Out of Her Depth

Millia's thoughts were one long line of expletives as she scrambled through the brush. Latonya had bought her some time, but she could now hear the bloodthirsty creature coming after her. Its crashing steps were a loping drumroll she didn't want to see the end of. Agitated growls boiled out of its gullet, carried by its exertive panting. The way it reached Millia's ears, as though it was breathing down her neck, set her hair standing on end.

Returning with Latonya, the terrain had been obnoxiously uncooperative. Now, fleeing with her life, Millia found it to be insufferably hostile. If she had not known better, she would have accused the forest itself of siding with the fuvea; conspiring against her with its legion roots and branches. It was a wonder she didn't roll an ankle.

As she ran, she did her best to consult the digital map on her smart device. Without it, she could have dismissed the hopes of finding her way back to the ship. It was difficult, though. Getting a good look at it meant slowing enough to keep her arm from jarring it too much. Every consultation of the reference was a deduction in the lead she had on the monster.

Hence, when she came to a clearing and found herself cornered against a sheer hillside, she assumed that she must have been too conservative with her use of the map.

Millia flicked a glance over her shoulder to see if teeth were closing around her head yet. When she saw that she had a dozen seconds or so before that would happen, she threw herself at the slope. She did her best to get a grip on the dirt and make the climb, but the soil was too loose, and she barely made it off the ground before skidding back down.

There was a harsh crunch at the edge of the clearing where the fuvea toppled a dying tree. It burst into splinters when the beast walked over it. Those four contemptuous eyes stared daggers at Millia. Its hulking thorax swelled and shrunk with each heaving breath. It did not appreciate having to work for its food. Somewhat winded now, it closed the distance at an easier pace. It only needed to get close enough for one final lunge...

The adventurer accepted that she would have to fight her way out of this one. She could think of no other option. The odds of her prevailing in combat against this nightmare of a predator were slim, but the odds of her outrunning it while it had her boxed in were slimmer still. She steeled herself as her hand went to the grip on her weapon. Naturally, her training as an adventurer had included a variety of combat disciplines, but taking down a fuvea of this size singlehandedly was a tall order for any F-Ranker.

"Just remember what you learned," Millia muttered to herself as she set the giant axe head between herself and the animal. The courses she had taken had focused on fighting sapients and feral creatures that only got slightly bigger than a humanoid, so to say that she was unprepared for a fight like this was a bit of an understatement. Whatever. The words were just to reassure her anyway.

Facing off against the fuvea, Millia felt a second surge of adrenaline. She allowed it to build the tension in her muscles before she charged. Even as she rushed down the monster, a not-so-small portion of her mind was screaming what a suicidal moron she was for attempting this. Her adventurer's discipline stifled this voice.

Not known for their tactical genius, the fuvea took no issue with using the same strategy that had failed against Latonya - mirroring the charge with its maw gaping. It had already been disappointed once; it would not happen again.

The beast was disappointed when Millia evaded at the last possible chance. A half-second before they were to meet, the cow girl threw herself sideways - tucking and rolling out of the way. However, there were few races or people that could move faster than a fuvea could react. Millia was not one of them. Tracking her movement through the entire charge, it watched her change course and snapped its head to follow. It nearly got her too. Two of its intimidatingly large teeth caught her on the outside of her thigh. It was a glancing blow, but delivered with enough **** and sharpness to royally wreck her plating.

Millia's roll was derailed by the contact, but she did not get the chance to attempt to recover the landing as the fuvea's arsenal was not limited to its teeth and claws. Registering that its opponent had gotten past its bite, it flicked its tail to the side. The heavy appendage struck Millia in the side of the abdomen, and she went for a much rougher tumble than she had intended.

These blows had harmed Millia enough to drop her guard, and the fuvea would have had an easy time finishing her off, but it fell victim to its own shortsightedness. It had miscalculated the space afforded to it, and ended up being carried into the hillside by its own momentum. It actually managed to bury its head in an especially soft patch of soil.

"Ugh..." Millia groaned from her landing place. She rolled over onto her back and **** herself to sit up to assess the damage. The armour on her torso and thigh were warped beyond recognition. Additionally, the thigh piece sported two furrows that split it open. In their current condition, the pieces were more detrimental to her movement than they were beneficial to her protection. She barely hesitated to rip them away and toss them aside. Examining her leg, Millia saw that the teeth had carried through to her flesh, opening two red lines under her pants. Studying it closer, she saw that they were not especially deep. The plate must have saved her from suffering any real harm.

Not entirely useless then, she thought with what little gratitude she could muster.

Unfortunately, the blow to her side was less minor. Millia winced as she rolled up her shirt and craned to look at it. At a glance, there was not much. No bone protruded through the skin, despite it feeling to the contrary. There was already a bruise forming though, and that might be something to worry about.

The adventurer looked up at her adversary. The animal was still struggling to free its head from the slope. It would have been funny to Millia if eating her wasn't next on its to do list. She had to focus on getting away, but in her current state, she was not even confident that she could reach the edge of the clearing before it was unstuck.

"Millia!" Latonya called out. Seeing that the fuvea was not an immediate threat, she rushed to the cow girl's side. Instinctively, she reached out to support the injured woman, only for her hands to pass through. "Are you hurt?" she asked after seeing how Millia coddled her side.

"Tail. Hit. Hurt," she answered, the pain compromising her ability to articulate.

"No, no, no, no. You can't be hurt right now." Latonya was visibly stressed. "That thing is going to get out any second now and you need to be ready. I can't help you fight it."

Millia made a valiant effort to get back in the fight. She made it all the way to her feet before collapsing to one knee. "I'm sorry," she panted, "I can't."

Latonya glanced over to the fuvea. It had just pulled its head free, but was now recovering from the dirt that it had accidentally inhaled. She had mere seconds to come up with a plan to save Millia. Latonya was the only one around who was in any condition to fight, but nothing she could do would have any effect on the beast. Millia was the only one who could touch it.

"I'm going to try something," the ghost declared. She had an inkling of an idea. She reached toward Millia, but instead of passing through her like she had previously, she was zapped the moment she made contact. "Ow!" she exclaimed as she recoiled. "What was that?"

"What did you just do?" Millia responded, equally confused.

"I was trying to possess you," Latonya explained, shaking the pain out of her spectral hand.

"Why would you do that?" In this time of heightened stress, Millia did not welcome the complication the other woman was adding to the situation.

"You might be hurt, but I promise you I could take that thing if I could only stop from passing through it." Latonya was practically pleading.

"What? But if you possessed me, wouldn't you just feel the pain instead?"

"I don't know, but we are out of time." They both looked to the monster, which was very nearly ready to return to terrorizing them. "So I think it might be worth a shot."

Millia's mind raced. She really couldn't think of a reason why Latonya taking the reins wouldn't just mean her curling in pain instead. She considered removing the warding necklace for Latonya, but she thought back to her mother's endless admonishment. 'Always have your guard up,' she had said. 'There are dangers out there that would take advantage of you the moment you let your guard down.'

Would Latonya take advantage of her? She had not known this woman long, but she did not strike Millia as the sort of person that would. Then again, perhaps that was exactly what her mother had meant. Perhaps it is the people you least expect that are the most dangerous. Her mother did have quite the colourful past, maybe her advice extended to situations like this...

"Millia!" Latonya yelled, cutting the cow girl's deliberation short. She was watching the way the predator snorted, testing its breathing. It looked just about ready to attack again.

Either she gets my body, or we both lose it.

"Fine!" she exclaimed decisively. Millia took hold of the pendant and tore it away, snapping the cord. She cast the green diamond aside where it tumbled to a halt. She could swear she felt its protection leave her. It felt like closing an umbrella just minutes before the rain was about to fall. "Come on, then," she waved to Latonya.

The ghost tried again to enter Millia the same way she had tried with her own corpse. With the necklace gone, nothing stopped her from drifting into the cow girl like she was wind through a flute.