Fast enough to match him in battle, strong enough to repel his attacks, and completely unknown. It felt like he had turned back time and was now facing his first monster ever.
Except there were no other hunters with him, he was alone.
"Damnit, I have to go back to Das," he thinks as his eyes dart back and forth between the two monsters.
The monster that had appeared from the water stood on the large and twisted roots of a nearby tree above the water, his blond hair long and sticking to his body, only wearing a pair of brown pants, exposing his great physic.
"Come on Hunter, won't you take the first step?" the ponytail man asks in a mocking tone, amused at the Hunter's lack of initiative.
"You better come, or I'm going to you first" the other adds with a low, threatening chuckle.
The eyes of the two monsters cut through the ever-increasing fog and darkness, shining a bright scarlet. Their needle teeth showing the macabre grins on their faces.
The steel daggers shoot towards the two monsters, Hans's speed inhuman as he lets go of his swords to throw the projectiles, grabbing the weapons before they fall to the river and jumping out of the water.
His speed is not enough. The ponytail man appears in front of him as he is about to leave the river, forcing a brief clash of nail and foil swords, neither gaining an advantage over the other.
Until he can hear the other one jump towards him, making the entire tree creak and shake. Hans jumps back to the water to escape the onslaught of two against one.
His eyes quickly glance at where he had thrown his daggers, sees the tree where the ponytail man stood with the three of them firmly stuck in its trunk, while the other has only one.
Immediately he looks forward, the two monsters stand next to each other. The long-haired one pulls out the daggers from his leg and torse, tossing them to the ground before they both jump back to the trees, one on each side of Hans like before.
"The shirtless one is slower..." Hans thinks, his grip tightening on the handles of his foil swords.
He jumps again, this time directly at the slower man, the difference apparent as they exchange a few blows, Hans managing to penetrate his shoulder before he hears the loud rustle of the leaves behind him, the other monster using the tree as a ground to propel himself off of.
Hans returns to the water, fully aware going anywhere else would put him at a great disadvantage.
"...but if I attack it, the other, stronger one will come at me from behind" trapped between the restraining river, or forced to fight two opponents that match his strength and speed.
He isn't given much more time to think.
Both monsters leap directly at Hans, and deadly dance of steel against bone ensues as Hans struggles to keep their unrelenting attacks away from his flesh.
Every move is faced with opposition, at every angle, and with every swing, the monsters turn, jump and pounce with deadly ferocity. Soon his two arms can't match against four and a series of long gashes open on his back, his right shoulder, and chest.
The monsters retreat, returning to the surrounding trees to lick their wounds, the holes in arms and torsos that seem to close at an incredible speed, far greater than that of the woman.
"Why are they so strong?" he asks himself, shallow fast breaths follow "I can't keep this up forever, I need support!" his mind races with a way to get out of the deadly encirclement he is in.
They are fast enough to catch up to him if he runs, no matter how he does, and he won't be able to get to Das in time. If he blinds them, their sense of smell is too good and now that he has open wounds it would be impossible to lose them like that...
His eyes spark with a dangerous, yet potentially effective idea.
All that's left, is to get the right opportunity.
The trees shake and almost snap as both monsters shoot towards him like boulders from catapults, igniting once again the battle in the middle of the river.
Hans finally lets out a mighty war cry, of both pain and anger as his back is once again cut open.
"Hans?!" Das hears it, even if barely "A trap" he murmurs, then prepares to fly up and find him when Ida sticks to his arm.
"D-Don't leave me alone!!" she desperately holds his arm, preventing him from taking flight.
A familiar feeling slowly makes its way through every part of his body, an infectious disease that corrodes and consumes everything. His forehead furrowed.
"It's dangerous, you have to stay here!" he tries to free his arm, but the girl is adamant about staying together. Grabbing onto him right after he manages to force one of her arms to let go of him.
"I'm scared! PLEASE!" she begs, looking around at the darkness with glassy eyes. Desperation in her voice.
Like a wildfire, his mind rapidly starts to get consumed. His eyes begin to turn red, with the firey substance spreading like blood on a clear river, threatening to cover everything from the light.
"There must be more of the monsters, You will get in the way!" He returns his feet to the ground and becomes more forceful in freeing his arm "We will be stronger together and will return faster!"
"NO! DON'T ABANDON ME HERE!" she cries out, trying with what little strength she has to stay with him.
He grits his teeth, black nails suddenly grow, and stab the left forearm of Ida as Das's eyes turn completely red, crimson red "STAY HERE!" he snaps and pushes her away with an unintentional blast of red mana that sends her flying several meters away.
Ida crashes on the mud and rolls up to a nearby large puddle, with both arms on her stomach she can barely breathe, all air forced out of her lungs.
The clouding mist of red vanishes like a bad dream from Das's eyes and mind, only to reveal it is all real. His furious expression turns into a grimace of regret as he watches the beggar twist on the ground, fighting to get a little bit of oxygen to her depleted lungs, like a fish out of the water.
A slow chuckle comes from nearby, Das glances at the woman next to him, the one that was crying just a few seconds ago. The wound in her neck looks far better than before, and she has regrowth several of her needle-like teeth. A grin from ear to ear as her red eyes stare directly at Das.
And for a moment, he doesn't her. He sees himself.
Furiously he shakes his head, taking several rushes breaths, just then relaxing he had been holding it. It takes him a moment, but he gets a hold of himself and looks up at Ida, taking a few steps towards her.
He then sees the red, glowing eye pounce at her first from the shadows. The blonde monster falls on top of Ida, she manages to raise her hands to try and push him out, and bites her entire right hand off, tearing it like you would a piece of jerky in half.
Ida then throws a dried and broken scream of pain, forcing Das into action.
He summons the chains once again, trapping the monster and suspending it several meters in the air, then he grabs Ida with mana from his free hand and quickly pulls her towards him, protectively hugging her close to him.
Ida still struggles to stay on her feet, both pain and shock taking away all strength in her knees. She digs her face on Das's chest to try and drown out her cries, the warm blood spraying on the young archmage, making him lightheaded and nauseous.
He looks away from her and stares at the suspended monster. He is chewing the mess of flesh and bone, crunching, and swallows. His left eye, still healing from Han's deadly aim, suddenly grows back to what it should be, a smirk on his face as he locks eyes with Das.
The struggling monster is strong enough to begin forcing the chains away from his body, or Das is too weak to keep them wrapped around him.
"I'm going to eat that little girl!" the blonde man shouts, licking with a freakishly long tongue the blood off his mouth "And I will eat you! Fucking mage!"
"I won't let you"
Another voice comes from behind Das, and by instinct, he raises a barrier as fast as possible, while simultaneously releasing the blonde monster from the chains that disappear like sand in the wind.
The barrier bends and cracks when the faceless man crashes against it, his face still a mangled mess, the skull still regrowing pieces of bone.
Both monsters clash and pounce on the barrier that bends and cracks but doesn't break, yet. The attacks continue one after the other, all while the broken voice of the mangled woman laughs hysterically.
Das falls to his knees as the orb of the staff grows brighter, reinforcing the barrier keeping him and Ida away from the monsters, or is that wrong?
He wonders, looking down on the crying girl, his shaking eyes falling on the still open wound on her arm, not the right, but the left, where the still bloody holes caused by his nails let the blood escape freely.
What has he done?
Now hyperventilating, he feels his entire body shake as his mind gets swallowed by whispered or shouted words throughout his entire life "Monster..." say the commonfolk when he strolls around in a city "It's a matter of time until you kill us!" He can hear it, the elderly voice of those still alive when mages were going mad.
"You shouldn't have been born"
The King says with noticeable spite.
Das's eyes burn with blue mana as the dark magic finds its fuel to burn through his many defenses, an open mind free to be tainted by the corrosive art of necromancy.
He raises his left arm and the monsters suddenly shriek as the red energy escapes through their eyes and mouth, turning blue in its way to Das's hand.
Their bodies go limp and collapse on the ground, looking like centuries-old mummies, their expressions in a perpetual state of shock, thin steam elevates from their eyes and mouths and dissipates into the encroaching mist that had been parted away by Das's necromancy.
His body shakes, convulsions, as the blue energy travels through his veins and visions of carnage invade his mind. Everything the monsters have felt and seen recently washes over him in an instant, every kill, every taste. Especially Ida's.
An agonizing scream escapes his mouth as his staff falls to the ground as well, both hands pressing against his head. He stands up and bents his body forward, feeling how his head is about to explode with unbearable pain. The blue mana escapes through his shut eyes like an overwhelming river about to break a dam in a furious thunderstorm.
"Das?!" Hans thinks, hearing the pained scream of the young archmage as he battles the pair of monsters.
Thankfully, it seems he isn't the only one that hears it. The ponytail man looks in the direction of the scream, giving Hans the opportunity he has been waiting for.
He sticks his hand in one of the leather pouches of his belt and pulls out one of the paper bags with charcoal and herbs, sticking it inside of the monster's nose in the form of a punch.
Like a whirlwind of a man, he does the same to other men and finishes his strike by piercing attack of his foil swords on each of their eyes. Jumping out of the water and running at full speed, already heavily worn out.
"Agh! you WON'T escape me!" the ponytail man screams as he lunges at Hans from the back and pushes him to the ground, going for a killing blow and tearing his neck with a vicious bite that almost decapitated him.
But he instantly realizes, this isn't the Hunter. The meat is putrid and tastes oddly familiar. He chews, about to spit since he knows it belongs to the now squirming kin of his trapped under his weight.
Shocked, he releases his kin and tries his best to smell, yet all he can smell is charcoal. Even after furiously tearing apart his nose with his nails. He then remembers that there is still meat in his mouth and prepares to spit it out.
And yet, he can't. The foul taste is addicting, he chews and swallows.
"No, no no no no...I can't-I shouldn't! She said-" his breathing is erratic as suddenly the only thing he can smell is the flesh of his kin beneath him.
Filled with ecstasy, he takes another bite and another. Devouring the still moving man beneath him as he feels his body grow larger, tearing the clothes apart as his ravenous appetite only grows and his huffs of air turn into a guttural grunt and growl.
At one point he can fit the entire body within his maw, and he promptly does so, tearing it apart with his sharp teeth. His mind is nearly done, his body still changing as he feels how his bones crack and shift.
The last bit of consciousness he has manifests itself in a powerful roar of fury and pain.
Ida looks terrified around her when she listens to the powerful roar but soon focuses on the struggling archmage in front of her, a mixture of fear and curiosity as she sees him scream and shake, twists as his mind punishes him with gruesome effectivity. However, this fear is set aside as she somehow finds enough strength to stand up and walk up to him.
She covers his body with the cloak, forcing him to kneel on the ground with her and resting his head on her chest, doing her best to keep him from squirm.
Then, Das slowly begins to calm down, the pain disappearing as fast as it came, and he feels his mind drifting away like it had happened with the scorched knight before, but this time he endures.
Ida gently pats him on his back, still trying to ignore the pain of her torn hand.
"I'm sorry" Das whispers, the strength leaving his body as he rests his body against Ida.
She doesn't respond, instead, she rests her cheek on his head, a weak smile on her face.
The pain is soon gone, and even if his body is exhausted, Das moves Ida away, grabbing the still bleeding arm and calling the staff to him. He raises it and tries his best to summon a beam of light, but nothing happens.
He can't cast light spells, he doesn't know why, but it is as if the mana wasn't capable of leaving his body, the swamp itself preventing him from using the spell.
After struggling for a few seconds, he gives up and settles from simply closing the wounds and stopping the bleeding of her torn hand with regular healing magic.
Ida feels immediately better and looks with relief at how the bleeding stops in her right wrist.
"I will bring it back, your hand, once we get out of this place" he whispers to her, unintentionally leaning close enough for their foreheads to almost touch, he feels as if all his strength had been used.
Her face blushing, Ida lightly nods, not even certain of what he means and quite frankly, not caring much.
"Das!" Hans shouts, leaping across the large puddle and landing next to the pair, he takes a quick look at the scene "What happened in here?"
"What happened to you?" Das replies, digging his staff on the mud as he uses it to support his weight and raise from the ground, the caring Ida trying her best to help him.
Hans walks up to them and takes a closer look at the two dry bodies on the ground "I was attacked by the other two monsters, they were stronger than them...I wanna ask but we have no time. Can you take us out of here?"
"I think so, but I need a moment to create the spell and gather the mana" Das grabs his staff with both hands and loses no time, focusing on the teleportation spell.
Then, Hans catches something on the corner of his eye, movement coming from the puddle near them. He looks at it closely, the water moves and shakes rhythmically. His trained ears catching on to the loud rumbling of something big and heavy coming their way.
"Mage. Hurry" He says glancing at Das.
He catches on to the urgency of his voice and closes his eyes to focus better on the spell, the all-familiar mist begins to surround them, darker than the fog of the swamp, with the usual electric bolts appearing in them like a miniature thunderstorm.
Trees can be heard being rip apart at a distance and the loud rumbling of whatever approaches is close enough for everyone to hear it. Ida shrinks and sticks to Das, like a lost child hugging him by the waist. Hans readies his foil swords and tries to calm his breath.
"Das. The spell!" Hans hurries him, as he can see the figure of a big monster running in their direction in all fours, snapping trees in half with the swing of an arm. And its speed, he had never seen anything like it.
"I can't do this faster!"
"Dodge, DODGE!" Hans says turning back and running towards the other two, realizing that the monster will reach them in no time.
And it does.
In the blink of an eye, the nightmarish monster lounges at the three of them. Big enough to carry ten men on its back, a thin, almost skeletal body similar to that of a human, yet its arms were freakishly long, body covered in short black fur except for its forearms, bushy tail and long like a fox, with the head of a canine, the snout of a pig, a row of countless deformed sharp teeth and horns, long, twisted horns in a pair that grows out of its head, its ears are wide and long, and a wild mane grew akin to that of a lion.
Both its small eyes and mane were of a red like that of dried blood.
A giant hand with long black claws swipe right where Das's upper body would be if Hans hadn't tackled him and Ida to the ground a second ago. The monstrous creature flies past them but dexterously digs his claws on the mud, turning his entire body around and stops all the momentum of his jump.
"FINISH THE SPELL!" Hans shouts as he pounces against the giant beast.
Das raises his body with his hands off the ground and opens his mouth to let Hans know the spell has been interrupted and he will have to start again. Maybe he could distract it, all Das needs in fifteen seconds and he should be able to take them far away enough of here.
But he says nothing. Instead, he watches with his mouth open, how the creature rips apart Hans with a single swing of its claws, sending blood flying all around as well as body parts.
Time seems to stop as the mad beast lounges one more time at Das, its hands stretched forward ready to tear him and Ida into shreds. All he thinks is of the one spell he can cast fast enough, the magic with the highest affinity. If he had the time, he would pray to The Lightbringer for it to work.
"Burn"
He says in his mind and the ground beneath him glows with the warm light of the magic circle that has near instantaneously appeared. There is nothing else to say, or do.
The spell activates, and everything is swallowed by the fire.