It didn’t take long before we reached the source of the flare. The clearing from the woods was open and gave access to a large blue lake. At the shore of the lake stood Lerato in his shining armor, which emerged from his power. Opposite him was… a monster.

Its body was like a large ball, and two thick—resembling tree trunks—legs shot out from its bottom. The thing was taller than Lerato by about a head. Most of it was made up of a large mouth; it might be appropriate to say its mouth was more significant than the rest. The portions of the body that did remain—mainly its back and legs— were covered in a rough yellowy skin. It had no eyes but seemed to be looking at Lerato.

The mouth outline was decorated with a series of sharp teeth. Four slimy tongues protruded from within and seemed to sway around like separate entities. The rest of the mouth was dark, like staring into an abyss.

The sight of it caused a horrible shudder to well up from deep within me. By the reaction of Orrin and Pythagoras, who just showed up, my initial response to the creature was far worse than any of the others. It seemed the odd foe was nothing but a mild annoyance to them.

“It sure is ugly!” the short goblin shouted as he hoisted a long device over his shoulder. His large machine was likely still in the process of being repaired.

“Indeed, and stubborn!” Lerato shouted back as he held up his forearm to block a lash of the tongues. They seemed to crack like whips across his armor. Before pulling back, the tongues suddenly wrapped around his arm like tentacles. Lerato was pulled forward off his feet and into the mouth of the monster.

He caught himself on the large teeth and grunted as he tried to avoid being pulled in.

“Lerato, duck!” the goblin shouted as he aimed his weapon at the beast. It let out a boom as something was fired from the end. Smoke trailed behind as it slammed into the side of the monster. The creature was pushed back like it was hit with a heavy punch. I think I saw a large chuck of metal fall into the grey grass. The tongues loosened, and Lerato was able to leap away.

The creature stopped just short of falling back into the lake where I assume it came. It hissed as it turned in the direction of Pythagoras, who stood next to Orrin and me. I readied my daggers to strike.

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The four tongues erupted from its dark mouth and flew across the lakeshore. Pythagoras stumbled back as his weapon was grabbed by the beast. Orrin made an odd movement, which luckily got him out of the way enough for the attack to miss. I steadied my breath and ran forward.

As I lowered my body, the tongue flew over my head. As a second tongue aimed for my face, I made a swift leap to the right. The creature's attention turned solely to me as it swallowed Pythagoras’ weapon hole.

I began a dance of swift movements as the attacks bent and wrapped in complex ways. I couldn’t let any strike land for risk of being eaten whole.

The creature pulled all its tongues back before seemingly firing all four together like a single appendage. I slid to the side and let the attack sail past my shoulder. It bent in the air behind me, likely planning to wrap me in a bind, but I retaliated before the ugly beast was finished.

With a slash, I cut two of the four tongues clean off. Burn marks were left where the blade had gone through. My daggers cut through like there was nothing but air, and the creature let out a cry as it pulled its tongues back.

I kept a close eye on the beast as I sought to catch my breath. It hissed at me but didn’t risk making another attack.

A flash of light sailed in from the side and hit the beast. Enas had come and was firing at the creature with his weapon. Casey joined in from the other side with a carved grey wooden spear. We had it trapped, but it didn’t back down.

Instead, it only seemed more enraged. The four tongues shot out again in a wide pattern—all aimed at me. It rightly figured dividing the attacks into several sides would be harder for me to defend against.

I managed to duck from one and slash another, but the slimy attack snatched a leg and arm.

The beast wasted no time pulling me in with two tongues as the other two appendages waited by the mouth of darkness, likely to stop me from clinging to the teeth. I suppose this was it, yet I didn’t feel too upset. I closed my eyes. I had a good run, or at least I liked to think I did before I lost my memory.

There was a loud cry, and I felt the beast's grip fail. My eyes shot open to see Casey stabbing one tongue in the ground and Lerato smashing his hands into its flesh.

I still had the forward thrust from being pulled and used it to break into a sprint. My daggers were held ready as I closed into the beast, then I proceeded to run around it. All the while, I slide both golden blades into it. When I finished my sprint, I pulled the blades out and held them ready. Casey and Lerato pulled back as well, and we all watched the beast’s cut top slide slightly before it completely fell over. We all made a sigh of relief. I suppose it was safe to assume it was dead.