Two minutes.
Just about long enough to make a good half-boiled egg. Not that any good Malaysian used something as lousy as a timer when there were the yellow half-boiled egg containers for use. Ubiquitous in any restaurant or kopi tiam, the simple plastic containers could be filled with up to four eggs at a time with markings for what level it was to be filled to with boiled water for each egg quantity. Once all the water drained out, you had a perfectly made half-cooked egg to dip into with toast, butter and kaya.
Two minutes was such a short time, but in a battle, it was a lifetime.
Like a half-boiled egg, Arthur was battered and cooked, his body half-jelly by now after the number of near misses and glancing strikes he'd taken. More than one bone was broken, the only thing keeping him upright were tightened armour pieces, constricted muscles and sheer willpower it seemed.
Yet, in that time, he had only been booted away from under the monster once more, forcing him to cover that dangerous no-man's land of the Sang Kelembai's reach once again. Another use of the stored REED, this time targeting a descending fist and its small pinky had bought him time, especially when it had caused said appendage to drop away.
Of course, fighting with a monster raining blood onto you was just another disgusting battle aspect.
No one ever talked about how disgusting being a Climber was. Not enough at least.
Two minutes, one second later; just as Arthur rolled behind the ankle and got ready to stab it as he rose up, it moved. So did the entire body above him, as the creature knelt over.
"Nice!" Arthur growled, jumping backwards and upwards at the same time. There was nothing dignified about stabbing an opponent in the buttocks, but it was a large, meaty target that had offered itself to him.
At least he didn't swing at the other pair of targets, which might have been less armoured but were more likely to enrage his opponent. While Arthur had few enough ethics while fighting for his life, attacking another creature's bananas and apples were just wrong; especially when a battle was somewhat stabilized.
He'd leave that for when he needed to enrage it.
More surprise than anything else, that his kris stuck deep into the monster's buttocks was only twitched aside and himself flung away as the Sang Kelembai toppled over sideways over the same leg it had collapsed from. Hitting the ground and rolling, cursing as he went through a bush filled with thorns that itched as he rolled over them - thank god for Steel Skin - and up, he only realised what was happening then.
"About time," Arthur said. Gingerly retreating, dropping most of his other skills and refilling his Pocket Simpanan as he retreated to find his spear, leaving only his Steel Skin active, he kept a close eye on the half-unconscious creature.
Attacks against the legs had piled up, the poison invading the body. While it normally affected the whole system more than just the point of contact, the Sang Kelembai had been so big that it's limbs had fallen asleep first. He could tell the other leg was having trouble functioning, even as the poison spread through the entire monster.
It might not last long, but Arthur was certain he had a few minutes at least. Time he took to find his weapon, to pause and breathe and channel his healing to fix the major concerns.
Crushed left foot, including quite a few pulverized bones that needed shifting back into space. He took his time on that one, dealing with the inflammation, with the fluid that had gathered and the crushed muscles and skin, pushing bone fragments back into place, rebuilding the bones.
It hurt, but since it had happened in his boot, it also meant that everything was in the same place. Nothing he had to find, just rebuild - or at least, treat enough that he could limp the rest of his way over. Other injuries were being patched up in the background, bruised and bloodied internal organs, cracked ribs and herniated discs, dislocated bones including a pelvic bone or two. Kneecap, popping back into place even as it wobbled where tendons had been torn off.
Pain, but his body was holding together, well enough for him to limp over. Switch stances, so he pushed off with the foot that wasn't crushed as he approached the monster. Edging around to face its back, finding a spot that he could barely reach while he dropped Steel Skin and readied Imbued Strike - Yin Poison.
Then, a single lunge as threw Focused Strike from his Pocket Simpanan into the lunge. Imbued Strike slipped in moments later as his spear slipped between spinal discs . Funny, how most creatures had those. Or not so funny, what with convergent evolution and just basic biomechanics were taken into account.
Blade between the discs, slicing into the body as he wiggled it back and forth even as his enemy twitched and tried to get at him, to turn over and finding its control further robbed. Sawing the weapon back and forth, now that he was sure it was not going to move. Unable to do so, even as the jolt of adrenaline and pain tried to rouse the creature.
Crippling the monster's lower back, with a spear in the right place. Then, extracting it, taking a moment to breathe through the pain his movement - ignored during his own desperate battle and now aching all the more as adrenaline levels faded - before moving to the neck.
After that, it was just butchery.
***
There were a few things that had been different from a normal humna body in the Sang Kelembai. Among other things, its skull had been shaped differently, such that there was no soft spot at the back of the head to slip a spear into to end its suffering. Instead, he had to eventually put the spear into the monster's eye and then waggle the spear around enough to punch through to the head.
Butchery, if you will.
Enough so that it was enough that it had gotten to even Arthur, who now lay a distance away, on his back. The only advantage was that he didn't have to dig through the monster hunting for it's spirit stone, instead just leaving his harvesting knife stuck into an appropriate wound while he healed.
Healing, in this case, was going to be tricky.
Delving deep into his body, he found himself working his way through the injuries, attempting to put it all back together. Accelerated Healing was meant to be a sped-up version of the Tower healing, but he'd noticed after getting battered around so much that even Tower healing was not pure regeneration.
Not like human healing, which basically replicated the damaged bits and patched it over, taking information from nearby cells to help stitch things together as best as possible. After all, Tower bodies were half - if not more - Tower energy itself. That was how they were transferred, between floors.
All of which meant that rather than DNA encoding alone, there was a certain degree of Tower encoding in the energy that was stored in him, that was part of him that was part of the Tower. Knowing that, he turned his attention to trying to sense that information, to pluck at it so that he could then force more regulated healing.
Already, he'd learnt part of this - how to focus his healing energy, how to encourage it. Now, he was just being even more focused, utilizing the Tower even more. Flashes of inspiration, of details that he understood or that the Tower managed to 'click' with ran through his mind as he turned inwards, finding bone pieces that needed to be moved, to be slid back into place or be replaced entirely.
One after the other, till he felt the edges of exhaustion and heard the clatter of his weapon falling to the ground. Forcing his eyes open, Arthur exhaled, curious what he'd see.
After all, now was the best part.
Loot!