I wandered through the burning plains.
Conflict was eventually inevitable as I progressed further. I had to pass through the territory of the kallikantzaroi in order to get to the temple like structures that I wanted to investigate.
There was a gigantic group of them. They were either taller than a house, covered in thick rough fur, or hairless and about the size of a six year old. However, all of them were completely black with red glowing eyes like small fires. Their heads were gigantic and out of proportion to the rest of their bodies. They had the arms of a monkey and the legs of a goat. Every single one of them was disfigured, though all in different ways. Some missed certain body parts while others were limb.
All of them were eating from a gigantic tree. It stretched out high into the sky, to the point where it was seemingly endless. I could tell that they had eaten a good chunk from the base of the tree. If they were to continue to eat from the tree, it would fall over in just a few weeks.
("Are they trying to cut down the tree?")
I decided not to ask and walk past them. However one of the big ones had noticed me.
It stepped away from the tree and walked towards me. Its flaming red eyes didn't seem to focus on me as it drew closer. ("Is it blind?")
"Who are you. Are you trying to stop us from eating the tree?"
The creature roared with saliva dripping from its fangs. The ground slightly trembled each time it took a step.
Slowly I backed away. "No. why would I want to hinder you from eating the tree?"
"Each time we leave for twelve days to ruin the festival of the gods who drove us away, the tree completely regrows. Someone must be helping this dammed tree!"
I walked further back to create more distance between me and the creature. "What do I have to gain from caring for this tree?"
The completely black monster ruched towards me. "I don't know and I don't care. You're coming close to it, so it must be you!"
I was stunned. How stupid could this creature be. I walked past that tree, so I must be the one to completely reverse the damage each time they leave? What kind of logic is that? And if the tree only regrows when their gone, can't they just skip the festival once?
The creature screeched and tried to it me with its disproportionate arm. The movement was slow and easy to evade. With only a step to the right I managed to doge the attack of the creature that towered so far over me.
It had not predicted that I would suddenly step away and tripped due to missing its attack.
"You think that you are so cunning and smart, using my attack against me like that? Well prepare yourself, for I will rip off your head to pin it on the tree with your horns."
The creature stood up with clumsy exaggerated movements, after which it tried the exact same attack. It roared in anger when I kept dodging its attacks.
The stupidity of this creature didn't cease to amaze me. It kept trying to kill me with means that obviously didn't work. And it did it again and again while expecting a different result.
As for why I didn't kill it then and there? I didn't know its connection with the rest of its species that were still trying to eat the tree. If I killed it in front of them, chances were that the entire group would attack me. And I was quite sure that I couldn't win against hundreds of them. though I doubted that they would do that since they were so obsessed with that tree. It still felt safer to kill this one a few hundred meter away from them.
It kept mocking me the entire way wile it limped behind me. Until we reached a distance that I felt was acceptable.
The creature hesitated when it saw that I stopped 'fleeing' and jumped right at it. Like I did last time, I went for the eyes first. I didn't know if it was blind or not, but I knew that losing an eye wasn't a pleasant experience.
It snarled in pain and anger when it lost both of its eyes. But the injury didn't hinder its perception. But that was never a problem to begin with. I flew up and let myself fall down to claw open its massive head.
However, the skull of the being was a lot thicker than I had predicted. And instead of finishing it with two attacks the creature even managed to grab my tail and throw me against a rock.
I was furious. The damage was not that severe and it would heal in only a few minutes. But it was quite insulting that this low being actually managed to lay a hit on me. How dared this life form that was so far beneath me, hurt me.
I growled. Every second that that creature was in my view only made my hatred for it grow. It was the idea of the creature to attack me in the first place. it sheer pride and false sense of superiority around me started to piss me off.
it was as if a person knows so little about something that he thinks he knows all about it. Like a lizard thinking that it's a dragon until it actually encounters one. Yes, for demon standards I was still weak, but this thing was even worse.
I roared and once again jumped at the creature. Flames licked the corners of my mouth as I clawed its chest open.
The creature finally realised that this was a fight that it could not win. It struggled, it tried to get me of it, it tried to get away from me. But that realisation was to late. It could no longer escape my deadly grasp. In despair it called out to the others. But we were too far away, and they just shrugged it off as background noise while they continued to eat the tree.
Eventually it died. My strength grew and I consumed its soul. The soul was tasteless and weak, so I also ate a large portion of its body to satisfy my hunger.
Honestly, I was surprised by my sudden rage, and I did not expect that this would be my first-time spitting fire, because I wasn't even trying to do so.
But despite that, I still tried to practice with it to further enhance my combat abilities vile I made my way over to the temple like buildings in the far distance.