Heading south, the group killed several beasts quickly along their journey. They took a break during which Lana called Kattie. The team was actually nearby so they arranged to meet in a clearing that Lana converted into a nice shelter instead. The tree finished growing as Kattie and the rest arrived. This shelter was the same layout as the one she created on the last outing. This would allow the team to rest and stay out longer.
After they ate, Lana grew them enough to eat until it was time to go and left Kattie the U-shaped kitchen. With hugs, fist-bumps and waves, they parted ways with Lana smiling at the now-stronger Sven.
Within an hour, the terrain began to change. The trees were no longer so close together and they saw spider webs every few feet.
Lana smirked, "you guys remember these things have a web ability right? The book said they can camouflage making it harder to see them. Of the eight legs, the two in the front are like steak knives curved inward as if it's going to slice you up to eat you as it drags you to its mouth. There are six of these things in this forest. It also said they like to focus on one target. We can use that."
"There!" Lana heard from the left. She turned her head to see Chekof running toward a glint of purple.
A moment after Chekof took the initiative, a spider the size of a Clydesdale but colored green and purple seemingly emerged from the tree it was sharing colors with. The legs expanded the width of the beast to 20 feet. Green liquid slowly dripped from the spider's fangs. This was one horse-sized creature Lana was not interested in riding.
Behind Chekof, Karlen was also quickly approaching. The beast fired a web with such fierce power, it knocked Karlen over and pinned him to the ground. Lana didn't need to move. She tapped her foot to the ground and roots suddenly crawled up the legs of the spider, getting entangled among the small hairs on the lower portion of the legs. Dobin fired an earth arrow toward its many eyes. He managed to injure three of the eight before something else happened.
Suddenly the bebarac, as the book called it, was directly in front of Dobin. It used its front claws to rip at Dobin's front. Dobin's armor dropped to the ground, small drops of blood followed. Lana screamed, threw out two vines and did what she does best. While she was swinging to the back of the beast, Blaine threw out ice to freeze it in place. Lana extended the spikes on her stage 2 armor into the back of the beast but didn't get the reaction she expected. In fact, she slipped a little.
Paul took advantage of the immobilized beast. His new weapon was ready. A red line extended from his shoulder to the beast's head and promptly severed it. All mobile heads turned in the direction of the red beam. They were accustomed to the rocket launcher on his shoulder. Now, on the other shoulder was a circular canister. Between the two weapons was a face with a glowing smile, that of a boy who just found out what his new toy did and was quite pleased.
Blaine pulled out his dagger and released Karlen from his sticky, silken prison. Lana flipped off the falling body to land near her brother and promptly began healing him.
"That thing just ripped through my armor like it was nothing!" Dobin was shocked.
Lana nodded, "this just means we can't let any of the others get close."
Jessy commented, "it has a phasing ability. I don't remember seeing that in the book!"
"Maybe the people who wrote the book didn't cause it to use that ability," Paul replied as he retrieved his crystal.
"It was faster than I thought it would be," Karlen added in, "perhaps we need to use the ranged attacks first to immobilize it."
Blaine nodded, "I'm on it."
Before they could even move from the spot, they heard movement off to the right. This time, there were two incoming. One was coming from Lana's 2 O'clock position and the other was coming from 4 O'clock. The later was heading straight for Lana. The former had picked Jessy for its next meal.
Lana sent out roots that were heavily saturated with qi this time. Before the spider had a chance to react, the roots climbed all the way up and tore through the body, dropping it to the ground.
Jessy threw his spear with all his strength but it was knocked aside by the spider's claw. The spider was still charging toward him and Jessy was frozen to the ground, unsure what to do as the terrifying spider rapidly approached him. Suddenly, 20 feet away, the beast was frozen to the ground and another red beam sliced it in half. Jessy involuntarily shuddered as he slowly regained his ability to move.
He walked off quickly towards his spear muttering, "who the fuck's idea was it to go after spiders bigger than us!"
Lana picked up her crystal and Paul handed his to Blaine for keeping the beast still, enabling him to make the kill.
"So," Lana chuckled, "These things don't like Qi." She nodded to herself.
"What is Qi?" Jessy asked.
Lana explained quietly as they traveled deeper into bebarac territory. Everyone traveled close together, listening either partially or intently. Lana promised to teach them the meditation before falling silent. She was chuckling internally. She had not been listening to the trees in favor of her own thoughts about what happened on the mountain. Now she was paying attention.
"Follow me."
Without even looking to see if anyone was following, she took off south west. Blaine and Dobin quickly fell in step, the others not far behind. They walked for about twenty minutes when she abruptly stopped.
In a low voice, "this one is using that same tactic as the first one. It's against a tree up ahead with its legs wrapped around the trunk. It's currently colored brown and green like the trunks around us. Its eyes are open, though. The tree said we should see the light reflecting off them."
Lana looked at Blaine, "be ready with that ice the minute you see the eyes."
Blaine smiled, "I'm ready."
Lana smiled back and they resumed, going slower and quieter this time. Soon she was pointing and Blaine said he couldn't see eyes but he decided to just freeze the base of the tree. Lana threw her roots and shredded it.
"That move at that strength takes up a lot of energy. I only have one left in me. I do wonder if I can go weaker, though…" Lana said, the later part was more musing to herself, however.
"Blaine, next one, freeze then let Karlen and I get in there," Chekof said.
Jessy nodded, "I want one too. Can I kill the last one?"
Blaine chuckled, "you got it. Where's the next one, Lana?"
"We are curving back toward the north now. More westernly than northern at first."
They nodded and followed her to the next beast. Using the previously discussed tactics, they all got their desired kills. Each team got 2 crystals from these beasts.
They were approaching the desert and the trees were getting quite thin.
"This is where we stop for the night, everyone." Lana literally planted her feet to the spot and pulled out her dome cube. She set it down, pressed the button and everyone stood back. As soon as it was up, she entered and started handing everyone their bags. Blaine immediately filled the water tank. Lana went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. The guys started cycling through the shower, washing off the day's blood and grime.
Blaine called dibs on the shower first so he could feed Kent while Lana was in there. She washed her hands and arms in the sink and prepared dinner while the guys got clean. She had dinner on the table just as the last one entered. She told them to eat up then headed to the bathroom. Blaine had already refilled the tank, so he followed her in.
He helped her undress and Kent moved down to her wrist as was now standard procedure. Her clothes went into the washing machine while Blaine started the water for her. He pulled a bottle out of the bracelet and fed Kent while she washed her body. Kent was done before she was. He put the empty bottle back in the bracelet then washed her hair.
"How are you feeling?" Blaine asked her.
"I'm tired but I'll bet you are more tired. You put out some pretty strong ice today."
"Actually, I'm not. It was strong ice but the battles were all over so quick I was recovered in between them."
Lana smiled, "Good. I'm wanting to try something with Dobin before heading to bed. I wanted something different for dinner tonight so I cooked for the others and I'll cook something else when we are done in here. I'm sure to be exhausted by the time I lay down."
"What are you planning?"
Lana chuckled, "well, we made weapons. I want to see if we can make armor…"
Blaine paused, "that would be some pretty strong armor…"
Lana tried to nod but couldn't. Her hair was being pulled underneath the water for rinsing. "I thought of it when he lost his armor today. The beasts we are fighting tomorrow are stronger. I can just imagine the people who go against such beasts who are weaker than we are. They would be quite formidable foes."
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