Chapter 10: The Battle Begins.

Kadungon raised his spear as he was about to embrace the charge of the rampaging gnolls, one of which threw its entire weight to Kadungon in hopes of tumbling him down. However, it was for naught as Kadungon sidestepped, and the first gnoll threw itself on the ground, landing right in front of Chiasoka and Aitana.

"Get him Kadungon!!" Aitana yelled as Kadungon tried to strike the creature, but he was soon caught in a battle with the second gnoll who slashed the male's leather armor, scraping it without leaving any serious wounds, yet. The first gnoll quickly got up, and it turned behind to see Kadungon was being occupied by its comrade.

It smirked and turned its head to the two ladies who had now taken a defensive stance. Chiasoka stood behind Aitana as she was the mage, and ensured she was at a good distance before she cast her spell, Meanwhile, Aitana was a medic, and though she was trained in some martial style for melee, she wasn't the best pick for a prolonged fight, but still, she should try her best to parley with the gnoll. The beast clenched its rusted axe and walked forward to the ladies, who took a step back when it advanced. However, the battle was soon interrupted as Diacrao yelled and attempted to slash the beast from the back.

Startled by the oncoming attack, it attempted to dodge, but the gnoll's furry cheeks were slashed by the tip of Swordman's blade, causing it to wince a little and retreat from him. "Don't worry guys, I'll deal with him. Aitana, try to hit him with your staff!" Diacrao said as he went on to combat the gnoll, the latter of which clashed its steel with its opponent. Aitana took on her staff and tried to find a way to fit into the battle. As for Chiasoka, she began casting a low-level spell, an arcane ball that could stun the gnoll and provide her allies some timing to strike it down.

Meanwhile, Conrad is supporting Kadungon by hoping to strike the gnoll's vital points, but due to a combination of his inept skills in locating its vitals, and the gnoll's constant and quick movements, he has to rely on stabbing or quick slashes to attack the gnoll, and even then, it turned out to be much difficult than anticipated, as the violent swings from the gnoll have caused both Kadungon and Conrad to be on the defensive.

"Hey, I thought you said this was gonna be an easy one Birdeye!" Conrad yelled as he attempted a barrel roll to avoid a gnoll's strike, but fell flat on his face. Thankfully for him, the gnoll's attention shifted to Kadungon, who was blocking its strike with his spear.

"Well, I said they were lightly armed, not an easy target!" Zemfina yelled out as put back her bow and drew out her knife as she descended downwards from the slope to join in the battle against the gnoll. Clearly, it seemed that they needed any help they required.

On Diacrao's side, it seemed like both combatants had taken quite a beating. Diacrao was showered in his sweat, and a few slashes on his arms, but he was able to land the same amount of strikes on the gnoll, whose scars and slash wounds were much more visible. Aitana on the other hand had not suffered from any scars, yet as she stood on the side, but when the gnoll was exposed, she gave a clean bash on its body, which disrupted the gnoll for a second, and with it being disarrayed, Diacrao tried to stab it, and so he did.

He pierced his blade into the gnoll's abdomen, and the beast coughed out blood, some of which had splattered on the male's face. "I got it!" Diacrao cheered, as he tried to pull his sword away from the gnoll's abdomen. Unfortunately, things took a quick turn, as the gnoll grabbed his sword with a tight grip, and attempted to give a slash with its axe.

Unable to pull out his blade in time, Dia released his grip on the handle, and stepped back, before falling on his back. The blade that was pierced into the gnoll, was pulled out by the beast, and when it did so slowly, it let out a terrifying howl of pain, and suffering, which disturbed Diacrao and Aitana, who noticed the tears that flowed out from its eyes, while blood that sipped out from its wounds.

Undeterred by the beast's howl of plight, Aitana went for the strike and bashed its head with her staff, but the beast, now enraged, body slammed Aitana as she fell on the ground. It was a hard slam, and Aitana was left wincing on the ground as the gnoll marched up towards her, grabbing both Diacrao's blade and its axe. With no weapon in sight, Diacrao looked everywhere frantically to find something that could be of use, but he could only find pebbles and small rocks, of which he used to throw at the gnoll, but it did nothing but annoy the beast, at best.

The bloodied beast stood over Aitana, veiling its beastly shadow over the fallen lady, who tried to crawl on her back frantically and reached for her staff that fell a few steps away. But it was for naught, as the beast stepped on her legs, and raised its axe up to strike the helpless priestess for good. Diacrao got on his knees, but being unarmed and a few paces away, it would be too late for him to do anything. Things were about to look bleak, and perhaps, the healer's fate was sealed.

"Unleash, the fury of Awazi!" a distant shout was heard, and in the blink of an eye, the gnoll was sent flying away by the blast cast by Chiasoka. The gnoll lost its grip on its axe and Diacrao's bloody sword, which flew in different directions. Seeing an opportunity, Diacrao quickly rushed to get his blade while the gnoll was still dazed on the ground, wincing as held on to its pre-existing wounds.

Chiasoka rushed to Aitana to help her out and check up on her briefly. The priestess was still in a state of shock, but Chia's shaking shook her back into reality. Without further delay, Aitana got up and quickly rushed to take her staff. As she took her staff, she quickly rushed to the Gnoll, followed by Chia who tagged behind her.

Diacrao picked up his bloody sword, and made haste to the downed gnoll, now trying to get up, but was only delayed by its wounds and the pain that caused it to growl. But alas, its eyes were set upon Diacrao, who rushed towards the gnoll with great speed, and his blade aimed towards its body. It would try to crawl on its back, but alas, the blade pierced the body of the gnoll, This time, it penetrated its body, with its blood gushed out as it smeared on the male's armor and his hands.

But the beast was not willing to give up its fight. In an instant, it grabbed Diacrao's neck with both of its bloodied paws, and in a tight grip, strangled him. Diacrao was unable to pull his blade out, and released his grip, once again, having his blade stuck inside as he tried to punch the gnoll, but the grip only grew stronger.

However, relief arrived when Aitana bashed the gnoll's skull with a hard strike from her staff, and the beast howled its fury of pain as it released its grip, causing the asphyxiated swordsman to trip and fall on the ground. The gnoll, now covered in its own pool of blood, succumbed to its death as the pool of blood only grew each passing moment.

"Damn, are you okay Dia? quick, we grab your blade, we got to help Conrad and the rest." Aitana said as she tried to help him up, meanwhile, Chiasoka stood from a distance and cast her spell once more, as she aimed directly towards the gnoll that was occupied by the other group.

The fight was looking quite shabby, very shabby, it seemed like this gnoll was much more energetic and salient than the one that had fallen earlier, and Kadungon's face was showing signs of exhaustion, the same could be said for Conrad and Zemfina who dodged the frenzied gnoll's attacks. Though the gnoll was injured, its frenzy of rage prevented it from falling prey to its wounds.

"C'mon Kadungon! what are you doing!?!? I thought you were supposed to kill this guy by now!!!" Conrad hurled his scold towards Kadungon, who frankly speaking, was unable to respond as he was blocking the gnoll's attack, but it was getting really sloppy, and his sloppiness would lead his shoulders to be stabbed by the gnoll's blade.

Kadungon yelled in pain as the gnoll threw its body and pressed its blade deeper into Kadungon's shoulders, who subsequently fell as the gnoll was now above him, snarling and growling at his face before it took out its blade, and attempted to strike the warrior's head, landing a killing blow for good. Kadungon could only scream in pain.

Conrad however, struck the Gnoll on the head by stabbing its skull, and in an instance, the berserk gnoll was no longer displaying any sort of motion, confirming that it was dead, as it dropped its rusted blade right beside Kadungon's face, who was shocked, covered with droplets of blood that dripped on his face, coming from the bloodied gnoll, who's body tumbled over on the side when Conrad released his dagger.

"T-the thing's dead." Conrad slurred in his speech, visibly shocked as his iris tilted towards his bloodied dagger. "I...i never thought we...i could be capable of killing a life. I...." Conrad's stomach churned at the moment, and his knees grew weak, before faltering in his posture as one of his legs failed him so badly.

"Conrad....! keep it together!" Aitana yelled as she rushed to Kadungon's side with the aid of Chiasoka, who was still lying down in pain as he held onto his stabbed shoulder, meanwhile, Diacrao tried to get Conrad on his knees as they tried to comfort him. Zemfina checked on the bodies to ensure that the gnoll's were truly dead, and to scour for any loot they hold.

"Oh, that is a deep wound. Don't worry Kadungon, this won't hurt you." The priestess said as she raised both her hands and placed them on the wound, closing her eyes before she chanted the words; "Bring forth the blessings of Zanazi, mend thy scars."; greenish cyan lines spawned, and it wrapped around the wounds of the warrior, mending them as it erased both blood and scar, making it look like he had not been struck at all. "That is so cool....." Chiasoka commented on the healing magic that she just witnessed.

"Wow...you are right Aitana, that spell did not hurt, it looks good as new," Kadungon said as he attempted to wake up, but the mage and the priestess helped him up as he was still gripped by exhaustion and some remnants of pain in his stabbed shoulder.

Conrad on the other hand, had convinced himself that the action was necessary, and was mostly out of his state of shock, though, deep inside, he still felt a little sick from what he had done. Diacrao, on the other hand, was acclimatized to this outcome, as he was mentally prepared by his mentor to expect such an outcome. Being a secondary tank himself, he was expected to get into a rough, and bloody situation when he clashed blades with his enemies, and that was what just happened.

He understood they were living beings, but alas, it was simply the code of battle and survival that had led them into this situation, to begin with. A grim reality of this world, but it was necessary, especially for them.

"Looks like we are able to secure some profits," Zemfina said as she took on their weapons and their pouches as she showed the group what they had gotten. "How much do you think we could make with this loot?" Aitana questioned. "That, we have to find out. And we gotta start searching if there are any potential items that could be sold. So let's get searching then."

The group had begun their scavenging around the perimeter to find any items that they could potentially be of profit. They paid little mind to their profit, nor do they seem to acknowledge it at the very moment as they looked towards their victory of the gnolls, they seemed more occupied with their current task at hand, perhaps, they might come to acknowledge it later, but for now, its time to scavenge the dead.