Chapter 8: 7.

The five of them, following the bits of cloth left behind by the dorber, eventually catch up with the creature. However, knowing its violent nature, they try to stay quiet and focused on the task. Even Kusika changes from his insufferable attitude to one much quieter and intensely focused on the hunt. They keep their footsteps soft and try to avoid stepping on any stray twigs or loose rocks. And at the tip of their formation, Volan spots the creature first.

He quietly raises his hand and the others all stop moving. Volan scans the area and searches for anything else in the area. He’d rather not have any creature like the one that tore the bear in half appear while they’re fighting, and thankfully there aren’t any signs of other creatures. However, he does see that the dorber set a trap for the less observant. Scattered around it in a 10 meter radius are dead leaves, large branches, and small piles of rocks.

The dorber itself was near motionless; more than likely asleep. But all these small things were a kind of alarm system. Should something large and or reckless enter its domain, it’ll be alerted immediately by the sound of crunching leaves or scattered pebbles. The large branches, collected from dead trees, were there to make it so humanoid creatures would have difficulty moving around properly. One misstep or trip up could give the dorber a lethal opening to strike.

Seeing all of this, Volan turned to others and signaled to them. Putting his index and middle fingers apart, as if mimicking a pair of scissors, he put his hand to his throat to let them know the area is trapped. Then he followed it up with a gesture to spread out. The others nodded and slowly changed into a crescent-shaped formation as Volan kept an eye on the dorber. Their eyes watched the ground with the occasional look up at the fae creature to make sure they weren’t noticed. Often they had to take an awkward step over a large tree root or quickly adjust their balance to not send a rock tumbling.

Thankfully, they were able to get into a proper means of surrounding the creature on all sides. Kusika was positioned opposite to Volan, standing on the far side and crouched behind a large rock. Viviana and Kunal were off to the left and right sides of the formation while Broderick was a few meters behind Kusika. Everyone gave a silent signal that they were ready and Volan drew his father’s sword. He knew that the first move he made needed to get this thing's attention. Volan had to make sure it focused on him while the others all got an opportunity to strike. The job of a Sentinel was never an easy one, but he hoped things would go as smoothly as possible.

Taking as deep of a breath in as he could, Volan then yelled at the dorber as loud as he could. Immediately, the creature woke up and turned to face him. It went right into charging at Volan. Left with little time to follow up, Volan needed to think of a way that would slow it down so the others could move in safely. He didn’t have a means of facing the dorber head-on, and the beast’s horns could easily gore him. Thankfully, he could tell that this creature was mostly about using brute force.

Quickly, Volan moved in front of the largest nearby tree and waited. Then, when the two would clash, he jumped to the side. Unable to stop itself in time, the dorber crashed right into the tree; its horns getting stuck deep in the trunk of it. Volan then quickly put himself behind the creature and, with a heavy swing, cut at its hamstrings. The dorber cried out in pain, but the others immediately took the opportunity to strike. There wasn’t any room for hesitation, and Kunal was the first to capitalize on the opportunity.

Sprinting into the fight, Kunal goes for the head. More specifically, the horns. His sledgehammer was perfectly suited for breaking bones, and the dorber’s horns were its greatest threat right now. Jumping and raising his hammer, Kunal brought it down with as much force as he could right on the creature’s left temple. The dorber’s skull rattled as one of its horns violently shattered into a shower of bone shrapnel. Kunal had done considerable damage, but also pissed the monster off even more than it was already. And with one less horn stuck in the tree, it pulled itself out and roared.

At that moment, Viviana then went for an eye. Following Kunal’s lead, she summoned a weapon made of crystals. It was one that she’d made herself, though it was a very unusual one. It had no definite shape or appearance when inactive, making it easy to conceal and keep others from understanding it, but assumed a form she believed suitable for her intendended attack. In this case, it assumed a rapier-like form. The crystals escaped out of small pre-made pockets Viviana had sewn into her combat gear and arranged themselves into a thin and needle pointed blade. Gripping its handle tightly, Viviana thrust it at the dorber’s eye. Stuck in its stupor from Kunal’s attack, the rapier gouged out the dober’s left eye; now rendering the left side of the dorber’s head defenseless.

Finally, Kusika saw his moment to strike and his chakrams were suddenly emboldened by elemental magic. One blade blazed with fire while the other had chilling crystals of ice encasing it. He threw the one engulfed with fire first and the iron cut through with little resistance. The flaming edge of the chakram exposed the rotting flesh underneath the dorber’s skin as Kusika then followed it up with the other. Its chilling blade stuck into the fae creature for a moment as ice crystals formed frozen spears that shot into the amalgamated body of corpses. The chakram then dislodged itself and followed the other back into Kusika’s hands.

However, they may have either backed the dorber into a corner too much or not done enough damage as the creature began to brightly glow green. It let out another roar, but this one empowered by the will of the forest. The dorber sent out a shockwave that sent Volan, Viviana, and Kunal all back a few meters while tree roots and scraps of bark rushed to defend the dorber’s body. Plates of wood and wooden growths grew out of its body and encased the monster in what could be best described as wooden full plate. A tree branch even replaced the lost horn.

Everyone hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to respond, and it took this opportunity to strike back. In a blind rage it charges at the three melee fighters, but no one can tell exactly who the dorber is aiming for; except for Volan. Volan can see the creature slowly turning towards Viviana. Doing what he can, Volan shifts his weight and turns to run at her. Viviana can’t see what’s going on and her eyes go wide as Volan appears to be dragging the enemy towards her. He’s the sentinel, so she assumes it’s aiming for him.

In this brief moment, Volan puts as much force into his legs as he can and throws himself shoulder-first into Viviana. The two tumble to the side, but Volan’s right arm gets nicked by the dorber’s right horn. It’s not a mortal wound, but it dicks a good centimeter or two into his flesh as the beast charges past them. Viviana is mostly unhurt as they get back to their feet, though she glares furiously at Volan. But she leaves it at that for the moment and refocuses on the hunt.

Viviana commands, “Kunal, can you stun it again?”

Kunal answers, “Maybe, but I’ll need another opening.”

Volan gets back on his feet and looks at the creature, trying to find any kind of weak spot. Unfortunately, he can’t seem to find one with the wooden armor keeping it protected. He does spot that the creature is considerably weakened and probably can’t do much more than charge wildly at them. Putting a hand to his right arm, Volan evaluated the situation as best he could.

Kunal can probably smash some of the armor off it, but even then I doubt it feels pain. It’s probably operating off nothing but hatred towards us right now, but damaged hamstrings and a half-destroyed face likely have it on death’s door.

As the beast turned to face them after its last charge, Volan tried to look it over carefully. There had to be some weak point, but there wasn’t anything that would really be usable. Its joints were guided by flexible yet thick roots, and its entire face and back was covered in plates so going for the other eye or having Kusika cut its back open again wouldn’t really be possible.

C’mon, think! There’s gotta be something!

Then he saw a spot undefended. The underbelly of the creature.

Volan asked, “Viviana! Are dorber like golems?”

Viviana looked at him confused, “No they’re…!”

It took her a moment, but she then realized it. They’d been fighting this ling like it was alive. She then turned her attention to Kusika.

Viviana asked, “Can you create a slick area of ice?!”

Kusika confusedly asked, “Yes, but why?”

She commanded, “Just do it!”

Kusika rolled his eyes and summoned forth ice on both of his chakram and sent them out along the ground, coating a large portion of it in a sheet of ice. While this made everyone’s footing unstable, the dorber became confused as it couldn’t find proper footing on the ground now.

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Now distracted, Kunal moved in and swung up at the creature’s jaw. Seeing his teammate lack in the strength necessary to knock the dorber’s head up and disorient the monster, Broderick cast a physical enhancement spell on Kunal. Then, he transferred it to Volan. Volan, thanks to his agility, was able to move more freely on the ice. Raising his sword, but wincing from the wound on his arm, stuck his blade up through the soft tissue beneath the head.

Unfortunately, this didn’t accomplish much on its own. But it did create enough of an opening for Viviana to slip underneath while the dorber is stuck in place. Changing her weapon from a rapier into ripping claw. Broderick then cast a paralysis spell on the dorber to help keep it stuck in place, but it wasn’t gonna last long given this thing’s uncooperative attitude. Thankfully, it wouldn’t matter as Viviana shoved her hand into the beast’s stomach and tore it open.

Rotten blood and organs fell out, coating her, but also revealing a shining emerald crystal where the dorber’s heart was. Putting her other hand inside the creature, she gripped the crystal and yanked on it. The crystal came loose and the dorber let out a cry. The three of them got away from the creature as it began to lumber left and right before finally collapsing. The emerald crystal in Viviana’s hand grew dark before cracking and disintegrating in her hand. The thing was dead.

The beast’s body began to very quickly decompose, turning into a pile of roots, dead wood, and bones that all fell apart under their own weight. What flesh it had turned into a black sludge and fluid that slowly spread out across the ground like water.

Kusika came out to regroup with everyone else with Broderick in tow.

Broderick apologized, “Sorry I didn’t do much this time. Anyone hurt?”

Volan answered, “It nicked me, but I don’t think it didn’t much else.”

Broderick walked over to Volan’s side and noticed the torn side of his right arm. Examining it, Broderick could tell Volan was injured, but the wound was literally stitching itself back together. He was unsure of what to say as the wound squirmed itself back together very slowly. What damage Volan took was already healed and now it was just the skin repairing itself.

Broderick asked, “You…feel weird at all?”

Volan didn’t get why Broderick was asking in such an unusual way.

Volan replied, “A little itchy, but that’s it. Why?”

Broderick didn’t want to alarm his friend, or anyone else, so he kept the strangeness of Volan’s body to himself. At least for now. He’d probably tell Rose when next he encountered her, but for now Volan seemed fine.

Broderick answered, “No reason, just making sure is all.”

Volan was confused, but left things at that. Meanwhile, Viviana was giving Volan serious stink eye. She didn’t know why Volan had pushed her as he had, but was still under the assumption it was to get her injured. A tension filled the air and Kunal jumped in between them.

Nervously, he spoke, “L-let’s just get back to the professors, alright?”

Viviana turned around and began walking. Kusika followed suit with his hands clasped together behind his head and elbows up in the air.

Volan asked, “Did I do something wrong again?”

Kunal replied, “Not sure, but Vivi probably thinks so.”

With that, the remaining three made their way back to the opening in the trees where the mock APCs all were. But upon getting there, Volan noticed something. Other teams were coming back, but at least one in every group was on a stretcher with someone seriously injured and that team's Synergist actively treating their injuries along the way. One group was even being escorted out by Ms. Greenhaven herself.

Volan’s team hadn’t been the first to get their hunt done, but they seemed to be one of few teams to get out mostly unscathed. Many of the sentinels and strikers were hit in the gut or shoulder, but the worst of it was two teams that were already well out of the woods. One team had a member missing everything from the knee down on their right leg. The other, being escorted out by Ms. Greenhaven, had a person being carried out with a white cloth over their body.

Volan’s eyes went wide before he closed them.

May the Flame guide you, he prayed.

Now seeing the amount of damage that had been done to other teams, Volan wondered if his team was lucky or skilled. Perhaps both, but he also pondered if other people came to the same conclusion he did mid-battle. Had they fought the dorbers like beasts or like constructs? Or maybe they’d been careless and walked into its trapped territory without realizing it. Perhaps the teams with the worst casualties were ambushed by their targets.

A lot can go wrong in a battle. It was something his father and Rose had drilled into him during their times training him, and this was probably the first time he’d ever seen something close to what they meant. Thanks to his keen eyes and quick memory, he’d probably saved his team a lot of pain. Though perhaps it was through their mutual trust in Viviana’s capabilities as their leader that they were also able to execute it.

Volan reflected on the battle as he walked, thinking about all the things they’d done right and wrong. Kunal’s weapon, for example, was perfectly suited for crushing things like armor and bone, allowing them to create openings in the dorber’s defenses. But would it have gone the same way with a different weapon? Or if Volan hadn’t realized who the monster’s real target was, would they have potentially carried Viviana out on a stretcher or lost her completely?

Today’s training was probably a wake-up call for many of his peers, and one many of them wouldn’t soon forget.

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