"Huh?" Recruit 7 muttered, freezing halfway through his sword draw. He turned, looking bewildered as Recruit 1 sprinted toward him, her sword already in hand.
From his vantage point upstream, Henry saw it.
Bursting from the bushes on the right, moving with reckless speed was a massive beast. It had the general build of a moose, a coat similar to the cub's but much darker. Its head was lowered, charging on a perfect course with the unaware recruit 7.
"7, you're right!" Henry bellowed, lunging forward, while pulling his blade out of its scabbard.
The desperate shout pierced through Recruit 7's confusion. He began turning his head to the right. Out of the corner of his eye, a massive blur filled his vision.
Instinct overrode his shock. Just a fraction of a second before the moose's headbutt reached him, Recruit 7 threw his body weight forward in a panicked, uncoordinated dive. He hit the shallow water hard, crashing directly into the rushing legs of Recruit 1, who caught his momentum and dragged him out of the immediate strike zone.
The beast tore through the spot where 7 had been standing less than a second ago, the force of its charge kicking up a massive spray of water and river stones.
Henry arrived at their side an instant later in a tight defensive stance as the moose skidded to a halt and began to turn towards them.
"What the hell is that thing's head made out of?" Recruit 7 asked, his voice bordering on panic.
"It's a Metal-Mana Moose. Most likely the mother," Recruit 1 said, her eyes locked on the aggressive beast. The massive moose cow glanced back at her calf, then fixed a murderous, unblinking stare at the three of them. It clearly wasn't going to let them walk away.
"It's not as agile as the Lynx," Recruit 1 analyzed, her voice tight, "but it's exponentially stronger. The crown of its head might as well be solid steel. Still, with three of us, we should be able to wear it down."
As if understanding her words, the moose suddenly charged. But it bypassed Henry and Recruit 7 entirely, hurtling directly toward Recruit 1. The beast possessed an instinctual cunning as it seemed to recognize the leader and the greatest threat.
Before the beast could reach her, Henry and Recruit 7 lunged, swinging fiercely at the moose's exposed sides. Sensing it couldn't evade the dual strike, the moose dropped its center of gravity and accelerated.
Clang!
Their swords struck home, but instead of sinking deep into flesh, the steel of their swords shrieked against the hide. 'Its skin is like armor, probably a trait from its metal affinity,' Henry realized in a split second. The blades drew blood, but the cuts were far too shallow to do any real damage.
Recruit 1, directly in the path of the charge, brought her sword up in a desperate guard, attempting to parry the massive, steel-hard head. She had miscalculated the beast's sheer, reckless fury. She had expected the dual stabs to its sides to force a flinch or a retreat. Instead, it pushed straight through the pain.
The parry was a catastrophic mistake.
The charge's overwhelming energy hit her blade like a ton of bricks. The force rattled the bones in her arms and launched her twenty feet backward through the air. She hit the muddy riverbank hard, scraping her legs raw as she violently skidded through the dirt and rocks.
Luckily, the moose's immense momentum carried it past her to the right, its heavy hooves missing her fallen body by mere inches.
Ignoring the agonizing throb radiating through every muscle and bone, Recruit 1 scrambled back to her feet, her breathing ragged. "I think this fight might be too much for us," she gasped.
"We just have to avoid its head!" Recruit 7 countered, his adrenaline completely masking his fear. "We still have the numbers, and I'm starving!"
Before Henry or Recruit 1 could talk sense into him, the mother moose let out a deafening bellow.
Almost instantly, the ground began to vibrate. The heavy thuds of four massive hooves approached rapidly from behind them.
Knowing better than to completely turn their backs on the angry mother, they risked a sweeping glance over their shoulders. What emerged from the tree line shook them to their cores.
It was a moose bull. And it was an absolute giant.
While the moose cow stood at a daunting ten feet at the shoulder, this new arrival dwarfed her by at least three feet. But what made their blood run truly cold was the crown on its head. The bull sported a set of giant antlers. They weren't made of bone—they were jagged, wicked protrusions that seemed to be made of pure metal that glinted in the dim light like a rack of well-made swords.
As soon as the bull stepped into the clearing, Recruit 1 abandoned all pretense of fighting.
"Run!" she screamed, instantly turning and bolting back in the direction of their fortified lodge.
The moment Recruit 1 shouted, the chaotic retreat began.
She immediately broke into a zig-zag pattern through the underbrush, forced to constantly change direction as the furious moose cow stayed dead-set on trampling her into the dirt.
Recruit 7, fueled by pure panic, had reacted a second faster. He abandoned them entirely, sprinting past Recruit 1 and disappearing into the forest.
Henry didn't have the luxury of outrunning his pursuer. The massive moose bull had locked squarely onto him.
Henry sprinted, throwing himself violently left, then right, darting behind the thickest trunks he could find. The bull was a terrifying force of nature, tearing through the foliage with earth-shattering strides.
One misstep, one stumble over a hidden root, and Henry knew those metal antlers would skewer right through him.
Suddenly, a deafening CRACK echoed behind him. Henry risked a glance back. The bull had misjudged a charge, burying its massive, sword-like antlers deep into the thick wood of a tree. The beast bellowed in frustration, violently thrashing its head to wrench the metal free.
It bought Henry precious seconds.
He whipped his head around, desperately scanning the dimming forest. Dead ahead stood a true behemoth, a tree easily twice the girth and height of the surrounding red giants.
'Hopefully, it holds,' Henry prayed.
He pointed frantically at the towering trunk without breaking his stride. "Climb!" he roared over his shoulder at the trailing Recruit 1.
Henry, who had spent the entire time in the forest avoiding climbs, suddenly found that one climb was the difference between life and death.
He hit the base of the massive tree at a full sprint. Using his momentum, he ran four vertical steps directly up the bark before his fingers desperately dug into a thick ridge of wood.
Adrenaline completely muted the pain in his wounded forearm. Moving with the desperate speed of a hunted animal, he scrambled up the trunk, hauling himself eighty feet into the air and dragging his body onto the lowest branch in under twenty seconds.
Panting, his lungs burning, he looked down. Recruit 1 was ascending right behind him; her usual precise movements were rushed and frantic.
"Make space up there!" she shouted, reaching the underside of the heavy branch.
She reached up to transfer her weight from the trunk to the branch, but just as her hand locked onto the wood, a concussive boom rang out.
The entire colossal tree shuddered as if hit by an earthquake. The moose cow had caught up and slammed headfirst into the base.
The violent jolt ripped Recruit 1's footing from the bark. Her grip slipping.
With a gasp, she began to fall.
Henry lunged forward, throwing his chest against the rough bark, and blindly reached out. His hand clamped like a vise around her left wrist just as gravity tried to rip her away. His shoulder socket screamed in protest as her sudden dead weight jerked his arm downward, leaving her dangling eighty feet above the forest floor.
The absolute terror of the moment shattered the ice queen. The perpetually stoic, unshakable Recruit 1 began to panic. Her eyes were wide with raw, human fear as she stared up at him.
"Don't let go!" she pleaded, her voice cracking. "Don't let go! Please, don't let go!"
"I've got you! I won't let go, don't worry!" Henry grunted through gritted teeth.
Bracing his boots against the wood and ignoring the agonizing pain in his muscles, Henry pulled. With one massive heave, he dragged her upward, grabbing her uniform and hauling her securely over the edge of the branch.
They both collapsed against the trunk, chests heaving, completely drenched in cold sweat. Recruit 1 lay on her back, staring blankly up at the dark canopy as she tried to force her breathing under control. Slowly, she turned her head to look at him. The arrogant, detached squad leader was gone. In her place was genuine, raw appreciation.
"Thank you," she whispered, the words heavy with true gratitude.
But the nightmare wasn't over.
For the next hour and a half, the two of them sat huddled on the high branch, forced to endure psychological torture. Below them, the cow and the bull took turns violently ramming the massive tree. Every impact sent a sickening tremor up the trunk.
Henry and Recruit 1 watched in silent horror as the bull's metallic, jagged antlers began gouging deep, terrifying holes into the base of the wood, threatening to fell the giant tree entirely.
They gripped the bark, waiting for a fatal snap that never came.
As the last rays of the sun disappeared and the pitch-black shadows of Hope Forest swallowed the clearing, the thudding stopped. The bellowing fading into the distance. The mooses, having spent their fury, finally gave up and vanished into the night.