Chapter 41: The Sword, Fist, and Tusk

Princess Charlie had drained most of her stamina hammering trees barehanded with Iron Fist until they were weak enough to fall. But after her race level-up, she’d fully recovered.

“ROOOOAR!”

The Yetis howled in unison, their eyes burning with primal rage.

“I don’t wanna interrupt the couple’s moment,” Allison muttered, stepping back, “but we’ve got a problem.”

A Yeti lunged.

It came down like a gorilla—both fists slamming the ground hard enough to send a shockwave of snow exploding outward. Flurries pelted the group as others behind it hurled massive snowballs with terrifying force.

Luke hurled his kukris in response, each blade whistling through the air, striking with pinpoint accuracy.

Allison darted forward, his sword meeting the Yeti’s incoming strike.

CLANG!

A flash of light burst from the impact. The Yeti stumbled back, snarling.

It was a skill that Allison explained to Luke, called “Perfect Parry.” There was a small chance it would happen if he defended perfectly.

More Yetis charged.

They threw wild, sweeping blows that forced the group to split. Charlie surged forward like a charging bull, both fists glowing with the energy of Iron Fist. Her strike collided with a Yeti’s chest, sending it staggering backward.

“Now!” Luke shouted.

Allison spun like a dancer, his katana tracing an arc of light as it sliced clean through the stunned Yeti’s neck. The beast’s body collapsed before it realized it was dead.

A second Yeti rushed in.

But before it could land a blow, Luke blurred into motion with a Basic Dark Dash, reappearing behind the beast and driving both kukris into its back.

Still, they were surrounded.

Fists flew from every direction, massive limbs crashing down like falling trees. The trio dodged and danced between strikes, Charlie hammering into one Yeti’s ribs while Luke cut through another’s tendons.

Then, for the briefest moment, everything stilled.

The air turned colder. Thicker.

Luke’s instincts screamed, something worse was coming.

A roar louder than the rest tore through the trees. A massive Yeti charged, nearly twice the size of the others. Its fur shimmered with a faint yellow glow.

Luke turned—too late.

The beast grabbed him by the torso and hurled him across the battlefield. He slammed into a tree with a wet thud, snow bursting outward as he hit the ground.

The Yeti didn’t stop.

It rushed him, fists raised, and began pummeling.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

Each hit smashed him deeper into the snow and bark. The tree groaned under the force.

But Luke didn’t close his eyes. Time didn’t slow. He did. His breath. His heartbeat. The pain. The panic. It all fell away.

In that instant, one heartbeat from death, he felt it — that fleeting moment of assassin’s clarity. Focus sharpened like a blade, steady and cold. A breath of stillness amidst chaos.

Insight.

Allison landed on the beast’s back with a double jump, driving his sword into its skull. But the Yeti barely flinched. It grabbed Allison and hurled him into a nearby tree with a crunch of cracking wood.

The beast yanked the blade free and turned back to Luke, stabbing downward.

Luke twisted aside at the last second, the sword sinking into the snow beside his head.

Charlie struck.

Her Iron Fist slammed into the creature’s stomach, sending it staggering. Luke took the opening, flinging both kukris into its chest. As they returned, he launched them again, faster, harder.

The Yeti howled, its fist glowing white with condensed cold mana.

Then it punched the ground.

BOOM.

The shockwave tossed all three of them like dolls. Luke tumbled across the snow, rolling until he crashed into a fallen branch.

CRACK.

Pain lanced through his back. He groaned and tried to move but froze.

He reached behind him. The sharpened end of a thick branch had stabbed through his cloak. It had almost skewered him.

His armor had saved him by inches. He ripped the branch free just as another snowball crashed into him, sending him rolling again. His vision blurred. The world spun.

More snowballs came raining down. Dozens.

They weren’t random anymore. They were being targeted. Focused fire.

Luke growled through gritted teeth and pulled himself upright.

Allison was barely keeping up with the giant yeti.

Each of its punches struck the earth like thunder, shockwaves tearing through the snow and knocking him off balance. He had to stay on the move, constantly retreating just to stay alive.

Luke wasn’t about to let him fight alone. He rushed toward two other yetis barreling toward him, both snarling with beastial rage.

“AAARGH!”

One hurled a stone. Luke slid low, avoiding the impact.

The second launched a snowball—too fast.

He blocked it with his forearm, but the sheer force sent him skidding backward.

WHAM!

A fist slammed into him before he could recover, launching him into the air. But just before the follow-up came, a skeletal fist soared upward.

CRACK!

Princess Charlie landed a brutal uppercut to the creature’s jaw.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The yeti staggered, dazed. Its jaw had shattered.

Luke pounced, driving a kukri straight into the monster’s face. The blade sank deep, and he followed with the second, stabbing again and again, carving through flesh with rapid, merciless precision.

The beast flailed wildly, trying to grab him.

Charlie struck again—this time in the gut. The yeti lurched forward.

It fell.

Dead.

Another yeti roared and sprinted toward them, lifting a leg.

BAM!

Luke was kicked clean across the snow. He tried to call his kukris back.

Nothing.

He looked up.

The last corpse had landed on top of his weapons.

“Perfect…” he muttered.

The charging yeti bore down on him.

With no other choice, Luke hurled his throwing knives while ducking and weaving. Blades flew. The monster growled as slashes opened across its chest, but it kept coming.

Charlie moved to help, only to be intercepted. The massive yeti — the alpha — grabbed her mid-sprint and flung her like a ragdoll into a tree.

THUD.

She didn’t move.

Luke’s focus narrowed as the remaining yeti advanced.

Then Allison appeared.

He dropped from above, spinning like a cyclone. His katana drew a silver arc through the air, slicing through the beast’s side in one clean motion.

“AAARGH!” The yeti howled.

Allison didn’t stop. He struck the calf, then the shoulder, then the face, then the gut. A relentless flurry of blows carved the beast open as he dashed around it in a blur.

The monster roared and raised its fist, but Allison was already gone. He slid back calmly and sheathed his sword.

Luke blinked.

BOOM.

The yeti’s body erupted in a blast of compressed wind. Dozens of slashes exploded across its flesh, tearing it apart mid-scream. It fell, dead before it hit the ground.

Luke barely had a second to process it.

The alpha yeti came crashing down.

“ROOOOAR!” It slammed both fists into the ground.

Luke and Allison were launched in opposite directions.

Luke hit hard, rolling uncontrollably through the snow — until he saw it.

The cliff.

“Shit—!”

He jammed a throwing knife into the ground and dug his other hand into the snow, barely stopping himself before sliding over the edge.

“Too close,” he muttered.

SNARL.

He looked up just in time to see the giant beast charging him again.

He threw himself aside, dodging by a hair. Still, the edge of the creature’s punch clipped him, knocking the air from his lungs and sending him tumbling again.

The alpha yeti didn’t let up.

It kept coming. Faster now. Stronger. More precise.

“ROOOAR!!”