Most of the demons didn't reject their father's demand, and flocked around Arila in no time. They weren't meant to be swimmers, but those enormous and rugged claws of theirs, sure helped.
They got her out of the water, and waited for Gustav to join the dry land. He did so almost effortlessly, as he wasn't scared of water to the slightest.
Most mammoths were great swimmers, and usually did so in freezing cold waters of this planet's artics.
Luke-warm temperatures were a joke to him, and being a whopping eight-foot tall sure helped get a feel of the ground below the waters, way before anyone else could.
Anyway, once he got up to dry land, the good man said. "Keep running that way, and hide somewhere. Whatever that thing is, I'm not letting it get the best of us!"
"That's very stupid," Arila critiqued.
"No its not, because what the hell could it do to me? Tickle my balls?" He answered and surely joked.
With a simple and silent hand gesture, he ordered the demonic moles to take her away. Intelligence was to their advantage, so it didn't take long for them to understand the command.
There were six of them, and they were fat enough so it was easy to take Arila away. All they had to do was push.
"No!" She yelled a couple of seconds later.
Fuming with a sudden burst of rage, she said. "If you survive this, I'll stuff those roots in your asshole!"
Gustav could only smirk at that little threat, and dashed towards the waters afterwards.
"My cheeks will be safe-ish... hers however, let's just survive this first." He thought.
While he jolted further towards danger afterwards, it was reasonable to get a little nervous.
The battle he wanted to indulge into was scary. The 'blood roots' filled the room like a raging storm, and he had conclusions of it being alive too!
Gustav only had a comically long sword as an aid, and couldn't help contemplating. "Come on man! You're a mammoth, oh... wait, pregnant mammoths didn't really fight."
Regardless of how he was slightly hesitant now, there was no avoiding this battle.
The blood roots got uncomfortably close by now, just about two meters away. It was the best time to draw that sword, so he poked it upwards with one hand.
There was one thing to his advantage, the waters barely reached his nipples yet so he had more room to thrust!
"Haha!" He celebrated.
These light-emitting roots traveled uncomfortably fast, but they weren't indestructible. Gustav took a right swing, and chopped off one of its many arm-like things!
'Terruga' as one of those demons so beautifully described, seemed to be very sensitive. Although it didn't yelp, the anomaly still flinched!
It backed its whole mass away, and continued to do so by a meter, every time Gustav took a step.
He didn't expect such a reaction whatsoever, but it did boost his ego. The mammoth raged forward, and swung that four-foot long sword with a horrid intent!
"That's right! Crawl back to your mama!" He shouted.
Terruga backed away too quickly, so at one point he simply couldn't keep up anymore, especially in the portion of the pool where he eventually had to swim!
To back away would be the best idea now, for survival's sake. He didn't want to get lured in an uncomfortable position.
"Wonder if Arila saw that, it was so cool." Gustav said.
Facts regardless, it only took a couple more steps for the situation to escalate afterwards. It was more horrendous, how trouble came with a literal flash!
When the 'blood roots' backed away, they took every fraction of light along with them. Now, it has decided to launch a counter-attack!
Four of these blood-red roots shot out towards him, and the cave lit up in exchange. Gracious to some degree, but Gustav was scared to the point where he almost gave birth!
"Hell no," He grunted, and randomly swung forward.
That attempt was unsuccessful, he only scratched the opposition with the tip of the sword.
Everything went for the worst, when proper contact was made. He was bashed and tossed out of the waters, after a strike against the chest!
Such an impact would've shattered a lesser man, especially a human, but a mammoth had a way stronger endurance!
That clash awakened his ancestral senses even. Regardless of all the pain he felt recently, Gustav managed to push any sour emotion away within a blink, by converting it into pure spite!
"Can't kill me that easily!" He shouted, and stood up quicker than ever.
Sure he was bruised, but the amount of life that remained in him was immense. Terruga returned to the battlefield, and unleashed a few more of its red arms!
Agility was mandatory, so Gustav tried to be more alert. He sliced through one of those roots with ease, and split another one open vertically while he dived in the waters again!
This time around, however, Terruga did not back away for some reason. Perhaps it too summoned a sense of bravery, or it wanted to commit a quick and spiteful murder.
Either way, things got intense. With more roots flapping around on the scene, one of them suddenly reached out for Gustav's tusks and tried to pull him into deeper waters!
"Nice try!" He grunted, and jerked that big head of his to the left.
It wasn't so easy to carry around tusks, that curled nearly four-feet long! A lot of strength was necessary to do so, and since he had to carry them for a couple of decades now, his entire upper back was simply pumping with tough, rock-hard muscles!
Terruga couldn't screech, although it was seemingly alive, but Gustav's response surely shook its foundations!
With that head tilt, he managed to pull it through the dirt and waters, which broke the monster's initial hold of the structure.
"Wow... hoho!" He grunted, as the ground shook.
"You're that weak, huh?" Gustav taunted, and grabbed one of those countless arms with his bare hand!
Every vein across his left arm twitched, while he man-handled this thing. Paired with a few head shakes, the enemy's grand attack was already countered!
To get a better grip, he even grabbed hold of the enemy with his snout and started backing away!
The cave shook in response, and it begged for a break from all of this. When Gustav started running the four-foot sword against the beast, he delivered the final blow!
"Beg, you jackass!" He grinned.
This monster was already in close proximity, and wasn't immune to metal either. For that matter, every swing he took slid through several blood roots all at once, ending the battle for good!