Chapter 44 - 43

Trying to look bigger and more threatening the fox monster raises its body midair, but not in his hind legs like a four-legged creature I thought it to be initially, instead it shows off the long snake body it has in replacement of its tail, similar to the creature up above but not as fitting in its small body, almost like the place where the snakehead should have been has been changed to that fox body of his.

The longer I look at this creature the weirder it gets, how is that even possible?

It swings its body back and forth, oddly hanging its foxy part like a ragdoll at the tip of its long snake scaled form, and as it fakes attacks and moves around, trying to finding an opening in my guard I soon realize that the thing has a wider reach than me as it lunges its coil back body at me, but instead of an open snake mouth it attacks with the tentacles that reach even further.

I retaliate all its attempts at getting a hit on me with my claws stretched out, four arms against many limbs, the turning point being that, even if one of those tentacles manages to hit me, because of its size and strength are not great they aren't able to make significant damage against me.

Now my big, four bulging arms on the other hand…

So even though he has the reach, the fox-snake creature does not try to overstay its welcome, merely scratching my scales, aware that if I manage to grasp one of its limbs instead of just clawing at them he would, at least, lose another tentacle, and it didn't seem very kin to the excruciating pain of losing it the first time.

So we claw, claw, slash and kick, making the place tremble as I would only hit the ground with my powerful attacks for the creatures proves to be very skilled in dodging around and using its snake body to its full potential, slashing out with its tail from time to time, trying to drop me on the floor but never managing to hit my legs for I would leap up at him and crash with four fists down on the floor.

The stalemate is that he, somehow, always succeeds in dodging my attacks with its sneaky weird body, coiling to the side in a S shape, always so close yet unreachable.

At this point I use my fire breath to illuminate the night, and with no defense against it the snake-fox creature could only drag itself away while hissing, pawing its injury areas as the smell of burnt meat drifted towards my nostrils..

And yet…every satisfactory hit I land with my out of nowhere fire breath ends up being for naught because, the next second, as if the creature is made of goop itself a strange, tick, oily petrol looking substance would bobble up from its wounds almost instantaneously and, when they are only skin deep like my burns, not deep enough to melt the meat away, the substance would cover the skin up and heal it, leaving a darker shade of fur and scales behind.

I soon realize that, for the damage to be significant I will need to hurt the creature deeper for the tentacle that I took off at the beginning is still being regenerated, the goopy substance consolidating like lava when it hits the water, little by little making the limb back up with a shishing sound.

I slash out with my own tail too, but it seems that we both excel in middle-close combat, this creature proving to be more troublesome than I had anticipated, especially with these healing abilities of his.

Plus something very troublesome surges among this sneaking dodging creature… in the form of acid being spit out, aimed at my eyes, coming from the tree lines.

What up with all these ghouls and creatures always aiming at my eyes? Would you give it a rest will ya? Hurting the eyes is a really low blow, it hurts like hell after all.

With one of my arms up above and closing in the scales in front of my eyes, I have to locate my enemies by the sound and my secondary echo-locating vision, and even if the spits hits my scales and does not damage nor trespass my defenses, it still manages to annoy the hell out of me as they try to pin me down by surrounding me from all sides, like hunting prey, so I take a piece of metal junk from the ground with my tail and throw it down at the line of Fungus Ghouls at the front, making they fall down like bowling pines and staying crushed down, their frail bodies unable to raise such heavy metal piece away.

I take more of those, all laying around me, motioning my body to sling out with my tail, grabbing mid-movement another piece with my arm and hitting a Moth Ghoul that tries to sneak in at my back, and even though it takes some time to get rid of them none prove to be at pair against my superior defense and strength, not even the fox-snake creature that only manages to dodge quicker then most.

…Wait a second…

I look around for a bit, snif, the air, and at the silence of the night realize… where had that thing go to? Maybe it finally realized that this was a lost battle and decided to back off? Coiling back in fear in some small cave around? The mere thought of having scared the thing away pleases me, but part of me is still bothered with something, a thought that should have come far quicker than it has.

No… no, perhaps it did realize that it was bound to lose this confrontation like his, taking me head-on, and decided to have a different approach, maybe is was trying to gather more ghouls, or… not, is not possible, right? I keep thinking until gunshots resonate up above, a very clear reminder of the small detail I have been forgetting up to this point.

The freaking human!

Cracking my neck out of anger and annoyance I growl under my breath, looking up at the orange flashes that came with the sound, wondering how things have turn out down this badly for me to have to go protect a human, of all things!

I flare smoke out of my nostrils, dashing up the hill, ready to face these annoying meal stealers out.