It’s you or me.

It was the middle of the night, ten minutes after John had started following the light when he heard the sounds of the nightmare. The battered and bruised hunter crept closer as he shuddered, the sounds of the nightmare still making his skin crawl. After another minute of walking John happened upon the clearing from his vision, dry, yellow bones all around, some trampled and splintered, others shining softly in the dim light that did manage to come through here now and then. John took a deep breath, staying at the edge of the clearing while looking around for the creature, and more importantly, for Jack.

In the hollowed out tree that John had seen before, the nightmare lay, its crazy, bloodshot eyes carrying a trace on tranquility, pushing a softly hissing, wounded Jack in the direction of a small foal nearby. The foal was still sleeping, but Jack did not know how long it would be. And when it woke up… He doubted he would be here as play partner.

John’s ears picked up the sounds of the nightmare, creeping slightly closer along the edge of the forest, and then he saw it. Jack’s white fur peeking out slightly from behind the creature . That, coupled with the hissing took a gigantic burden off of John’s mind. ‘He’s alive, thank Gaia.’

I had nothing to do with this

‘Not now’

John then thought what he should do next, Jack’s safety was the most important thing at the moment. And in his mind, the only way to make Jack safe, was to kill the nightmare, or at least get it away from him. Looking at his hp, he saw that he had got just about 40 hp at the moment, but his impatience to save his pet pushed him to make another rash decision. He was going to go for it.

Drawing his bow, John stepped onto the clearing, firing his first two shots before he had moved more than a meter. The first shot went wide, drilling into the tree but the other struck it’s target, punching a small hole in the side of the nightmare.

10 dmg

The nightmare let out a loud, angry snort as it started to get to its feet. Only to get another arrow lodged into its side and another 10 health shot off before it even got to its feet. The creature turned to face John, damp air flaring out of its nose while it recognized the one that hurt it. Back in the tree trunk Jack let out a weak mew, a few cuts and scrapes visible on his body, some of his fur matted with clear, blue blood. While it was true that Jack was alive, he was hurt, badly.

John took a quick look at Jack, seeing his pet hurt like that and his anger flared. While the nightmare charged at him, John shot another set of arrows at him, both of them aimed at it’s head. The first got cut in half by the horn while the other glanced across it’s cheek, drawing a bloody line but not doing any permanent damage.

John rolled out of the way when the nightmare was almost upon him, causing the large unicorn to stampede along just centimeters from his body. John quickly got to his feet and shot another arrow at it’s back, penetrating it’s buttock and dealing yet another 10 damage.

In pain, the nightmare let out it’s horrifying bray/roar, causing John to stagger and miss with his next shot, the arrow sailing into the trees. The nightmare snorted loudly once more, leveling his head at John, trampling the floor with his hooves when both John and the nightmare heard a sound from the tree trunk. Two sounds to be precise. A soft whining sound, and the mortified mewing of a feline. John whipped his head around, seeing the little foal for the first time, it was moving towards Jack, it’s sharp teeth on full display while Jack tried to get away from it. But, wounded as he was, he had little luck.

John reached for his belt, slinging his bola’s at the creature, with a soft swish, swish, the tool flew through the air, wrapping itself around the nightmare foal’s neck and a small branch on the inside of the trunk, causing it to let out a sad, **** sound, unable to quench its hunger.

The nightmare had taken advantage of John’s distraction and had started towards him, hearing it’s child’s mournful cry it’s red eyes seemed to glow with a savage bloodlust. When John turned around to face his foe, he was already just a meter away. The nightmare whipped his head up, piercing straight through John’s right shoulder.

-32 hp

The nightmare shook it’s head, then threw John over his back, a gushing wound on his shoulder, unable to use his bow at the moment. A glaring red pop-up came up in front of his face.
Magic suppression field interfering with Gamer Body, unable to close wound
Debuff active: Bleeding, losing 1 hp every 45 seconds

John groaned in pain, thinking of something he could do. Trying to figure out anything, while he felt blood leave his body at an alarming rate, losing the feeling in his right arm. The nightmare turned around as John pulled something from his inventory. The corrupted unicorn rose to his hind legs, determined to finish John off this time.

With a loud, painful groan John planted the item he had just retrieved into the soil, then rolled out of the way, only barely avoiding the hooves coming down for his head. The nightmare brought his head down where John had just been, seeing a small, grenade like object sticking out from the dirt.

click

A sticky net wound itself around the nightmares head, encapsulating it in sticky, tough fibres. The creature let out an angry roar/bray, causing John to flinch again. Unable to see, the nightmare started to shake his head wildly, stepping around himself, trying to find a way to get it off of his face.

John climbed back to his feet, taking his short sword out of his inventory, he did not have a lot of time, and he knew it. With his sword in his left hand, John waited for the creature to trip, which it did, unable to support itself in its wild trashing. John was upon the nightmare quickly, with an anger filled cry, he stabbed his sword into his throat. A gurgling sound, blood flowing, and a few twitches of its body, and then the nightmare was no more.

John rose to his feet, only to hear a familiar howling, it seemed the wolves had found him again. He dropped his sword and made his way to the tree trunk, cradling Jack in his good arm, the nightmare foal still stuck to it’s branch, snapping his teeth at them.

“Jack, I’m so sorry, but at least, if we go out… We go out together,” he whispered, kissing the battered pet on his snout. Jack mewed softly, licking John’s bloody hands, mewing softly.

Moments later, the wolves burst into the clearing, sniffing around, howling. Finding the trunk soon enough.

When John thought that all was lost, a feminine voice, powerful and just, spoke up from a nearby tree top.

“In the name of the mistress of the wild. In the name of the huntress of the biggest game. By the might of the council. May my arrows fly fast and strike true. In the name of the hunt!”
One loud twang, and then flash of light, the light flew up about ten meters, then it turned around, splitting into countless smaller specks of light that bombarded the clearing. The wolves let out howls of anguish, the specks of light turning them into pincushions, their large physiques collapsing with soft thuds one by one.

The last thing John saw before his last hp bled out, was a duo of hooded figures jumping down onto the clearing, one wearing a gauntlet on it’s right hand, the other turned and quickly ran for him.