The Flock

"The hunt is on. With a Suffodio on the loose, I take the responsibility to deal with it on my shoulders. Reward or not, this thing can become trouble in the matter of days... and there's no telling HOW many days it's already been here. Likely three, considering its size.

"But as I get closer to it, I start to feel a strange sensation... a sensation that I never really thought I'd feel in a hunt...

"... Dread."

You slow your pace after walking about three miles from town. The scenery has changed to a much more gruesome look. Pods litter the area with the bodies of various woodland creatures.

"Hmm... must be getting close to where it first arrived. Question is, how did it get here?"

A particularly large one piques your interest. Upon closer inspection, it would be a Manticore, lifeless like the rest. To take down such a beast would mean one thing.

"It's fully recovered by now... probably should've killed it while I had the chance." you mumble to yourself.

Then you hunch over to the ground and brush your fingers against the soil. Feeling the softness, you're certain that this soil is freshly moved. Then you rip a blade of grass from the ground and give it a small nibble, spitting it out after and mentally noting the texture.

"Soil is rich in nutrients... far more richer than back in Asgalon. For a creature like a Suffodio, this can only mean big trouble ahead."

Finally, you examine the area a bit more, until a loud roar catches your attention... the sound of a lion.

You hurry over towards the source of the noise, and sure enough, another Manticore would appear trapped in the roots. This one, though badly banged up, is still alive, but barely. Its movements inside the trap are more delicate and weak.

You're already familiar with this sign. It's nearing its last legs.

Whether or not the Manticore is hostile, the Suffodio would only get stronger if it absorbs the nutrients out of it completely... and so, you do what comes naturally.

You approach it carefully.

"Alright, cat... hold still." you tell the Manticore, uncaring whether it understands you or not. Its increase in movement only verifies that, sure enough, it doesn't quite get the picture.

So, you decide to work faster, instead. The more it struggles, the deeper the roots go, after all.

"Flei." Raising your Fire Rune towards the base of the roots, you ignite it. In a quick burst, the roots immediately catch fire, and the fire spreads across the roots near-instantly.

The Manticore, seeing its opportune moment, quickly flares its wings and leaps out of its prison. It then roars again, before turning towards you.

For a brief moment, it glares menacingly at you, flaring its wings and lifting its scorpion-like tail defensively. You, however, stand your ground and glare back at it, taking up a defensive posture, yourself.

"If I were you, I'd leave." you tell it.

It stares at you for a moment longer, before its eyes drift towards the spot where it once stood imprisoned. Finally, it lets out a slight growl, turns back around, and takes to the air, flying out of sight.

"Smart cat... now, where the hell did that-" you begin, but before you can finish your sentence, you hush up and listen to the sound of the leaves brushing around.

"Looks like it's coming to investigate its lost meal... good. I can take it by surprise." you think to yourself, as you crouch and climb up a nearby tree.

Sure enough, the creature appears once again, in all its glory. However, you mentally curse as you notice that its arms and legs are a lot more bulged and muscular, its fingers you cut off have regrown, and its leaves have shifted into a more orange and yellow color.

"Damn it... it's already turned into an Alpha?! What the hell is even in this soil?!"

You grit your teeth and await its next move.

You sit there patiently on the branch while it approaches the spot. Then, when it's right beneath you, you lunge at it from the top of the trees, in an attempt to catch it by surprise.

But instead, a gust of leaves surrounds it, and it vanishes before you can even land.

This, of course, leaves you surprised!

"It can use MAGIC, now?! That isn't normal at all!" you mutter. In all of your years of hunting these things, not once could they use magic.

"Must be a side-effect of the soil." you conclude, as you turn around and stand back up, assuming a defensive stance while the Alpha Suffodio looks directly at you. Its once yellowish green eyes now glows red with rage, and it lets out a loud roar before lunging after you with its arms widely spread.

It's learned from its last mistake. This creature is no fool, it would seem.

You dodge to the left, rolling and sliding right underneath its right arm and lash your Silver Sword out against it. This time, however, it counters with a slide of its own, followed by another lunge - this time from a closer distance.

You can't dodge this one, so instead you switch to an Offensive Stance, and slice towards its underbelly while crouching down and moving forward.

This, unfortunately, leaves you open for its roots to wrap around your legs.

You growl and use your Fire Rune on them, but by the time you burn the roots beneath you, it's already charging at full speed.

Now it manages to grip you and lift you on top of its shoulders, while the force disarms your sword from your hands.

"Shit!" you hiss, before reaching your Fire Rune up to its face and burning it.

However, the creature doesn't stop, and instead grips you with its hand and throws you across the field, and into a tree.

You grunt as the pain surges through your left arm. You go to get up, but its roots quickly wrap onto your left arm and start digging through your flesh.

With a pained growl, you use your Fire Rune on the roots. This time, though, they don't burn!

"Damn it! These roots are filled with too much water!" you say out loud.

The Alpha Suffodio begins to charge at you at full speed, now that it has you pinned.

You then take a deep breath and grip onto your left wrist, and hoist a foot onto the tree. Then, with a mighty pull, you manage to break free, but the roots that were dug into your arm make it a very, very unpleasant feeling. The roots that broke from the tree solidify into sticks and splinters that now fill your bloodied left arm.

You don't spare any more time and roll out of the way, right as the Suffodio crashes into the tree, toppling it over with a mighty thud.

Then you rush over towards your sword and almost manage to grab it, but the Suffodio wasn't through quite yet! One of its roots was hanging over a branch surrounding the sword, as if it laid out a trap for you... and unfortunate enough, you ran right into it.

The root wraps around your right ankle and lifts you into the air like a snare, right before you could even reach your blade. You lean up and attempt to break free from the roots, but the creature's grip is surprisingly strong!

Then you look up (or down, technically), and see the creature inching closer!

You're about to reach for your Fire Rune, when a familiar roar fills the air. Turning to your right, you notice the Manticore from before flying towards you!

But rather than aiming at you, it swipes at the root holding you by the ankle, cutting it just enough to break you from your trap!

You kick your legs in the air to angle your landing, then grab your sword and slice at the Suffodio. With it distracted by the Manticore, however, you're able to make a clean hit, sending green pus out of its chest, and making it screech in pain.

You then lunge at it for another swipe, while the Manticore lands and leaps onto its back, biting into its neck, and holding it steady for you.

The Suffodio hisses again as it tries to grab onto the Manticore. However, when you slice at its chest, it only manages to teleport back a few paces, while the Manticore lands on all fours and starts circling around the Suffodio, standing next to you in the process.

You briefly acknowledge the Manticore. "So you're here to help, then? Just try not to die on me... the bastard will only get stronger, then."

For a moment, it seems like the Manticore understands you... or at least, senses the urgency of your words. It keeps pacing, but doesn't make a move until you do.

You're also pacing as well, now... keeping the roots from growing beneath your legs. Then you get an idea.

You charge at the Suffodio, while the Manticore instinctively follows behind you. The Suffodio lashes out another swarm of bees, though.

You're about to use a Fire Rune, when suddenly the Manticore flies ahead of you and lands, then spreads its wings and fans them towards the bees, blowing them astray.

You take this opportunity to leap over the Manticore, and on top of the Suffodio's upper back.

It starts to shake and twitch, while you keep your grip firmly tightened on the beast. Then you reverse-grip your Silver Sword and take a few stabs at it, making it screech with each stab.

Finally, you've cut through its fleshy exterior, and can see its stone heart within! You go to reach for it, but the creature quickly teleports away from you, forcing you to land on the ground.

"Damn it! Not this time, you son of a bitch!" you shout, turning towards the sound of its leaves scurrying away.

You begin to give chase, when the Manticore hoists you up with its mouth and places you on its back. Then it roars before taking flight with you on it.

"Alright, cat! Bring us closer to that thing!" you order. The Manticore roars in acknowledgement, and begins to give chase towards the moving monster.

When you're both close enough, the Manticore dives in. Upon reaching the Suffodio, it quickly bites into its neck, while you leap from the Manticore's back onto the Suffodio's, and stab at it once again.

The beast screeches in agony, as it makes an attempt to teleport once more... but something tells you that it's in too much pain to do anything, now.

You see its heart and reach your hand into it. Already, you can feel the small roots inside the stone organ piercing at your palms, but a little-known fact of the Suffodio is that its heart houses its weakest roots... it's why it has to absorb from the life forms around it to strengthen its exterior roots that shields its heart from the world. And with your Monster Blood strengthening your endurance, the weakest roots aren't able to even break the skin, let alone absorb anything.

And now, with one mighty pull, you force the heart out of the beast and leap back from its quickly hollowing body.

The Manticore then crushes its neck with its jaw, right as the body breaks apart, becoming nothing more than a pile of wood on the ground.

You breathe heavily while lifting the heart in the air. The tiny roots wriggle and writhe from the few small holes in the heart.

Giving it a fierce glare, you take a Fire Rune and burn the last remaining roots, before crushing the heart with your hand, turning the organ, and its interior roots, into dust and ash.

"Finally... glad that's over with." you say, before turning towards the Manticore.

The Manticore gives you a fierce look, before nodding its head and turning around. You nod back and turn around, as well.

Two predators acknowledging a common debt that was paid would be your guess. You freed it from the pod, and it freed you from the snare. An even trade, even though you probably could've escaped had you used your Fire Rune for it... but you'll just give the Manticore the benefit of the doubt.

And so, sheathing your sword again, you make your way back over towards the town to deliver the good news to the girls.

"With the hunt taken care of, I made it back to town without any more trouble. Unfortunately, no survivors could be found, even after they scoped the whole place out... but who knows? Maybe some of them fled the town.

"Regardless, my arm kinda gave them a fright, but I let them know that it's fine. I have a faster healing rate than most creatures, anyways. The wounds should be fully healed by three days at most.

"As for the rest of their tasks... they managed to find a good enough ship to take us through the sea and into Equestrian Waters. We've also got enough rations and food stored away. Best of all, free travel due to the... lack of an owner for the ship.

"And so, after giving the rest of the town one last sweep, we climbed on board and lifted the anchor. Our next destination would be Horseshoe Bay."