Clash 2

Deep in the forest, Grendel feasted.

Thin blood drenched his hands and mouth, and oozed down his neck and his chest and his gut, but it didn’t matter to him in the slightest as he ate from the broken elf. With rough fingers he dug in and ripped out steaming organs, with sharp yellow teeth he stripped fat lumps of flesh from the bone. Both were consumed with special relish.

He certainly had reasons to feel lucky. Elves were a rare sight to come by, especially around these lands. And even then the long-ears were often too swift, too jumpy to ambush. But, ah, they were so full of themselves. And when they let their guard down….it had been so long since Grendel was able to catch an elf, and this meal he enjoyed immensely. Delicious. Stringy, perhaps, and without enough marrow to feed a harpy, but in the end, it was delicious.

After a while he was satiated, the remains of the elf corpse now barely recognizable as a once-living creature. He began licking the blood off his hands absent-mindedly, inspecting the surrounding wilderness as he wondered what to do next. It hadn’t been that heavy a meal and he wasn’t too tired either. Plenty of time until the sun set anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to keep moving.

From the corner of an eye he saw it.

It was far away, that figure, far among the thick trees, but Grendel could see it clearly. A giantess. Dashing through the vegetation she was, leaping over rock and grass and carpet of leaves. She wasn’t just passing by, or else her movements would have been much more cautious. But it didn’t look like she was fleeing either. Too focused. Purposeful. And there was no mistaking that air around her. She was arrowed on his position. She was going for him.

And the squamataur wasn’t going anywhere. Already he was in position. His claws stomped the undergrowth, standing his ground. His massive tail cracked in the air like the most deadly whip. His fists closed and his back arched. Lips pulled back to reveal the still bloody jaws underneath, dribbling with necrotic slobber. And a bubbling, primal groan began to rise from his throat.

They never learned, did they? Idiots so full of hot air can’t see he’s STRONG! The strongest of all! Stronger than ANYONE! That wench wants a challenge? He’ll crush her like the tick she is!!

The giantess was faster than he expected. Already she was close enough for her tireless trampling to be heard, the snake of dirt and crunchy dead leaves tailing her feet, layer of sweat coating her exposed skin, huffing and puffing from overworked lungs. Now he could appreciate the expression in her face, stiff and humourless. And those eyes of hers, those green orbs locked into Grendel’s…..determination, contempt. And fury. He answered in kind. He’d show her where she BELONGS!

In a flash she leaped at him, right arm withdrawn for a punch. Grendel almost immediately countered, and his great hand stopped her fist in its tracks.

He didn’t see the kick to the gut, lightning-fast like a harpoon.




And right after his human half bended over, before he could see through the pain to understand what just happened, a second punch came from below, straight to his jaw. That was followed by another punch. And another. Then amidst the confusion the giantess took to the ground, swift in her actions, and gave a new kick, straight to Grendel’s chest this time. And so violent it was this time, so brutal in its force, that he was knocked back, his tauric limbs barely managing to find balance as he fell.

…How..!?

Jade stood up quietly, catching her breath, while she watched the squamataur scramble to recover. That was really….Him? The infamous predator that roamed the lands, the one that devoured entire armies sent after him, who had destroyed countless towns… was this one? He was much, much larger than she was, much more muscular, crossed by so many scars, and yet she had gotten the upper hand on him. That was…..disappointing, in a way. But it only served to encourage her more. She could do this. She WOULD do this.

Grendel had gotten back on his claws, muttering and growling the entire time, and had finally removed his hands from his face. He spat out something, red and white and glistening, and after seemingly recognizing it his already hateful stare turned into an even worse grimace

“M’tooth!! You rotten she-devil, you broke my tooth!! “He yelled out at Jade with seething hatred, an obvious gap in his bristling fangs, mouth oozing something between blood and something she didn’t want to identify “I’ll tear you apart for this!!!”

“This is only a warning, Outlaw” Jade replied coldly, her eyes still locked on the squamataur’s “Stay away from Safe Harbour”

“What…the hell…are you talking about?” He hissed, more of that foetid soup surging from between his teeth and only growing increasingly impatient

“This town” Jade pointed to the greenery behind her and continued talking, unfazed “Is a haven for the humans and nekos that come to this world. It’s a place where they don’t have to live with the fear of getting devoured. Friends live here. Families live here. And they’re all counting on me to protect them” The more she talked, the more a sense of pride could be felt in her stern voice “They all trust me, and I’m not going to let them down. Leave now.”

Grendel now had a strange look on him, furious but rather confused at her words ”The manlings? The manlings got a nest here? Wait, YOU are PROTECTING them??”

And now Jade was the one taken aback. The Outlaw didn’t even know the Harbour existed. For all she knew he could’ve just passed by. The most horrible sensation built up in her throat at that moment. Did that mean…they could have avoided all this? That she just went and kicked a bee hive?
No, it didn’t matter. Couldn’t really know, couldn’t be helped. Too much at risk here. Too many people at risk. Focus, she told herself, focus on what’s important.

“I’m….warning you one last time Outlaw” She once again spoke, standing her ground. She couldn’t afford to show weakness now “You are not welcome here. So go back from where you came, and never return to our grounds again, or I swear you will suffer the consequences!”

But that was more than Grendel was willing to handle. The squamataur’s body was literally twitching, his human back stiff and his hands balled into tight fists. Fangs gritted and creaking against each other, toxic slobber foaming in-between. The eyes were wide, piercing, with the veins gathering and expanding in a bloodshot impression around the purple pupils. Shocked, flabbergasted, one could say, caught completely off-guard….and very infuriated


“Are….are you…you can’t be serious can you? Who…who do you…who do you think you are? And you’re making demands to me?? ME, GRENDEL!!??”

ords that turned to a thundering snarl as the scarred titan lunged forward, throwing himself at Jade so suddenly she almost didn’t avoid it. He punched and clawed, snapped and slashed, slammed and stomped, but the giantess jumped, leaped, evaded, blocked and countered his attacks as they presented themselves. She could hear his screams and insults and curses and obscenities, the very example of wrath coming down on her in a relentless assault. But as much as she wished, she couldn’t reply in kind. Keep calm, her mind repeated again and again, keep calm and focus. She lost herself once and she wasn’t going to make the same mistake. She couldn’t.

Then Grendel swung his arm at her, and in the brief opening that was left she ducked and punched his face, as hard as she could

Just as his other arm came from below, right at her abdomen. Jade was the one to be sent flying this time, in a cruel mirror of her previous tactic, high in the air only to crash and roll on the harsh shrubbery. If the hit hadn’t been painful on its own, falling face first on the rough branches and sharp gravel sure did the job. Her underside felt like it had been peeled off by white hot blades, her ribs ached from within and made it harder to breathe, her organs barely felt there.

She could hear the gigantic predator roar to the unseen sun, venting out his wrath for all the denizens of the forest who dared to hear. He’d be on her any second now. He was so strong…

No no NO. Get up. Trisha, Sam, everyone else. Think on them. You can’t fail them. Get UP

Hurriedly, with her heart hammering inside her chest and her breath fighting to stabilize itself, the giantess stood once again, using her hands to push herself up. Forget the pain. There’s no pain. You have to fight. You have to protect them.

Those same thoughts repeating in her mind over and over as the earth-shaking drum beat of giant talons intensified and Grendel emerged from the trees, charging at her once again.

The excuse of a predator was on her feet again. Good.

He wanted this to last.