Alwyn stirred in his dream. It seemed as if his body realized something was terribly wrong. Despite that, he remained blissfully asleep.
Linnie acted first, not willing to leave the first move to them. It wasn't out of bravery, but instinct. His hands shot up, and, fingers shaking, a small flame sputtered from his palm. Not a roaring spell. Not a legendary fire lance. Just a small, trembling ember he had to force into the shape of a ball.
"FIREBALL!"
The closest red moose twitched at the light—head jerking unnaturally fast, like a puppet whose strings were yanked back.
"Linnie—" Liora started.
The unified bellows drowned out whatever she tried to say. The overwhelming noise shook the entire forest... including the dirt beneath their feet.
One of the moose charged at Linnie. He fired the spell too early and it burst against its shoulder, charring fur and causing a few of the root-like tendrils to catch fire. The beast didn't react in the slightest. Instead, it continued its charge.
Linnie dove to the side, rolling through the leaves, his heart hammering in his ears. He spotted another one starting its attack. It didn't run, but glided forward in a strangely terrifying, steady gait.
Liora was already moving.
She didn't think about her attack, exactly. She simply launched herself through the air, just like before. A blur of teeth and claws in feral motion, she slammed into the moose that was inches from Linnie, hands sinking into the rotting flesh, pulling it apart.
Liora tore a long, wet strip from its ribcage. Blood... no, it wasn't blood—something sprayed from the wound, dark and thick and smelling like mold and death.
The moose, of course, didn't even react. It just turned its head, slowly trying to crush her with its antlers.
Not even needing to think about it, she darted under the beast, movements sharp and agile. The girl slashed the tendons in the red moose's front leg, causing it to buckle and collapse.
She scowled in disgust as the roots inside it pulsed, beginning to forcefully pull it upright again—once again, resembling a puppet.
"Oh, that's seriously sick! I think I'm gonna... eugh...! Linnie, burn it!"
"FIREBALL! DIE! DIE DIE DIE!"
The boy was quite scared by this scene. Zombie moose? Eugh.
Linnie was on his knees, hands raised once again. The fireball spun through the air, striking dead on target—the open wounds Liora had created.
The roots inside caught fire like dry leaves, causing the beast to spasm. Its legs locked, body seizing, and then, it collapsed completely.
As it burned, the other moose twitched, like they were in pain. Perhaps they were...?
'Aha! Only... ten left. Uh-oh.' Linnie groaned, standing up.
No time to catch your breath, kids!
A pair of antlers poked his back, hooking on his clothes and raising him into the sky. He squirmed in the air, but it was useless. Strangely, it made no move to harm him, but simply kept him suspended in the air, unmoving.
Because of this, he had to watch helplessly as one of the other red moose lowered its head and charged at Liora. She didn't have time to dodge. It hit her with full force and threw her into a fallen log.
"Liora! Oh, OOOOHHH! PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DO—"
Linnie was interrupted, thrown into the air for the thousandth time. The original spectral moose, in all its glowing blue glory, rammed its antlers into the beast that held Linnie. It tore completely through the rotten beast's abdomen, severing it into two.
The roots wriggled violently, as if reaching for something.
The boy scrambled up from the ground, wincing as the spectral moose came closer. But it didn't attack. It stood beside Linnie like a towering guardian, its pale blue glow clashing with the red rot of the dead herd.
'Wow... so it's on our side, now? That's kind of... touching!' Liora thought, watching the scene.
That is, until she was trampled by the hooves of the large, red moose.
The spectral moose stopped the assault, ramming into the beast not dissimilar to the first one he'd torn apart.
This one, though, put up a bit more of a fight. Their antlers locked into an intense, silent battle. The spectral moose held a deep concentration—it was... determined?
Liora crawled away clumsily. She was brutally broken, but the injuries would be mended in a few moments. In fact, it inspired awe within Linnie, watching her bones snap back into place, without even a potion to aid in the process.
'That's completely unfair...!' he thought, mouth agape.
Being a literal monster had its benefits.
'But why're they all standing there, just staring at us? Wait, don't tell me—those root thingies, that's what's keeping them alive, right? Is it one big plant monster!? That would explain why they're just attacking us one after the other. It'd be difficult to control all those bodies at the same time. That's gotta be it! I'm totally right, aren't I!?'
Two moose turned their heads towards him. They ran at him, their jaws slackened and tongues flapping in the wind. It was quite the disgusting and horrifying scene.
'What happened to not being able to control more than two bodies!? Damn it!'
"FIREBALL! FIREBALL! DAMMIT, FIREBALL!"
Linnie shot fireball after fireball. Unfortunately, they didn't pack quite enough punch to take them down as easily as he'd hoped. Instead, they just left singed fur and flesh behind, barely slowing the charge.
To the right, three more beasts were collapsing in on the spectral moose. Liora was still incapacitated—hopefully not for long.
Linnie dropped to the ground, letting the clumsy beasts' momentum carry them right over and past him. He kicked at the ground, breaking into a sprint. Looking back, he continued firing his primitive fire spell.
A tree appeared in front of him, nearly causing him to lose his front teeth. He fell back into the dirt, huffing. Looking back at the two red moose, he could only sigh.
'This was supposed to be a simple hunting trip. How the hell'd it end up becoming some horror story...?'