Take Down Chapter 57: Water Stallion Fight

“He is well known for his temper,” the orb commented, “but, if you placed me into his chest he will be imbued with the knowledge of you saving the young beavers and his attitude towards you will change.”

“Does that mean he will become by companion?” you asked.

“Yes. He will devote himself to you for the rest of his life,” the orb confirmed.

“Well… that would be handy to have such a terrifying water stallion at my beck and call,” you said.

“All you have to do is get his health down to 50% before you can place me into his chest,” the orb continued. 

“Half?” you asked, looking up at the stallion again as he pawed at the earth and shook his watery mane.

“You do not have to do this, of course,” the orb said, “you do run the risk of having your own life taken…”

The orbs words struck home and you stood there for a minute weighing up your options.

“I COULD walk away from this. I’m nowhere near strong enough to take on a level 5 boss but then again if I didn’t take the challenge I’d be regretting it my whole life. I could start the fight and then back out if I feel like I’m losing…”

Your fist clenched around the orb and you set your face with determination.

“Ok. Let’s do this,” you said to the orb.

“Very well,” it replied, “keep me in your pocket and when Ægir’s health gets to 50% then you may insert me into his chest.”

You nodded and placed the orb in your pocket then took a step closer to the stallion who flattened his ears back against his watery head and bared his teeth at you but didn’t advance.

“It appears that he can’t leave the riverbed… which is good,” you thought, looking over the area to best determine how you were going to take this fearful equine on. 

Squaring up, you stomped your foot on the ground and shouted ‘Ha!’ at the stallion, watching your sonic attack reverberate out from under your foot and send tremors into the stallions fluid body as he stood in the dried up river bed.

The angered horse belted out an animalistic scream but your attack only took 2% of his health and you scrunched your nose with frustration.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” you thought with utter disbelief when you saw how dismal your attack had just been, “this is ridiculous. I’m gonna need something a little more powerful.”

Taking a step back, you set your face with determination and took a flying leap at the horse, calling for ‘move’ as you jumped up into the air.

As usual, time slowed down for you, giving you breathing space to place the red line perfectly across the stallion’s back then start your whip attack but Ægir was a little faster in his movements than you had expected and he spun, ducked, and then threw himself away from you while at the same time, flicking his rock hard hooves out as he jumped to make that connection.

Your red line, which had been perfectly placed across his back, was now marking the dry riverbed. And as you came down, his rear hooves suddenly connected with your right shoulder and sent you flying down the dry canal.

Unsurprisingly, the wind was knocked out of you as you hit the dirt and rolled a few times from the momentum.

“Shit,” you gasped internally as you grabbed for your shoulder.

Even if you had wanted to let out a cry of pain, you couldn’t; you were too stunned by the sudden sting that had engulfed one side of your body and you lay there in a crumpled heap for a minute.

Your whole world was consumed with this sudden attack, so much so, that it drowned out the sound of thunderous hooves approaching you and you looked up just in time to see Ægir bearing down on you, his ears flat back against his head with his mouth open and teeth bared, ready to maim you.

“Fuck!” 

You were up in an instant and stumbling for the river bank but his teeth managed to grab a hold of your right shoulder and instead of running for safety, you found yourself thrown backwards the other way as a flurry of hooves then assaulted you.

In all honesty, you don’t know know you managed to get out of there without dying but once you had scrambled up on the side of the river and looked at your health bar, your heart sank.

“67% health… from two strikes by his hooves and one bite… and I’ve only managed to deal out 3% damage to his health. The odds are not looking very good.” 

As you suspected, Ægir couldn’t come out of the riverbed and he roared his displeasure at this as he raced up and down the dried up track, impatiently wanting to finish you off.

After catching your breath a little, you sat up, still clutching your right arm in your other hand as you looked at Ægir.

“Should I just quit while I’m ahead now? There’s no way for me to beat this horse… Is there?” 

You warred with yourself over what to do and your logical brain started to throw the maths at you.

“Ok, well if Ægir is able to deal 11% damage at a time with each of his hits, while I’m only able to deal, let’s say, 3% at the bare minimum, then I can only sustain approximately 4 more hits until I get to 23% health… which is probably the lowest I’ll let it go. Anything lower than that and I’m in serious trouble. And with Ægir I only have to get his health down to 50% so with my hits chipping 3% each time then I have to land 16 more hits…”

Your heart sank and you pulled a face as your logical side told you it was impossible. 

Yet, your optimistic side told you you just might have a chance still.

Gingerly you got up and let go of your right shoulder to move it a little- making sure it wasn’t completely useless, and stared Ægir down with determination while you moved your shoulder joint around.

“Ok, Ægir, let’s see what you’ve got,” you thought as you walked closer to the edge of the riverbed, “I’m going to see if I can reach him with my ‘spin’ attack and imbue it with the cobra poison to see if that deals out any more damage.”

Quickly opening your inventory, you added your cobra poison viles to the skill list and closed the tab down.

“Spin!” You called, dancing delicately along the ridge of the riverbed and watching as the purple, green, and brown haze swirled out and down to where Ægir has reared up in defiance.

<<< Take Down Chapter 56: Who Is Ægir?

Take Down Chapter 58: Fighting Even >>>