Hua looked at the large beast and gulped. They stared at each for five seconds, the green eyes were piercing through Hua's courage. She slowly started to back away from the creature, but as soon as it realised what she was doing it attacked.
The large claws of the monster were ten inches long, so even when Hua opened her wings to dodge the strike one of the claws made contact with the fur coat located on her side.
Hua gasped loudly, so loudly that everyone heard her. She looked down at her side and saw a massive cut run from her ribs to her hip bone. The cut was about a few inches deep. She saw the blood drip down from her wound and noticed that the force of the strike had even made the blood splatter seven feet across the deck. She looked back up to the wolf and saw that one of it's claws was covered in blood. Her blood.
The agonising pain was unbearable, it was the most painfull thing she had ever felt.
She didn't notice that Tulip was galloping towards her. She didn't notice Kuati assaulting the monster with a musket, or Mreco firing spells both to attack the monster and defend Timber while he hacked at the monster with the help of Saeret, who was wielding at least three or four axes in his magical grip while teleporting around the monster to confuse it. All that she noticed was the pain. The burning pain at her side.
All went quiet.
All went black.
As Hua's life dripped off of her.
Tulip reached Hua's unconscious body and cried out.
"Someone! Anyone! Help!"
The guard that had bumped into Hua below the deck had come through the exit with bandages. He was shocked to see Hua's body laying there motionless. He levitated the body so that he could use his magic to wrap the bandages around her body to stop the blood loss.
While two of the guards lifted up her body and brought her down to the lower deck with Tulip following closely behind them Kuati had managed to shoot the monster enough times with his musket that one of it's eyes had lost it's menacing green glow.
Mreco's blasts of magic weren't too effective but his shields were doing a good job at protecting Timber and Saeret. Saeret was wielding four small tomahawks in his magical grip but dispite this they were blunt. He was more of a distraction for Timber who used his his shotgun's butt to hand out a great deal of damage. It was obvious that he had only a few shotgun shells as he wasn't using them much, he's only used one to shoot underneath the monster's chin.
This lasted for about fifteen seconds before the monster realised that it would lose if it didn't do something else.
It pounced out onto a clear space of the deck and howled.
The ear piercing howl made the whole crew freeze. The monster backed up near the edge of the vessel, growling at the guards that started to slowly walk towards it.
Kuati reloaded his gun and walked slowly towards the monster. It started to growl louder and louder as he came closer. It was six metres away when a distant howl could be heard far off through the mist. And then another, but this time closer. And then three more howls erupted, getting even closer.
Kuati turned his head around to the source of the noise. Then, another howl erupted from above them, somewhere higher up the mountain. Then a thing jumped down onto the deck and charged at Saeret, taking him by surprise.
The monster sliced at his hoof, leaving a light cut in it's trail.
In the commotoin the first monster leaped at Kuati. Kuati saw the wolf in the corner of his eyes and quickly pulled the trigger of the musket already aiming at it. Since the wolf was so close to the blast the bullet managed to tear through it's snout.
The monster yelped and ran to the other side of the deck. When Kuati turned around he saw that Saeret was doing fine.
Saeret slammed all four of the tomahawks into the creatures side. Kuati also noticed that the wolf was smaller then the first one, so the force was more effective.
The monster fell down howled in pain. Saeret pulled out one of the mini axes from the dying creatures side and striked it down hard upon the creatures skull, ending the torment.
The larger creature was now weakened hardly able to move. Three of the guards aimed their muskets at the creatures face and fired. The creature shrieked louder then before, setting off a few more howls from the other monsters in the mist.
Timber walked over to the wolf and pointed the shotgun imbetween it's eyes. He pulled the trigger.
Ten more howls could be heard from the mist.Timber looked up at Mreco and spoke with an urgent tone.
"We've got to go."
Without hesitation Mreco nodded and Timber dropped his shotgun. He galloped to the steering wheel and shouted out orders to the crew.
"Get the balloon up lads and start the generator up! Don't open up the side sails, the wind isn't in our favour in this hour!"
Kuati rushed to the plank and lifted it up with his magic and planted it down on the deck. He looked out through the mist and spotted a dozen wolves clime up the rocky and steep surface of the mountain.
"Guards! I see a dozen wolves climbing up the mountain towards us!"
Several guards heard his call and came to him.
"Where my lord?"
Kuati pointed his horn at the wolves and blasted a bright light at the wolves, earning him a few growls.
The guards aimed their guns at the monsters and fired. They all hit various parts of the wolves bodies but failed to knock any of them down. As the guards reloaded their muskets Kuati walked to Saeret.
"Saeret, does that hurt?"
Saeret shakes his head.
"Not too much, I don't think I'll need anyone to take a close look at it."
He heard Mreco shout out from the side of the boat.
"They're coming!"
Saeret, Kuati and a dozen guards came over to Mreco. Mreco shouted out orders to the guards.
"Okay men, line up near the side."
The soldiers made row at the edge of the deck. Kuati looked over the railing and gasped. At leat thirty wolves were charging towards them.
"Load up your weapons, if your gun is already ready then aim."
There was a few shuffling noises of soldiers collecting their bullets and a few clicking noises, telling Mreco that they were done. They all aimed at the stampede of wolves drawing closer.
"Okay men, take down the ones nearest to us."
There was a two second pause.
"Fire!"
A loud range of noises erupted from the muskets as the soldiers pulled their triggers. Ten bullets wiizzed through the air and made contact with the stampede of wolves.
Most of the wolves that got hit slowed down a bit but one of them was shot by two bullets in it's face and fell down with a howl.
The soldiers reloaded their weapons and skated for the command.
"Fire!"
A second round of bullets was fired. This time the round of shots did more damage to the beasts and four of them fell down and another three were limping.
But dispite this the few wolves that had survived the two rounds had reached the ship and they were in a pouncing position, three of them altogether.
Mreco blasted a spell at one of the wolves and sent it flying back. The second one jumped up to land on the deck but Kuati levitated his musket and blindly fired. The bullet pierced the creature's eye and burst through the other side of the it's head. The creature landed with a crash seven feet behind Kuati.
The third wolf was in mid leap when Saeret used his magic to throw a tomahawk at the wolf. It pierced the monster's bark and into it's head.
"Fire!"
The creature landed on it's legs and stunbled to the right. The creature saw Saeret try to chuck another tomahawk at it so it so it ran up the few steps to where the steering wheel is located.
Timber saw the monster scrambling up towards him and had a look of shock on his face. He was about to steer the ship around while the air balloon started to lift the ship ever so slowly into the air.
Kuati ran up the stairs and as the wolf was about to pounce at Timber but Kuati but cast a bubble to cover the wolf.
The wolf howled for a second and started ramming into the wall.
"Fire!"
The magical aura gave away to the adrenalin and force of the wolf. The wolf staggered forwards in a dizzy motion and was a foot away from Timber. Timber bucked the wolf from behind and the wolf staggered backwards but took a firm stance.
"Fire!"
The wolf was in a pouncing position but the vessel was now five feet high in the air so when Timber turned the steering wheel to the left the monster missed him and flew over to his right by a metre. Instead it hit into the machinery that powered the balloon with hot air.
The vessel started to flt off and away from the mountains and the monsters. Kuati ran up to the limp body of the wolf that had smashed into the machinery. It was whining. Kuati looked up at the clockwork machinery and noticed that one of the metal rods wasn't there any more. He looked down at the dying wolf and saw that one of it's claws had been ripped off, and when he looked next to the body he noticed that the rod was on the floor, now bent in a awkward way.
He knew that the ship was in trouble, and that he should call for help, inform everyone else about the broken part. But before that he had to do something else. He levitated his musket rifle and aimed it at the poor creature's heart.