Terrifying. Such was the Salamander standing before Ewan. It may have been wounded, but it was no less dangerous. The young hunter swallowed hard. He was not afraid... Well, maybe a little ? He had already confronted many monsters that were frightening both in appearance and behavior. But the situation there was tense, to say the least. The dragon had seen him, and was about to pounce on him, its eyes glowing with an amber glow.
It crushed shrubs, the frail branches bending and snapping under its weight ; before letting out a deep, powerful growl and suddenly rushed, running on all four clawed legs.
Ewan took cover behind a tree, which the beast swept away with one swipe of its paw. He felt the monster's teeth closing in on him, which made him speed up even more. He dashed between the trunks of two very close trees while continuing to run, forcing the dragon to follow him and go through with force; sending splinters and wood debris flying all around.
The young hunter was not running randomly in fear, far from it. He was trying to lead the monster astray by diverting its attention, in order to bring it back to the traps he had just set. Action in which he succeeded marvelously. Where he had jumped, the monster's massive paws had just torn the thin cord used to set off one of the traps, throwing hundreds of piercing metal fragments in an explosion.
The monster then let out a howl, while leaping to the side to try to avoid some of the projectiles. It raised its thorny tail, sweeping the surroundings violently, causing Ewan to stumble backwards. Having seen that the human was on the ground, the reptile rushed towards its prey, all teeth out, its mouth wide open.
The young man managed to avoid at the last moment the enormous paw trying to crush him by rolling on the side. But his formidable opponent did not intend to stop there. It turned towards its prey, and swept the young man with its tail, throwing him heavily against a tree.
Ewan let out a howl. The impact had been violent, and he had lost his sword in the process. He raised his shield just in time, a blast of brimstone and fire pouring down on him. The dragon was trying to char him with its flames, showering the young man almost continuously with its liquid fire.
Almost a full minute passed, the wooden shield beginning to burn, then melt. The metal handle by which he held the shield was burning his hand, making him wince horribly. If he didn't get out of this predicament, he would burn, too, and all that would be left of him would be a scorched suit of armor.
Then the fiery flow stopped. The dragon must have emptied its fire pouch, and this was Ewan's only opportunity to take cover. He dropped what was left of his shield, his burned hand coming away from his burden.
As he reached a nearby tree, another burst of fire brushed past him, forcing him down the rocky slope at the edge of the clearing. The dragon immediately ran after the human, following him like a shadow. Four legs were much faster than two.
The young hunter kept on tumbling, and stumbled. He began to roll downhill without being able to stop himself. The dragon had been clever enough to push him down an increasingly steep part of the mountain, the edge of which, ending in a cliff, seemed to go all the way down to the river below.
He slid down, unable to turn around to see if the dragon was following him. Rocks and stones falling in pursuit of him, loosened by the Salamander's claws, told him at once of the situation: the dragon did not intend to let him get away.
Soon, a landslide occurred. Layers of earth and rock broke away, carrying away the surrounding trees, like an avalanche of sand and stones. A huge roar filled the whole mountain, as if was gifted with a will and was angry at the two beings who had come to disturb its rest. The nearby cliff was one more danger to add to the list. All the land and greenery was pouring down like a mineral waterfall from the rocky outcrop, causing a crashing sound to reverberate throughout the mountain and valley below.
If the situation did not change, Ewan would be thrown into the void, as would the dragon. Fortunately, a saving tree appeared to the young hunter and he was able to cling to it. The dragon, gone mad, tried to grab him by the neck, but missed its target - its jaws causing a gust of wind at the young man's back - and continued to fall further down the mountain. Its sharp claws scratched frantically at the ground, digging wide furrows in the slope. It then planted his left paw deep into the ground, and stopped his uncontrolled descent. Coming to its senses, it cast a hateful gaze toward the human perched a little higher up the mountainside, and then began to climb slowly back up, winding its way through the debris while digging its claws deep into the stone and earth. Its panting and jerking breaths added a sense of imminent danger to the scene. The dragon soared toward the young hunter, and the closer it got, the more menacing and enraged it became.
As for Ewan, he tried to pull himself on the other side of the tree which had miraculously stopped his fall, but his injured hand prevented any movement. He tried to push with his legs, and succeeded in pulling himself up on the other side of the trunk, which was beginning to bend horizontally, in the direction of the slope. A wild grunt then reached him. The dragon was only about ten meters away from him, and was continuing its ascent. The falling trees and those being trampled by the fire-breather made sinister cracking sounds, like pleas to anyone who would listen.
For the first time, the young hunter felt that the situation was getting out of hand. He'd never made a fight last longer than what was necessary, and he felt that madness had overtaken the reptile's anger. All this creature had in mind was to kill the insect that had tried to injure it.
The monstrous body managed to get within reach of its prey, and began to finish its wild barbecue, spitting out a torrent of flames. It hit the back of the tree where Ewan was standing, and the latter had to jump down the slope to escape the inferno, tumbling down the rocky slope, and almost colliding with the dragon.
The Salamander turned around almost instantly, and with a lightning reflex, dashed backwards; his body undulating like a cat's. It might have been a wonderful thing to see, as the fire-breather's body twisted with a certain grace to turn around, if the situation had not been so perilous.
The fall of the two adversaries now seemed endless. As if carried away by an earth current, they drifted to an area where no trees were growing, and where their fate was becoming clear. The void was only a few hundred meters away, preceded by a steep and treacherous cliff.
The dragon didn't care enough about the situation: its wings could carry it very well. But it also knew that the human would be irretrievably lost, precipitated in the void overhanging the plain below. The reptile therefore saw with a very bad eye that its prey managed to stop his fall on a less slippery part.
Blinded by its anger, the dragon didn't notice that a shadow was approaching them. A threatening, terrifying shadow. And a silver flash of lightning then pierced the sky.