Dustin, The Blazing Outrider, charged into battle, Jesse his Heidel and familiar quickly galloped into a charge, hooves blazing with each step. Familiar Red gold scimitars manifested in in his hands as he faced the monster before him.

Monster names in the Five desert region were often simple if accurate. And the monster before him were no different. Sand Rollers were an odd amalgamation between an Armadillo and a porcupine with a sandstone shell. Noticing their tracks was easy as they left great trails in the sand and cracked mud of the desert, but when they found a good hiding place it was difficult to spot them as they looked like just another boulder in the desert.

The one facing down Dustin was on a slight outcropping of rock, the spines poking out of its shell flared as it flicked its tail to send more quills Dustin’s way. Jesse was very used to battle and evading projectiles and swerved to avoid most of the incoming barrage, what Jesse didn’t dodge Dustin deflected with a swipe of his blades.

With Dustin closing in fast the Roller curled into a ball and rolled down the hill with more force than a rolling stone should have had. Jesse and Dustin had fought plenty of Sand Rollers and knew that swerving to the side was pointless as the monster could make outrageously tight turns. So instead, Jesse leapt over the Roller.

They landed behind it and Jesse cantered around to face the now retreating Roller. His Heidel huffed disdainfully at the Rollers ‘speed’ and charged after it. Soon Dustin was side by side with the monster, he jumped up to a standing position on Jesse’s back and slashed out with a special attack. A wave of fire slammed into the Roller and it was sent flying.

The Roller unfurled to try and correct its fall, but the moment it unfurled from its protective armor wings appeared on the back of Dustin’s conjured chest plate and he leapt into the air. Four more slashes laced with fire crisscrossed the Roller’s soft underside before his wings faded away.

Dustin landed back on Jesse and they moved out to the way of where the Rollers fell.

The Roller made a roar that sounded like a barrel of bricks being tossed down a flight of stairs, then sent more quills at Dustin. Only for a wall of earth to rise up and shield Dustin.

Riding his own Heidal Flint opened his hand and pushed his earthen wall forward. The Roller curled up to fend off the rock wall, but that was exactly what Flint wanted. With the Roller curled up he cast another spell, a dome of earth rose over the Roller and trapped it within its own shell.

Ordinarily a Rollers Shell was too tough to pierce and Dustin’s cuts had all been shallow ones. But Dustin’s arial attack had done more than just cut the Roller. It had inflicted the Roller with a fiery affliction “Burning Blood” which would slowly cook the Roller from the inside out. Flint’s dome would exacerbate that process by further trapping heat and preventing the Roller from unrolling to cool down.

The trapped Roller realized the trouble it was in and pressed against the sides of the dome, and with time it may have even succeeded. But Flint wasn’t going to give it the opportunity.

“Mother Earth entomb my Foes.” Flint chanted activating a spell that turned the ground soft and pliable. The dome at the center of the soft earth sunk into the ground until it was completely buried, leaving the monster to slowly cook.

It was a horrifying way to die, and Flint and Dustin had used it on more than just monsters.

As soon as Flint began to deal with the first Roller Jesse galloped off towards Petra who was holding off a second roller. Rollers almost always manifested in pairs, so while the bronze rankers dealt quickly dealt with the first Petra who was in the peak if Iron was left to deal with the other on her own. Not that Petra seemed bothered.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Her Essences were Might, Sheild, and Earth, for a Fortress confluence. Most would consider a solitary fortress a bad combination for a Leonid’s ceaseless endurance, but Petra turned the essence pairing for typical stalwart defenders into an unceasing and relentless advance. She didn’t excel in powerful attacks, but her ability to repel enemy attacks allowed her to continuously push her foes back one step at a time. The ideal combination for a caravan guard facing down a large monster.

Petra was clad in heavy looking granite armor with a shield of a similar appearance. She would arrest the Rollers charge with her shield and strike out with a brass-colored war hammer. With her Might essence she sent the Rollers back several yards, only to find itself pressed in by the rise of earthen walls. It’s only way out was through Petra, and it knew that.

It charged Petra again, only to be flung back once more. But this time as it was still staggering from the heavy blow a blazing figure appeared overhead. Dustin still clad in his brilliant armor had leapt off Jesse and let loose a whirlwind of fire based attacks. Each attack focused on one spot trying to pierce its tough hide.

The two focused their efforts on the second Roller while Flint finished up with the first.

The trio knew that Rollers almost always worked in pairs outside of a monster surge, which was why Dustin had felt comfortable leaving Flint alone. But just because Rollers only worked in pairs that didn’t mean that another monster hadn’t tagged along.

Just as Flint had finished burying the first Roller, a suspiciously shifting patch of sand had drawn in close. Flint noticed the approach, but was too slow to avoid the opened jaws as the monster pounced on him.

Sand skinned Raptors were intelligent solitary hunters, their skin could shift colors to better match with their surrounding and their soft padded feet made it hard to hear their approach. They were the reason Dustin’s group, and many more like his, didn’t allow their people to wander away from the light of the camp fire to relieve themselves without another person to watch their back. Too many wandered off into the night to never return.

This one had obviously seen the Rollers ambush and had decided to lay in wait for them to begin their assault before it picked off an isolated member. Which in this case happened to be Flint.

Flint as an elf had a strong affinity for spells, and his Earth Essence powers had all manifested as offensive. This left him lacking in self-defense. He raised an arm to keep it away from his, and the beasts jaws clamped around with bone crushing intensity. He felt the jaws clamp down harder and harder, and he feared that his mistake would cost him an arm.

But the sound of a whipcrack and the agile figure of their new Outworlder tag along drew Flint’s attention away from the Raptor around his him. He watched with stunned horror as the normal ranked women leapt on lizards neck, locked her legs around its neck, and gripped its maw with both hands.

Flint felt the pressure on his arm halt, and then slowly loosen.

He heard a high pitched whine coming from the women’s metal arms as she strained against the bite force of a bronze ranked monster. He felt the monster’s aura flare and suppress the Outworlders normal ranked aura. With the aura suppression came the loss of strength and Seras began to lose ground to the monster.

Flint, his mind hazy with pain reached out with his own aura and forced the monsters back. Unseen their aura’s battled. But Flint had spent nearly forty years training his aura, and he had reached the peak of control possible for a bronze ranker. Flint pushed the monster’s aura back into its body and suppressed its power.

Completely unaware of the invisible battle around her Seras continued to pry the monsters jaws off the elf until he could pull his arm out.

With nothing to hold onto the monster began to thrash on the ground, repeatedly smacking Seras on a rock in an attempt to make her let go. Seras took the blows and continued to pull the lizard’s jaws apart. She had spread it to its natural limits and she was now straining to rip the jaw open further.

The Sand skin Raptor let out a gurgling cry of pain, but with its aura suppressed by Flint it couldn’t stop her.

With a disgusting ripping sound Seras ripped its jaw clean off, then proceeded to bash the monsters head in with its own jaw bone.

She bludgeoned the monster until it stopped twitching. And just for good measure Flint cast a spell that lifted a large boulder and crushed the remains of its head.

Seras huffed out a shaky breath. “Whoo, that was tough. Think I strained my motors with that one.”

Flint was nursing his arm and gave her an unamused look. “That was a bronze rank monster, with bronze rank strength. That should not have been possible.” He accused shortly.

Seras rolled her shoulder “I’m stronger than I look.”

“That is an understatement” Flint said flatly.

“Maybe, need help with that arm. I can carry you back to the wagon train.”

He looked at his arm, “Help me clean it, we’ll need to wait for Dustin to do anymore.”

The women’s face blanched “Clean it, like with soap and water? I’m not sure if I’m up for that.”

Flint gave her a baffled look. “You ripped apart a bronze rank monster with your bare arm, and you draw the line at first aid? You’re covered in monster blood!”

“I can do field repairs, but dealing with the goo and icky grossness of meat is too much.”

Flint’s mouth gaped like a fish, then he closed it. He had no idea how to respond to that, which he was coming to realize was a common occurrence with the Outworlder. She was just too strange for him to accurately interpret.