Unusual Dangers, I

I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact to blow me dozens of meters away, "Kgh!" which never came.

I slowly creaked my eyes open, "Huh?" And the monster—the Grendel was nowhere to be seen.

"Hah… I thought I was going to die." I slumped to the ground, relieved.

I was lucky, the Grendel's activation time seemed to be over at that very moment.

After that horrifying experience, I went back to the base. Soobin was awaiting me.

"What happened to make you look so pale?" She asked.

"I don't know, just the middle of the night, and then I met a Grendel…"

"Really? Did you kill it?" She raised her brow.

"No… I didn't. Its speed was immense, I couldn't follow it with my eyes. The moment he took notice of my presence, he was face-to-face with me."

I told her of the happenings that occurred earlier.

One hour later, it was our turn to get a blink of sleep after informing Sean and Mai.

After a nice sleep, the sun was rising and the birds were making their morning calls again.

I got out of my tent, Sean was still out watching out alertly for any movement.

"You've sure woken up early." He noticed me and smiled.

"When nature wakes up, so do I!" I bobbed my head up and down proudly.

"Yes, yes. It is about time another Grendel appears, I've been keeping count of the time," He informed me.

"How much time do we have exactly?" I asked.

"Three seconds."

"Two seconds."

"One second."

With each tick from his watch, I felt my heart pound harder against my ribs.

"Now."

"…"

Nothing is happening.

"Phew, thank god it didn't appear next to us–!" Or so I was about to say and triggered a red flag, when the next instant, that same skinny gorilla-human-looking monster was under my nose already.

"Phuwa!" Breath escaped my lungs from the high pressure I received on my solar plexus, blowing me dozens of meters away.

"Kgha!" I hit one or two trees while I was flying.

"Shit…!" My body was aching all around.

"Saint Spirits, I ask of thy, bless this ungraceful soul with your regeneration abilities, Healing!"

I quickly chanted low-tier healing magic so I could get rid of the bruises faster.

I made my way back by sprinting.

Sean was engaging the Grendel in hand-to-hand combat. But I could see it, he was being pushed back.

Covered by my mana cloak, my body was now more agile and responsive to the orders my brain sent to it.

"Hmph!" I stopped breathing as I made my way the fastest I could to get in between them.

Staying low, I was now under the Grendel's torso, aiming a punch towards its genitalia. Though it was a dirty way to defeat him, I couldn't help it.

Sean from atop was swinging his blow toward its jaw.

I was one centimeter away from making contact with its body, feeling that my attack would connect, but I was wrong.

The next instant, it raised its limbs, stopping my punch with its leg and guiding Sean's attack away from its face.

The Grendel wasted no time countering us as he drove Sean's attack with one hand as its other palm made contact with his face, and with a slap, it sent Sean tumbling.

As for me, its feet which also seemed to be like another pair of arms caught hold of my fist, and with its left paw it kicked my face away.

This all happened in the matter of a second.

"Shit, I just felt my jaw crack…" I took a hold of my lower muzzle and clicked it back in its place.

We were now back to a stand-still.

How long has it been since we began fighting? Probably not even two minutes yet…

I sighed, thinking if I should utilize Super-Augmentation or not.

No, I won't do it.

I did it last time, and I was stabbed with a spear, I don't want to risk it now.

I let my breath slip out slowly, spinning the cogs inside my mind as to what was the right solution.

My thoughts were stopped in half, "Wind blade!" A female yell was heard, and in the very next second the Grendel screeched in pain.

"That's right, we have magic."

I cringed at myself for not using normal spells from the very beginning. The rule to not display magic in front of people from Earth has gotten ingrained in my brain to an instinctual level.

"Nice cover, Mai!" I made my way towards the monster which was holding the surface of its severed arm.

I jumped atop its body, got a hold of its head, and let gravity pull me down.

"Fall down, you piece of mustard shit!" I cursed, basking in the bliss of taking it down easily.

A hole was made in the ground where his face fell into.

It was unconscious.

We still had one more minute and twelve seconds till it disappears.

Like that, we tied it up with a rope I got from my bag.

Its severed arm was still bleeding unto the ground, its blood was a red-brownish one.

"Hah…" Sean exhaled loudly.

"Mai, I don't know how you concealed your presence so properly, but I have to say, good job, you just saved our asses back there."

"Eh, I concealed my presence?! Well, thank you. But I'm hella tired after casting that spell."

"Erm… yeah, you can sleep in a little bit."

"What's with the ruckus, everyone…?" Luke got out of his tent while yawning and rubbing his eyes.

Snap!

"Huh!"

The rope around the Grendel snapped and the arm on the ground floated as a blood trail connected it to the Grendel's severed spot.

It flew quickly back, but the course of action the Grendel next took left me slack-jawed.

"Luke, watch out!"

It took ahold of the severed arm and threw it towards the red-haired, Luke, as a projectile.

"Huriya!" Haruka managed to cut the arm in half diagonally with her katana, both parts flew away in different directions, just barely evading Luke.

I didn't have time to breathe as I saw it running towards Mai now.

"Get down!" Sean hammer punched its scalp from behind, fully blowing the Grendel to the ground.

Poof.

I blinked, and the Grendel was not here anymore.

That means we succeeded in surviving this time without extensive damage.