Stalking its prey, smelling their fear, their sweat and their anxiety, the dgrak now much closer to the rundown shack, felt satisfaction knowing that its presence stirred up such emotions in its prey.
Helpless and stuck with no way out, the villagers in the rundown shack were waiting anxiously, either for a savior or for their deaths, with abated breath. And what sets them even more on edge was the smell of blood, and how dire the situation was for Amy Greenwood to give birth.
Some thought to themselves that it was the wrong time for a baby to choose to come, considering the circumstances were not favourable. And as cruel as it sounds, the expected outcome was either for the child to die inside the mother or outside the mother.
All they could do though, was to help her through it as much as they can. The elderly women that were there with her, helped her by transferring their myn to her in order to give her strength. And as they had been through it themselves, they knew just how draining giving birth to a child can be.
Taking deep breaths, Amy absorbed the energy she was getting from the women, in preparation for the opportuned time for the baby to be pushed out of her, and at the same time doing it as quietly as she possibly could. While she was doing that, the Dgrak stalking them was getting closer. Perhaps it noticed the presence of the unborn child, and decided to wait for all its meals to be present.
Brock and the men were fighting hard, while some fell in this battle, no one could afford to stop with the way things were. They faced a group of three dgraks and proceeded to separate them first, as fighting one was difficult, to fight three of them is, well three times the difficulty. Few of them chose to be the bait, while the rest will give the killing blow. The biggest of them was tackled by Brock and with his speed, agility and strength he finished the fight quickly.
But then something strange happened. A thick and archaic roar was heard and it sent chills down the spine of everyone in the village as they heard it.
Brock cursed in his mind "why now?! Why today?!"
As if sensing the danger that this posed to his wife and his child, he moved swiftly to cut the Dgraks surrounding him.
Perhaps the Dgraks knew that his child was to be born that day and that was why they chose to attack on that very day. Quite cruel though, since they just want him to see his child, only for them to take it from him. But Brock would never allow it.
While he was fighting, he noticed the tracks of a dgrak headed somewhere, and after slaughtering the ones around him, he ran towards the tracks and proceeded to follow the dgrak. But before he could proceed any further, there it stood, the monster that made the roar, covered in red crystals. It looked huge even from afar, its presence stirring up despair in the hearts of its prey, the destruction it was capable of causing was unimaginable.
Sensing the urgency in killing the one gone astray, Brock regained his composure and went after it.
His killing intent raging and before he could get to the path that led to the shack, a red crystal came lunging at him. Before it struck, he moved quickly, avoiding it, then he looked at where it came from and it was the monster covered in red crystals.
Dgraks have different types. There is the commonly encountered ones, like the ones that plunged the village of Roktun into chaos, that attack in hordes, specifically called Dgraks, and then there are the unique ones called Simple. The name is actually not meant to deceive anyone, as they are called that because they do not move in hordes. And between the two types, there is an unspoken rule and which is that the Dgraks are not allowed to interfere when a Simple is hunting.
So perhaps an encounter with a Simple is better compared to a horde, right?
Well it depends on the poison the individual chooses, because an encounter with a Simple has slimmer chances of survival. And to be successful in surviving, the person must run out of the range of attack of a Simple and that will ensure their safety. But considering the Simple will also be moving, can a person actually get out of its attack range?
And then there is the option of attacking the Simple directly, and that has a higher rate of success only if the person is very close to the Tier 2 category in their myn level or the individual is a Tier 2 category.
Now to have an absolute chance of survival is if the attack is in groups of 3, each in the Tier 2 category, then survival is guaranteed, unless something unexpected happens.
In the case of the hordes, the commonly encountered ones, escaping is not a feasible option, since there is a lot of them, the best option is to fight and hope to survive. After all, the best thing to do is to face it head-on since with their ability to sense myn, they will not stop until they have harvested every living source of myn. So there is no running, neither is there hiding, just fight for survival.
Either way, it still depends on the encounter of the individual, as the best option is to avoid both of them or be powerful enough to kill them.
Well the luxury of running or fighting is non-existent for Brock as he is sandwiched between the two. But his priority will always be his wife and his unborn child. Therefore, the Simple better be prepared to handle being ignored or be prepared to attack even faster.
And despite the dire situation, and his feeling of fatigue, he moved swiftly knowing very well that he could not give up. Then came another
crystal lunging at him, he dodged swiftly, ignoring it. Truly nothing can stop him from getting to his wife and his child.
Then he saw it, the bastard that wanted to harm his pregnant wife. Truth be told, the Dgraks are, well, quite stupid to say the least, because they actually enjoy toying with their prey, and certainly because they move in packs, they can have fun right?
Wrong! they are the type to bully the weak and fear the strong. They probably came to a village like Roktun because they knew that no one there was in the Tier 2 category, and sensing how there is no threat there, they decided to go.
Since the bastard first delighted itself in what it was about to do, it just started to tear down the shack and before it could pull anyone in, its head and arms was already severed, or so Brock thought as another crystal came lunging at him.
He was in a precarious situation, because if he did not actively repel the crystal, his wife would die and yet there was still the dgrak bastard aiming for the shack. Because of his determination to protect his family, he decided that the best form of action was to deflect the crystal towards the bastard and he did that.
Seeing the trajectory of the crystal, he dodged it and used the flat and wide side of his broadsword to deflect the crystal and it worked. The bastard's head and arms were not severed, but it was cut cleanly into two equal vertical parts. With one danger used to repel the other successfully, Brock proceeded to check in on his wife while also thinking of a way to survive against the danger posed by the Simple.
The warriors assemble, racing quickly towards the village of Roktun. They heard the roar earlier with their heightened senses, and without any further delay they aimed at getting there in time.
The leader of the squad, Ingram, thought of how unusual the attack on the village was, considering its proximity to the mountains. Mountainous regions have always been relatively safe compared to other places without mountains. Because naturally, the mountains serve as a barrier for any dgrak attack, and so the question is, why will a village with such a protection be riddled with Dgraks? And now to make it worse, a Simple appeared.
The appearances of the Dgraks has always been a confusing topic since no one knows really how they appear, like is it just a random spawn? And then there are highly dangerous areas, that are teeming with them, unless you have a death wish you can skip joyfully into it, and no worries, the Dgraks are not picky with food.
And there is also the mystery about how they move from one place to another. Because considering their huge sizes, their presence cannot go unnoticed.
He pondered on these facts while moving faster towards the village.
Now that the time was right for her to start pushing the baby, Amy Greenwood directed all the energy she had gathered earlier towards her lower abdomen. And with her husband beside her, she felt even more at ease as she continued. The women around her did not stop in helping her as they had made the place as suitable as they could.
In spite of her state, she was still sensitive towards her husband, as she saw the conflict in his eyes, she gave him a reassuring smile that she will be fine.
The truth was that Brock was torn, he wanted to be there when his child was born, but he also had to secure the safety of the mother and the child. And with the strength his wife gave him through her smile, he set off and made up his mind to finish it quickly. Despite the situation looking hopeless, for his family he will continue until his last breath.
He stepped forward towards the Simple and upon closer look saw it was huge, but nevertheless, as long as he did not give up, he can still fight. He proceeded to then activate the heat element in the sword and used it to form a ball of flames with the intention to launch it. But before he could complete it, a crystal came towards him and like the last one, he deflected it. With the activation complete, he ran faster to get close enough for his attack to be effective. And yes, that seems like he was plunging to his own death, but he was not going to watch his wife and child die without giving his best.
He ran swiftly and as another crystal came, he dodged it and then launched his prepared attack. The heat made a sizzling sound and seeing the Simple up close, he refused to waiver and despite the despair that was creeping in, he rejected it and he pressed forward to ignite another one. But he knew he could not hold on for long, as he had already gone past his limits, but regardless he will continue.
Another heat lunged at the Simple, and this time he followed with a slash at the leg, hoping to cut it down to size. His attack was successful, though it did not cut as deep as he had desired, the sight of his sword able to cut it gave him a bit of hope, that it was not entirely impossible. He moved again preparing another attack, and then a huge hand faster than he could move, swatted him away like a bug.