Samurai in the Time Rift 7.1b

Big trouble.

It was a solitary Ryu, but this one walks on its two rear limbs, and towered over the Gunso by thrice the height. It was over fifty feet in length but as it stood on its hind limbs, it was about thirty feet high. It had a large head with a larger jawline filled with fangs, but its upper limbs were the same as of the Man.

It roared out in a loud sound that vibrate through the forest

"Its a Kaiju Ryu ( Giant Dragon )" Gunso hollered out to alert his group of seven warriors. Hohei Sun who was in the same group stepped forward with his arrow notched.

"No, don't shoot....Not yet." Gunso held back the Hohei. "It may be frighten of us as we are of it."

"I have never seen it before." A guide form the slave from the Nihonzaru pens muttered out. "Its rumored that there was such Kaiju but never seen."

Then the unexpected happened. The Kaiju Ryu lowered it head and stare at the group of strangers. It picked up the scent and then roared again. Its attacked at the strangers but the group of eight had took to their heels. The three Nihonzaru had taken to the trees but the tow legged men are scattered among the bushes and tree trunks.

Gunso hid behind the tree trunk with this yari held in front of him. His hands trembling as he had never seen a creature that size. It passed by him and Gunso battle instinct took over when it thrust the yari into the right lower limb knee. The creature roared out and kicked out with its rear limb but the samurai had jumped aside; this time it thrust the yari into the underbelly of the creature. Meanwhile Sun who witnessed the fight overcame his fright and released a succession of arrows into the head of the creature. One of this arrow found its mark on the right eye, and hurt the creature. Other men soon came out and struck at the creature; cutting into its body with their weapons.

"They are coming!" It was Sun who heard the coming of the enemies; the Nihonzaru and Hibagon. "We got to get clear."

The group of eight men made a hasty retreat leaving the injured creature blinded in one eye, lashing at the forest surroundings. It was then one of the Hibagon riders came storming through with the ridden creature smelling blood. It crashed into the Ryu and bit at the lower limb. In retaliation, the Ryu launched its bite onto the Hibagon rider with half its body left on the ride. It did not stopped at that as it kicked at the the creature biting at its limb. More strangers came and the blood bath was to begin. The Ryu angered and wounded was an unstoppable creature as it fought against all that it could smell. By then Gunso and his group had sneaked behind the enemy line.

"Praise Amaterasu for the protection and safety for us to escape. Never again would I have to encountered such a creature again." Gunso Mita prayed to himself.

The five groups met at the designated place and Gunso reported his findings.

"Truly remarkable, samurai." Rini complimented the samurai. "We have lived here long for over generations, but there are the far lands which we have never explored. Our forefathers forbid us to travel more than fifty sunrise, and with our smaller numbers we never had to. We had encountered some rare creatures but never a Kaiju Ryu."

"We have seen some stranger ones, but never a Kaiju Ryu. That was a rare one." Lord Noriake commented back. "Its unbelieving at times."

"Now is the time to think. We have a pack to hunt." Taisa Mori reminded them. Soon they found the pack in the deep part of the forest. The pack was not eleven but twelve; there was a new born which was unsteady on its limbs. That became their target; and now was the plan. Lord Noriake sent a scout to check on the damages done by the Kaiju Ryu; the result was pleasing. The Hibagon and Nihonzaru suffered a dent in their numbers with about a dozen death and more wounded but surprisingly the one eyed Kaiju Ryu escaped. That pleased the men but now they are focus on the coming traps.

"The trick was to isolate the young ones." Edo explained. We would chased the pack and in the run, we would divert the young ones towards the enemy."

All of them were given their roles, and assigned their positions. Then they waited for nightfall.

The first to act were the archers; four of them in the group, Taisa, Gunso, Bento and Sun. They released the arrows laced with burning cloths on the head. Bento also fired the whistling arrows to confused the creatures. It started off the pack on its run as directed by the men, towards the last known position of the enemy. It was working as the adults ran faster than the young ones.

Gunso and Bento was given the task of securing the young ones; they got the smallest one in their wooden traps while the rest continued on pushing the creatures. It was not the creatures who reached the enemies but they arrived in droves as they were alerted to the rumbling in the forest. Both Gunso and Bento had the small one trapped and silenced with fresh meat. Meanwhile the creatures have charged into the Hibagon camp. It was truly mayhem as the creature rampaged through the camp; wounding and killing the Hibagon. The Hibagon dragon rides now having smell blood went berserks and added to the mayhem.

"Retreat!" Senior Leader Tut shouted out. "Leave the camp. Let the creatures fight among themselves."

But Micten was not leaving his rides to their own fate. It jumped in to fight off the Ryu but the speed and strength of the Ryu was above its skill. The Ryu confused by the battle, lashed out and its right talons slashed the Hibagon across the face leaving a wide open wound. Micten fell on the ground but before it could recovered, it found its left leg bitten at the shin and a chunk of its flesh torn off.

"Aargh!" Micten tried to crawled away but the sight and sound of the battle attracted the one eyed Kaiju Ryu which was still in the area., It came rushing in and took a bite on the Hibagon in its path before it stood over another lying on the ground. The roar of the one eyed Kaiju Ryu caught the attention of the other Ryu' and then they followed the large leader into the forest.

Senior Leader ran to the stomped Micten who was dying then. It cradled the wounded rider in its lap and tried to stop the bleeding, but the wounds were too many. Micten died in the arms of the Senior Leader Tut. It would be difficult to explained this to its master; the Leader of the Senior Leaders, Citron. Citron and Intai are the two seniors vying for the position of the Lord and are close rivals.

"Master and Leader Citron, the death of Micten would be avenged. That's my vow to you."