"Is everyone alright?" Lukia calls out, scanning our shadows and the trees around us. "Celia, did it wound you badly?"
"No, just a scratch. But we did hurt it back a bit." She holds her shoulder and bites back the stinging pain." She has a look of worry on her face as she stares back at Lukia and me.
I lift my sword up and sheath it. A long breath escapes my lips, anxiety building deep inside my chest. Sweat pours from my forehead, and I quickly wipe it away. The stress of the encounter left all of us on alert.
"Being paranoid is only going to make us make mistakes. I suggest we focus on keeping each other alive. Celia, when you can, try to create some orbs of light with your flames. If we can create and abuse our own shadows, we could make it harder for the Shadow Hunter to approach us undetected. Lukia, you seem the best at spotting anything unusual with our shadows or the slight movements in trees. You should be our lookout."
"What do you have planned to help?" Lukia notices my thoughts being spoken.
"Assuming that the beast will be back soon, I suggest we head to where it killed its previous prey. Luring it out will be much easier if we muddy our scent with the decaying bodies. I can only use it for so long, but I will create a moveable barrier just above our heads to force the creature to attack us on the ground unless it wants to reveal itself on my barrier. I can't extend it beyond five meters, so try to stick close; otherwise, you will be left wide open."
"Solid plan, how long do you think you can last holding out the barrier?"
"Without consuming vitality, a few hours at least. Anything more after that, I will risk using more than stamina to produce the barrier. If the Shadow Hunter attacks, I will lose more time to repel it. It would be best to arrive at the destination as soon as possible and execute this plan."
"Good, I have an idea on how we can take it down. If we can lure it out, we can try to slow it down or pin it in place so we can land some strikes and kill it."
"This plan seems as good as it will be; let's go." Lukia steps to our backs, and Celia summons four small orbs of burning light that circle and rotate around us as we walk slowly. Tension building in our chests, we press on.
Nearly half an hour passes, and we proceed as we usually do. No trace of the Shadow Hunter is nowhere to be seen. Lukia tirelessly scans the trees and our shadows for any movements until some twig or branch's snap echoes in the distance. Lukia halted our pace and scanned the area. I joined her to gaze ahead and look around.
"It isn't here, and if it was, I think we should double-time it to the spot." Lukia makes notes based on her senses and takes in every bit of the environment she could. As a Ranger, she uses her natural abilities to detail the woods around us accurately. Knowing that it wouldn't be much farther if we tried to pick up the pace, insisting upon it would make it harder to see our surroundings.
"If we pick up the pace, we must keep a good eye around everything. Are we all ready to get going?" I look at the girls, and they nod in response. I take a deep breath and start to pick up the speed. The girls follow after me, and so we rush ahead.
For another ten minutes, we heard each other breathing heavily; the strain of a continuous pace at this speed was draining our stamina rapidly. That was until there was a sudden shift in the atmosphere. I slow down and turn my head toward Lukia, who looks back at me. She stops and diverts her attention to the trees.
Staring down at us is the Shadow Hunter. We must notice something is wrong with how we move and leap down to bounce off the barrier. It landed and rolled on the ground and quickly lashed forward at Lukia. She steps back and fires an arrow that grazes the creature's hide. Dodging to the side, I step forward and draw my sword to deflect one of the spiked tendrils that shoot toward me. Keeping my focus on the barrier, I shift it to pin the creature. It struggles as I try my hardest to keep it down, but the agile creature pushes past, bursts into a sprint, and vanishes into the woods.
"Shadows!" Celia shouts and manipulates her orbs of fire around us to control the shadows. It reveals the slippery beast hiding behind Lukia's shadow. The eyes of the creature react to the flames and attempt to pounce on Lukia. She draws her sword only for it to pass through the illusion.
Eyes wide, I notice that the diversion creates an opening in our defense. I rush forward, bring my sword forward, and shout at the top of my lungs. I spot the glimmer just in time to strike the Shadow Hunter before it ambushes Celia. I sidestep and slam my sword down onto the beast. It reacts by guarding with both tendrils. My sword cracks under the pressure of my strike and the spikes' sturdiness. A rattling sensation goes through my hands and into my body; I twist my form, aim the blade low, and strike in an uppercut motion. It connects and slashes the stomach of the Shadow Hunter. The purple blood sprays across my face as it reels back. The blood blinds me. I attempt to swing again, but I feel a tug on my cloak as I fall back and hit my head in the dirt. I roll to my side and clean out my left eye to see, revealing that the creature had evaded us again but sustained a much more impressive injury.
"Damn it, it slipped away again." I curse under my breath before wiping my eyes with my cloak, noticing that Lukia was the one who pulled me away. When my vision clears, I open them to see a bleeding Lukia. My eyes widen at the sight, but I begin to realize that she pulled me back just in time to prevent a tendril from piercing my neck. She held her side as the crimson streaks of blood slipped past her fingers, a disgruntled look upon her face.
"It's a bit more than a scratch, I am afraid. Our bandages are running low; best use them when we really need them." Lukia gets to her feet. "Celia, I think I need your help with this one.
"I understand what you want me to do. Take a deep breath; I will try to make it quick."
"Yeah, just do it."
"Take a breath."
I stand and watch as Celia grabs ahold of Lukia and places her hand on her wound, and a bright red flame burns into her flesh. She lets out a painful scream as the smoke of burning flesh stings my nose; I quickly run to her side and grip her hand. It nearly crushes my own, but I help her endure the pain. It takes a few more seconds before Celia finishes closing her wound. Pale-faced, Lukia shakes her head and inhales to regain focus.
"We must be very close to the corpses; that attack clearly was out of spite, hoping to drag us closer to its little feeding ground. If we hurry, we should arrive before the Shadow Hunter recovers its strength and attacks us again." Lukia holds her side as she walks forward. Celia looks at me, and I nod, knowing that we are suffering some injuries; we are closer to our goal in all this.
I look at my damaged sword. The cracks in the steel leave it unstable if the next attack or deflect with this weapon will be its last. I grip the sword tightly and hope it has enough left for me to protect my companions. Setting off again takes only moments before reaching a small hill leading to a clearing in the field. Trees circle around an open pit of various rotting corpses, half-eaten bones, and various empty sets of equipment and ravaged bags. It seems we found our final standoff...