would know what kind of tree it was, though. Its bark was rough beneath his fingers, the moonlight flooding the forest floor with the kind of light that made every shadow twice as black. Six meters below, chaos unraveled several metres way from the ring of battered wagons, as the five men in mismatched mail and leather, faced the beast that looked like the kind of monster a lazy game designer would call a "boss" and call it a day.
Looking at the beast in more detail, the creature looked like a nightmare stitched from the worst parts of different apex predators. Its movements were not the loping, random aggression of wild animals, but the controlled malice of something that had killed thinking prey before.
'That thing almost resembles some kind of bigfoot.' Keane thought, his green eyes flickering, running different scenarios of the fight in his head like an endless for-loop. "Sabertooth with a bear's body and a damn crocodile's neck," he murmured, tone dry even in his own ears, though the last part was more of an exaggeration. He tracked each paw's arc, the flex of claws that could probably bisect a sedan, the flicker of its tail, likely a counterweight for those explosive charges.
Though his own stats blazed at 99 at the moment, numbers didn't mean invulnerability, especially not when he had no way of telling other's levels or strength. Perhaps the system fell short in that regard, but he wasn't complaining though.
He shifted his gaze to the humans. Four remained upright, barely, clustered around a battered cart. One was already down, his face a ruined red smear, mail shredded like tinfoil. The living men brandished swords, axes, and the kind of shortbows that might punch through rabbit but not monster hide, from what he could observe, though he could be underestimating their power. He hadn't seen them use the different arsenal, as they struggled against the beast's relentless assault.
All of them had terrified, resolute looks, clinging to formation because their minds couldn't process flight or surrender.
Keane's brain fired off options as he observed the situation before him. Approach directly and risk instant aggro; stay back and lose all leverage; try to flank, but with no ranged skills, he'd just be another chew toy.
'Its attacks are slow,' he thought, eyes tracking its swipes. At the moment, he could see every move both sides made clearly, claws arcing in sluggish arcs compared to his own reflexes. 'Those claws could rip me open, though,' he admitted.
He eyed the beast's joints, the way the ankles folded under its mass, the split-second softening around the eyes and snout every time it bit at the air. Weak points were obvious, eyes, ankle tendons; but nothing else stood out. 'No fancy tricks,' he thought. 'Just hit hard, move fast.'
He quickly came to a decision, watching an opening… That was his in
His lips curled into a half-smirk. "No better time for a stress test."
With a single silent motion, Keane dropped from the branch. Gravity and his own weight pulled him down at bone-breaking speed, but his 99 Dexterity let him absorb the fall without a grunt, knees bending deep, then extending, propelling him forward in a blur the naked eye would struggle to follow.
The monster's attention was locked on the men, so it never saw him coming. Keane slipped between two wagons, low and fast, going for a sword he had already scanned for even before dropping. Scooping up the sword, a crude iron thing with a chipped edge that lay beside the dead man's outstretched hand, he barely broke his motion.
He ducked under a wild swipe as the beast sent one of the men spinning into a wheel hub, the impact splitting wood and perhaps shattering a rib or two. Another one screamed, blood erupting from a fresh slash in his thigh, but Keane ignored them, almost as if he didn't care, his objective clearly the creature, and every second wasted was a second closer to a TPK.
He closed the gap, the sword light in his grip as he swung it at the beast's ankle, aiming for the tendon just above the heel. The blade bit, but the hide was tough, like cutting leather with a dull knife. Nevertheless, he still managed to deal some damage, as blood oozed ever so slowly.
He immediately stepped back, easily dodging a retaliatory tail swipe that missed by inches. The humans gasped, finally spotting him. "Who's that?" one shouted to his peers, voice cracking.
The impact vibrated up his arms after the blade barely dug through fur and hide. "Shit," he muttered, watching the edge crumple, his own hand almost numbing from the shock, not unexpected, but annoying.
The monster noticed him now. Its head snapped down, amber eyes meeting Keane's in a predatory challenge. It bared its fangs, breath fogging with a rank, meat-sweet stench.
"Hey, ugly," Keane said some-what mockingly, stepping back, sword raised to the side.
The beast turned it focus to him fully as it lunged. Its speed defied physics; one moment it was meters away, the next its jaws engulfed the space where Keane's torso should have been, surprising him. Luckily, Keane's 99 Dexterity was more than enough, and meant that he was already gone, sidestepping in a motion so fast it confused the beast for a second. The beast's jaws snapped shut, pulverizing air and nothing else.
Keane grinned. "So you weren't fighting at your best… playing with food, are we?"