Chapter 24: Beast are Still Beast
Feeling the cold tip of the weathered sword on its thick fur, the canine monster flinched before it froze on its spot, thinking that it is caught in quite the dilemma for letting its guard down and assuming that this creature is no different than the prey it previously hunted, and as much as it wants to correct that wrong perfectly, it is well aware that it needs to pay some price in order to escape from this attack with its life intact.
Hence why it let the sword swing and graze through its majestic fur coating, staining the gray fur with a bright crimson red as the tip of the old sword the young man is using tore through its flesh and penetrates a significant depth on its flesh, making the monster struggle with its movements from here onward as it got hit pretty badly on one of its limbs.
Now with one front limb limping in front of it, the canine monster eyes the young man with more seriousness now, as if rather than just toying around with a prey it can catch anytime, it is now pushing itself to its limits facing an opponent of the same strength as it, a tinge of hesitation escaping it every now and then as its ferocious, threatening growl resounded across the entire clearing, almost as if it is trying to scare the young man away.
Being experienced dealing with all sorts of monsters for a decade now though, the young man, Azrael, is well aware of the fact that this proud show of strength through threatening growling is nothing but a mask that attempts to hide the doubt that this 'hunter' is now feeling, facing another being of similar strength.
"Now you're hesitating, huh? You trying to run little pup?" looking confidently at the towering height of the canine monster eyeing him warily, the young man said with a confident smile on his face as he takes a low stance with his sword's end pointing towards the monster once again, said monster seemingly being provoked either by his words or his stance as it growls even louder, clearly trying to take him down in one fell swoop now.
"Not so confident now aren't you, little pup?" feeling the changes in his opponent's pacing as well as the weight behind each and every single one of its attack, Azrael remarks once again as he uses his sword, already threatening to break, to parry another claw from the canine monster, shifting the weight of the attack to his side in order to create a path for him to charge in deeper into the monster's defenses, his attempt failing once again as his opponent got a read of his strategy and immediately jumped away from his position, looking at him with hostile eyes as it does so.
Of course, his endeavor to risk hurting himself to hurt this canine monster doesn't end up in vain, as once again, he manages to leave a deep gash running from the previously injured limbs, all the way down to its claw, completely debilitating this limb and effectively taking it out of combat at worst, and at best, even becoming a hindrance to each move of the canine monster.