Sezel gasped, his every muscle screamed with torn, white-hot pain. That last blow had sent him skidding down the tiled corridor like so much broken glass.
The beast shrieked in pained madness, the rage of losing its arm and the pain of its own scythes gashing its abdomen was driving the monster crazy, with what little intelligence it had. His one remaining eye, as black as coal, fixated on Sezel.
The Flesh Reaper was in no mood to let his opponent leave this place alive, after all, it had cost him his arm. Without much time to groan, Sezel stumbled back to his legs. The katana still held in his hands, a fleeting anchor in the sea of death.
The beast crouched its legs a little, and with a blur of motion, launched itself towards Sezel with terrifying speed, the scythe lined in front of it, aiming to cut the body of the human in half.
He dove toward the beast's blindside, keeping eternally to its ruined, bleeding eye. As soon as his feet found purchase, he lashed out with the katana—aiming for a joint at the leg, but the Flesh Reaper was too quick; the tip of his blade rang against chitin and found nothing vital.
Attacking it at any random place wouldn't be effective, as its body was covered with hard chitin all over, just some places which are vital for movements were left uncovered. So, it was possible to cut the monster's body if attacked at the right place.
That is the joints between his shoulder, the arm, the joints between its legs. Those were the places Sezel had to aim for.
The beast skittered to a halt and spun, shuddering with rage stoked even brighter by Sezel's harrying tactics. Sezel clenched his jaw. He knew that dodging it forever was not possible, and the way his body was looking, he would fall soon.
'I am a human, my body can't stand against the resilience of that beast.'
His eyes flicked to the metal grill at the edge, the ground floor below. If he could lure the beast there and send it crashing down, maybe that would be enough. While he was distracted, the beast launched itself again, this time it sprinted to not miss its target.
Sezel tried jumping aside at the very last moment but was met with the furious counter of the beast. It flayed its scythe sidewards and hit Sezel, not as strong as earlier but enough to send him crashing through a side chamber's doorway.
Sezel spat out a glob of thick red blood, his internal organs damaged, even his hands started to feel numb now because of the pain. But excuses would cost him his life, the very life he had wanted to live.
He pushed himself up, but before he could, the monster was upon him without pause, its remaining eye wild and ragged. Sezel managed to get up, parrying a barrage of furious strikes; metal and chitin raked at one another, the sounds echoing through the empty palace.
The scythe came again, Sezel ducked low, letting it pass overhead and then leapt, ramming the katana into the monster's last remaining eye. The monster let out a shriek of pure agony, burning with rage, it jerked its whole body in a frantic motion.
Sezel's grip slipped, sending him flying back across the glass-strewn corridor. He landed hard, blood soaking through his battered shirt, mind threatening to black out beneath the pain.
His white shirt soon turned red, "Damn it, Ahhhh." Now, the monster was blind. It thrashed, slashing and smashing at the sound of his breathing, tracking him through the echo of every painful gasp.
Sezel's heart stopped, his mind blanked, and a sense of despair washed over him, 'Is there no way out of this?' he asked himself, but then a desperate idea occurred, and he laid down on the floor filled with glass splinters.
Blood pooled beneath him, but that was worth it. The beast went barreling past, missing Sezel by inches, smashing the grill with a blind swat. It slashed at the grill, cutting it in half, the upper half of the pillar fell down with a few grill pieces, slashed by the Flesh Reaper.
This was it, this was the moment Sezel had been waiting for. He acted on pure instinct, forcing his body upright and leaping onto the monster's face. He found the blade still in its ruined eye, he gripped the katana and pulled it out, black foul liquid splattered out as the beast let out a broken cry.
The next moment, the beast faltered, and Sezel pushed it down the half grill, clinging to its body. They tumbled together off the edge. The Flesh Reaper below and Sezel on its top. The beast hesitated and didn't stab Sezel with the scythe, afraid it might hit itself again.
This fear that Sezel had created within the Flesh Reaper's mind became its doom. Falling down, Sezel loosened his grip on the beast's body. The Flesh Reaper was confused and soon it realized what was happening, but it was too late. Before it could do anything.
The pointed edges of the grill he had cut, three of them pierced the beast's chitin, one of them stabbed through its heart.
Sezel fell on the ground with a thud nearby, letting out a cold shout of agony. But relief flooded as he saw the bug-like beast twitch a few times before going silent.
[Congratulations, You have slain a Flesh Reaper]
A jagged smile split Sezel's face, "I...I win, you damned bug."
He had done it. Sezel had slain a rank 4 enhanced beast, a foe so strong that even a rank 3 slayer would fail, but Sezel had done it despite being a rank 0.
He pushed himself up, but fell back, his right hand and leg broken, his whole body battered and bloody, a mess, and still he had to stand. The death of Flesh Reaper brought in more problems.
About ten of the Fanged Serpents closed in.