Blink soon arrived before the monster's haunt. He circled around behind the thick vegetation. When he reached the trees behind the rock wall, he crouched towards the rocks as noiselessly as he could.
As soon as he was safely behind the rock wall, Blink inhaled deeply in relief. He walked to one side of the wall to observe the monster's position. It was leaning at the middlemost rock and making weird noises that Blink interpreted as wailing.
"Keep crying, little shit; maybe your momma would hear you," Blink muttered quietly. It was exactly what the boys in the academy would say to mock a disciple who cried after losing back when they were still blue-robed apprentices.
As he was peeping from the monster's blind side, Blink emerged out of the edge and blasted at the monster's hind leg.
The monster made a high-pitched howl. It couldn't react right away. And when it did, it stumbled back to the ground.
Meanwhile, Blink unleashed a barrage of [[Flame Shots]] to the same leg.
The monster stumbled three more times and got struck over thirty times before roaring towards Blink in desperation. The roar shot out a stream of bright orange flames, which nearly reached Blink.
Blink didn't expect the monster to shoot out flames while still down on the ground. However, there was a moment when the monster opened its mouth and Blink could see an orange ball forming at the monster's throat before it roared. This moment allowed Blink to sense danger, and he was able to roll back into his hiding place.
It was a very narrow escape and made Blink realize that he had allowed himself to get carried away.
"Stupid fellas sometimes stumble into a smart comeback." Blink recalled this amusing reminder often told among his fellow disciples that a desperate action could often lead to a stunning reversal. Obviously, they had seen their share of fights wherein the guy on the ground came up with a surprise attack as the one standing up charged in for the finish. Almost every time such a thing happened, the one on the ground took down the one standing up.
Blink blew a small gust of air through his mouth. He shook his head and smiled.
"Hey, little cry baby, don't you know that you're not supposed to come up with something as smart as that!" Blink shouted lifting his right hand, index finger on ready,
The monster screamed madly, spewing fire into the rock where Blink was hiding behind.
As soon as the fire went out, Blink emerged and shot a barrage to the monster's head. He kept at it for close to five seconds before sliding behind the rock once more.
Blink stuck to the strategy until he had only enough left for a final barrage.
Acting according to plan, Blink aimed his final barrage to the monster's already limping hind leg. He then escaped trouble-free into his clearing where he meditated before heading home in time for coffee.
The rest of Blink's day passed according to his daily routine. After breakfast he still went to the farm or to one of their orchards. He still trained the kids at the center; instructed Hubr, Zugr and Jogr in the afternoon; and ended the afternoon by strengthening his palm strike against a large piece of log.
In the evening, he went back to fight the monster. He stuck to the plan he had devised. This time there wasn't a single surprise. It was as boring a fight as could be, if one could even call it that. Exactly how Blink wanted it to be.
However, he had strained his right shoulder from all the pointing he did with his right index finger.
"Perhaps my left arm should also share some of the burden of taking down that monster," Blink said in a mocking tone. He felt rather stupid for not thinking about it. He was already feeling the strain in the middle of the evening fight but stupidly kept using his right hand.
This gave him the idea that he could perhaps use both arms at the same time. He recalled that when he used both hands to summon the [[Flame Daggers]], the spell drained his "magic fuel" at a rate of about five times the normal rate and not twice, as he deduced. He still could not understand the logic behind this two-handed consumption rate. He simply compared it to the phenomenon of two guys being able to eat more together than they normally would when they each ate on their own.
"Maybe the consumption rate would not be so bad with [[Flame Shot]]. Considering its size, perhaps it would only increase the rate three times or even less." Blink was fine with a drain rate of three times if it would give him greater firepower against the monster.
After meditating, he tried his theory behind the house, which overlooked a bend of the Agnos Fork. He raised both arms and pointed his index fingers into the air over the river. Their family house was perched on a plateau about three meters above the riverbank.
Blink shot ten pairs of [[Flame Shots]] into the air. To his dismay, he found out that shooting with two fingers resulted to a consumption rate of ten times more than when he used only one finger.
"What?!" Blink uttered, rather loudly, in dismay. "If one equals one, then why is two equal to ten? What kind of logic is this?"
"Nimgun, is that you? It's late! Go to bed!" It was his brother-in-law. Blink had just disturbed the serenity of the evening, and Jogr was rather fussy about his evening getting disturbed.
"Sorry, Namgun. I'm going to bed right away!"
Just like that Blink decided to stick to the old fight plan, went to bed and slept blissfully like a baby.
At dawn, Blink went through the same strategy to safely attack the monster and then leave its lair.
However, in the evening, the beast tried to charge him. But with only one good leg, Blink was hardly threatened. He was still basically able to flawlessly execute his plan.
That night after his meditation, Blink reflected upon his day as he usually did. He thought that while his overall strategy was very sound, the gains he made were rather negligible.
For one, he left the creature with a heavily-injured leg in the previous evening. Yet, when he arrived at dawn, the monster was walking around like that part of its body had never gotten hurt at all. Even its ferocity didn't seem to wane despite the relentless bombardment it had received head on.
Blink decided that the monster possessed a very high recuperation rate.
He also wondered why the creature didn't just simply fly away or attack him from the air. The only conclusion he could make of it was either the creature was bird-brained or it needed its legs to push off for flight. If it's the last case, then firing at its legs was a very sound strategy, indeed. Still, Blink wanted to be thorough and thus included the wings as a primary target together with the hind legs.
'Maybe I should shoot its eyes,' Blink suddenly thought. He decided that it was worth a shot.
When he went to the monster's lair the next day, Blink arrived for a surprise. The monster was vigilantly walking around the rock wall. It seemed to be anticipating his coming over for another fight.
Since it would be pointless to circle around like he used to, Blink waited for the monster to get on the other side of the wall. The good thing was that it moved around in a clockwise movement.
The moment the monster got behind the wall, Blink quickly moved closer to get a good angle to shoot at it as it emerged from the opposite end. Having heard the sound of running, the monster shrieked loudly. Blink heard the loud thumping of feet from the other side and prepared to shoot.
As soon as the head of the monster emerged out of the rock, Blink met it with a barrage of shots to the head. Blink was aiming for its eyes, but the monster was doing a good job of covering its filmy orb with the thick flap that served as its eyelids. By this time the monster was shrieking louder than ever.
Blink methodically retreated while keeping the monster stifled with a constant barrage. Once it was about to start breathing fire but was somehow interrupted by another shot to its eye. At about the same time, Blink was able to reach the edge of the outer rock.
"I have to hit one of his hind legs," Blink reminded himself. He didn't want to risk the possibility that the monster might get the idea of flying and attacking him from the air. He rushed to the other side of the wall while the monster was still shrieking as it stood at the center on the opposite side.
Upon emerging from the other end, Blink was presented with a view of the monster's rear. Without hesitation, Blink fired a barrage to the monster's right leg. The monster tried to turn around but stumbled as it tried to support its body with its right leg.
Blink took this opportunity to blast away at the monster's wings. This time, Blink saw that the thin membranes which covered the creature's wings got easily burned away by his [[Flame Shots]]. Now all Blink could hope for was that the wings didn't repair by themselves.
At this point, the fight strategy had shifted to a simple hit-and-run even as Blink kept aiming for the eye. Despite getting frustrated every time, Blink didn't lose his mind and remembered to reserve enough for a final barrage to the monster's legs.
After his meditation, he didn't return to attack the monster again. Instead he headed back home for coffee.
During coffee time, he was deep in thought over the change in the monster's habits. He worried that it might be adapting to his strategy, which meant that it wasn't stupid after all. He noticed that both his Namgan and his brother-in-law were gawking at him, so he asked them if they were asking him something that he happened not to hear while he was deep in thought. The two looked at each other awkwardly as if Blink had said something weird.
Right after the last morning session had ended, Blink rushed to the forest to grind the monster once more. He was prepared to be met by an even more vigilant massive winged creature only to find it sleeping under the shade of a nearby clump of trees.
Not one to waste a rare opportunity, Blink stealthily approached the monster. He immediately fired off a barrage of flaming projectiles to the creature's legs as soon as he got in range.
This time Blink wanted to experiment. He wanted to find out whether the monster's fire attack could be interrupted by his [[Flame Shot]]. After several rounds, Blink satisfactorily concluded that the fire-breathing attack was indeed interruptible. He also noticed that the monster would cock its head before letting out a stream of fire from its mouth. Thus, whenever the monster cocked its head, a [[Flame Shot]] would explode around the area of its eyes, effectively interrupting its attack.
The best thing was an interrupted attack seemed to still count as an attack. The monster had to wait for five seconds before it could attack with its breath of fire anew.
In the evening, the strategy of firing a pair of shots every two breaths was born. Blink figured that his "magic fuel" could regenerate even if he were fighting. Thus, if he could drag the fight longer, he would be able to generate more damage than if he were to use a barrage, which quickly consumed the cloudy matter in his soul.
If the previous fights lasted less than twenty minutes. The fighting this time was extended to a little over two hours. Blink successfully implemented the strategy to interrupt the monster's casting of its fire assault. He might have failed to grasp the proper timing a few times, but he was never truly in danger as he managed to maintain a safe distance between himself and the monster.
Despite the new strategy, Blink still failed to realize his prediction of killing the monster in three days.
Then came the fourth day.
After practicing martial arts Blink rushed to the monster's lair. Like the previous time, the monster was vigilantly circling the rock wall. He was gladdened to notice that its wings still looked as shattered as he had left it the night before.
This time Blink directly approached the monster's position. He no longer feared its power, but was mindful enough to remember that one hit from its flame or its tail could instantly kill him.
What he hadn't expected was to almost get killed by the monster's mouth.
He had not counted on the creature getting desperate and rushing him after its breath of fire was interrupted consecutively for a long time. He was still able to hold the monster back with timely shots to its eyes as he retreated to keep his advantage in range.
However, during his retreat, he sensed another person nearby. He got distracted and nearly stumbled. The momentary distraction was enough to give the monster an opportunity to almost bite his head off. Luckily, he was able to narrowly escape certain death with a [[Flame Shot]] to the monster's mouth. He still got knocked down but wasn't hurt that bad as he rolled with the blow.
Blink looked towards the location of the other person in order to curse that person only to stare at the teary-eyed face of his Namgan Magra.
He had a close shave once more as the monster charged at him. This time, he was able to fend off the monster with a huge ball of fire that toppled the monster off its feet. It was a desperate attack, and he still couldn't understand why he opened up his palm instead of pointing his finger at the charging monster. He took advantage of the opportunity presented by the unexpected attack from the figure on his palm to fire another ball of fire but, to his utter frustration, he couldn't seem to do it a second time.
Blink settled for a barrage of [[Flame Shot]].
As he was moving to get his elder sister out of danger, the monster was able to stand on four legs, forcing him to rush to pick up his sister. Thankfully, the monster rushed at him too soon. With its feet still wobbly, the beast could only crash back down to the ground.
With his sister held in his arms, Blink didn't take any chances.
"Namgan, hold onto me!" he yelled as he broke into a hard run through the forest.