The cold mid-night wind snaked through the branches, tree foliage, and blades of tall grass like an invisible wave caressing the vegetation in one direction. The birds were drowsy, but some crawling and walking animals were still moving at this late hour, scurrying energetically or advancing with many precautions under a pale gray crescent moon.
However, a step much heavier than that of all these small animals was also pounding the forest floor. Slow and steady, the sound of paws supporting a huge mass indicated that a gigantic creature was moving along one side of Mount Larshen without any difficulty; pushing and crushing everything in its path.
A grunt - like that of a pig - followed by a gurgle, escaped from a mouth with sharp and irregular teeth; adorned on the sides with two large lower canines pointing upwards, protruding from the creature's dry and cracked lips.
Above this mouth was a nose similar to that of a large dog; surmounted by two small yellow eyes with fine, vertical pupils, sunken in their sockets. This terrifying head also had two huge, smooth, wavy horns emerging from each side of the skull and having grown forward a good meter. No doubt any obstacle - tree, house, animal, or even human being - would be swept away or fatally skewered by such horns.
The body of the beast was not to be outdone: starting with a thick and short neck, it was covered with very long hair and was massive at the joints of the front and rear limbs, but slightly slimmed down at the abdomen. Then, it ended with a tail just as thick as its legs already wide as tree trunks, but as long as its whole back. A mass just as deadly if you were to be hit by it, as the two huge horns much thicker and wider than the skull from which they had developed.
In addition to the sound of its large paws hitting the ground, the ferocious beast's body gave off the smell of burning flesh and iron emanating from its body, scaring away any other animals in the vicinity. Just by moving slowly, it posed a significant threat: this ensured that it would not become prey for other predators, even if wounded after several fights with hunters. Whether it was wolves, greons - a creature as big as a horse and looking like a long-legged alligator - or larpions - giant bipedal birds unable to fly and possessing both a beak and teeth - they all passed by this terrifying monster.
However, despite the nightmarish and violent nature of this horned creature, there was one being bold enough to approach it, walking directly towards it.
Or rather, perhaps it was more correct to say that this person was not reckless, but sure of himself and his abilities; sure of having a strength superior to that of the monster he was approaching.
The creature stopped and snarled, staring in front of it at the human foolish enough to stand alone in its path.
A human being, his face hidden by a smooth, opaque oval mask, stood motionless without even a hint of fear. The monster took this as a provocation and an insult to his pride, and briefly digging his massive claws into the ground, he lunged forward with his head down to skewer the unwary.
In this kind of situation, where a massive Behemoth was coming at you, common sense would dictate that anyone would run for cover, if they didn't have the equipment to protect themselves or take the hit.
Nevertheless, the man who was being targeted did not move, remaining calmly standing in the same place despite the mass of muscles that was coming at him at full speed. Even when the impact was imminent, he made no move, and at the last moment, the creature crumpled on itself up and contorted itself like a crushed accordion, having hit some kind of invisible wall right in front of its prey.
The body of the beast, and more particularly its enormous horns and then its small skull, had just collided with a set of semi-transparent hexagonal slabs of white color; which dissipated and became transparent and invisible again as soon as all contact with the creature was broken. The creature let out a ferocious growl, and lunged forward to impale the human with its horns and skewer the obstacle blocking its path; but each new impact with the invisible wall briefly caused the whitish slabs to appear, before they vanished again as if they had never been there.
On the other side of the shield, Androanni watched impassively as the Behemoth stirred and tried to kill him again. It was just what he needed to carry out his plan: a powerful, superior monster with a weak mind.
Without further ado, he raised a leather satchel towards the creature, and threw it at the latter. Opening on contact with the Behemoth's head, it released a cloud of fine yellow powder that remained suspended in the air for a few seconds. Immediately, the creature's eyes widened, and it began to breathe heavily, as if it were running out of air, while losing its balance and nearly falling. Then it was suddenly motionless, a dull stare turned toward the man facing it.
Androanni took the trouble to walk over to the Behemoth, running his hand over one of the creature's horns to caress it as he approached its head. Then, in the immediate vicinity of its mouth and snout, he let his hand slide down to the bumpy, bony forehead to press his palm against it.
The poison had worked, and the beast could neither move nor think for itself, becoming an empty shell, and thus a perfect puppet.
The Circle's henchman then recited an incantation, and a purple glow spread between his hand and the creature's skull, before coloring its pupils with a purple glow as well.
The light disappeared along with the small magic circle hidden by his hand, and Androanni's blue eyes met the purple eyes of the Behemoth, both of them looking inexpressive and devoid of radiance. Then the man took a step back, without taking his eyes off the animal facing him, and raised his right arm. As if following a silent command, the Behemoth began by turning around and then started walking slowly and steadily - almost like a machine whose every movement was calculated in advance - in the direction from which it had come.
Satisfied, Androanni looked up at the cloudy sky, and wondered where the Salamander flying there a few minutes before had gone. All he needed to do now was locate it and bring the much-needed material back to his master.