A Crusade of Catastrophe [5-Monster Smash]

(Still with Lana)

Lana quickly realized that she couldn't run. Her best hope in surviving this creature was to fight it with Karen. It could possibly outpace her if she tried to run or get in the carriage, and there was no doubt in her mind that it seemed capable of killing her if she got separated from her mentor.

All that, plus, if Karen died, there was no way Lana would be kept within the church. She would be lucky to be excommunicated if she came back with all of this horrid news, especially if she had been a coward and left a fellow priestess to die.

All that said, Karen currently seemed to be in a trance of sorts, not responding to the situation in front of them. Lana knew that whatever was in front of them clearly just took out a priest at least as strong as her with no issues, so she needed to get her mentor to snap out of it.

She began to call out, hoping that would be enough, "K-karen, we shall end this horrid creature, and avenge our kinsman!" To Lana's great despair, Karen made no reaction to this. She could only hope that if she stalled, Karen would awaken from her stunned state.

Lana's horror was only deepened as the towering thing before her spoke once more, "Horrid? No, that name shall not serve." Before she could ask for any further explanation, the beast let out a roar and leaped into the air.

She reacted quickly for her shaken state, snapping her vision upwards just in time to catch her foe plummeting down towards her. At the last second, she managed to raise a barrier of light to block his plummet.

As he crashed into the barrier, she was pushed back by the sheer **** of his impact. As he slid down off of it, at no point did his singular visible eye stray from her. She could feel it, the sheer power he possessed. For after only one blow, her shield had visible damage.

He paced, slowly walking one way before turning back around, slowly approaching as he did so. Once he got close enough, she began firing off some petty spells to try and deter him. She could only watch in disbelief as he simply continued his stance, not taking it as an opening or retreating as the small rays of light pelted his form.

'This is bad! Karen still hasn't snapped out of it, and I haven't been able to deal any meaningful damage. I don't have an opportunity to cast anything that takes time, and I can't afford to waste mana on even moderate spells in fear they won't have enough affect.' Lana began to sweat as she could not think of a solution to her situation.

Her opponent was fast when he at last made his approach. Within a second, he bolted forward into what of her shield remained. She barely managed to stop his charge, but he simply placed his right, clawed arm upon the barrier before piercing it with his fingers, shattering it completely.

She did not have time to cast another spell before his left arm had slammed through the dissipating shards of light, grasping her in an instant. His thick, yet boney fingers wrapped around her, and she felt as if she were locked in chains instead of held in a fist.

The victor held her up to match his gaze before speaking a final time, "The Twisted One was wrong to consider the Light a threat. You all fall so feebly, and if you cannot best me, there is no hope of facing such power as him." As he finished, he began to raise his right hand towards her.

Suddenly a voice caught both of their attention, "-And grant me the strength to rid this world of any who dare stand against your light!" Lana looked, given hope by the fact that Karen had finished a great chant in order to smite the monster that had her in his clutches.

The boney beast moved to slash at her, but before he could a great emblem of light appeared. Karen gave one last statement before the spell activated, "Now die, you dreadful thing!" as she finished a beam of pure energy stretched out of the emblem, piercing directly through his upper body. As the beam ended, his right arm and head were gone, as well as a decent amount of his right and upper torso.

Lana only had a second to take it in before she was brought to the ground with the fresh corpse's toppling form. She had barely reached the ground before Karen began to pry her out of its grip, pulling her up and sprinting with her to the cart.

As the both climbed in, Karen called to the magical ride, "Back to Wodegta, as fast as you can!"

In her adrenaline fogged state, Lana barely managed to speak, "Why are we going back? Should we not go to the others to check on the camp?"

Karen had a grim moment of silence before speaking, "Reff was the leader of that camp. If he was killed on the run, it means his men were massacred. There is little to nothing we can do for them now."

Lana stared in shock and disbelief at her mentor. 'Could... could a monster this close to home really have the power to face an entire camp of members of the church? That can't be possible, we aren't even truly on the front lines, let alone in the heart of combat.' Her thoughts grew more concerned as the carriage returned them back to the city she called home.

#####

His hand twitched as he slowly regained consciousness. He could feel his flesh and bone reknitting themselves, finally finishing as he became able to move once again. He carefully brought himself to a seated position, not wanting to disrupt the healing process by being overactive.

He took a moment to reflect on his defeat. He had been arrogant, not taking proper attention in the second enemy before him and instead attempting to proceed with a long and painful process on the first. This was not a lesson he would allow himself to forget.

The light was not quite the pushovers he had first taken them for. Sure, they had weaklings, but clearly, they had strong combatants as well. He was very fortunate that he followed his Lord's orders in how to refer to him, otherwise he could have ruined everything.

There was another thing to be gained from this, however. The final words he heard before the blinding light that had rendered him completely defeated. He repeated them aloud, "Dreadful... Perhaps if shortened..."

He nodded in satisfaction, before finally standing. With his business here concluded, Dread began his travel to his next destination.