Chương 200: 197. Moment Of Truth

"There!" She immediately whispered to the others as she pointed towards that area, while the guards just gave nods in reply, nobody wanting to make any unnecessary sound with an adzee so close to them. Their hearing was known to be excellent, after all. She didn't know how long she kept waiting with her muscles tense and ready, but slowly she saw the distinctive grace of the mov ement of a fully grown adzee slowly walking between the leafless trees while gazing towards them with its piercing red eyes.

Its thick fur was more grey than brown in this season, but it blended so well between the winter foliage, that she didn't know if she would have ever noticed it in the night. The beast was easily as tall as her, and she had no doubt that a single swipe from its powerful paws would be more than enough to take her life, despite the leather armour every guard was given.

Just as they had been trained by Hudan in case of an adzee sighting, she slowly took a few steps back along with Yufim, while Feroy as well as the other three guards with spears moved to the front with silent steps. They had braced the butt of the spears on the ground, while the spear heads were around the height of the chest of an adzee, to deter it from charging or even jumping towards them.

She and Yufim had taken positions between the guards, a few steps behind them, with her crossbow and his warbow ready to shoot. By now, her heart was beating so loudly that she thought everyone would be able to hear it and would realise how scared she really was. Despite her regular training with other guards in the past month, this was the first time she was facing a real danger in front of her where her life might be lost before she even blinked.

But she forced her feet to stay planted on the ground, even if her brain told her to just run away from the gates to be safe. She noticed that her hands had started shaking by now, but she clenched her fist tightly around the crossbow, and took a few deep breaths to calm her mind, while still looking carefully at the single adzee which had stopped maybe fifty feet away from them. She looked around the beast in search of the rest of its pack.

They didn't even know if they could defeat a single one, but what if there were more of them out there? Once again, her brain started telling her to leave her post and run away to the longhouse block where she should be safer. Shouldn't she do her best to save her own life? She shook her head. No, she wouldn't run away! She had been trusted by Lord Kivamus to become a guard, and it was her duty to protect the other villagers. This was what she had been training for.

She never wanted to return to her life before she had arrived at the village, where she only depended on others to protect her. She did not want to feel that helplessness ever again. Feeling that her mind was more clear now, she slowly raised the crossbow in front of her eyes, with a finger of the other hand ready on the trigger, despite her arms shaking in fear.

All the guards including her had been given a rundown by the guard captain, who was the only one who had fought an adzee in the past, that unless it seemed like an adzee was immediately coming towards you with an intention to attack, you let it go. Those beasts liked to stare at their prey for a while, while they decided whether it was going to be an easy kill or not.

So if there was even a small possibility of the beast deciding that it wasn't worth attacking you, you just didn't start the attack yourself, or you risked dying an avoidable death. The adzee looked like it was staring right at her, so she did exactly the same and stared right back at it, despite her heart beating loudly in her chest.

For a while, she thought that it was just going to scare them and walk away, but then the adzee raised its snout higher, sniffing the air, before it gazed towards them again and slowly started to move in their direction. Only a few moments later, Feroy whispered with everyone still looking ahead, "It's going to attack us soon. Spearmen, hold your positions. Archers, start shooting. Yufim, target its head. Hyola, hit wherever you can."

Then he took the horn which was tied to his waist, and blew it loudly, startling the beast. It barely took a moment for Yufim to begin to nock an arrow on his heavy warbow, while Hyola put the beast's head in her crossbow sights. Did Feroy really think that she was a worse shot than Yufim, telling her to hit wherever she could? Hah! She would show them all! As the beast slowly moved closer to them, Yufim let his arrow go, with Hyola's broadhead bolt only moments behind it.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Without waiting to see whether it had hit the adzee, Yufim began to nock another arrow, while Hyola tried to hurry to load the crossbow again. Suddenly, she heard the wailing sound of the adzee howling in pain. She took a moment to glance towards the beast, and noticed that with the power of the bolt being more than enough at this short range, it had pierced the adzee's snout near its nose.

How had she managed to even hit it with her hands still shaking? She felt victorious for a moment, thinking she was the one who had made the beast howl in pain, before she noticed the much longer arrow shot by Yufim sticking out of the adzee's eye! He was the reason for the beast's painful howl, not her... She looked at the young archer in disbelief who was already nocking his second arrow by now with concentration. How could he have hit the eye in his first try for Goddess' sake! That had to be blind luck!

She returned to load the crossbow again, before she heard the whistle of another arrow being shot by the young archer. Being very curious if it was really going to hit the other eye of the beast, she felt vindicated when she saw that it only hit its snout. As she used the goat's foot lever to nock the crossbow string again, she realised how difficult even that shot must have been, with the adzee continuously shaking its snout left to right trying to rid itself of the painful objects.

Once again, she loaded a broadhead bolt, since the distance was so short, and raised the crossbow in front of her eyes, trying to shoot at the beast's head again. Before she could pull the trigger, she heard the sound of another arrow whistling ahead, and this time it hit the beast in its neck, with the adzee howling loudly again.

Hyola took her time to target this time, and soon she saw her bolt hitting the beast on its stomach, quite far away from her target of its other eye, because the damn beast was moving so much! No, it wasn't because her hands were still shaking! She glanced at the young archer in annoyance, who had his brows furrowed in concentration, his hands as steady as a mountain. How in the Goddess' name could he target so well!

Suddenly, she saw movement towards the north, and saw that the beast had somehow rid itself of the arrow in its eye, while the other bolts and arrows were still sticking out of it, while starting to move towards them slowly while growling. She thought this would be a good time for the other guard to make a run at it with spears - with the beast already injured - but once again, Feroy spoke up in a soft voice, "Hold your positions, spearmen!

Even if it tries to jump at us, keep the spears braced in the ground, and do not try to run towards it!" As the beast kept moving slowly towards them while growling continuously, she heard movement from somewhere behind them. Taking a moment while loading the third bolt, she saw Hudan, Tesyb and another three guards running towards them with spears in their hands.

Thankfully, the beast seemed to be moving slowly now, which gave time for the new arrivals to take their places between Feroy and the other guards, which made the spear-wall a lot more dense and stronger. Yufim let loose his fourth arrow, but this time it only hit one of the front legs of the adzee.

By now, Hyola was close to loading the third bolt, and wanted to target better than the archer despite her rapidly beating heart, but then she saw the adzee starting to pick up speed while running towards them, even if it seemed like it was stumbling a little because of the arrow sticking to its leg.

Even if she had been trying her best to calm her heart and steady her hands, the primal sight of such a huge beast running towards her with an intention to tear them limb from limb broke all the courage she had built up, and she unconsciously took a few steps behind, stumbling on the snow gathered on the ground. Yufim supported her by grabbing her arm which prevented her from falling, while he pointed to the inner side of the walls.

"Come on, our task is done now!" Not knowing what to think, Hyola quickly jogged a dozen feet towards the cover of the sturdy log walls, and began to reload her crossbow just in case. However, Yufim had already nocked another arrow, but this time he seemed to be waiting for a better opportunity. By now, the spear-wall consisted of nine guards, who had arranged their spears in two layers.

She peeked between an inch wide gap in two logs of the wall, and her heart stopped for a moment as she saw the beast running at full speed towards the guards.

"Hold your positions!" Hudan ordered loudly, and within a moment, the adzee - which probably wanted to jump over the guards completely - mistimed its jump while stumbling on its injured leg. Seeing it as a good opportunity, Yufim - who had been standing at the edge of the wall's gap - let loose another arrow which hit the beast in its muscular chest right before it began its jump.

She saw with bated breath as the huge beast's jump fell short and it fell right on the spears pointed towards it, howling in pain once again. At the same time, one of the guards screamed loudly in pain while holding his leg.