The monster charged towards Zane first, lashing out its talons and spikes.
Zane blocked the attack and with his leg, he kicked the monster on the side of its leg. Making sure not to make any contact with the spikes.
Quickly, Anne pulled back her bowstring and released. But she found the arrow not reaching anywhere near the place she had aimed. It wasn't because of the magic in the forest controlling it, but her fear.
What if that is Gerald? She can't shoot him. She absolutely can't. It would be like murdering her own father.
"Anne!" Ophelia yelled as she casted a barrier that was soon broken. She made another one while the monster continued approaching them.
Just when Anne was about to make up her mind and shoot, she saw the necklace dangling from the monster's neck.
The chains of the necklace resembled arrows being bonded together while the pendant that was hung off it was a tree.
She had made it for his birthday. It was one of a kind.
"That's Gerald." Anne spouted out, she lowered her bow. "No..no.."
Ophelia gulped and watched as Anne crumbled to the ground. "How could you be so sure?!"
"You're not blind. I know you see it too." Anne murmured as her eyes glued on the monster that was relentlessly attacking at Zane.
All the talking between both of them didn't make the job easier for Zane. His doubt turned into certainty. His confidence in defeating the monster dropped.
Zane made eye contact with the monster and flinched away. He crossed his sword and let it attack freely while he glanced back to make sure Kai was alright.
The moment he did, he felt spikes clasping against his arms. Scratching it on the surface. He was lucky enough to have such quick instincts.
"So that's Gerald?" Kai asked, looking at Anne who was obviously not doing so well. Trembling and on the verge of tears.
She didn't reply. Everyone took her silence as a yes.
He looked at the monster straight in the eye. He proceeded to stand up and take out one one of his swords. He couldn't lose all of them in one swoop now.
Kai glanced at Zane who seemed to be struggling mentally. "If you can't do it. I'll do it." He vaguely asked.
Zane wanted to at least knock him out and drag him along until they could get out of the forest and find a magician to return him back to his normal state. But it didn't seem plausible.
"Please. Help me." Zane gritted his teeth as he lost his grip over his sword. He was sent flying backwards. It wasn't because he was weak. He was scared of hurting Gerald.
The monster starts attacking him next, swinging it's dangerous weapon in all sorts of directions, breaking everything in its way. It disregarded it's friends.
Kai looked at Gerald with an impassive expression. He swung downwards but couldn't feel his blade budging one bit. The spikes on the monster's tongue felt like metal. High quality. Almost like it was made from mana.
He blocked and got himself in a lower position. From what he had analysed, the attacks were mainly targeted quite high. And the man was much taller than him, so the only way he could attack now was..
Downwards. Kai predicated it right, he felt the pressure pressing on his blade as he pushed it off. He placed his sword on the tongue's slit and held the sword with two stable hands. He slammed the hilt of his sword and hacked at the tongue.
Once he heard the monster bellowed in agony, he knew he had managed to break through. With his arm strength, he pushed the blade upwards and with the goal to tear the tongue into half and dice it from there.
But he felt himself being forcibly slammed back into the wall. He looked at the monster in shock. It could use magic? He could feel strong wind currents pushing him down like a boulder crushing him.
No. It wasn't a monster. Even it looked delirious at the welcoming sight that had been bestowed to him. It rushed ahead in an attempt to chomp off the head of Kai.
Kai jabbed the sword upwards with all the strength he could while he attempted to get out of the force field of the wind currents. He could feel himself being crushed. He glanced at the commotion behind the monster.
"Why did you do that?!" Ophelia yelled, elbowing Anne roughly. She stood up and looked down at her friend in disgust.
"I'M NOT JUST GOING TO LET SOME KID KILL GERALD OR HARM HIM!" Anne claimed, standing up too to tower over Ophelia. She wasn't going to back down.
Her mana wasn't running out anytime soon and she was going to keep the boy down for as long as it took them to sort matters out.
Gerald wasn't going to die. Not here. Not when his dreams of living an ordinary life with his family are so close.
Zane wanted to help Kai but his wrist was grabbed by Anne. She looked desperate. Her grip was tight as her leather gloves scratched against his skin.
"Don't. Gerald can't die like this." Anne begged, pulling Zane into the border Ophelia made.
"And so can't that kid..Anne. Gerald would never forgive you if he knew that you let him kill someone innocent." Zane calmly resolved as he detached the tight grip of Anne's from his arm.
Anne raised her arm and gave Zane the hardest punch she could. "We're not going to let Gerald die! We all promised we would get out alive." She sniffed loudly as she fumbled with her bow.
"Then we won't! We'll just restrain him and drag him along as if he's a dead corpse if that's what you want!" Ophelia replied and pushed Anne back by the shoulders. "You're out of your mind! You know damn well Gerald is a goner. That isn't him anymore. If it was, why would he be attacking..us?"
Zane stepped back from the situation and attempted to process everything. His eyes widened and his head snapped to where Kai was.
He had completely forgotten. He rushed in front and swung his arm high up and knocked on the neck of the monster with the hilt of his sword.
"Are you alright?" Zane asked, pushing the monster aside. Before he could even lend a hand, he felt his back arm getting struck by something sharp. He landed on his knees in pain.
Kai crawled out from the force and glared at Anne. He could've died. For that thing? He looked at the monster and with his sword, he dragged it over.
The monster flung it's weapon around in less vigorous motions now. The injury he had landed in earlier had done a lot.
In an instant, Kai held his dagger with his other free hand. He pierced the sword through an empty spot of the tongue while he impaled his dagger into the forehead of the monster. He left the sword in and pulled the dagger out.
He watched as the monster attempted to bellow in pain while it's tongue was stapled to its body.
Kai could feel the pressure crashing down on him again and a scream coming from behind him. He wasn't going to be caught off guard this time. He sidestepped as he watched the grass tear.
"Don't touch Gerald!" Anne yelled, rushing forward but felt Ophelia's border restricting her to step outside.
Ophelia was upset about this situation too, so why was she holding her back? Why..? Gerald still can be saved! Right..?
Kai kept his dagger and kicked the monster back while holding on to the sword. It came out smoothly while the monster slumped to the ground.
The monstrous tongue of the monster retreated it's spikes as it returned back to its original size.
The monster shrunk in size while it's eyes returned back to the hazel brown it contained.
Just as Kai was going to stab the monster again, he stopped himself and started crying. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill him..you understand where I'm coming from, right? I don't want to die. I want to see my uncle again."
Anne paused. She had only realised what she had just done. To save one life, she put a child in danger and shot Zane. How..could she? She glanced at Gerald and saw him returning back to his old self.
Quickly, Anne rushed front and nobody stopped her this time. She placed her hands on Gerald's face and a pang of pain hit her. He was cold. Too cold.
Ophelia and Zane watched the scene unfold slowly in front of them.