Step by step, Ian walked slowly and cautiously. He constantly checked his surroundings for any movement. He opted to stay in the middle of the streetway in fear of what may come out of the buildings or alleys. His senses felt heighten and Ian felt his muscle tense from doing all of this but it was needed. He couldn't let his guard down no matter what as more corpses were spotted along the way.
It was the same sight as before but it appears that there were more soldiers than civilians. There were even more variety amongst the deceased soldiers such as their attire colors and even equipment. Amongst them was a lightly armored person holding a short wooden stick with a broken crystal attached at the head of it.
'Magic user like wizards or mages?'
The thought crossed Ian's mind but he decided to continue on. That mage or whatever had their face torn off by something while their body was crushed along with whatever they were carrying.
Ian was getting used to the gruesome sights.
He maintained the same pace for quite sometime until...
Crunch
...he heard chewing noise coming from the upcoming alley to his right.
Ian had only travelled for barely 5 minutes but now he stumbled upon one of the causes of these corpses. He hugged the wall to the right as quickly and as quietly as possible but the dirt road wasn't helping with his efforts. Luckily, he made no noises as the chewing sound continued. Ian then slithered along the wall while cautiously peaking at the open doors and windows. Indoors was a flurry of ruined furniture along with more corpses but this time they were all civilians. He continued along the building wall until he was able to peek at the alleyway and what he saw...
....sent chills down his spine. Ian felt his breathing halted as his eyes widened in horror at a large shadowy figure consuming what appeared to be a fresh corpse. The figure was large....too large for any regular human to fight in a melee. Ian quickly stopped peeking and covered his mouth with his right hand as his breathing became rapid. He repeated that silly mantra in his head to calm his nerves until he felt sure of himself but then...
Thud
....Ian saw a roof tile fall down from above him. His heart sank to the floor and before he knew it, Ian started sprinting into the building behind him. He wasn't sure if there was something above him but he didn't want to look above him.
Once he was inside, Ian slammed the door behind and tried to lock it only to find that it broke. He looked around to find any objects or furniture to barricade the door. Thankfully, Ian was in what appeared to be a furniture shop as there were a slew of tables and chairs around the room. He quickly push the nearest furniture pieces towards the door and then backed away once he heard a slamming noise coming from the door.
His breathing seemed to match the door slams as panic was creeping onto Ian. He grabbed the wooden club from his holster and held it in front him. He could've used the dagger since the blade had around the same reach as the club but Ian figured he could somehow use it as a hidden card or backup plan.
Only somehow though.
Crack
Then the wooden door started cracking apart, Ian looked around for a back exit or another pathway but all other paths were blocked by debris due to the ceiling collapsing. Ian inwardly cursed at his bad luck as finally the door cracked open forcing him to turn around and face the door.
Through the hole, Ian could barely see his pursuer through the darkness until the moonlight shown what it looked like but part of him wished that he didn't see its appearance.
The creature had three empty eye sockets with the third middle one positioned slightly lower than the other two. Its bottom jaw was strangely split into two with rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth and he could even see bits of flesh hanging from them. Ian knew that he would never win against this monster, it was too fast and strong for a regular human to fight in a 1 on 1. Ian's mind was racing for a solution.
The alternate paths were blocked.
This building was a carpenter store yet the tools were most likely in the back on the other side of the debris.
There wasn't anything to light a fire to possibly intimidate the monster. Or at least from Ian's modern experiences of using a lighter and a matchstick once.
Still.
Ian kept thinking of anything until there was only one thing he could do.
Simply stand his ground.
If he was going to die then he rather die fighting till his last breath. Heck he already died once so twice wouldn't be an issue.
Ian steeled his nerves as best as he can manage but unfortunately he couldn't stop the shaking in his legs. He started planning on how to distract the monster with his club then try to aim at its weak point with the dagger.
'Hopefully the weak point is where the heart should be...if it even has a heart.'
Crash
Finally, the door was broken down pushing the makeshift barricade away and revealing more of the monstrous form as the moonlight shown from behind it.
The creature had jet black skin with bulging muscles in its upper area and clawed hands. Its legs were short but muscular with hooves as feet making the monster akin to a minotaur if you replaced the ox head with an unsightly three empty eye socket monster that has a split bottom jaw.
Ian inwardly gulped as the monster was about to take its first step inside the building.
"Argh"
Ian heard flesh being pierced but it wasn't his instead...
"UUOOOGGHHH!!!!"
....he heard a strange cry of pain then a demonic-like voice shouting:
"Miiiiineeeee!"
The voice hissed into the air as the minotaur-like creature was pulled away from Ian.