Steven took his eyes off the incoming attacker, turning quickly to Nott, his expression tightening with urgency.

"Nott! Ready yourself..."

At this moment, the Disaster bore down on him, talons first, intent on tearing Steven apart. But Steven had seen this coming—he jumped forward, letting the talons miss him by inches as they slammed into the solid obsidian ground, cracking its surface and sending mounds of black grit spraying into the air.

Still, it wasn’t done.

Its talons flashed again at Steven before he could fully recover from the first evasion, this time aimed at crushing him beneath its immense weight.

"Keiuk!" he growled, rolling away just in time as the talons dug into the ground once more.

The Horrid was stronger and faster than Steven had ever hoped a bird could be. With several relentless attempts to smash him into a puddle of blood, Steven rolled across the ground, unable to gain even a single moment of rest from the constant onslaught.

Steven’s face tensed as he hurried to push himself back to his feet after the talons of the Disaster crashed into the ground a little too close for comfort. He rose to one knee, however, he wasn’t fast enough to find his balance.

The towering demonic bird was already upon him again.

This time, it snapped its beak, filled with thousands of jagged teeth straight toward at Steven.

Dread corroded his demeanor, adrenaline surging violently through his entire being as the attack rushed toward him far faster than any before it. With the short distance between them, even if he attempted to evade, he wouldn’t escape without a fatal injury.

"Shit..."

SPLOOOSH!!!

A grey spear tore through the air at deadly speed, striking straight into the throat of the Grotesque Horrid before it could even react. The force sent the creature staggering backward, dark obsidian blood spewing violently from the wound.

Steven’s face turned pale, his expression caught between worry and appreciation as the heavy leather boots of his summon approached him.

Nott the Honourable stopped the moment he reached his master’s side. The grey knight growled, the sound emerging as a distorted metallic rasp, as though complaining about Steven’s incompetence.

Steven frowned, quickly rising to his feet. He widened his stance, steady and focused, then called a weapon into his grasp.

A long sword materialized, its blade glimmering with a verdant sheen, a dark pommel resting beneath a grey hilt.

This was his new weapon.

{Weapon Type: Long Sword}

{Status: Uncommon}

{Name: Echo}

Nott nodded at Steven, as though acknowledging his master’s choice. He shifted into a battle stance, a shield materializing in his left hand and a long sword forming in his right, both forged in the same dull grey.

At that moment, the morbid creature had already recovered.

The spear embedded in its throat melted into two streams of blackened matter before falling away entirely. Its wounds sealed themselves, leaving behind only sizzling, pitch-black blood.

The Horrid shrieked at the top of its lungs and lunged forward, talons flashing with insane precision.

Nott stepped ahead of Steven, raising his shield to absorb the full force of the attack. The talons crashed into the metal surface with a thunderous impact, forcing the knight’s boots to skid nearly a foot backward before stopping.

Even so, the strain was obvious, Nott was using everything within him to hold back the Grotesque Vulture.

Steven snarled, stepping past Nott and thrusting forward. The tip of his long sword drove into the chest of the Vulture with all his might. The attack landed, sinking through thick feathers as black blood sprayed from the wound.

"Gaaah!" Steven groaned as some of the blood splashed onto his hands, burning deeply into his flesh. "What the hell is this thing?"

He yanked his blade free as the monster retaliated instantly, snapping its beak toward him.

Steven raised his sword to his face, barely managing to block the attack. His hands trembled violently from the sheer force, the impact nearly twisting the hilt from his grasp.

This Disaster was no joke.

Reeling, Steven pressed the attack again. As the Vulture pulled its head back, he slashed at its wing, aiming to cripple its ability to fly. The greatest strength of a Shadow Eater capable of flight was its aerial speed, Steven assumed this was why it held a Disaster rank. If he could tear away even a single wing, victory would surely be within reach.

But he was wrong.

Awfully wrong.

The moment his blade struck the feathered wing, it stopped dead. Sparks erupted as Echo bounced off the creature’s body, the sound ringing like metal slamming against solid stone.

"What?!" Steven gasped in disbelief.

He immediately changed the direction of his attack, twisting the motion into a vicious slash toward the rugose throat of the ruthless calamity.

The same thing happened.

His sword ricocheted uselessly off the monster’s skin.

"Damn it!" Steven’s heart dropped.

Realization hit hard as his hands trembled, the sunken demonic eyes of the creature locking onto his. The message was clear.

This battle had only just begun.

The acrid stench of the Disaster’s breath flooded his senses. Steven’s vision was swallowed by the dark, blood-slick depths of the monster’s mouth as it lunged forward, threatening to take his entire head in a single bite.

And then—

SNAP!

Nott dismissed his sword instantly and grabbed Steven by the collar, yanking him backward with all his strength. The monster’s jaws snapped shut just an inch from Steven’s face.

Nott stepped forward without hesitation, slamming the flat of his shield into the Horrid’s head with brutal force.

Steven’s ears rang violently, the impact nearly deafening him.

Even Nott’s shield shattered under the strain, fragments flying outward from the raw, undefined rage behind the blow.

But...

The attack did nothing.

The Disaster didn’t even flinch.

If anything, it only enraged the creature further. Its bloodshot eyes burned with murderous resentment as they focused on the two of them.

The Horrid released a raspy, screeching cry and swung the back of its wing into Nott’s side, hurling the grey knight away as pieces of armor scattered through the air.

Steven staggered backward, teeth clenched tight.

This fight was going to be far more difficult to survive than he expected.