[h2][center]Geralt of Rivia[/center][/h2]
[center]The Avenger- Dreaming[/center]
[center] Lvl 14 Geralt (32/140) -> Lvl 14 (35/140) (+2 pending)[/center]
[center]Word count: 1,380 words[/center]


Geralt’s tracking had taken him to an extremely dense forest, and he almost instinctively sighed. Of course the monstrous thing had run for the woods. The scent it left was like no other, a combination of different kinds of blood, rot, and manufactured products. The blood was of both man and beast, and the rot was…wrong. Wrong for [i]rot[/i], which was saying a lot in and of itself. Taking another slow breath, Geralt nodded. He was still going the right way. Before entering the woods, he took stock of what he had. 

He had applied hybrid oil to his silver sword, though he had no idea if it would have any effect. The descriptions he’d gotten of the creature pointed that way, but there was no real way of knowing. He hadn’t recognized the description, which was frustratingly common nowadays. Still, no point in delaying further. 

After a while of traipsing through the forest, the scent trail he was following got much heavier. He was close now. Freeing his silver sword, Geralt kept the blade close by, creeping forward. As the minutes passed by, him creeping ever onward, Geralt started to hear a voice. “I love you.” Was the first thing he made out, and it set him on edge instantly. Mimicry? Could be a cursed one, or a hybrid. Still, it gave him a better idea of [i]exactly[/i] where his quarry was. He drew his hand crossbow, his other still holding the sword to the side, and took a spot behind a tree. Steadying his breath, he waited to hear the voice again before striking. 

Stepping out from behind the tree, he leveled the crossbow and fired, stowing the ranged weapon before even registering that the bolt struck. The [url=https://i.imgur.com/RpkfBfv.png]creature[/url] was, truly, like nothing Geralt had seen. Five walking limbs, with what looked like a human arm protruding from its head. Its head had multiple mouths and sets of eyes, and he wondered if that back foot could kick as well. 

Wasting no time, Geralt cast the Sign of Quen, having refrained earlier to avoid accidentally alerting the creature. It launched forward with a screech, kicking off the ground with all five limbs and charging Geralt with surprising speed. He evaded with a sidestep, his silver sword coming up and across the thing’s side, leaving a slight trail of blood in its flank. In return, the Nothing There slashed at geralt’s midsection with the claw arm on its head, gouging a good portion of Quen’s defenses out. Grunting, Geralt tackled the thing, bashing it in the head with his pommel. 

The Nothing There reared back, kicking with its mutilated forelimbs, and lunged forward in an attempt to bite Geralt, only to be kicked aside and stabbed in the flank. Barely reacting to the sword in its body, the creature grabbed Geralt with the claw on its head, drawing him close to its body and biting through what was left of Quen’s shielding, its teeth catching on his armor. 

“Damn!” The Witcher cursed, pulling his sword from the Nothing There and backing away to cast Quen again. It seemed the thing had a similar idea, as it curled in on itself and [url=https://i.imgur.com/bbzUzow.png]began transforming.[/url] Geralt drew close and crashed his pommel into the egg’s shell, but it neither budged nor cracked in the slightest, merely rocked slightly from the impulse. An attempt to slash open the egg was similarly fruitless, and Geralt sighed. Waiting a good twenty or so seconds, Geralt unleashed a concentrated blast of flames from Igni, and that got more of a reaction, with the outer layer of the egg overheating and cracking slightly. 

However, it was not enough, and after a few more seconds, the egg cracked open, and a true [url=https://i.imgur.com/VRfBk8z.png]monster[/url] emerged. “Damn, you’re ugly.” Geralt sneered, immediately lunging forward to cut the humanoid monstrosity down, but it brought up its mace-arm with lightning-fast reflexes and batted aside Geralt’s sword, bending over to sink its teeth into the Witcher’s neck while holding him close with its other arm. Quen quickly began to falter, and Geralt used his free hand to quickly draw his hunting knife, plunging it into one of the eyes on the Nothing There’s chest, using the shock of the damage to free himself. “Faster than you look, then…” he muttered, stepping backwards cautiously and pulling free a Grapeshot grenade, tossing it at his foe. 

The Nothing There dodged effortlessly, though its back was still peppered with shrapnel when the bomb exploded. This didn’t prompt a response, the creature curiously observing Geralt, who narrowed his eyes in return. Delaying the fight didn’t hurt, as Geralt hadn’t noticed any exceptional regeneration abilities in the creature so far, beyond the metamorphosis. The eye on its chest was still weeping blood, a large gash torn through it by his hunting knife. 

“Goodbye.” It suddenly said, and Geralt had only a moment to raise his blade as the monster’s arm transformed into a massive blade, the nothing There surging forward to cleave him in two. The impact between their weapons rattled Geralt’s bones, and before Geralt could recover from the blow, it swiped its clawed hand across Geralt’s face, before its toothy maw found purchase on Geralt’s skull, its massive teeth grinding against the Witcher’s cheekbone. As one side of his vision filled with blood, Geralt’s hand weakly came up to draw the Sign of Aard, telekinetic force blasting the creature off of him, and taking a chunk of flesh with it. 

Half-blinded and shaking from blood loss, Geralt raised his silver sword again, grimacing angrily. He wouldn’t die here. He’d survived worse. He just had to find his opportunity to kill this thing, and let Swallow do the hard work. But he couldn’t…take the seconds it would require right now. Not against this thing. 

Its arm had returned to its mace-like form, though Geralt noticed that the eye on its chest seemed less damaged than before. So, it [i]could[/i] regenerate. Whether that was from consuming his flesh or its own natural healing was irrelevant. Another bite like that would kill him. Taking a more defensive stance, Geralt waited for the Nothing There’s next attack. 

It jumped forward a moment later, slamming its mace-hand down in an overhead slam, but Geralt dodge, cutting at the smaller of its arms, the one with the many eyes along it, and earning a splash of blood from it for his efforts. Keeping this thing on his good side was simple enough, as it seemed either unconcerned or unaware that it had made him a much easier target already. Geralt stepped back, watching as the Nothing There mimicked his movement. His remaining eye narrowed, and Geralt lunged forward, catching the eye on its shoulder with a quick slash before stepping back out of the range of a clumsy follow-up with its mace-arm. “Hello.” It garbled to Geralt, who frowned as he watched the thing. 

Nonetheless, he was starting to find a rhythm, which was why it was odd when the creature instead kneeled to the ground, holding up one ar- Geralt threw himself to the side as he realized something was wrong, a bolt of bone launching from the Nothing There’s smaller arm a moment later, piercing through where Geralt had just been with enough velocity that it would have broken through his armor. The impact with the ground rattled the Witcher, and as he clumsily forced himself to his feet, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up when he heard the words “I love you.” from behind. 

[hr]

It pushed open the door to the tavern, the flesh-thing at the bar waving an arm with its teeth bared. “Hello, Geralt! Managed to get that nasty, didya! Knew ye had it in ya, after all! Hahahahaa!” The man laughed, though it stopped after a few seconds. “Alright, I’ve got your bounty right here, then. Just- hey, what’s gotten into- Geralt, let go, dammit! You’re gonna break my bloody arm!” The flesh-thing writhed in its grasp, before grabbing a knife from behind the bar and stabbing into its arm. 

“I love you.”

[hr]

Geralt shot out of his bed, panting, covered in a cold sweat. “Fuck. What…fuck, just on the Avenger…” He sighed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.