Erwin was already panting as he raised his shield. One of the older men he was with had died in front of him. The shield that person had broken upon the attack of the monster. He died then and there, and his body was later burned by the mages.
Erwin wanted to at least bring back that person's body to his family, but now he was unable to do so. He then saw that the other recruits who were with him were crying for the death of that person, as well as trembling in fear.
This was a battle; unlike the glacier hare they had faced before, the one they were facing now was a true monster. The kind bards wrote about only after most of the names were carved into headstones.
He could hear his heart beating so fast in the silence. He was so tense right now as the monster could appear anywhere.
"Should we just crush the rune-engraved stone to call for help?"
When one of the recruits said those words, the others finally remembered that this was a simple trial; they could quit and call for help. There was a moment of silence. They looked at one another, wanting to see what the others would do. No one spoke, but then Erwin broke the silence.
"... Even if we do that, it would take some time for reinforcements to arrive... Besides... I know this might sound crazy, but I want to end this battle under my own terms."
"Hahahaha! That's right, this is our hunt! We have already bled for it, why ask others to take our prey? We should end this monster with our own hands." Thrall sided with Erwin and spoke while he was being healed by one of the clerics.
A few heads turned toward Thrall, startled at the wild grin splitting his bloodied face. He looked half-dead, ribs rising and falling with shallow, painful breaths, yet his eyes burned with a kind of savage joy.
One of the younger recruits swallowed hard, knuckles white on the haft of his spear. "We're going to die here, aren't we?"
"No," Thrall barked, rolling his shoulders as if shaking off death itself. "It's that monster that's going to die."
"Tsk, you bloody b*stards are crazy. Even if we somehow win, many of us will die. Is that what you want?" Bram spoke with an irritated tone.
"Besides, who among us will crush the rune-engraved stone?... Remember, the one who crushes it fails the trial." Another recruit voiced their opinion.
For a heartbeat, no one spoke. The words hung there, heavy, poisonous, tempting. Failing the trial meant no chance of becoming part of Thornefang. But the situation was dire; most of them would die from this.
Bram opened his mouth, then shut it again. His jaw worked, teeth grinding. Every instinct screamed at him to say it, to tell one of them, any of them, to crush the damn stone and live, but the words wouldn't leave his throat.
He understood that each one of them had a reason why they were here. He could not make the decision for them.
Seeing that no one was speaking, Veronica exhaled slowly, her eyes flicking from one terrified face to the next. Her grip tightened on the stone at her hip. She had made her decision.
"Very well, I will be the one to do it. I will crush my stone, so that they'll know we need help."
Everyone was surprised by what Veronica said. She was one of the few people present who had a real chance to succeed. She had helped and led a lot of recruits, and because of her, they were able to survive the night.
"No, I will do it. Miss Veronica has done a lot for us. I wouldn't be able to get this far if not for her."
One of the recruits spoke up and took out his rune-engraved stone, but before he could do anything, they once again heard the monster's voice.
"... I will... Devour... All... Of you." What he said had changed. The recruit no longer hesitated and crushed the stone in his hand.
"Now we need to survive until reinforcements arrive," Erwin spoke with his shield up.
"Survive? I'm hunting down that monster before anyone comes to interfere!" Thrall roared as he charged into the thick trees.
"NO!" Veronica shouted, but Thrall did not listen, and his silhouette disappeared between the trees and misty snow.
"Tsk, damn crazy barbarian."
Bram clicked his tongue, hand twitching midair where it had almost grabbed Thrall's shoulder. Too slow. Damn kid. Too stupid to live, too stubborn to let die.
While everyone had become tense from the voice of the monster, they suddenly saw Thrall's body flying towards them. He landed on the ground, coughing out blood.
"Damn it, Kid! Healers heal this b*stard!" Bram barked orders at the nearby healers. They quickly moved towards Thrall and started healing him.
Thrall wheezed, spitting blood as the healers were using minor healing spells, and the others were praying for blessings.
"... Didn't even scratch it," Thrall spoke.
A cold gust swept through the clearing, stirring snow in lazy spirals. But no one felt the wind on their faces. The movement wasn't air; it was pressure, the forest exhaling a warning.
"This is truly troublesome," Daniel mumbled to himself as he jumped onto a nearby branch, waiting for what's to come.
Then they heard it. A low, wet sound. Like meat being pulled apart. Every head turned toward the tree line.
The thing crouched there, silhouette wrong against the snow, a skeletal crown of antlers cracked and sagging, breath steaming in slow, furious huffs. It wasn't stalking anymore. It wasn't playing.
It was eating, but not the flesh of others; instead, it was tearing itself apart, eating its own flesh. Follow current novels on novel-fire.net
The creature dug claws into its own ribcage, peeling strips of hide and muscle free like bark from a tree.
Black fluid hissed as it hit the snow, each drop steaming like coals in the cold. Bones cracked, shoulders dislocating with wet pops as if its own body had become a cage it needed to escape.
The very sight of it doing that made some of the recruits almost vomit, but they held it in. The sound stopped. The monster went still, hunched low, chest rising once, twice, then it screamed.
The scream was so strong it produced a shockwave, making the trees nearby it bend, and the ears of some of the recruits bleed.
The thing snapped forward. It was not tall anymore, not a looming predator, but lean, coiled, and fast. The air itself seemed to lag behind its movements, a blur of pale limbs and black streaks of ichor whipping through the snow.
"Everyone, hold your positions!" Veronica ordered as she stepped forward, her shield raised.
But the shield wall shattered before it even struck. A blur of claws tore through wood and steel like paper. A man was there, and then he wasn't, only a streak of red against the white.
"It's faster!" Erwin shouted, barely catching a swing with the rim of his shield, the impact sending a jolt up his arm like striking stone.
"... Truly Troublesome." Daniel, who was on a nearby tree branch, watched the monster's movements and sighed.
The monster was no longer mocking them, using voices to spread fear; now it was using overwhelming speed and strength to do so.
The monster flickered out of sight, one moment crouched, the next a streak tearing through snow and flesh alike. Screams ripped through the clearing, cut short as bodies fell.
"Keep the healers alive!" Bram bellowed, parrying a blur that shredded using his sword, but it bent unnaturally now. Bram discarded that sword and took out the extra sword on his waist.
Spears jabbed wildly, a desperate hedge against a predator too fast to pin. The air itself seemed to bend around its movements, each strike landing a heartbeat before anyone saw it coming.
The mages continued to use every offensive spell they could for as much mana as they had left.
Veronica slammed her large shield into the ground, planting her feet wide. Her aura mantle flared, a faint shimmer crawling up the steel like sunlight through water. "Fall back behind me! Regroup!"
Erwin dragged a bleeding recruit back, shield taking a claw meant for the boy's spine. Sparks flew where steel met bone. The force sent him skidding, boots tearing furrows in the snow, but he didn't drop. Not this time.
Thrall laughed through cracked ribs as he saw a spear graze the beast's flank. "This is truly the best hunt! This will bring us great honor and glory!"
Black ichor steamed where it dripped, hissing on snow like acid. The monster didn't scream. It didn't even turn. It simply stopped, a wrong, jerking stillness, then vanished again.
"Where is it?!" One of the mages cried, spinning, staff raised, eyes wild.
Daniel narrowed his gaze from the treetop, following only the subtle distortion in the falling snow. He then jumped down and stabbed his sword at the monster's head, but it did not pierce deep enough.
Daniel was about to jump away when the monster's hand hit him. He was unable to evade and was damaged for the first time in this trial.
Daniel was flying through the air, and he used his second mantle aura to protect his body. He then stabbed his sword at a tree he was passing by. That move stopped his momentum, but it strained his arm more than he wanted to.
The monster was about to attack one of the younger recruits, but Veronica was able to intercept it. Still, upon getting hit by the monster, even with her shield and her aura protecting her, she was blown away.
Her shield flew away from her hand, and Veronica's butt was now on the ground. She wanted to quickly get up, but the monster appeared before her and was about to strike.
She did not have her shield to defend, and her position made it impossible to evade, so she decided to counter-attack using her spear in hand, but her body was not moving as she wanted.
She thought that this might be the end, but then something unexpected happened. A person appeared before her. It was Erwin blocking the monster's attack.
Unfortunately, the monster was able to break Erwin's shield and had a chunk of his flesh ripped out. Thrall then appeared and smashed into the monster, moving it away.
"Healers!" Veronica shouted as she tried to stop the blood flowing out of Erwin's body. "Why did you do that? You don't even have any aura or mana."
"I just... Moved... Same as you..." Erwin, who was being treated, spoke with difficulty.
Erwin's words rattled Veronica, "You fool... But I guess I am one too..." She spoke under her breath, her determination rising.
She got up with a spear in hand and decided to attack the monster instead of passively defending.
At this point, most of the recruits who weren't mages or healers were injured. Seeing this scene, Bram gnashed his teeth and made a decision.
"Everyone, fall back! Take the injured and fall back!" He suddenly ordered. "Barbarian kid, Lazy bastard, and the lady with the spear. The four of us will fight it head-on. Clerics and mages support us from behind."
Despite not saying their names, everyone knew who Bram was talking about. The four strongest recruits were now going to face the monster.
Bram tightened his grip on his blade, rolling his shoulders like a man resigned to the reaper's grin. "We end it here," he muttered, more to himself than to anyone else.
Thrall cracked his neck, blood still seeping down his ribs, and smiled a wild, feral smile. "Finally," he said, "a hunt worth dying for!"
Daniel slid his blade free, quiet, still looking bored, but his eyes were sharp, tracking the snow for the faintest twitch, like a predator waiting for its prey to breathe wrong.
Veronica planted her feet, spear lowered, breath steady despite the burn in her chest. "We hold the line," she said, more steady than she felt.
The four of them surrounded the monster, ready for a final clash.