Once I reach the end of the ledge and get back on solid ground I breathe a sigh of relief. Until I take care of the guardian I don't want to cross another ledge, I don't want to be in that situation again. So the best way to avoid that is to deal with the guardian first, I just have to find a good spot and then lure it in.
I'm not quite sure how I am going to lure it, but first things first, I need to find a good spot to fight it. So I continue to follow the path while looking for the right kind of terrain to take away some of the thing's advantages. After moving around to the other side of the mountain I find an area where a long gentle slope meets the path I am following.
The slope has a lot of trees on it which will be good for making the thing land to come after me. Even better, at the top of the slope it looks like there is a cave entrance, if need be I can hide in there. Hopefully it won't come to that, if I can get it down on the ground I think I can beat it.
As I move up onto the slope to look for the best place to fight I get a rather nasty surprise that I hadn't considered. The guardian comes out of the cave I spotted, it must be its lair, and its eyes instantly focus on me. It spreads its wings and launches into the air and I dash into the nearest group of trees.
The guardian starts flying in circles around the cluster of trees I am in, it is probably trying to figure out how to get to me. After a minute it stops and hovers while staring straight at me, it seems frustrated that it can't reach me. I stare straight back at it, just waiting for it to come down and face me on the ground.
However, it has other plans and starts flapping its wings much harder while staying in the same spot. There is no cliff to push me over so I am confused by its actions, until I see the trees between us start getting shredded. The wind from its wings is forming blades and cutting up the trees, I hide behind a tree trunk to avoid the attack.
This continues for several minutes and when it ends and I take a look all the branches are scattered on the ground. Now only the tree trunks are left and I have a lot less protection, with a thud the guardian lands and folds away its wings. I take off the manacles and put them in my pouch, then I draw Blitz and wait for the guardian to come after me.
It doesn't make me wait long, in under a minute it charges into the trees coming straight at me. It is faster on the ground than I was expecting, but it's speed is no match for mine. After easily dodging its charge I retaliate and manage to cut into its shoulder.
My first goal is to cripple its wings so it can't fly away, if I can do that then the speed advantage will remain mine. After cutting it a couple more times it seems to realize that I am faster so it switches tactics. It rears back and takes a deep breath, it catches me off guard because I was not expecting it to have a breath attack.
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With no other cover I duck behind a tree trunk and hope it will shelter me from most of the damage. The guardian's breath attack pours out of its mouth and the tree provides very little protection. However, I am in luck, the breath weapon the guardian uses makes me feel great.
This is because the breath weapon it uses is lightning, so all my cuts and scrapes and sore muscles get healed instantly. As it continues to release its breath attack I come out from behind the tree and charge straight into it. I manage to inflict a long deep cut into the guardian's chest making it end its breath attack to roar in pain.
Now that I am in close I don't want to give it any time to recover so I attack with Blitz relentlessly. This does allow it to hit me a couple of times with its claws but the armor protects me from most of the damage. In desperation it tries to use its breath weapon again, but all that does is heal what little damage it has managed to do to me.
As I deliver a fatal blow I find myself feeling sorry for it, at this point all I can do is make its end quick. It makes only a last sound of pain before it falls to the ground lifeless, it was a much easier fight than I had anticipated. That is mainly due to it using lightning against me which just heals me, a bad match up, which is why I feel kind of like a bully.
As its last cry fades away I hear an answering cry from higher up the slope, as I turn to look I see a ball of fur running this way. It is about the size of a house cat and doesn't have wings yet, but it is obviously the guardian's child. This must be why she attacked me, she was defending her young, and that just makes me feel even worse.
As the baby reaches its mother it starts crying and nudging the body which reminds me of a scene from Lion King that always made me cry. At this point I can't take it anymore and drop to my knees to try and comfort the baby. It allows me to pick it up and pet it, and as I am doing so I see an amazing sight, a mass of energy flows from the guardian's corpse into the baby.
With me petting and cuddling it eventually the baby stops crying, which helps me to stop crying as well. I am really glad that no one is with me to see me crying, I would never hear the end of it. I take some meat out of my pouch and feed it to the baby, I keep feeding it until it falls asleep.
Once it is asleep I stand up and carry it back up the slope to the cave and walk inside. It isn't a big cave, the guardian would barely have been able to fit inside, but off to the side I find a nest of twigs and leaves where I can put the baby down. Once I am sure it isn't going to wake up I head back outside to go deal with the guardian's corpse.
The first thing I do is separate the head, drain the blood, and then put it in my pouch. It needs to be intact to show to the tiger clan on my way back off the mountain. Then I start working on skinning the body, which is tricky since it is part hide and part scales.
The wings I separate and place in my pouch, I'm not sure if anyone will be able to use them but I will keep them anyway. Once the wings and hide are removed I start butchering the rest of the body. When I find the heart I remove it carefully and then sit back and eat the whole thing.
Devour activated! Agility +20, Wisdom +50, Willpower +10, Regen +5!
'Wow! What is with the wisdom and willpower? Wasn't this just a normal beast? Not to mention regen, I guess I am lucky that I was able to kill it quickly!'