Arwin cracked his neck, then took a step forward and reared back, flinging one of his swords at the lizard’s head mid-roar. It struck it with a thunk and the monster hissed in fury. “What are you doing?” Reya exclaimed. “You just threw away one of your weapons!” “I can’t dual wield,” Arwin said with a chuckle. He pointed his enchanted sword at the lizard. “Come on, then. Those scales of yours look like they’d be good to practice making armor with.” That proved to be the final straw. Arwin still wasn’t sure if the average monster was intelligent enough to understand his insults, but it definitely picked up on the tone of his voice. Letting out a furious hiss, the lizard’s limbs blurred into motion and it charged. Arwin moved to meet it, old instincts kicking back in immediately. It felt like it had been a long time since he’d been in a proper fight, and he didn’t have the abilities he’d had as the Hero, but he still had more than enough to work with. The lizard’s head snapped down to bite at Arwin’s neck. He jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack, and brought his sword down on the monster’s neck while sending some magical energy through the blade. A dull hum rang out as the blade rang against the Lizard’s scales, failing to penetrate through them. Small ripples of dull, nearly invisible magic remained in the spot where he’d struck the monster. Arwin jumped into the air as the lizard’s tail whipped out and smashed into the ground where he’d been standing. His jump didn’t take him nearly as far as he’d planned, though. Arwin dropped back to the ground far sooner than he’d expected and the monster lunged for him again. Cursing, he threw himself into a roll. A loud crunch rang out as the monster’s teeth slammed shut just above him, and Arwin slammed his sword into the same spot he’d struck before. More magical power left his body as the magic resonating on the lizard’s scales intensified, but they were still whole and undamaged. Her dagger had driven deep into the monster’s already injured side, and it let out a pained scream. It spun toward Reya, making its final mistake. The momentary distraction was just enough for Arwin to close the rest of the distance between them. He brought his sword down, using the last dregs of his magic to drive his sword into the resonating wound on its neck. The lizard thrashed and screamed as the power thrummed through it, and a mixture from the magic and the deepening wound finally won over. It crashed to the ground, Arwin’s sword nearly all the way through its neck, and spasmed in death throes. One of its thrashing claws caught Arwin on the chest as he tried to step out of the way. His flesh burned as he was thrown to the ground with a pained grunt. He rolled to safety and pressed a hand to his chest, feeling warm blood start to trickle down his chest. “Arwin!” Reya yelled, running over to him. “Are you–” The words died in Reya’s mouth as she skidded to a stop, staring at the wound. It was little more than a nasty cut. It was bleeding pretty badly, but it was nowhere near the fatal wound it should have been. She blinked in disbelief. “What? How? I saw its claw go right into your chest!” “I told you,” Arwin said with a dry chuckle. He pushed himself to his feet, brushing the dirt off his back and sides. “I’m more than a mere smith.” And still, that was closer than I would have liked. I overestimated my strength – but that was a good baseline for determining where I stand. I can probably handle monsters up to Apprentice 6 if I’m doing everything perfectly, but it’ll depend on how they fight. I’m at a huge disadvantage against anything faster than me, and I’m going to need some proper armor. Reya looked from Arwin to the dead monster, disbelief and awe warring in her eyes. The awe won the fight and she ran her hands through her hair, then down her face. “I can’t believe it. You killed a monster. A crafter killed a monster stronger than him.” “And I helped! How is that possible? How are we alive?” “Pretty simple. We hit it harder.” A grin cracked Arwin’s expression at the glare Reya sent him. He trudged over to the body of the dead lizard. Reya’s dagger still stuck out of its side, and he nodded to it. “Take your weapon back. Did you get anything for helping me kill it?” “No. I don’t have a class yet.” Reya finally snapped out of it and walked over to join him. And I didn’t get anything either. Makes sense. I’m a crafter. The Mesh isn’t going to reward me for killing things – but that hardly matters. All the reward I need is right here in front of me. Reya pulled her dagger out of the dead lizard with a grunt. She examined it for a moment, then wiped the blood off on the grass and returned the blade to its sheath. “What now?” Reya asked wearily. “Please don’t tell me we’re going after another one. We barely made it through one.” “Depends how fast we work,” Arwin replied as he knelt, wedging his sword beneath one of the scales near the wound and leaning on it. With a crack, the scale popped off and fell to the grass. “I’m not leaving until we scrape this thing dry of any useful materials. You keep watch and let me know if anything else is coming. I’ll cut this thing up, and then we can grab everything we can carry and head back to the city.” Reya swallowed and nodded, squinting into the forest while Arwin got to work. Perhaps it was because the corpse of the last monster that tried them was sitting in open view, or perhaps it was just sheer luck, but no other monsters emerged to attack over the next hour. Arwin worked in silence, ripping scales and claws off as efficiently as he could. He’d never stripped a monster before, but to his luck, the lizard’s scales were so firm that they were hard to damage unless he actively started wailing on them. “Is this really going to be enough?” Reya asked. “To beat the thieves’ guild, I mean. There are thirty of them, and some of them are at the top of Apprentice. Their leader is a Journeyman.” “It’ll be enough,” Arwin replied. “It has to be, and so it will.”