A direct hit would mean the end for Lucas. Based on the interest it took in Eva, he could not simply allow himself to die in this situation.
'What am I thinking of dying for anyway?'
He had not even managed to win Eva's heart completely yet.
Small cuts littered his arms. Lucas reached for the energy he felt when he experimented with healing Eva's small wounds while she slept.
Burning sensations could be felt all over his body. Not wearing his cloak in this heat had opened him up to all kinds of unnecessary wounds.
He was also annoyed, because he liked the way Eva stared at him when he wore this shirt. It had now been reduced to tatters.
It seemed the ape had lost track of him in the chaos of its own magical attack. Lucas caught his breath behind the trunk of a nearby tree.
He studied the wounds he had already dealt to the ape. It seemed to be breathing heavier now.
'The poison must be working.'
The poison was probably the reason he had managed to get such an effective hit on the ape's back. There was no way Lucas could match the ape fairly otherwise.
He wished he had picked up his bow and quiver before the attack started. It would be more effective to get some long range attacks on the beast at this point. Lucas checked his belt and felt two more knives.
'At least I didn't lose any in the fight.'
The ape was knocking down trees in an aimless direction trying to find Lucas. He pulled out another knife and threw it towards the ape.
The knife flew through the air and nicked the ear of the ape as it crashed its arms into another tree. Lucas cursed at his bad aim.
He pulled the last knife out and stepped out from behind the tree and threw it at a better angle. The knife embedded itself into the wound Lucas had left in its arm previously.
The ape howled in pain at the increased pain in its arm. Its eyes landed on Lucas' location and it began to rush to his location in anger.
Lucas used the tree trunk to propel himself high into the air with his sword slicing through the air in a wide arc as the ape rushed through the spot Lucas had been standing.
Another arc of blood splattered across the nearby trees. This time Lucas had managed to cut into the beast's shoulder.
While the beast howled in pain once more, Lucas boldly slashed at its neck. The beast's howl became garbled as liquid flooded its throat.
Its fist slammed into Lucas' stomach. Even with the boost of healing magic the blow made him cough up blood.
The ape was swinging its arms wildly around it now as it had been worked into a frenzy from the latest blow.
The blow Lucas had received had thrown him far away where he lay holding his stomach on the ground.
The wails from the ape grew louder until it finally fell to the ground in silence. Lucas leaned on his sword heavily as he pulled himself up to his feet.
He walked up to the ape and stared into its lifeless eyes. His last strike had uncovered the location of the mana gem of the beast.
Pulling out one of his knives he cut out the gem and threw it into a pouch on his belt.
Tearing what was left of his shirt off his chest, he cleaned each of the knives as he pulled them out of the beast and put them back on his belt.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5…"
Oh yeah, he had missed one. He turned towards the area where his knife had gone flying.
Various presences in the woods were becoming restless as they watched the elf sift through the wood to find his last knife.
Cleaning the last knife, he threw the shredded shirt down and quickly left the area. He would need to make sure all of their stuff, that had not been in their bags, was still intact.
Using his sword as a crutch he hobbled over to the area where their camp had been before. He could hear growling behind him as the predators in the area descended upon the beast corpse.
Dark splotches started covering his vision the longer he walked. The fight with the giant ape beast had caused considerable damage to the forest.
Finally reaching where the camp was, he picked up the cooking utensils he had out when Eva stumbled back into camp.
Their bedrolls were shredded and were not salvageable. Lucas sighed, he still needed to track down how far Eva made it when she ran away.
Piling all the supplies he could find into a neat pile he released the healing magic that had been working to close his wounds.
His ear twitched as he picked up on movement beyond the trees. Lucas moved towards the noise.
Not even fifty feet into the trees he found Eva trembling and sitting against a tree. He placed his hand on her shoulder.
She jumped at his touch and cried out. Lucas fell to his knees and pulled her into a hug. Eva fought him at first, but realized it was Lucas.
Lucas hummed a light melody in her ear. Her shaking limbs stilled as her shoulders rocked in a sob.
Lucas' voice caught in his throat as he coughed. He wiped off the dark blood in his hand on the grass.
'Ah, her smell is so calming…'
Eva felt Lucas' full weight push her against the trunk of the tree.
"Lucas?"
Pushing at his shoulder she watched in horror as he fell limp to the ground.
"Lucas!"
His shirtless upper body was riddled with half healed wounds. A slightly larger gash was bleeding from his side.
Panic settled over Eva as she quickly opened Lucas' bag where the bandages were stored.
Tears fell down her face as she pressed the bandage into the wound.
'This happened because I am weak. I need to get stronger.'
******
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