Chapter 283: Macabre Monstrosity
The wendigo’s menacing gaze pierced through the mist, its towering form casting a chilling shadow over me. It was a grotesque mockery of nature as it stood on its hind legs, its elongated arms ending in razor-sharp claws. The creature’s skeletal frame was a macabre sight to behold, its skin stretched taut over bone, the glow of its red eyes screaming of hunger.
A boy was cradled in its grasp, limp and seemingly lifeless, his body battered and bruised. I hissed sharply at the sight, breathing in a large mouthful of the foul odor as a result, my eyes watering. Yet, the subtle rise and fall of the boy’s chest told me enough. He was still alive, and that was all that mattered.
I brandished the weapon in front of me, eyeing the monster as it stared back. It surprisingly made no move to attack, but its grip on the boy tightened. A small whimper left his lips, and I bit my bottom jaw.
There was no time to waste in this silent tango. One more second wasted was a second closer to this boy’s demise.
It seemed like the wendigo thought the same, for a loud, high-pitched scream tore through its throat and into the air, scaring flocks of birds who dared to stay throughout the battle. They quickly took to the air, and likewise, the wendigo stumbled forward, quickly quickening its pace into a full sprint before swiping at me once it got close enough.
I barely rolled out of the way, the twigs and branches strewn across the forest floor scraping across my arms, drawing a line of blood. Smelling its coppery scent seemed to ignite a hunger in the demonic spawn.
It dropped the boy before turning over, offering me its full attention. This time, when it charged forward, it was without Atlas slowing him down. It reached both its claws out to get me, and I jumped to the right before swatting its back with my weapon.
The rod smacked hard square in its back, cracking a few bones as it screeched in pain. However, I couldn’t afford to give it a chance to recover. As it tripped over its steps, I added a few more blows, pelting down hard on it.
Using the tip of the rod, I jabbed hard into its exposed backbone, cracking the vertebrae. The bellows of pain continued, but it wasn’t enough damage done quite yet. Unfortunately, I didn’t get more time.
The wendigo swiped backward and caught me off guard; I was quickly sent flying through the air until my back hit the trunk of a tree hard. I wheezed in pain as I collapsed onto the ground, and for a second, both of us stayed down from the agony of our respective injuries.
I recovered just as quickly as the wendigo did, and as soon as it was on its feet, it came straight for me. Its long arms were swinging wildly, swiping madly at any and everything as I barely rolled out of the way, just in time to see the tree I had been standing under unrooted and flung a distance away.
If I had been any slower, that would’ve been me.
When the wendigo realized that I hadn’t been on its warpath, it stopped, its red beady eyes scanning through the forest floor before it eventually reached me. Turning back on its heel, it dashed forward.
This time, I steeled my gaze and tightened my grip around the rod, surging forward as well. Once it got close enough, I slid across the ground, going underneath it while using the tip of my weapon to rip its underbelly. The thin layer of skin tore fairly easily, dark blood oozing from its wounds like layers of tar and oil.
Before I could stand up, however, the wendigo reached down, its long claws wrapping around me and scooping me off the ground. It raised me to its eye level, and from such a close distance, a whiff of the putrid scent was enough to knock any human out. My eyes watered as I gagged, an action that merely further enraged the beast.
Its bony jaws opened and a loud, ear-piercing scream ripped from its throat, blasting me across the face. The force of it was enough to send my hair flying, and I nearly dropped my weapon in an attempt to cover my ears.
Still, it was unwilling to relent, its lung capacity seemingly endless. Any second longer my skin could melt from my skin from the shrill sound alone. I gritted my teeth and winced through the pain, squinting as I raised my arms and weapon high in the air.
In one swift jab, I brought it down, sticking the long weapon into the wendigo’s throat, and gagging it. The moment it hit the back of its throat, its claws loosened their grip on me, reaching for its throat as it struggled to get the foreign object out. Without its hands holding me in place, I could only hand on the rod for dear life.
But what the wendigo didn’t account for was that my weight shifted the rod in its throat.
"Ugh," I huffed, my arms sore and my heart pounding in my chest. "Die, you fucking son of a bitch."
With a hard tug, the silver rod broke through its lower jaw, shattering it as it broke through all the bones and tore through the skin that barely clung on its body. I dropped to the floor, my hands loosening around the silver weapon at the last lap.
It remained lodged in the wendigo, but that was fine― it had served its purpose.
The giant monster swayed and staggered left and right, its body moving like a candle flame surrounded by gusts of wind. Finally, it was snuffed out, and the body collapsed right next to me. Leaves and grass flew into the air upon impact, and all of a sudden, the forest was drenched in silence other than my heavy pants.
"Harper!"
I looked up, my tongue darting out to lick my dry bottom lip as Milo’s figure slowly came into view. He stopped when he noticed the young boy on the forest floor and bent down to check his pulse. Satisfied, he stood back up and said something to the men behind him.
Milo trudged forward while the two stayed behind with Atlas.
"Harper? Harper! Har―" He stopped short when he caught sight of the wendigo, along with me a short distance away from the freshly slain monster.
Despite my body aching in protest, I raised a hand and offered Milo a small wave.
I chuckled. "A little late, don’t you think?"
