Chapter 3 The Blue Oni Fights

With nothing but a brief moment to dodge I attempted to roll to the side. It narrowly missed my vitals, but caught my side instead.

The side of my leather armor was torn open instantly and a gash had gotten me under the pit of my arm. With only minor bleeding, I quickly raised my shield and readied my mace, just in time to block a thrust from my mystery assailant.

*CRACK* my shield had shattered on impact and i was sent careening into the tree behind me.

I slammed into it with a loud thud.

The wind was knocked out of me and I was gasping for air. It felt like my own lungs were in shock from the impact as I laid doubled over.

'I have to move, NOW.' with barely any oxygen in my lungs I picked myself up.

Only to see my assailant rushing towards me. It was a large humanoid creature standing at eight feet tall, its skin was a deep shade of blue, and its eyes gleamed an eerie gold. Its long hair was unfettered, wild and it seemed to flow into the wind. He was surrounded by the corpses of the other hunters. A total of six. Two of which seemed to be B rank Hunters.

'Crap just my luck. The blue Oni.'

Raising my mace I threw away the splintered remains of my shield.

'I'll at least try not to make it too easy for this bastard.'

That's when I noticed its sword. A seven foot long one sided blade, a nodachi, and it was wielding it with one hand.

Fuck.

As it raised its blade it was obvious it had the range, strength and agility advantage. I was outclassed in every aspect.

Though I did have one thing it wasn't prepared for.

*CRASH* a tree beside me had gone flying into the clearing kicking up a dust cloud and causing the Blue oni to go on the defense. In one swift motion it used the flat side of the sword and redirected the tree to its side, landing on the pile of dead hunters.

As the dust began to settle the Ushi-Oni reared its ugly bull head.

'Took you long enough, bastard.'

*MROAAAR* it snorted with a toothy grin.

By this point the Oni had shifted its entire focus away from me, and readied its blade on a much larger opponent.

Though for the Ushi-Oni, it seemed to have found an even tastier meal than a measly human.

Without further introductions the two's war began.

The blue oni took initiative first bringing its blade in for a wide arcing slash, which was repelled by one of the Ushi's Horns. Using the free appendages it retaliated with one of its bladed legs catching the side of the Oni.

The odds were stacked against the blue oni's favor, against a beast with 8 bladed legs and protective horns, he was at a severe disadvantage in terms of power and equipment. Nevertheless the blue Oni seemed to move with purpose, Ignoring the pain in its side it took its nodachi and stabbed it into the underside of the Ushi's abdomen where its legs connected its body. And in a swift motion ripped its leg off and threw it to the side where it landed not far from me.

The Ushi let out an enraged yell as it pulled away from the blue oni.

It was like watching a battle between titans. Each was monstrous but the scale between the two was unmatched.

Everything in my body was telling me to run. Every instinct of survival and self preservation was screaming at me to get out of there. Yet This spectacle of battle between these two monsters. Something inside of me screamed to stay and see this through to the end.

'No I have to get out of here!'

The mere thought of staying and watching was suicide. Grabbing the torn Ushi Oni leg as an improvised weapon I stood up and began to slowly back away from the fight.

The two Eastern monsters clashed once again, the sound of metal clashing against the Ushi Oni's carapace rang through the air.

FWWWIIIIIIIP~ BOOM

A Blue light enveloped the night sky as the Signal to retreat shot into the sky. The blue flare was a signal that the situation is no longer as debriefed and is unsafe and to return ASAP.

Despite the interruptive Blue Flare the two titans' attention never changed.

Though the blue oni may have severed one of its limbs, the Ushi-oni was far from losing. Enraged at its situation the Ushi-oni sucked in a deep breath and a rotting smell began to seep from its direction. Sensing something was amiss the blue oni took a defensive stance and prepared for an incoming attack. His white blade gleaming in the moonlight.

Recalling the capabilities of the Ushi-oni I recalled that along with its bladed appendages, horns and web spinneret, it also had one more deadly tool at its disposal. A powerful toxin it can breathe from its mouth.

A chill went down my spine as I saw it preparing to unleash a fog of toxins upon the battlefield.

Fearing the worst I turned and began to run away with the goal of getting as far away from here as possible, and retreating back due to the flare call.

THUD!

As soon as I turned around I found myself crashing into the hard wall and tumbling backwards.

'A wall? Wait…" There were no "walls'' in the forest. What I had crashed into was the body of the red oni.