A gunshot echoed through the nearby forest, pulling every member of the local fauna off their feet and forcing them to run away from the source of this horrendous noise. A smell of magical dust filled Glavas' nostrils as a large ball of light formed at the tip of his weapon and then shot out high into the sky. It kept on growing larger with each meter it passed until it stopped mid-air and emitted a flash so bright that all who were looking at it would suddenly see nothing but bright white light. Glavas knew to look away, but the Scalder? That was a different story. The poor creature had no experience with such attacks. And so, the moment its vision refused to immediately return after the flash, it began to panic. Tentacles shot high up into the air, flailing around until one of them managed to grasp the glowing orb. The fact that it was burning hot didn't seem to bother the creature too much. It wrapped one of its appendages around it and tossed the ball of magic back down at Glavas. The hunter barely managed to jump out of the way. The heat of the passing projectile licked his back. Should he react but a few milliseconds later, he would suffer a painful burn.

This Scalder was different. That much Glavas knew now. Perhaps it was due to its personality, or maybe the past experience with hunters. It was faster and knew how to predict the elf's approach, even when under the influence of the gurdy's music. Clearly, a new tactic would be necessary. Before the creature would regain its sight and strike again, Glavas swapped the crystal in his gun. The previously bright yellow one returned to the bag and its place was taken by another of translucent cyan color.

It didn't take long for the creature to once again be able to see the world around it. The blinding attack was a powerful tool for creating windows of opportunity, but unfortunately, they never lasted too long. The Scalder's pupils narrowed once it spotted the hunter. In order to stop this dangerous intruder from getting any closer, the animal started backing away while digging into the ground and tossing whatever it could at Glavas. Rocks, dirt, branches, or even small trees. All of these filled the air within seconds.

"Oh shit..." the elf muttered and tried his best not to get hit by any of the thrown objects. Each of them was the size of a barrel, at the very least, and therefore even a single hit could have been fatal. The song, however, seemed to be playing its part. As the elf danced among the rubble, he noticed the attacks slowing down. Yet a counterattack couldn't have been rushed. He simply tried to stay safe at first and waited until an opportunity would present itself. And truly, he didn't have to wait for long. Only a few seconds later, he found just enough time to retaliate. Before the incoming rocks would force him to move again, he pointed the gun at the Scalder and fired as many shots at it as he could.

The bullets were smaller this time. Small, glowing blue, and approaching incredibly fast. The creature's reflexes were so slow due to the music that it barely had enough time to register the attack. All the projectiles hit its soft body. Although the pain from the impact could have been compared to just several sharp stings, the accompanying effect was much more concerning. Immediately after the bullets found their mark, crystals of ice erupted from them, encasing the Scalder's lower body and most of its limbs in frost. Frustrated by the sudden immobilization, the creature evaluated its options. It was thirsty and craved water like never before, so it didn't feel quite happy about spending any that it had stored in its body, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

The Scalder took a deep breath in, holding it for a few moments, and then spat out a large pressurized stream of hot water. Under normal circumstances, this would've been a dangerous attack, but Glavas knew what to expect. After all, he fought Scalders before, and the sudden inhaling of so much air gave away its intentions. As the water sprayed the area, Glavas ducked under it, shooting a few of his icy bullets into the burning rain to cool it down a little bit. Meanwhile, he kept on approaching as fast as he could. He was almost there. All it took was just a few more steps and he was in the range of the sealing scroll.

The elf turned the strip of papyrus towards the animal. The symbols on the page began glowing as the magic started to work. The Scalder knew what was about to happen. It remembered the scroll from their previous encounter earlier that day. Still frozen in the ice, it shook and squirmed, hoping to break free of the elemental shackles before the magic of the scroll would seal it away. As it jerked and wiggled, Glavas' eyes landed on something long and pointy stuck to its back. He squinted to see a bit better and eventually, he managed to identify the strange object. Almost immediately, his hands closed the scroll again. Sealing it wouldn't help. It was injured. A spear was stuck in its back. Of course. It was all so obvious. Glavas would slap himself across the face for not thinking about this earlier, should there be enough time. Somebody must've tried to hunt down the Scalder, which is why they lured it out of the lake. Then, after it was returned, they must've tried again. Poachers or similar kind, Glavas guessed. They failed again, but the spear must've agitated the creature. Pain caused by humans would definitely drive it into aggression and if they managed to lead it away from the lake again, it was only natural that it started to look for water elsewhere. Maybe it expended most of it during the fight with the attackers. Whatever the story behind the wound was, it was clear that should the weapon not be removed, it would cause even more problems and pain for the Scalder, potentially even killing it, should infection settle in the injured area.

Glavas wanted to think over his options, but the ice at the base of the creature started to crack. Only barely did he manage to back away before the Scalder broke free and started to wave its enormous appendages around, striking anything that would come closer. The hunter's eyes darted over the hill with Alma and Surdi. This was the perfect opportunity. Without help, he would have a much harder time fending off the attacks and helping the creature in the process, not to mention that from his experience, a crisis made the most perfect hunters. With swift hand movements, he swapped his ammunition again and shot several blasts of air into the ground. The dirt and dust created the perfect smokescreen around the Scalder, giving Glavas just enough time to escape while the creature continued to destroy everything around it. With a full-out sprint, he ran over to the hill, waving at the children.

"I need your help!" he called out to them.

"WHAT??" they both responded unanimously, their eyes flying out of their sockets.

"I will draw its attention. In the meantime, I need you, Alma, to sneak behind it and grab one of its tentacles. It must not be able to escape and only you can do that reliably. And you, Surdi, will have to protect her once the creature notices her, okay? Here, this will help," the hunter pulled a large metal staff out of one of his tattoos, accompanied by painful groaning. "It redirects the force of incoming attacks. With this, you will be able to block those tentacle strikes. You will have to keep you both safe while Alma holds it down. Do you understand?"

The young dragon could only force himself to nod as the hunter handed him the weapon, still covered in his blood.

"Alright. Let's get going. I will force him to look to the right, towards the forest. You approach from the left," he told them before turning around and heading back towards the creature. The children were left speechless. If it wasn't for a certain sense of urgency the situation carried, they would probably stay frozen on that hill until the battle would be over.

Glavas did not wait for too long before starting his attempts at distraction. The Scalder was smart, but fortunately for the hunter, not smart enough to see the reason behind his taunting. Bullets of air magic zipped through the sky, each hitting the Scalder like a medium-sized boulder ramming into its body. The creature let out a horrific screech. Although the blunt hits of the magic hurt it, the irritation they caused felt far worse. It was like being constantly poked by some big and heavy object.

"Hey! Come on! Aren't you gonna fight back?!" Glavas shouted at it, hoping to get its attention. Fortunately for him, he succeeded. The animal's pupils narrowed as it started to throw one attack after another toward the hunter. Glavas did not change his previous strategy in any way. He dodged all the tentacles rushing towards him and whenever there was an opening, he shot a few bullets at the Scalder. With one eye kept at the two children sneaking behind the creature, he kept on guessing how much longer he'd have to wait before he'd start the next phase of his attack. Although the music of his instrument made dodging a lot easier, the counterattacks were starting to be a problem. Each magical crystal he put into the weapon had the energy for roughly about fifty to seventy shots. However, it wasn't the magazine size that bothered him. His weapon was heating up with each shot. Normally, with decent time between firing, this wouldn't be a problem, but now that he's been showering the Scalder with one projectile after another, Glavas was starting to worry if his weapon would last until Alma and Surdi could even get to the creature.

The Scalder's attacks were getting slower and slower, yet not due to fatigue or any magical effect. The creature knew that such fighting would be pointless. Getting closer to the hunter could prove dangerous, but leaving him to simply keep causing more and more pain wasn't ideal either. Therefore, the animal resorted to the most obvious plan B - running. It dug its tentacles deep into the soil and pulled out a large mound of dirt to hide behind. It wasn't the best cover, but at least it would protect the Scalder from the hail of magical bullets.

Glavas's heart rate shot up. He knew what the creature was doing, yet he never thought that it would manage to think about it while under so much pressure. He holstered his weapon, prepared the sealing scroll, and rushed over to the small, freshly formed hill at full speed.

In the meantime, the giant cephalopod quickly turned and prepared itself to run for its life, but the moment its body shifted, it noticed the pair of younglings standing behind it. Eyes squinted, trying to figure out if these were foes or just bystanders. Alma swallowed her fear and quickly grabbed one of the creature's tentacles, just as Glavas told her. That was, unfortunately, all she could force herself to do. Her eyes instinctively closed and she braced for any potential retaliation. Against something so huge, she simply had no courage.

The Scalder growled and the other limbs whistled through the air as they moved towards Alma, ready to crush her. Such sight was, however, all that was needed to wake up Surdi from his panic. Even though he didn't feel ready to fight something so big and terrifying, when confronted with the option of either fighting or letting his friend get hurt or potentially even die, the choice was obvious. He swung the metal staff against the large tentacles, praying to any higher force that the weapon would work as Glavas said and repel the attack.

When the attack came, a shockwave rippled from the staff's surface. The young dragon felt some of the force go into his arms, but fortunately, it truly didn't seem as bad as he had anticipated. The Scalder, surprised by the amount of resistance it met from such a tiny weapon and irritated by the girl's unrelenting grip, didn't wait too long to strike again. Its back was literally pressed against the wall. It felt that Alma wouldn't let it escape. At the same time, the hunter was surely approaching, and now there were more of the attackers. An animal pushed into the corner is capable of doing anything out of desperation.

Glavas heard the loud metal noises coming from the staff getting more and more frequent. The creature was enraged, fighting against the young ones with all its strength. The hunter wished he could run any faster. All he needed were just a few more seconds. Just a few more seconds and he would be there.