As fast as the divine beasts, yet not as powerful. If it had the strength of Alharb, it would have taken out at least half of the scouting squad. Ozymandias thought about the unknown foe that they were to face.
“Shaytan.” He called out the name of his royal guard captain.
“Your Holiness.” Behind him, Shaytan fell to one knee, ready to receive orders.
“According to Siad, the enemy is as fast as the three divine beasts, yet not as fierce. However, our weapons seem to be ineffective against such a creature.” Taking a deep breath, Ozymandias continued.
“It is very likely that the numbers we send against it will have little effect other than sending our men to their deaths. I have no wish to see my men die pointlessly. Do you understand what I am saying?” Ozymandias turned around to look at the kneeling Shaytan, who raised his head while looking confused.
“No, your Holiness. I am unaware of what you wish to say.” Ozymandias let out a deep sigh at this response and turned back towards his tent.
“Our weapons of stone and flint are ineffective against this creature, and we have but one weapon that is made from a different material. The spear I had fashioned for myself after we encountered the body of the rogue divine beast that we forced ourselves to slay.” Shaytan remained silent still, waiting for his lord to continue with his explanation. Seemingly exasperated, Ozymandias spelled it out simply.
“I am saying that I shall be the one to fight the beast, by myself.” Finally coming to an understanding, Shaytan became visibly upset at his leader’s words.
“Your Holiness! That is unacceptable! How could we, your faithful servants, allow you to put yourself in such harm while we sit on the sidelines!?” The protesting royal guard was silenced with the wave of a hand.
“I am the strongest in our tribe, the most skilled with the spear, and the fiercest in battle. We have but one weapon that may be capable of harming the beast, and that is mine. I am not saying I will jump into a melee with the beast. We should first lure it to advantageous ground, and then pepper its hide with arrows. To ensure that it cannot move during this time, we shall ensnare it within the sinking sands. Only if it escapes the sands and survives our arrows will I engage with it.” Looking at the expression on Shaytan’s face, Ozymandias smirked.
“You need not worry; have I ever been bested in battle before?”
---------
The first thing to take advantage is its sensitive nose. Siad has never given me false information in the past. If he believes that it can follow the faint scent of blood back to camp, then we can simply lure it away using another trail of blood. The sinking sands are, luckily, only an hour’s journey away. With my men switching between the duty of laying a trail, there will be no problem for them to fire arrows when the time comes.
The second thing we can take advantage of is the physique of the beast itself. The scouts mentioned that, despite its relatively small size, it was far heavier than any man that they had ever fought. This means that, if we are able to successfully lure it into the sands, it might sink quickly.
Funnily enough, the last thing that we can take advantage of is once again its sense of smell. If we were to hide in the nearby sand at the shifting sands and cover ourselves with the skin of the Natn cactus, then it will be unlikely for it to sniff us out.
Going over the plan that he had created in his head once more, Ozymandias nodded. He shared the details with his warriors, and they quickly moved out to fulfill his orders. They gathered enough skin from the smelly Natn cactus and began laying a trail of blood by taking turns to slice their forearms. Leaving a few warriors to guard the encampment, Ozymandias headed with his warriors in the direction of the sinking sands. The second of his royal guards, Sahar, who's defining characteristic was his faintly glowing purple eyes, approached him.
“Your Excellency.” He bowed slightly, then raised his upper body with a hesitant expression. With a single glance at him, Ozymandias understood what he was conflicted about.
“Speak.” Sahar opened his mouth and confessed his worries.
“Your Excellency… why do you believe that the beast will follow this trail of blood, instead of searching around the area and attacking the encampment?” A small smile began spreading across Ozymandias’ face.
“Are you worried, Sahar?” The warrior nodded his head hesitantly.
“Yes, your Excellency.”
“Shall I tell you then? Why I’m so certain that the beast will follow this trail of blood right to us?” Sahar did not give a reply, but his ears perked up visibly. It was clear that all of the nearby warriors were also listening in on their conversation.
“It’s quite simple really. The reason that I am unafraid of the possibility of the beast attacking our encampment is because I have faith.” Astounded at the dull answer, Sahar took several seconds to give his surprised response.
“…Faith, sir?” A wild grin threatened to break the smile on Ozymandias’ face, but he held it back.
“Yes, faith. I have faith that the God of the Sand, Ramal, is guiding our path. I have faith that my mother and father, watching over us from the vast sky, would lead the future in a direction that is beneficial for their people. And above all else, I have faith that the feeling in my chest telling me that a blood-boiling, brutal fight to the death is just over the horizon, is not untrue.” The mild whispering of the warriors quieted at the words of their monarch and remained silent until he raised a hand to halt it the march.
“We’ve arrived. Everyone should begin burying themselves the nearby sand dunes. I’ll lay the last trail myself.” Walking forward a few meters, Ozymandias stood in front of a large expanse of sand that was a different color than the rest. Only a native of the great sand would understand the difference here. If the beast turns out to be such a native… I’ll have to take matters into my own hands.
Ozymandias proceeded to take out a stone dagger and cut himself on the arm, flinging the blood forward across the strangely colored sand, before covering the wound with a poultice he had prepared beforehand. Hurrying backwards, he took some Natn cactus from a nearby warrior and covered himself in its foul juices before joining his troops in the sand. Holding his bone-head spear close, Ozymandias held his breath in anticipation.
A few dozen minutes passed, and they began hearing the heavy thudding of footsteps on the desert sand, as well as the animalistic breathing of a beast. With his one exposed eye, Ozymandias observed the creature that came into view.
Perhaps if it stood on its two hind legs, it would be as tall as a man? The wolf-like creature inched forward while sniffing the ground, salivating at the trail of blood that had been left for it. Its black fur was unsuited for the desert, making it sweat vigorously. The putrid stench of rotten meat and unwashed fur came from its half-open mouth and its body.
Breathing as quietly as possible, Ozymandias watched the red-eyed creature move forward foot by foot, until reaching the edge of the shifting sands. It paused uncertainly at that edge, and looked up at the uneven sand before it, before it laid eyes on the red drops of blood marked with a golden tinge. Thankfully, Ozymandias' worries were unfounded. The beast's eyes flashed, and it punched forward towards the blood, biting into a mouthful of sand in its efforts to drink the few drops.
It was at that moment that Ozymandias pushed free from the bed of sand that he was hidden under, with all of his warriors following suit. Calmly, he used his hand to signal them to ready their bows. Soon after, he gave the order to fire silently.
The first indication of the coming threat was the release of multiple bowstrings. Turning its head to look towards the twanging sound, the beast was hit in the flank and head by several arrows. Ozymandias noticed that over half of them had missed the mark.
They need more training. He thought to himself irritably.
“Continue firing!” There was no need for secrecy now, and everyone continued to fire arrows as quickly as possible.
A few of the arrows from the first volley stuck out from the creature’s pelt, but none of them had pierced deeply. The only true wound it had received was from an arrow that pierced through its left eye. Ozymandias knew that the one who fired that arrow was, without a doubt, Haddaf, the greatest archer in his tribe and his third royal guard.
Picking his spear up from the ground on which he had left it, Ozymandias took a ready stance, preparing his breathing for the battle that he was sure would follow. The wolf did not disappoint him, as it, despite its limbs being half-sunken in the sand beneath it, somehow kicked off of the unstable ground and landed a few meters away from him.
The creature stared Ozymandias in his eyes with its own, and then… smiled? It gave no heed to the warriors that surrounded it, only paying attention to Ozymandias as if it recognized him. Seeing it stare so thoroughly at him, Ozymandias grinned fiercely.
“Haddaf.” He called his greatest archer, and an arrow went flying through the remaining eye of the wolf. It gave a painful screech and began shaking its head and body back and forth. Ozymandias took a deep breath and focused his breathing. He closed his eyes for a moment, readying himself for the melee. Opening them, he took 5 deliberated steps forward. They were neither slow nor fast, but his momentum built up with every step. Concentrating that momentum into his spear, Ozymandias let out a killing thrust once the beast was in his range. The spear searched for the blind creature’s throat and found it without issue.
The problem began there.
Despite landing his killing blow, the wolf only took a step back, before stabilizing. The spear had barely inched into its throat, dealing only slightly more damage than an arrow to the eye. The wolf seemed to lock onto Ozymandias’ location from just his breathing and launched itself forward while snarling. Giving off his own snarl, Ozymandias leaped backward to avoid the heavy creature, rolling as he landed.
My spear can do nothing more than pierce its flesh. Even the divine beasts do not have this kind of resilience. We could continue to pepper it with arrows and wait for it to lose its strength… No, my men are too close. It would be able to find them, and I would lose too many. The only viable option I have is to face it myself. But I cannot injure it sufficiently to do so.
As Ozymandias made a difficult face while wondering how to approach the situation, the wolf-like beast found him once more and swiped towards him. Its paw hit his arm, breaking it in a single blow and knocking the young ruler backwards. Rolling on the sand for a dozen meters, Ozymandias eventually came to a stop and forced himself to his feet with a pained look.
The warriors around let out shocked gasps as they witnessed the God that they believed in being knocked away by this murderous creature. Hearing the sounds that they were making, the beast turned towards the nearest sound and began to stalk towards it. Seeing it do so, he shouted towards it.
“Your opponent is me!” Hearing his thunderous voice, the beast turned back to the direction of Ozymandias and let a sickening smile appear on its face before continuing towards the warrior that it had picked as its target, displaying its malicious intelligence.
Think, damn it! There was to be some method to defeat it, or to allow us to escape. I could leave some men behind to distract it while we run, like Siad did…
The sound of teeth grinding against each other could be faintly heard.
No, these men have chosen me as their God. If I abandon them here, then what kind of God would I be? There has to be another method, a weakness we can exploit...! Seeing an item on the ground between himself and the animal that he must have dropped while being sent flying, his thoughts stopped.
An expression of hope appeared on his face as Ozymandias began sprinting towards the evil creature, scooping up his weapon with his unbroken right hand as he came within reach of it. Hearing the sound of footsteps rushing towards it, the beast turned around to face the oncoming threat. Swiping a claw in the direction of the footsteps that had suddenly stopped, it was confused when it felt no impact.
A beat later, an object impacted its way into its nostrils suddenly, along with an unpleasantly violent odor. It roared wildly, shaking its head to get rid of the putrid stench that would not dissipate. Less than a meter away stood Ozymandias, who had jumped over the attack of the beast and stuffed a piece of Natn cactus into its nose, with a familiar wild grin on his face.
“I kept trying to think. ‘What weaknesses would such an absurdly powerful beast like this have?’, without realizing I had the answer to my question when I first began laying a trail of blood to lure you here.” The grin turned incomparably vicious soon after.
“Your sense of smell is incredible, but there is a downside to that. Because your sense of smell is so amazing, you have a low resistance to unpleasant smells. A piece of Natn cactus smells worse than the pits in which we dump our shit after a rainy day, so there’s no way you could resist it.”
Walking slowly to the spear that he had dropped when he was first blown away, Ozymandias picked it up and gave a large sigh. If you didn’t have this weakness, it would have been impossible for me to face you. Turning back around without voicing his thoughts, he began stepping towards the still erratic beast. Getting close, he knocked two of its legs from out underneath of it with his spear. Giving no resistance, the beast fell to its belly. He moved to the front of its face and pulled an arrow out from its pierced eye. It gave out a pained roar at his actions.
“You were a tough opponent. Unfortunately, your fate was set when you decided to stand against me and my people.” Feeling a hot rush of wild energy pour from the air into his body Ozymandias directed the familiar power, that manifested whenever his people would direct their prayers towards him, towards the end of his spear. A glaring red light began manifesting on the bone-spear tip. Ozymandias calmly drew the spear back with his unbroken arm. Looking towards the struggling beast, he murmured quietly to it.
“You don’t have to worry; I’ll make sure that tough body of yours goes to excellent use.”
Bringing the still spear forward like an attacking serpent, the future emperor pierced through the empty eye socket, and the violent energy at the spear tip tore through the body of the beast, thoroughly destroying the brain.
The snarls of the beast fell silent as its body twitched a few times. Withdrawing his spear, Ozymandias turned to face his men, who all had shining eyes. Their belief in me seems to have grown even deeper. He thought to himself.
One by one, they all fell to their knees in front of him, showing the upmost respect. Ozymandias nodded his head a few times, and then gestured towards the corpse with his head.
“Drag the body back, we’re going home.” He stated in a town that brooked no argument, not that his fervent worshipers would start one.
“Yes, your Holiness!” came the joint reply.
