Old "friends", part 2

…..he woke up in the dead of night and his hands immediately reached for his sword by his side. He pushed himself upright and scanned the area for what it was that had roused him from his slumber. Perhaps if he hadn’t overslept, he might have heard the signs of distress a few seconds earlier. He finally heard it after another beat. The sound of a shuffling feet reached him. He bolted to his feet and bolted out of his tent without bothering to dress. He rushed as fast as he could in the direction of the sounds. There amongst the trees he met mayhem.

    The Shadow creature dropped the bisected remains of a warrior to the ground. It was easily ten feet tall, covered head to toe with large dark plates of impenetrable armor. The giant lowered to its haunches and began to devour the remains of the bodies piled around him. It dug into the stomach of some of the warriors lying beside it. The rest of the guards were strewn around the meal. They never had a chance.
William drew his sword and let the sheath fall to the ground. “Monster!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs. He was still young, and fire burned within him. “Come feast on feistier prey!”
The demon looked up and grinned, showing all of its teeth in its extended mouth. It crouched lower on its legs and leapt forward, impossibly fast for its huge size. William gritted his teeth and readied to dodge at the last moment. He could not win in a direct fight. He though he could dodge its attacks until help arrived.
The shadow creature had not finished its leap before William Dalmelling knew his life would end here. The last few moments slowed to a crawl. His grip on the sword tightened as the weapon sped faster and faster toward its target. Its target had an ugly face of grey and black, with ivory bone protrusions that erupted out from random spots. The steel blade of his sword sizzled into the skin on contact and the monster screamed in indignant pain. The weapon splintered and shattered into a thousand pieces even as it crushed its target. The monster struck out at the same time. Its impossibly long arm raked out with its dozen claws. William felt the creature swipe across his stomach. The pain didn’t stop as the claws continued down his body and ripped through his right leg from joint to toe.

Monster and Knight crumpled to the ground together.

Life sped up again, and he could feel his ragged breath catching in his throat. The pain tore through him with every breath, drowning out nearly everything in his mind. He could feel his insides beginning to seep out. After some years of fighting, it would be normal a creature like that that would spell his demise.
“Don’t worry,” a voice suddenly interrupted his morbid thoughts.  Then suddedly someone place`d a boot on the creature’s armored head and made a quick slice at the thing’s neck. Scorching blood splattered on his naked legs. He crawled back from the corpse and fell to the ground. He spread dirt over the affected leg to wipe it away, he was terrified of the idea of what that creatures blood could do to him. His skin was already beginning to blister from the heat.
“William, are you unharmed?” Steward asked him. He sheathed his blade extended his hand down to him. I think we are done with him.