Take Down Chapter 58: Fighting Even

Unfortunately for you, the distance between you and Ægir was too great and your attack did nothing. All it did was swirl around just in front of his nose, which made him angry, more than anything else.

“Ah Damn it,” you grunted internally pissed that you had wasted a perfectly good move, “I need to get closer with this one if I want it to work but then I run the risk of being trampled if I go into the riverbed.”

Your eyes travelled up and over to the other side of the river, trying to find the narrowest part that you just might be able to jump across.

Seeing a section a little further down, you headed towards it, while Ægir followed on underneath as the riverbed deepened a little, all the while letting out snorts of annoyance and neighs of challenge.

“I think I might be able to jump this?” You mused to yourself, figuring if you could attack from above him, and not land in the river bed, it would save your health bar immensely.

Deciding to test it out, you took a few steps back then ran at the gap and threw yourself across, grinning when you landed neatly on the other side.

“Ok. I can make that jump… now to incorporate the attack as well.”

You turned back around and looked down at Ægir, noting that he was very intent on getting you and was following your every movement with his intense red eyes.

“If I can get him to just, run then maybe it will stop him dodging so much and I can get him to run underneath me as I jump over and use my whip.” 

As you were paused in contemplation, Ægir screamed his impatience and pawed at the ground, momentarily taking his attention off you so you took the opening and shouted ‘move’ as you threw yourself across the gap.

Thankfully, that time, you were a small step ahead of Ægir and managed to strike him across the rump as you somersaulted over him and landed on the other side.

He roared in anger and you quickly turned to look at his health bar.

It had only dropped another 2%

“Ok. I need to get faster. I need to focus more. I need to hit harder.”

Determined, you straightened and jogged along the top of the riverbed while your stallion opponent trotted along underneath.

Suddenly, you turned back the other way and ran towards the section of the riverbed that was narrowest so you could jump across and Ægir gave chase, galloping back to follow you.

“Move!” you shouted, jumping the gap and quickly lining the irate water equine up as you passed overhead.

Forcefully, you smacked your whips across him and celebrated internally when they landed square across his back.

You were so happy that you had landed a solid hit that you forgot to focus on landing and your foot slipped on impact, sending you sliding down the bank and into Ægir’s area of attack.

The stallion, at seeing you in his riverbed, spun on his hooves and shot back towards you, watery mane and tail flowing out behind him as he charged you down.

“Spin!” you shouted in fear, jumping up and throwing yourself out of the way as your cobra infused purple haze encircled him.

The thick swirling mass of colour blinded him long enough for you to scramble to safety and you looked back to check his health as you stayed on hands and knees on higher ground.

You out a sigh of relief when you saw that your whip attack and cobra poison haze had, combinely, knocked Ægir’s health down another 11%, sitting it nearly at 84%.

“Ok. I just need to keep doing that.”

You got up again and tested out your shoulders, rolling them around to limber them up a bit. Your right shoulder and arm still hurt a little from before but it wasn’t feeling too bad so you started planning your next jump.

Due to the fear of stacking the landing like last time, you focused heavily on the landing but also managed to land another solid ‘move’ hit which you were proud of- but all this running and jumping was starting to tire you out.

Surprisingly, as well, your health was still holding but it had dropped a tad when you slipped a fell so you were now at 63%.

“I need to do another spin attack, but I can’t get close enough,” you thought, jogging along the top of the riverbed again to get Ægir to follow you so when you jumped next you could line up his running form perfectly. 

Spinning and running back to gap, you jumped, forcing your whips harder and faster as you passed over and you got another sharp shot in, hitting him right across his back.

Unfortunately, your landing was a little off and you lost your footing on the loose soil at the edge of the ravine and tumbled down the bank.

“Spin!” you called immediately, knowing that if you caught Ægir in your haze, you could stop him from getting to you but Ægir had seen the haze at the last minute and had jumped to the side to avoid being trapped, then lunged at you, teeth bared menacingly.

“Shit!” you yelled, jumping up and throwing your arms across your body to cushion the attack before he slammed into you and sent you flying.

Doing your best in a dire situation, you twisted your body mid-air and landed on your feet but the momentum sent you backwards on your ass just as Ægir passed you, and he threw his hooves out the side at the same time that you called for ‘spin’ again, this time catching him in your attack a second before his hooves connected with you and sent you flying clear across into the bank, your head slamming into the packed dirt on the other side.

Your hearing went weird and your eyes felt heavy but you knew if you didn’t get out of there you’d be killed by the stallion and so drawing on all the strength you had left, you pulled yourself up the side of the bank and collapsed on the top, panting and gasping for air as you cradled your head in your hands.

You could hear Ægir below, whinnying and snorting but for now you couldn’t do a damn thing.

When you finally did open your eyes there was blood pouring from your forehead and you touched your fingers to it lightly then looked at your health bar.

52%

“Fuck….”

Weakly, you half sat up and looked down at Ægir’s health, which had taken a hit once again from your ‘move’ attack, then ‘spin’, and had dropped another 11%, making it now 72%.

“So I’m at 52% and he’s at 72%… we’re both even. 21% to go till we reach our end points.”

<<< Take Down Chapter 57: Water Stallion Fight

Take Down Chapter 59: A New Companion >>>