Chapter 129: Of Fang and Claw

The monsters' hides proved to be impenetrable against his weapon. He tried his best to stab and slash the enemies with the little bladed edge he had left but it proved to be meaningless. The monsters came right back at him with their massive hands armed with talons as sharp as his dwarven sword was.

Urfaal managed to duck and pushed away the monster as hard as he could, overpowering it with his strength. The monster tumbled to the ground and was brutally crushed by its kins' feet. The headless monster laid on the ground dead and unrecognizable with its guts spilling out.

He ran away and distracted the horde as much as he could. All of the sudden, his fears began to dissolve along with his hope of living, but he wasn't giving out without a fight yet. He has a lot to prove to his comrades that he wasn't just a tall messy wreck. He wanted the elf, the dwarf and the human to remember that he was a Meh Teh. A tribe of brave warriors, a tribe that he will rightfully belong.

Urfaal knew that was the end for him. He had fought his way back to the line, back to Orphella and Ghwynmyr but the monsters proved to be overwhelming him in sheer numbers alone. His sword broke at his final swing on those tough bastards and was left with nothing but a broken blade and his desperation to live.

The monsters tried their best to tackle him but he fought them well. He distracted most of their lines and was able to cut the raging monsters' attention in two. Using his fists he fought them. There was no hint of fear left inside him already. At that point, all that was left was a feeling of clarity and certain peaceful surrender to his ill fate.

The monsters went on him once again. Their maws grotesquely opened as they tried to gore him. Urfaal however, refused to give in. Using their own weight, he dragged the monster to the ground while he elbowed one sneaking behind him and punched one rushing towards him. He slammed one to the floor as it went by him and threw another one who went for a tackle.

He knew deep down he could only do so much. His body was already protesting against it. The pain he felt was truly unbearable, as his body was already at its limit, but would he even stop?  He knew he wouldn't. This was his end song, his last hurrah. This was his way of paying for the sins he committed before; his cowardice and indecisiveness that led to the death of the clan. This was his redemption.

Urfaal was heaving his breath already as another batch of monsters came rushing towards him. He tried evading the charge, but his body sluggishly obeyed; his arm was caught by the hands of the monster. He pulled the monster in and greeted him with the hardest punch he could muster. He felt his bones cracked as his fist hit the monster's sturdy hide.

The monster lost its grip and was thrown away in the process. Another one tried to attack him from behind but he managed to somehow slam it on the pile of bodies he was standing on.  However, as soon as he tried to ready for the next attack, the headless swarm finally caught him.

One of them jumped on him, as Urfaal tried to dodge, the monster he slammed earlier, caught his leg and tripped him down to the ground. Urfaal was doomed after that. The monsters started to surround him and started to batter him with their huge fists. There was nothing that he could do but just simply defend himself with the little strength he had left.

Using his instincts and training with Adaloun, Urfaal managed to effectively parry most of the attacks thrown at him. But the attacks that went through him proved to damage him greatly. A powerful punch struck him on the face that immediately concussed him. His body froze at the impact and his vision blurred in an instant.

Everything went dark after that and his body went numb. He slowly closed his eyes as he finally understood what that meant…

"This is the end…" He said to himself. "Finally, I can pay for the sins that I did."

As he was about to lose his consciousness he suddenly heard a familiar voice. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see the monsters' bodies where scorched in flames.

"Yah g'tup der, lad!" The dwarf's voice boomed in the distance. "Yer fucken g'tup or I'll make yah!"

Urfaal's body was numb and heavy from the damages he suffered earlier at the hands of those monsters, but his comrade was asking him to get up—thus, he did so. He gritted his teeth as he commanded his stubborn body to follow his will.

He looked at the dwarf who was also struggling with the overwhelming number of enemies he had. From the looks of it, the dwarf seemed to be bathe in blood as if he was smothered somewhere. His dwarven armor seemed loosed and hanging as he swung through the many opponents they had.

"Fyr chm flhw! (Come and flow, fire!)" The dwarf pointed his finger straight pass him. Suddenly, flames started to come out from his fingers. Urfaal did his best to evade the impending flames but it managed to scorch a part of his pants.

"What did you do that for?!" He shouted at him.

"Me...just…Yarrghhh…" Ghwynmyr buried his axe into the headless monster's gut. "Look behind…yah!" He said as he tried fending off the rest of the monsters crawling up the pile of dead nights.

"Oyue's foot! Cud yah 'elp me 'er?" The dwarf shouted.

Urfaal took a deep breath, "Oyue, give me the strength to overcome my enemies…" He mumbled as he prayed his last.

"Granted." A voice inside his head answered.

All of the sudden, he felt a warm sensation coursing through his body. He could feel something inside him shifting as a powerful energy began to energize him. He felt his wounds healing and he saw it with his very own eyes, how the bite mark in his arm instantly healed.

He didn't wait for his entire body to heal. He saw Ghwynmyr was already in a pinch. He scrambled towards the dwarf and noticed how light his body had become. He grabbed one of the monsters that was climbing his way to the pile were the dwarf was and instantly ripped its arm off its torso.

The monster cried out a deafening scream, but he immediately held its mouth together and crushed it into silence. The rest of the monsters suddenly turned their attention on him. He grinned at them showing his fangs to the headless monstrosities who seemed to be distraught with what happened to their own kin in his hands.

"Yes, you come right at me!" He screamed his lungs out as the surging powers began to flow to his tattoos and then…

"By the gods' balls!" Ghwynmyr couldn't contain his bewilderment as he him suddenly transform.

Urfaal felt it too. He felt the surging energy transforming his arms into that of a bear—the guardian bear. It was a transformation only granted to the warriors of the Meh Teh tribe who proved their worth to the goddess. But he hadn't proved anything yet to anyone but still he was gifted with such.

He parted his bewilderment for later, right now, they need to kill those monsters whose number seemed to have dwindled as they started fighting back. He felt the power of the guardian bear coursing throughout his body. His fangs and claws seemed to be sharper and his blows heavier than before.  He easily sliced through the monsters' bodies, tearing them as if they were nothing but leather.

The monsters began to retreat as they realized that there was a monster far more superior than them. They tried to run away but the remaining squad was quick with their heads. They formed a wind barrier to keep the monsters trapped inside the enclosure. The remaining ones scrambled as arrows began to rain over the monsters.

Orphella whistled to him and gestured him to take the right. The dwarf smiled at them, "Tis be der wid yah!"  He jumped down from the pile of human remains and began their obliteration of the monsters.

The seemingly invincible and fearless monsters seemed to have become smaller than what they were when they first made their way out of their nests. Their bodies quivering as Urfaal took a step closer to them.

"AAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!" Urfaal roared and saw how the creatures pushed each other away from the barrier. In their rattled state they looked like mice trying to save themselves from the clutches of a hungry cat. They pulled each other down hoping that one of them would face the predator while the rest would escape—but there was no escape…Not for these unfortunate brutes.

Urfaal along with Ghwynmyr looked at them with bloodlust and tore through their chaotic cluster.