Prepared to spill the blood of unsuspecting, intoxicated warriors in their slumber, Grendel swiftly removed the reinforced door to the Herot with monstrous strength and viciousness.

Grendel's strides were expansive. With each step, the beast's massive, calloused feet practically flew, one after the other. "His eyes gleamed in the darkness, burned with a gruesome light". Before any of the soldiers had the chance to be awoken, Grendel extinguished the life of a Geat. Torn apart like a soft bread, the corpse was drained and wholly devoured. Grendel lets loose a vicious scream before returning to his favorable fortune.

Unbeknownst to Grendel, fate had a grim future arranged for the beast. Hardly satisfied with taking only one life, the demon trudged on to his next vitcim. Laying before Grendel was the Geat called Beowulf. Without particular concern for the identity of his presumed morsel, he lunged his "fiendish claws" towards the laying man. His limb was instantaneously seized by one who "nowhere on Earth had Grendel met a man whose hands were harder". Frozen in shock, Grendel's comprehension was delayed. Once the realization of his situation occured to him, "His mind flooded with fear". The ghastly creature was psychotic in his struggle for control. Never had Grendel shown such cowardice, had he ever known such fear. Grendel wished for "nothing more but to escape". Resisting the beast-among-men with every ounce of strength and determination in his immensely powerful body, but to no avail. Grendel weakened, his muscles had been thrashed, mangled, and completely exhausted. Beowulf,