Kim stabbed forward, no longer aiming to hit the monster but to swing in a way that forced him to block, aiming for his stomach instead of his face or hard to defend legs. There was a crack when she landed the second hit, and the monster let out a mewling noise before taking the offensive.

He swung, Kim countering by stabbing forward, constantly advancing and switching between repeating stabs to counter the point of his axe. She enhanced every move with mana, but it wasn’t enough to break through the monster’s block.

Kim struck using her one and only skill, twin spears manifesting at either side of her thrust, pure silver light tearing apart the monster’s flesh. It yelped. With a crack and the sound of splintering wood, the haft of the axe intercepted her spear again. 2 more hits, and it would shatter.

She kept it on the defensive, stepping forward and forcing it back, trading stabs with the point of his axe until she forced it into a position where it had to block with its haft. Her spear darted out like a buzzing needle, splintering the wood. 1 hit left.

She forced the monster back, panting with exertion from the dozen exchanges, before finally landing another blow against a forced block. The wood splintered, the area she had been hitting falling apart piece by piece, but a single splinter held it together.

Kim over extended.

The haft of the axe slammed into Kim’s stomach, knocking her backwards. She stumbled away, grabbing her stomach, but she knew she didn’t have time to spend physically recovering. She grabbed her spear, blocking the next swing of its axe. Metal rang against metal, and the haft of the axe finally snapped.

The monster growled, furling back its lips to reveal sharp canine teeth. Blood spilled from the wound she had torn open in its flesh, painting its silver-gray fur in flowing streams of red.

Clear and concisely, a single thought flashed in Kim’s mind: this thing was not Iron. Not even close. If there were a hundred of these, it would be something they would send a Silver team for. And it probably wasn’t even the strongest most here, either.

Kim stabbed forward, eager to finish the fight now that she broke the monster’s weapon in two. Her spear hit the metal head of the axe, and the monster pushed it to the side, deflecting the spear with its right hand. The axe fell away, knocked out of its hand. It could not contend with Kim with just a single arm. Kim pushed forward, stabbing up to end the fight, and —

Kim’s vision blanked out when its left hand brought the broken haft of the axe up and slammed it into the side of her head.

She hit the ground with a grunt, spitting and clutching for her spear before rushing to rise to her feet, disoriented at the sudden shifted in perspective.

The monster slammed the haft of the spear to her neck, locking her in a chokehold and dragging her to her feet. She dropped her spear, elbowing backwards, infusing every strike with mana, but it was no good. The creature wouldn’t budge.

She elbowed towards the injury she inflicted, but only solicited grunts from the monster. It snarled in her ear, so close she could feel hot spit fly off its tongue, wet breath assailing her neck. She panicked as the oxygen left her brain. Her fingernails dug into the monster’s arms, drawing blood, but it still wasn’t enough, even enhanced with mana. In an ultimate act of desperation, she focused mana and Qi on her arms, throwing everything she had into a single desperate moment. She felt the Qi and mana clash for a moment in her arms before they ignited, burning.

Her arms glowed silver, and the monster flew over her head.

She gasped for air, staggering and, in the same moment, grabbing at her spear. Her vision went dark for a second and she stumbled, grabbing at nothing but dirt before getting her hands around it and rising to her feet.

The monster dragged itself up out of the dirt, grabbing on the wound she had inflicted. It was already turning around, claws extended.

Kim shoved the spear into its mouth, still gasping for air.

A look of shock registered in its eyes, and Kim pushed the spear forward until it stabbed into the ground, pinning the fox to the earth. The light faded from its eyes — literally; the glow faded until they were dim.

Kim twisted the spear, panting and rattled, leaning on the weapon for support.

“…Fuck!” she shouted, then leaned down, close to the monster. “Rain? Anyone?” She yelled, looking up and scanning the tree line.

This place was fucked. For a second, the thought that maybe this was the boss crossed her mind. A single enemy like that could make this place qualify as an Iron gate. A full team of Irons could kill it, sure. Her eyes flicked to the spot the gate had opened.

Nope. This place was fucked.

Careful and shaking, she checked her body for wounds. She poked at her neck, which was definitely bruised, but she hadn’t been cut anywhere that she knew of. She looked over her arms and down. Just because she hadn’t felt something doesn’t mean she hadn’t been hit, and especially during the rush of adrenaline, it was easy to miss minor cuts.

The only actual damage she endured was the spear haft to her stomach and some bruising on her neck. She would recover. Her arms felt especially sore, but that only made sense considering the fight.

After waiting a few minutes to catch her breath, she dug through the monster’s pockets.

It had a fucking book. Did it spawn with a book? Was this some kind of dungeon loot? No, it talked. Was this some kind of monster society? Or an alien society?

Kim looked up at the road, pushing herself back up to her feet.

There was only one way to find out.