Kraaaaaaawwgh!
After Hope had disentangled the ropes of thistles, he turned and ripped away two femur bones, broke off the heads, and placed them on each side of his right forearm.
He tightly secured them with the thistles, wrapping it up like a bundle of wires till he could see no more gaps in between. He did the same process to the rest top of his arm.
Boom!
The etchings on the sealed door pulsed with each impact from the beast. Almost like a ticking time bomb before it would eventually give in. The sound of stone cracking layered and stretched not just on the doors, but on the walls as well.
'Dammit is the whole cavern going to collapse at this point?'
Finally, Hope grabbed a cluster of bloodbane berries with his right hand and another broken femur in his left with its sharp broken tip.
Hope paused as he stood up and glanced down.
'This is a bad idea…'
The prickly stems were tightly twined around his arm down to his palm as if it were in a cast, and his right hand which held the bloodbane berries were stained red. Hope planned for the broken femur in his left hand to serve as a weapon against the beast, but would that be enough?
"..."
'A bone…against…a damned beast…"
Doubt filled his mind, but he couldn't back out now.
It was better for him to die trying rather than to accept fate.
He took a stance away from the door of about ten meters. The beast's roars reverberated through the walls and the cracks grew bigger and bigger…
His heart thumped loudly in his ears as he waited and—
CRASH!
The stone double doors crumbled to the floor.
There emerged a shadow ambling through the dust, the cavern's blue ambience welcoming the sight.
Shakes of rubble and a snarl echoed off as flaming eyes burned onto Hope.
This was the first time Hope properly laid eyes on it.
At first it looked like a wolf…and young. He wasn't sure how he knew, but it seemed it hadn't fully matured yet. It stood neck height level with a bristly scorched mane, embers kindling between strands.
But despite its intimidating stature, it was wounded.
The hairless skin was ripped with leaks of black and red. A smell spread through the clearing—like sulfur, acrid and sharp.
Did the stone statues cause this? The whole thing was quite surreal. Hope never imagined he'd be in the position as a nameless priest at a cursed cavern, let alone the growling, frothing hound before him.
Grrrrrrrrrrrr.....
Hope internally sighed.
It was pissed off.
Its lower jaw was dislocated, and half of its face was lopsided. Or that was probably how ugly it looked.
Either way, it wanted to rip him a new one.
'Fast and big.'
Had Hope fought dormant beasts up close before? Yes.
Awakened beasts? Also, yes.
Of course, with a team by his side and with proper weapons at hand.
This however seemed anything but a normal beast. It obviously was an awakened beast, but its powers were different. Ones that were akin to almost an aspect's ability power that carried a fire attribute; either it created fire or was immune to it, or both.
But if Hope could simplify his situation—in which he really needed to in this case—it was just one beast.
Most beasts had the same attack pattern at their core. Which was having barely any gaps between two to five attacks and, for this beast's height and type of creature, always aimed for the head, neck, or belly.
So flashy tricks of flipping around or somersaulting were out of the question.
He had to just think of this like any other fight he had as a soldier.
Minus the strength gap and the feeble weapons he was using instead.
"Tsk."
Ah what the hell.
If there was one thing he had enough faith in during battle, it was instinct. From what he recalled, it had never failed him.
He took one step back and held up the bone like a dagger in front of his eyes.
"Come on then."
Grrrrrrrrrr….
The beast began circling the room, sniffing the air. Its nose drank the overwhelming smell of blood-collected soil and the long-rotted bones scattered at their feet. An intoxicating smell. No doubt wanting to add to it.
It paused in its tracks and Hope got himself ready.
There he saw a slight bend in the beast's knees.
In one bounding step, it closed the distance, jaws snapping toward Hope's head with such ferocity.
Hope threw himself to the side, rolled back to his feet and leapt again to avoid an incoming strike.
Just as he predicted, the strike went high for his throat, but the beast missed.
'One. Two.'
Gkrrraar!
A shadow then fell across his face.
'Three.'
Claws found air instead, and Hope pressed his advantage.
The broken femur dragged along the beast's flank, earning him a shriek.
Kraaaaaaaar!
Hope distanced himself meters away and turned to see the mark he had made on the beast.
Well. He did leave a mark. But nothing that reached crucially underneath the skin.
'Just as I thought-'
The beast then came low with an ankle-slicing blow. Hope tried to jump back, but claws snagged the edge of his priest's garment. He was pulled down, slamming to the ground with a clap.
His whole side numbed for an instant.
He looked up, saw the beast rear its head before diving for his throat.
Hope rolled left then swung his arm behind in a deliberate motion. There the strike drew blood from above the beast's eyes.
The beast roared and backed off. A spray of red filled its vision.
Hope gasped for breath as he regained his stance, a stream of thoughts flooding his mind as he reassessed the situation.
No it wasn't possible. It didn't seem possible that he could kill the beast with a piece of broken bone alone. At least not deep enough on the surface.
It was too thick.
The stone statues had the advantage of attacking in numbers.
Realistically, he would definitely die, and the beast would inevitably win.
But maybe he should change his objective.
Putting aside the value of his life, what could he do that was guaranteed?
He could make it hurt.
No matter how and what the outcome may be, he wanted the beast to hurt by his hand long after he died.
Pain was just the annoying necessary factor to achieve that goal.
The beast glanced at the scratch made on its flank. It shook the blood off its face, but the blood mixed in its eyes produced an orange glow like that of sunset.
It was probably annoyed that a mere human could land a finger on it.
As annoying as a mere thorn pricking a finger.
The beast snarled and bared its fangs as it lunged forward again, only this time it moved from side to side in a zig-zag fashion before outstretching its black arm.
Hope jumped back and dodged as the beast reached for his belly. Then he twisted himself in a different direction to avoid the second strike.
However, he lost his footing as his heel tripped over a skull.
'Shit—!'
This whole terrain did not give him an advantage to serve as a proper battlefield. Not enough concrete ground to maneuver through.
The odds just seemed to be getting lower and lower as he continued this fight-
'Wait...Don't fucking tell me it's because of the [Black Sheep] Attribute-'
His thoughts were interrupted as jaws cut into his view during midfall. However, his mistake from tripping over the skull helped him slightly.
Instead of reaching for his head, the beast's jaws clamped onto his shoulder.
And that was where the luck ended.
A tearing bite ripped into his shoulder as teeth and skin made contact.
In the next moment, the beast shook violently like a predator would with its prey. Its disgusting, hot, foul slobber ran down Hope's neck in the process.
Hope hissed as it felt like acid scorched his skin.
But now that he was finally in close range, although he wished for it differently, he reached up and thrusted his left arm.
Shiiiik-!
Bone shard pierced into its bloody eye.
The beast let out a shrill yelp, immediately dropping him as it writhed its head in agony.
Hope shook the fuzz out of his head and scrambled for distance. He barely avoided the flying claws and thrashing arms.
Krrraaaaaaar! Kraaaaar!
As the beast clawed the shard out of its eye, Hope reached the furthest wall.
He was nauseous from all the whiplash, grappling stone as he staggered up. He turned and met eyes with the beast.
Or eye…
Blood oozed out of the beast's eye, the wound filling like a burst of fruit, plump flesh juicing out. Black lips pulled in contempt, its jaw hanging awkwardly as it let out a low guttural sound like that of a hungry engine.
He had one shoulder still working right. That was enough to survive another round. If he did anyway.
Hope pushed off the wall as he staggered forward.
"Had enough?"
Grrrrrrrrrrrr...
The beast growled in response.
The look of grim determination on its face was illuminated by the water's brilliant blue.
For a moment, Hope thought he could also hear the faint screams echoing ominously in the air from all the lost souls in this cavern. But strangely to Hope, the dying screams reminded him of the sound of cheers. A raw cry that resembled a lot like the conquering of battlefields back in the waking world, or the cheers of tournaments.
Hope never paid much mind to those cheers, but at the moment, he felt a small spark stir within him, what one may call a motivating force.
It kindled, hot and cold, for one more desperate move to end this hellish nightmare.
The beast's snarling teeth were red with Hope's blood, coldly swearing death on him.
In Hope's eyes, he might as well be dead.
He may even join the owners of all those dying voices after this.
Hope sighed as he straightened himself.
"Tsk…Good."
Kraaaaaaawwr!
The beast let out one loud final roar and charged towards Hope.
Its body rippled through the air with such raw power, maw agape.
But instead of retreating, Hope also surged forward.
Before they met in the middle, he forced his body to side-step at the last moment. His muscles screamed, however, it was not enough to avoid the maw of the beast.
But it wasn't to dodge either.
Hope then thrusted his whole right arm into the beast's hot gaping mouth.
With the incomparable indisputable weight, he was knocked onto his back.
The air blew out of him. Pain ripped through, but regardless, he grabbed onto its mane and shoved his arm deep into its throat.
The beast tried to bite his arm off, but his arm was far deep that its broken mandible couldn't properly close all way, especially not with the bones Hope armored his arm with.
The feeling of the beast's hot burning slobber was starting to soak through.
It was like being submerged in boiling water.
But Hope didn't mind. That would make things a lot easier actually because he had the bloodbane berries and its prickly thistles right where he needed them to be.
Rrrrrraaaaaaaaaq!
How many bloodbane berries did it take to kill a human? Three? Seven?
But how about for a beast?
And for how long?
Hope thought a thick cluster of berries would do the trick. As long as he kept them in the beast's throat, they would curse its poison.
If not…well then. He tried his best.
Hope hugged the beast with his whole body just before it whipped its head. Then they crashed to the floor together, rolled together through blackened soil and rotten bones. One such flail knocked his head, hard, and made his ears ring. Materials tore and cracked beneath them, or was that his own ribs?
He couldn't tell anymore.
Maybe it was anger. Or fickle pride. But if he was going to die, then he was not going to leave the beast unscathed.
Rrraaaaaaq!?
At this point Hope didn't know how much time had passed.
Maybe it was a minute.
Maybe it was a mere ten seconds.
Either way, he refused to let go with every fiber of his being. He needed to eliminate any chance for the beast to throw up the poisonous berries.
Raaaq! Raaq!
The beast let out another ghastly sound as it stubbornly refused to swallow.
'Just a little longer-'
At that moment, Hope felt like he was beginning to hug a furnace, the warmth piling like the fire of a barrel.
'Shit shit shit-'
Its elemental power was finally revealing its true form.
Before its mane could be set completely on fire, Hope hugged the head tighter one last time and jammed his arm deep enough till his shoulder was in the beast's jaws.
He felt the thistles scrape its throat and the mush of berries leaking from his hand, disappearing down the gullet to spike its stomach.
Krraaaaaaaaaaar!
Its mane finally set ablaze.
An aura of flames roared from red, to blinding orange.
From his waist up, his body became scorched as heat ate through his garment, then his skin. Next would be his bones.
A thousand knives stabbed him at once till he could feel no more.
Then the stench of burning flesh touched his senses–
Krrrrraarr!
The beast gave one last violent shake and this time Hope let go.
His body flew across the cavern floor, and another wave of pain exploded inside of him. Somewhere in that same instance, he could hear the beast screeching and gagging as though it was being torn from the inside.
Hope's body rolled through soil and its graveyard of bones like a tossed doll.
And then…
SPLASH!
…into the water.