The Lone Kirin

The gift of flight

The tempo, at which we are speeding through the forest, doesn't allow me to steal a glance at them, but I can definitely feel them being hot on our trail.

Now, the problem is that I actually don't know how to shoot anything from any part of my body except my horn, which means that I need to turn my head around to actually aim and then subsequently shoot.

All while concentrating on our path, which is already hard enough, while thinking about how to deal with it.

The moment I try to turn my head a little, to make out the snake's whereabouts, a puss-like yellow-colored eye stared back at me.

"I thought I told you that I dislike horsemeat?"

[...]

The short moment in which my heart skipped a beat, my legs did their deed automatically.

Until the snakehead suddenly vanished backward, and a scaly tail grabbed me by my hind leg, grappling me into an abrupt halt.

Val luckily affixed herself to my back; otherwise, she might have been flung away, like last time.

We come to a dangling halt, right before the guardian's snout, where I can see them already opening their maw.

[You see. The old geezer is not just unappreciative of my presence, he might even be opposed to it.]

"What?"

Gotcha!

The moment, they recoil somewhat in confusion, is the moment I strike with a blast straight to their face.

I might have miscalculated the force of the blast a bit, as they fly away just as much as we do, but we don't have to deal with any of the elemental damage.

"ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?"

[Mayhap! Let's just go with crazy, but effective. You said it yourself.

I have to respect my prey, but not everyone can be handled with honor.]

"WHAT?"

Gotcha!

So anyway, I started blasting.

I know how valuable these seconds were, but maiming a foe way stronger and faster than me has to take priority.

After continuously bombarding the snake for around 5 seconds, I am quite sure that it must have taken at least enough damage to have lost its ability to freely maneuver the woods, as several spikes of my ice protruded from it.

And just as fast as our one-sided scuffle began, I realigned and propelled us forward with a mighty kick.

Now I know that we have just traded one problem for another.
As I duck and weave through the dense underbrush, I can feel a literal army of smaller instances approaching us from our right side.

I jump off a smaller root and look into their direction for a second.

Great... I see nothing.

We land again and shoot forward, the buggers keeping up with my speed. They must either be underground or up in the trees, and both options aren't great.

Also. If we are within an illusion, then...

[Val? Can we even flee from this Illusionary space?]

"PROBABLY! AS FAR AS I KNOW, THESE WOODS AREN'T CUT OFF FROM OUR PLANE."

That's not a no.
This complete change in atmosphere is horribly upsetting. It feels like we are unwelcome to every fiber of the forest.

A low hanging branch needs dodging, and a few of the assailants start to speed up.