The statue launched off the wall like a cannonball, its jaws wide open and its crimson eyes blazing with an unnatural hunger.
Helen moved before it covered half the distance.
Her rapier came up in a sharp blue arc, meeting the statue's open maw head-on with a clash that rang across the ruins like a struck bell. The impact drove her boots backward through the tiles, her arms vibrating from the sheer weight of the thing, but she held.
'It's so heavy,' she thought, gritting her teeth as the statue pressed forward, its limbs digging into the ground for leverage. 'Way heavier than it looks.'
She twisted her blade, deflecting the jaw to one side, then planted her foot and kicked the creature square in the chest. The statue flew backward, tumbling across the tiles before righting itself on all fours like a hunting dog preparing for another charge.
It did not wait.
