The group unanimously decided to follow the trail. As they were in a hurry, nobody disturbed Ragnar as he quickly discerned clues and led them forward. Lukas came to be in awe of the man, watching with wide eyes. He, too, would probably be able to discern where to go with such obvious clues, but to be able to do all this while running? Impossible. It goes to show that the celebrated hunter had honed his skill to perfection. The forest keeps getting darker as the branches overhead cast shadows everywhere. Tall trees, tens of meters tall, intertwining with each other and blocking out any and all sunlight there is to be found. Of course, as the forest gets darker, so does their speed slow down. Lukas instinctively thinks that they should probably light a torch at this point, but keeps his opinion to himself, respecting the silence that has fallen upon the group. And after a while, they stop.
“A cave” Someone mutters. And Lukas thinks to himself that, yes, it is a cave. A huge cave. It’s not even that far away from the village. If he’d been a bit more daring in his adventures he would have found this cave… and probably died for it. He shivers at the thought.
“Yes, indeed!” Ragnar shouts. “I didn’t think we’d need it, but a hunter is always prepared! I’ve brought some clothes, dipped in loads of delicious, flammable, fat. There isn’t enough for everyone though, so only… let’s see… 3, no, maybe 4 people can get one. So, anyone with a stick?”
Throwing the sack he was carrying on his back towards the ground, Ragnar scours it for something wrapped in cloth. Pulling it apart reveals some filthy clothes covered in a greasy substance, the whole thing making Lukas insanely curious. A man comes up close and gives Ragnar a stick which he immediately fashions the cloth around the tip of. “Alrite, boys, take your pick. Remember to fasten the cloth tightly and wave it around a bit if you’re losing your light.” Ragnar then takes a swig of something before pouring it over the tip of the makeshift torch. He then takes out a rock and puts them both close together on the ground.
“Stand back, boy, or you might get a blister” The man winks at Lukas who’s gotten a bit too close in the whole process, his curiosity taking over and leading him without fear. Blushing, Lukas stands back and watches as the man swings his sword at the rock, producing a couple of sparks. Like a true chain reaction the sparks land on the torch, immediately setting it on fire.
“So, what do you think, boy? Cool, ah?” He speaks in a proud tone. Harold scoffs at him, but doesn’t say anything discernable. Ignoring him, Ragnar motions for everyone to get on with it. In short order, they’re all equipped with torches, ready to head into the cave.
.
Entering into the cave they all realize they’ve been deceived from the exterior, as the inside of the cave is much larger than the opening would suggest. The ceiling, several meters above ground, rises into nothingness as they keep walking downwards. Their torches cast shadows of light on the cool, damp, cave walls. The tension is high among the group, none of them entirely certain of what is in store for them. Their weapons are ready for any situation. Once in a while, an unlucky fellow would have a drop of water drip down on them from the roof of the cave. Scaring them shitless and sending echoes of their yell deeper into the cave. In those instances Ragnar would scowl at them, move really close, with only a torch separating them and berate them in a low voice.
“You're gonna be scared of some water dripping down on your back? Huh? What you really should be scared of is if your voice is going to attract one of those hideous beasts that we haven’t seen yet. Imagine giving away our position like an idiot, we’re the hunters, not prey” And they’d all gain a small smile on their faces from the interaction. Lukas tended to stick close to Ragnar, as his respect for him grew with each passing moment. The man was cool, collected, knew how to loosen up a tense situation and skilled. In a situation like this one, it was to be expected that he gained the child's admiration. Steve stuck close as well, as he’d already promised Linda that he’s going to take extra good care of the child.
After walking for a good while they were all starting to get worried about just how big this cave is, it just wasn't natural. And as they mumbled this to each other they came upon a divide. The cave split into two.
“The cave… it split into two….” Steve mutters and Harold scoffs.
“Yes, genius, the cave split into two. That means we’re going to have to split as well. We don’t have time to be dallying around like this.” There was a murmur of uncertainty in the group as they all mulled the situation over. Grace felt it necessary to provide some input.
“I think we should split up the hunters on each team, so that each team has the same amount. There is no knowing if the caves are going to split up further.” Ragnar nods at this.
“That’s true, it’d be dangerous if one team didn't have an experienced hunter with them.”
And as so, they begin counting how many people there are. Harold stands around impatiently as they do so, tapping his foot on the ground.
“30 people total. Including me and Grace, 7 of us are hunters. As am incredibly amazing and count as two, that rounds it up to 8” Ragnar smiles blindingly.
Grace gives him a look from sideways which says ‘Really dude?’ and another hunter speaks up. “Uh, I don’t believe that is how it works, man. Like if we have to split up, what are you going to do? Cut yourself in half, one team takes your legs, another the head?” This causes the group to start laughing, but quiet down as they remember where they are. Lukas confusingly looks between the people bantering. Harold speaks up once again.
“We don’t have time for these kinds of games!” He whispers in ill contained rage. They all swallow before deciding to hurry up with the dividing. Even though they all joked around, they left Ragnar with one less participant, knowing he’d be enough to take down two of them if needed. Grace, Harold and Steve all decide to stick around Ragnar as well, knowing that they’ll have a better chance to kill the beast and find the kid if they do. At this point Lukas really begins wondering what they’re all thinking. He tugs on Steve’s sleeve and whispers to him while walking behind everyone else. “Hey steve… Do you really think Rick is alive?” He looks sad as he speaks, the words sounding hollow to even himself. Steve looks down on him and thinks for a moment.
“Sometimes, in life, you don’t really know what is going to happen before it happens. We’ve looked for clues… and although it’s strange and rare for a human to be captured like that instead of killed, it’s not unheard of. Now, to know if Rick is alive or not… we can only open the metaphorical box to find out.” His gaze hardens. “But don’t be fooled, Lukas, we’re not here to save Rick… We’re here to kill that beast, so that no more children will die. Here, this is for you, because you’ve been so brave.” Saying that, he rummages in his vest before pulling out a knife in a sheath. Handing it to Lukas. Lukas looks at the knife in wonder.
“First I thought I’d give you a sword… But, it might be a little bit too heavy for you. You know how to use a knife, and more importantly, how not to use it, right?” Lukas nods at this and straps the knife on the side of his belt, making sure that it is fastened properly. At this moment there is a commotion from the front. “Guys, there is some kind of light here. Be ready for anything!” Hearing that, both Lukas and Steve snap out of their own little world and look to the front. And as they said, there was some kind of light at the end of the cave. The light seemed like daylight, and they all knew that would mean some kind of exit.
“But… why does it feel so ominous?” Lukas mutters.
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Stepping into the blinding light they all bear witness to a gigantic cavern. Standing at the entrance of the cavern, the eyes of the more inexperienced are instantly drawn to the source of light. Blinding them for a moment, before their eyes adjusted. All around them there seems to be some kind of crystals embedded into the cave walls, giving off a source of bright, fluorescent light, very different from their own torches. The crystals are all around them, in the walls and especially the ceiling. One man walks closer to a smaller one, muttering to himself. He’s wondering how much it could be worth, and his mind begins to contort from the greed. Unknowingly a smile had already begun to stretch across his lips, along with a few others.
“This is a strange, strange place. I’ve never seen anything like this before” Ragnar mutters to himself. “This place… these lights. You’d think I’d know about it if it were so close to the village. But, not only did I not know about this cave, it’s such an incredible cave as well.” Looking around he began to notice some kind of purple veins spread across the floor and walls. “Some kind of ore? We have really hit the jackpot here…” He says to himself. Lukas is mesmerized by the sight as well, looking around himself. On the left side one of the members had already begun to try to take some of the crystals out of the wall, to no avail, they’ll need better tools to get them out. Seeing that they were about to begin hacking at it with their knives, in the middle of the hunt, Ragnar decides to remind them of where they are.
“Am happy ya’ll like the pretty crystals, but don’t you think we should focus for now? It’s not like they’re going anywhere” They all look at each other reluctantly, but nods nonetheless.
“Good. I can feel we’re getting closer to this mystery. And what a strange mystery it is. I don’t believe any of us really signed up for this” He says with an evil smile on his face, making him look like a villain.
“Why do you do that?” Lukas asks him.
“Do what?” Ragnar asks back with a confused expression
“Look like you’re about to murder us all” At this statement Ragnar gets bit depressed and Steve awkwardly breaks in.
“Let’s move on, eh?” He says and directs Lukas forward. Inwardly smiling. It seems like he’s gotten over the worst of the happening huh? With all these fantastical sights he might just forget about it all together. Best case scenario, we find Rick living and well and kill the beast, get ourselves some money at that too.
As they move deeper in the cave, the light increases and the purple veins in the walls and floor begin to get denser. Lukas begins to notice that the veins seem to come out of the light crystals for some reason, being clustered around them and spreading out. It became especially noteworthy when the crystals began to show up on the floor as well as the walls, almost encasing the tunnel in a cocoon of light. The further in they walked the more mystical the place seemed and the further in they went, the more people began to hesitate about going further. Perhaps because they’ve already gotten so far, they kept walking, or perhaps it’s because they’re fuelled by their greed. The beast had seemingly gotten lost in their minds at this point, but there was one person who seemed to be entirely too aware of it. Standing still for a moment. He asks the group. “What if.. There are more of them?” He seemed unsure. Ragnar never seemed unsure, and as a fellow hunter Grace picked up on it. Seemingly not caring at all, Harold keeps walking forward. “I don’t care, if there are more, we kill more” He said uncaringly. But around the bend, even he came to a stop. Curious, and a little frightened, people walked up behind him to see what caused his expression to change.
.
Around the bend, stretching out before them, were a huge spherical cavern entirely encased in crystals. The whole place seemed magical in its appearance, beautiful and enticing. It is often said that beautiful things tend to be cruel, common sayings such as ‘roses have their thorns’ depict this very well. Nevertheless, it is not what gave the group a pause. For lying across the floor were thick veins of purple, some even thicker than a tree branch, and they all lead towards spherical blobs of purple. 8 of them in total. The group, driven by their curiosity, kept moving forward to get a better look.
“What is this? This is absolutely disgusting” A look of loathing could be seen upon the face of Grace as she witnessed the spherical blobs pulsate as if alive. Moving insanely close in spite of her words, she witnessed the spheres pulsating, as if alive. Upon noticing it, a few people began retching. Causing a chain reaction.
“Ragnar! What are these things?” Lukas shouts out at him, and in that moment, most of the people began to realize that even Ragnar had absolutely no idea what was going on. Standing with his mouth open, staring at something in the distance. They all followed his gaze and saw Rick lying on the ground a few feet away.
“Rick!” Harold shouted, sprinting forwards. Looking around himself and assessing the situation, Ragnar could tell that this was insanely dangerous. The spherical, seemingly alive, blobs of purplish flesh on the ground were vibrating as if excited at their entrance. The ground seemed to glow in a light purple shine. There was only one thought in his mind, they had to leave, now. They could not stand around and look at these things as if they were decorative pieces.
“Harold! Grab Rick and come! We have to leave! Immediately!” Upon this shout a lot of people began looking desperate, some outright running at the sound of his voice. Steve pensievely looked upon the scene, alternating his gaze between Rick and Lukas. I can’t leave them here, and I can’t have Lukas run off on his own. Hardening his gaze he took a wait and see attitude. “Get ready for anything Lukas” Lukas nodded at this.
At this point Harold was already upon Rick who was lying on the ground. Looking at it, his eyes narrow at the sight. Thick, purplish veins seemed to be going inside his body, infecting him and pumping him full of something. His stomach had already begun to swell and his body temperature was abnormally high. In spite of all this, he was still alive.
“Stop dallying around Harold! We have to get going!” Clenching his teeth, he replies.
“I can’t! There is something wrong with Nick! It’s as if he’s a part of the cave, somehow!” The eyes of all the people present open wide at this, whatever could be happening here? This was way too big of a thing for their small village to handle. Hearing this, Ragnar clenches his teeth, making a decision. Running forward he looked upon the scene himself, the skin of the boy seemed to be fused with the crystals below, whereupon purple veins were entering his body from all angles. This had the strange effect of blowing his stomach up to inhumane proportions. Putting two and two together, Ragnar understood what was happening here. He understood, but couldn’t quite believe it.
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During this whole commotion, Lukas had snuck off from the group to inspect one of those blobs of flesh. Getting real close in the process. Driven by innate curiosity, but not wanting to touch it, he pulled his knife from its sheath. Lukas was currently looking very closely at the blob, noticing the purplish veins sticking out from it, seemingly pulsating at random. His knife got closer, and closer. He wondered what would happen if he poked it just a little bit.
Nothing. Nothing happened when he poked it just a little bit, deciding to get a bit more daring, he plunged the whole knife into the flesh, tearing it apart. Now, Lukas is a small child, he didn’t know about blood pressure. A torrent of thick, purplish liquid flew out of the blob, drenching his whole body in it. Some even got in his mouth, nose and eyes. He screamed in fear. Steve, whose attention had been drawn by the happenings at front, looked behind himself and paled in fear. Who would have thought that in the small amount of time that he’d turned around, this child would go ahead and do something stupid like that? Kicking himself for not paying attention, he ran forward to see if he was alright. But he had to stop as he couldn’t touch him without getting that liquid all over himself.
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“Lukas! Are you alright?” He shouts. Lukas is currently drenched from head to toe in some kind of purplish liquid, but it didn’t burn or anything like that, in fact… It tasted rather sweet.
“Yes! Am sorry, I was just so curious!” He shouted back. Steve smiles at that, moves closer and wipes the liquid off of his face. Too preoccupied with everything that is happening, neither Steve nor anyone else noticed that for a split second, Lukas eyes flashed purple. The moment they all learned that these blobs of flesh weren’t any dangerous, they decided to instantly destroy whatever they were, because something hideous like that could never be anything good. At that moment they all heard an enraged shout. “RAGNAR! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?”
Looking at the front, you could see Ragnar standing with a sword, seemingly ready to impale Rick. Everyone in the room looked on in horror as the man was about to murder a child. Looking around himself, Ragnar sighs. “Harold… Can you not see.. Rick, Is already dead. He’s become a breeding ground for a monster. If we try to cut him out of this rock, he’ll lose so much flesh he’ll die regardless… There is no winning here, Harold” Harold clenches his fist at that, knowing that it is correct. But, still, everything that is happening is so new. Who is Ragnar to say that Rick will actually die after the process is finished? What gives him the right to take his life? No one. “Step away, Ragnar. If he’s a breeding ground or if he is not. You’re not getting to decide his life or death. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?” Harold pulled his own sword from its sheath, pointing it at Ragnar. Ragnar's deep, dark eyes glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes.
“Very well, Harold. You get to choose how this child dies. I wanted to spare him the misery, the torture of his existence, but these matters are in your hands now. Regardless, we have to leave. Are you staying behind to look after him or coming with us?” Sheathing his sword, Ragnar moves away towards the exit, noticing the slowly deflating blobs of flesh. Earlier hidden by the size of the things, now there lies animal fur on the ground around each one. Deciding not to mention it out loud, he gives a nod to everyone present and immediately leaves. Lukas goes to open his mouth, but sees Steve shaking his head. There were a few people exchanging glances, none of which were keen to stay behind to see the results of whatever experiment Harold was doing, immediately following behind Ragnar on his way out. Hesitating slightly, Grace stands there for a moment
“Harold… He’s dead, you can’t help him” From his kneeling position in front of Nick, Harold looks back at her with tears in his eyes. It breaks her heart, as she’s never seen him this sad before.
“I.. know. But, I have to try, if i don’t, I will hate myself forever.” A rough, calloused hand moves to remove the hair out of the boy’s eyes. “My boy… My dear boy. How could this have ever happened to you?” Sobbing, Harold sits there by himself, no sign of moving. Sighing, Grace turns around.
“Do as you wish.. Harold. I can’t help you any more. Take care”
.
Running through the tunnel with Ragnar in front, they all start relaxing the further they go.
“You know.. I’ve thought about this for quite a while now, but here goes. Since the beast wasn't in the tunnel… where could it be?” Steve mentions out loud. It goes to say that the other group might have drawn the short end of the stick, meeting up with whatever abomination causing this spectacle. Ragnar frowns while thinking.
“We should meet up with the other group, tell them what we found, then leave together. It’s also better if we all stick together. Splitting up is the worst decision we could make, there is strength in numbers.” They all nod. Though some are looking reluctant, they don’t want to go off on their own and end up like Rick. The crystals slowly recede from the floor, walls and ceiling. In the distance they can see the cave from which they came. Keeping up the steady pace, they all line up while running to enter the cave in the distance.
“Wait! Are we just going to leave without a single crystal? Are you all mad?!” A man in farmer's clothes, dark skin, long blonde hair and white freckles shouts out loud.
“We’re not mad, you idiot! You’re mad! We’re definitely coming back for these things later. Right, guys?” There was an awkward silence as nobody responded. To be truthful, nobody knew what to do about this thing. The man who just spoke, grunts in displeasure.
“Seems like none of these guys agree with you! I, for one, am not leaving without something.” The man with white freckles speaks again. Grace glances at him, having heard the conversation.
“If you want to die, be my guest, Ambrose” The man grimaces. Do they know something I don’t? They are all very eager to leave this place as quickly as possible. Yes, the place is creepy and we’ve never seen anything like it, but dangerous? Who ever said it was dangerous? The man glances at Ragnar. Ragnar says it’s dangerous, but what makes him think that?
“Ragnar! What makes you think this place is dangerous?” He shouts
Ragnar sigs and just waves a hand around himself.
“Have you ever seen anything like this before?” And the man realizes, it’s not that Ragnar is a coward, but too much is at stake at this moment. They’re too many people. If they were to all die, the village would be absolutely trashed. Being the temporary leader, he can’t stay behind out of greed, if he did, most would as well. But he… he doesn’t have to leave right now.
Grace glances at him out of the corner of her eyes, then grabs his arm, whispering to him.
‘It won’t be too late to come back afterwards, with better tools, just the two of us. Let’s focus on the mission right now, killing that beast” The man gains a glint in his eyes and nods.
Yes.. it wouldn’t be too late.
.
Lighting up their torches once more, they all enter the cave tunnel. Their pace is a lot faster as they know what to expect around each bend. The mood is tense as all that can be heard is the crunching of boots on stone. Lukas wonders what happened to the other group, did they find the same thing as they did? Soon, they all arrive at the junction which initially split their group into two. Now, a choice had to be made. Would they go get the other group, or leave without saying anything. Walking up to a cave wall, Ragnar inspect it closely, gritting his teeth as he does so.
“We have to go after them, tell them what we found '' More than a few look reluctant at that.
“Ragnar… This place is dangerous. For all we know, we could have been the lucky ones, who knows what happened to those other people?”
Looking around he sighs. “Don’t worry, we don’t all have to go. How about you all go wait outside and I’ll run in after them. We all should really talk about this before we decide on what to do.” His smile, like always, seems evil and villainous. As if he had a scheme nobody else was aware of. They’re all used to it at this point, though. So they all smile in relief and nod at him, preparing to leave.
“Come on, Lukas, let’s go” Steve tells him and guides him with his hand when he doesn’t immediately move. They all move towards the cave exit, as they walk, Lukas looks back at Ragnar standing there all by himself. And at that moment, he thought that he looked exceptionally lonely, standing there all by himself.
“That Ragnar, he’s a real hero, ain’t he? Always putting other people in front of himself” Ambrose laughs a little at that. For some reason, that sentence really pissed Lukas off something awful, even though he himself couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Considering for a moment, his lips pinch together as he walks towards the cave exit with purpose, fully intending to wait outside for Ragnar to come back.
Suddenly, there is some commotion at the front, a few people screaming and some kind of low growl could be heard. Looking forward, he could see a huge beast in the front. It kind of looked like an oversized house cat, Lukas only hoped that it wasn’t as fast as one.
“What the hell is that?!” Ambrose could be heard shouting.
“Doesn’t matter! Just an oversized cat! Men, to arms!” Someone could be heard shouting
In the commotion, Steve instinctively put Lukas behind himself.
“Stay back, Lukas” He shouts and draws his own sword as well. Lukas fully intended to listen to him, but he’d be darned before he missed any of this action. Looking with wide eyes as the 15 men faced off with a gigantic cat-like creature.
Now that he got a better look at it, he could see how huge it was, standing at nearly 2 meters tall, it towered over the average adult male. Its teeth were like huge spikes, too big for its own mouth. In a moment of contemplation, he wondered how the cat ate without hurting itself. Its fur, dark as night, seemed like a cloak of shadow as it covered every inch of the animal.
Grace could be seen on the side with an intensely concentrated look on her face, she nock an arrow in her bow and aimed it at the beast.
“Archers! Ready your aim! Fire at wil!” She shouts as the first arrow flies straight into the eye of the beast, hopefully blinding it on one side.
The beast screams in rage and pain as some kind of purplish liquid seeps into its fur. The sight makes quite a few people grin in satisfaction. The beast isn’t unbeatable.
.
Seeing this, the melee gets more fired up about beating this thing, despite its size.
“Men! Charge!” Ambrose yell out loud
The men with swords, pitchforks and spears charge the beast. Intent on killing it quickly, some more arrows fly, impaling the beast. But, as the melee drew closer to the beast, the arrows became fewer and further between, probably because the archers started to get scared of friendly fire. The first to come face to face with the beast were a tall man, almost as big as the oversized animal itself. Shouting, his powerful muscles contracted as he swung the sword with all his power. The beast sees the man and almost lazily dodges the swing. The dodge was like a leaf being pushed by the wind, absolutely effortless. The man, not expecting the beast to dodge, had severely overextended his swing and now he’s wide open to any kind of attack. The beast lunges like lightning at the man, all the spectators could see were a black shadow rushing past, and suddenly the man began falling backwards, blood sprouting from his throat, an unbelieving look in his eyes.
Lukas stands at the back with wide open eyes, how fast that happened! He couldn’t even see the beast move before it was too late. Suddenly, he began to get really worried if they were to ever get out of there. Seemingly feeling his predicament, Steve puts a hand on his shoulder.
“Lukas, it is going to be alright. Stand where you are, i cannot afford to stay here with you” Saying so, he takes a quick few steps forward. A sword in hand, this seemingly ordinary farmer became dazzlingly brilliant in Lukas eyes. Dependable.
As this is happening, the fight hasn't been standing still. After killing the man, the beast didn't stop there. The beast opens its huge maw, growling at the men. Scaring some of them shitless. One of them lost his bearing and fell down when taking a step backwards, another lost the grip he had on his pitchfork and it came clattering to the ground. Grace kept a steady gaze as she watched this.
“Men! This beast is not unkillable! One good spear is enough to kill it! Everyone group up!” Saying so, she fired another arrow at the beast. The beast looks at her with hate at the pain inflicted, seemingly focusing all its attention at her. She keeps steady, nocking another arrow in her bow. The men all group up together, nobody foolish enough to fight against the beast alone once again. Seeing this, the beast began stalking around them, looking for an opening. Not seeing any, it seems disheartened for a moment. Suddenly, as if seeing a particularly delicious meal, the beast perked up, casting its gaze at Lukas standing in the background. Steve only had a moment to process the fact before the beast, with sheer physical strength and agility, ran up the wall. Using the circular layout of the cave, the beast keeps speeding up, and with the help of centrifugal forces, actually walks on the ceiling. From the ceiling, the beast takes a daring leap towards Lukas.
“Lukas!” The boy could hear someone shout his name distantly, his whole focus on the beast. The world was seemingly in slow motion at that moment. Lukas noted the rocks in the cave, how damp they all were. In the roof, to the right of the beast, he could see some stalagmites. One of them was particularly sharp, and a droplet of water seemed like it would fall from it at any moment. Oh, right… The beast. The beast had leaped off from the ceiling, in something which could only be called an incredible acrobatic feat. It was beautiful how the rocks flew from the back of its feet, being torn from the cave itself by its unimaginably sharp claws. Lukas were in awe of the incredible physical strength the beast possessed. Coming closer towards him, he could see the intense, yellow eye of the beast. Seemingly moving around and examining the cave while it's jumping. What a gorgeous, dangerous eye… Full of cruelty. Seemingly fingering around with something on his belt, he pulled his knife out. In that moment, emotion seemed to leave Lukas, he could appreciate the small things in life and he knew what he needed to do next.
“I wonder.. How will you fight without eyes” An innocent voice with a hint of curiosity could be heard echoing in the cave.
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The boy took a step forward, leaned under an errant swipe from the beasts, plunged the knife into its eye with surgical precision, then did a roll to get behind the beast. The beast howled in pain. Onlookers stared at the scene in stupefaction. Not one, not a single one, thought that Lukas would survive, let alone hurt the beast.
"Good job, little man!" One of them yelled, attracting Lukas' attention. He turned towards the voice, grinning.
"Thanks!" Only to frown as he witnessed their expressions quickly change. Frowning in concentration, he tries to figure out why. Meanwhile, the beast has put a stop to its howling and turned towards the voices with dark intentions. How dare these insignificant prey gouge its eyes out? How embarrassing! Growly slowly, it swiped a claw towards the back of the child. Just when it was about to hit the child, the beast felt a sharp pain in its leg. Its leg had seemingly impacted with something, sending it flying backwards and cutting off its paw in one smooth motion.
Lukas looked up to see Steve standing about him, sword out in a cutting position. Scratching his head, he looked up at the man who had seemingly come out of nowhere, awestruck.
Panting, Steve looked down at the child with wonder in his eyes.
"Lukas… You have to be more careful" Steve tells the boy with a sigh, slinging the sword over his shoulder. Lukas gives him a nod filled with determination.
"Right! I just forgot about it!"
Steve gives him a deadpan expression. Like, really? How did you forget about an insanely large beast standing just behind you. You'd just blinded it a moment ago, as well. How carefree can you be? A smile twitched at his lips. One thing that can be said for sure, is that Lukas has definitely faced his fears.
"You ready for round two, then?" Steve says, looking at the crippled beast. For, really, what else could you call it. The beast had lost both of its eyes, a paw and was riddled with arrows. A cripple is all it is at this point.
"Hey hey hey! Don't you guys go hogging all the fun for yourself! I want a swipe at this ** who killed Gustav as well" Ambrose yells while moving closer. Meanwhile, another arrow hit the best, making it yelp in surprise. "Don't count me out either, this beast has been a pain in my ass for too long" Grace loudly states, making quite a few men chuckle. She ignored them. Steve gives them a smile each, then readies his sword. Seemingly thinking of something, a bit of drool drips from his lips.
"I wonder how you'll taste" He says the thing which none of them had considered before out loud. The people exchange a few glances, then look back at the beast, smiling viciously.
"Kill it!" They yell while charging.