ROAAARRR!!
The creature screamed. It jumped out of the hole and landed on the stone ground with a sound like a hammer hitting an anvil.
BOOM!
The ground beneath it cracked and split outward in jagged lines from the point of impact. Dust rose from the broken stone.
It growled while looking at the two of them. Low and continuous. A sound that settled in the chest rather than the ears.
The door behind Noah and Damien had sealed again.
"Dammit." Noah stared at it for a flat second. "We were so close."
Damien was breathing heavily beside him. "Looks like we have no choice."
Noah turned back around and pulled his sword out again. Damien did the same.
But they both stopped.
The creature was not charging.
It stood where it had landed and looked at them. Not with the blind hunger and rage it had shown before. Not with the wild animal aggression of something that simply wanted to destroy whatever was in front of it.
It was still.
