Inferno of Battle

Nila immediately cast the Sham arrow at the beast, but it swiftly avoided the attack and moved towards the window that Faust broke for his grand entrance. Faust glanced over at Nila with a click of his tongue and blocked the way for the beast. Its dark figure lingered in the room, limbs were twisted in unnatural ways and eyes were closely observing Faust's every move. However, it quickly turned away from the man with polearm, as another Sham arrow along with slashing wind were launched at the figure.

Surprisingly, it dodged Nila's attacks, but the collateral damage got it, as the wooden plank fell on its head. We did not escape the consequences of using magic indoors either, a larger part of the house dropped in front of us, a few inches away from Riaz. The priest turned to her and calmly said with a twitching brow, "Please, be careful with your magic, I am your ally after all."

Nila only nodded, but immediately pointed the staff at the back of a beast that tried to escape. Consequently, the merchant was hiding under the table in the same direction, which made Faust rush up to her. But instead of stopping her, he only patted her shoulder and said with an amused grin, "I will leave an opening for you."

Before the beast had the chance to escape through an unbroken window, Faust caught up to it and thrusted towards it with his polearm. Alas, his attack was predicted, and the beast protected its vitals with the claws that were grown out of its palm. Their clash did not last too long, as the beast pushed Faust away and made a jump sideways itself. Nila pointed the staff at it once again, but this time she did not blast it right away.

I noticed her ear twitching, however, the sight before us was more significant. The black and slim body of the beast shrinked in an instant, the fur grew out of every nook and cranny of its body and the claws happened to resemble a paw of a predator. In an instant when its form was changing, Riaz opened the teachings of Farhen, murmured unfamiliar words to me, calling upon golden light that sparkled around the beast, who more and more resembled a bear, but did not do anything.

"Sorry, Faust, I am useless here." mumbled Riaz and slightly bowed his head, to which Faust shook his own with a smile and ran at the growling bear, "No worries, prepare pain killing blessings."

His words sparkled the sense of urgency into Riaz once more, and he flipped the pages of his book again, all while Faust was thrusting and swinging the polearm at the bear in a wild dance, involuntarily avoiding the wide swings of its claws.

The beast broke the table, the bed and several shelves in the room. Consequently, an oil lamp fell to the ground near the merchant, at the sight of which he squealed and crawled out of the table while under the intense fight of a warrior against a bear. It was my time to click my tongue, and I turned to Nila who already cast the defensive spells around the merchant just in case and rightfully so, since the bear was not watching its steps and could just crush the old man.

The fire, however, had no time to grow, Riaz reacted in an instant and whispered another set of words, containing the word "Inferno", the only one I recognized. And soon enough, the fire seized from its short existence, thus I did what I could do best and summoned Polaris, to brighten up Faust's battlefield.

Nila nodded at me and continued observing the fight. Faust grazed it several times, but it cost him a devastating slash to the chest, although avoided, it still made his blood spill. Riaz took notice of it too and cast the blessing on him, they were discussing earlier. Now Faust's movements were as agile as from the start.

The beast, however, was evidently getting tired from the constant game of seek and shriek, its movements were more sluggish and less powerful. It also missed a few thrusts of Faust, both to the legs, rendering its situation even more dire. Once the beast got closer to the broken window once again, its body suddenly stretched out, two parts of the bear were separated by the slim and black body of this entity. It was grotesque, something one would expect from a monster, yet this thing was considered endemic to the human realm.

As soon as the beast's upper half of the body happened to be outside the house, Faust ran at it and at the same time turned to Nila. But before he had a chance to say anything, Nila already prepared yet another spell and an arrow of light pierced through its exposed abdomen, cutting it in half. The monster cried out in pain, any resemblance to an animal disappeared, and it stopped moving while its lower half was leaning against the window frame and the upper half lied outside somewhere, just like it had planned.

"Farhen be with you, pals, thank you so much! Without your help, I would be dead! DEAD!" Exclaimed the merchant and bowed to our feet, which neither me nor Nila took seriously, however, Faust was flustered by this display of sincerity and scratched his nape of the neck with a smile, while Riaz tried to put the merchant back on his feet with words, "Oh, do not worry about it. If we did not deal with it now, it would attack us anyway."

"But it was a nice battle, I am surprised how well it responded to my attacks. It also turned into a bear, how cool is that! But…" even though he was blabbering about it with a bright smile, Faust's cheeks suddenly loosened down, and he glared at the ground with a frown. The hero finally remembered that he should have been worried about the woman back at the abandoned house, not be all flustered and excited about a duel with a monster.

"It is not over yet." suddenly said Nila, her voice was as calm as ever. Riaz and the merchant raised their brows at her, meanwhile, Faust and I glanced at her with eyes full of determination. However, the line she said next, immediately brought upon us the confusion that the other two most certainly felt. I could only imagine what kind of turmoil was happening in their minds after Nila said, "We are currently surrounded, I am not sure how many people… or rather replaced are there, but there are many. The house is also in flames from the outside."