The Alpha Jackal strode closer towards the squadron of five Climbers, lurching forward, and dragged its knuckles against the mud.
Thunder boomed throughout the Verdant Maw, flashing the terror's towering shadow. Its crimson eyes continued to stare into them, as if it was counting every course of meal amidst the downpour of rain.
Then it roared, retracting its jaw, and lunged for the nearest Climber.
Heather's flaming sigil sword continued to blaze through the persistent rain, something that shouldn't have been possible, but he slashed towards the Guardian.
The beast stepped back, and in an immediate burst, swatted its long limbs against the insignificant Climber.
Heather's eyes widened. Instead of taking the blow to his body, he moved his sigil sword to block the attack from the side, only to be sent across the field.
Jace watched his sigil sword flung from his hands. Their squad leader had just been handled like an insect.
Klav was next in line, bellowing a warcry, and attempted to hack the Alpha Jackal with his great-axe.
The Alpha Jackal maneuvered around the barbarian's open attack, much in the similar motion to its offsprings. It retaliated, raising its claws to maul him.
Even if Klav could throw off a few attacks with the handle of his great-axe, the amount of balance over the wet mud had completely thrown all of them off.
They weren't used to fighting in thick and sinking mud, clinging onto their boots with every step.
But the Alpha Jackal was. After all, this was its own primal grounds of hunting, feasting on Climbers that also had dreams of conquering the Tower.
Jace shook off Erin's grip on his wrist, ignoring her cries behind him.
'Where would we even run?! That thing is just going to chase us for miles through the mud!"
He surged forward, joining the worthless effort of taking down a Floor Guardian of the fifteenth Floor.
Klav was struggling, despite the recollection of him taking on multiple monsters at once. As each dreadful second passed by, more wounds from the beast's claws were inflicted on his brawn body. Each one deeper than the last.
Jace passed by Brita, yelling at her through the pouring rain.
"Wake up! There isn't time to think! Just act!"
He couldn't tell what she was doing. The worst thing to do in a situation like this was watch. Even if he disliked the members of his squad, leaving them to die felt too cruel.
Something that the Tower nor the Soul knew about.
The Alpha Jackal swiped away Klav's great-axe, overwhelming the barbarian with its erratic barrage of elongated claws and knocked him to the ground.
Before it could latch into Klav's defenseless body, Jace dashed towards the side of the towering beast and thrusted his silver sword.
[Skill Activate: Strike]
The silver blade had driven completely through the Alpha Jackal's ribs to his surprise, but the beast immediately reacted, swatting away the pesky Climber at his side.
For a few seconds, Jace was suspended through the air in a ringing daze before he slammed hard across the mud. His eyes blurred and he felt terribly out of breath, as if all the air had escaped his lungs.
Until a girl with blonde hair leaned over his body, shielding his face from the stinging, peltering rain.
'Erin, stop worrying about me. Your squad members are about to die and I'm your priority? Seriously…'
She couldn't read his thoughts, obviously, but she noticed his twitching expression.
Without another word, she hurried back to the doomed fight and left him to regain proper consciousness.
Jace leaned on his elbow, still under the effect of the world spinning in his eyes. He hesitantly opened his Soul.
[HP: 68/130]
[MP: 5/20]
He forced a cough, probably vomiting in the process, though the rain washed whatever came up.
'I didn't even heal at all…this damned health potion, you're just as useless as me.'
He tossed himself over, even if that had greatly taken a toll on his rattling breaths, he didn't care.
'Wake the hell up, Soul, I'm not dead yet. Work your damn magic and keep me alive.'
His sword was nowhere to be seen. Recalling how deeply it lodged into the Alpha Jackal's body, there was a ridiculous chance that it was stuck there.
'Stop thinking…just get up!'
Jace pushed back to his feet as he slipped on the mud again but it was more than enough. He was back inside the fight.
Brita had finally summoned her missiles of light, launching them in the direction of the Alpha Jackal.
The beast staggered a few steps back, being struck by the sudden spell and roared, changing its target from Klav to the vulnerable mage.
Bullets of fire shot from the side, detonating on the beast's eyes just before Erin tackled her out of the way.
The Alpha Jackal clawed wildly at nothing, rolling to the puddles of mud and sprung back onto its hind legs just as it fell.
Klav charged again, invoking another competition of strength, using his body as an opportunity for his squad.
If there was one thing Jace could credit for Heather's squad, it was their raw intuition. They've gone through more dire conditions just like this, and the only option was to fight until the end, no matter the costs.
The Alpha Jackal smacked away Klav's great-axe, slashing its claws down his face and torso, then latched tightly on his shoulders.
Klav grunted in agony, grabbing the jaw of the beast before it could close around his neck. Its ferocious snarls were even louder in the rain.
Heather seized the opening and thrusted his flaming sword into the beast's left leg.
The Alpha Jackal let out a sharp, guttural hiss, falling to the depression of its knee. It pulled Klav with its claws, which looked surreal, and slammed him into Heather before he could follow into another attack.
Arrows whistled through the rain and struck the beast, embedding into its dark, tough skin. Its attention turned elsewhere, towards the sight of a new target.
Erin cursed under her breath, watching the Floor Guardian's eyes glow with even more crimson malice.
The Alpha Jackal rushed to the scurrying archer, pushing off its hind legs into a burst of swiping claws.
Erin dove out of the way and slid against the mud, firing another arrow during the tactical maneuver.
As many arrows that seemed to confidently lodge into the beast's mane, there wasn't enough impact to hinder its movements. What looked effective towards a regular Jackal could not compare to a Floor Guardian.
In a terrifying cause, the multiple arrows had only agitated it even more.
The Alpha Jackal lunged again, bursting toward the archer, and raised its claws to maul her.
A shockwave erupted in between, throwing both of them apart across the mud. Brita had casted another one of her spells just in time.
Then Heather shouted through the rain, his voice immediate and desperate:
"Go! Go now!"
The beast rolled back on its hind legs, shaking away the daze from the repulsion. But a heavy great-axe cleaved from above, hacking into its clavicle, just a few inches away from the vital neck.
Klav heavily groaned, blaming his poor aim and footing through the weather.
The beast hissed in pain, groping the head of the great-axe in attempt to free itself.
Heather closed in and slashed at its legs again, stealing its balance for any more leverage.
Jace appeared from the other side, pulling his sword from its ribcage and repeated the same action as Heather.
For once, despite their childish rivalry, the two swordsmen worked like real Climbers. As Klav served as the main source of damage, cleaving the beast with his great-axe, the other two maintained a flow of slashes to encumber its mobility.
The Alpha Jackal swung its claws in a frenzied manner, moving in random bursts to avoid the surrounding Climbers. But they had the momentum under control.
Jace admitted this beast was certainly agile and moved in ways that should have been unnatural. It could push off its arms, explode with tremendous speed in its hind legs, and had no issue dragging its claws into human flesh and armor.
But the Climbers had tuned into a rhythm of synergy, encircling their attacks to confuse the attention span of the frantic beast.
Klav threw off its latching claws again just as Heather and Jace slashed its legs before it could react. They watched the beast suddenly leap back, cowering in pain while its body rapidly bled in the rain.
They panted in anticipation, staring at the strange beast and struggled to determine its next course of attack.
Jace gripped his silver sword, slowly inching to his side of the flank.
'What the hell is it doing? Running, just like the other Jackals? No—we can't let it run, not when we've done so much.'
The Alpha Jackal growled, peering its slitted eyes into the Climbers.
Then it roared at them, vibrating the air and even the rain. As the deafening sound passed through the three Climbers, it felt as if that invisible force had saturated into their bones.
And into their Soul.
After a few seconds of its ragged voice rippling into the air, it retracted its jaw and settled down.
Jace unshielded his eyes, wondering if his other squad members felt the strange sensation as well. With some questionable doubt, he opened his Soul.
[Name: Jace]
[Rank: Climber]
[Level: 10]
[HP: 68/(116)]
[MP: 5/20]
[STR: (3)]
[END: (1)]
[AGL: (2) + 3]
[INT: 0]
[WIS: 0]
His eyes widened through the transparent window of his Soul, watching the Alpha Jackal rush towards them again.