Casimiro was seething. His men were being slaughtered, and one of his mages was out of combat. His company was in tatters. The beast had proven much more dangerous than anticipated.

He had to save Carano. He needed the mage alive if they had any hope of slaying the dreaded beast.

With great regret he took one of the jogi fruits in his belt pouch and bit down hard on it. The dried fruit gave some resistance to the bite, but suddenly it exploded with flavor. Casimiro could feel the violent energy flow through his veins. Without waiting for the full effect to kick in, he dashed to intercept the monster.

He clashed with his shoulder right into its side. It went hurtling to the ground, diverted from where his mage was standing. It seemed like one of its legs crunched and broke on impact.

The leader himself was hurting. The carapace had been extremely hard, and his shoulder felt weird. The jogi fruits chaotic energy was still coursing through him, so he could not determine the extent of the injury. But at the very least it must have been fractured. His sword arm dangled uselessly.

He picked up a shield from the ground with his left arm and filled his lungs with air.

"SOLDIERS! TO ME! RALLY TO ME!"

He surveyed the battlefield. What had been a pristine landscape only minutes before was now filled with bodies and gore. He could hear one of his men moaning. He was lying on the ground a few paces away, with his hands on his leg. It seemed the lower half of it was missing.

How many casualties? It must have been at least a dozen. Probably more than a score. Nearly half his men!

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What a disaster.

By now the remaining men had joined him. The dogs too had regrouped and regained some of their courage, and were now yapping and baying at the beast again.

As for the beast itself, it was slowly rising again. It leaned heavily onto its right flank. Two of its legs were missing, and one dangled lifelessly. It produced a rapid clacking sound with its mandibles, and the canines backed up in surprise.

"Men, form up!"

The soldiers set up in a two man line, those that still had shields in front and those with spears or poles in the back row, with Casimiro in the centre and Carano as the only man in the third row.

"Advance!"

The line advanced. The beast was with its back to the cliff. It straightened its torso and extended its frontal arms to their full size.

"Fire!"

The mage Carano gulped down the yellow vial he had had taken from his belt and let the incinerating energy emanate from his hands. A stream of scorching hot flame shot over the heads of the soldiers, catching the beast straight in its chest.

It let out a miserable shriek and collapsed.

"Attack!"

The thirty or so souls surged forward and and reached the beast. They started battering it with their shields and their short swords, poking it with their spears and poleaxes. The dogs, seeing their masters fall upon the beast, promptly did the same and bit and teared into the legs of the animal. Soon, one of the legs came loose and they dragged it off victoriously.

Casimiro approached the front of the monster. It had huddled itself into a ball, trying to protect its inner parts. He kicked what he thought was the head of the thing.

Abruptly, the body exploded into motion and launched itself forward. One of the rear legs pushed on the cliff wall and sent the monster straight into Casimiro. The head, previously tucked in, extended towards him. The beasts mandible bit deep into his right shoulder. It twisted, and separated the arm from the body like a child plucking the wings of a fly.

Casimiro screamed.

With the neck exposed now, one of the soldiers sprung into action and buried his sword into the vulnerable section of the beast. With a last guttural sound, it went limp.