Dagger shot a knife at the blur, which it just grabbed in the air, and headed over to swipe at Dagger, giving her a nasty cut while it grabbed the other knife in her hand. Before going back to its vengeance on the metal bowl.

"We are doomed..." Tommy intoned.

"Or dead." the girl replied, weirdly cheerful.

She was not attacking anymore, just sat down on her haunches and started grinding a bunch dried herbs between two riverstones. The powders fell into a jar of oil.

CLANG

She kept grinding and mixing stuff up. Joyo kept getting pushed back, but he too stubbornly clung to his shield, warding off the annoying predator, or whatever the thing was. Lester was lying down, brooding, still trying to follow with his eyes.

Tommy too was stuck where he was, not knowing whatnelse to do. His gaze wandered from one to the other.

'Endless cycle, like eternal damnation.'

Then he paused, taking in the surroundings, a chill running up his spine, "The fog!"

The fog had risen up, creeping upon them. Now, it was boiling out of the ravine onto the surface, as if awoken by the morning light.

CLANG

"Do something - Lester! mage!" Fatty shouted again, looking more and more disheveled.

CLANG

The same orange flashed. Shrapnels flew off of the shield. Fatty wailing, yet continuing in the same miserable pattern. And the bird monster kept attacking, and picking up the pieces before vanishing. It's outline was clearer in the fog somehow. Nothing was making sense.

CLANG!

"Why does it even do that?"

"Be glad. Could be you." Dagger said, then she shouted, "Drop the shield, Fatty!"

"No! Even if I drop it, what then?"

"I say we make a run for it." Tommy said.

"I veto. Going into the fog is stupid. Maybe it wants us to go into the fog."

"Yeah, it's not strong, just fast. Fog's much worse."

"Just fast? It broke your sword."

"It may get tired."

"I'm getting tired!! Help me."

Dagger still hadn't stopped. She was even humming as she measured the grey mixture with a gourd.

"What are you doing?"

No reply. Turning back to Fatty, the two boys headed over and supported him from behind while discussing plans, most of it amounting to - "throw away the shield" and "let's run". Like a stuck record, the conversation went nowhere, restarting with every strike.

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CLANG

And the beast did what it did. It kept coming back, pounding hard then rushing away.

"Hey, let's try something?"

"What?"

Tommy took out a copper from his pouch, trying to stay silent and keep it hidden. Until he threw it away. The monster appeared the moment it bounced off the ground. It shrieked. A loud shrill gleeful cacophony. Familiar too.

"Where have I heard this?" Tommy blurted.

"You know this thing?"

"No, but there's- nevermind."

"Huh."

Next, he took out the only gem in his possession. And threw that. Nothing happened. The gem stayed on the ground, reflecting the morning sun rapidly rising up in the distance. He had noticed the stones that Dagger had chugged, forming a hypotheses, that had now been verified.

"That proves it! It only wants metal. See? Right?"

"Good job, Dummy." Dagger grinned.

"So we will be fine if we just give it all our metal?" Lester asked.

"Nope. Not giving it my shield. Over my dead body."

"But..."

The conversation felt so familiar. Like a deja vu.

"We'll die anyway." Fatty was saying, more determined than ever.

"Drop it!!" Lester too.

"No!..."

This time, both Lester and Dagger wrestled Fatty, one wrapping her arms around the neck and fingers in the nose, while the other twisted the arm, eventually managing to grab and throw the shield away.

Clang CLANG CLANG *shriek* CLANG ...

The menace appeared as expected. It started smashing at the seems, not leaving at all, now that the target was on the ground.

They still couldn't see much, as if it vibrated in its place. Certainly a bird, that knocked on the shield with its beak. That's all they could figure out. It seemed unable to carry the metal. Worse, its attack was being cushioned and ricocheted off the ground, the additional booming sounds making it agitated.

Dagger was furious too. Smiling like a madman, she chugged a bottle at it, which exploded on the shield but the thing just avoided it. A splash of liquid covered the area, including the shield. Instead of stepping into the liquid, the bird created a massive gust of wind to blow the liquid off the shield and went back to its task, ignored them.

"That does it. Dummy, use your magic."