Etsu's attack, as he feared it might, provoked the creatures; whatever they intended before they were now clearly hostile. Truthfully he doubted they would have gotten by without fighting them, but it was possible they might have scared them off or otherwise convinced them they'd make poor targets. Now they were tightening the circle, trying to reduce the room they had to maneuver. They weren't the brightest creatures, perhaps, but they clearly had the instincts of a predator.

But he could use this to his advantage. "Etsu, wait," he commanded. Perhaps it seemed like a crazy command...but perhaps not. Etsu was quite intelligent when it came to combat, and furthermore they worked well together. She could often tell what he had in mind without him having to say it.

Once the creatures had moved to within five feet of them, he shouted, "Now!" With a twist of his body he swung in a wide, low arc, intending to catch the entire group of them with one shot as he stepped back with one foot, forward with the other, and twisted. If Etsu mirrored his move, they'd essentially switch places, and could cover for each other so that they left very of a opening for any of the creatures that survived to counter.

Etsu followed through with Eld, spinning around to switch places with him the very moment he commanded her to. She swung the blade of her naginata out in a wide horizontal arc, unsure of how many she'd cut down in the process, but certain that at least a few were down: black mist rose into the air around them, making it somewhat difficult for the two of them to see for a moment.

When the black mist lifted, it was clear to Etsu that they'd killed a solid seven of the beasts, leaving four behind. Four must have jumped back, effectively saving their lives--however temporarily.

Close friends as they were (though far from romantic; their preferences made it physically impossible for either to be attracted to the other), Eld and Etsu were able to follow through and work together with relative ease. They weren't at all frantic--until more focused teamwork broke apart at the seams.

Etsu relaxed her joints after the motion, comfortable now with the dramatic losses on the sides of their predators. Four total--she could deal with that just fine.

But it was a folly on her part. The instant she relaxed, one leaped forward. She attempted to jab at it, but it was too late; it cleared her range and jumped upon her shoulder.

"A-ahh!" Etsu cried in pain as she felt small teeth sink into her shoulder. It wasn't too terrible, just drawn blood, but she had to let one hand release her weapon so she may tear this one off of her.

While he couldn't see exactly what happened, Etsu's cry made it clear that she'd been hurt, though not severely. He couldn't spare more than a quick glance over his shoulder, as he still had two of the creatures to contend with himself.

Taking a quick step forward he raised the scythe over his head before he bringing the it down in a powerful overhead swing, strong enough it would likely embed itself into the dirt slightly whether it hit or not. This would leave him open to the other shade...

...which was exactly what hoped it would think. If it attempted to take advantage of the perceived opening, it would find a foot flying into it, courtesy of of a spinning roundhouse from Eld.

Eld succeeded and knocking the creature back, throwing it to the ground with a well timed kick. This did not kill the beast, however; it knocked it to the ground, dazed, but it soon dragged itself up.

This, however, left Eld exposed to the other creature. It wasted no time in leaping onto Eld's back and latching on, its small body tucked about the middle of his back where it was hardest for him to reach.

It dug into Eld's back, clawing and biting at his skin, easily capable of tearing through the fabric of his shirt to get to the soft flesh below. Fortunately, it couldn't do too much damage, but if Eld spent too long trying to get this one off of his back, he'd have the other on his chest, trying to sink its teeth into Eld's throat . . .

Etsu was having her own problem. She'd thrown one off, but before she could stomp on it, she had the second on her back. Straining, she tried to reach for it, but it bit her finger as soon as her hand was close. Etsu winced and recoiled her hand, but tried again as soon as she felt it biting onto her back. These things weren't dangerous like this, but if they could get at their throats or something--then they'd really present a problem . . .

Eld grimaced as the creature bit into his back, but he ended up coming to the same conclusion Etsu did--so long as these creatures didn't get to something vulnerable like their necks, they weren't terribly dangerous in small numbers.

However, there was no effective way to remove the creature from his back, and now Etsu was in the same predicament. There was only real solution. While the one he kicked was still recovering, he turned to Etsu. "Stand very, very still," he warned as he approached.

Two quick strikes was all it would take; while they were certainly hurting Etsu, by latching onto her they gave up their mobility, making them easy targets--at least to someone precise enough not to hurt the person they were on.

Of course, that still left the one on his own back, as well as the one he'd kicked...

Etsu paused and froze, wincing and trying not to cry out in pain. When she did nothing to fight against the beast, it did a real number on her back. It gripped onto her with one claw and clawed at her skin with the other, attempting to gnaw through her skin in the meantime. It took only a second for Eld to dispatch it, but in the time that she had it on her, it still did a bit of damage to her, laying out a slew of deep cuts and gashes from its teeth and claws. Blood seeped from these wounds, stained the back of her now tattered shirt and jacket, and slowed her down.

It was, however, just as Eld took care of this that his second foe was in the air, using the moment that he was occupied to attempt latching at his upper chest and throat . . .

Unfortunately, this was roughly at the time when a mist of shadows covered Etsu and Eld both, likely to blind them from the two beasts still to pose a threat to their persons.

The black mist that appeared whenever one of the creatures was dispatched was much thicker than he thought, completely obscuring his vision for a few moments. During those few moments he turned back towards where the other creature had last been, trying to ignore the one on his back for the moment despite it digging into him with its claws and teeth.

That he brought his hand up to wave away the mist possibly saved his life; instead of hitting his neck like it intended, the creature instead latched onto his wrist, causing him to yelp in pain and wince at his tore into his arm.

Dropping the scythe for the moment (it didn't do him any good when they were already on him), he grabbed the creature on his arm and attempted to pry it off, toss it to the ground and stomp it out of existence.

If that was successful, he'd try and take care of the one on his back by simply falling on it, crushing it against the ground.

Truth be told, Eld lucked out. He was able to tear the creature from his arm, and had the full opportunity to stamp its life out right then and there. It took only a shift of his weight to throw himself down onto his back, which initially dug claws and teeth further into his flesh, but bereft the creature of life shortly thereafter.

Etsu wasn't quite as lucky as Eld. Unable to see in the dark mist, she couldn't sense the beast coming for her--but it knew just where to go. She didn't expect at all for her to feel a sudden force against her chest. The girl stumbled a step, caught herself, but soon panicked again. It hung onto her by the collarbone. It clutched onto her, dug its claws into her collarbone and its clawed feet into her ribs--and it wasted no time in sinking its teeth into her throat.

She threw her naginata down. It did her no good in proximity. Etsu worked to grasp the creature before it dug into her throat by too much; she grabbed it by the skull and pulled it off, ripping away small chunks of skin in the process. She let out a pained cry, but didn't let this drop her.

"G-get . . ." Etsu strained to speak.

She held it by the skull with one hand and by the body with the other. She tore and strained to avoid letting out another cry of pain.

"Off!" Etsu cried as she finally ripped it off of her.

The beast was thrown to the ground and, with the utmost justification, stamped her foot down upon its head, crushing it instantly.

Eld pulled himself to his feet quickly, seeing that Etsu was under attack, but by the time he was up she'd taken care of it. Those things were more vicious than they looked. One would think the bigger predators would be the more dangerous, but he could much easier take on a single powerful foe than numerous weaker ones.

"Are you alright?" he asked, looking over Etsu with concern and oblivious to his own injuries. The last attack had gotten her pretty bad; depending on how bad, he might need to apply some first aid before they continued.

In all honesty, Etsu was a bit of a mess. Her back, left shoulder, and the area of her collar to throat were all messed up. She'd live, and be able to progress on without taking too many risks; she simply had numerous deep cuts on her back and shoulder, and her collarbone had been dug into, on top of a very blatant section of teeth marks upon her throat. She didn't need first aid to go on, though. She'd be just fine with or without it. These were likely going to leave scars on her with or without bandaging--and she wasn't too worried about that anymore. She just wanted to get to Hillcrest, get their friend, and go back home.

"It does not matter," she shook her head.

Etsu sighed as she looked down the path. They still had a ways to go, didn't they? Well, no time to waste, then. The sooner they rushed for Hillcrest, the better off they might be.

Hopefully.

"We should just hurry . . ."

"Alright," he assented despite his worry. "Just don't push yourself." For all her intelligence, Etsu could be a bit bullheaded when it came to her own safety; she'd say the same thing even if her injuries were serious. With any luck they'd find Remmy in short order and could take the time to patch themselves up before heading back to Galaens.

Unfortunately, good luck was not something he was particularly known for, but he preferred to remain hopeful nevertheless.

Trying to ignore the dull pain and discomfort of his own bleeding, he picked up the scythe and started back down the road, also hoping that Hillcrest was close and merely hidden by the blanket of night.

Etsu nodded weakly. In all honesty, she was actually aware that her wounds--collective as they were--were kind of serious. There were enough open wounds on her that she could have sustained infection easily--but there was nothing they could do about that. They'd just have to press on and hope that they could get back to Galaens for disinfectant. Etsu didn't know if there was a clinic in Hillcrest or not, but she doubted it. If it were as small of a place as it was suggested to her, then probably not.

She took her weapon and started forward.

Despite her wounds, Etsu walked fast. She was shorter than Eld and couldn't keep pace with him in terms of stride, but she walked fast enough to even out with him. At least initially. It took only several seconds for her to glance from left to right, brow furrowed and lips pursed. It was then that she took to a jog, doubting her ability to run in this state of ever growing fatigue.

"There are more . . ." Etsu remarked under her breath.

She wasn't remotely fond of this. She'd no idea what they were up against next--but she hoped they didn't have to find out.

Unfortunately, they couldn't possibly be that lucky.

"They are . . . fast."

"Great." More of these creatures was not good; even more of the ones they'd faced so far would have been bad, but he really didn't want to face any that were faster. They may have been fine with their injuries for now, but if they took many more they were going to be in serious trouble.

He matched her pace, keeping an eye on the right side of the road. If her reactions were any indication, however, they weren't going to be able to outrun them.

"How many?" he asked, drawing up his weapon as best as he could while keeping his pace up.

"It is hard to tell," Etsu admitted begrudgingly, "There are too many shadows in the forest. It is-- it cannot be . . . It cannot be natural."

If she could perceive a few creatures near them, but nothing beyond that--it didn't bode well at all. There was so much in there that she couldn't see or detect. Etsu was beginning to doubt their chances of survival if this gauntlet refused to let up, and if her fears were accurate . . .

Eld and Etsu were joined on the path by three figures, two leaping before them to force an abrupt stop, and another leapin in behind them.

These creatures were vastly different than the last ones. They had long bodies, and seemed to walk on all fours. Their skin was like leather and stretched over each individual bone; their obsidian forms looked the part of the dead, but they stood snarling and poised. Their teeth were jagged; terrifyingly serrated. These jagged forms were bared with the utmost aggression, as growls escaped their salivating mouths. The canine like creatures stood with distance between them.

This . . . couldn't possibly end well. As they sniffed the air, Etsu became acutely aware of the detrimental fact that they could smell their blood on the air.

Eld had to agree with Etsu's assessment. "If these creatures were always around, there's no way normal people would be able to get to Galaens from Hillcrest." And he'd gathered that it was fairly normal for people from the nearby village to show up in Galaens, so unless everyone there was abnormally strong than these creatures weren't always out.

Which made him wonder, why were they out?

This line of thought was put on hold as two creatures jumped in front of them, forcing them to skid to a halt, with another one leaping behind them. Whatever intelligence they had, it was enough to cut off any avenue of escape.

"Etsu, take the one behind us. I'll get these two. But stay close." It was best they fight back to back as much as practicality allowed. If she was right there were many more in the forest; if they left their backs exposed at all, there was a good chance they wouldn't live long enough to regret it.

There was a good chance of that anyway, though, he was forced to admit. They might be able to take these three, but if they kept coming sooner or later they were going to make one mistake too many, or just plain run of out of strength to keep fighting.

Remmy, wherever you are, I hope you're doing better than we are...