After the lion head bellowed its mighty roar, the chimaera vanished from Black Howler's sight. And while Black Howler did manage to raise his Claymore forward to repel the incoming attack, he wasn't nearly fast enough to react to the shadow beast that had bridged the distance between them in a flash. All he could do was block the fangs that would have gouged out his chest, but he had no defense for the force that shoved him back.
He was unbalanced, and the chimaera didn't fail to notice.
The goat head rammed into him with the force of a wrecking ball that smacked Black Howler into the trunk of the oak six feet behind him.
The impact of his body crashing onto the tree forced the breath out of his lips, and then he crumpled to the forest floor half-dazed while pain lanced up his spine.
The growl that came afterward was barely a few feet away, and out of reflex, he raised Claymore like a shield — and that's when he how poor its condition had become.
Its edge had been chipped in several places while the flat of the blade was cracked across the middle.
"Damn… this sword won't last much longer," he whispered.
Instinct drove him to look forward so that he might notice the three monstrous heads glaring at him with a ferocity that made his hands shake.
"If I give up now because I'm scared, nothing will change…" he warned himself. "It'll be just like that time when I lost everything…"
There was no time to pull himself up as the chimaera pounced on him then, and he barely managed to avoid the claws of its front paws with a hasty barrel roll that flung him out of harm's way. Then he quickly picked himself off the floor and turned around to face his enemy.
He noticed then that the trunk of the oak he'd been leaning on had been ripped in two just as its upper half crashed onto the forest floor with a resounding boom.
'Yeah... you're a boss monster, alright..." Black Howler sighed heavily.
In his mind, he wondered if he'd taken this challenge much too soon. It was a thought he quickly brushed away with a shake of his head for fear that doubt would sink into his bones and dull his movements.
As if in tune with its prey's thoughts, the chimaera changed pace, and contrary to the earlier blitz, it stalked toward Black Howler in the slow deliberate steps of a predator playing with its food.
Perhaps a lesser man would have taken this moment to run off screaming in terror. But Black Howler didn't fancy himself a lesser man. He would not be intimidated by this obvious ploy. Instead, he took this tiny window of reprieve as a chance to thoroughly observe his enemy.
"A sword that's about to break won't pierce that tough hide or the muscles underneath it," he deduced. "But maybe a blunt attack might do…"
The chimaera slowed to a stop a mere six feet away from Black Howler. Then, swift as an arrow in flight, the snake tail streaked forward, its mouth opened wide to reveal twin fangs as large as bowie knives coated in thick saliva.
Black Howler waited for the last second to step aside, and as the tail stretched past him, he sent his claymore crashing down on its neck with just one hand. His counter failed, however, for the blade was easily repelled by the tail's hard scales.
This forced Black Howler back a step.
Then there was an audible crack, the telltale sign that revealed a sad truth. His claymore was nearly spent.
"F*ck!" he yelled in frustration. "I just can't slice through those scales with this battered sword."
The lion head swung into view so suddenly that it nearly ripped Black Howler's head off his shoulders if the player hadn't raised his claymore in time to block the attack.
Crack!
The lion's powerful jaws snapped shut on the blade, finally breaking its top half into pieces.
Black Howler stepped back, instinct warned him it wasn't enough. He had to dodge too. Once his right foot brushed the forest floor, he pushed his weight to the right and rolled to the side just as a blast of flame struck the ground where he'd stood only a moment ago. He rolled to his feet and saw that the flames had come from the goat head's mouth.
"F**king hell! It's like I'm fighting three monsters at the same time!" he yelled.
The snake tail snapped toward him a second time, but Black Howler managed to block it with the flat of his broken blade.
"I won't lose my life in a place like this!" he screamed as he struggled against the force of the tail's push. "I won't!"
Interesting that Black Howler would declare he would survive his ordeal without even knowing the truth of the Abyss. Perhaps his instincts were honed to such a degree that he could tell something was amiss with the game. It was certainly instinct that drove him to launch a left-handed hook at the snake tail that pushed against him.
The impact of his fist colliding with the chimaera's tail knocked it back so hard that the creature's body had also been pushed back.
The chimaera roared in indignation, but for Black Howler, that was the moment hope seeped into his veins.
"I can do this…" Black Howler reversed his grip on his claymore's broken hilt. "I'm going to beat the sh*t out of you and become stronger!"
It must have been the first time since their battle began for Black Howler to initiate the attack. He plunged headfirst into danger — and to the two spectators who had just arrived on the scene, they saw not a fool rushing toward his own death, but a man determined to seize victory by the throat.
Black Howler launched himself off the ground just as the lion's head snapped forward as well. It might have ripped him in half too if he hadn't activated his new ability at just the last second.
He howled a [WOLF'S HOWL], and its effect on the lion's head caused the creature to waver for a split-second. It was all the time Black Howler needed to plunge his broken blade into the beast's right eye.
"Compared to that time…" he began.
The lion reared its head back, and for the first time in a very long time, it let loose a bellow of pure pain.
"Compared to the pain of the accident," Black Howler continued.
Using the newfound strength he'd gained earlier, he pushed off the ground, jumping high enough that he managed to vault over the lion head and onto the chimaera's back which is where he found the goat head with its mouth agape, a trickle of flame escaping through the space between its teeth.
"Compared to the fear of losing everything… you don't scare me at all!" he yelled in its face.
Black Howler grabbed onto the goat head's horns just as it began to unleash its fire breath. He dragged it forward by the horns and stepped aside so that flames would instead scorch the lion's mane below.
The lion head bellowed in pain a second time, and while the rest of its body convulsed, Black Howler wrapped his arms behind the goat head's neck.
"I've got a plus two to my strength!" He yelled. It was indeed a strange battle cry, but the intent was clear.
As the life was being choked out of it, the goat head struggled while the chimaera's body buckled again and again in an effort to throw Black Howler off. But this only served to tighten his hold on the goat head's neck with all his might. And, after several long seconds of squeezing, he finally heard the tell-tale crack that told him the deed was done — and the goat head went limp in his arms.
"One down," he whispered tiredly for his strength was spent.
Suddenly, excruciating pain flared across his right shoulder, forcing him to gasp in agony.
At the corner of his eye, he saw the tail wriggling against his shoulder, and he realized what must have happened. The chimaera retaliated, and now the snake's fang had buried itself into his shoulder.
"That's going to cost you," he gasped through gritted teeth.
Black Howler made a grab for the upper half of the snake's open mouth with his left hand. At the same time, his right hand, which was pinned in place to his side, managed to grab hold of the mouth's lower half which was just barely within reach.
"Plus two to strength!" he yelled his battle cry once more before howling and activating [WOLF'S HOWL] a second time.
In that split second where the chimaera's defenses weakened, Black Howler used his remaining strength to split the snake tail's mouth open in a way it wasn't meant to open.
The dagger-like fang was pulled from his shoulder, but he simply gritted his teeth and pulled harder.
"Not yet!" he roared.
Although the pain was excruciating, he didn't falter in his task and continued to stretch the snake's mouth beyond its limits. Then, with a final death rattle, the chimaera's snake tail went limp in his hands.
If only that was enough to fell the shadow beast. Yet even the death of its second head was not enough to slay the chimaera. Through its last pair of eyes, one could almost glimpse the battle between fear and rage warring inside it for it now realized its life was truly in danger.
The one remaining head let loose a mighty roar that was meant to instill fear into the heart of its enemy, but Black Howler had already tumbled from the shadow beast's back and crashed onto the forest floor below.
His eyes were glazed. His breathing was ragged. Too late he realized that there was more to the burning pain in his shoulder than the deep gash the snake's fang had left there. No, he'd been poisoned too. What else could have turned his feet to jelly when victory was within his grasp.
Tears pooled beneath his eyes as frustration overwhelmed him. Once more he would be denied the satisfaction of victory. Once more he would stop short of the finish line. Then the memory of the car accident that ruined his life resurfaced in his mind's eye, reminding him of the absolute loss that came afterward.
It was in this moment that the lion head dipped down to within inches of his face, its eyes alight with triumph, its snout sniffing at its prey.
A series of memories flitted across the surface of Black Howler's consciousness, the sight of his friends, family, and teammates looking back at him with pity reflected in their eyes. It was the memory of his fiance abandoning him to his depression. It was the memory of his drug-addled brain waking up in an ICU ward.
"No…" Black Howler whispered. "Not again.
His hand came up almost out of reflex and then his hands grabbed onto the lion's mouth just as it opened wide.
"It's not over yet!" Black Howler howled.