"Grallu stay back and cover me." Malia ordered as she dashed alone towards the rampaging herd.
When the tribesmen ran into the herd of Demonic Bison, Malia did not seek a head-on collision like the others, but used her petite size and agility to twist and weave between the beasts. When dodging on the ground became impossible, she followed up with a front flip, her silhouette spinning in the air as she skittered from beast to beast with ethereal steps.
Asselin was not as nimble, but he used a similar method. Pushing hard with his legs, his feet lifted more than ten feet off the ground and he landed heavily onto the back of one of the bison.
Pushing hard again, he used it as a springboard to leap onto another beast or back onto the ground if space permitted. By repeating the action, he managed to keep Malia close by.
Klayzer, the hobgoblin leader, roared angrily as he held up a huge club and swinging it like a baseball bat, bashed the charging bison in the face with full force. The bovine's head was flung to its right, goring its neighbor, the rest of its body following the motion of its neck and causing it to stumble.
Still, such a huge beast could not be brought to a halt so easily. With the buffalo retaining most of its inertia, Klayzer was still rammed by the creature and even while clinging to the two horns of the bovine he was pushed back to the entrance of the clearing.
By the time he knocked out the stunned buffalo for good, he had been completely outrun.
The kobold chief fared little better. According to traditional myths, kobolds were sprites of ill repute, but in modern fantasy fiction and video games, they come in the guise of humanoid lizard dogs or even rats.
The kobold leader was a mixture of the latter two descriptions. More lizard than human, more dog than lizard, more rat than dog. His appearance was hard to describe, but one thing was certain, he was so muscular and fat that he had no chance of dodging the bisons' charge. On the other hand, he was the only one not thrown into the air during the collision.
Snarling like a wild beast, he let the bison in front of him ram into his belly, his feet leaving deep grooves in the earth for several meters. Not one to rest on his laurels, he raised his two fists above his head, and smashed them like a hammer on the top of the bovine's skull.
The creature's head was slammed into the ground and the fat kobold leapfrogged it in the process. He was behind Malia and Asselin, but he was still in the race.
The other humans, goblins and kobolds were nowhere near as agile or responsive. From panic to adrenaline, they could only brace themselves for impact. For the goblins and kobolds it was a bloodbath, but Asselin's tribe did not escape unscathed either.
His four best warriors equipped with shields howled for courage and faced the bison charge head on with their shields. Ikaris and Krold turned their eyes away with a shudder as they heard the thud of the collision, itself accompanied by whimpers of pain and crunching bones.
Of the four shield bearers, two died instantly, their shields smashing straight into their chests as the bison's curved horns impaled their throats as they reared their heads.
The third man's shield stood firm, but the wearer was hurled backwards a dozen meters before being trampled by the herd. Finally, the fourth survived by rolling on the ground at the last moment, but he was no longer in any condition to fight, his mangled skeleton no longer resembling that of a human.
If the strongest and best equipped of the tribe had ended up in this state, then the plight of the others armed only with their bows and assegais spoke for itself. Of the remaining thirteen or fourteen warriors, eleven survived the collision, but only three of them were still able to fight.
Among the smaller, frailer goblins and kobolds, the toll was even worse. Of the more than fifty goblins who participated in the assault, less than ten managed to get up. On the kobold side, of the thirty or so who participated, a dozen managed to get back on their feet, but none were unharmed, not even their leader.
These three tribes had underestimated these bison. These were not normal bison, but Demonic Beasts. Their mere presence here so close to the Great Wall proved that their strength was sufficient to fend off the Crawlers breaching the wall every night.
The Alpha alone was not enough to keep the Crawlers from slaughtering his herd. In this case, there was only one other explanation. Under the leadership of their Alpha, these Demonic Bisons became dauntless and fearsome enough to repel packs of Crawlers.
This was what these ignorant tribemen had overlooked and now they were paying the price.
After the Demonic Bisons' first charge, their Alpha bellowed madly and the herd turned around, initiating their second charge in quick succession. Those who had barely risen to their feet screamed in terror and scurried out of the way before they were wrecked for good. Those who already had a broken leg turned livid and closed their eyes, accepting their death in silence.
BAM!
Ikaris and Krold who had been watching the massacre from the safety of the bushes cringed as they saw the extent of the carnage, but at least there was no third charge.
The Alpha had finally noticed the three leaders rushing side by side toward the precious strawberry plant. The Demonic Bisons liked some fresh meat and blood to go with their grass, but they were also fond of a sweet fruit every now and then.
Ever since they discovered the yummy, invigorating properties of Heart Strawberries, they had made this clearing their base. How could he let them steal his goodies with impunity?
"MOOOO!"
As if obeying an injunction, the herd turned in a full run and with exemplary coordination they turned around and charged the kobold leader and the other two humans.
That's when Grallu came into play. Pointing her staff at the obese Kobold leader, she incanted,
"Garo, Goku, Garra!"
The ground beneath the kobold's feet broke apart, turning into fine sand. The fat creature's feet sank into the sand and he stopped dead in his tracks, stumbling face down.
Confused, the kobold leader tossed his head around in search of the culprit, but when he saw Grallu grinning toothlessly at him, it was already too late.
"MOOOOO!"
The Alpha Demonic Bison slammed into him with the speed of a truck on the highway and the poor kobold was knocked down like a bowling pin. Totally berserk, the monstrous bovine reared up with its victim impaled on its horns and with a jerk of the head sent it crashing into a tree dozens of meters away.
"Good lord! That bull is fucking nuts!" Krold sputtered, breaking into a cold sweat.
No wonder these herbivores were able to survive the Crawlers. Their Alpha was a freak show! If it were him in their shoes, he would never have dared to provoke such a herd in this fashion.
And so much for the fruit! He would rather keep eating goblin...
While Krold was gobsmacked and traumatized by what had just happened, Ikaris let out a big smile when he noticed something.
" Wow, that's perfect! I was afraid these tribesmen would be completely useless, but I should thank them instead" He exclaimed with delight.
"What are you babbling about?" The barbarian growled as he followed his gaze. When he saw what Ikaris was staring at, he pulled a comical expression as if he had just swallowed a fly.
At the rear of the herd, just at the edge of the jungle, was the Demonic Bison knocked out by the hobgoblin Klayzer. He was so angry at being left behind that he had forgotten about the Demonic Bison he had just beaten.
Watching the incensed hobgoblin chase after the bison herd, Ikaris sneered with contempt and tiptoed to the fainting bison.
"Krold, help me drag it." The boy gloated as he licked his lips impatiently.
The barbarian was somewhat unsettled, but the euphoria of having obtained so much meat so easily made him cooperate willingly. Together they dragged the cattle back into the jungle with great difficulty, but at that very moment, out of sheer bad luck, the Alpha turned his head in their direction.
When he saw them take away one of his fellow bovines, his eyes became bloodshot and he bellowed a thunderous,
"MOOOOOO!"
His gaze alternated between Malia and Asselin, whom he was about to catch up with, and Ikaris and his sidekick. Driven mad, he made a decision.
The Heart Strawberries were of greater importance! But he had to take his revenge on someone.
His already hypertrophied muscles suddenly bulged and before anyone could react or stop him the huge beast crossed ten meters in the blink of an eye, steamrolling over Asselin and Malia.
Blood spurted, bones shattered and two bloodied humans rolled under the hooves of the herd, their condition unknown.
"MALIA!"