11 " Beware of the Bear-Owl’s Hug!"

So my "mistress" did what I said.

It was the right decision in more ways than one. Not only would this tactic allow us to deal quickly with the wolves, but forcing the magician and the priestess to continue casting spells exhausted their mana and increased their fatigue.

And that was my real goal from the beginning.

That both ended up so tired or hurt that they could not call me and Belit to have sex again, at least for tonight. Once we were inside the cave in the forested mountains, in the depths of the dark dungeon, and we had to deal with goblins, orcs and undead, there was going to be no time for any funny bussiness.

The priestess had to spend a lot of healing spells to heal the wizard first and then herself. The magician only had to spend two spells of magical projectiles to kill the wolves but the wounds received were not only physical. Belerus had been shakend by the attacks and his mental state was compromised. he was so frightened that decide to cast another three powerful protection spells on his own body; magic shield, magic armor and protection against evil.

While this was happening I took the opportunity to check how the rest of the group was doing.

The barbarian fought bravely; slashing with her sword against the claws of the still dangerous but wounded and poisoned Bear- owl. Atannar and Bob shooted their arrows and bullets at the nearby wolves, preventing them from advancing.

The strange thing in this situation was that the Alpha did not appear anywhere and most worrying, there were no signs of the Wolf Man. I listened to the ranger and the kender discuss briefly about this between every shoot. The rest of the adventures were too much busy defending themselves to wonder about anything.

Actually, I knew exactly what I was doing; after all, no magic creature could hide from me if it had elements inside its body.

But I did not want to ruin the surprise to my masters.

So instead of stopping the Wolf-Man, I set about recovering Annie who was still stuck in the Bear-owl's leg. A telepathic command caused my dagger to fly spinning to my hand and then I launched myself towards a nearby wolf that threatened to attack Tarnorie from the side.

I killed the animal easily from a couple of slashes but it was nothing more than pure theater. I knew that while the priestess was paying attention to my heroic act, three other wolves were coming alongside to attack a distracted Belerus.

The animals charghed at him and collided strongly with his magical protections. Although they could not damage it, the wizard had to spend even more mana to reinforce them.

A plaintive howl echoed through the camp and the rest of the wolves suddnely began to retreat.

"Something is wrong, because the wolves are retiring if we have not even seen the alpha yet?" commented Atannar.

"Who cares? Let the wolves go! It's the best for us, "said a frightened Belerus.

Clearly, the last thing he wanted was to stop the wolves from leaving the camp. I smiled. My improvised plan was working perfectly.

"All of you finish that horrible beast at once" the priestess yelled as she pointed at the Bear-Owl and we all felt the tug of geas.

Obliged by magic, the adventurers threw themselves at the mutant to fight hand to hand. Belit parried the claws with her sword and then riposted with a backhand twist. The Bear-owl lost balance for a second and Bob seized the occasion. He charged with the hard end of his staff and managed to strike a surprisingly strong blow at the massive body of the Bear-Owl.

The beast almost fell but in the end it managed to stand still. Such a strong mutant could not be defeated so easily. Instead, it furiously counterattacked.

First, the mutant hit the kender with a kick of such strength that it threw Bob into the top of a tree. The poor kender was stunned by the strong attack. After doing that, the Bear-owl stood in its hind- legs and approached Belit.

" Beware of the Bear-Owl's Hug!" I warned but it was too late.

The mutant grabbed Belit in a strong hug with its fore-legs. It was trying to break her spinal column.

Fortunately, the wounds and poison had considerably weakened the originally unstoppable force of the beast and it failed to quickly achieve its purpose. But without a doubt, the barbarian female suffered greatly from the situation.

"Atannar, you have to free Belit before the Owl-Bear breaks her spine! Quickly attack the beast in the back with your arrows. "I told the ranger, who had an arrows in each of his hands and was approaching to the beast from a side.

The ranger ran around the Bear-owl to the correct position and using his hands nailed the two arrows on the mutant's back. It was just a superficial wound but it did the trick. The Bear-Owl growled in rage and opened its forelegs more by reflex than by damage. The barbarian female fell to the floor like a bag of potatoes.