Everyone waited, fearfully. Bleux was stood on top of a branch were he would oversee the battlefield they had prepared outside the cave.
It was divided into for sections. The barricade, left flank, right flank and the surrounding woods.
Bleux and Gooba's archers stood on the branches and waited in the surrounding woods, ready to shoot.
The barricade was in a square shape with the side that faced the cave open, the beast still had to arrive in the trap.
On the left flank Eli's group stood prepared. Spears, rocks and axes in their hands easy for a quick and violent attack. Two of their goblins went in the cave to lure the beast out.
A task they didn't want to do but was forced on them either way.
On the right flank Boksen his group lied. Shields in one hand, axes or clubs in the other. Their group was made from the bulkiest in the clan ready to tank every type of attack.
boksen now had multiple sharp stones on his club making it as some kind of big jagged saw.
A loud, explosive roar came out of the cave entrance. One strong enough to get all of the birds flying away. The birds whom where easily shook flew away almost naked. Stress and anxiety made them shed feather's.
everyone was paralyzed, their hearts beating in their ears.
'It's coming! It's coming!' Knots yelled. He and Kis came out of the cave yelling and hid behind their group panting. There they shivered as they waited for the beast to arrive.
everybody eyed the cave out. No one wavered their sights. Of course they were still scared, yet they also were exited. What would come out of that cave was the beast that had even the bosses shook.
Something that kept them from progressing forward. The reward for beating this beast was also a great motivation. Since the beginning all their hearts craved to go north.
Nobody knew why, it was something instinctual, something that they think would make them feel safe.
They all waited a good second before Bleux looked at Knots and asked 'Where is it? you said it was coming.'
'It is, it is coming. I felt it's eyes stabbing my back, It's roars like thunder, it's size... nothing alive could compare.'
The words reminded Eli of her encounter with the beast. He did not lie, nobody could lie about that beast if they see it. It would hold a strange power over them, one that made them afraid to lie about that... thing!
She wanted to run, her feet were already pointed at the forest. A small shift off her feet, barely noticeable, was telling enough.
After all, why shouldn't she, why not run. All these goblins are weak anyways, they were going to die. leave them do it! she thought to herself.
suddenly she and Bleux were looking in eatchothers eyes. She didn't know when she turned to him. He looked down on her, his face stern and stoney asif he said:'you better not leave my side Eli.'
The message reached her heart. Why would she leave, everyone needed her, Bleux needed her.
Two red dots, side by side appeared out of the dark cave. An animalistic anger accompanied them, one that only those who are always on the offensive have.
Everyone present felt that deadly aura, some of them could pass out.
A nose came into the light, always shifting directions to sniff the smell of death, a scarred and aged head came out and as last the full body was was visible.
it's normal brown fur was now fully black, it's eyes were like crimson pearls, an imposing creature to be sure.
'Where are you, Jaren?' Bleux murmured to himself as he looked back at the camp. Here they were, at half of their size cause a part of their team was missing. That thing needed all of them to be slain, not half of them.
The beast though did not pay attention to the goblins that surrounded it. Only slowly walking to the free kill that was infront of it.
Slowly, it started eating the jumper when *BAM* the last barricade behind it was slammed shut. Startled, it turned around to see what surprised it.
'NOW, SHOOT IT NOW.' Bleux demanded it, no one needed that though. Dozens of arrows already filled up the sky and with a nice arch went straight to the ground.
The beast saw its future in the sky, so inorder to change that, it rolled up in a ball and protected its neck. Bleux looked at it shocked when he saw the beast it's brilliant manoeuvre, as it got impaled too many times for a mortal creatures.
They all looked in the barricade in pure silence, you could hear a leaf drop. That's when the beast started growling menacingly; it did it in such a way only tigers did to show annoyance, showing it's teeth also.
Not a lot of their arrows pierced the thick skin of it, only a few kept digging inside it. It did not lick it's wounds, no it did the opposite.
They watched as the beast stood up on two legs, struck down their wooden structure and walked to the archers.
Gooba stood and watched as the splinters of something he and his group worked on for days flew past his face, and as the beast walked over it, so it did their over their confidence. He snapped out of it as soon as he heard Bleux scream:'SHOOT, SHOOT IT AGAIN.'
Underneath them the beast was reaching it's paw out too the ones that had shot him. Gooba signaled for the archers to draw their arrows again.
Before anything could be shot though, the beast slashed the branch Gooba and a few other archers stood on, making them fall to the ground with a painful thump.
There he lied on the ground hugging his crooked leg with held back groans. He opened his eyes to see he was face to face with the beast.
It was almost enchanting; not only it's eyes, but the way the beast stared with such intention to kill, it's drive to run on nothing more than to attack that what can be attacked.
One powerful strike is all it took Gooba realized. That didn't mean he had to take it. Gooba crawled back as fast as he could, moving out of the range of attack he was in.
He avoided one blow, then the other, then again, he was not sure how long he could keep this up.
The courage he held never faded though. He threw a rock whenever he had a chance, even hitting it with a weak fragile stick when he crawled past one.
Everyone watched in awe as the courageous Gooba kept going.
'Boxen, distract the beast and then you Eli must attack it!' Bleux stood with one spear in the hand. 'i'm going to safe Gooba!' He jumped out of the tree right next too the scrawny goblin and picked him right up.
'There you go, friend.' Bleux said 'Don't be too rough boss' Gooba replied sounding hurt.
The beast struck at Bleux, he dodged and quickly stabbed the beast at it's shoulder, soon he got out of it's sights.
Warrior like noises came from behind the the beast. Boxen and his group were hyping themselves up and challenging the beast; Hitting their shields with their club, making ape like noises, from their side you could hear insults like 'You won't do this!' or 'You can't handle that.'
Soon, the red eyes were facing them and charging at them at a million miles an hour. All the shields spread out, dug their feet into the ground, stood solid and braced for impact with Boxen front and center.
The beast crashed into them, pushing them back as far as it could but came into a halt within ten seconds.
'let's get it immobile first!' Eli commanded, as fast as they could they were at the back of the beast, slashing it's back knees, it took more than a few hits, eventually though, blood was shed. Just a sliver, but it would turn into a red river if they kept to it.
It turned -slowly- to see what was happening when boxen roared to get it's attention again, he hit it in the face with its club sawing into it's face. The beast struck at Boxen, a attack which he blocked, it tried again, and again. Boxen his feet quacked.
He fell to one knee with his shield above his head, his only form of protection was also starting to break. The beast was smart, it managed to find out whom to attack.
He knew if boxen fell, so would his group.
Boxen did not want to die here though, he wanted to see what was further ahead, he wanted to rise and only rise until he was up above the clouds.
'Dammit.' he said it to himself. Suddenly, the bashing stopped, he took a peek to see what was happening. The back of someone larger and stronger than himself. He stood back on his too legs to see Bleux infront of him, his spear at the throat of the beast.
He pulled it out and red leaked out. 'It is not dead yet, keep on going everyone! It won't be easy, but if we just keep going we wil reach it, we wil all reach it, the end!'
It was as if light emitted from his dark body, everyone erupted in a load cheer. Relentlessly they started attacking, defending, distracting, whatever that was needed to kill this beast.
Their spirits and bodies erupted around the beast like a light flame on dry wood. The beast could not fight back, it was cornered; whenever it felt an attack from one of Eli's squad, it couldn't fight back, as one of boxen his men was ready to distract it.
That wasn't even his biggest problem, no it wasn't. The problem was the tall dark one that would land ferocious attacks on his body. His legs were already more or less taken out, and being attacked from all sides like this blinded it to come up with a good plan to counter them.
It would get bludgeoned to death if it didn't do anything. Luckily it had one plan up it's sleeve, it's get out of jail free card.
The beast filled up it's lungs with as much air as it could, kept it in for a good second and let out a furious roar. Birds started falling out of the sky, dropping on the ground one by one, all the fresh and healthy leaves on the trees in the area, shed.
As for the goblins, they froze one the spot, some even fainting. Bleux stood there right infront of the beast, spear clenched in his hand, when it let out the thunder, and as everyone else, couldn't move his legs. His ears also popped, now making a consistent beeping noice.
He had no choice but to stand there and watch the beast regain it's composure. He thought he was done for, it was he whom did the most damage after all. But to his surprise the beast turned around behind, rose it's paw and struck down on a frozen goblin, clieving him in two.
The blood spatted everywhere, before it could even dry, another one was slashed down. Bleux wanted to jump infront of the attack so bad, take that blow for them. Grunts came from his clenched teeth as he watched another goblin fall, and by the fourth, tears came from his eyes.
He felt restrained in all the ways possible, not even being able to cry out to his comrades. Moving his muscles was impossible, as if from all directions he was bound by a boulder. A fifth one fell, where is he he asked himself where is Jaren when we all need him the most, he will come right, He and.... Jaka.
Suddenly his thoughts flashed back to the conversation he and boxen had about Jaren doing something drastic about Jaka. No there was no way that was possible he believed, Jaren and he trusted eatchother, and if that was true, Jaren would trust the team they had formed with Jaka.
Then where are they, where'd they go! the sixt goblin fel.
The beast stopped with the goblins behind him and faced Bleux. Did he do all that out of pity, how did he know Bleux his care for the others then?
Deep in it's eye's Bleux saw the wide smile of something satisfied. It was going to keep doing this wasn't it? Bleux just realized that. Save him for last, season Bleux his anger, sadness and disappoinment.
It then looked at Eli. At looked at her with deep meaning, then raised it paw. Eli looked at Bleux and closed her eyes. She formed some kind of saddened smile.
Bleux has never felt this trapped in his own body, not being able to do nothing more than watch. It was his hell.