Stella looked both exhausted and nervous as she stood before four Enhanced beings. She gripped the handle of her sword so tightly her knuckles turned white.
Argus had accompanied them this time, towering above everyone. It would most likely be no issue to deal with the monster with him along.
"We have returned," Ophelia told the guard.
"I-I can see that. Why did you come back?" Stella asked.
"It is quite simple. We need to cross the bridges, and this creature of darkness is in the way, so we will exterminate it."
"I can't allow you to do that," Stella said.
"Allow? And who are you to stand in my path?" Stella swallowed.
"As I said before, I am here on orders from lord Aventinos." Ophelia stepped forward and placed a hand on Stella's shoulder, causing the woman to flinch.
"Then I suppose you should report us to your lord. Be sure to recount a flawless description of our faces, so he can know precisely who solved his pest problem for him."
"I can't leave my post while the danger is still out there."
"Then you shall stay here until we return," Opehlia said. Then she walked right past Stella. Mathew looked at Argus, then at Pandarus, who shrugged. The three of them followed right after their mistress.
Stella's hand remained on the hilt of her sword as they passed her, but the weapon was never drawn.
…..
The four companions arrived at a large area just outside the city. There were a few buildings scattered around, though they were much less uniform than the houses within the city walls. A dirt path led from the open arch to a pair of large bridges in the distance.
It was deathly quiet, and there were no lights besides the stars in the sky and the pink glow of the lantern carried by Dokkebi.
"There is no doubt the monster is lurking nearby." Argus said in a low tone, "A creature of the night would never be able to resist so much fresh flesh."
"Then I suppose we best be prepared," Pandarus said, summoning his dagger and sword.
"As long as the lantern is near us, Blessings of Purity should be effective, my lady."
Ophelia nodded, and she and Argus both summoned their mirror-like weapons. Mathews pulled his own spear from the divine realm, holding it at the ready.
The group walked forward, Ophelia and Argus at the front with Dokkebi hovering closely behind, and Pandarus standing a short distance to the right. Mathew lagged behind, holding up the rear.
His gaze bounced around at every shadow cast by the lantern, expecting any moment one of them would come to life and start trying to kill them.
It occurred to him that with the help of the Guide's pet, they would be able to sense the creature when it got close enough, and just as the thought crossed his mind, he was rewarded with a warning from the small nightspawn.
Dokkebi chirped softly, and all four members of the group quickly glanced at him.
"It's here," Pandarus said.
"Where?" Mathew asked. Pandarus opened his mouth to answer, but then he pointed toward Mathew with his blade.
"Watch out!" He shouted.
Mathew turned quicker than he ever had in his life, instinctively raising his weapon to defend against any attack directed at him.
His spear was immediately knocked free of his grasp, skittering across the dirt to his left. He backed away as the creature before him reared up to its full height.
It was larger than the giant scorpion they had faced in the Forest of Terror, but it was much less bulky. A round body on four insect-like legs and two large arms that resembled a praying mantis's.
It had a large serpentine neck that was longer than a giraffe's, and its head was vaguely human, but without a mouth or nose.
Mathew quickly summoned the only other weapon he had, the wrench-shaped flamethrower from the Nightkeeper temple, and held it out in front of him as if to ward off the monster. A small flame ignited in the weapon and began to charge up.
But the Nightspawn did not give him the chance. Its head bent and folded in on itself like putty, then it ballooned out and changed shape completely until it vaguely resembled a rhinoceros.
The creature released a loud bellow from its newly formed mouth, and Mathew ditched his plan to fight it, instead throwing himself out of the way as it charged towards him. He ended up rolling a fair distance, making it half the distance to his spear.
The creature continued to hurtle right past him; its trajectory now on a collision course with Ophelia.
It was out of luck, however, for as soon as the creature had appeared, she and Argus had been charging up their weapons with the light of the lantern.
Ophelia released a bright light from her blade, and the massive beast bellowed again, trying to slow its charge as it was blinded. Ophelia sidestepped it easily, graceful as a bullfighter with a red cape.
Argus followed up by swinging his axe, sending a blade of silver energy toward the Nightspawn, but it sensed the attack coming despite having no vision. The creature's head became flat as paper, and it pressed its whole body against the ground in an instant, slipping under the attack and avoiding it completely.
"Come here, Beastie!" Yelled Pandarus, as he came flying towards it with the power of his dagger. He stabbed his blade downward at the creature, attempting to killed it, but the creature somehow contorted its body around the attack.
Its head changed shape once again, becoming angular like a serpent, and it moved fluently like a ribbon, twisting around Pandarus's next few strikes, before retreating towards the nearest building.
It crashed through the glass of the building's window, somehow sliding its entire body through the small opening.
"Surround the structure," Ophelia ordered. "Be prepared for it to emerge from any opening."
Mathew sent his wrench-torch back into the divine realm and then retrieved his spear, trying to keep the whole building in view. He was confident he could support his companions at range as long as he kept a safe distance.
Argus and Ophelia stood outside the front door, weapons at the ready, whilst Pandarus guarded the broken window it had escaped through.
The night was quiet once more; not even the sound of the creature shuffling within could be heard.
The sound of Mathew's breathing filled his ears as he waited, and he began to count his heartbeats. One. Two. Three.
On the fourth heartbeat, the Nightspawn burst through the door, its head taking the appearance of a long, tooth-filled snout similar to a crocodile. It clamped down on Argus's Axe with its jaws, wrestling the blessing from his hands and tossing it. Then it rushed past him towards Ophelia again.
She held her blade out in front of her, not having enough time to charge up for another flash of light. The creature snapped its jaws at her, clearly aiming to bite her head from her body… But it never arrived at its target.
Argus, now clad in the brilliant full-body armor that Mathew had only seen once before, had grabbed the creature by its hind legs and was holding it back.
Somehow the armor, called the Plate of Rectitude as Mathew recalled, had given him the strength to restrain the Nightspawn.
The creature swung its strange blade-like arm at Ophelia, but she deflected the attack, then backed out of its range. Soon after, Pandarus came hurdling toward the creature, pulled by his dagger, and swung his blade as he passed in front of it.
Both its front legs were severed, causing the creature to brace itself against the ground with its arms, the only appendages it could still move.
Ophelia took the opportunity to attack; two deadly arcs of her blade made in quick succession severing it's arms as well.
The creature's head morphed into one that was humanoid, but with empty holes for eyes and a massive toothless mouth. The creature began wailing as it tried to squirm free of Argus's grip.
Ophelia prepared her blade to finish it off, but she never got the chance. A rose-gold spear sent from a short distance away flew towards the creature, piercing through its long neck and decapitating it before embedding itself in the earth behind it.
Ophelia's face scrunched up as she looked towards Mathew, whose hand was still held open before him from his throw.
"What?" He said to her. "We got it, didn't we?"