Gunnar, you are avenged...

Alex had rushed at the grotesque monster so quickly his teammates did not have enough time to react. Those who had considered the option of fleeing could no longer achieve such a goal and were forced by Alex's actions to engage in a head-on fight with the terrifying monster.

The hideous creature rushed towards Alex at speed far beyond a level 10 human's capability. Its claws struck towards Alex's intestines in an attempt to rip them apart. However, a look of shock appeared on the creature's face as its razor-sharp claws failed to pierce through Alex's flesh in a significant manner.

Sure the iron-silk vest had an enormous hole in it where the claws made contact, and the creature had inflicted a few cenitmeters deep incision on Alex's stomach. Yet, the damage was far less than the creature had imagined.

Alex winced in pain as he could feel the long claws piercing his iron hide, but it was to a manageable degree. He used this opportunity to grab ahold of the monster's wrist in an attempt to hold it in place and slam his other elbow into the creature's temple.

The monster howled in pain as it quickly retreated from Alex's grasp. It was not expecting such a violent display from the pathetic humans. However, before it could get far, Cassie had shadow-stepped into its vicinity and violently slashed towards its chest with her daggers.

Cassie's daggers were of significantly better quality than the last time she had encountered the creature; as such, they were able to pierce its flesh. Black blood jetted out of the creature's chest as it attempted to regain its composure.

A look of fear began to enter the creature's eyes; these humans were not the same insignificant prey it had attempted to feast upon the last time. They were much stronger now. It would have to fight carefully if it wished to survive.

It cautiously eyed the two combatants in front of itself; they were already rushing over to the creature's position. After realizing engaging in close-quarters combat with the two humans nearby would be disastrous, the creature decided to focus its attention on the two humans in the rear of the formation, which had not done much until this point.

With a flap of the creature's wings, it broke the encirclement Alex and Cassie had surrounded it with and flew rapidly towards the direction of Derek, who was in the middle of channeling a spell. However, just as its claws were about to reach the neck of the young boy, a bolt of lightning that Derek had successfully cast fell furiously from the sky and pinned the monster in place.

Electricity surged throughout the creature's insides as it shrieked in misery; the lightning had temporarily paralyzed it and caused serious internal damage. Brandon used this moment to fire a barrage of arrows into the creature's vitals.

Though they did not penetrate far into the monster's flesh, they had still caused additional damage to the creature. With the arrows jutting out of its gut like a pincushion, Alex and Cassie charged at it simultaneously. A kick to the head and a slash to the neck were all that they needed to end the pitiful creature's life.

Its charred corpse fell to the ground, and a message instantly appeared in the party's vision.

[You have slain a Gargoyle and gain 500 xp]

However, Alex paid no attention to it and instead sat atop the corpse raining blows into the gargoyles lifeless head. He finally had an opportunity to vent his frustration, shame, and guilt upon the creature that had made him feel that way.

Nobody tried to stop Alex as he ruthlessly pummeled the gargoyle's head into mincemeat while tears streamed from his eyes. Only after what remained of the head was no longer punchable did Alex stand up, his fists covered in the gore of the gargoyle's blood and brain matter.

He roared furiously to the sky like a wounded animal as the rain began to pour down upon his face masking his fervent tears. Though he did not know Gunnar for long, he had felt immense guilt for his act of cowardice by leaving the man behind in the face of death.

His words appeared meek as he muttered under his breath, "Gunnar, you are avenged..."

However, to his surprise, another message appeared within his peripheral vision that only he could see.

[Ares is pleased by the display of your brutality and awards you 50 favor]

This was not the first time Alex had received a message like this. However, it was indeed the first he received it for inflicting violence onto a corpse. He did not know how to feel about the message. Though he was no scholar, he was slightly aware of some portions of Greek Mythology as he had taken world history courses.

If his memory served correctly, Ares was a violent, vicious, and ill-tempered god who was the personification of brutality and bloodlust. If his actions were consistently pleasing to the eyes of such a deity, to the point where he was often awarded favor, it meant that he, too, was displaying such traits.

Still, he had no time to think about such actions. The party would need to travel quite some distance to reach the airport's safety and would most likely encounter plenty of dangerous monsters along the way. If Alex diverted his focus to thinking about the morality of his actions, he would likely get himself killed.

As such, Alex dusted himself off and wiped the tears from his eyes; it was only now that he noticed the solemn expressions on Brandon's and Cassie's faces, as they too had suffered greatly from their previous actions. With this, the party had avenged their fallen comrade and could properly face him in the afterlife should that day ever come.

After cleaning themselves up and looting whatever they could from the gargoyle's charred corpse, the party once more began their long trek back to the airport. They could already imagine the taste of beer along with their tongues as they spun stories as to how they slew a fabled gargoyle in the dead of night.