It had all gone to plan until it hadn't. Ron had lured the Two-tailed Squirrel, a particularly dopey-looking specimen that had bits of twigs and other plant matter stuck to its fur so thoroughly entangled that it looked like it had spent the last hour violently rolling through a tree.
Like usual, when it turned the corner and entered the tunnel, Clover commanded Mr. Cat to pounce, Claire swung her sword in a wide arc, and Ron loaded up a [Power Strike] enhanced kick. However, before the attacks could land in quick succession, the monster slapped its tails together.
To the sound of cracking wood, branches and various other pillars of plant matter shot out from the monster's fur, growing rapidly to form a protective dome of zig-zagging lush greenery.
Blasting outward, a branch of wood stabbed into Mr. Cat, digging a line into his side. Likewise, Claire’s attack was deflected by the dome.
The fastest of the bunch, Ron was able to stop himself in time to avoid damage, but by that point, it was too late. Although it looked exhausted and emaciated from the effort, like it had just wandered out from a scorching desert, the beast managed to stagger away back into the main cavern, alerting the rest of the monsters.
“Shit. Should we run?” Claire asked.
A sickening screech went through the crowd of Two-tailed Squirrels. Clover peaked his head out from around the corner. In total, there were six of them - they were all charging at him.
With every fiber of his being, Clover wanted to scream yes, however, he knew that running wouldn’t get him anywhere. If he wanted to progress, he’d have to kill them.
"No, we can take them," Clover said, surprised by how steady his voice was.
Inside, he didn't feel very calm or steady - adrenaline surged through his veins and his heart beated a mile a minute.
Acting quickly, Clover sent his glowing dinosaur Golem charging into the cavern. Galloping unsteadily, it attracted the attention of the monsters. For better or worse, they would attack it first.
Ron nodded. “I’ll keep the big one busy,” he said, then bounded into the cavern, moving along its edge as he approached his target.
Claire followed shortly after him, swearing under her breath.
In a crash, the dinosaur Golem collided with the exhausted squirrel that they had failed to kill. Before it could press its advantage, from all sides, the others attacked, ganging up on it. Without a specific command to follow, the Golem defended itself to the best of its abilities, lashing out wildly by swinging its tail in long whip-like arcs.
Splitting his attention, Clover ordered Mr. Cat to join the fight, and then, imagining a specific and clear outcome, he ordered the golem to sink its teeth into the already exhausted monster.
The Level 3 monster, on its last legs from its earlier stunt with the plants, was too tired to dodge the telegraphed lunge. The Golem bit into the beast, catching it by its hind leg.
Clover took a deep breath, trying to track every movement - every variable - as the situation unfolded. He failed. Partially hidden behind the other monsters, a sheen registered by Clover's [Mana Sense], though the Skill wasn't activated, ran over one of the Level 5's tails as it swung them toward the golem like a bat.
Clover didn’t give the command to dodge in time.
As if it weighed a hundred pounds, the oversized tail crashed heavily into the Golem, cracking bone and sending it tumbling across the ground. The three remaining Level 1 mutated squirrels followed after the Golem, lunging at its fallen form as it rolled to a stop, a rib falling off it, a result of the accumulated damage it had taken and the sudden traumatic strike.
From behind, Ron struck at the Level 5 monster with a [Power Strike], however before the punch could land cleanly, one of its magically enhanced tails, intercepted the blow, blocking it with an unnatural metallic clang.
At the same time, Claire intercepted the other Level 5, using [Ember] and her sword to keep it distracted and at a distance. Past that, he could not track their actions - all his focus was on controlling his Golems.
Under his command, the bone dinosaur violently twisted its body back and forth, shaking off the monsters as it rose to its full height. Taking advantage of their distracted state, Mr. Cat pounced into the fray, slicing a claw into one of their throats. However, before he could finish the job, his attention was drawn away.
Bleeding heavily, the injured squirrel charged toward Clover with a limp, bits of wood and leaf falling from its fur as it ran.
Clover fired off a basic set of commands to his Golems, then focused on the approaching beast. He thrust out his hand.
Suppressing a shiver of fear, he flicked his intent across his soul space, activating [Unstable Mana Bolt]. Faster than ever before, mana gathered in his palm, forming an uneven and powerful bolt.
Clover narrowed his eyes as he strained, trying to juggle the multiple magics he had active at the same time. He could have sworn that his forehead heated up from the effort.
The bolt clicked into place, complete. A moment later, after carefully aiming, he shot it at the monster. It rocketed forward on target to smash directly between the monster’s eyes, but as it was about to hit, the monster stumbled upon an uneven indentation in the floor, causing it to sway to the side at the last moment.
The bolt grazed past its flank, blowing off a layer of fur as it bruised the skin below.
Further enraged, the now sickly-looking monster charged forward even faster, dedicating the last of its energy to attempting to kill Clover.
Less than ten meters away, there was nothing he could do to fight back - his Golems were occupied, and [Unstable Mana Bolt] was on cooldown. “Not again,” he whispered to himself between rapid breaths.
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He accelerated, rolling backward at dangerous speeds, bouncing what felt like a solid foot into the air as he hit a bump in the ground. His modified wheelchair was faster than the monster; he didn't even have to approach its top speed to put a considerable distance between him and it.
While wheeling backward, Clover frantically craned his neck back and forth, checking to see if any other monsters were preparing to ambush him while also plotting his escape route - crashing right now would have terrible consequences.
Congratulations! You have slain a Two-tailed Squirrel - Lvl 1. +100 Exp.
From his vantage point, he couldn't see how it had happened, but he could only assume that his Golems had somehow managed to kill one of the squirrels. He closed the notification.
Leaving a trail of blood behind it, the monster continued to pursue him till his Skill came off cooldown.
Activating [Unstable Mana Bolt] again, he could immediately tell that this would not be a normal cast. In his soul space, the mana bounced around, vibrating with activity, intensifying further as it streamed into his physical body. Intuitively, it dawned on him - a stray thought - that if he wanted to, he could likely influence the effect’s end result with [Minor Alteration].
However, in his current headspace and situation, he couldn’t justify sparing the attention to do so - he had more important things to focus on.
Hovering two inches away from his palm, the bolt formed a murky blue, its surface rapidly vibrating. After a quick glance behind him, he abruptly stopped, letting the monster get closer - even if he missed, he was now confident that he could accelerate away from the injured monster.
He didn’t think he’d miss.
Once it was within 10 meters, he took his shot.
Undulating, alternating between bulging at different sides as if there was something within the bolt that wanted to escape, it blasted through the air, cutting a straight line toward the beast.
This time, it didn't get lucky.
Flattening like a spring, the bolt of murky mana compressed as it smashed into the monster's face. Then, when it was almost the shape of a pancake, it exploded in a wave of force, sending the monster rocketing backward, head over heels, into the cave's stone wall.
Congratulations! Unstable Mana Bolt has reached Level 28. +1 Skill Point.
Congratulations! You have significantly contributed to the defeat of a Two-tailed Squirrel - Lvl 3. +150 Exp. For slaying a monster with an unusually powerful Affinity, you have been awarded an Aspect: Sprout (Minor)
With its neck snapped from the impact, the beast slid down the wall at an odd angle, leaving a streak of red blood across the stone that, if he squinted, almost looked like a cave painting.
He shook out his arm, then returned to the main cavern - Ron and Claire needed his help. Well, hopefully, they didn't, but it was the thought that counted.
He returned to the cavern, the battle still raging on in it. Another rib and part of its tail had fallen from the skeleton of his dinosaur Golem. Its Durability further decreased by a steady barrage of attacks, but despite that loss, his Golems held their own.
Though, without his direct commands, their methods of attack were rather ineffective.
In its jaw, the bone velociraptor held a dead squirrel, chewing away at it while whipping at the remaining two monsters with what remained of its tail, its preferred method of attack. Similarly ineffective, Mr. Cat had, for some reason, taken to unsteadily standing on its back two feet, content to sit back and watch for the most part, only attacking when one of the monsters turned their focus away from the other Golem.
Clover shook his head, then took direct control over his Golems while wheeling past the initial bundle of wood and plant growth the strange squirrel had created, propelling himself into the cavern.
His neurons fired faster and harder than ever before, his Intelligence Stat boosting them to new heights as he juggled commanding the three different Golems. His control wasn’t perfect, but it was enough to turn the tide. As long as he was there to provide a guiding hand - an intelligent plan forward - his Golems were much more effective.
In no time at all, he eliminated the two.
Congratulations! You have slain a Two-tailed Squirrel - Lvl 1. +100 Exp.
Congratulations! You have slain a Two-tailed Squirrel - Lvl 1. +100 Exp.
To his left, Ron weaved in between attacks - hammering strikes of the squirrel’s tail that chipped the stone floor each time they missed. He inhaled heavily, fatigued, as blood ran down his hand, leaking from his knuckles, but other than that, he was fine - he’d be able to hold out on his own.
Clover gathered his Golems and sent them over to help Claire. The beast she fought, a squirrel the size of a large dog, was singed, smoke lightly wafting off its fur. Multiple cuts lined its side, most of them new - distinct from those which it had when it had entered the cavern. Despite its injuries, it was still in fighting condition, though it seemed to lack any unique abilities or Skills that made the other monsters dangerous.
As Clover passed a section of the wall that had been scorched black, he fired off a bolt of mana. The attack connected cleanly, giving Claire room to skip backward, taking a moment of respite.
"Thanks," she said as she tore a chain of mossy vine off the cave's wall. Then, as the mutated squirrel charged her once more, she used [Ember]. Stemming from a single ball of flickering flame, the vine caught fire. Tinged green, heat radiated off of it in thick waves that Clover could feel from a distance.
The plant seemed to be highly flammable, to a magical degree.
Clover’s Golems bashed into the monster, distracting it from its charge. Enraged that the small Golem had dared to lay a paw on it, the Two-tailed Squirrel tried to swallow it whole with a snap of its jaws. However, with a quick command from Clover, the animated chunk of clay was able to avoid the attack.
With its neck overextended, it was unable to roll out of the way as Claire threw the flaming vine at it. On contact, its fur ignited, a mix of orange and green flame.
The monster screeched, its demise imminent. After a few more attacks from his Golems, the monster died.
Congratulations! You have significantly contributed to the defeat of a Two-tailed Squirrel - Lvl 5. +200 Exp.
A rush of power entered Mr. Cat; one portion of it filled the well inside it, and the other, burning brightly, empowered its movements for a few short moments. Taking advantage of the boost, he commanded Mr. Cat to charge toward the last remaining monster. Claire and his other Golem followed close behind.
By this point in the battle, the monster was on its last legs - the accumulated damage that Ron had inflicted on it had taken its toll.
Ron moved smoothly, albeit breathing heavily, the effects of his Martial Skill evident. He wasn't at the raw skill level of a world-class fighter from the old world, but his Agility more than made up for the gap.
As Mr. Cat lunged toward the monster's undefended ankle, Ron conjured four sheets of paper. Fluttering in the wind, the beast didn't bother to avoid them. That proved to be a mistake. Following their slow preset paths, three of them wrapped flatly across the upper portion of the monster's face, obscuring its vision. Before it could shake off the papers, Mr. Cat's empowered strike landed, tearing cleanly through flesh in a spray of blood.
The burning power within Mr. Cat faded, but the damage had already been done. With its mobility limited, the group quickly finished off the tenacious beast.
Congratulations! You have significantly contributed to the defeat of a Two-tailed Squirrel - Lvl 5. +200 Exp.
Breathing heavily, still suffering the effects of his adrenaline rush, Clover turned toward the two tunnel-like passageways at the far side of the cavern. They were empty. No more monsters were coming.
For now, they had won.