The beasts entered one after the other in the cave and none of them had attacked me at first. Though I knew it was a matter of time before they began the assault.
I had nowhere to go and I knew getting too far from the lit zone would be the worst case scenario.
There were no blade, no stone big enough to inflict any damage to the beasts, nothing close to a weapon to attack or a shield to protect . There were only my clothes and the yellow scarf with me, nothing that could help in this situation.
But I had to find something fast or I'd be torn appart in a no time.
I was still thinking, making sure to keep an eye on the flying monsters when one of them started flying right toward me with hight speed.
I had no more time to think. 'I have to act right now'. I curved my knees, lowered my torso, readying myself to react to the attack.
The beast was now followed by it's two fellow. I started to doubt weather I could deal with the tree of them at once but I had no place for doubt.
"Not yet, just a little closer" I said, lowering even more my torso, my legs parted, waiting for them to be about five feet from me before reacting
"Now!" I screamed, jumping to my left and , without a moment of rest, steping back to avoid the second beast. I had not enough time to avoid the third one though.
"Aaargh" I left at the collision. I had managed to grab the beast's mouth in time, but its sharp teeth pierced through my hand.
Before losing my fingers, I kicked the monster with my foot, bringing it flying on the ground, then back toward the ceiling.
"What kind of beast is that?" Even with the wings in their back, I knew they weren't birds at all. At least I assumed since they had big jaws with sharp teeth and four short clawed legs.
I was surprised by my own performance. Being able to dodge two fast flying beasts at once, considering the state of my body, was insane. But I knew it wasn't enough, the blood flowing from my hand and the vivid pain I felt proved it well.
Without more rest, the monsters flew back to me, with the same position as their first assaut.
This time, I was barely able to dodge the three of them, not even trying to grab them with my damage hands.
We continued on that way, them attacking in the same formation and me barely avoiding them. Getting used to their attack pattern, I was then able to dodge easier, lifting some kicks by times.
However, I couldn't avoid all of the attacks. In a no time, the ground was tainted with red. It wasn't only due to the crimson light coming from the outside though.
The beast didn't seem to slow down, continuing their assault faster and faster. I was was getting more and more damage, slowing down my movements as the vivid pain all over my body disturbed my thoughts.
Then this time, jumping to the side to avoid the assault, I slid on the blood, falling on the ground and totally exposed to the monsters who didn't waste a second before surging toward me.
"Aaaaa... Aaargh... Nnngh" I couldn't hold my screams of pain when the jaw of the beast was crushing my left arm I had lifted as a shield, his claws pierceing through my torso and my legs.
I could see the two other beast flying in the background, as if celebrating for their newly acquired snake.
I was slowly fainting, feeling strength leaving my nearly crushed arm as well as the rest of my body
"Looks like it's the end" I said to myself, still struggling to stay conscious.
I couldn't abandon now after struggling so hard. If I were to give up in the end, it would've been easier to not fight back in the first place.
"Now that I've engaged... I'm not... giving up... that easly" I whispered, not being able to scream anymore.
My sight was flooding, I felt I was about to faint. My eyes slowly closed as I suddenly felt a soft warm around my neck.
The last thing I could make out was a crimson light, the same as the one coming from the outside. But this time it was coming from closer, the source was just above me, out of my sight.
Then nothing, expect darkness.
"What... was... that ?"
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Plip... Plip...plip
The sound of the water drops seemed even louder to me. "Looks like I've still to get used to that enoying sound" I thought, my eyes still closed.
The sound echoing from far and the feeling of the cold floor underneath made it obvious I was still in the cave, but I couldn't believe I was still there, with all my members intact and no pain in my body - even from my arm that had been crushed.
I didn't know how long I had been there, but I didn't want to move at all.
"Am I... dead ?" I whispered, my eyes still closed. "But can a corpse feel the coldness of the floor like I did?"
Searching for an explanation without opening my eyes nor moving even a finger, a thought came to my mind, that was a possibility not to be neglected.
"Was it finally all a dream ?" . That could explain why I felt no injury after the attack. But was the atrocious pain I had felt only in my mind ?
In any case, it looked like I was alive and I couldn't just stay on the ground forever. I had to move on.
Decided, I lifted my back from the ground, slowly opening my eyes.
After looking around, I left a small laughter before finally talking.
"Haha, it's ridiculous" I turned to my back to finally see the nearly source of the crimson light, the one that wasn't outside the cave.
It was a sphere, about twice the side of my fist, floating just above me. Not too far, there were two red rings about nine inches of diameter or so, lying on the ground.
The dead bodies of the monsters on the ground with their blood tainting the ground nearby made the cave look even more sinister, almost hellish.
" It wasn't a dream... not at all !"