There was a disturbance in the water. In an instant, a green blur erupted out of the river and was upon the predator chicken in a second, grabbing it in its large, heavy jaws. Blood quickly spread in the river and in a moment the predator chicken was nowhere to be seen. Looking at the group with realization was a green-scaled dragon-like beast with small, stunted wings, but a powerful looking body, with a finned tail. It gazes at the group with cold eyes and a hint of disdain. Understanding that this group was somehow here for it, it opens its jaws and lets out a powerful shriek.

Serah instinctively crouches and covers her ears as the sound blasts through the air, in the group’s direction. I thought this was going to be a fight! Not a shouting match! Damn, I think my eardrums are damaged. She thinks as the after-effects of the sound continues to reverberate in her body.

Serah looks up and Carter seemed to be yelling something. She couldn’t quite hear, but she assumed that was the signal to attack.

Serah immediately gets up and unsheathes her adamantine sword as her body begins to glow purple, ready for battle. She was to be a vanguard in this fight, to keep the drake’s attention while the others blast it with magic and money that was spent on the crossbows.

The water drake leaps out of the river, and upon touching the ground, almost instantly, approached one of the hunting group’s members at lightning speed. With a swift claw, backed by its powerful body, the water drake shot the person into the air, leaving a gory claw mark on his body that pierced through his armor. The man falls to the ground, likely with internal injuries as well, and Serah immediately knew that he was out of the fight.

Serah signals to Nickie and she immediately leaves to treat the man’s wound, while Serah's body flashes forward, leaving a purple after-image. As her intent was to draw attention, and not slay the beast, she simply slashed down on the beast’s hard scales, hard enough to have an impact.

The beast lets out another shriek and Serah decided to give up on her hearing; if it couldn’t be healed by Nickie, it could be healed at the college. She simply focuses on her sight and her body’s other senses as she leaps back, avoiding a heavy claw that crashed onto the ground where Serah was standing.

The other members of the hunting group didn’t hesitate; they began their onslaught, sending out a barrage of magical energy and crossbow bolts. Unfortunately, the various ice and fire projectiles were useless; they simply bounced off the water drake’s hard scales. But the crossbow bolts did some damage; the magically-powered bolts had enough force and piercing power to punch through the water drake’s hard scales and bite into the flesh beneath.

Serah watches as the beast lets out another shriek, but Serah’s hearing was basically gone, so she simply assumes that it wasn’t having a good time. Multiple crossbow bolts dug into various parts of its body, and blood was beginning to flow.

Serah smiles and sends out a mana-blade at the water drake’s face. The beast closes its eyes as the blade impacts its face. It did minor damage to the water drake’s scales but Serah was able to cut a bit into its eyes.

Enraged that its face has been damaged, the water drake focuses solely on Serah, and it rushes forward at that near instantaneous speed.

Serah’s eyes widen and it was all she could do to raise her adamantine shield, before it felt like a truck had rammed into it. Straining to hold on, Serah’s body flies away and was all she could to spin and land on her feet. But it wasn’t over yet. The water drake rushes forward once again, forcing Serah to raise her shield before she was sent flying once again, her arm feeling like it was about to break.

Luckily, they second bout of crossbow bolts arrived at this moment. Multiple projectiles shoot out and pierce into the water drake’s body, while one manages to dig completely into its eye. The water drake’s body begins to spasm, the crossbow bolt seeming to have hit some sort of nerve.

Serah lets out a ragged breath as her body bolts forward once again. With ruthlessness and without a hint of hesitation, her sword plunges into the water drake’s other eye, piercing what Serah assumed to be its brain. The water drake continues to spasm a few more times before its body went limp.

Serah allows her body to sit on the ground, exhausted, letting out breath after heavy breath.

Fuck. There’s no way we could have taken that thing without that equipment. That thing was a fucking beast. Serah exclaims in her mind before letting her body fall back, to collapse onto the cold, stony riverside.