16 Ripped

Mikhail turned to see a piercing beam of water shoot out from the beast's maw.

He saw how Kegth tried and barely succeeded to protect himself, thrusting into the beam with his spear.

The beam was split apart into several different beams. But, the Water Aether still had enough power to shave off a portion of Kegth's hair, cut through his ears, and punch three holes into his neck.

He was momentarily paralyzed by the sudden turn of events, yet…

As soon as the momentary paralysis came to an end, Mikhail found his body moving on its own, rushing back towards the beast's head!

"Kegth!"

He rashly stabbed towards the beast's neck, in a desperate bid to get its attention off Kegth so he could retreat to heal. Mikhail failed to see his fellow spear wielders get smacked away by the beast's incredibly long and powerful tail as a result

But, unlike him, the beast was extremely aware of its surroundings

When it noticed Mikhail out of the corner of its eye, it immediately slashed to the side. Thus, Mikhail got his abdomen cut through by its extremely sharp claws. It was like a blur in his eyes, the blisteringly fast movement barely registering in his mind.

The sudden agony made him stumble forward, ruining his stance. But the beast was not done. It did not need such a pest in its direct surroundings. No, it wasn't only that. It could not allow such a pest in its direct surroundings!

Its claws had extended outwards and clawed straight through Mikhail's flesh.

But now, it shot back the other way. Thus, the back of the beast's claws slammed into Mikhail's abdomen, sending him flying through the air.

His involuntary flight was abruptly cut short when he crashed into a tree, causing a handful of leaves to come fluttering downwards. Mikhail's back was in searing pain from the impact, but he quickly got up and moved forward.

He needed to save Kegth!

Yet he stumbled over a branch and landed on his face.

Luckily, the beast was done with him. Unluckily, the same could not be said for Kegth, who was desperately crawling away with one arm, using the other to cover the holes on his neck.

Mikhail was beginning to get back up, but he heard Glasha order him to "Stay down!" before a vibrant green blur rushed past him.

BOOM!

Glasha's axe tore into the neck of the beast and knocked it off balance, causing it to stumble to the side with a pained screech.

But the beast… The beast swung its head into Glasha! It knocked away the biggest threat and corrected its balance in one move. And after that, a flurry of arrows flew over Mikhail's head next.

But it didn't matter.

It didn't matter one bit. It saw an easy source of energy and it was going to take it.

And thus, it awkwardly lurched forward towards Kegth.

The spear wielders had done some real damage to its legs, but not enough damage.

Mikhail watched with horror as the beast lowered its head before lightly biting into Kegth's leg, causing him to scream.

"HELP! OH NO, OH NO OH NO OH NOOO!"

"HEEEEELP M-"

His voice was interrupted when the beast quickly lifted him by the leg, before slamming him back into the ground, breaking the lad's leg in the process. And arrows stopped flying after one pierced Kegth's leg.

Mikhail stumbled to get up as the damage dealers rushed in from afar, but the awful display of brutality was not over yet… The damn beast lurched forward just a smidge more, before lowering its head and grabbing Kegth's torso.

Kegth was groaning, his mind in disarray from the pain.

The beast violently shook his torso around like a ragdoll. Its fangs quickly dug into the leather armor he was wearing, and the shaking of its head in a circular motion cut through it further.

It was like Mikhail was watching it in slow motion. But in reality, everything had been happening obscenely fast. In just seconds, Kegth was ripped into three parts. His legs, his midriff, and his upper body.

Kegth's midriff was quickly swallowed whole by the beast.

"KEGTH, NO!"

Yargol arrived on the scene with a handful of other damage dealers, and immediately, the young man charged at the damn thing. Mikhail felt a mixture of anger and sadness himself as he watched Yargol's axe dig into the beast's skull, before being smacked away.

Gritting his teeth, Mikhail shot forward again, with his spear poised to pierce!

He thrust the spear randomly into its torso, plunging it as deep as he could as he felt his anger seemingly sky rocket.

His attack was only one of many, and soon a barrage of different noises resounded out as different cuts, slashes, chops, and piercings were dealt to the beast.

Glasha had even arrived by Mikhail's side, severing the beast's arm from its body before it could leave a gash in Yargol's torso too.

"DIE!"

Yargol retrieved his axe from the beast's head, and then chopped straight into the same spot with all the force he could muster. All in one seemingly impossible swift movement.

The axe cut into the brain, causing the beast to spasm violently.

"Fucking bastard!"

Mikhail heard Mog on the other side of the beast, and in the next second, the beast smacked into him and everyone standing close to him, knocking them away. Yargol, however, simply ducked under the head of the beast.

But the beast remained on its feet.

It wasn't dead yet!

"I SAID DIE!"

Yet that quickly changed as Yargol struck the same spot yet again, completely destroying its brain.

The beast didn't even let out a screech as it crumpled to the ground, its legs splayed out to the side awkwardly.

Silence invaded the area as Yargol rushed to Kegth's top side.

And he was quick to break the silence

"GLASHA! Quickly, cut the damn thing open and get his torso out of there!"

Yargol could see his brother still fighting to live, wheezing with each breath.

"Someone get Shel!" he said next.

"Hugagu is already on his way to get her!"

Yargol nodded with grit teeth, before turning back to Kegth. His brother was dying, and now all he could do was wait… It was maddening!

Yet he didn't show it.