.

Ian was numb when he saw the monster emerge from the tunnel.

The huge creature, covered with gray wool and similar in structure to a wolf or a dog, was one and a half meters tall, even standing on all four legs. The forelegs were more developed and even somewhat human-like, if you do not take into account the huge, razor-sharp claws. The face of this creature was similar to the head of a bat: the same ugly large nose, huge ears and small eyes. And seeing the huge fangs in the mouth of this creature, Jan got sick.

"Your mother ... Bargestr" - Elim cursed to himself, remembering everything he could about this creature. He did not remember why these creatures were called such a strange name, but he knew for sure that on the first floor of the dungeon they were one of the most powerful types of monsters. Barghestras usually walked alone and ate either carrion or small lone monsters. They can easily deal with a dozen or so ordinary goblins, but they prefer not to risk looking for a lonely target or a small group of weak creatures.

Most of them did not possess any magical abilities, but even without them, their strong physique and sharp claws were enough to cope with almost any enemy in their territory.

The bargestr was now surveying the surroundings and evaluating the two unusual living creatures that stood in the center of the battlefield. Actually, only because of the huge number of corpses, he did not attack these two at once - if these two arranged it, then he will not be good at it either.

"Ian, slowly, without turning your back on him, come to me," Elim began to quietly instruct his friend. Now he and the bargestre were at the same distance from Jan, who was between them.

Jan did not budge, numb with fear.

Bargestr first glanced at Elim - he did not show any signs of fear and calmly looked at him, after which Ian came into his field of vision, who, unlike his friend, was afraid of the monster that appeared. The opponents he and Elim had met earlier were only goblins and kobolds, who were small and thin, but he did not consider them scary. But now, from the sight of the creature in front of him, his blood froze in his veins.

"Jan, come slowly to me," Elim repeated louder.

This time Ian heard him and, coming out of his stupor, slowly, without turning, went back.

Bargestr saw how the person he was looking at was afraid of him, which means he is weaker, but the second did not show any signs of fear and this worried him. Elim did not move and looked closely at the monster, if he sees even the slightest signs indicating that he is going to attack, he will rush to cut him.

His friend, meanwhile, was moving in his direction, back forward, as he was closely following the creature in front of him, to see that he had no opportunity under his feet, therefore, stumbling over the kobold lying on the ground, Ian flew to the floor.

The still doubting bargestor saw how the man stumbled, brushed aside all doubts and at full speed rushed towards the falling Jan.

Noticing this, Elim went to cut him. He poured a huge amount of mana into his legs, accelerating as much as possible. Now Jan was already closer to him, but he was still not exactly sure of his ability to overtake the bargestra, so he was ready to injure his legs, pouring too much energy into them. Activate your armor! Elim yelled as he ran. Ian, hearing this, more automatically than consciously, covered his body with armor. When the bargestr almost reached the still lying Jan, Elim appeared on his way with a sword in his hand. The monster was not going to retreat, therefore, without slowing down, attacked the enemy that appeared in front of him. After the first exchange of blows, Elim developed large claw cuts on his chest, and the bargaster had a huge, long gash in his side. In less than a second, they exchanged blows again with about the same result,

Elim, although he was an incredibly skillful fighter, even with the help of mana, could not overcome the difference in physical capabilities between him and his opponent. Only thanks to his skill did he manage to reduce their duel to a draw, any other person in his place would already be dead.

Yang was still on the ground, watching with fear the fight between his friend and the monster. Bargestr was not stupid and perfectly understood the current situation: the man with whom he fought was protecting his comrade. Deciding to take advantage of this, he rushed straight towards the person lying on the ground. Elim rushed to cut him, but when he was about to thrust a sword into the enemy, he bent his whole body and attacked him!

The claws from the left paw of the monster dug into Elim's back, and with the right paw the monster knocked the sword out of his hands and was going to grab his neck with its fangs. Elim had no choice but to grab the monster's jaws with his bare hands, the barghest's fangs immediately dug into his palms.

Now Elim was already lying on the ground, and a huge bargestor was trying to dig its fangs into his neck, clinging tightly to the victim with its claws.

Seeing this position of a friend, Jan became infinitely ashamed. His friend rushed to protect him from this monster, and he does nothing, just watches as his best friend fights for life and death! Anger at himself overpowered fear and Yan ran towards the fighters, he himself did not notice how the mana in his body stirred and flowed into his legs, increasing his speed.

Approaching the barghestr, Yan, covered with a stone fist, hit his opponent in the side, now he acted on instincts, under the influence of emotions and did not think that it was better to take a weapon after all. But contrary to expectations, his blow was much stronger than he himself expected, the sound of breaking bones was heard, and then, the painful howl of a monster.

Ian wanted to strike again, but a crushing blow with his paw threw him back several meters. Pushing Jan away from him, the bargestr abandoned his current target and moved towards the enemy that had just been thrown back.

Elim understood perfectly well that even in stone armor, Yang would not be able to defend himself from the attack of this creature, and as soon as she got to him, his friend would die. At that moment, the Soul Collector showed up. Elim let out a loud roar, after which his eyes turned light turquoise and the same color was covered with energy pointing towards the enemy.

The Bargestre was about to grab the neck of Ian, who was trying to get up, when he felt terrible pain. Turning back, he saw that two sharp wedges protruded directly from the floor, which pierced deeply into his body. Before he had time to understand anything, a blow fell on him, and then another, and another, and another - Elim beat his opponent sparing no mana, with each blow pushing him on the stone wedges more and more. The bargestr kicked and howled in pain, but he could not do anything, when he almost died, Elim stopped throwing blows at him, and grabbed his head tightly.

Then the monster screamed so loudly that the whole dungeon seemed to hear it. Ian immediately realized that his friend was taking the soul of the creature. After a couple of seconds, the barghest was silent, and a light turquoise ball of energy from his hands went to his heart. The soul of the bargestor wanted to do something, but as soon as it felt the soul of Elim, it did not dare to move, cursing a thousand times that moment when, still possessing the body, it decided to attack these two.

Having absorbed the soul of the enemy, Elim immediately collapsed to the floor - he spent almost all his mana and already lost a lot of blood.