Dyss, despite having some idea that the attack was coming, was unable to respond quickly enough to keep the thing off him. He would move slightly, such that the creature would grab his hip and side rather than the middle of his back, but it was still an unpleasant sensation as the creature started to bite into his side...

"Ah! Damn these things! GET OFF!"

Dyss would drop the sword temporarily, grabbing the creature with both hands, pulling with a desire to get the thing off. It didn't even really occur to him that just grabbing and pulling with all his strength could wind up causing more damage...

Upon tearing the small creature off of his hip, Dyss would encounter the same pain as the last time he had pulled one off-- torn skin, pain, ripped clothes in the air of his hip, and the bleeding caused by it all, perhaps worse than the bite itself would have caused. Naturally, though, they could only pierce so many layers of skin over time, reducing them to a minuscule annoyance if alone in attacking prey. It could only provide flesh wounds.

Dyss's shout prompted Attis to take action again. he no longer had enemies to deal with, but Dyss still had one.

"Dyss!" Attis shouted as he spun around, and let loose upon the temporarily downed creature.

When Attis struck it, he presented a movement very similar to a backhand. He held it with his right hand; his right arm crossed over his chest and continued out-- his elbow bent ever so slightly --and the curved blade was almost perfectly parallel with his arm. As Attis held the weapon underhanded, much like one held a dagger under handed-- albeit in Attis's case, he held it to be parallel to the ground --his best option was to swipe his right arm out like a backhand, and let the long polearm act as a much more deadly extension of this.

Fortunately, Attis had fairly good depth perception, even at night. Dyss wasn't even in range of his attack.

Attis briefly took in a couple of gasps for air as he stood there, the small creature bursting away into a misty hiss-- and all the while Attis unconsciously held the scythe in the same position he had when ready to use it-- underhanded with his right hand, left hand set upon it to balance it, and the curved blade behind his back, and lifted from the ground.

Dyss would grit his teeth, perhaps more in annoyance than in response to the wounds. The bleeding wasn't major; the torn flesh was certainly annoying, but not too important, really. Dyss would move some of the nearby clothing to somewhat bandage the wounds, but he was more concerned about Milos and Attis...

"Attis, is this normal? These things... What are they?"

Dyss had no idea, and it didn't really occur to him that Attis probably didn't know, either. Attis was just the man who tended to know things that were helpful, and was always asked. As he asked, Dyss would recover his sword, placing it in the belt around his waist, not really used to carrying the thing, but loathful to give it up...

A moment passed-- and by the time Dyss had asked his question, Attis was able to release a relieved sigh and let his tensed body relax just a little. He loosened his grip a little on the rod of the scythe, and inevitably let go of it with his left hand, and let his right hand idle with it. Unfortunately, he had literally nothing at all to carry the thing with, and it was a little cumbersome to carry around-- but that was fine. It was a functional weapon, and to top it all off . . . it had an air. An air that interested him-- enough that he didn't quite feel right parting with it at the moment. It was just an uncomfortable feeling he got whenever he considered it; it made him reconsider, regardless of the fact that there was a sword up ahead that was probably a little easier to use and carry around . .

"I . . . I have no idea," Attis replied and took a deep breath and let out a sigh, again relieved to feel no stress of battle weighing upon his shoulders, "But-- unh--"

His back still hurt a little. Attis had nearly forgotten about that injury.

"--I-in case there's more . . . w-we should give some thought to these creatures," Attis remarked with a shrug and a half smile, as he stood back up straight.

It was also probably best that they keep moving, too.

Dyss was perfectly happy to keep moving. His attention was more focused now, only on their general vicinity. He wanted to look for Milos, but there was no point if they were fatally ambushed or anything like that...

"I can't see them or affect them..."

Dyss was only able to see the creatures by virtue of their uncommon lack of light, and his results with manipulating light had been rather ineffective, too. The things didn't seem to use light to see, or anything like that. They were just creatures formed of and natural to shadows...

"Is there any better way to find Milos?"

Dyss would continue walking towards the town with Attis, but there likely was no better way...

Attis hated to say it, but . . . "I-- I don't think there is."

Still-- just in case, they couldn't focus on that right now. As Attis jogged, he tried to remain focused. There was a threat around them, he could feel it now. Dyss may have even seen it by that point. He probably did; he seemed to notice the shadows before Attis could. What they were, Attis didn't know, and Dyss certainly wouldn't be able to tell, but they were fast. Under the cover of the trees, they were moving at the same speed of Dyss and Attis's jogging.

"Look-- for now, we have to focus," Attis declared as he looked over to Dyss; he tried to sound stern, but he was terrible at that. "There are more of them, and we need to figure out as much about them as we can. It's important-- if we're going to save Milos."

Wait . . . a second-- save him? Why would I think he needs saving? Milos is more durable than anyone I've ever met.

But no matter . . .

"What I can tell so far-- is that they've got a lot of vulnerable spots on their bodies, and in crowds hitting more than one in a single swing can clear out a lot of them at once," which could certainly help, given how fatigued they really were, "An economy of attacks, I guess?"

"What else do we know about them?"

"Not much, really... They don't respond to light, and don't seem to use it to see..."

Dyss wasn't sure what else to do; there was no way to plan, really. They were exhausted, and there was no guarantee they would be able to plan for anything when it came to combat. And speaking of which... Dyss couldn't tell because there tended to be a good amount of noise when he expanded his senses, but were there more? Following them?

"There may be more, I can't really tell..."

Dyss would draw his sword, just in case. It was starting to get exhausting, but there was little to be done about it...

It was almost on cue-- just as Dyss declared that they weren't alone, Dyss and Attis would be forced to stop in an instant. Three creatures leaped from within the trees, previously hiding in their midst, running next to them-- leaping out as soon as it was the best possible time. These ones . . . they weren't as large as the first batch, but not as small as the second. They ran like dogs, on all four legs, and were about the size of such a mutt. The three looked similar, with skin tight against their bones, and long heads with thin, jagged teeth-- serrated, unlike the prior groups'. Bony tails swayed back and forth as they stalked, standing in Attis and Dyss's way, and walking as if ready to circle them.

Attis came to a stop, momentarily frantic as he glanced from right to left, eying the looming creatures before them. The temporary panic ceased in less than a second.

"I guess . . ." Attis whispered, but loud enough for Dyss to hear . . .

Attis wasted no time in bringing his weapon back. Once more, he held it with both hands, his left first, with his right closer to the middle of the pole. The curved blade was kept behind him, reversed in a way, just like he had held it before. Against these creatures, it had been effective enough last time . . .

". . . we'll have to use these ones for study, too."

It was about as cold blooded as Attis could muster-- which really wasn't cold blooded at all, specifically because he meant it, and wasn't actually saying this for the sake of a cold blooded one-liner. He wasn't Recheov, by any means. But nevertheless . . .

"Attis, choose one and focus on it!"

Dyss would speak, trying another gambit after just a few moments. Much like Attis, Dyss wanted to know more. Next to the the three dog-like creatures would appear five more, a pack of forms devoid of light, casually walking along as if they didn't notice Dyss or Attis. Dyss was manipulating the light away to form shadowy spots in the shapes of the creatures, and while it was taxing the limits of his concentration, the shapes were only possible at all because of the general formlessness of shades in the first place.

"Let's see how they detect things..."

Dyss whispered in a low voice, hoping his trick would pay off or at least teach them...

"All right," Attis replied with an acknowledging nod.

Pick one and focus on it. Why, Attis didn't quite know. Dyss hadn't outright told him of the plan. It wasn't much longer before he saw exactly why Dyss had wanted him to do it, though. In no time at all, there were five other creatures. Initially, this threw Attis off, and he broke his focus to see what happened, but as soon as he saw the difference, he realized what happened, and with a half-smile, returned his focus to one of the three he'd picked.

There was a noticeable difference, at least for he and Dyss. Whether or not it was on purpose or by accident, Dyss had left something out. The three real creatures had a distinct color that the new five did not: their eyes. Dyss had simply removed forms of light to create the images of them, and without those lights, there was no scarlet for their eyes.

The initial three twisted their heads around instantly, looking at the five others that seemed to be pacing at the same rate as they were. The middle one let out a territorial growl, while the two on the sides dug their claws into the ground.

They had temporarily overlooked Dyss and Attis . . .

It was a good opening, surely, but Attis didn't know if he should take it or not. He had his scythe ready, but looked to Dyss first. This was his experiment, and Attis knew, as a mack-scientist, that interrupting another person's experiments could sometimes get ugly.

"Get them..."

Dyss was hardly able to concentrate enough to realize Attis wasn't attacking, much less to study the creatures. Attis was better at that, anyway. It was difficult to maintain the images of 5 shadow creatures, especially since he had to effectively maintain an outline, not a form. He couldn't really attack without his concentration slipping, either...

Once Attis had attacked, and hopefully made the attack count, Dyss would drop all the illusions at the same time, preparing his sword to attack. He was going to take a moment to switch modes, though...

Attis nodded quickly to Dyss before kicking forward. He was really getting the hang of this--and quickly, at that. And truth be told, if Dyss wasn't experiencing yet, he would soon. Perhaps even now, when he readied his sword.

The nearest beast to Attis was picked as a specific target. Attis had come to a few conclusions regarding this, and how the creatures reacted to illusions like Dyss's, but as Dyss no doubt assumed as much as Attis had, a test could only go so long before it became dangerous. Attis' swung out his polearm, still using his reverse stance, as soon as it was in range--and fortunately, the scythe allowed for quite the range.

The creature growled into mist, quickly deflating into nothing bu disjointed darkness. Attis had struck his mark, but followed through with it: there were three of them, and he needed to get at least one more before he could retract his weapon. Attis let go of it with right hand, allowing the scythe to continue out in its wide horizontal arc, as he took a step forward, infringing upon the space of the next creature in line, a creature that Attis had in sight, and dead set to lay to waste.

With a heave of his left arm, he brought the scythe back in the same wide horizontal arc, reversed so that he'd bring it back towards him, and into the creature while it was still disoriented--having not expected Attis to come through the darkness that lingered from the previous beast, and was laid to waste as Attis returned to his preferred stance.

Dyss would release the illusions as Attis struck, all but certain the remaining ones would turn on him rather than continue to examine the creatures. Just as swiftly, however, only one remained. The illusions would be gone literally in an instant, leaving no trace of existing, and the two of them now outnumbered the single creature.

Dyss would lunge forward a few moments later, once he could focus on his location and the location of the enemy. He would grip the sword with both hands, striking with the point and hoping to pin the creature, if not killing it outright. If he could stick it in one place, it was as good as dead with Attis' newfound scythe.

Dyss had it pinned. He struck his blade down against the last of the creatures back, knocking it swiftly to the ground and cutting into its chest all the while. But there was a problem: Dyss's overhead attack had landed his blade upon its spine, which was almost impossible to cut through. It might die soon enough, but it was still struggling to be free of Dyss's blade, slashing its claws at the edge of his sword and cackling out a low, angry hiss. It was still dangerous like this. Attis had looked behind him, catching the image, and took in a breath.

Ever so slightly Attis turned towards the right, clockwise, and all the while, he pushed the scythe, with its blade still arced behind his back, further behind him--with all his might, in fact. He shot its black back as hard as he could, and soon there was a clash of Attis's scythe against Dyss's longsword. The clash muted the sound of the creature's dying hiss, but not the black cloud it briefly left behind.

The last of the three dog-like creatures defeated, Attis stepped back and stood up straight, no longer in a battle stance, but instead using the scythe as a pole to lean his weight on.

"Well . . ." Attis took in a deep breath before releasing an equally as deep sigh, one clearly of relief, "It looks like they can see your decoys. And that they're territorial . . ."

Judging by the way the three beasts had become aggressive towards the illusions Dyss created, they not only seemed susceptible to seeing such manipulations of light, but that they had some degree of intelligent, logical, or instinctive thought.

"Or maybe it's food aggression . . ." Attis wasn't too sure which would be more accurate, but if Dyss had an idea, he was all ears.

Attis may have seen more animals that Dyss had, but it didn't take anymore than a couple instances of seeing an animal become territorial or display aggression towards others in the presence of food to have such possibilities, and more, memorized--and Dyss had been around at least a few aggressive animals in his life, following the rejuvenation of his "sight."

Dyss would withdraw his sword, glad that this encounter went somewhat better than last time. He was quickly learning that the real winner of the fight was the one who got hit the least, not the one who hit the most or the hardest. Even the little scratches and wounds were weighing on his already tired body...

"I don't know... What could they even eat? They don't seem to be made of much of anything... Maybe they fight each other, too?"

The things seemed pretty straightforward, despite their different appearances. They searched out things, and they killed them. Dyss couldn't be sure if they would have attacked the illusions, but they were at least enough to distract from Attis and Dyss, who were certainly threats...