Owlbear. H-O-O-T!

Hades and Gabriella slowly made their way to the forest, walking on the hilltop and heading toward the dangerous woods. Even before entering, Gabriella could feel the cold air blowing around them.

"Hades, doesn't it give you a weird feeling? As if we're watched?" Gabriella said with a worried face, she stared into the lines of birch trees imagining their marks as faces.

"I feel nothing, this is but a forest. Let's find some monsters to kill as soon as possible." Hades hastened his steps and so did Fen, forcing Gabriella to hurl behind them forgetting her worries.

As they reached the forest edge, Gabriella took a knife from her waist and stabbed one of the trees. The marks she left resembled arrows. Just from her hand movements, she was clearly struggling to leave a dent in the trees as she cried. "AH!"

"What are you doing?" hades asked taking the knife from her hand, the mark didn't resemble words to him. Even though he can't read, it was strange.

"We're not using the conventional road from now on, it best we leave marks to follow back home.

Hades nodded, "I see, but we can always climb a tree and find our way out."

Gabriella shook her head, "We don't have to go that far, just leaving marks like this will allow us to walk home easily and without much effort."

The two of them walked into the wood, keeping an eye on their surroundings. Gabriella was always on edge, poking every bush they come across less if it had a snake or a monster. With her mostly being unable to purify poising here unless she uses potions. They were screwed if they got bitten by more than two snakes. There was also the fact that the antidote wasn't always guaranteed to work.

"Make sure not to attack any snake. Avoid them at all costs, they are too much risk for what they are worth." She made sure to tell Hades about her worries, as he seemed more eager to kill everything that moves than anything.

Crackle! Gabriella got scared as she heard a cracking underneath her feet. Looking down it was but a twig. She sighed in relief. That scared her.

"WAN!" Fen stared at her confused, "AWoo!" For a moment he looked a bit sad, his eyes getting bigger and he whimpered.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." She replied with a smile and approached Hades to pet Fen.

After a few minutes of uneventful walking, Fen finally got on edge. He leaped from Hades's shoulder and started staring deep into the forest. "GRRRRR, AWOOOOO!"

Gabriella pulled her sword sweating. Her lungs felt heavy as she tried to stare at where Fen was looking. She could see nothing.

"Hades, can you see anything?" She asked gulping. This was the first time in her life she carried a sword to face a monster.

Hades started walking toward the deep woods, Fen trailed behind him, and lastly Gabriella. As they walked, Fen suddenly stopped and started growling loudly, Gabriella's legs started shaking as she saw the monster emerge from behind the tree.

A massive owl head, two big eyes each pointing in a direction. Glaring at her. As the whole body emerged, the horror became apparent.

A massive bear body with an owl head, a feathery tail, and long claws. H-O-O-T! BOOOOO!

Gabriella took a step back, "An owlbear. Back away slowly, don't lose eye contact." She said while backing away as slowly as she can.

'It didn't attack right away, it isn't hungry. As long as we back off, it won't cause us away.' Gabriella thought hoping to avoid the fight. This isn't a monster they should start with.

[Attraction] Hades pulled himself toward the owlbear at an extreme speed, swinging his fist at the monster. Fen rushed to the side with his jaw open.

The owlbear immediately roared, standing on its hind feet, and swung a claw at Hades.

[Attraction] in a quick move, Hades pulled himself up toward a tree branch and then stared down, in that second he launched downward with [Repulsion]

As the owlbear focused on Hades. Fen managed to get a bite at the beast's hind leg. ROOAR! The owlbear cried in pain falling to the ground as Fen ran away with a chunk of flesh. He could no longer use that leg even if he wanted.

As Hades fell down with a kick, the owlbear rolled to the side dodging the attack and then trying to deliver a bite. [Repulsion] Hades backed away immediately.

CLAMP! Like two hunks of metal clashing together, the owlbear beak clenched shut sending shivers in the shaking Gabriella.

H-OOOO-OOOO-T! The owlbear immediately opened his beak, rushing back at Hades with another bite.

Hades immediately kicked a stone that was near him [Repulsion] sending it directly into the monster's throat. At the same time, Fen bites the other leg disabling it and causing the owlbear to fall on his chest choking.

Hades immediately leaped over the owlbear's back, grabbed the back of his head from the feathers, and pulled it up.

"Slice its throat, now!" He shouted at Gabriella.

She snapped back to reality, the fight already started, if she wasn't going to act now, she will never do it. She gathered all her courage and pulled her sword. Took a few firm steps and swung at the owlbear's neck.

Splat! Blood splashed as her blade sliced right through the monster's neck. Hades leaped away as did Gabriella and Fen. They left the monster to bleed to death and watched from afar.

Gabriella was panting, even though she just did one swing, she was already sweating. Her heart raced as her knees started shaking.

"We all did it, this is going to be a bit bad," Hades said with a worried face as he waited for the monster to die.

Fen barked by his side. "WAN! WAN!" drooling. Each time the owlbear seemed to be about to die, Fen jumped. To him, that was merely food getting ready, he couldn't wait to eat.

As she relaxed a bit, Gabriella pulled her dagger out and a small pouch. "After it dies, we need to take the beak. With it, we can get paid at the guild. Other parts of the owlbear are useless."

"Just the beak? Can't we eat it?" Hades asked, staring at Fen.

Gabriella sighed, "Don't count Fen like us. The owlbear meat is too gamy and stinky to be eaten. Even their leather is hard to work with and can't produce any good carpet or armor." She pointed at the monster who just stopped moving.

As they approached the monster, CRACKLE! Gabriella heard something far behind them. She immediately turned around, catching a glimpse of a woman like a shadow.

As she blinked for a moment, she realized that what she saw was merely a birch tree.

"Are you all right?" Hades asked glaring at her and then at the back.

"I'm fine, did you hear something?" She asked while keeping an eye on the tree.

"No, I heard nothing." He shook his head and looked at Fen, "What about you?"

"WAN!" He barked waging his tail.

Gabriella scratched her head, no one was there, and it was but her imagination. If someone was there, Fen would have sniffed them out immediately.

They proceeded to poke the owlbear with a stick.