Leviathan continued to rush me, too. I flew in and out of its reach, weaving between its heads, and looking to strike with my bone staff when I was able. All of my attacks did not land, but the ones that did seemed to be effective in stunning it. Maneuvering amongst Leviathan had also become slightly easier with the absence of two attacking heads attached to long, thick necks. This did not mean I could rest easy, though, for as with any beast, the more wounded it was, the more deadly it became. Leviathan had grown incrementally more angry and aggressive with each head we cut off. I had to stay sharp.

When I was beginning to fade from dodging and attacking the massive creature, I flew far from its reach for a moment to catch my breath. That was when I saw Astor. He was moving with incredible fluidity. Combat for him seemed like riding a bicycle: you may have a slow start after years of not doing it, but once you catch your rhythm, all of the expertise comes flooding back to you. Astor was fighting like a seasoned combat veteran, and in doing so, he landed a critical strike to the new monster, by cutting off a leg! When it fell to the ground and tried to balance itself, Astor wasted not a second, and cut off its head! I yelled in celebration from above, but for some reason, Astor did not seem happy. Then I noticed the new monster had instantly began regrowing its body parts!

Astor moved in to continue severing limbs and body parts, but the new monster body was spraying the acidic goo everywhere, to ward off its enemy, until the new parts grew. Astor retreated out of reach of the acid streams, and spat in anger. He had figured out the new monster’s attack and defense patterns, but had no idea about its regenerative capabilities. He had to start all over. Meanwhile, Leviathan was inching closer, so I flew in, and began attacking to keep it at bay.

I went between employing my bone staff with martial arts competence to strike the Leviathan heads, to slugging them like I was Barry Bonds. The more damage I inflicted, however, the more strategic the Leviathan became in its approach. It was constantly switching up the attack angles and speeds to throw me off. It did not appear to be an intelligent creature in the sense of it being sentient, but it was created perfectly to be the top predator of Friki. And it certainly performed that way, for though I was having much success in my attacks, it began knocking me around with bumps and side swipes from its heads. I had a few close calls, where the teeth from the heads scratched me, but I was still able to avoid all the biting strikes and death blows. I did not know for how much longer, though. The myriad of ways Leviathan was coming at me was complex, and if I flew away, I knew it would continue to move forward, and close in on Astor. As fate would have it, Astor did something that brought me some relief.

Amidst avoiding being eaten, Leviathan roared again. The sound waves from the loud scream knocked me back, but when I gathered myself, I looked down and saw that Astor had killed the new monster! He impaled it in the heart with his sword. Chopping it down was not an option, so the only other way to kill it was to run it through. Astor was also smart enough to keep the sword impaled in the monster, so it could not regenerate the heart before the body shut down. The second monster shook and jolted in attempts to heal itself, but Astor continued to hold his sword in place until it was dead.

Leviathan was enraged at the death of another offspring, and tried to kill me right away. Two heads were coming at me from both sides, and at an alarming speed. I did not have time to dodge them both. Astor recognized this, pulled the sword from the dead body of the new monster, and launched it towards me. His accuracy was spot on, and as one of the heads flew in, the sword impaled it through the eye socket. The head began to slow its approach, but it did not die. I had enough space and time now to react, though, and so I dodged the other attacking head. Then, I flew towards the injured one, yanked the sword out, and severed it. One more head was down.

The head fell to the ground, and landed with a loud thud. I dropped Astor’s sword as well. Leviathan screamed again, as I retreated back and looked down, and once more, Astor and I awaited patiently. I prayed we were done. I could see Astor anxiously staring, too. Each second seemed like an eternity. Alas, I witnessed Astor jumping back quickly. The severed head was spewing acid. Another monster was being born.

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