Two hours later that smirk was wiped off her face.
They continued walking in a western direction. The sun went behind some clouds and Shalt said there was something approaching. They heard the sounds of the ground breaking off to the left and a rhythmic thumping off to the right.
Lana was filled with foreboding and called Max out to help. He was able to see how far off the threats were but they were approaching quickly. Emerging from the ground was a beast that looked like a 40-foot-long green caterpillar with 8 tentacles off its chin, mandibles on each side of razer-sharp teeth.
To the east, there was a dog for lack of a better term. It had fire coming out of its mouth and a club for a tail. It was three times the size of Caser. It was running and its tail made a thump sound each time it hit the ground.
To the north, Lana saw through Max's eyes a creature with six clawed legs with armored plating laying flat along its short-spiked spike. It was 20-feet long and 18-feet tall. It had large mandibles and antennae that pointed forward instead of upward. There were roots around its ankles but no tentacles. It was walking slow.
"Circle in, weaker people in the middle. This looks bad. If it goes really bad, take the bags and…"
Bonnie, Mandy and Rene immediately went into the middle to provide distance support as able.
The caterpillar beast was upon them and Shalt was the target. He transformed his forearms and went for a head strike. He heard a clang as his blades hit the mandibles. He felt himself being lifted from the ground as the caterpillar beast lifted itself, the tentacles around its chin attacked to Shalt's waist and its mandibles pressed against the dagger-forearms. Shalt squeezed his arms closer together and sliced the tentacles, dropping down quickly as he was uninterested in going into the creature's mouth. With the underbelly exposed, he tried to attack once more with his daggers. The short furry legs were stronger than he thought and he needed to flash-step out of the way. The caterpillar had blocked and tried to sandwich him between its tiny legs as the mouth once again came for him, tentacles grazing his arm just as he moved. It was far more nimble than its size would suggest. Alto saw Shalt struggling and went in with that tail from the scorpion creature and blocked an attack from the mouth as it yet again tried to take a bite of Shalt.
Meanwhile Dobin was engaged by the enormous insect-type beast. He had put up an earth wall to protect everyone but this thing barged through like it had never been there. Duff ran up and stat-swapped Dobin's and the beast's strength. Dobin punched a clawed foot away using a stone-encrusted fist. Duff occupied the other side of the beast. He was able to use the sai as clubs but they were only advanced tier. He was unable to use the hooks to pierce the hard outer casing of the beast. Still, the beast was faster then them and they all three were attacking at once, having trouble landing blows on one another.
The dog-like beast went after Lana with Caser at her side. The beast breathed fire toward Lana but it never had a chance to hit her as a wind tunnel blew the fire away. She turned her head to see Buff joining her. She smiled and ensured her Qi was firmly around her second stage of armor. None of her team were equipped for this. She was regretting bringing so many with her. She swung her whip and it hit air. The club tail swung around and Caser grabbed it with his teeth. He bit as hard as he could. He was able to injure it but the beast was able to shake Caser off. Lana landed an injury on its shoulder as she flash stepped to the other side swinging her whip as she did. This enabled Biff to work on that injury while she created another from the side. Caser was injured as he lost control of the tail then got hit by it. He howled and got back on his feet. Somehow the beast was able to concentrate well enough to maintain attacks from all three directions. She noticed everyone was pressed. The lack of gear for this level was noticeable. She decided to jump on the back of the dog-beast and do the same thing she did with the zaykalas. She threw a whip around its throat from both hands. Biff was making the shoulder injury bigger. Caser was still keeping the tail busy but he was moving much slower. Biff was sweating from using his ability this much. He was using the strongest wind strikes he had ever used. Lana was having trouble cutting through the neck even with Qi. Her concentration was down as her team struggled. She placed her foot at the base of the neck and created a cactus with her Qi and gave it the strongest axe kick she could while protecting herself from her attack. Since the cactus came from her foot, the roots were upside down. The spines went into the beast and got lodged in the spine, grazing the spinal cord. The dog-beast howled in pain and she was finally able to slice through its neck. The canflammarie was dead.
She looked back at Dobin and Duff. They were tiring out and she could see why. Those claws were sharp and both had gotten injured. Rene had shot them both with healing or they would have been worse.
Lana yelled out, "Heal Caser!" and an arrow went his way. Less injured, Caser went for the back legs of the bug-beast. Using his tentacles, he pulled the two back leg out from under it which threw it off balance and reduced its speed. Dobin used the last of his strength to encase its back in rock while Duff stabbed it in the eye and managed to penetrate through to the brain. Dobin was gasping for air and collapsed to the ground, his arm bleeding. Duff pulled him to Rene to heal him.
Meanwhile, the caterpillar was the craziest insect they had ever seen. It still had been unhurt. Shalt was also unhurt but getting tired. The caterpillar showed no signs of fatigue. Alto felt a change of tactic was needed and went around to its back. Using the scorpion tail, it stabbed the flesh and realized the back was quite weak in between the segments. "Segments!" he hollered out but Shalt was too pressed and unable to act. Alto had to do it all his own. Each time he stabbed, though, he was unable to stab the same spot again as it rose up to protect the injured segments. Alto decided to try using the tail like a sword and use a chop then slicing motion. His first attack missed. The second attack severed the body in half. It started writhing in pain which ended up being more dangerous for Shalt and he got hit with a mandible twice but not in a pincer action. His arm and leg were bleeding because he was unable to get his skin hardened with his metal fast enough. Lana was just heading his way when Alto swung the tail once more and sliced the head off and it went flying. He had encased it in his water ability making the blades of the tail sharper.
Lana exhaled gently trying to take in the state of her team. Now she understood why this area was never explored. They had eight fighters and almost lost.
Just then it started to rain. Not the nice sprinkle but a downpour.
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