The plan was simple: they would do a quick scout to find the beast, and avoid it. They agreed to meet back at camp when the moon reached the center of the sky. Ariel looked back onto the camp where his friends stationed.
They are strong on their own.
The hero continued walked on his way, looking for more traces of the mysterious beast. His gaze suddenly changed to a flower. It was unlike any flower he'd seen in the Crimson Forest. Flowers here were pretty similar, ground-heavy roots, branching pedicels that end in two ways: either red petals and a golden pistil or an ash gray bur.
It was a bit suffocating to see barely different flowers.
But this one was different. It smelled like a bakery and it was fully white, its sepals, pedicels, everything. From its stigma, the flower emitted white spheres. These spheres were almost weightless, lifted into the air and drifted by the wind. It seemed to leave their seeds to fate.
It feels like home
Suddenly a dreadful screeching arose. Ariel's eyes widened.
That bastard! It planned this all along.
Ariel turned to the source. Not fast enough. The beast lashed its claws. His eyes were dazzled and his breath caught. He found himself at the nearest tree.
Vaguely, the beast was a two-meter tall owl with black, metal-like feathers and two red-white tentacles on its neck that reached to the ground. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and he breathed heavily.
His muscles disobeyed him. Without mercy, the beast came rushing fast as lightning. Ariel left with no other choice but to roll sideways. The beast collided with the tree with a terrible thud. He barely dodged it.
Pushing himself to his feet, he reached for his crimson halberd
The beast turned its head, almost shocked. Throwing its tentacles forward at him. He evaded the first, and slashed the last. Blood gushed on his weapon. Tentacles instantly healed, and without a reaction the beast continued its rampage. Ariel's eyes widened and his grip weakened. Even the toughest of his opponents would react to something like this.
He jumped backwards, looking for an opening.
I can't do anything from here
He waited for the next move. The beast flapped its wings in his direction. Its metal-like feathers drew near in the blink of an eye.
Ariel hit each and every one of the feathers. Most of them went straight to the ground, some back to the beast. Distracting it. A second later he was out of sight, hiding behind the nearest tree.
He exhaled and tightened his grip. He peeked out to analyze the beast, trying to find weaknesses in a calmer state.
Now that I think about it...
The beast had metal-like feathers that were pretty heavy, yet it was incredibly fast.
It must be a short-burst type beast. As if to support his theory, the beast had not moved an inch since its first dash.
He jumped out at the beast's gaze. It instantly turned its head. Running at full velocity. Instead of stopping, he took a strong step further.
The beast narrowly missed him. Though he lost his balance, he used his halberd to brace himself. The beast didn't wait to rest, it instantly dashed at full speed. He slammed his halberd to the ground. Dirt beneath his feet raised upwards.
Still not fast enough.
With a last ditch effort, he jumped at the massive head of the beast. With his weapon he anchored himself it its feathers. Adrenaline filled his veins.
The feathers were made of hardened keratin, just like steel. Looking forward, the beast wasn't able to stop itself, hitting a tree with all its might.
Ariel threw himself backwards. Yet some of the impact caught him. He landed on the ground in one piece and disoriented. The beast was in a similar state. Unlike him, it managed to throw its tentacles to attack.
Instead of dodging or cutting, he did something that rebelled against every one of his instincts. He ran straight into the beast. Aimed at its eyes, he raised the ground using his staff. Jumped at the beast and lifted his halberd. Then he slashed the monster's iris. Its blood blinded it. The beast's screeches filled the forest.
It slammed him to the ground with its wings. Ariel groaned in pain, tasting his own blood. It raised a leg, attempting to crush him with its weight. He twisted the ground beneath its supporting leg. Throwing it off balance.
He immediately pushed himself off the ground and moved on top of the beast.
With a slash he cut off the beast's remaining eye. A loud shriek filled the forest. At a last desperate attempt the beast got up. Throwing him to the ground and rotated around itself. Sending its feathers in every direction.
Ariel raised the ground beneath the beast's tentacles in the shape of a claw, trapping it in its place. With the torque of the beast, the tentacles came right off with a crack. Blood rushed out of the wound, unable to regenerate. It hooped to call for something.
But it was futile.
He moved closer to finish the job. Stabbing it in the soft spot, where the tentacles used to attach. The glimmer of the beast's eye faded out, unable to cry for the last time.