Chương 54: Cardiac Event

Ch. 54: Cardiac Event Nelo and Kayla stood on top of a building, staring at the Montabeest continuing its warpath.

"Why aren't there any champs?" Nelo asked.

"There were," Kayla pointed at the feet of the behemoth. Faces Nelo recognized and names that were at the tip of her tongue. The bodies of the champs were strewn throughout the street. Some in unrecognizable chunks. Nelo shuddered. The giant beast was a destruction machine. Its massive feet pistoning up and down, flattening everything in its path.

"Okay well, should we wait for someone else to arrive?" Kayla shook her head.

"No. We shouldn't count on that. We're going to have to go at it ourselves."

"Ourselves!? Kayla, that thing is the size of a freaking building. How exactly are we going to take it down, ourselves?" They watched as the enraged, glowing montabeest attacked an edifice. Its two horns, the size of belltowers, pierced through the brick and window of the three-story. Kayla and Nelo could hear the crackling as the monster shifted its weight back and pulled apart the building, examining the insides. Water pipes burst. Wires ripped and sparked.

Pets that had not made it out were now climbing down the destroyed walls of the building to try to make it out.

"That hide is tough. It probably needs something piercing. You've got a spike at the end of your shield?" Nelo rattled her shield to illustrate how dingy it was, "yeah, I have my shield. But it's a nine-inch blade. It's not going to make it to the heart."

"Let's stay positive."

"I'm positive someone will beat it. I just know it's not going to be me." Kayla stood at the edge of the building. The montabeest raking its horns into the broken skyscraper. She stared at the ungodly ungulate's body. It moved slowly. Deliberately.

"That thing is huge."

"Okay, Kayla, way to reheat my nachos. I said it was huge, like, two seconds ago."

"No, I mean. It's huge. It grew because of its adaptive qualities. But… that heart is probably working overtime to pump blood into that oversized thing. If we can hit the heart… we can maybe take it down." Kayla batted her hand with her massive hammer.

"My hammer can create a vibrational attack. If I can get a clear hit on its heart… we can disrupt it. And we can maybe kill it by giving it a cardiac arrest. Nelo nodded, "Great! We have a plan. I'll help you get as close as possible to it and we'll get you to hit it right in the chest." Kayla and Nelo both jumped off the building. They landed on a car roof with a loud, denting thud and jumped off of it, heading toward the montabeest.

"Can you jump that high?" Nelo asked.

"Nope."

"Isn't your ultimate move to fly?"

"Yep. but I already used it today," Kayla said.

"So… we have to think about how to get you up there."

"Yep." As they got closer, Nelo and Kayla had to watch out for the feet. They lifted up, like trash compactors, they would come down and flatten anything in their path. Cars looked like dinner plates by the time the montabeest's feet were done with them. Nelo and Kayla did the best they could to avoid it, but at one point a stray hind leg went right for Nelo. Instead of dodging, she panicked and lifted her shield up to try to block it.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. That thing would have killed Nelo, but Kayla conjured a powerful gust attack and flung Nelo out of the way.

"Keep your eyes open, okay? We need you nice, and unflattened," Kayla said.

"Right. My bad. It's just… I've never fought a monster like this before," Nelo said.

"You fought the leonids, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but…"

"But what?"

"I only knew I had a shot because you were there. It's not like I'm… I'm not this high a level. I was never meant to be. I'm an alpha healer." Kayla pointed at the way the leg bent all the way to the belly.

"The knees! The knees! We'll let the foot hit the ground, I'll get up to the knee. You'll stab the hoof, and it'll lift me to its chest. You got it?"

"Uhm, uh," Nelo said shakily. She shook her head in agreement. The montabeest's horns had gotten locked behind two steel struts that had bent so they were jabbing into the beests' forehead. It was having some trouble getting out and was starting to panic. It began kicking wildly, making it even harder for Nelo and Kayla to navigate through the legs. They had to dodge the hind legs a few more times before they finally got near the building.

"Be careful of any debris," Kayla warned. Just as she said that, the powerful hoof kicked an old tree, uprooting it entirely and launching it into the building. Penelope pulled Kayla's and her own head under the shield as a spray of broken glass hit them from the front. Nelo then looked at Kayla and said, "okay, don't be that mad at me, kay?" Nelo slapped Kayla across the cheek. Kayla felt an unnatural surge of anger flow through her.

"What the hell did you do that for!?"

"A strength buff! It's tied to anger though so try to get mad." Kayla was definitely mad after getting slapped. She sheathed her hammer and ran up to the hoof. As it came down, she jumped up and grabbed onto the shin hairs. Nelo hid behind her shield as she got closer. Kayla began scaling the shin to try to get to the knee. The creature didn't notice her. Like a single ant crawling over a human's clothes, Kayla was invisible. But the legs were still moving freely.

Kayla braced herself whenever the legs were moving by wrapping her hand around the hairs and bracing. When the legs were perpendicular to the ground, she would crawl up. She made it to the upper half of the shin, getting closer to the knee. The knee, however, was a bald spot. She was running out hairs to climb on.

"I think this is the best we can do!" Kayla cried, "Just do it!" Nelo nodded her head. She took her shield and attempted to approach. The hoof drove down on another car. Nelo blooked with her shield as a sideview mirror crashed into it, shattering into pieces. Nelo approached gingerly.

"Come on! I'm running out of grip strength!" Kayla screamed. The montabeest had unlocked its horn from the building. It had sufficiently destroyed it and was now turning its head to go elsewhere. It was about to reposition move out of the way. What this meant was that Kayla would be stuck for a ride until her grip failed, then she would fall to the ground. And it meant Nelo wouldn't be anywhere near the next place the huge beast went to. It had to happen in that instant. Nelo tried to keep her eyes open.

To psyche herself up, she screamed as she ran toward the hoof. It landed and Nelo jumped, and used her own body weight as a dive bomb. It was like the giant wildabeest nightmare had stepped on a thumbtack. It let out a sharp, sonorous 'moo' that could be heard as far as the valley. The plan had worked. The knee was lifting toward the chest. Kayla gripped onto the leg hairs for all she could. The knee made it as close to the chest as Kayla was going to get.

As the leg came to a halt, Kayla released her grip and let herself be flung. She then faced downward, and cast Gust of Wind. Two wings made of light pointed down and gave her one final burst toward the heart. Nelo watched joyfully as Kayla turned back around. WIth her buffed strength, Kayla stuck her hammer behind her back and slammed it into the ungulate's chest. The hammer converted to vibrational energy. It rattled through the rib bones and threw the layers of meat. It hit the heart.

As Kayla went back down to the ground, for a brief moment, it looked like it was working. The giant heart stopped for a beat. The beast stopped rampaging. It wobbled. Nelo and Kayla watched as Kayla landed back on the ground. The heart slowly started pumping blood again. The montabeest shook the interference off and looked for its next target.

"It didn't work," Kayla moaned. Nelo ran up to Kayla, and placed her had on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Kayla. I know you've got this." Kayla nodded, "I know it was close to working. I could tell it felt something. We just need more power."

"That's all the strength buff I could give you. Maybe you just try again?" Kayla looked at Nelo's shield then back at them monster.

"Nelo, I know how we can defeat the monster." Nelo cocked her head, and what Kayla said filled Nelo's heart with dread.

"You're going to do it."