POV Astrid
—Kael! Play the damn song!—I'm on it! You aim for the legs!—Rhhaaa!
The damn Barroth wasn't giving us much space to argue while it kept trying to crush us with its head.
The mission was simple: a Barroth had been blocking a transport route for some reason, and we just had to take it down.
So I ask myself… Where the hell did everything go so wrong?! The damn monster has been acting like a lunatic ever since we found it. Even when we first saw it, it was banging its head against rocks for no reason.
We'd been hunting it for a good while now. If it were a normal Barroth, it'd already be dead—but this one was acting so erratically it made him more dangerous.
—Done! —Kael shouted once he finished playing his hunting horn. I've never understood how that thing works, and honestly, most hunters—including those who use it—don't really know how a song can increase someone's strength.
Once I heard two scholars arguing about it. They said the melody activated something in the listener's brain or something like that. I don't know—I don't like to think too much. That's why I use dual blades.
With the stamina boost the song gave me, I dashed toward the monster as it tried to slam its head down on me. I dodged the hit and aimed at my target.
With a spin, I made several cuts into the monster's legs, making it stop and growl in pain. But it still tried to hit me with its tail—the key word being tried.
I dodged the strike and, in retaliation, I slashed at the tail repeatedly. To my satisfaction, I cut it off halfway, making the monster stumble.
The monster stood up again. Its gaze, which had been unfocused the whole time, locked onto me—and I saw genuine hatred in its eyes.
But when you've got more than one opponent, focusing on just one is a mistake. The Barroth learned that the hard way—when Kael's hunting horn smashed into its face.
And it seems this time Kael landed a solid hit, because the monster was stunned on the ground.
Without hesitation, I activated Demon Mode on my dual blades and aimed at the Barroth's belly. In seconds, the monster was covered in lacerations—and even more bruises from Kael's hits.
To the monster's credit, it got back up and spun its whole body, forcing us to back away.
In a normal situation, a Barroth after taking this much damage would turn around and look for a mud pit to make new armor.
But this one… it just roared and charged again—
Suddenly, a shadow fell over the Barroth, slamming it to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust that blocked my vision.
I stared into the dust in shock for several seconds. I glanced at Kael—he wasn't in a better state than I was. It wasn't until he felt my gaze that he seemed to snap out of it and looked back at me.
Slowly, the dust settled—and what I saw chilled my blood.
Standing atop the Barroth was a humanoid figure that clearly wasn't human. It stood about three meters tall. Its head was crowned by a crest that blocked the sun behind it. From where the crest began, a mantle or cloak of black with sporadic red glimmers extended. Its face looked like a white bone mask without expression but with a clear line marking its mouth.
Its belly was the same white as its face, accompanied by those red glows. The mantle ended around its thighs, and from there down, its legs were covered in white feathers and ended in three taloned toes.
It was the first time I'd seen something like that, but anyone in Astera would have recognized it.
—It's… the Phageris —Kael said quietly.
I tightened my grip on my weapon and said —Wasn't it supposed to be in the Ancient Forest?
—It was. Not anymore.
We both kept our eyes on the monster, weapons in hand. For its part, the creature just stood there on the Barroth's dead body.
It didn't make a move—just watched us. I trembled as I realized that when the Commander said it was intelligent… he wasn't exaggerating. It genuinely was intelligent and it was analyzing us.
For several seconds, we locked eyes. In that moment, I also realized something. I used to think the most terrifying monsters were the ones that didn't hesitate to charge at you.
But now I know I was wrong. It's not the teeth or the claws that are terrifying… it's intelligence.
And the longer the Phageris stared at us, the more I became aware of that intelligence.
Realizing this monster was unlike anything I'd ever seen before, I felt something I hadn't felt since my rookie days as a hunter.
Fear.
…
POV Narrator
Chryssia looked at the two hunters in front of her—and to their absolute surprise, she sighed and then said something they couldn't understand, surprising and honestly scaring them even more.
—Stop thinking like a human…
With those words—words only she understood—she charged straight at the hunters.