Amanitus had failed to intercept the cylindrical mass of angry lizard that had slithered up behind him but the undead woman in the golden armor, matching his own golden pine dō, caught it with the mallet of a hammer that glowed with the light of the divine. But in the slow and powerful arc of the hammer she couldn't react to the snaking hydra's maw that had come up from behind them.

He could.

Time seemed to stop and Amanitus had all the time in the world to watch the stupid, slow snake-thing shoot toward him as he wound up a sidewinder that would have made a demigod pause. With one meaty, muscular stalk limb he threw a punch and met the hydra's snout, which exploded into a bloody pulp. The hydra shrieked and slurped its head away like a wet noodle.

Amanitus hadn't thanked the woman for her help. She must have been the honorable type to come to a stranger's aid, and he respected honor. He bowed as low as his rigid stalk would bend and made as if to tip his cap as if it were an actual hat, then reached out a hand. When all of this was said and done, he'd write his name out for her and show her around the bounty firm, maybe even offer her a job.