New Home - BotW Link x Reader (Undergoing Revisions)

Chapter 35 - A Rock and a Hard Place

"Link," I stated a little uncertainly, for what I was looking at was such an impossible stretch of the imagination yet was as true and tangible as the breaths I pulled into my lungs, "how do we defeat a rock?"

Wait... was that a silly question? Maybe it was. Link had retreated back towards me, and for now the Talus was seemingly stretching its legs, and its eyeless face was searching, searching, searching.

"It can be defeated, right? It's a monster," I said, glancing towards him sparingly. I was almost nervous to know the answer, because this was a rock and I could not possibly fathom it having a heart we could make stop beating, but it was moving - so there had to be a way to make it stop, right? It was a monster, willed to life by Ganon's evils. Surely it was like the more humanoid creatures and could be killed, right?

"It can," Link told me, now at my side.

His eyes were still carefully trained on the Talus, just as my own were. Where fear would have been in my eyes, in his own there was only this fierce determination. And yet through it, I knew there was fear tucked away into his gaze, too. It was just hidden far better and it was, I knew, a reflection of his training, a way to protect himself from the harm that a monster that knew its prey was terrified would and could inflict.

"Get your bow out," he told me, but I had already done that, so I readied an arrow in preparation. Even as I did it, I couldn't fathom exactly how an arrow might hurt a rock. "See that gemstone up top? It's the Talus' weak spot."

"Weak spot?"

"Most large monsters have one," Link told me. "A fatal flaw of their incredible size. It's hard to sustain a body that large - there's always something that falls short. Some are obvious: for a Hinox, it's the eye, and for a Talus, it's the gemstone up top. Others are harder to find."

"Like what?"

"A Lynel, for example," he said, just as the Talus started to turn. Link tensed at my side, bringing his hand to the pommel of his sword. "It has no obvious weaknesses - unless you count its intelligence, which can be exploited, or its pride."

"Oh, Hylia," I breathed out, something strange gripping my heart tight. Was it fear? No, worse. It was dread, because I knew Lynel's roamed free in the wild and we could happen upon one any day and...

No. There's no time to regret this, and there is no reason to. I'd rather feel the fear, and grow the strength required to overcome it, than have continued to live ignorantly in Hateno.

Time to get ready, then.

"Have you defeated one before?"

"Maybe before I went to sleep," Link answered as the Talus took another shuddering step around itself, searching ever diligently for what woke it up. "Not since waking up, though."

"That's good," I said. "This should be fun, then."

Link caught onto my dry humor and sent me a brief smile and a cheeky glance. "Yeah? Glad you think so. Try to stay hidden in the underbrush if you can. Don't want you getting flattened by a boulder, honestly."

"Aw," I cooed. "How sweet. And let me guess: you'll be up close and personal, running a distraction?"

"Exactly," he said, drawing his sword. "Get ready - it may look blind, but I think it's got echolocation or something. Either way, if you let yourself be seen, you will be seen. Trust in that."

"Got it," I replied.

"One more thing."

"What is it?"

"Don't go doing anything stupidly reckless," he said.

"I won't if you won't," I said, and that got a chuckle out of him.