"HISSSSSSSSSSSSS!!"
The Wind Guzzler hissed loudly and dropped to the ground and began to flail around in pain at having lost it's right eye.
"Arrrgh!!"
[14/20] HP
Gale yelled out in pain and dropped the now smoking pistol to the ground and stared at his hands. His hands were badly burnt from the pistol as he hadn't realized that he infused the pistol with far more mana than it could handle and ruined it.
Mana Pistol (Broken)
Durability 0/50
10/100 MANA
Gale had used nearly all of his mana for that one shot and it cost him dearly. He could barely hear as his ears were ringing from the shot. He then grit his teeth and clenched his hands and saw Ashes moving away from the flailing monster and ran towards her.
"G-Gale?!"
Ignoring the pain in his hands and with his hearing beginning to return Gale grabbed a stunned Ashes hand and ran away from the house.
"What is that thing?!" Yelled Gale.
Shaken out of her stunned state by Gales question she responded "It's called a Wind Guzzler! They're monsters that inhale a bunch of air and store it in the air sac under their neck and can shoot it back out!"
As the duo ran away, the Wind Guzzler stopped its flailing and with one side of its face bloodied and a ruined eye socket was filled with rage and hissed at the air and searched for its prey and the one that took it's eye. It struggled to find it's targets with a single eye but spotted two small bodies as they turned a corner.
The Wind Guzzler planted its feet firmly on the ground and opened its jaw further than before and began to inhale the air with more force than when it attempted to attack Ashes. Almost as if a small twister landed in the town, trees, bushes, parts of houses as well as the mess left by the festival began to fly towards the monsteras it entered its mouth and collected in its sac that began to inflate to the monsters size.
Gale and Ashes took cover behind a small concrete store and waited for the monster to stop inhaling. Soon the the Wind Guzzler closed its mouth as its sac was completely filled, all the debris and rubble began to move around in the sac and started to be condensed into a ball of condensed air and debris.
Once it was ready the Wind Guzzler blasted the condensed ball of debris and air in the direction it last saw Gale and Ashes. The blast devastated everything in its path with the ball of debris and condensed air piercing through the houses and eventually became lodged in the castle wall leaving a small crater in the wall.
Gale and Ashes slowly stood up slightly wobbling from the aftermath of the blast. They saw the shop they took shelter by beginning to show cracks and small pieces of stone falling from the store.
"We can't stay here for long. That thing is gonna level the whole place looking for us!" Exclaimed Gale.
"It can't do it multiple times in a row! It needs time to recover its energy! Exclaimed Ashes.
Gale looked in the direction of the Wind Guzzler and could see the monster clearly exhausted and struggling to catch its breath but slowly began to move again.
Once Gale saw the monster move he closed his eyes and started to think of any possible solutions.
"Come on, come on. Ok we can let it walk towards where it fired that ball and once it's a good distance away we can sneak away into one of the tunnels and leave." Said Gale as he opened his eyes.
" I-I can't." Said Ashes.
"What? Why?!"
"All of my people are gone and I have no idea why! I may not be super attached to them but I can't just leave without trying to figure out what happened!"
Gale felt conflicted as he wanted to escape but he could see the determination in Ashes eyes and hear the resolve in her voice.
"Sigh.... fine. Let me think. Hmmmm.... I got it!"
Gale suddenly leapt to his feet and spoke to Ashes about his plan to kill the Wind Guzzler.
"Ashes how long does it take for it to get its energy back to inhale and fire that attack again?
"Ummm I think it was around five minutes?"
"Ok... we can work with that. This is the plan. I have three grenades on me that we can use to kill that thing. When it has its energy back one of us will have to grab its attention and make it try to inhale us. Once it starts to inhale we to let it suck up two of the grenades and pull the pin on the third one and let it get sucked in as well. It should set off the other two grenades causing it to blow up and kill that thing."
"Ok... yeah that sounds like a good plan."
"Alright then once its recovered I'll step out and get its attention."
"Are you sure?"
"I was the one that shot it in the eye. There's a good chance that once it sees me it'll start to inhale again. Once it starts make sure you get to a close but safe distance away so that you don't get sucked up and toss two grenades in and then with the last grenade you pull the pin and tossed it in there. You got this?"
Ashes hesitated for a moment but then met met Gales gaze and nodded. Once the plan was formulated the Gale looked for a rope to tie himself down with and found a sturdy one near the garbage of the store and the two moved closer to the monster.
They moved as close as possible and once they did, Gale gave the grenades to Ashes who ran to the back of a nearby building and waited for the monster to act. Gale saw what looked to be a street lamp and tied himself to the lamp and asked Codec to count down the minutes and he mentally prepared himself to act as the bait.
"It's time."
Codec informed Gale that enough time has passed for the monster to use its attack again. Gale took a deep breath and moved out into the open.
The Wind Guzzler had slowly followed its path of destruction and searched for its prey and the one who took its eye and recovered its strength. It soon heard a voice call out.
"Hey asshole! Looking for me?"
The monster swung its head towards the source of the voice and spotted its enemy. It would not let it escape again. The monster then began to inhale and attempted to suck up Gale.
As the wind began to pick up Gale held onto the street lamp as his body began to lift off of the ground but remained attached to the street lamp. The Wind Guzzler didn't notice however the small girl hiding behind a stone building who tossed two grenades into the creatures suction that settled into its sac.
Ashes then pulled the pin on the last grenade and using all her strength tossed the grenade as hard as she could into the monster's mouth. The grenades sped accelerated due to the suction and entered the creatures mouth.
In a few seconds the grenades ignited inside the Wind Guzzler's head and blew up its head from the inside. The explosion sent chunks of the beasts head flying in different directions along with pieces of debris and with a final twitch its body collapsed to the ground.
As the creature died Gale found himself back on solid ground and the boy felt his body relax from the tensed up state he was in. As he began to calm down he spotted Ashes speedily walking towards him.
"Hey Ashes good wor-"
SLAP!
Gale was cut off by Ashes slapping him across the cheek that caused Gale to fall on his behind and hold his stinging cheek.
"WHY DID YOU DO ALL THAT!" Yelled Ashes.
"W-what?" Stammered Gale.
"WHY DID YOU SAY ALL THOSE MEAN THINGS TO ME AND JUST LEAVE!"
"I-I..."
" WHY DID YOU COME BACK IF YOU SAID YOU COMPLETED YOUR PROMISE! WHY DID YOU SAY ...WHY did...you say..."
Ashes voice began to soften and crack as she struggled to hold back her tears.
"...Why did you say we weren't friends?"
Gale stared at Ashes and soon felt shame over how he had treated the girl and avoided her gaze. After what felt like an eternity Gale managed to say one thing.
"...I'm sorry..."
He soon looked back at the girl who kept staring at him, and Ashes unable to hold back the tears dropped to her knees and hugged Gale and broke down.
Sob sniffle sob
Gale could feel his heart shatter at he heard the girl's heartbreaking sobs as she held onto him and could feel her warm tears as she buried her head in the crook of his neck. Soon Gale hugged the shivering girl in return and could only apologize for leaving her alone. The two stayed in that position for a long time.