Farran charged towards his next target as it charged him. He tightened his grip on his newest weapon and was ready to dig it into the demons flesh once he was close enough. But unlike him the dragon did not need to get close to fight. As it ran it fired its magnesium blast and shot its spines several times. None of which striking their target as the hunter dodged each one. The wind of the spines passing him, the heat of the fireballs, the volley of firepower did nothing to phase him as he maintained his gaze on the beast.
When Farran was but ten feet he tried his own luck with a ranged attack and threw his axe right at the nadder. The weapon was light enough, at least for his to do so. The flying axe hit its mark but only grazed the right leg of the nadder, perhaps slicing off a few scales. It buried itself in the ground behind the beast with the handle sticking out at a 45 degree angle. The hunter used it to his advantage and jumped onto the handle with a single foot, pressing down as the wooden grip was enough to support his weight for a second and leapt onto the nadders face, grabbing onto its nose horn with one hand and one of the creatures many head spines with the other.
Using the hand he had grabbed the nose horn with, he lifted himself up and found himself directly in front of the creatures eye. Or rather a large yellow bulbous target for him to strike. If he still had his knife he'd have plunged it into the fleshy ball, piercing it with ease before either going for the other eye ball or try to stick it in further until it reached its brain. For now he had to resort to using his fist, not that it mattered to him right now. One way or another he would give this monster what it deserved.
His fist was drawn back before being thrown right into the nadders exposed eye. A soft squish could be heard and the eyeball didn't burst, but being attacked in such a vulnerable spot was enough for the beast to roar in pain as it immediatley tried shaking him off but to no avail. The other punches thrown met the creatures closed eyelid which offered only a little protection against the hunters barrage. Only when Farran was sure that the nadder could no longer use the eye did he try going for the other one. He hadn't done any permanent damage but the organ would need a few days to heal at the least. As Farran reached round the nadder shook harder, causing its attacker to stumble and nearly get his foot bitten off. Right now, he couldn't get to the other side without receiving some kind of injury. Even in his state of bloodlust some form of strategy and knowledge of his target remained buried in his mind. He abandoned his hold and jumped back down to the ground, retrieving the axe before the dragon could crush him under its scaly foot.
This time he was going to bury the weapon right into the middle of its face. He would make sure of it!
He swung the weapon but right away stumbled from something pulling the axe back, keeping him from assaulting the beast. He turned to find the rider herself holding onto the handle just above his own grip, still up and prepared to deal with him once more. Only this time her smile was long gone and replaced with an angry frown while fresh blood ran out through her nose. While it was irritating to see that she was still fighting it did the hunter good to see that he had wiped her smug grin from her face. Now he would have to pay the price for it.
"You're going to pay for that cheap shot!" She growled.
Farran followed up with a punch to the head which Astrid was able to dodge this time. Now to even have a shot at the nadder he needed to find a way to keep her down.
The two were trapped in a tug of war for the weapon while they threw whatever punch or kick they could. Any that landed were not enough to loosen their grip. The nadder on the other hand could do nothing. Afraid to risk hitting its own rider it was forced to watch and wait for the right opportunity. But it did not come as both fighters were determined to best the other.
With one lucky hit, Farran managed to force the riders leg to buckle with a strong enough kick, forcing her to take a knee. This was followed up with a second hit to her face, causing her to finally submit and release the handle. Now the hunter had control of the weapon and this time tried using it on the bigger threat, which was Astrid herself. He swung it as the rider backed up, avoiding having one of her feet cut off with each swing. Unfortunately she was not fast enough, and the axe hit its mark. The hunter was rewarded with a yell of pain. Again, the axe had nicked its target but this time it had done far more damage than it had to the dragon. Her leg was bleeding. Badly. Even if she could get up now there was no way she'd have been able to continue the fight. For a brief moment, a fleeting instinct, the hunter thought about finishing the job. She was the enemy. The most mercy she should receive was the mercy of a quick death.
Before he had the chance to think about it, he was surprised from the sudden charge of the nadder that had only just now decided to fight again after seeing and hearing its rider in pain. It slammed its head right into the hunter and he was thrown back a good fifteen feet. Before he could recover the dragon managed to coax the rider on its back and just like that... it flew away. The rider angrily yelled for it to take her back and let her fight but the beast seemed to ignore her as its retreating form grew smaller and smaller.
Farran had managed to beat them off. Something he had trouble believing even after he had calmed down from his rage. Not only that, but still in his hand was the weapon he had torn from the riders grasp and used against her. Chances were if they found and fought each other a second time, she would do everything in her power to get the axe back and redeem herself. At least he would think. Still, that was a dilemma for another day. Now, he needed to find the supplies he had lost and gather his strength.
One other thing he was glad to realise. An entire market had seen a rider and a deadly nadder attack him. If word spread quickly enough, then a hunter ship would be arriving much sooner than he expected.
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Hi guys! Sorry for the short chapter. Turns out I'm not that great at writing lengthy fight scenes. Still, if you don't try, you don't learn and improve for next time. Also, yeah this chapter took a bit longer than usual. However recently I've added a couple other stories onto my account. Figured that I'd try to go for a different flow other than writing for the same story, so chapters may come out a bit slower than normal. Don't worry, next chapter will be going back to 3000+ word minimum so until then, thanks for reading!