Gripping Fear

"Danu, what is happening?! Where did these things come from?!"

As the winged creature appeared once again even though the group has killed it twice already, the bandits started to be clouded with unrest as the nonchalant atmosphere turned tense instantly.

Nobody has a relaxed look on their faces anymore, fear started to sprout inside of them

In the face of the approaching winged creature that is growling and glaring at them with its blazing red eyes murderously, the bandits can only grip the sword in their hands tighter out of instinct.

Realizing what was happening, the brown-skinned man, Danu frowned cautiously.

'Something is wrong, this creature is definitely the same one as the one I killed before. Even animals despite being the same race still have some differences in their appearance, but this creature is literally the same as the one from earlier' he thought with a bead of cold sweat training down the side of his face.

Because of this winged demon, their smooth journey turned hazardous.

A cloud of mystery is swirling around them and it would only keep on pressuring the group the more this goes on, Danu knows that he can't let this continue or the group will fall apart.

Gritting his teeth, Danu looked around in sheer frustration.

'Someone is playing a trick on us...' he thought, suspecting that someone is onto them.

Just then one of the bandits on the left side of the wagon roared angrily and charges straight at the winged demon with his sword in hand, he went insane from fear, "Fucker! Why won't die?!"

"William! Don't be reckless!" Danu shouted, trying to stop William on his track.

Even though he wanted to stop William from engaging with the winged creature, Danu was too late as he had already been in melee range of the winged creature. It was right then the group of bandits widened their eyes in pure shock.

Under his cloudy mind, William charges forward to only meet with claws to his chest.

Splash!

Since he was not thinking straight and was overwhelmed with fear of the unknown, the winged creature managed to dodge the thrusting sword and return a counter-attack with its claws stabbing right through William's chest.

Immediately after that, blood smeared the green bushes in crimson color.

William can only widen his eyes in utter disbelief as he can feel excruciating pain in his chest, he then looked down slowly to only find his chest in a grotesque condition. His flesh has been torn apart.

Not even stopping right there, the winged creature went the extra mile and bite his neck.

More blood poured out as the other bandits watched one of their comrades being killed by the mysterious winged creature in utter horror, their eyes are opened wide and unblinking as the scene unfold.

After the winged creature pulls out its claws, William's body falls weakly to the ground.

Thud!

The light thudding sound was like a bell that snapped the other bandits from their daze. Each of them takes a step back in response, and Danu can see their will being stripped away through their pale expression.

Knowing the severity of the situation, Danu jumped from his wagon and launch his attack.

"Earth Spell, Earth Shatterer!"

Casting a furious spell from his mouth, blocks of rock started to cover his fist entirely as he descend from the air. Without holding anything back, Danu swung his fist right at the winged creature.

Crash!

With only one spell, he managed to absolutely crush the winged creature once again.

Just like before the winged creature turns into an ember of fire before it vanishes once again. But this time, Danu didn't feel any ease in killing it as he glared at the surroundings, "Come out you bastard! Stop messing with us!" he shouted angrily.

Now he has become even more sure that someone is attacking them from the dark.

Some of the strong mages that he know has the ability to summon an Elemental Spirit to aid them in battle, it acts like a summoned monster that can be willed by the caster. But this winged creature doesn't resemble an Elemental Spirit at all.

It was demonic, a creature that can give adults nightmares.

Even though this winged creature is not anything like the Elemental Spirit, Danu is quite sure that it's definitely something that is summoned by someone. Hiding somewhere in the thick lush forest is the caster, watching them silently.

"Danu, you said that this mission will be a piece of cake!"

One of the bandits complained, the fear is gnawing at the entire group.

As one voiced out their complaint, the other also started gaining confidence to also voice out their complaints. "We didn't sign up for this, there's no use in gold coins if we are dead at the end of the day"

"I think you're cursed, that creature is not normal!" the man with black long hair added.

Upon hearing this Danu's expression slowly contorted into a grim one, he knows that the attacker is winning as his group's mentality has been shattered. Nothing good will come out if he can't contain this.

Suddenly, a scream came from his back which caught him by surprise.

Quickly turning around to his back, Danu finds another one of his comrades got caught from the side by the winged creature and dragged into the bushes. A sight of horror that breaks the last will of the group.

Moreover, the painful scream followed by a fleshy sound struck imminent fear to them.

"R-Run!"

"W-We're going to die!!"

In a chaotic manner, the other bandits ran to save themselves from this winged creature. Not one of them stayed behind despite Danu telling them to stop, the last strand of their logic has been stripped away.

Even though separating would make them easier prey, the others fail to understand that.

"Damn it! Bunch of morons!" Danu cursed angrily.

When the scream of the other bandits reaches his ears, he doesn't seem to be surprised as he already expected this. It's a foolish move done by the others, and their foolishness might spill Danu's death too.

Out of everything, he blames himself for letting himself be surrounded by idiots.

Danu didn't sit idle as he quickly went to the back of the wagon and open the door, he went inside before he come out along with a woman that looked to be in her twenties. Wrapping his arm around the woman's neck, he then shouted, "Come out wherever you are or I swear I'll kill her! Believe me, I'll do it!"

"P-Please let me go, don't kill me" the woman pleaded but got ignored completely.

Silence...

Nobody replied as the entire place is covered in silence.

Even though the sun is shining upon the two of them from above, the choking silence and mystery make Danu think that darkness is looming around him instead. A sense of crisis got sparked inside of him.

In a hurry, he darted his eyes left and right, trying to search for the caster to no avail.

But then out of nowhere, the woman whimpered at the sight of the winged creature flying straight at them from the front. Danu heard this and also saw the same sight, he quickly pointed his hand forward in reflex.

"Earth Spell, Rock Pike!"

Swoosh!

From the palm of his hand, Danu shoots a sharp pike of rock straight at the winged creature.

Not having the time to react properly, the winged creature got impaled through the chest and was killed once again. Danu finds it easy to take care of the winged creature, but it just keeps on coming back.

Instead of dying, the winged creature survived that stab from the pike of rock.

Upon seeing this Danu was surprised as the pike of rock missed the winged creature's heart, and it then keeps on reaching to him savagely, completely disregarding the gaping hole in its chest.

Even the woman was completely terrified by the sight as she stands in between the two.

The winged creature's reaching claws were almost touching her face, and it keeps getting closer, forcing the woman to turn her face away. Just then the woman was surprised when she saw Danu coughing a mouthful of blood.

"Haargh!" Danu grunted in pain.

She was not expecting this as the winged creature hadn't reached them yet.

Due to the sudden pain, his arm loosen up as the woman fell to the ground, her entire being was trembling in fear as she saw slowly looks up to see what had happened to Danu to make him cough blood like this.

But then she gasped when she saw a hand penetrating through his left peck.

Hovering her eyes at the figure standing behind Danu, the woman finds a menacing man that should be around her age with glowing purple eyes. He was the one responsible for the death of the entire bandit group.

The woman whimpered meekly, covering her mouth with both of her hands.

"Damn you, coward!" Danu cursed at the man behind him.

Although he was trying to be cautious of his surroundings, the winged creature that is trying to reach him was a big enough diversion that allows a momentary gap for this man to sneak to his back.

Now he paid the price, blood keeps on drizzling down his mouth and chest.

Splash!

Despite the slightly troubled expression on the man's face, he pulled his hand out as Danu was forced to his knees feeling the pain enveloping his entire body, and zapping his strength away with each passing second.

Following this, the winged creature leaped at Danu ferociously.

The desire to rip Danu apart can be seen burning inside the winged creature's eyes, it bore hatred for the man that had killed it multiple times already. But then the man standing behind Danu raises his hand.

"Don't..."

Growl!

Immediately after that, the creature suddenly stops abruptly, obeying the man's order.

Looking at the kneeling Danu who still feels surreal about the fact that he has been ambushed and injured like this, the man's eyes glowed with a purple hue even brighter as he continues, "I need to change, so I'm going to be the one to end this..."