Seconds before the Griffon began to dive, Katrina fired her rocket. With a hiss of flames, the projectile was away, zipping through the air towards the griffon. The monster seemed to have an inkling as to what the weapon was, veering to the side to avoid it. But the rocket was laser-guided by a tool that Benji was holding in her left hand, and so turned sharply in the air to pursue. The Griffon couldn’t avoid its second pass as quickly. There was a loud explosion that not quite drowned out the screech of the avian monster, then it plummeted to the earth.
“Nice shot!” Jerik shouted, tracking the monster’s progress through the air. “Fire at will!”
The griffon hit the hard-packed earth with a nasty thud, sending a dark cloud of dust into the air for several yards. It enveloped the small platoon, blinding them. Jerik hurriedly threw one arm in front of his face to protect against the flying grains, and heard the patter of uncontrolled gunfire break out all around him. Every six or so seconds, he heard the louder pop of Jack’s rifle, and wondered why he was firing without a clear line of sight. There was no hope in shouting over the sound of gunfire, however.
“Morgan!” He barked, hoping she could hear him clearly through the maelstrom of sound, “Can you clear out this dust?”
A second later, he felt a cool breeze rushing over his head. Morgan directed all the hanging dust towards the monster, collecting it into a miniature tornado that partially obscured the beast. Several members of the front line called their gratitude for the assistance, then moved forward to challenge it. For several seconds, it seemed that they had the beast contained. It was only a matter of time before the gunfire would overwhelm it. But then there was a bright flash of crimson light, visible even through the whirling sands, and Morgan’s spell was cancelled.
“It’s a Magik beast!” Morgan yelled. There was no need for the warning, as Jerik saw the tornado fade instantly, sending the colllected dirt raining down in all directions. The beast emerged, clearly visible for the first time. Its hide was unmarked by the bullets that had been fired so far, a pristine golden-brown in color. The feathers around its head were white, and its eyes, instead of the bright yellow he’d expected, were a deep crimson in color. It crouched low like a cat, flaring its wings and roaring a challenge. Jerik could see several in the front line hesitate in their advance. They were scared.
As the beast leaped forward, its front legs swiping down to dismember its gathered prey, Nicholas darted forward. His long oval shield appeared just in time to take the monster’s claws, deflecting them easily. The griffon reeled back as the young man cut at it with his sword, avoiding the tek blade by a hair’s breadth. Why had it avoided that attack? Surely it could have survived it as easily as it had taken the hail of bullets. But as Nicholas continued to advance, swinging with all his might, the beast continued to back away.
Jerik fired right as the beast landed on all four legs, ready to counter Nicholas. The round slammed into the beast, but didn’t penetrate. Still, there was enough force to snap its head to the side, half-spinning the monster and giving Nicholas time to jump back out of melee range. “Another rocket Katrina!”
It wasn’t long in coming. Nicholas had barely cleared the range when the rocket struck, knocking the griffon on its side. One of its wings was now badly damaged from two separate rocket strikes, but it still showed no other sign of damage. Only then did Jerik realize his mistake. With no challengers in front of it to grab its attention, the griffon could clearly tell where that attack had come from. He could see the decision being made as it turned its great ugly head towards the Russian woman, gathering its legs for a pounce.
Katrina sensed it too. She shoved Benji to the side, then dove forward, rolling under the monster’s leap. She came up to her feet with her rifle already leveled, having abandoned the rocket launcher in the dirt, and let loose with a salvo of bullets directly into the griffon’s flank. Her rifle, being of Legendary class, was the first to make a real mark. None of the rounds penetrated, but Jerik could see a rippling across the monster’s hide, and a black mark appear there, as if it were being bruised.
In the next instant, the beast had whirled, its claws swiping out, and caught Katrina. Her combat shield was able to take the brunt of the attack but it still sent her flying, right into Morgan. Both women when tumbling to the ground with a shriek, and the griffon let out a triumphant screech. Then it went for the closest target it could see. Jerik himself. Maybe it knew he’d been the one to strike it in the head. Or maybe it was just an instinctual choice. Either way, Jerik knew he was in real danger.
He had a brief glimpse of inch-long talons reaching out for him, too fast for him to react, before he was grappled in their embrace. One of them stabbed right through his armor into his thigh. Then the ground fell away beneath him as the griffon leaped into the air. Thunder sounded around him as the massive wings beat at the air, taking him skyward. It was going to carry him off as its trophy, he realized. Nearly paralyzed with fear, he still had some nerve left in him.
He released his grip on Paragon, knowing that he couldn’t hold it if he wanted to break free. Drawing the Tek knife at his side, he jabbed it right into the griffon’s arm holding him. It sank to the hilt and sprayed red blood in his face, but the beast let him go at once, screeching in pain. Now Jerik was hanging on just by his knife buried into the limb, his body weight pulling the knife down and opening a long gash in its right foreleg. Then the knife pulled free, and he dropped.
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He only had time to let out a strangled yell of fear before the ground rushed up to catch him, and he hit the packed earth with a nasty crunch. He’d managed to land feet-first, but he knew from the sharp pains that his ankles were broken. He was also several yards from the safety of his platoon, and the griffon was circling round to attack him again. He rolled over onto his back and drew his sidearm, knowing it would do no good, seeing the monster tuck its wings in and dive. He opened fire, emptying the magazine.
Inches before the beast could reach him, a field of blue energy appeared before his eyes. Nicholas’ shield, he thought wildly. The beast slammed into it, letting out another screech of fury as it was denied access to its prey. Nicholas appeared by his head, grabbing one of his arms, and yanked him back. He dragged Jerik slowly away from the monster, panting with the effort. Not a second too soon. The shield he’d conjured shattered under the series of thundering attacks the griffon was throwing at it, and the monster landed on its legs once more.
Already, the beast was diving forward to take them, but its progress was impeded again as Nicholas spawned his oval tower shield. He crouched to offer Jerik the protection too. “Grab my sword!”
His sword? Jerik snatched the blade out of its holster on Nicholas’ hip, and thumbed the button on its hilt. The blade sprang to life at once, a crackling, humming line of energy. The beast paused as it saw the weapon, and took one hesitant step back. It knew the touch of a tek weapon, and knew that it couldn’t defend. That small moment of hesitation was all Nicholas needed. He spun in place and, with a supreme effort, hurled Jerik away from him. The platoon leader landed painfully beside a familiar shape in the dirt, and he gripped it firmly, rolling onto his stomach.
Less than two yards definitely wasn’t the sort of range he wanted when firing at an undefeated monster. But at least with how close it was, swiping at Nicholas, he didn’t have to aim through his scope. He pulled the trigger, and a round struck the beast’s flank, on the same exact spot that Katrina had bruised. Once again, there was no sign of real damage, but the black spot on its hide spread. Must be some kind of shield, he thought.
Nicholas jumped back after another swipe from the monster, diving towards Jerik’s position and scooping his sword off the ground. Once again the weapon flared to life, and he swung it in a broad slash. The monster had chosen that exact moment to lunge forward once more, and so had no chance to avoid. The blade cut through its hide like a knife through butter, opening a deep cut on the shoulder of the limb Jerik had already mangled with his knife. The leg buckled, no longer functional.
“Fire!” Jerik screamed. “Hit it with everything you have!”
The sound of gunfire started again, and the beast staggered back under the storm of bullets, unable to keep its feet. It let out a roar of frustration and pain, then took to the air. Whether by luck or careful timing, Jerik never knew, but Katrina had recovered her rocket launcher, and took that exact chance to fire again. The rocket hit the beast with a loud boom, knocking it back down. In addition to the crippled front leg, one of its wings was almost completely shredded, and now the hail of bullets was making a mark. Every few shots ripped right through the flank, and the griffon staggered back again.
In a flash, Nicholas moved forward. The beast saw his approach, swiped at him, and shattered the shield. But now Nicholas was within range, and, as his fellows instinctively stopped firing for fear of hitting him, he lunged, gripping the sword with both hands. There was an odd peaceful moment, stretched along several second, as Nicholas swung the blade. It cut right through the griffon’s broad neck, slicing cleanly through to the other side. The beaked head hit the ground with a fleshy thud. The body stood on its own for several seconds, shaking, then it too fell.
After a long pause of shocked silence, the platoon let out a ragged chorus of celebration. They rushed forward to surround Nicholas, yelling and whistling as they all pounded him on the back. He staggered under their appreciation, a broad grin stretching his face. It was finally over. They all gathered around the griffon’s corpse, marveling out loud as they took notice of the powerful muscles and massive size.
“Heal,” a voice muttered to his left. He turned to see Morgan kneeling beside him, one hand on his bleeding leg. The wound in his thigh closed at once, and in another few seconds, she healed his ankles. She offered him a hand to his feet which he gratefully accepted. “You look like a mess.”
“Thanks for noticing,” he said grimly, testing his ankles as they took his weight once again. Apart from the soreness, they seemed to be functioning properly. “I imagine you’re looking forward to entering its data into the codex.”
“Was it that obvious?” She said, grinning from ear to ear. “You sure you’re good?”
“Yeah. How many did we lose?”
“Three from the front squadron and two of the researchers.” She reported smoothly. “We’ll collect their gear and hire a courier to bring them back.”
“Sounds good,” Jerik answered. Nicholas had finally broken free of his comrades, and was running over. He looked excited about something. ‘What is it, Nick?”
The young man paused at the shortened use of his name, but didn’t seem to care. He was holding one of the griffons talons in his hand. “This is a legendary material!”
That cemented his original thought that the griffon had been Legendary-class, Jerik thought. “That’s good. But you can’t do much with a claw, can you?”
“I can grind them down,” he said. “My printing machine will accept this as material. I can make armor plating out of this!”
Jerik was paying proper attention now. “You mean-”
Nick cut him off, too eager to wait for him to finish the thought. “I can make the armor of your suit out of this alone!”