It started lumbering toward them. Slowly, Daniel thought in relief. “Run when it hits the traps.”

“We are not leaving you,” Ivey insisted, and he was glad to see she was on her feet. Apparently, the damage to her leg had not been that bad. How the claws he had inserted in the club had not shredded her was a miracle, but he would take it. The Anthony thing was hard enough.

“Trudy’s room. It is slow. I will kite.”

Crack!

Crack!

“Run!” Daniel screamed.

Two traps had gone off, which was much better than he had hoped. The old lady was next to Ivey and then all four of them were running, with Ivey leading away, admittedly still with a limp.

Only one trap had worked fully as intended and had attached itself to the monster’s feet. The other shot the spikes, which may have done some damage, but the jaws themselves had failed to land a noticeable blow.

One was better than nothing. The monster slammed into the playpen and the restraints on both walls gave way.

Daniel was already dancing backwards. As designed, it snapped around the beast, wrapping it up, but it held its feed even while the restraints tightened across it. A small part had hoped that the bindings would tangle it fully and it would fall over. That was clearly not going to happen, but its head was exposed and it was possible a single blow could end it.

Winding up, he remembered the skull he had crushed but also the one when his strike had only dazed the zombie. Hopefully, this was one of the fragile ones. He struck the head as solidly as he could. There was a dull thud, but the creature kept moving as if he had barely hurt it, and his intuition told him he would not crack the bone before it got free.

Damage, he thought to himself. He needed to just do damage, even if it was only flesh wounds. Even against the hard-skulled zombie, he had shredded the bicep muscle. He changed tactics, deciding to bleed it. Daniel swung hard for an exposed shoulder. The club hit, but it was like smacking hard-packed earth with small rocks throughout it rather than tilled soil. The claws penetrated, but apart from that, it was like hitting rock. He grappled with the need to alter strategy further, pulling back the club. Maybe he could target joints or use the razor edge of the claws to cut it up bit by bit.

As he yanked backwards, the claws embedded in the monster did not slide out smoothly as expected. Instead, they were caught by the tough skin. The creature was struggling with the netting and despite being designed to wrap limbs up and confine anything once it had snapped shut, the mass of vines was already slipping and being broken. The razor-sharp thorns that were supposed to hook and cut into the zombie’s skin had been unable to find purchase, giving it room to wiggle free.

A bit of growth magic was sucked out, and the claws seemed to shift within the flesh and the club came out with four puncture marks on the shoulder. A modest amount of blood welled up and once he would have thought that was significant, but having witnessed how much something bled when it was dying, the holes he had inflicted were just one level up from a scratch.

This fight was going to be difficult. The creature’s entire skin was like the soles of the first giant monster that Daniel had killed. Those feet that, till he had customised the spike to penetrate, had been invulnerable to a trap that had incapacitated lesser zombies.

Caught in his web of vines, the beast roared and flexed. The whole web slid down slightly. Exactly what was not supposed to happen and what those razor-sharp spikes were designed to prevent. There was nothing Daniel could do about it. The monster was just too strong. Another flex and this time, there was the distinct sound of wooden ropes snapping. He needed a stronger trap. The entire net he had created and then reinforced with magic disintegrated under the savage power of the beast.

Daniel assessed the monster. From its size, strength, and skin, its core had positives. The second two attributes might be worth gambling for, but then he reassessed its size. It was massive, and he imagined himself mutating in a less pleasant direction. This was another core to hide in the club, a decision that made him warm inside.

What?

He grimaced. He had to beat it first.

Without tricks.

Just himself, his club, and whatever abilities he had picked up. As he retreated, he dragged the club down the creature’s back; with the wooden restraints having fallen away it was exposed. It was like the club was twisting in his hands with the claws coming in and out, occasionally leaving punctures, and other times there were long streaks of blood. The damage seemed far more than was physically possible, especially when accounting for the thing’s skin.

There was something about the club.

Then he was past the creature.

Behind him, the creature sprang around, swinging at him with one of those massive arms. It too had claws, but instead of the curved ones he had inserted into his weapon, these were triangular with sharp edges. If they were smaller, they would make excellent arrowheads, but as they were, he could see them adding to the piercing power of a spear or dagger. Definitely useful for crafting. But like before, he felt the hopelessness of the simple fact he needed to kill it first. His mind was busy planning the future rather than concentrating on the present. Focus, he reminded himself over and over in his head.

The arm swung, missing him by half meters as he had already danced out of its way. He was getting ahead of himself and spending the prize before it had been won; it was ridiculous, and he needed to get his brain laser-focused on the battle.

He had positioned himself so that if he ran, he would run on the opposite circuit to the others, which would give them extra time to get to safety. Trudy and the kids were unfortunately close to the other side of the rectangular loop, so while running in the other direction would buy them time, it was not as much as he would have hoped.

He needed to do more than just run, Daniel realised. It would be best to delay the creature here as long as possible.

It stepped toward him and swung the same arm back at him. He ducked and stuck his club up, hoping the monster’s own power would let the claws cut it up. The impact almost twisted the weapon out of his hands. There was a spray of blood, so technically, the counter was successful, but he would not risk that type of block again because if he lost the club, he was dead. If he had a metal sword and the ability to use it, the result would be significantly different.

He danced back behind the next swing before neatly stepping forward into the created opening and swept the club over the stomach. Red scratches were left. It was something, but nowhere near enough. Yesterday, those cuts would have been sufficient to bleed any sort of animal to death. Just like the matadors in Spain did. Hundreds of little slashes to sap the bull’s strength. Now with magic and healing, those scrapes—they would close up by themselves. He was not sure that he was doing more damage than baseline healing rate, and if he was not achieving anything. well, he better pray he was doing above that minimum. It was going to be a long battle, even if these scratches ended up finishing it.

Buy time! That was the only thought in Daniel’s head. While trying to fight it head on seemed less than optimal, it was better than letting it turn its attention to the others, because they would be mowed down almost instantly.

It leapt at him and he sidestepped and was abruptly pinned in one the door alcoves as it turned with surprising grace and held its arms out like it was going to give a bear hug. However, with those sharp claws, he knew exactly what it planned on doing.

It brought its hands together like you would when trying to grab someone.

Daniel panicked. Those arms slowed, and then it was easy to duck under while swinging the club to do damage to its stomach as he exited. Even with his enhanced speed, the club seemed to glide over the flesh as opposed to dig in like it did with the previous zombie.

The moment he was under the arm, he released the speed boost and was not surprised to discover that he was breathing heavily. Then groaned when he saw the streaks of blood on the creature’s stomach.

Superficial damage. While the sharp edges had ripped through the shirt like it was not there, they had done little beyond that. There were also only two lines of red and a third broken one. One claw had barely contributed, with the last doing nothing at all.

Daniel retreated out of the range and with the way he was struggling to suck in air, there was no future in close combat. The after effects were just too dangerous.

Stupid, stupid, Daniel thought to himself. He had not needed to burn his speed boost. If he was going to win, he needed every advantage, and that had been a waste. Even a blind man—well, maybe not a blind man—but any able bodied human would have been able to see that the blow was avoidable, and he had seen, but panicked anyway. It was inexcusable.

Daniel backed away.

The brute of the monster was following him. He mimed charging it, and it responded by swinging its arms, but as the attacks and counters were feints on both sides, it was enough for Daniel to sway outside the creature’s counter and for it to stop the strike and shift into a defensive position.

They stood face to face, acknowledging each other. Despite Daniel’s disappointment with the stomach blow, the monster had felt it and this time it had protected itself.

That was not necessarily a sign of intelligence. If it adapted too quickly, then his speed advantage could be easily countered by its longer reach and near invulnerability.

“ROARRAG.”

Daniel resisted the instinct to wipe the spittle off his face. So loud and so unhygienic . . . If he fought as well as his internal monologue joked, then Daniel knew he was in trouble. It lunged towards him, and he jogged backwards.

They continued their weird dance around the circuit of hotel rooms and doors. Only a few more were broken into and he wondered how many of the intact ones contained extra zombies and whether there were any survivors still trapped behind the illusion of protection those doors represented. Another consideration for later. Daniel tried to slow their fight down by mock charging the creature. The technique was only ever partially successful. It felt like he would make it rock back and arrest its momentum, but then it would immediately respond with a couple of quick steps forward or a more aggressive lunge and in doing so eat up any time saving that he had managed. When he got to the opposite side from where he started, he saw Trudy’s door click shut.

And briefly, all he could think about was how Ivey would go explaining Anthony. With the ugly monster chasing him and trying to kill him, Daniel made a promise he would rescue the kids. He would fight to the ground and take them to safety and he would make whatever sacrifices that were necessary to ensure it. Even if it meant eating giant cores and turning into a mutated hulk himself.

Now that he no longer had to worry about the primary group being discovered, he started jogging slowly backwards, matching the monster’s looping run while successfully regaining his breath. There was not a speck of fresh blood on the monster while he had been regaining his breath. It had completely healed. That was a lesson for the future; he could not afford to burn his speed boost because recovering from it effectively reset the boss fight.

They went back to skirmishes. Walls got holes in them, doors broken, even the ceiling got smashed in and Daniels’s club drank the monster’s blood greedily. As he retreated, he was continually fighting, mainly scoring long scratches on the arms as they swished past him, but occasionally seizing the opportunity to tag the body when it overbalanced or put a fist through the wall.

It roared repeatedly. If there were other zombies in the hotel rooms, they had not attempted to break out and were instead cowed by the roars. Not that Daniel let them distract him. He fought back constantly so that blood dripped down. The monster was slow. It had strength, size, and tough skin, but luckily, Daniel was quicker. Every now and again, he triggered his speed to avoid a blow when he miscalculated, but he never needed more than a quarter of his reserves, so he could keep the pressure up.

Unfortunately, it was getting darker, and Daniel did not know how he would fight when the light vanished. Something told him that the monster could see perfectly in pitch blackness. It was possible that would not be the case, but it was possible fairy tales were real, too.

He snorted to himself as he created space once more. Fairy tales might be real. He could use magic and was fighting a goddamn zombie. There was nothing stopping those stories from having a reality.

“Half an hour,” Daniel muttered to himself as he ducked under yet another clumsy swing. The thing was big but slow, and that was all that kept him in the fight. “Half an hour. You need a plan,” he told himself as he jogged backwards, having worked out the creature had issues with coordination, particularly when he forced it to stop and start.

“Bleeding it to death is not working.”

Or at least it was not working fast enough. Daniel wiped sweat off his forehead. So he needed a different plan. Build traps! But what sort would work? More pressure plates. The first had hardly worked against this thing, and it was not like he had time to prepare something more powerful.

Something desperate, then.

Trick it into jumping out the window?

Daniel lunged forward and landed the club on the monster’s face.

“ROARDA!”

It clutched its eyes.

Blind it, maybe?

If he got more chances.

Its paw dropped, and the eye was indeed broken. However, as Daniel watched, the white opaque scar tissue dissipated till it was as good as new and, try as he might, he could not get close enough to land another blow. It had changed its entire offensive and defensive mix to protect its head.

There was no getting through that improved defence. He required an alternative plan.

How would someone like him go about getting it to jump out the window? Daniel thought to himself, not daring to talk out loud in case the remnants of the human’s brain were sufficiently cognisant to recognise his words.

To have any chance of tricking it, he would need to get it so enraged that it lost sense of reason.

Done.

It would need to believe he had retreated out a window . . . maybe with a rope. But no matter how far he stretched his imagination, he could not imagine it working. With planning, absolutely, he could have done it. Strung a hammock for him to land that could then swing away out of reach of the creature, but without prior preparation, he had no chance.

Just after they passed Trudy’s apartment, he saw the door open and the new girl slip out.

What? The monster heard the door click and hesitated. It was just for a moment, but Daniel seized the opportunity to launch a couple of head strikes. It saw him coming and protected its head, so he struck hard at the arms, tearing cuts into the thick skin, before its random, waving counterattack almost clipped him and forced him to retreat once more.

Electricity buzzed down the corridor and hit the monster, making its limbs spasm.

It was help, he realised, and he could not let the opportunity go to waste while it was distracted.

Daniel lunged forward, putting all of his weight into a blow, targeting the monster’s leg, which was the nearest spot to him. Lightning cracked over the club, but it did not expand far enough to shock him.

Until now, every blow apart from the first couple of useless strikes had been struck without committing himself completely. He had always left himself with a margin to retreat if something went wrong. This time, with the electricity apparently immobilising it, he went all out. The club seemed to welcome the opportunity, and he felt what was now a familiar distortion as he swung it at the leg. It landed with a wet thump. Mana seemed to flow out of his hand into it, and he sensed those claws under the skin wriggling and cutting the flesh up around the entry points. He wrenched the weapon back to prepare for another swing, but noticing that the dancing of sparks was slowing down, protected himself by stepping back.

Now was not the time to over-commit.

“ROARA.”

It lunged at him. Right choice, he told himself, having provided himself with space to step out of the way of the counterattack. The leg definitely looked darker, like you would expect if it was bleeding heavily, but it was hard to be certain in the rapidly fading light. The blow had landed properly and then with his growth magic turning those claws into worrying teeth, the wound would be shredded and bleed profusely.

Daniel smiled. If the girl could keep doing that, then maybe he could burn the monster before dark swung the battle decisively in its favour.

Carefully, he continued to kite the zombie.

Behind the creature, he saw the woman standing with a crackle of energy between her palms. Electricity arced out and hit the monster.

Daniel was already moving forward before it stuck fully. The leg he had hit earlier was still bleeding. They were on the west side of the building so he could actually see the glistening blood in the fur.

As the electricity spell immobilised it, he targeted the open wound, swinging once more with all of his might to do as much damage as quickly as possible. The muscle spasms from the lightning based on the first attack did not last long. Just enough time for one big hit or two rapid-fire ones. With this monster’s outrageous hardiness, a single giant hit hurt it over two lighter ones, which hardly affected it, so he put everything into the blow.

Some of his magic went into the club as his subconscious did its thing to increase the damage. The club shifted and changed its configuration as he struck, reorientating so those resident claws could cut a fresh wound. They were like scalpels dicing the flesh apart. Mirroring the previous attack, he waited a moment for those moving edges to do their thing and then pulled back. This time, instead of just leaving puncture marks, muscle and skin tore as the club came free. Then he was dancing away.

“RAOAGGA!”

Another face full of spit.

Daniel wiped both sweat and spit away as he jogged backwards to stay out of its reach. A small part of him was worried about the monster turning around and trying to get the girl, but he had enraged it sufficiently. After another third of the circuit, he was ready and waiting for the lightning and when it occurred, his feet were in position and while the creature was haloed in a waterfall of electricity, he wound up and brought the weapon down on the exposed thigh with everything he had. While breaking apart foundations with a sledgehammer, he had never hit something so hard before.

As he swung, he tested hitting slightly higher and then, if luck was with him, he could yank it towards the knee and shred a larger segment of the leg. Hopefully, he would hurt it enough to inflict a limp and slow it down. Then he could afford to take more risks and speed up the battle.

The blow landed just how he had imagined it. The claws seemed to widen and close just as they hit the skin. Once more it reminded him of a cat, but it was his magic doing it, as he could feel the draw out of his mana pool. The claws flexed and dug in, and then it was like hitting soil and discovering rock a few inches under the surface, soft, then clanging pain as it impacted and the club recoiled. He had struck bone. Pulling as he had mentally rehearsed toward the knee, this time flesh came with it.

There was no roar. Instead, the monster lunged forward to squash him. If Daniel was not mistaken, it felt more desperate suddenly. Maybe its cunning animal mind had been playing for darkness to swing the fight its way and now it realised with the extra help that time was no longer on its side and it wanted to finish things quickly.

The lunge was too slow; he had already retreated far enough away not to be in danger. However, it unbalanced the beast and it ended up having to use its arms to prevent itself from face planting. Vindictively, Daniel brought the club down on the exposed elbow joint targeting the funny bone. The claws seemed to shift so that only a single claw was lined up with the joint and the club hit with a satisfying clang that made the club almost jump out of his hand.

He could only imagine how painful getting hit that hard by a thin spike on the funny bone would be.

“ROARAGA!!!”

The pain in the roar was exactly what he was imagining. “Better you than me, bud.”

Daniel retreated, openly smiling in triumph. That roar had been one of pure agony directed straight up at the roof.

The monster limped after him. He kept feinting and doing minor damage while waiting for the next lightning attack.

Healing energy wavered over to him. Glancing over, he saw Ivey in one of the darkened interior rooms with its door smashed in. The glow of her spell lit up her features like an angel.

Hide! He felt like screaming it out. Daniel lunged forward to score a shallow cut on the monster’s chest to make sure it was distracted and did not focus on Ivey. Then he danced away, avoiding the counter attack without resorting to his slow time spell.

“I will kill you,” he screamed. Don’t look into the room. Don’t see her. “Stupid overgrown ape.”

It lumbered after him, ignoring Ivey’s room.

“Thank you, god.”

Electricity hit and he exploited the opening. Then he continued the pattern as its limp got more and more pronounced to where he could see bone continuously.

Still, it fought and its wound, while material, was only just slowing it down.

“I don’t need healing,” he yelled as he approached the spot Ivey hid. “No healing.”

“ROARRAG!”

The monster thought he was taunting it and it had responded.

“You are a dumb shit,” he told it.

“ROARRAG!”

Electricity struck it, cutting it off mid-yell. Daniel activated speed and blurred forward. One strike, then two, the second one dragged down from the hip to the knee, leaving the entire bone exposed. It was a fresh cut, but it was barely bleeding. It was a sign that Daniel was sure meant that the battle was almost over.

Breathing heavily, he retreated, and it followed. It was getting close to full darkness, but he could see the shape of the girl that had saved him as she was following closer. He wanted to tell her to leave more space between her and the monster, but having someone who could throw lightning nearby was sort of comforting.

Another arc of power. It reacted and leapt at him. With a burst of enhanced speed, he avoided the strike, and with the monster’s gaping gash and its muscles spasming from the lightning, the creature fell on its face.

It was not dead, but it had to be close. Daniel took the risk and stepped forward and started hammering the back of the neck. If he struck hard enough, he might sever the spinal cord.

It attempted to regain its feet. More electricity hit it. He had not known she could double cast, but like him, she had probably been holding resources in reserve to allow herself to react if the situation demanded it.

The monster collapsed again as the energy made its muscles spasm. Daniel kept hitting the same spot and he could feel the shifting of bone with each blow.

Crack.

Another hit and then he tried a massive smash. A full wind up and he brought the club down. As it fell, he could see the club distort so that only a single claw was extended. He hit the backbone, and the club went all the way in. Spatial logic told him that the claw he had seen must have slipped between two bones and was in the spinal cord cavity. He doubted that it would have broken off.

He wiggled the club, and the monster that had been getting to its feet instead face planted with its limbs going limp.

“Ivey, knife,” he yelled while continuing to wiggle the club, hoping that the claw would keep slicing through the spinal cord. It felt like it was out-healing the damage, and they were against a ticking clock.

The hand near him twitched. Ivey was running up.

Time for another big hit. He had to switch his strikes up. Daniel pulled the club out, attempting to repeat his earlier success. Once more, he put all of his muscles into the blow. The club seemed to twist in his hands as it hit and he could feel the claw slipping in, potentially deeper than the previous successful blow.

Daniel jiggled the club, and then Ivey was there with the metal blade. He fell to his knees, with his faithful club resting next to him. It had done its job, but an actual blade was better for this bit. Thrusting into the backbone, the club had taught him what he needed to do. He used the knife to pry open two bones and then slipped the blade in, cutting till the two bones separated. Blood was everywhere, but it was now properly paralysed. Switching from restraining it to killing it, it took six stabs to pierce the aorta artery on the neck. He kept stabbing, keeping the wound open as blood flooded out.

Then the blood slowed, and he realised he could stop stabbing it.

It was dead.

Ivey was beaming at him. He looked down, and he was drenched in blood like a barbarian of myth.