"Never mind, stay hidden, Haruto."
Reiji kept looking at the monster. He raised his katana into a striking position and stomped his left foot, taunting the creature.
Its jaw opened fully with a sickening crack of its jaw bone. It let out a scream that was almost human—almost. It stayed perfectly still while it screamed. It was a long, bone chilling scream that slowly raised in intensity.
Keeping its bridge pose, it started to move towards Reiji, gradually picking up speed and its scream intensified until it drowned out everything else. It approached until its feet were about a meter away from Reiji's.
With a human opponent you have either the neck, torso, arms or legs in striking range if you're close enough. But this thing is different. I can strike its shins right now. Its torso will be hard to cut since it's always leaning away, and the furthest part is its damn head and arms.
With a right to left swing of his katana, he hit its left shin. The bone didn't budge as the creature moved with the force. It turned so its stomach was facing the ground, the katana going under its body. It then pushed off of its arms, trying to kick Reiji square in the face.
He managed to go into a squatting position, its legs flying right over his head. Reiji swung from left to right, aiming for the knee joint on its left leg.
His katana dug into the joint but didn't cut all the way through. Earlier, the creature had pushed against the ground with so much force that even with Reiji's strike, it still flew over his head, freeing his katana in the process.
The katana's resistance spun Reiji to turn 180 degrees before it came loose. The monster slid to a stop in the snow. Aren't its limbs longer, or am I seeing things? The creature was on all fours, its arms now as long as its legs—which wasn't the case earlier.
It walked backward, climbing up the tree with its legs first, then its arms, all while looking at him with pitch-black eye sockets. It faded into the darkness. He hadn't even realized that it stopped screaming when it was hit by his katana.
Reiji calmly walked forward, past the tree it climbed up. He noticed the creature's black liquid on his katana. He looked at it as he walked, realizing that it was acidic. Of course it secretes acid.
With a powerful swing, he flung off the acid that was on his blade. He stopped, sighed, and looked up. The dark night allowed him to only see its silhouette. Its arms and legs, maybe even its spine grew even longer. It was stretched out in a horizontal five-pointed star, each limb holding onto a branch.
"Aren't you an ugly bastard?" He grinded at it. He did feel fear, but there was also excitement mixed in.
With another sickening crack, it opened its mouth wider, its chin pressed against its throat. It let out that bone-chilling scream again. Then it dropped from the tree branches, trying to trap Reiji in its grasp.
If he didn't move, he would be crushed under it. If he moved forward, he would be in reach of its arms and going backward would be no better. His only options were to go either left or right, so Reiji jumped to his left.
The creature crashed into the ground with so much force that Reiji felt the ground he stood on shake. He quickly dashed toward it and slashed from left to right.
His blade was stopped by the creature's left hand. Its other arm was so long that with a swipe from it would hit his back, which gave him enough time to react. He pressed down on the end of the handle, forcing the tip to travel in an arc from left to right.
He jumped forward, keeping his right hand on the handle, and giving the monster a marvelous knee square to the face with his right knee, silencing its screaming. At the same time, he lifted his left leg and put his foot on its shoulder. He pushed off of it, arching his back and avoiding a hit by the monster's swipe.
The katana slipped from the monster's hand and Reiji landed flat on his back.
"Owww…"
He slowly sat up with a pained expression and aching back. His eyes met something very unexpected. The creature grew even more. Its spine and limbs were now ten meters in length.
Reiji quickly stood up, disbelief in his eyes as he looked up at it. It was about four meters high now. The monster grew extra joints to help with movement. It had four on each limb. Reiji sighed before erupting in frustration.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! YOU ATTACK ME FIRST AND THEN DO THIS?! WHAT ARE YOU, ANYWAY?!"
He pointed his katana at the monster.
"You know what?! Screw you!"
Right after Reiji said those words, the creature swiped with its long arm and hit his side. Reiji flew away like a piece of paper and his back hit a tree. He then faceplanted into the snow.
After looking at him for a moment, jaw still opened in a very disturbing way, the creature ran off—clearly after something it considered way more important than him.
"Ugh…my back…no, my entire body hurts."
He slowly got up and looked around for his katana. When he found it, he wobbled over to and bent over to grab it. That's when he felt pain so intense he felt like a hundred-year-old man.
He managed to pick it up and put it into its scabbard. When his legs started to feel like they could actually carry his weight properly, he walked over to Haruto's hiding spot.
"You can come out now." "NO, I refuse, monster. You're not fooling me!"
Reiji forcefully pulled out Haruto from underneath the snow by the back of his winter coat. "Ah! Let go of me!" Reiji looked at him as he squirmed in his grip with a deadpan look, waiting for him to calm down.
Haruto eventually stopped and looked at Reiji. A sudden wave of embarrassment caused his gaze to drop to the ground. "Oh, it is you after all…" He said in a hushed, embarrassed tone.
He plopped Haruto on his shoulders, holding his legs. They started walking up the frozen path. It wasn't easy in the deep snow. His whole body was still slightly aching from the previous battle. It took about an hour until they got to his campsite.
When they reached the campsite, both of them froze up. It was another one of those supernatural, horrifying creatures. It was snooping around his tent, its body language suggesting that it was simply curious.
It had damaged flesh that stretched over exposed bones and organs. Its head was a human skull, with large antlers. It had empty eye sockets and a missing lower jaw. Thick, long bone spikes were predruding from its back. It walked on all fours like a deer.
When it noticed them, it got startled and ran off. "I guess not all of them are that bad. Still creepy as hell." Haruto frantically nodded his head with teary eyes, still sitting on Reiji's shoulders.
"We definitely aren't sleeping here tonight. I wonder what could have caused all this? It's like they all suddenly appeared. I have been seeing weird stuff in these forests, but nothing as disturbing as this."
He took Haruto off his shoulders and retrieved the bow, quiver and all the arrows from the tent before taking it down. The tent was just fabric and fur held up by sticks so all he had to do was just roll it up. He slung the bow diagonally across his back, from his left shoulder to his right hip.
He thought for a moment before deciding to put Haruto back on his shoulders. "Hey, you can't treat me like this!" Reiji handed him the quiver filled with arrows. "Here, put this on your back." Haruto did just that. He then got the rolled-up tent handed to him too. He placed the rolled up tent on Reiji's head and leaned forward, using it like a pillow. He then fell asleep.
"Rest up, you've been through a lot."