8. Made it through

"BEHIND YOU!"

Being unable to fight back, Joon basically fell to the ground along with that beast. I pushed myself and rushed towards him while gritting my teeth with the dagger pointed towards that creature. Before I knew it, the dagger slit through its neck, splashing its peculiar blood all over Joon's face.

"It was stung. Or else I'd be dead by now!" He said as he pushed away the body. He inhaled and exhaled sharply, one of his eyes was closed due to blood hardened. "What about Benjamin?"

"He's unconscious" I tore a piece of the rag I was wearing and covered his wounds that were visual to me. Joon steadily tried to pace with his breath and stood up. "They're coming here now." He said with warning mixed in his voice, pointing me to back off.

"They're weak now! So aim for their cords. We can finish them all at once." He said while clutching the broken piece of his sword. "Are you crazy? You want to fight in that situation?" I nagged while throwing the flint towards him to help him sharpen the tip of the broken sword. Under the gleaming red firelight, the smirk on his lips was visible when he scoffed, "You have no idea what I'm capable of." As soon as he finished his words, the ogres and hounds started bustling before us. Their yelping and grunting surrounded the whole area. Thanks to my black belt in Taekwondo, I knew how to defend and attack, and that body was light, so it was easy for me to move. Within a minute, pointing out the dagger and focusing on the ogre ahead of me, I bolted towards it and in the corners of her eyes, everything became a blur. With the pressure on my feet, I leapt high with the speed to find the dagger deep inside its cord, slashing through the nape. It felt more Victorious than I'd thought. I peeked from my left shoulder and saw Joon twirling around in the middle of the dark-green bloodstream. He looked breathtaking. When my mind was elsewhere, the last hound attacked me, but it was weaker than before. All I had to do was push it down and stab its vocal cord. Glancing around, I noticed there was one missing. There should've been two left, but there was one in front of Joon resisting him.

"Where did it g-" Before I could finish my sentence, I felt a hard smash on my back as if I was hit by a giant rock that smashed my bones from the inside. With the speed of the wind, I got hit by a tree log.

"Gargh." I gasped in pain as I felt my vision going blank. My breathing stopped. "Ella!" I heard Joon's voice and forced my lids to open. "Tch! This...body is weak." I mumbled as I tried harder to push myself to stand up on my feet and felt no strength in them. With the wobbling body, I grabbed my arm to prevent it from pain and felt an immense presence in front of me. I slowly looked up to see the horrid gaze on me from those dark orbs. Its giant slimy arms gradually grabbed my feet, lifting me into the air upside down. One more throw and I might lose my senses for good. It felt as if all the fluids of my body flowed down to my head, making my breath unstable. My mind was unable to think, feeling that might be my last breath, until Joon stabbed its nape from behind and it started yelping in pain, loosening its grip. I fell on the ground with my head facing the ground and was back to my senses. The pain felt even more vivid in every part of my body because of that. Clenching a fist on the ground, I lifted my head to see Joon almost out of his breath resisting it. That one managed to escape from the Shelps therefore, it appeared that strong. My teeth gritted, thinking if I didn't strike when it was busy with Joon, killing it wouldn't be an easy option.

"Hang on to it, Joon!" I mumbled while consuming some of the oil left in the bottle and picked up the dagger. I pounded my feet across the ground as my lungs strained and aimed for its eyes. Left one was punctured with my dagger and the other was squashed by my right hand. It swung its body rapidly to get rid of me while I refused to let go clutching my fingers deep inside its vitreous.

"Kugh" A grunt slipped out of my mouth, feeling pain in my hand but still refusing to release it since that had to be ended. With the dagger pulled out of his eyes, I slashed its cord without a blink of an eye, leaving its body shuddering in silence. Crawling out through its blood and peeking out from its dead body, I stood under the faint glare of the fire that was ready to fade. My hands were painted in a green and red blood mixture, emitting a foul smell. I tilted my dizzy head towards Joon, who fell to the ground immediately after smiling once at me.

My legs gave out from under me, and I felt myself falling. I tried to grab onto something to steady myself, but my hands found nothing but air. My heart raced as I realized I was losing control of my body. I felt a sudden pressure in my chest as if something heavy was crushing me from the inside. I gasped for air, but it felt like I couldn't get enough oxygen into my lungs.

As I fell to the ground, I saw Joon's body spinning before me, and soon everything turned blank.