“What is it?” Karla murmured, awestruck. At first sight, she’d fallen in love with the horned horse. The moment she’d stepped into the clearing, protesting about the party’s lack of precaution, Sylvia went mute, relaxing her grip and letting her staff dip towards the ground. Fergusson gaped at the creature, while Wales examined it in awe. Each of the party members seemed to be enthralled by the beautiful steed before them.

Wales stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the beast, examining the taut muscles that stretched across its body. No space was wasted on this creature. The silver fur that covered it glowed in the clearing, and its delicately spun horn seemed to suck in the energy around it. Wales gazed at its midnight-black mane, and felt tingles spread down its back as it huffed, seeming to finally notice the group. It looked up, and the bright blue eyes met Wales. He could see… intelligence.

Then Hyena appeared before him, and slapped him across the face.

“What!” Wales hissed, rubbing his face and glancing at the assassin. “Why did you do that?” Hyena raised a finger to his face, signaling for the warrior to be silent, and pulled him out of the clearing. Wales glanced over his shoulder as he followed to see the rest of the party standing completely still, gazing at the creature he could no longer see.

That monster is dangerous, the assassin signed. The party is… Wales couldn’t make out the rest of his quick signing.

“Well…” he whispered. “I don’t think it’s dangerous, but--” He stopped, sighing as he watched as Hyena became visibly frustrated and signed more and more rapidly.

It… strong… beautiful but… I feel it. Wales shook his head, trying to slow the man down.

“You’re signing too fast. I’m not as skilled as the other two!” He hissed. “Look, I trust your instincts as a hero, but the rest of us are heroes, too.” Wales held Hyena’s shoulder, leaning in conspiratorially. “And if it were really dangerous, wouldn’t it have attacked us?”

In response, the assassin squinted, and Wales could tell that he was furious about his comment. He would’ve chuckled at the reaction, but he suddenly remembered the reason the party had been traveling here in the first place. They’d been tracking that hydra, and the presence of danger on the mission kept him from laughing at Hyena. Well, danger aside from the horned horse beyond the brawler, because it obviously wasn’t an issue.

You. Are. A. Fool. Hyena signed slowly. I have no idea how an idiot was able to singlehandedly slay a hydra...

Wales smiled, “You should trust your teammates' instincts!” He pushed back between the other party members, and pointed at the horse.

“See? It’s just ignoring us!” He laughed at the slender man, before approaching it with his hand out. “Don’t be such a girl, Hyena! I bet I could tame it easily.”

That comment stirred Fergusson, at least. He blinked, slowly regaining his senses. Looking around, the large man noticed a dead stag, its body seemingly burned, pinned to a tree by nothing more than the force of whatever struck it. While Hyena stood there, arms crossed, the brawler shook himself out of his reverie and stuttered, “Wales? W-wait. We don’t know--”

A shrieking sound, much like the grinding of metal, echoed from in front of the swaggering hero, snapping his attention back to the tame creature. It reared onto its hind legs, and the same screech echoed out once more.

The party quickly readied their weapons, and Hyena leaped into the trees, giving the warrior what he could only assume was a more explicit version of the “I told you so” sign. Wales stumbled back, barely avoiding the kicking legs of the reared creature, but didn’t draw his sword. He held his arm out to the rest of the party.

“Wait!” He shouted, waving his hands in a placating gesture to both the creature and the heroes. “It could just be nervous around people! Look!”

Sylvia looked as though she was about to say something, but Wales quickly shushed her, the creature having dropped back to the ground. He looked towards the horse, lowering his eyes from its steely blue gaze to show that he wasn’t a threat, and slowly crept towards it, his arm outstretched, and palm wide.

“It’s okay, buddy,” Wales cooed. “We don’t want to hurt you.” The horse snorted, and watched as the warrior approached. The blonde man’s hair dipped into his face and, forgetting the situation, he brought his hand back to brush it out.

And that movement was just enough to save him.

A whirling flash of red shot through the air, and sliced across the area where Wales’ arm had just been, throwing a liquid in its path. As it splattered, the acid burned through the grass and leaves as though they hadn’t been there in the first place.

Some of it landed on the hero’s armor, and as the burning scent drifted into his nose, he swiftly unbuckled the straps holding it on, and let it drop to the floor.

“What the hell!” Came the voice of Fergusson, the party’s brawler. “What kind of attack is that?!?” Only then did Wales realize that the horned horse standing before him had been the cause of the red flash. And when he looked closer at the horse, his soul became filled with horror and regret.

“Nevermind the tongue!” Karla shouted. “Look at its mouth!” The creature, once peacefully drinking water from the river, now showed its teeth, the jaw unraveling from underneath, and dangling the acid-dripping tongue towards the ground.

“Scan it!” Wales shouted out, waving his hand to the ranger. She swiftly retrieved a magical magnifying glass from her waist, and held it up before her.

“Quick!” Wales yelled again. “Get a shield up!” He gestured to Sylvia, the closest the party had to a mage, and she readied her staff instantly, chanting a few words and displaying her professional instincts and reaction speed.

The party was coated in a glowing red light, and as it faded, each could feel a thin film above their skin. It was the magic spell, [Acid Shield]. While the cleric could have cast any old magic shield, this one was specifically designed to prevent poison and corrosion from passing through. It was perhaps the best defense she could have chosen with the current knowledge of their opponent, and the fact that she had been able to affect each member of the party in such a quick spell only attested to her skill.

“Move!” One of the members shouted, as the horse swung its head to the left, flinging acid all across the ground. The party swiftly dodged the droplets, and the stench of burning in Wales’ nose only became stronger, forcing him to sneeze.

Blood splattered across the ground, dripping down his armor. His eyes widened in shock. The acid's so strong even the wisps of it burned my airways?

He coughed, some more blood dripping down, before shouting out and warning the rest of the party. Sylvia cast a spell, and Wales was surrounded in a white aura, the bloody taste in his mouth fading.

“Thanks,” he said, nodding towards the cleric. Then, drawing his blade, Wales charged the monster. As he ran, he channeled his energy into the sword, planning to unleash a powerful magically-infused strike.

Karla put the magnifying glass away and called out, “It’s called a ‘unicorn’, and it’s B-rank!” She watched the hero swing his infused strike towards the monster, and her mouth dropped open as the unicorn blocked it with the twisted horn, a grin seeming to creep across its face and down its neck. It swung its head with great force, and the tongue came lashing out towards the hero.

Wales leaped backward, and took a strike from whipping appendage, the red tongue shattering his shield, and spreading acid across his armor. He screamed as the boiling armor began to burn his flesh.

Sylvia quickly chanted, and cast healing spell after healing spell at him, while Karla began rapidly but carefully unbuckling the armor. She threw it away from Wales, and the steel bubbled as it melted. The party looked to the creature in horror.

“That’s… not a B-rank attack…” Fergusson murmured. Without any warning, Hyena shot out of the tree, and down towards the silver stallion. He held both Mastic daggers out, and flew towards the monster like a corkscrew, before unleashing a hail of strikes from the trees.

Miraculously, the unicorn somehow blocked every strike, moving faster than Wales expected. At one point, it seemed like Hyena was going to get a strike in from underneath the head of the horse, but the unicorn lifted its front legs, and blocked the strike with both hooves crossed.

A loud clang rang out, and Wales realized the unicorn didn’t have any old horse hooves, but that they were made of something far stronger.

Even fashioned dragon teeth can’t cut through them?

Hyena backed away from the monster, out of breath, and dashed behind Fergusson, to recover his stamina.

“That’s not a normal B-rank,” Wales numbly observed. Hyena glared at him.

You think? He responded, with a sarcastic air. I partied with the legendary savior, as a member of Squall, and I can’t fight it. Best option: retreat.

Wales shook his head as Fergusson took his turn fending off strikes from the monster, seeming to fare better than Wales using his magical gauntlets in tandem with Sylvia’s magical support.

“No way. This thing might be strong, but if that hydra is left unchecked, then it could destroy the entire area. We’re here for the prince, and I’m not leaving him in an area like this.”

Karla cut in. “Listen, Wales… The prince is probably dead if he’s in an area with a hydra and whatever this unicorn is. But I agree with you that we should find the hydra soon.”

Fergusson interrupted their conversation with an angry grunt as he flew in between them.

“ARE YOU GOING TO DO ANYTHING OR ARE WE LEAVING?” he shouted, fire burning in his eyes. The rest of the party smirked at him, put off by the strength of the unicorn, but not threatened by it.

“We’re leaving,” Wales said. The brawler nodded, readying himself to stall the monster while the rest of them backed off. He paused, looking to the unicorn.

It stood still, eyes watching them curiously, tilting its head. It seemed to smile, but then its ears pricked up, and it froze, looking upriver. Seconds passed, as the party cautiously watched the beast, and it stared silently into the woods. Then, it shrieked the ear-piercing shriek once more, rearing onto its hind legs, and dashed off into the woods. Sylvia broke the stunned silence of the party.

“Well,” she said. “That was unexpected. At least it’s a natural spawn, so we won’t have to worry about it ruining the area.” The massive man beside her glanced unconvincingly at the corpse of the stag impaled on the tree nearby, but kept his thoughts to himself.

“Guess I’m going to need some new armor,” Wales said, looking at the puddle of steel and acid on the ground nearby, his lips sucked together. “Also, we’ll have to prepare a little bit before we fight one of those again. Is your scanner broken?” He looked to Karla, perplexed. She shrugged.

“It wasn’t when I tested it two days ago.”