She runs towards at, trying to build up momentum, ready to swing at once they're close enough.

It reacts, slow and cumbersome, but it looks like it hits hard - 

Still, Lianne is sharp, and they're able to cut deep into its arm. It bleeds like molasses, like molten glass.

Well, good thing they're faster than it, than.

She pulls Lianne out, and swings for its centre of mass.

It shrieks, and tries to clobber them.

Ducking out of the way then! Hopefully that works!

Barely! But it does miss.

Lianne gives suggestions on where to swing, notes on how the monster is moving, footwork ideas...

And Louie is definitely following those suggestions!

Then they'll be victorious!

Success! Very stressful success!

Let's hope the others aren't quite as hard hitting.

Usually the ones near the center can be a bit tougher - though anything bigger's going to have trouble even finding us, which might be an advantage.

There's definitely something to be said for being hard to find.

And if we're lucky, maybe there's some sort of-- conservation of power thing, where if there are more powerful critters there's less critters overall.

Hopefully, yeah.

Onwards?

Onwards! But cautiously.

There's a few more slow goliaths, getting larger as the maze goes on, but nothing they can't handle.

There's a single central one, massive, each odd finger the size of an adult human. They can't see the portal stone past it, but Lianne's sure this is the center.

'Might be good to switch, now,' Lianne says.

Yeah, that's--- that's alarmingly large.

Agreed.

And holding Lianne out to make the switch easier.

They appear, silently.

And turning into a sword!

Lianne takes her, and then falls into a rather deadly dance against the monster. They're good, not just at syncing but at pure sword-work, and it's like Louie and Lianne are falling into a rhythm for this fight...

The monster falls and shatters.

That was... exhilarating.

"Yeah. Good fights are like that."

I'd still prefer not to have to fight things that large and dangerous, but at least that went well.

"Same to both. Still, the practice is good." They start to idly explore the area - it's indeed the central chamber, and the portal anchor is in clear sight.

Maybe with practice, critters like that will start counting as cake walks.

"Hopefully!"

"I'm going to try to clear some of the side passages, alright?"

That would probably be for the best, yes.