Vlad's eyes widened. He dropped the two cloaks in his hands and instinctively reached for his sword.
Shhk!
Something sliced through the air. A sudden blur shot from the left–a blade–thrown with force and precision. It clipped the creature's flank and shifted its balance mid-charge.
That single second saved Vlad's life.
He yanked the blade from its sheath and braced himself just as the monster's front claws came slashing down.
CLANG!
Steel met talon. The impact was brutal.
Vlad's arms shook violently, and the force sent him skidding backward through the mud. His boots tore shallow tracks in the wet earth as he tried to stay upright. His blade had barely deflected the blow, but it held.
His breath came fast and ragged.
That was way too close! His thoughts screamed, but there was no time.
The creature was already recovering. But something felt off, its stance was different.
Vlad narrowed his eyes.
Wait…
The creature had dark blood gushing out of its rear. It was missing its tail and the right leg in the last row!
Just then, the green-haired man charged in and tried to slice down on it, but it caught his blade and used another front limb to claw out his left side.
Shit! Vlad threw himself forward.
The creature's gills pulsed. In a blur, it redirected its claws, slammed them into the mud, and launched itself backward, just in time to evade Vlad's strike.
He landed awkwardly, his own momentum almost sending him sprawling.
The heavy cloak he'd just pulled on, combined with the slick, muddy ground, betrayed him. His boot slid, and he lurched, nearly falling, but a hand suddenly gripped his shoulder, steadying him.
He looked at the green-haired man. His jaw was clenched, sweat beading on his brow despite the cold, but his eyes were fixed on the creature, which was now circling them slowly, a low growl rumbling in its throat.
"It knows we're here," the man said, his voice low and strained, never breaking eye contact with the monster. "We have no choice but to fight it."
Vlad barely gained his balance, his muscles burning from the effort, when the man's grip vanished from his shoulder. He spun, blade raised, just as the green-haired man, moved with a sudden burst of speed.
The creature had lunged again, a blur of grey fur and snapping teeth. But the green-haired man was quicker. His sword flashed, catching the claw mid-strike, mere inches from tearing into his chest. The clang echoed through the trench, a harsh punctuation to the silence that followed.
"Damn it!" the green-haired man hissed, the effort of the parry sending a tremor through his body.
The creature denied its target, landed with a heavy thud on one of the corpses sprawled nearby. Its massive claws, still twitching from the missed strike, sank deep into the dead flesh, tearing off a sickening chunk of its body with a wet rip.
Vlad's eyes followed the action, watching the creature's powerful jaws twitch, remembering the torn limbs and missing heads of the fallen soldiers. A chilling realization dawned on him, cold as the mud beneath his boots.
This thing or others like it–if this was merely a 'minion' as the man had mentioned–were the culprits. Vlad moved to help.
Vlad's gaze fell upon a discarded piece of dented chest plate lying half-submerged in the mud. He dropped the stick, bent quickly, snatched up the metal, and hurled it at the minion with a grunt.
The creature's eyeless head twitched at the sudden sound. It tried to dodge, its massive body shifting awkwardly, but the metal plate clanged against its thick-furred flank.
"Now!" Vlad somewhat screamed.
Before it could fully react, both Vlad and the green-haired man charged forward. Vlad, moving with adrenaline-fueled speed, swung his scavenged sword. The edge managed to graze the creature's side, drawing the thick, dark fluid that oozed onto its matted fur.
Tough bastard!
It let out a low, guttural growl of pain and fury, its eyeless head snapping in Vlad's direction. It lunged, its massive clawed hand swung down with terrifying speed, aiming to crush Vlad. And he couldn't dodge–he hadn't even realized the creature had countered!
The green-haired man tried to strike with his own blade, but the creature, now focused on Vlad, shifted its weight. The man's blow whistled through the air, missing its mark.
In a split-second decision, the man swung the still-lit torch in his left hand, slamming the flaming end against the creature's furred head.
Sparks flew, and a patch of the creature's matted fur burned a little, releasing a smell of singed hair and something acrid. It let out a high-pitched groan of pain and surprise, lashing out blindly with its claws. Vlad and the green-haired man both scrambled backward, putting some distance between themselves and the enraged creature.
I nearly died. He glanced at the man next to him, gasping for air.
A few stray sparks from the torch had landed on the damp leaves scattered on the ground. They flickered briefly, a tiny dance of orange against the brown, but the damp leaves around them, heavy with moisture and decay, prevented the flames from spreading.
"We're making way too much noise," the green-haired man rasped, his voice barely a whisper above the monster's snarls. "We need to kill this thing right now and run."
Now that I think about it, Vlad thought, his mind racing, it's a miracle more things like it haven't showed up yet.
He met the man's gaze, his own eyes hardening with grim determination.
"Right," he replied, the word a sharp, decisive cut through the fear.
They charged.
They couldn't waste another second. The creature snarled, twisting its eyeless head toward the sound of their approaching footsteps.
Vlad carefully navigated through the small patches of flickering fire, his eyes on the beast. Because of this slight detour, the green-haired man clashed with the creature first, his blade a blur against its massive front limbs. Seeing an opening, Vlad didn't hesitate. He drove his sword deep into the creature's gut.
More thick, dark blood gushed from the wound, steaming as it hit the ground.
Die! He screamed in his head.
A gurgling roar erupted from the monster as it felt the steel. With a sudden, explosive surge, it lashed out, one of its many limbs slamming into Vlad's chest. He was launched backward, sent sprawling into the mud, the air knocked from his lungs.
The green-haired man, seeing the creature momentarily focused on Vlad, lunged for another strike. But the monster was too quick. It lashed out with a powerful swipe, sending the man's sword flying from his grip, a bright arc of metal against the dim light. The man nearly screamed out in pain as the force jarred his arm, but he bit down hard, holding back the cry.
Vlad scrambled back to his feet, mud slicking his hands, just as the creature, now disengaged from the man, was mere feet away. It slammed into Vlad again, pinning him against the cold, damp trench wall. He coughed, a wet splutter of saliva escaping his lips.
Fuck!
"Get off me, you bastard," he snarled, gritting his teeth, blocking the creature's maw with his sword.
Just then, a flash of movement. The green-haired man, his face a mask of pain and fury, dropped the torch and stabbed the creature with another one of the swords, driving it into its side. With a powerful shove, he pushed the beast off Vlad.
Seizing the desperate moment, Vlad didn't hesitate.
He dashed onto the struggling, wounded beast, the sword now an extension of the creature's body. With a guttural cry, he drove his own sword downward, aiming for its skull. The blade met bone, sinking in with a sickening crunch, but Vlad was too exhausted, his muscles screaming, to fully drive it in.
Come on, come on! Vlad screamed inwardly, his heart practically in his ears.
The creature thrashed, its powerful limbs flailing. One massive claw, tipped with a bone-colored talon, arced toward Vlad's back, a killing blow.
But the green-haired man, moving with a strength born of pure adrenaline, slashed down with the half-broken sword he still had on him. The jagged blade tore into the creature's limb, digging halfway into the thick muscle.
"Kill it!" The man yelled at Vlad.
Die, you fucker! Vlad, hearing the man's desperate cry and fueled by a renewed surge of adrenaline, drove the sword downward as hard as he could.
Crack!
The blade dug deeper inside the creature's head. Its struggles ceased. Its massive body went limp, collapsing into the mud with a final, heavy thud.
Just then a familiar voice spoke:
[You have slain a feral fiend, Valley Demon's seedling.]