Blood-Crazed Monsters II

"On my tail again?" Heck, these things recovered fast. Nyana didn't get much of a head start on the hybrids at all. The arrows barely slowed them down. She was down to six now and couldn't afford to waste them. If only she brought her hunting dagger. It would've made things a bit easier. Then again, taking these hybrids on in a melee fight was probably not a good idea. She had no idea what their movements were like. It was too random.

For starters, she needed to get these two hybrids off her. They were glued onto her like wolves chasing down a lamb. She was stuck up here with them since she couldn't make it back down without her magic unless she wanted to break all the bones in her body.

*Screech!*

Nyana heard the hybrids closing in on her again. Judging by how loud the screech was, she had another few seconds before they were on pouncing range. But she wasn't panicking or worried at all. Stay calm and assess the situation. Find the best move. These two things were drilled into her head, and have saved her life countless times before. As long as she didn't lose her composure, she was fine.

The loud footsteps behind Nyana suddenly stopped and she immediately slid to a stop before rolling to the side. Two figures jumped past her, one of them scratching her cheek with its claws.

"Hmph..."

One of the hybrids landed in front of her whereas the other overshot and accidentally launched itself off the wall when leaping at her, falling down a good ten meters into the arena.

Whether or not it would survive the fall, she wasn't sure. But for now, that was one hybrid taken out of the equation, leaving only one more to go. She was much more confident taking on a single one than two at a time. Her plan was to take this one out first then deal with the other one if it was still alive.

Nyana reaches for her quiver, pulling out a single arrow. Every single one of them was precious. Wasting even one of them may cost Nyana her life. Drawing her bow as well, squinted her eyes, the glare of the desert sun hindering her eyesight a bit.

Nyana felt an itch on her cheek where one of the hybrids scratched her. It was a little annoying, but she ignored it. It wasn't like she could heal it, so she had to deal with it.

The hybrid, having lost its buddy, circled the elf cautiously. It didn't want to make the same mistake and end up flying off the edge as well. It angled itself in such a way that it had plenty of room between itself and the edge, forcing Nyana to in turn be close to the edge in order to put some distance from her enemy.

Nyana was in an uncomfortable spot and she tried to move away from it but the hybrid would just change positions according to you to keep her at the edge of the wall. "Intelligent too...?" Nyana whispered to herself, taking note of the monster's mental capabilities. It seemed to have retained some of its human traits... How fun.

Nyana's hand swayed, keeping her bow and arrow pinned on the hybrid. She let go of the string.

*Shuck!*

The hybrid dropped and rolled to the side, expecting an arrow but it was very mistaken. It charged at Nyana, thinking that she was defenseless for the next couple of seconds now that she fired her arrow, but as it turned out, nothing came out of the bow. The arrow was still in Nyana's hand.

The elf threw her bow into her shoulder and charged at the hybrid too with her arrow, holding it like she would with her hunting dagger. By the time the hybrid saw and realized that it had been tricked, it was too late to stop.

Nyana stabbed the arrow into the hybrid's heart while dodging its swipe at the same time. The hybrid swiped again and again but Nyana dodged the attacks with no issues.

This much was more than easy enough for her. After all, she hunted beasts much faster than the hybrid before.

The elf pulled out the arrow and did a backward somersault, kicking the hybrid in the face. She then rushed forward and stabbed the hybrid in the chest again while it was staggering backward from the kick and pulled it out once more.

Black blood splashed all over the wall and the hybrid cried out in pain. Nyana didn't stop there. She gave the hybrid in the face as hard as she could, feeling her bones crunch as she smashed her fist into its skull.

With that, she sent the hybrid toppling off the wall and down below into the city where a bunch of soldiers was starting to gather. She watched as it fell to the sand, surrounded by armed soldiers. It didn't take long for it to get spotted and everyone quickly converged on its location.

In seconds, the monster was being impaled by swords and spears. Its regenerative abilities were no match against the sheer number of weapons and it soon died after getting its body parts dismembered.

It was a gruesome way to go, but considering how it happily did the same to people without hesitation, she had no remorse or pity for the thing.

*Growl!*

Nyana turned around and saw a hand on the edge of the wall. "Did you have a nice trip?" she said out loud, taunting the second hybrid. She didn't care if it understood her or not, but based on the low growl she received back, it sounded like it did.

Black blood dripped down her arm and the arrow, making small pools on the wall. One down, one to go.

***

"Get down!"

Iris didn't hesitate and ducked her head like she was told. A large blunt object came flying over her head and smashed into the hybrid. The monster stumbled into another one behind it and they both ended up tripping each other, causing the both of them to fall over.

"No time to waste, back off!" A hand grabbed Iris and pulled her out of the way as another hybrid leaped onto the spot where she was just standing.

"Die, you monster!" A pair of soldiers rushed forward and swung at the hybrid with their swords, slicing off both of its hands, disarming it, literally. But even that wasn't enough. The hybrid still had its body with it used to tackle one of the soldiers down, and bit his neck!

"Argh!"

"Lieutenant!" The other soldier that was with him hurried over to assist him. He stabbed the monster a couple of times but it was stubborn and refused to let go. When it became clear that hitting it with a sword won't work, the soldier threw the idea aside and just grabbed onto the hybrid and tried to pull it off.

"D*mn it! Get off him!" It was like a leech attached to its host. The hybrid wouldn't budge. The two soldiers were too focused on the one hybrid that they didn't see the other ones jump in as well. They dogpiled on the soldier who was still standing and tore him to pieces.

"Aaah!"

The screams of agony frightened the crowd into panicking even harder than they already were. Pushing turned into shoving and that soon escalated into violence. Instead of choosing to work together and fight the hybrids, people chose to sacrifice others to save their own hides.

With their dying breaths, the soldiers kept the hybrids preoccupied long each for the mob to clear out. It took some time, but everyone finally managed to get out of the colosseum. Everyone, except for one person. As soldiers and guards flooded the arena like rodents to a kitchen, they found Iris standing there in shock after having watched all those people die.

"You there, leave this place now!" Several of the newly arrived guards ran up to her and pulled her out of the way.

"Wait!" Iris tried to get them to stop but the guards didn't and continued to forcefully escort her to the entrance while the others raised their weapons and approached the hybrids.

Iris knew that they were no match for the hybrids and they were only getting themselves killed. She wanted to warn the soldiers. "You can't kill them! They can heal themselves!" But the guards ignored her.

"We killed one outside. Don't worry, we can handle this," one of the guards assured her.

Iris wasn't strong enough to overpower the guard dragging her away so she had no way of stopping them. She could only watch in vain as the armored soldiers engaged the hybrids as the less well-equipped guards stood in the back, providing support in whatever way they could.

To Iris' surprise, the soldiers were very skilled. They worked together and pushed the hybrids back. Although the wounds they inflicted on the monsters would just heal back up, the hybrids couldn't do a thing to the soldiers.

One of the hybrids who was wearing a guard's uniform even resorted to picking up a weapon from a fallen guard to even the playing field. However, its sword skills were lacking compared to the soldier's, and its enhanced physical and regenerative abilities didn't do much to close the gap between them.

These soldiers were the best of the best. They weren't chosen for no reason. They might actually be able to win against these monsters!

Iris cheered for the soldiers in her head, glad that they were strong enough to deal with the hybrids. She was still remorseful that they used to be innocent people, but nothing can be done about it now.

Iris stopped her needless resistance and let the guards escort her away. She didn't need to worry about them. The soldiers had everything under control-

Iris caught something in the corner of her eye, flying through the air. She turned to see what it was. A sphere-sharper object was flying towards the soldiers. Even though Iris had never seen the thing before in her life, she knew what it was instant.

Iris opened her mouth and tried to warn everyone of the bomb, but it was too late. The explosion went off and needles erupted from it, hitting a great number of the soldiers and the guards in their radius.

The people who were hit all fell to their knees, and within seconds began their transformation. Their comrades watched in horror as their friends and companions turned into their enemies.

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