Thick scarlet blood dripped onto the grass, staining it with dark colors.
An eerie snarl came over the girl who plunged her blade into the monster's eye.
At least that was what Morvian had intended.
Reality was less favorable, however, and the monster managed to block the blade with one of its bony arms.
'Damn, too slow...'
The blade pierced through its palm with sharp claws and murky liquid dripped from its end.
Moderate breathing was accompanied by vapor escaping from the bony maw, dissolving into the air.
The paw clutching Morvian's leg pressed much harder and the latter experienced intense burning and pain.
The ring flashed blue again and new chips formed some sort of object.
The creature's hand rushed towards the girl's head, but instead of cutting her down like a tree, it simply grabbed her by the hair.
'What an idiot!' laughed Morvian to himself as he fumbled for the ring object in his hand.
Several deafening gunshots tore through the silence of the night sky.
Smoke billowed from the muzzle of the revolver and several shell casings fell silently to the grass.
An unpleasant dull pain from the recoil pierced his arm and the smell of gunpowder hit his nose.
Eyes the color of the sun stared into the squinted eyelids of the abomination.
New drops of blood stained the grass and the once moderate breathing became intermittent.
A few red spots spread across the monster's black fur, but not strongly enough.
However, the monster's grip loosened for a fraction of a second, which was enough and Morvian jumped back with his healthy leg a couple of meters away from the creature.
A sharp pain pierced the leg that had been grabbed earlier as he tried to stand on it. So he had to get down on one knee, frowning at the pain.
The monster, meanwhile, growled sullenly, its scarlet eyes following the movements of the girl in the fur cloak.
Noticing the creature's hesitation, Morvian tossed the blade and revolver to the grass, keeping his eyes on his foe.
Then he rolled up the sleeve of his left arm and black dragonfly tattoos showed out.
Focusing on them, Morvian felt a tingling and faint burning sensation enveloping his arm.
Two dragonflies emerged from the sparks of fire flying out of his hand.
They had orange coloring and acid green eyes, and their long wings buzzed menacingly, breaking the silence of the encounter.
'Damn, I wasted a lot of energy earlier. So now I've also summoned these two dragonflies. Why do I not only have a weak body, but also such a talentless in magic!
Despite his inner resentment, Morvian already wanted to send a command to the explosive insects. However, the monster's next action interrupted him and surprised him.
The tall creature threw all four of its arms up and stood meekly, waiting.
Morvian's gaze grew sharper while a light breeze fluttered his golden hair.
Dragonflies hovered in the air, waiting for a command, but Morvian watched for now.
'What the... is it really intelligent? Wait, what if it has studied human behavior and is now tricking me like this? He looks surprisingly willing to dialog, though.''
Morvian inwardly realized the absurdity of his thoughts, but decided to take a chance nonetheless.
"Are you reasonable?" he asked.
The monster shook its head, covered in the white bone of its skull.
The scarlet eyes showed instead of bloodlust, reasonableness and understanding of the speaker's words.
Morvian hummed nervously and continued his questioning.
"So you understand human speech as well. But I don't think there's much you can tell me right now. You're still a beast of the abyss after all."
The monster nodded his head again, showing his agreement.
At that moment, an interesting thought popped into Morvian's head that could potentially make his life easier.
Clear eyes, like a shining sun, looked seriously at the intelligent monster.
"Are you... one of the challengers?"
The wind picked up and whipped his golden hair into the air, but Morvian's gaze did not move.
The monster looked calmly at Morvian and in his eyes he read relief?
Several insects swirled around the deadly couple and the moonlight reflected on the black hair.
While the monster nodded briefly with its bony head.
Morvian couldn't help but inwardly smile, however outwardly he was also calm.
The dragonflies were still circling around him, ready for the order.
Scarlet eyes with a glint of intelligence were calmly studying the blonde-haired girl.
At that moment, a thought popped into Morvian's head.
After receiving the ring, he had looked through all the items stored within it.
Dil was apparently quite an experienced adventurer and so he had accumulated many useful items in his artifact.
'And one of them was this item...'
Blue shavings swirled around the ring and another ring appeared in the air.
It was the color of resin, however, and along its edges were carved small runes that glittered purple.
Morvian spun the new artifact for a moment before tossing it onto the grass in front of the monster.
"Put it on."
The false monster carefully picked up the item, though it wasn't easy with those claws. However, he succeeded and slipped the ring onto his finger.
Realization appeared in the monster's eyes and it looked with surprise at the girl who waited patiently.
"Can you hear me?"
A pleasant voice blossomed in Morvian's mind, filling his thoughts.
A satisfying feeling appeared in his chest and he smiled weakly.
"Yes, I can hear you well."
The monster visibly perked up and continued speaking into Morvian's head.
"That's a distrag, isn't it? The artifact used for water operations?"
Morvian nodded, satisfying his new acquaintance's interest.
"Yes, you put energy into this ring and focus your attention on a specific object. And then it will hear your thoughts."
The monster folded his paws and scratched his bony chin.
"I see... what a relief. I'm so glad to finally have someone to talk to at least. By the way, I completely forgot, because we haven't even introduced ourselves to each other!"
Morvian came to his senses, realizing that his companion was right.
However, a new problem had arisen.
'Should I say my real name?'
Among this year's applicants were not a few of the enemies Morvian had made while living in the slums of Rusthole.
'It would be unpleasant to have one of those assholes in front of me.'
So he decided to do things a little differently.
He looked at his interlocutor with eyes the color of the sun.
"You're right, what's your name?"
Simple and logical.
The pleasant voice reappeared in his head, similar to a bird singing.
"My name is Elias, what's yours?"