The gate cracked in half, from the dust a giant shade begun to emerge.

“A raven,” said a voice too deep to belong to any human, “It has been so long since I last eat one.” the creature emerged from the smoke. His legs were the one of a tiger, the head that of a crocodile and the torso that of a lion.

“Let's see how well you can fight, little raven”

"What is that thing!" exclaimed the girl

"Foul magic. "

As the thing began to walk towards them, Erik noticed that all were abandoning the place. Head down in silence, including the shaman and warriors. There wasn't a chance for him to survive the encounter.

“Gywen can you run?”

“Yes, why?”

“There is a little tunnel at my right. From the cold wind arriving from it, it should lead you outside.”

“B-but you!”

“I will survive” he turned and smiled at her, “I am only repaying a favor.”

Gywen began running as Erik stood face to face the beast.

“I admire your loyalty, there is a great need here for loyal warriors.” he looked down at the corpses “usually the drugs weaken one enough to arrive here a pale corpse.” he looked at him “that is if you aren’t a demon.”

“I chose my adaptations well. How come I can understand you?”

“I chose my adaptations well” a small quirk formed in his face, a smile? “Let's finish this fast.”

Erik dashed towards the creature, landing a few strikes on the idle creature. It was only after a few seconds that he realized he wasn’t hurting him “I am sorry.” with a lightning-fast punch he trowed him across the room “if you had better weapons maybe you could cut my skin. Maybe.” Erik began to vomit blood, several of his ribs broken from the impact.

He stood up using the last of his willpower. Picked the axe and a shield that lay there and begun limping towards the beast.

“Ah,” said the beast surprised, “this is what happens when you choose defense and adaptability over brute strength”

Erik began running, abandoning the arena. The beast gave chase. “Where are you running? WHERE ARE YOU RUNNING” the size of the beast made the navigation of the cave tunnel particularly hard. The entire cavern was a mess, tables and food was being trowed at the ground. People tried in every way not to look at the beast coming towards them and crushing everything.

When the beast stopped, he was in a room with a particular smell of spices, “do you think that this smell can save you? You are bleeding to death! I can smell you a mile away!”

No response came from the wooden barrel full of yellow liquid. Looking around, he identified a big barrel where the human had hidden. In one quick bite, the barrel was gone into his stomach.

His vision begun to dance like a whirlpool. His legs weren’t that and collapsed under his weight, he began vomiting profusely. “It's always the same way with you demons." said a naked shadow appearing from behind a barrel, “you always prefer big claws, thick skin and amazing reflexes. And you neglect adaptability. You are right, I am barely stronger than a human.” he poured a barrel of yellow liquid into the monster mouth, “but I am resistant to poison. Contrary to you.”

Erik's clothes were still in the beast mouth, full of vomit now.

“Let's finish this quickly” Erik picked up his axe and aimed first for the eyes, then the throat and the tendons. “Eat Erik. Eat, you will become stronger,” said the voice in his head. “There is nothing in him that I want” he had learned the hard way, not to give too much power to his inner demon.

When he finished, naked and bathed in blood-vomit. He saw the girl that tendered him in the cave, staring at him from a distance.