The red snakes shot powerful blasts of corrosive venom at Indigo. He was able to dodge the first few shots but the closer he got the harder it was to avoid them.
One of the bigger red snakes waited until Indigo got close and spat out a ball of venom that would be impossible to dodge.
Indigo realized he couldn't avoid this one so he used his right wing to block the attack. It hurt like hell and made a sizzling sound but it was bearable. He was a Griffin after all, they were known as one of the most powerful species that lived in this forest.
If he was taken down by such lowly creatures then he couldn't call himself a proud Griffin.
Indigo charged forward with the intent to kill. He was sick and tired of being pushed around by these demons. Now that the guardian had returned there was nothing for him to fear anymore.
He had already lost not only his family but most of his entire race were eradicated. He had no idea if griffins existed outside the forest but that wasn't important right now.
He continued to use his wing as a shield to quickly closed the distance. When he got close enough he swung his wing releasing a powerful burst of wind. This made all of the creatures in front of him stagger backwards.
Now that they were wide open he finished them off with his razor sharp talons. He slashed one of the red snakes in half horizontally, then he moved on the the next one in the blink of an eye.
Indigo latched onto the second red snake with his talons and tore its scaly flesh open revealing its bloody insides. Blood splattered everywhere covering the ground, the trees, and anyone else that was nearby.
It normally wouldn't take so much effort on his part to slaughter creatures that are so much weaker than himself but he is still recovering from his fight with the demon before.
Emrys asked Thoko to cover his own body with thorny vines. Seeing how his vine whips were mostly ineffective against these zombified creatures, he decided to get up close and personal. Brawling was his preferred fighting style anyways.
Emrys swept his eyes through the crowd and settled on his target. It was a giant horned bear. It looked almost exactly like a normal bear except it was twice as large and had two horns protruding from either side of its head.
Emrys chose to single out this bear as it would become more and more of a threat the longer the fight went on. The smell of blood seems to fuel their rage making it easy for them to ignore pain and other such distractions.
Just like the rest of his body, Emrys had Thoko wrap thorns around his fists for an added bleed effect. It was a truly terrifying means of attacking.
Too bad zombies don't feel fear or any other emotions for that matter.
The horned bear already had its eyes locked on Emrys since the beginning of the fight but couldn't get through the other creatures to join the fight. So Emrys chose to go to it instead.
He weaved his way through the zombies occasionally planting a fist into any openings he saw. He felt the crunch of bones with every strike he made. The thorns dug into their skin creating small cuts. The feeling of the thorns tearing through flesh made him cringe on the inside.
Emrys was nearing his target when all of a sudden his path was blocked by the other zombies as if they were protecting the horned bear. But Emrys couldn't think of a reason why they would do that.
At this point they should be just mindless creatures without a single thought in their brains.
Of course its always possible they could be controlled by whatever demon brought them back to life.
Sadly he did not know the answer.
A short goblin with a thick wooden club stepped forward to block Emrys path. Emrys struck out without any thought, just pure instinct. The goblins head caved in from the impact. One of its eyes popped out of its skull and just hung there disgustingly.
It tried to stay standing but collapsed after a few seconds. Emrys quickly moved on to the next closest zombie.
Each time he struck out he dealt a massive blow that would fatally wound most living creatures. He focused on attacking their heads as that seemed to put them down for good.
With a trail of bodies left behind him, he finally made it to the horned bear. Even though the fight hadn't lasted that long he was already soaked in blood.
Emrys controlled the wood on his shoulders to create sharp spikes and then ran up close to the horned bear.
It swung at him with its claws. Emrys was too slow to dodge and instead he blocked it. The force rattled his entire body but he stood firm. With his feet planted firmly in the ground, he unleashed a torrent of powerful punches aiming for the bears mid section.
It didn't seem to be doing any visible damage on the outside but the insides of the bear were all torn up.
The bear refused to back down and continued to trade blows with Emrys. The longer the fight lasted the more the bear knew he would lose this fight.
That's when he got a mental order from whoever was controlling all the zombified creatures. Emrys had no idea what was said, but just after that the bear seemed to enter a rage.
The fur on the bears back spiked up and a powerful blue energy emanated from its horn. Emrys was taken aback at first. It had been a long time since he had seen something like this. For a creature to be able to use magic, any magic at all, it would have to go through something horrible and then evolve.
The experience couldn't be just anything either. It would have to be something that shatters your soul. It was not something you could see very often. Even Emrys had only a handful of experiences with magical creatures.
Normally he would do everything he could to protect such a beast but sadly this one is already dead. So his only option was to stop it from being used by demons.
After a few moments, all of the energy accumulated at the tip of its horn and then with a ear piercing high pitched noise all of that energy was launched at Emrys.
Emrys moved as fast as he could to try and avoid the attack. He quickly pulled up his roots and dove to his left. The energy burst passed him like a moving train. His right arm was the only thing caught in the blast and was incinerated.
By now all of the other zombies that were focused on Emrys were dead, all except for the horned bear of course.
The rest were still locked in combat with Indigo.
After Emrys dodged the magical attack from the bear he landed hard on the ground. The pain he was feeling made him grit his his wooden teeth. He quickly assessed the extent of the damage.
His entire right arm and even his shoulder were disintegrated. But before he could even think about trying to regrow his arm, the bear was already taking advantage of the situation.
The bear dropped down on all fours and charged like a rabid beast that hadn't been fed for days.
"Don't worry, guardian! I will buy you some time!" Thoko projected his voice into Emrys head. He then covered the ground between them and the charging bear with thorns.
Sadly Thoko's thorns wouldn't be able to do much against the bears thick fur which protected it like armor.
This would buy Emrys just enough time to regrow his arm. But instead of stopping there he continued to put more and more mana into his right arm. It grew back to its original size and then some.
Just before the bear could charge into him, he lifted his right arm into the air. It was the size of a large tree around two feet in diameter.
Then he let gravity guide it right down onto the angry bear. Since it was in a full on mad dash it was unable to dodge this attack and took it head on, literally. Emrys's arm landed right on its head smashing into the ground.
The earth shook and dirt was flung in all directions from the impact. When the dust cleared there was a small crater with a flattened zombified bear crushed to bits.
Emrys didn't have any memories of this creature but he felt sadness all the same. He swore to himself he would find the demon responsible for this and make them regret ever setting foot inside this forest.
It was the least he could do to make up for all the time he lost. There are a lot of creatures that depended on him for protection against the demons and now they are all dead mostly.
Now that his fight was done, Emrys looked over to see how Indigo was holding up.