"Ourang Gila (2)"

Every step the assassin took was filled by guilt. He left his party not because he wanted to help them, but because he was scared. The monster they were facing was his nightmare. The one who kidnaped him … who eat someone he admired right in front of him. To be honest, if I'm gonna tell you this story, this is gonna be another whole different story.

But one thing for sure, he didn't want to face it again and somewhere in the corner of his mind, a thought was lurking, "I should not come back".

***

It was a monster with long hands and twisted face. Its skin was pale and its body is so slim as if it hadn't eaten anything. Its shriek wasn't deafening but it gives a creepy sound. It was something unimaginable like it was coming out of Lovecraftian horror. It was what Raka thought about the monster.

'I should've joined that Assasin,' he grumbled in his thought. 'But, I guess just surviving isn't all that hard.'

The monster was rushing toward the party. It ran, jumped, and shrieked. Its movement was so fast and erratic that normal human might not be able to perceive it.

"Let's hold this monster," said Dan while stepping ahead. His broadsword was ready in his right hand. "I don't know how you saved our skilled mage. But let me count on you this time."

Raka was stunned. He never thought he would be in this kind of situation. "I'll try to not be a burden!"

"Here it comes!"

The monster leaped to Dan. It swung its right arm. Dan was caught off guard by that attack and try to block the arm with the side of his broadsword. It should've been too late but Nadia cast a protective barrier that were shattered a second after the impact. It was enough for Dan to raise his weapon to block the attack. However, the power Ourang Gila gave was tremendous that his body was flung toward a tree. His back took the full impact with the tree.

He tried to stand. He still has enough energy to fight back. The monster's eye was fixed on him. He smiled and readied his weapon once again. The monster rushed again to him and so was he. This time he was the one to try to land an attack. However, his arching swing was easily maneuvered by Ourang Gila. Then, the Ourang Gila swept his arm and hit the side of his sword. He flung again but this time he didn't hit a tree.

For a second he was looking at the ground. When he lifted his head, he saw the monster's hand was already raised and was about to hit him. But then there were a group of fireball hit the monster thus canceled the attack. The monster glaring angrily to Nadia. Dan who didn't want let this chance slip then proceed to swing his broadsword horizontally. It only grazed the monster's skin as the monster jumped back.

Without wasting any time, the monster ran to Nadia. She conjured a barrier before she jumped sideways to dodge the attack. Before the monster continued the attack, Dan jumped between Nadia and the monster. Then, he proceeded with a horizontal slash and grazed its arm. The monster jumped back but without time to rest, Nadia conjured a fire vortex right at where the monster was about to land.

Fire burst from the ground, whirling up to the sky trapping and burning the monster in the center of the vortex. The monster shrieked as the burn was hurting it. Nadia tried to hold the vortex as long as possible.

Meanwhile, Raka was observing the fight from a tree while preparing his lightning magic. 'Damn, I can't do anything. I should really be careful fighting against this thing. It looks so strong,' he thought. 'I hope this will work.'

Suddenly, the monster leaped out of the vortex and ran straight to Nadia. Caught off guard, Nadia stopped the fire vortex and tried to conjure a fireball. Dan jumped in front of her to protect her. Right before the monster lunged to Dan, a lightning wave was shot at it. However, the monster jumped back to dodge it. Raka, not letting the opportunity pass, appeared on the side of the monster and swing his orcish sword. The monster, again, was agile enough to dodge the attack so it only grazed the monster's arm … but that was Raka's aim.

He didn't need to land a fatal blow. He just needed to make contact with it. However, he still kind of disappointed because the attack only made a minimum touch. 'If I can be fast enough to appear behind it, the attack will be more decisive and the effect might be stronger. But this will do.'

The monster doesn't seem to be paralyzed. However, a flash of spark lightning sometimes appeared on its arm. Its body was covered in smoke as it was burned through the vortex.

"That was a close one, young man." Dan appeared behind him.

"We should attack this thing while the paralyze effect is active," replied Raka.

"Yeah." Dan leaped to the monster.

However, before Dan arrived, he immediately halted his attack and stepped back. Raka was confused while Nadia covered her mouth with her hand. Fear was shown in her eyes as her pupil became bigger. Raka then noticed something red coming from the monster. Its vein was bulging harshly with glowing red blood covered its body. Its face turned into something more horrifying as the eyelid became non-existent, its lips gone from the mouth showing its sharp teeth getting bigger. A claw appeared on its hand. Some of the bone came out from its skin and forming a spike on its back. It shrieked louder than before. And without lips, the drool from its mouth poured to the ground.

'What in the f*cking world was that? A freaking nightmare!' was Raka's thought looking at the monster. 'I swear to stop reading Lovecraftian horror again. This was too much!'

"Tell me if there is any good news," said Raka.

"Actually, there is a piece of good news," replied Dan while stepping back to Raka and Nadia.

"Mind telling me?" asked Raka.

"We can get out from here in about ten minutes. However …," Dan gripped his weapon. "Those ten minutes will be hell."

The party readied themselves hoping the reinforcement come at the right time. Then, the monster readied itself while trying to say something. However, since it has no lips, the words became unintelligible gibberish.

"gih … hak … hy … HREEYY…."

The monster leaped to the party and horizontally swing its arm. Nadia conjured its barrier. However, its claw easily shattered the barrier. Dan try to dodge it by jumping back. However, the attack was too fast and it severed his left hand. He tried to counter it with his right hand but that effort was futile. Without wasting much time, the monster continued its attack by swinging its other arm vertically, severed Dan's right arm. He was incapacitated. The monster raised its arm once again. Dan turned his head to Nadia and Raka.

"R … u … n …."

It swung its arm and decapitated Dan's head. His head rolled to where Raka and Nadia were standing. She then fell to her knee while screaming in terror as her party leader and also her lover died in such a way that she was never imagined would happen.

Raka was just standing there, frozen. He didn't dare to move. All he could do was to stay standing as he was now. His mind was telling him to run. But to no avail, his body didn't react as he wanted. He was petrified by the fear of death and the nightmare that was walking towards them.

Raka tried to use his explosion magic again once more. But then, the monster stopped. A loud sound was heard. It stepped left to dodge a lightning bolt that was flying at it. "Damn, I missed," said someone who wear a set of light armor and holding a gun in his right hand.

"Welp, it seems I was too late," said he in a very relaxed way while looking at Dan's corpse.

"Who are you?" asked Raka.

"Eh? You don't know me?" the guy with the gun surprised at Raka's question. "Well, I see you are a newcomer here but that doesn't make any sense since everyone knows the might of gunslingers."

"Just tell me your name," Raka asked while trying to hold his punch to the guy's face.

"Oh right. My name is Arion, one of the five gunslingers. Any other question?"