Here's the next chapter. Please forgive me for uploading it late. I honestly forgot to do so. So many things in my head that I actually forgot some of them. Anyway, not as much review as I expected but so far, it's positive and I'm happy with that :)

CHAPTER 02
A Great Plan. Retreat!

POACAE, KLUSEV FOREST:

It's been about 10 minutes and the drakehounds were slowly being eliminated. Four of them surrounded Rudy. Rudy just smiled and hit one of the drakehound. The straight punch connected and the horrible beast whined as it was flung back towards the opposite direction. The other three leaped towards Rudy at the same time, ferocity and death gleaming in their eyes. Rudy stepped back as he elbowed the drakehound in the back with his right elbow. As soon as his elbow touched its face, he quickly delivered a jab to the drakehound coming from his right followed by a swing to the left with his right arm. The three drakehounds were eliminated in mere seconds. Suddenly, another drakehound leaped in from Rudy's blind side, surprising him. His back was fully open, giving an invitation for a ferocious attack and all he could think of was, "Darn." At that moment, Maia stepped in and the air in front of her, a foot or so around it froze, and it was just enough space to quickly crystallize the drakehound. It would actually be funny for both of them, if only the drakehound didn't have such a horrible look to it that it'd even make some of the bravest soldiers regurgitate the contents of their stomachs.

"Thanks, Maia!" Rudy quickly exclaimed as he rushed of towards another group of drakehounds.

Maia looked around. The large group of over 30 drakehounds was now diminished to a measly eight. Rudy was moving around with style, delivering different kind of punches and swings. Ulixes was in the same spot, not moving an inch but apparently, he brutally killed the most drakehounds. Maia didn't kill much. She wasn't really interested in elimination missions. But, since Ulixes himself invited her, she couldn't resist the chance to work with the commander of Earth rank. Plus, the more missions you do, the better it is for your reputation. Maia snapped out of her thoughts as she heard multiple loud growls near her. Three drakehounds were facing her, intent on killing her. The drakehounds began to run at top speed towards Maia. When they got close enough, the drakehounds leaped up into the air, ready to pounce on their prey. Maia took a step back as she close her eyes to concentrate. A few seconds passed by as a crackling sound was heard. Maia opened her eyes and looked up, the drakehounds were all in mid air, impaled by stakes of ice. Maia staggered for a moment before regaining her composure.

The huge leader of the drakehound let out a loud bark. Rudy and Maia were taken aback. The bark was so loud that it was deafening, as if there's an amplifier attached to its throat.

"Looks like the boss going to make a move." Rudy shouted.

"Gather up!" Ulixes instructed as Rudy and Maia began moving towards Ulixes.

The beast stood on all fours at the top of the boulder. It hunched its back as it showed its yellow and blood-stained red razor sharp teeth, growling menacingly. Ulixes, Rudy, and Maia stood where they were, watching the beast. A few seconds later, the back of the beast split opened and large bat wing-like structures sprouted. Slowly, the beast flapped it wings as it began to lift off. With one strong flap of the wings, the beast was flying in the air.

"That's troublesome," Maia mentioned. "One hell of a beast, if you ask me," Rudy remarked.

"Alright. Nothing serious to whine about. We have to see what else it can do. Move!" Ulixes said.

Maia started the test by creating a single spike of ice beneath the beast. As it spontaneously grew upward, the beast immediately flapped its wings and dodged to the right.

"Maia! Do it again!" Rudy requested.

Again, an ice spike formed on the ground. Rudy rushed towards it and grabbed the tip. The ice grew as Rudy jumped up and followed through with a punch. The beast dodged yet again as gravity pulled Rudy. With the existing ice near him, Rudy maneuvered his fall so he could land on the slab of ice and lunged himself toward the beast as he brought his right hand to the back, readying himself to punch the beast. Unbeknownst to Rudy, the beast was already swinging its giant forepaw at him. In Rudy's defenseless state, he threw his hands up to block the coming attack and to protect himself from the worst. As the beast hit Rudy, the impact flung him down towards the earth. Maia, expecting a crash landing, let out a sigh of relief when Rudy landed on both feet. Rudy sent his signature goofy grin towards her to show that he was alright.

"Maia! Another!" Today was the first time in a while that Rudy had an opponent that actually pushed him this hard to succeed in battle.

Maia, anticipating the same move from Rudy, created another slab beside him. As the ice grew, the beast opened up its mouth. A bright orange light was seen inside. Fearing the danger, Rudy jumped off the ice. As soon as he jumped off the ice, the beast was sprouting flames from its mouth, melting the ice and creating a steam cloud.

"Geez! That was a close one!" Rudy put his hands on his hip. He turned to look at Ulixes who was giving the signal to return to him. He gave Maia the same signal.

"Okay! Let's make this a quick one. I don't think it could fly any further up. It's heavy and the wings don't really support its weight," Ulixes quickly explained. "Maia, stick to supporting Rudy with your long range attacks."

Maia wasn't sure if she was really needed.

"Rudy, you and I will take turns distracting it and strike it when the opportunity comes. Also, Maia, be alert. I'll be needing you later." Ulixes finished his commands as he looked towards the direction of the lake.

At this point, Maia showed a face of relief. She was needed after all. The beast let out a loud screech as it spewed out flames towards the sky.

"Alright, everybody move!"

Ulixes and Rudy ran side by side as they quickly approached the flying beast. Noticing the two men, the beast unleashed a plethora of scorching flames at them. Ulixes and Rudy separated to avoid the attack. Ulixes' sword materialize in his hand as Rudy's hands were balled into loose fists, as if they were ready to just flop out and extend to their full length at minute or tightly clench together and fight to the death. After avoiding the flames and joining up side by side again, Ulixes launched himself into the air and landed on Rudy's now fully extended hands, which used their strength plus his arms' to instantly propel Ulixes upward. Ulixes flew high above the beast and swiftly came down, sword pointed down towards the beast's head. The beast suddenly made a hard turn, swinging its long sharp tail at Ulixes. Ulixes couldn't dodged it so he did the next best thing. He faced it head on. Ulixes swung his sword at the incoming tail. As the two collided, something strange happened. For a fraction of second, Ulixes could feel that the beast was petrified. The beast backed away as Ulixes landed on the ground safely. Rudy approached Ulixes.

"Thing got a hard skin that's for sure. What happened?" Rudy asked.

"I'm not entirely sure... but I'm intrigued." Ulixes spoke calmly.

The battle went on with Ulixes and Rudy taking turn making preemptive strikes. Maia stood a little bit further away from the two, supporting them with her ability whenever either of them were in pinch. Minutes pass by and Ulixes noticed that the beast was flying a little lower than before. Using this to his advantage, Ulixes called Rudy and told him the plan.

"I guess...that...could work," Rudy said in between catching his breath.

"Problem, Rudy?" Ulixes ask with a cold and stern voice. Rudy shook his head instantly. Ulixes continued with the swift preparations. "Maia! You ready?"

Maia did a thumbs up to show that she was ready to contribute to this battle. Again, Ulixes and Rudy ran side by side, splitting up to avoid the searing flames and joined up after that. Ulixes jumped onto Rudy's hands like last time. But this time, Rudy used more force when throwing the other up towards the sky. Ulixes flew way higher than before and was behind the beast. The beast gave its full attention to Ulixes.

"Hey ugly!" Rudy suddenly shouted and used the same tactic from earlier to go up to the beast's height.

The beast turned to face Rudy, who was now at its height. Once it realized that Rudy was up there, they finally got into their own little fight. He would send punches and kicks at it, while it'd send flames back in retaliation. After a few minutes of this, the beast grew tired of this and charged itself up for one huge attack. This was the perfect moment for a giant wave to suddenly come crashing through.

"Maia, now!" Rudy commanded.

In a creeping and quick moment, the whole wave froze, temporarily halting all movements of the beast. Ulixes landed on its back and instantly swung his sword at one of the wings. The beast wriggled forcefully as the ice cracked. Ulixes jumped off. Rudy then managed to make a harsh blow right on the beast's nose, cracking the ice surrounding it. The beast broke free from the cracking ice and crashed onto the ground. The three soldiers regrouped and watched the beast struggle to get up. The beast shook its head and tore its other wing off with its mouth, and green blood started to flood out from the wound.

"Okay, that's not something I want or get to see everyday." Rudy mentioned surprisingly.

The beast growled loudly, regained its composure, and charged towards the three of them.

"New plan?" Rudy asked no one in particular.

"Yeah... split." Ulixes suggested as if it was the plan all along.

Hey hey! Again, do take a few time to review, especially a constructive one :) Have a great day/night!

Peace&Love
DifferentKindOfAsian