Chapter 21: The Creatures and the Hill

It’s hadn’t yet seen him, that was one thing. And as Miguel looked on, the creature raised its head once more, its nostrils high in the air, and sniffed noisily.

It could sense something... and surely it would only be a matter of time before it saw him. It towered above him, its head the size of a large dog, and while he couldn’t yet see the beast’s teeth, Miguel could imagine that it must have a powerful bite. Judging by the size of its head, it could almost swallow him whole.

Heart thumping, body tense with terror, he took one step back and then another, desperate to get away, but at the same time trying his utmost not to make a sound. He was aware of an insect landing on his cheek and biting, but there was no question of swatting it away.

Another step back. He was almost out of the clearing now. Once he could turn and flee he would have at least something of an advantage, for the beast was much too large to follow him through the dense undergrowth.

Surely...?

Miguel paused, starting to turning, and still the vast blue dinosaur was sniffing at the air. It now lowered its head, its small, vicious-looking red eyes peering around at a lower level, and give a low but chilling roar which ended in a strange ratting sound.

As Miguel tensed his muscles ready to run, he felt something grab his right upper arm, and he almost yelped. Raising his left fist he looked back, only to see Aluna’s face staring at him.

She pointed ahead of him. “It’s leaving,” she whispered. “Pity – we could have tried to kill it together.”

Her comment was accompanied by the noise of crashing branches and a thumping noise as the huge blue creature stepped away and began to push its way through the dense undergrowth, heading off to the right from the way Miguel had previously been walking.

Notification: You have gained 10XP

The first award of experience caused Miguel a moment’s pause, but he was sure that there was no sense in spending any time thinking about the reasons behind it. That was one thing he had learned from his past tasks. “Come on!” he hissed, and began to move back in the opposite direction, ducking low under further branches. And for a moment, they moved through the undergrowth in silence.

About a minute later the pair paused in a much smaller clearing, looking around. Despite the tall bushes and occasional tree, Miguel was able to make out that there lay a large body of water to his right, and a hilltop was visible to the left.

“Didn’t think I’d find the monster that quickly,” Miguel said, in between panting breaths. “And what about weapons? How are we supposed to fight something that size?”

Aluna turned to face him. She folded her arms and grinned, though she was also breathing hard. “That wasn’t our quarry, Miguel, though I’d happily gut a creature like that for fun.”

“It’s not? How can you be sure?”

She shrugged, glancing back towards where they had seen the blue dinosaur. “I’m pretty certain. Our target is surely going to be a lot bigger than that, and a lot more deadly.”

“That one was bad enough.” As he spoke, Miguel followed her gaze. He could see treetops moving from where they had just fled, and while he was hopeful that the creature was now moving away, it clearly still wasn’t very far from them.

All the same – Aluna had a point, he now realized. With some distance, he was able to calm his mind, and he could see that despite its large size, the creature they had just seen was surely not imposing enough to be the ’big boss’ of this particular task.

“I guess you’re right,” he replied after a pause. ”In fact, that thing’s shape, the long neck... I wonder if it’s some kind of herbivore.”

“Maybe. Though within Demon Hunters, they don’t need predators and prey.” She pushed her long dark hair off her face as she spoke. Her skin was gleaming in the humid conditions. “Still, you’re right – it was one of those long-necked kinds of dinosaurs.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”

“I suppose that by that standard, it probably wasn’t even especially large...” she added.

He nodded. “All the same, its body was bigger than a car. It could crush us in a heartbeat.”

“Then let’s move on,” Aluna replied, “because it’s still close, and we’re not armed yet. But when we are, its blood will spill!”

She began to move forward and to the left, curving sideways from the way they had been coming. “This way.” She pointed towards the hill that Miguel had seen. “I found the others, and they are moving toward that hill up there. We need to find a safe place to shelter and build up supplies.”

”Right.” Miguel was just a step behind. There was now a more discernible path, with tall bushes and trees on either side, but a clear uphill route in between.

“As for weapons,” Aluna added, glancing back over her shoulder towards Miguel, “who knows? Every contest is different. There might be some lying around, or perhaps we will even need to make our own.”

Miguel was still following Aluna a couple of paces behind. “I assumed I’d still have my weapons from before, you know? I paid for them.”

Aluna grunted, and then nodded again. “It sucks to lose a good weapon. But I guess the 'drubes you spent are gone. After all, you lost that competition to Chloe. You’re in a new phase now.”

He stared at her retreating back as she continued ahead of him. “You know about all that?” he said.

“Of course,” she replied without stopping. “Half the city’s been watching. You did all right, though. I saw the whole thing.”

“Right. Well... thanks.”

Aluna’s mention of Chloe made Miguel reflect for a moment, mentally kicking himself for the hundredth time that he hadn’t been more ruthless. He was torn between hating Chloe for what she had done – for her betrayal – and admiring how cool she had been. She had done something that needed doing.

Because ultimately, they couldn’t both have won. And even in the event of a tie, it was Chloe that had spent more time on the great bronze stage. His only way to win would have been to kill her – and she must have known that.

Just as he began to reflect on this, Aluna paused, holding up one hand and frowning. Focusing on his surroundings again, Miguel became aware a distant thumping noise. And then he heard a familiar rattling roar.

“Thing’s coming back,” said Aluna, beginning to hurry as she moved on ahead.

“Shit.”

The thumping of the creature’s mighty feet were getting louder, and the change was rapid. It must be coming straight for them. And moments later Miguel saw its head above the bushes to their left. This time it had seen them – there was no doubt. With another crash, it broke through the barrier of branches and lumbered out onto the path ahead.

Neither of the companions needed to speak – both instantly came to a halt, and watched as the monstrous beast lowered its neck, and bared its teeth at them.

These were not the teeth of a herbivore, Miguel could now see. They were long, pointed inward, and could surely rip through his flesh with ease. Its mouth opened impossibly wide, and the dark red flesh inside mouth could be seen as it now roared again.

This was a creature who could snip a human in two with one bite, and would certainly prey on them given half a chance.

His first instinct had been correct.

“Run!” he gasped.

Miguel saw that was only one option – to get off the path and back among the undergrowth where they would be better hidden, and Aluna had come to the same conclusion. She ducked under a nearby branch to their right and dived into the thicket that had lined the path on that side, and Miguel followed swiftly after.

Notification: You have gained 10XP

Another update of the same amount – a reward for escaping the beast? Miguel was increasingly sure that this must be their target. That probably meant that the great blue lizard was even more dangerous that he had first imagined. He had to get away, to follow Aluna and make for the hill to join the rest of their companions.

Soon though, he had lost sight of Aluna. He tried his best to follow in roughly the same direction, bashing twigs and branches with both arms as best he could. The thumping of the dinosaur was coming from somewhere, but it was very hard to tell if it was still to one side, or circling around to follow them... or perhaps moving ahead to try to cut them off.

Then Miguel heard a familiar rattling roar from off to his right, and frowned. How had the monstrous dinosaur got that far? It was fast, yes, but surely not that fast, and if it had gone directly to his right, he would have expected to see at least its head and neck as it moved past him.

Dismissing his confusion, he pushed on. And it was only a few more yards of battling through the undergrowth when the area opened up in front of him, and he saw Aluna’s retreating figure running directly ahead. They were at the foot of the hillside. Immediately ahead lay a grassy slope, though further on it soon became more rocky, with huge sporadic boulders and some thorn bushes.

Places to hide? Perhaps...

Miguel sped on, hoping against hope that their pursuer had somehow lost them, and was now moving in the wrong direction, as the direction of its last roar had suggested.

He was panting hard again, but it was a relief to be able to move at full speed without bushes to push past. And now, his high speed stat was coming to his aid again. Soon he had pulled level with Aluna, and as he did so, she pointed to their right.

“More trouble,” she said in between panting breaths.

He looked the way she had indicated, and saw Sid and Noah both running hard uphill, coming towards them in a diagonal direction. And behind them was the same creature.

Or... no...

Even mid-sprint, Miguel felt his heart sink when he realized that the vast dinosaur that was pursuing his two companions was a lighter shade of blue than their own one. He paused momentarily to look behind him. Sure enough, the long neck of their own attacker could be seen directly behind, now crashing through the last of the undergrowth.

Two of the creatures were attacking.

In less than a minute, the four companions’ paths had converged, and together they ran up the slope, but all of them were struggling now, tiring, and also finding the way underfoot increasingly tough going. The grass had now given way to loose stones, and Miguel had half-slipped several times.

“Stop at that boulder,” growled Sid, punching the air ahead with one fist. Miguel could see the huge boulder that their leader meant. It had been obvious from the moment he had left the bushes. It sat alone on the slope, like an enormous granite cube, at least as large as the pursuing monsters and much bigger than any of the other rocks.

Could they hide behind it? Under it? Had Sid discovered some way through where the creatures couldn’t follow? There was no time now to ask. He sprinted ahead of the others, his lungs feeling like bursting. From what he could see, the boulder did not look like a great hiding place, however. There was a narrow gully behind it, but Miguel was fairly sure that most of the attacking creature’s bodies could fit into this gap, with their necks sufficient to reach into any smaller areas.

Turning his back to the boulder as he stepped further up the slope, Miguel looked back just in time to see the lighter-coloured dinosaur close in on Noah, who was the furthest down the slope out of the four companions. With a rattling bellow, the creature swung its neck forward and snapped at the burly man, catching his heel and causing him to stumble, roll, and turn over onto his back, lying terrified on the ground.

As the other three companions gathered the boulder and watched on, the beast followed up the attack, this time snapping down with its mouth fully opened. Noah’s head and upper body were enveloped, and he screamed pitifully as the dinosaur lifted him from the ground and began to shake him, like a dog with a rag.

It was immediately clear to Miguel that Noah’s contest was over, but he still winced as the man’s body was sliced in half. The pale blue creature gulped down part of his body. Blood sprayed out, and poor Noah’s legs and torso fell to the ground...

The second dinosaur now bellowed again as it advanced from their left.

Miguel looked to one side and then the other. There was nowhere left to run.