Demonic Devourer's Development

I had to attack now! It was for the best. Griffins were day predators, so they just began to wake up now. No other griffin would be outside of the nest at this time. As for Yvenna, I just would have to adjust to her fighting style and lack of stealth by approaching the nest first and blocking the exit. It was only about three meters wide, and me alone would be enough for it, until Yvenna comes by.

"Alright, Yvenna," I whispered to her. "Sit here, quietly, until I call for you. Then you rush into the fight and help me kill the griffins. Got it?"

She nodded. Her eyes were a bit too wide for my liking, and her muscles a bit too tense, but… I sent her a narrow-eyed look and inspected once again the forty meters I would have to cross to get to the nest.

Most of these forty meters were a steep slope, one that was interrupted by narrow stone terraces here and there. A thin layer of snow covered it, but despite it, here and there stubborn, low shrubs and tiny trees poked out of crevices in the rock. There weren't enough of them for a decent cover, not constantly, but closer up to the cave, the slope itself would be my cover. Besides, the griffins didn't appear to be watching.

I just would have to be quiet as I got closer. Good thing that my clothes were soft enough that if I was careful and didn't walk over snow or dry twigs, I made no sounds as I moved. And that I wasn't wearing shoes.

The climb up itself was simple enough. I didn't use webs to help me, since snow would've clogged them anyway, but my claws were enough to hold me even on the steepest parts of the way. It was even easier because I was crawling to be less noticeable, which also make it harder for me to fall.

I wasn't as fast as I would've liked. From time to time I looked back to ascertain that Yvenna was still where I left her, but the more time passed, the less sure I was that she will be for much longer. When I decided I was close enough to the mouth of the cave to reach it faster than any griffin, and Yvenna still didn't rush up with a battle cry, it was a weight off my chest.

I didn't waste any time. In a single smooth motion, I jumped up and forward. By the time I stood in the cave's mouth, screaming, "Yvenna!", I already had a dagger in my left hand and a stinger on my right.

The griffins bolted up with a panicked beating of wings and a flurry of fallen feathers that reminded me of a chicken coop after I got inside. The only difference was that these chickens were twenty times bigger. Just as I predicted, there were three females and one male, the same one that now was lacking claws on one of its front legs.

Yvenna's sharp and furious cry from somewhere below me was my signal that she was coming. I didn't rush at panicked griffins, unwilling to suffer their attacks even by accident, and bid my time.

The initial rush of surprise didn't last longer than a few seconds. Then, it was a completely different story. The griffins grouped together, their wings folded, shoulder to shoulder. The male was in the lead, with two females at his sides and one deeper in the cave, standing defensively between me and something I couldn't see.

The male rose on his hind feet and screeched at me at the same time as I heard another scream, frustrated now, coming from behind me. How hard was it to climb this slope?

Whatever. I didn't need Yvenna to hold my hand. "Come at me, you oversized cat-chickens!" I sneered at them.

The next moment, they did. The mouth of the cave wasn't wide enough for three griffins to fight at the same time, and they must've understood it, because only two—the females—pounced at me. Their movements were almost in complete sync as they flew at me, each aiming for one of my shoulders, each blocking one of my options to dodge.

But the right griffin was just a second slower, and in the clarity of the battle trance that fell on me, I saw it and used it. I dodged to the right, almost plastering myself to the stone wall. When the left griffin landed empty-clawed where I just stood, I already had my weapons aimed at the right griffin's side.

My hands were true. Instead of jumping on me, the griffin jumped on my dagger and my stinger, but the sheer weight of her body rushing past me wrought the dagger out of my hands and almost dislocated my right hand.

Would've dislocated it if my joints weren't so flexible thanks to 'Malleability'. It felt like my stinger almost got pulled out of it, but it was worth it, as I knew I pumped at least some poison in the deep gauges that now decorated the griffin's hide.

It cried out in pain, prompting more screeches from the others, and tried to get up. I didn't have time to wait for it. My manoeuvre opened the way for the first griffin to fly out if it wanted, and before it got that idea, I jumped towards it, with only the stinger on my aching hand and my claws on the other.

I immediately had to dodge a swipe of its claws, and it was one close enough that I could feel the movement of air from it, and in the next moment had to dodge a dangerous peck, and after this, another swipe… I was out of initiative here, and even though one griffin was incapacitated, it didn't do me that much good.

Not when it crawled back into the cave, only to be replaced by the male.