Chapter 38
"Any idea on how we're going to fight this thing?" Zack asked. The question was meant towards Laura, but the monster behind Zack replied. "It's got solid scales at the front. You'll have to get a hit to the back."
She had a weird screechy voice, but Zack had other things to worry about. Since he was in the monster's point of view, he charged towards the monster and slammed his sword against the scales. Solid protection indeed, so he jumped up and tried to attack the monster in mid-air, charging at the eyeballs. The monster pulled its throat back, trying to land a bite on Zack. It opened its mouth and quickly moved towards him, but he stabbed the sword into the upper part inside his mouth, hanging on to the sword. Suddenly Zack heard a gurgling sound and pulled his legs up to the inner part of the mouth to bounce off onto the ground just in time as a spiral of fire shot out of the dragon's mouth.
Laura had used the opportunity to slash at the tail a few times, but she had to back off due to it shaking her off. Zack was angry at her poor attempt to attack. Fighting monsters was different than fighting people, since you had to rely on your brute strength for monsters. As the monster slowly turned around to Laura, Zack took the opportunity and started rushing towards it. He raised the sword above his head, holding it with both hands and rammed it into the lower part of the dragon's body. Then he pulled up with all his strength. The exhaustion made him scream to keep the strength up as he took off the ground, jumping up and halfing the monster's back. In mid air, he whirled around once and sliced its head off.
As he landed, he went into his knees. Laura ran up to him to see if he was okay, but he shook her off.
"Seriously, Laura... don't poke around with that sword..." he sighed.
Then his eyes turned towards the monster he had just saved.
"It is my turn to explain, I suppose?" It asked with a screechy voice.
"Indeed." Zack replied.
"Well... I'm a Lobonoid. You could call me half monster, half human, but that term doesn't apply to all of my kind in particular. We're commonly called halfblood, and I'm halved with a special type of monster. But I've lived in our world pretty peacefully... up until lately. There seems to be something going on here, since some of us have gone crazy and started to attack each other... just like this one here did."
"What kind of monster did you come from?" Laura asked.
"You should rather ask me what kind of monster I was about to become. Seems like the outside world doesn't know much about us. Especially since it's only the halfbloods that can communicate with you. I was about to become kind of a werewolf-mother, just that I would be in the wolf-form constantly."
"How do these things happen?" Zack asked.
"What do you mean?"
"How do you become a monster...?"
"People who do bad things come to hell. That's what you humans think, right? Well, that's about right. You could call the place hell. And every human who arrives slowly starts turning into a monster. Some stay in that underworld, some restless leave and haunt their homes. They lose all their human aspects and are led by their instinct. Strong personalities in particular are sometimes able to maintain their humanity and conscience. I don't know about the others, but I don't remember my life as a human."
"Would you like to hear what's going on here?" Laura asked. Zack instantly looked at her, questioning the offer. "Listen, Zack, she apparently knows a lot that can help us and it would be a nice way for me to recap everything. It can't be bad, can it?"
"Indeed. Sorry for my attitude." he replied. He turned her eyes to her. "Do you have a name?" he asked.
She looked down at herself. "I can't remember the name I was given. If I had to choose one... I don't even know what would fit to me. Call me Red."