Blood Bat Boss Fight

That was twice in a row, I thought to myself as I resumed running through the forest in the dark. I couldn’t believe I zoned out and lowered my guard yet again. This time, it could have easily cost me my life.

The second I lifted my head up and locked eyes with the giant blood bat looming above me, while I sat on the ground with my back against a tree, I knew for sure it was over. From its sheer size alone, any of its attacks would have instantly cost me twenty percent of my health, if not half. But as the creature reeled its massive head back and prepared to vomit acid fire at me, I felt a jolt throughout my entire body. Suddenly, I was able to move with intense speed, fast enough to successfully avoid the fiery acidic blast as it struck.

“That was too close this time,” Rachel said as I continued running through the woods, while the massive blood bat chased after me by flying above the trees. The creature had no trouble keeping pace; it didn’t have rocks or roots sticking out of the ground to worry about. I was constantly being bombarded with giant acidic fireballs from above, as the larger blood bat tried to incinerate me no matter what. I couldn’t hide, I couldn’t stop, and I was starting to tire from constantly dodging the blasts at the last second.

However, I wasn’t just running all over the place. I had a plan. I was leading the creature back toward the forest clearing, back to where I had first woken up. I wanted to fight it in the open.

“That is not a very bright idea,” Rachel said, tearing down my plan immediately.

“Well, I don’t hear you coming up with a better one,” I replied.

I skipped over a massive boulder as yet another blast of acid fire scorched the spot I had been standing a moment ago. Unlike me, the creature didn’t seem to be losing stamina at all.

“Well, whatever you end up doing, be careful,” Rachel said. “Don’t blow it,. Or, you know, get blown.”

I emerged into the forest clearing a few seconds later, having gained some distance from the creature. I used my brief moment of peace to prep myself for the coming battle.

“Arrows,” I called, and a sudden bright glow from my back left fresh arrows in my quiver before quickly dissipating. I smirked, gazing at the fresh batch of weapons. I was ready.

I took an arrow from the quiver, nocked it, then drew back on the string. I waited, squinting in the direction of the forest I had just run out from. But nothing happened. Nothing came rushing after me from above the treetops, nothing came flying out of the forest. The place was quiet, and I didn’t like that.

It was only when I decided to ask Rachel to help pinpoint the blood bat’s location that I finally saw it. It was like a missile in the sky, coming at me from afar.

It had its wings tucked in at its sides, its massive head aimed directly at my location as it shot toward me at an impossible velocity. It was trying to...

I couldn’t get out of the way in time.

Using its massive head as a giant battering ram, the creature bulldozed into me at a hundred miles per hour, sending me flying several yards back into the opposite side of the woods and slamming my body against a tree. A wave of pain exploded throughout my entire body and, as a result, my breathing ceased for a moment. I fell an instant later, hitting the side of my face on the ground. Stars. I was seeing stars.

“Hunter! Are you okay?!” Rachel’s voice came from inside my head, strained with worry. “Hunter!”

I tried speaking, but I couldn’t breathe. Everything was broken. My chest had collapsed in on itself and I was sure a rib or two had punctured my liver. The inside of my mouth was quickly filling with blood, and I spat some of it out as I struggled to get back on my feet. I could breathe again, but it came out in deep, ragged wheezes. An icon appeared in the corner of my vision indicating that I had rapidly dropped in health. I was now at sixty-two percent.

Shit, I thought to myself, coughing up blood. I absolutely cannot take another hit like that.

I was in the process of trying to stand when I heard Rachel’s voice again.

“No! What are you doing? Stay down. It thinks you’re dead.” She whispered the last part, almost as if she didn’t want the creature to hear. I wanted to poke fun at how unnecessary that was, since I was the only one who could hear her, but I was certain I would have just coughed up more blood instead. My head was throbbing, and nausea hit me hard. She was right. It was best to sit it out and pretend I was dead.

Besides, I couldn’t even find my bow. It must have landed in a patch of bushes somewhere when I was sent airborne.

It took some time, but eventually the creature left. I heard its massive wings flapping away and decided it was safe to come out. Rachel performed a quick scan of the area and gave the all-clear for me to step out from the shadows. I limped about for a bit and soon found my bow. I decided to keep it on me just in case, instead of reabsorbing it back into my inventory. I still had a quiver full of arrows, so I didn’t have to worry about summoning more for a while.

“Well, there’s good news, and certainly bad news,” Rachel said, her upbeat personality having returned.

“What’s the bad news?” I asked, trying my best to sound casual despite being covered in scrapes, bruises, and broken bones.

“The bad news is, we are still very much knee-deep in monster territory and we really need to get going.”

“Alright.” I smiled. “What’s the good news then?”

“Why don’t you see for yourself?”

Rachel brought up a blue screen that nearly took up my entire field of vision. She was showing me a window containing my stats.

__________

Basic Info:

Name: Hunter

Age: 22

Height: 7’2”

Weight: 360 pounds

Class: Monster Slayer, Weapon Summoner

Level: 3

EXP: 9

Silver Coins: 18

Skills:

Combat Level: 14%

Weapon Summoning: Level 2

Available Weapons and Items:

Bow

Arrows

Sword

Dagger

Special Abilities:

Weapon Summoning by Voice: Available

AI Companion: Active

AI Capability: 8%

Enhanced Speed and Agility: Unlocked (2%)

__________

“Nice,” I said, pleased with what I was seeing. I had gone up a level, gained more combat and experience points, unlocked a new ability I didn’t even know was possible, and even Rachel had gotten a few upgrades of her own. Even though I ended up avoiding the boss fight with the giant blood bat altogether, I still appreciated the progress we made.

“Looks really good, Rachel,” I said, happy with how we had performed. If it hadn’t been for my AI companion, I would have been in a lot more pain—or probably even dead. “So thank you,” I added. “You saved my ass quite a few times back there.”

“Just doing my job, boss,” she replied, simultaneously closing my stats window and pulling up a map of the nearest town in the corner of my vision. “This is where we’re going next,” she said, indicating a spot on the map with a white dot. “Hopefully we’ll be able to find a healer there to fix you up.” She closed out the map and left me with an unobstructed view.

"Yeah, and maybe more answers as to what I’m meant to be doing in this world," I muttered.

I remembered the sudden memory flashback just before the creature attacked. I wasn’t from this world, and yet, I had somehow been trained to survive in it.

I also briefly wondered if I was the only one. The flashback had shown me training alongside other children. Did they also get transported? And if they were, where were they now?

“I will be providing audible navigation for this trip,” Rachel offered, snapping me back to the present. “So let’s get going.”

“Alright,” I said, wincing a little from my injuries. “Let’s go.”