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Chapter 3 - Bisso-galeto (2)

The village is not far away, they got there in a couple of hours' walk, just in time for lunch. While everyone else is filling their stomachs in the only tavern in the place Usire has just got up to ask about the monster that will attack the village soon. Usire is a tall boy with a Middle Eastern complexion, dark eyes and curly black hair that falls to just below his ears.

The boy is approaching the old tavern owner with an extremely confident walk. Back straight, chin slightly raised, chest out and using his spear as a staff ( being careful to treat it with extra care anyhow). Everything about him suggests that he is a proud person and firm in his ideals. Now that I notice I have not yet told you what weapons the eight heroes possess, let me remedy that. Usire and Ambesa have a spear, Alberich and Darman have a sword, Akimi and Aryana have a bow, and Yelizaveta and Alie have a pair of daggers.

After this alas necessary list, we can return to information gathering. Fortunately, the elderly gentleman seems to be quite familiar with the danger facing the village and is well aware that it is a... a bisso-galeto?! But what is going through her head to send such inexperienced people against a bisso-galeto?!

Ahh, I beg your pardon but I have to say that I didn't expect this. I guess most of you don't know what a bisso-galeto is so let me explain. A bisso-galeto is a monster with the body and head of a rooster, with a big red crest, wings full of thorns and a snake's tail. Now, I realise that its appearance is not exactly menacing, but you have to understand that this is not what I was aiming for when I created it (the original idea is not really mine, but I put the labour into it). The bisso-galeto is perhaps one of the most dangerous monsters in this world. Not only can it increase in dimension to the size of a house at will, but it also possesses one of the deadliest poisons capable of killing instantly, but more importantly, it can also travel up weapons and armour, meaning that it doesn't matter how protected you are because if even the tip of your sword touches poison it will intoxicate you, killing you immediately.

However, I must say that the old man is very knowledgeable on the subject and even explained the monster's weak point to Usire. Since its body is covered in poison, cutting wounds are to be ruled out, at least if you don't want to throw your life away, but since I am all in all a good person, I have created two fatal weaknesses. The bisso-galeto dies immediately if he sees his reflection or hears the crowing of a rooster (don't ask why, it seemed funny to me at the time) and that is why the innkeeper before taking his leave gave Usire a mirror.

Now the boy is sitting with his companions to decide on their plan of action. The bisso-galeto is used to attack at night so he is now resting in the forest adjacent to the village and that is why they have decided to prepare to attack him immediately. I do not see any fear or concern in their faces, which is what worries me, and not a bit. It almost seems as if they do not at all understand the danger of the monster they are about to face even after the old innkeeper's explanation.

I would love to understand their plan in detail, but strangely enough, I've been struggling to understand what they're saying ever since they were summoned. At first, this anomaly didn't bother me much but now you have no idea how much it bothers me, I will try to investigate why this phenomenon occurs.

Technical problems aside, our little group has finished the strategy meeting and is heading into the woods following, again, the appropriate footpath. I have mentioned a forest, but certainly don't expect the Amazon rainforest, there is no dense vegetation in this woods, allowing for a fair amount of mobility, vital in a battle.

It's not long since they've been walking, it must be just under five minutes, but Usire (who seems to have been elected leader of the group) has signalled to the others to stop. He must have spotted something, one moment I look and... haha, there he is. What a relief, it's a hatchling. Don't get me wrong, hatchlings are still dangerous but they don't have certain abilities possessed by adult individuals. The hatchlings' poison doesn't kill instantly but takes about ten minutes, which is extremely painful nonetheless, and even though they're almost as big as a human they can't increase in size so all in all, it's an opponent that, while still dangerous, if approached with a well thought out plan should be manageable even by an inexperienced group.

Now I'm really curious to see their plan. I guess since it's sound asleep, they'll approach it calmly and then... what's that idiot doing! A guy with a sword, what was his name? Da...Da...ah right, Darman. Darman is running at the monster with his sword drawn, it's true he applied his power to the weapon but in his current state he's only able to heat the blade, certainly not incinerate a human-sized monster.

The blade of the sword touches the bisso-galeto, which, feeling the burn, backs away quickly, not allowing the boy to land the blow. It would have been a relief if the blow had missed the creature completely but as the weapon touched the monster's body the poison infected Darman. Yelizaveta, who had remained in the rear as she had been entrusted with the task of holding the mirror, promptly headed for the agonising boy. From her hands a sky-blue light is streaming, which seems to lessen the pain caused by the poison, but not enough to make Darman able to fight again.

This move of hers, although admirable from a moral standpoint, seems to have turned out to be a mistake. The bisso-galeto has noticed the mirror and is charging at the girl with its eyes closed. Yelizaveta manages to avoid the creature by a whisker but in doing so drops the mirror, which shatters into a thousand pieces. The situation doesn't look any better, with an incapacitated man and the broken mirror the baby bisso-galeto has gone from being a manageable enemy to being a deadly threat.