Hope's breath was steady, his grip firm.
His body ached, his wounds burned, but none of that mattered.
He was one step away from victory.
The Ant Fiend was pinned, its body trapped beneath the pile of debris.
All it would take was one final strike—
And this fight would be over.
Hope took a slow step forward, daggers glinting in the dim light—
Then, suddenly—
CRACK!
The Ant Fiend screeched as its body surged forward in a burst of raw strength, shattering the boulder into splintered fragments.
Hope's eyes widened.
"It can still move?!"
The fiend lunged.
Fast.
Faster than he expected.
Its dagger-like legs shot forward, aiming straight for his chest.
Hope reacted on instinct, twisting his body to the side, but—
SLASH!
Pain exploded across his shoulder as one of the fiend's razor-sharp legs tore through his flesh.
His body staggered backward, blood dripping down his arm.
The Ant Fiend loomed over him, mandibles clicking hungrily.
It had miscalculated—
It thought Hope was down to his last move.
But Hope...
Hope had a Plan B.
Hope grinned through the pain.
"You fell for it."
Because the real trap wasn't the boulder.
It was the battlefield itself.
From the moment the fight started, Hope had been leading the Ant Fiend into position, forcing it to fight near a specific spot in the cave. (Hehe)
A spot where the ground was unstable.
Hope had noticed it when he first entered—
A shallow pit, covered in a thin layer of hardened rock, barely noticeable.
A natural sinkhole.
And now—
The Ant Fiend was standing right on top of it.
Hope moved fast.
He twisted his body, using the momentum of his stagger to slash at the fiend's already wounded side.
His dagger cut deep, slicing into the exposed flesh beneath its cracked exoskeleton.
The Ant Fiend shrieked in agony, its legs stomping down instinctively—
And that was exactly what Hope wanted.
The moment its full weight pressed down—
The ground beneath it collapsed.
CRACK!
A deep, gaping hole swallowed the fiend whole, its massive body plunging into the sinkhole below.
Its screeches echoed through the cavern as it tumbled into the darkness.
But Hope wasn't done.
He dashed forward, stopping right at the pit's edge.
The Ant Fiend was still alive, its body thrashing, trying to climb back up.
Hope took a breath.
Then, with precise aim, he leapt forward, twisting his body mid-air—
And hurled his dagger straight down.
The blade sank deep into the creature's exposed throat.
A wet, gurgling screech tore through the cave—
Then, silence.
The Ant Fiend stopped moving.
Its lifeless body lay at the bottom of the pit, unmoving.
Hope landed on the ground, breathing hard, blood dripping from his wounds.
He had won.
Not with brute strength—
But with strategy.
Hope smirked, wiping the blood from his lips.
"Always have a Plan B, C, F...
Wait was that the correct sequence?