Chapter 9 : Battle

In front of the terrified Paladins was, for lack of a better word, a beast. It stood on four legs with the front two being as thick as tree trunks. It was two meters tall at the shoulders and four meters long, not counting the long barbed tail. It's body was covered in a dirty brown coat with two tentacle-like appendages coming out it's back.

It had two curved horns atop it's head and big black eyes, it's teeth protruded out it's lower and upper lip. The only thing sharper than the deadly daggers in it's mouth were the claws on its front legs. The mane covering it's neck reminded the Paladins of earth's lions.

Tahir was the first one to react by opening fire straight between the creatures eyes. However, to his and the team's absolute horror, the plasma pistol had absolutely no effect on the creature, it did not even flinch as it stared at the quivering group of humans. Then it took a step forward.....

"Out the window NOW!", Tahir shouted and the team did not wait to be told twice.

Being the closest one to it, Hugo used his laser swords to cut the vegetation growing through the window before jumping out. The Paladins were on the second floor so when they jumped, the increased gravity made their landing a little unpleasant, especially Tahir who was the heaviest of the group.

They did not let their bumpy landing slow them as they immediately began running towards their Vultures, however, their path was cut off when the creature landed in front of them. Slowly it began walking towards the group like a predator sizing up it's prey.

"Fuck, give it everything you got!" Tahir ordered and the whole team opened fire.

Unlike a few seconds earlier, this time the creature stopped it's advance and covered it's head with it's bulky forelimbs. The combined firepower of all the paladins pulverised the fur and skin on the creature's legs, causing it to release a groan of pain. Hearing that groan, Jack felt his instincts trying to tell him something, however he decided not to listen.

About a minute passed and the Paladins did not stop their rapid fire, that was until their guns overheated and were forced to stop. The smoke slowly cleared and the creature came into view, it was still crouched in it's previous position with its arms covering the head.

The Paladins almost heaved a unified sigh of relief, however the sigh of relief turned into a gasp of terror when the creature stood up. It's forelimbs no longer had any fur and a white exoskeleton was left exposed, which was still undamaged. Real fear invaded the Paladins as the gravity of the situation set in.

The creature growled in anger as it began walking towards the group, then it stopped and roared in fury before dashing towards the Paladins with it's razor sharp claws brandished. Before Tahir could shout his next order, a pale blue figure zoomed past the group and intercepted the beast.

The paladins recognised, by the horn on the blue figure's head, that it belonged to the same race as the aliens they had found dead in the castle ruins. The difference in size between the figure and the beast was nothing to scoff at, however, to the amazement of the Paladins, the figure held it's ground.

The figure was less than meter a tall and had bony limbs, which made the Paladins wonder were it's strength was coming from. It also had a large belly and wore tree leaves to cover it's private parts.

The horned figure threw a right hood which landed straight on the beasts jaw, jerking the giant head a few degrees to the side. The figure then raised its leg to follow up with a kick, however it's attack was foiled when the beast used one of the appendages on it's back to grab the foot and send the figure crashing against a nearby tree.

The figure was not down for long as it stood and ran towards the beast in a zigzag manner. The figures speed, coupled with it's erratic movements made it hard for the beast to predict it's next move. The figure used that confusion to slide under the beast, then used it's horn to stab the beast in the stomach.

The beast roared in pain and anger before leaping to the side while it's tail wrapped around the figure's chest and lifted it off the ground. The beast tensed it's tail, and the thorns which filled the long limb's surface dug into the figures chest, drawing red blood. The figure screamed in pain while trying its best to get free by punching the tail that bound it.

However the beast foiled it's plan by grabbing on to the figure's arms with it's appendages. Now the figure was trapped with nowhere to go and no way to free itself. Feeling it's death draw near, it turned it's head towards the Paladins and opened its mouth, however no words came out, only blood.

"FUCK!" Tahir brandished his two axes and dashed forward before leaping into the air. He then used all his strength and the momentum from his jump to strike at the beasts tail, successfully severing it from the body. The beast lost focus as it wailed in pain, giving the horned figure the chance it desperately needed to pull it's hands free.

Ignoring the tail stump which now oozed blue blood, the beast slashed it's claws towards Tahir, who rolled out of the way just in time. The beast followed up with another claw strike, however a steel rope wrapped around the beasts claw before it could cut Tahir's head off. This steel rope was Jack's tail, who had also joined the fight.

Before the beast could yank it's paw and send Jack flying, if felt a searing pain on it's back leg. Hugo was using a hit and run tactic with his lasers to cut at the beast's vitality piece by piece. Tahir used the opening and delivered a punch to the beasts jaw, however he was too slow in retrieving his arm and was hit by an appendage, sending him flying in the direction of the girls.

Sara caught Tahir in mid air to prevent him from flying further away. "Thanks babe", Tahir said before rushing in to help Jack, who was currently holding his own against the beast. 

"What did he just call me?" Sara asked Pei while she set up her sniper rifle.

The Paladin's teamwork was now showing as the initial fear was gone. With clear minds and knowledge of the enemy's weaknesses, the Paladins took the upper hand. With the beast's tail severed and the girls providing long range support, injuries began to pile up on the fearsome monster.

Jack's tail was faster, longer and stronger than the beast's two appendages. Hugo was too small and fast for the beast to even get a good look at him. Granted Hugo was weak, but a thousand small cuts can kill even a dragon. Tahir, on the other hand was the heavy hitter, his blows hit like a freight train and his axes were almost as sharp as Jack's tail.

A few minutes later, the Paladins got the beast just were they wanted it. Hugo had managed to cut off both it's appendages, Tahir had destroyed one of it's front legs and Jack had managed to wrap his tail around it's neck and was about to plunge his poison filled claws into the beast's eye to finish it off.

The beast let out a soft whimper and looked straight into Jack's eyes, once again Jack felt like something was wrong....

"Jack!" Tahir shouted, struggling to keep the other forelimb from breaking free of his grasp.

Tahir's shout broke Jack out of his stupor and he plunged his thumb into one eye and forefinger into the other eye before forcefully closing his hand, crushing the beasts skull along with the brain, killing it on the spot.