At that point, Attis wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do exactly. He had disarmed the creature in the most literal of senses, but that didn't make it any less dangerous. It still had its teeth, and once it was done confounding over its loss of arms, it was probably going to want to use its only weapons left. Which were its teeth, for all intents and purposes. That would just end horribly for Attis, if allowed to happen. But what next? Should he have just cut through the creature? A glance back at Dyss suggested that such wasn't really doing too well, even though it was easy to cut through. The things just had really tough spines for some reason.

The head, maybe? Then he certainly wouldn't have to worry about those teeth anymore. Without a moment of further hesitation, Attis furrowed his brow, lifted the scythe, and drilled it down blade first towards the creature's skull . . .

Erstwhile, Dyss was having a bit of trouble-- but giving the beast a very painful form of dental floss was guaranteed to fix everything. It naturally bit down as soon as something was placed into its mouth, perhaps thinking that it was a bite of food, impending sustenance. The creature had small eyes, after all, perhaps it could not see well-- or perhaps it didn't know the difference between Dyss's longsword and Dyss's arm. But either way, the black tar would run down Dyss's blade and over his hand . . .

This was amended quickly, however, as Dyss planted his foot into the creature's gut and pushed forward with a kick. Teeth broke out of its mouth, scattering and dropping to the ground as it, too, dropped the ground-- letting go of Dyss completely, and momentarily writhing upon the ground, completely open for attack.

Dyss was glad to see the thing bite down and injure itself on the blade, though the blackish substance that he could only assume passed for blood was disconcerting on his hand. On pushing the thing away and seeing it land on the ground, though, Dyss would raise the sword above his head, bringing it down repeatedly on the thing's head and shoulders, until it could no longer move, and perhaps a bit longer.

"Attis?"

He could see what was happening behind him vaguely, but not enough to see detail...

Simultaneously as Dyss lodged his blade into his creature's skull, Attis lodged the curved blade of the farming scythe into the skull of his creature-- straight through the top, a downward stab, while Dyss's was a downward angled slash that just so happened to get stuck, briefly, within the creature's skull.

Yet it cut so easily, he'd inevitably find. Only their spines had been all that hard. Cutting through its flesh and bone, otherwise, was easy. It was just a matter of cutting the right place, it seemed. It had to be a killing blow of some sort.

And almost simultaneously, the creatures let out an inhuman hiss as their bodies ceased to be, bursting into darkness-- a dark mist which would, briefly, cloud Dyss's vision of the general area, but it faded quickly. They left nothing behind, not even the tar-like substance that seemed to substitute for their blood.

Attis was breathing heavily. This might have been his first time ever in combat-- at least serious combat, where someone or something had to die for him to survive. It was . . . invigorating, really. And natural. That was the strangest part. Dyss might even feel it, too. Fighting. As if what they had done, they had known to do all along.

"Dyss--" he took in a deep breath of air, before turning his attention to his friend, "Are you okay . . .?"

Dyss was pale and sweating, both from the exhausted effort and the emotions of the sudden attack on their lives. The shades appeared to be gone, though Dyss wouldn't relax his perception of anything for quite a while, most likely...

"Yes, I'm okay... Let's just get Milos and go home..."

Dyss was eager to get their friend now... They certainly couldn't survive many more of these shades things. Dyss could hardly even lift his arms, it felt like... He had regained some energy when the shade was trying to bite him, but... Well, he couldn't count on that forever...

"Yeah . . ." Attis replied with a hint of exasperation in his voice.

That was . . . definitely for the best. They needed to move on quickly, go and get to Hillcrest-- get Milos, and go. Well . . . maybe. Attis couldn't tell for sure, but if these creatures were attacking the people Hillcrest, he knew for a fact that he wouldn't be able to stop himself from fighting off as many as possible. These people didn't deserve the kind of trouble they were put through. It was cruel what the bandits did to them. They were honest, kind, and good people. Attis knew this for a fact. For that reason alone, he kept the farming scythe on hand.

But nevertheless, getting to Hillcrest quickly had become exceedingly important. They may have been exhausted, but the fight would have given them another burst of energy-- which may or may not have seemed odd. If Dyss had been in fights before, it was likely that he'd noticed it by now.

And so, Attis took to running. But it wouldn't be long before Dyss would spot something again-- more shadows, more blights upon his vision, but by that point it would be too late. They would have already leaped into the road from within the confines of the trees.

Attis came to a stumbling halt, and looked back to Dyss almost immediately-- much more concerned about his friend than he was about himself.

These ones were much smaller than the previous two-- at least half the size, even. At full height, they could stand at height with Dyss's hip. They didn't do that, though. Their bodies were hunched over, and they seemed to walk on threes-- on both legs and one arm, leaving their other arm available. Some favored their right arm, others favored their left. Like the previous two, however, they had long spines, likely difficult to pierce, and looked like they progressed down into a tail. Their skulls were longer than the previous two, however, and their teeth were much smaller, due to size scale.

Alone, they might not have been much of a concern.

But there were at least a dozen of them, surrounding Dyss and Attis on all sides . . .

Dyss would follow, though he didn't experience quite the same burst of energy Attis did. He would keep up as well as he could, afraid to lose his breath for fear of never getting it again. Soon enough, despite Dyss's hopes, they had encountered yet another group of the small creatures...

"Attis, you ready?"

Dyss was going to wait so long this time. He would throw himself into the fight, immediately running forward at the most direct one. He had a huge range advantage over the small creatures with his sword, after all. As he aimed for the shoulders and heads of the small creatures, it probably wouldn't be too hard to hurt them, right?

Surrounded. Beads of sweat appeared on Attis's brow; one even streamed down onto his cheek. There were six behind them and six in front of them-- that they could see. There were possibly more in the trees. Attis couldn't see well into the forest, and Dyss certainly wouldn't be able to. Of course, he'd see the shadows around them, but there were splotches of darkness within the confines of the forest that would, themselves, be a blight on Dyss's vision, and bar any possibility of counting numbers.

"I--" Attis almost said that he wasn't.

He almost said that he was ready and willing to cut a hole in their ranks and continue running-- but part of him knew that these creatures would outrun them.

"Y-yes," Attis replied, upon reaching that conclusion.

Splitting the situation up was perhaps the best idea he could come up with. There were six in front and six behind, and Dyss took no time in charging forward. Attis turned around completely at that moment, and too charged ahead, in the opposite direction of Dyss. They couldn't afford to have these creatures following them. He held the scythe by the pole, ignoring the perpendicular handle around the mid-point of the pole, and let out a shout as he swung the polearm, and the blade by extension, down into the forward beast on his side.

Dyss would find as soon as he landed his blade into the creature that they were much easier to cut than the last two. Only a single downward strike was necessary; a small hiss escaped the frail creature as an inky blackness stained-- temporarily --the ground below it. This was only brief, however, as the creature burst into dark mist just like the other two when defeated, a dark mist that faded out just as quickly as it came.

The other five leaped back in an instant. Immediately, Dyss was a threat. He had felled one of them with a single blow, and now it seemed that distance became a valuable asset to them. As soon as they were back, they took cautious steps forward, three to the left and two to the right, perhaps intending to circle him--

Like hunters in a pack . . .

Quickly, it seemed, the battle would split. Dyss was pursuing his six... No, five shades, and Attis had his own. The shades were going to surround him... That wouldn't do. They would pick him apart, it seemed... Except they still hadn't attacked...

"They seem smart!"

Dyss would, however, take advantage of being able to act. He would run at the farthest one, bringing his sword down and hopefully running through the creature's no longer occupied position in the circle. The others would have to recircle him , in that case...

Just as Attis crushed one of the inky foes under the weight of the farming scythe, Dyss broke up the formation of his five enemies-- and effectively reduced it to four. They had been circling him slowly, too slowly for their own good, as the furthest creature from Dyss found out soon enough. Dyss had charged it, and drove his blade through, ending its life in a thick oily mist.

"Ah--!" Attis shouted as he threw himself to the right.

He had narrowly avoided one of the small creatures, who lunged off of the ground at at his chest. It passed by him and hit the ground right hand first. Its legs hit soon after, and then it turned back around to face him.

"And fast!" Attis added to Dyss's observation as he dragged the blade of the scythe across the ground in mid-turn, lifting slightly, and finally swung the scythe in a horizontal arc across and at the creature he'd avoided-- a counterattack.

It was a problem Dyss would face almost immediately thereafter. The four that now faced his back ceased trying to circle him-- for now, as two stalked forward in tandem, slowly and cautiously, only for one, one of the rear foes, to perch on its hind legs for only a second, and throw itself forward, launching itself into the air and at Dyss, maw open to try and bite down anywhere it possibly could.

Dyss would awkwardly turn to face his attacker, having no real training in combat. His first instinct was to raise the blade up in front of him, arm across his chest, to ward off the thing. However, this would place his forearm right in the line of fire, rather than his body...

"Ah! Agh, god! Get off!"

Dyss would immediately start bleeding from the arm, the small creature's teeth sinking deeply enough to cause a lot of pain and distress. Releasing the sword with that hand, he would flail the arm about, hopefully flinging the creature off. If that didn't work, he would soon enough wind up smashing the hilt of the blade against the creature...

Fortunately for Dyss, these creatures had much smaller teeth, mainly due to the decrease in their size scale. The smaller the bodies, the smaller the teeth were going to be. The one upon his forearm could only pierce the first few layers of skin, but that didn't mean that it lacked a solid grip. Its jaws locked in place, and as soon as Dyss started to flail his arm about to try and throw it off, its body went limp, while its jaws remained clamped down around his arm.

Attis, who had turned from the others to counterattack, and rend the life from, the first shade to attack him, witnessed Dyss's predicament. The creature latched upon his forearm, however, seemed to be the least of his worries-- and Attis's, as the two stalking towards him a moment before were just inches from his feet.

"--!! Dyss-- watch ou--" Attis started to shout to his friend, to try and warn him about the creatures nearing his feet, only to be cut off by a literal biting pain in his back, "AGH!"

One of the four had jumped onto his back while he had it turned to them-- teeth first, sinking its unhinged jaw into his shoulder. Immediately Attis was forced to release one hand's grip on the scythe, and throw that hand-- his left hand --back, to try and reach the beast gnawing into his shoulder. It was easy to grab, but tough to pull out, specifically because of its teeth's grip into his skin.

The butt of Dyss's sword smashing into his aggressor's skull did the trick, though. A loud hiss escaped it as its body crumbled and fell away from Dyss, disappearing into a cloud of darkness, and taking with it the oily blood left behind on Dyss's arm, from where its skull crushed and bled out. Another creature down, but that left two new threats, who opened their mouths wide in tandem, and prepared to sink their teeth into his feet. If he were wearing boots, he'd be protected. Simple shoes, he might have a moment to react before any damage was done. If he were wearing sandals, though, and did nothing, he was likely to lose a couple of toes . . .

Fortunately, Dyss was wearing boots. Weeks of blindness and countless smashings of toes on things had left him in the habit of wearing large and protective footwear. In turn, the heavy footwear gave him a certain amount of force to his kicks that could be useful, it seemed. Far from drawing his feet away, Dyss would sweep his foot across the rough area of the two creature's heads in a large motion.

"Attis, do you need help?"

Dyss wasn't practiced or balanced, however. It would take him several seconds to recover from the wide kick, and the steady stream of blood on his arm was slowing him down in sword motions. On the bright side, there were progressively fewer of the creatures...

The creatures were considerably weak, as far as vitality was concerned. A steady boot to the head could end their lives quickly, and Dyss demonstrated this fact personally, as he doubled the normal size of the dark mist by eliminating two of his foes in a single kick. Hitting more than one at a time, when they were numerous enough to be close together, seemed to have a very potent effect.

This left Dyss with only one creature of darkness to deal with.

"Ngg---" Attis winced loudly as he pulled the thing harder, only to let out a shout of pain, just as all tension was released, "Gah!!"

The creature was ripped from Attis's shoulder and thrown to the ground. Blood instantly began to seep into, and stain, his white jacket, and further darkened his red undershirt in the area of his back. The jacket tore just as much as his skin, skin and blood that the creature, which landed almost gracefully upon the ground, had between its teeth. They couldn't tear too much out of them with a single bite alone, but that didn't mean their bites were going to hurt any less.

"Could you take this off my hands for a second?" Attis asked in a half joking tone, motioning towards the small shade upon the ground, as he turned back around to his other foes.

After all, Attis had three others to take care of, and including this one, Dyss would be at two. Fortunately, though, Attis had a plan for the three remaining on his end.

Dyss was surprised at how effective his kick was, even as he stumbled back to a semblance of balance. There was only one left... Near him, anyway. Attis asked for a bit of help, and Dyss didn't have his hands full any more...

"I got it!"

Dyss would reverse his grip on the sword, turning and moving towards Attis quickly. The creature behind him had done a decent number on Attis' back, and Dyss didn't want to see the creature attack again. With that in mind, Dyss would run at the small creature, stabbing down at it with his hand reversed...

As gracefully as it may have landed, the small creature possessed an inherent flaw. It seemed whenever they landed, they paused for a moment. It was as if the recoil, for them, was a momentary pause, as shock set into their body. Its body was small and frail, and didn't carry the kind of strength as some of its predecessors-- who were, likewise, easy to cut through.

For that creature, the pause meant death. Without any difficulty, Dyss would stab down through the creature, eliciting a hiss upon its death.

But that left the last one, on his end, unattended to. Desperation seemed to kick in, as it showed little to no caution in its approach. It leaped at Dyss when his back was turned, and would attempt to sink its teeth into the fleshy parts of his lower back-- around his spine.

Meanwhile, Attis put his plan into action:

To a person educated upon fighting styles of the world, the Attis held the scythe would look much akin to a Cizokian style of combat. He slid his right foot back, his left foot forward, and bent at his knees. His right foot specifically was set upon the toes, while his left was planted upon the ground. The scythe, in the meantime, was held with the curve of the blade directly behind him, his left hand gripping the middle of the staff, with his right hand gripping the staff directly, feet behind his left hand. Left hand anchor-- right hand lead--

Because, oddly enough, Attis held it as it were a left handed weapon, that he was holding right handed.

But to Attis, who had no mind for military history or any of the sort, it was just the best possible course of action that came to mind. Such could allow him a very wide horizontal swing. As Dyss had displayed a moment earlier, attacking more than one enemy in a single strike was useful here-- and Attis decided to try his hand at that.

And with a single, wide open slash-- Attis swinging with his right hand and drawing his left down the pole, further away from the blade, to allow for an even wider arc --Attis lay three shadows to the harvest.