Groaning as he finally reached the Datura's back, Auriel managed to stand hunched over and drive his drill blade further into the monster, the vines and branches and thorns whipping him and cutting into his skin. He gritted his teeth through each blow and each time he felt himself get cut. He found it was usually easier to heal more serious wounds with his aura rather than outright block every single attack that came at him. The minor welts he was getting weren't quite life-threatening. His hands and arms and legs were sore, and he had to balance on the non-uniform surface that was the Datura's entire body. 

As the plants shifted, Auriel found himself ensnared by a rather large vine. Looking down, he panicked as he felt himself being pulled down. Deactivating his sword, he yanked his foot back and tried to hack at the vine, but to no avail. Groaning, he attacked the vine more roughly, protecting himself with his Aura. When he finally managed to cut the vine, he pushed himself to the side and grabbed the Datura, crushing a small branch in his hand. Tossing the broken branch backwards, he let out a feral roar and stabbed his sword down a few more times before sheathing the blade and climbing further up. His goal: the head. He'd seen drawings and pictures of Datura before, and the one thing that always stood out was their faces. 

So he was going to cut off the damn Grimm's face. Not its head, its face. So he climbed higher, crushing and tearing at everything he could with his hands. The hunter in him was waking up, and now that he had prey worth felling, he wasn't going to give up. So when he got hit by a tree trunk the Datura had shifted directly into his chest, he held on. His grip was tentative and weakening, and he was probably only alive because he'd seen it coming and because of the pieces of armor on his outfit. After a moment, his mind refocused, and he managed to pull himself up a bit more before unsheathing his sword again and plunging it into what would be the Datura's neck. His breath was heavy, he was in pain, but he wasn't going to give up. Not now that he was so close to his first real achievement as a Huntsman-in-training. 

Besides, someone had to take care of Emlyn, right?