Faced with Morgann, the monster hesitated.  From beneath the mire of rage and confusion bubbled up a shred of Grumm's human consciousness, which busied itself thinking about the situation.  The inside of Grumm's head began to pound; rational thought, already so hard to dredge up, hurt worse than a sledgehammer to the cranium.  It was so much easier to let go, to let the mind slip away beneath that murky bog of beastliness.  Yet, whenever that human side did arise, it asserted that at the very least it was supposed to persevere.  Human nature was supposed to be indomitable—all the stories said so.  When bombarded by that pain, however, that strain of holding together focus, justifications came easily.  No being could have withstood that agony enough to stay sane.

So naturally, Grumm hesitated only a moment, but it was enough to draw a conclusion.  In his experience, no normal human, even armed ones, would dare to so boldly interpose herself between a hunter and its prey.  That could only mean that the masked woman that stood before him, arms raised in a gesture of placation, was extraordinary.  Her words bounced dimly around inside his skull.  All he could really gather was that she thought that attacking her would be a mistake on his part.  A snorting, ugly laugh escaped the wreckage that was his mouth, rattling through the metal guard that covered it: [i]”Hagh.[/i]  This individual was keeping him from bringing to justice the water-wielding woman with whom he had a personal quarrel.  Halte had been seeking him out lately.  He had no clue why, but she seemed determined to keep him from capturing and/or killing his targets.  Annoyingly enough, it was working, and that made Halte his dire foe.  Anyone who attempted to keep him from his revenge was just as guilty.  Besides, Morgann had a strange smell on her.  The same aroma wafted from each of the parasites he hunted, slightly different for each, but all still identifiable.

Grumm grunted and raised his axe for an overhead chop, bringing it down with enough force to cleave bone if Morgann allowed it to hit her.