The land was empty of all other Maple adventurers and the wizard's house was merely a speck behind the party as they fearfully walked closer to the monster.
"Why wait for it to reach us? We might as well continue on," Lion had said. Now the others regretfully came closer and closer to the demon.
"Now that looks like no stuffed animal I've ever owned," Kale said with a trembling voice.
"Let's hope its eyes and nose aren't protected," said Ral as the demon came closer into view.
"Or that it isn't protected at all," said Tegu.
The demon was about the same size as the first one they fought. This one was shaped like an enormous sickly color red snake with four legs, not exactly a lizard. Its face was long and pointed with swirling green eyes and no mouth. One of its front arms had two enormous claws, each one longer than someone's arm. Its other arm was made of thousands of spikes all jumbled together in an ugly and pointy tangle. One or its legs looked perfectly normal for a creature like it but the other leg was twisted with vines. The foot on that leg was in a shoe like thing made of an enormous reptilian skull. Lastly, its tail was over three people long and at the end was a large blade that glinted in the sunlight with a deathly appearance. The whole thing seemed like a mix of a drake, a Jr. necki, maybe a wild cargo or blood boom and anything else that could be thrown in.
Where the demon stood the ground slowly began to turn black with decay around its two feet. The decay slowly spread with each step the monster took. Ral and the others watched in horror as the trees around them began to rot.
Aspen took a sniff of the air and recoiled. "It's a Decay Demon," she hissed.
"We can see that!" cried Sam.
"Thankfully it has no protective barrier but the only way to kill it is to stab it or shoot it in the heart," the demon continued. "It walked here; it didn't come from a rock thing that means it's swift and strong. This thing can shoot spikes from its arm and the vines around its leg can shoot out to strangle someone or merely just tie them up. I think that's it… except that when it dies everything 50 square feet around it will decay. And that includes us."
"ANYTHING ELSE?!" Lion cried angrily.
"So what are we going to do?!" asked Kale.
"Kill it then run like crazy," said Ral.
"I actually think that's our best bet," Tegu said, drawing her sword.
The others followed suit and took out their weapons while Aspen unsheathed her claws.
"We need to wound it so that it dies when we're out of its decay range," said Sam.
"Exactly," said Aspen. "Each one of you has a skill to contribute since this demon isn't any one element, and that's not necessarily the skill I'm talking about-"
"Listen, demon," said Lion with disgust, "I'm the leader around here and…"
Aspen bared her silver teeth in a snarl.
"…and let's all listen to you," Lion finished hastily.
"Good," Aspen said with a curl of her lip. "When I say skill I'm talking about the things you do best. Sam," she said with a jerking motion, "you're going to fire bolts at it to keep it occupied and Kale, you're best skill is being a distraction. Both of you are going to advert its attention from Ral and Tegu. You two have the job of delivering the fatal blow to its heart. I didn't forget you Lion; you're with me to weaken it."
"Fine," Lion groaned.
As the demon approached everybody got into their planned positions. Ral, Tegu, Lion, and Aspen were in trees, ready to jump on the monster when it was close enough and Sam and Kale were on the ground before it as distractions.
Once the demon was close enough to see its full form perfectly, the creature began to toss its head in the air. The skin where its mouth would be began stretching and the jaw muscles of the demon were clearly straining. There was a ripping noise as the demon began tearing apart the skin that had closed up its mouth. The sickly red creature continued to open its jaws wider until the last piece of skin detached with a popping noise and the jaws of the demon had been torn apart.
At that, the mighty demon gave a loud rumbling roar from the back of its throat, one that shook the forest to its roots. The creature took one giant step towards the six and swung its two long claws in front of it, tearing up the trees around it and releasing another roar.
"Oh man," Lion said with a smile to Aspen, "This is going to be good."