The calm and comforting atmosphere had turned into a nightmare.
"GRR"
The monster was starting to get more aggressive, it moved closer and closer to Arlo, but stopped far enough for Arlo to react if it ever made a move.
The monster paced himself, moving swiftly from side to side, it didnt come closer, and maintained a distance from him.
It seemed to be provoking Arlo, hinting that he should come closer and make the first move, as if he was giving Arlo a single chance to attack him.
The monster kept looking straight at him whilst it paced about, not letting Arlo out of sight.
Its gaze was immense.
The creature had four tusks coming out of its mouth, two at the top — curving upwards and aiming at the sky, whilst the other two were at the bottom and curved to the ground. Its teeth were large, sturdy, and seemed to have enough force to crush bones without struggle. Salive dripped from it, and made its way onto the creatures thick fur.
Four firm legs, with long sharp nails piercing out of them. Big enough ears to catch the slightest amount of noise and eyes that were filled with bloodlust. Its pupils were dilated, small veins emerged throughout its eyes, and the edges of it were covered with what seemed to be dirt.
The most noticeable thing however, wasn't its big size, or its thick fur that made the creature invulnerable, it was the mark above its eyes— a vertical line as big as Arlo's index finger.
'Did it fight someone before me?'
Their wasn't anytime to waste, the monster was getting more impatient by the second.
'I have to end this is as soon as possible'
Arlo couldn't let this fight go on for too long, it would be disadvantageous for him, his stamina wouldn't be able to keep up with the heinous beast.
'I hope my feet don't fail me'
He clenched his teeth, and pushed forward.
His legs covered the distance between the two in a couple seconds.
Arlo retracted hisblade so that it didn't point towards the beast, twisted it with his hands, and made the tip face the tree he had just fallen off from.
Both of them attacked.
Arlo used his feet and torso to create as much diagonal force as he could, the blade fell quickly.
However, the beast didn't dodge or move back. It plunged forward, right towards the blade, and caught it with its teeth.
The clash pushed Arlo back, his previously tight grip losened slight, a small vibration echoed throughout his body, and yet he didn't falter.
Neither moved back, the blade was caught in-between the beast's teeth , and Arlo's hand clutched onto it for dear life. A stand still occurred.
However, Arlo sneakily lifted his left leg and slammed it towards the beasts jaw.
The blade slipped out from its teeth and it let out a scream.
"GAHHH"
Arlo lifted his blade up to the sky, ready to strike it down with all his force. But, the beast hurriedly moved back.
Letting it rest would be a big mistake, so Arlo ran towards it, and closed the distance. He struck it once again.
The beast dodged the blade by moving backwards, then with a hush a bloodlust it shot forwards and lunged towards Arlo.
Surprised with the assault, and having barely any time to react, Arlo used his left arm as a shield.
"AHHHHHH"
He screamed out.
The beast bit into Arlo's forearm, deep enough that blood was starting to gush out, and its tusks made him lose balance.
Arlo's legs wobbled before tripping onto the hard ground, the blade slipped from his hand and landed a couple meters away from him.
The beast's body was ontop of him — digging it's teeth deeper into Arlo's flesh.
In a dire situation, with no weapon around to help him, Arlo was desperate.
Something had to happen.
"POW"
Mustering every ounce of strength he had, Arlo shot his fist into the beast's left eye.
"Gah"
It squealed out.
"POW"
Arlo struck again.
Hard enough to make the beast dazzled.
"POW"
A third blow to the eye.
The beast's mouth widened. Its teeth, which were keeping alro chained like a prisoner, finally let loose.
Dazzled by the pain, the beast retreated.
Clenching his teeth, Arlo hurriedly got up and made his way to the blade he had dropped.
Arlo's forearm was mangled, skin mercilessly ripped apart, blood poured out and made its way onto the dirty ground.
The beast was no better, the viens in its eye had been damaged, making it fully red. Not just that, but, tears of blood dripped from the edge onto its fur.
The beast's movement were strange, it didn't act like a heinous beast, or a vicious animal with no self control.
When Arlo attacked the beast, it had leaned forward before lunging towards him. And now, it was pacing itself back and forth without breaking eye contact and growling to display a sense of anger.
All these little weird things didn't make it seem like a beast. But, more like… an angry dog?
Arlo had encountered a couple angry dogs whilst living in the outer border so he knew a thing or two about how they usually behaved.
However, this wasn't the time to think.
Arlo's left hand had become basically unusable, he couldn't muster up any strength into his hand, the injury was much worse than he had thought.
Tighting his grip on the blade, Arlo moved towards the beast once again. He couldn't let it rest for a single moment.
They clashed again.
Arlo swiftly swung his sword diagonally, but missed. He then twisted the blade so that the tip was pointing towards him and quickly swung it horizontally.
The beast dodged again.
With its body leaned forward, the beast shot towards Arlo. However, this time he was prepared.
The beast's teeth were met with Arlo's blade.
Unsuccessful with the sudden attack, it retreated.
They went back and forth a few more times, Arlo's attacks were being dodged, whilst the beast wasn't able to get past his blade.
But, this wasn't enough. Arlo's stamina was diminishing by the second, he couldn't hold out for much longer.
He needed something, something that would change this fight, something that would end all of this.
What he needed was an opportunity to strike.
And there was nobody but him who could make that happen.
The beast attacked once again — lunging forward without any hesitation.
Arlo raised his blade.
And yet, neither clashed. The beast's teeth weren't met with the solid black blade. No, it was something much more feeble, something it had already tasted.
It was Arlo's left hand.
He had purposely used it this time.
"ahh"
He silently let out.
This certainly wasn't the time to yearn in pain.
The opportunity he had hoped for had become a reality.
The beast's head was right infront of him, its eyes glared at the blade above.
The tip of the blade pointing directly at the weakest part of the beast — the exposed line on his forehead.
However, even with this lucky situation, Arlo now faced two hurdles — power and speed.
He needed to be quick enough to strike without the beast retreating and have enough power to kill it in a single blow.
Both hurdles made this difficult.
Even with enough speed if Arlo couldn't kill the beast then it would inevitably lead to him tiring out and dying.
And the opposite was true as well.
Even if he had enough power to kill it in a single blow, if he didn't have the speed to land a single hit, inevitably leading him to tiring out and dying.
However, as difficult as this was, it certainly wasn't impossible.
Arlo had something up his sleeve.
The tip of the blade shot down directly at the beast's forward. His blade was quite fast, and it has quite some force behind it. But, Arlo knew it wasn't enough, to compensate for what he was lacking, he used the only thing that could balance his weaknesses.
His power.
A very small wave of wind was constantly blowing from the back of his hand, it wasn't much, and neither was it properly controlled.
But, it was serving its purpose. The wind blew in the same direction as the blade, aiding it to get faster.
"KAH"
The blade made contact with the beast's forehead, its skin was thick and hard to pierce.
So whilst the blade sunk into the beast's skull, Arlo gathered the air around his hand and made a very small circle of air, tightly compacted.
Before the blade completely stopped, he popped the ball of air.
The sudden small gust of wind added more downward force, making the blade sink even deeper.
The force emiting on his arm lessened, the beast's teeth loosened untill its jaw was fully opened, and then it fell onto the ground.
It layed there, not moving a single bit.
Arlo staggered before he hit the ground.
His first ever fight in the Fallen world.
And.
He had won.
Without catching a moment to spare, a voice came to him:
[Congratulations, you have have killed a wicked beast]
It quited down, before it spoke once more:
[You have received a tool]