Ren stalked his way through the tall grass. He had spent the last several days slowly clearing out the horde around the leader as it surrounded itself with shriekers after being wounded. He gritted his teeth as he approached the leader's location.
This would have been so much easier if this stopped quest wasn't stopping me from leveling. He thought.
He would have just charged the monster immediately, but he had not come out of their first battle unscathed and was not looking to have another one where it could also call upon its minions. He stopped, peering around a tree to see the caravan moving. There were over 20 shriekers grouped as they moved through the forest. They followed a massive beetle-like creature carrying a cage and the leader on its back plowing through all obstacles in front of it. Ren made his way through the underbrush, moving closer to the horde before finally making his move. He moved with surprising speed, overwhelming the unprepared creatures, and killing 6 of them before they could respond properly. Releasing what was happening, one creature flung itself towards Ren, letting out an ear-splitting scream, but Ren was unfazed as he had already entered a rage and could not see or hear properly as an all-encompassing bloodlust consumed him. He swung his axe with reckless abandon, killing one shrieker after another. 10, 12, 15. Only five remained by the time the leader had realized what was happening and joined the fray.
“You finally show yourself!” It roared, charging at Ren. “I thought you had just run off forever like the co-”
Ren drew his axe back before bringing it down and sending a shockwave of compressed force at the creature. It barely jumped out of the way and could not completely avoid the attack. Ren's axe cleanly sliced off part of the creature's second front leg. It yelled in pain before angling itself and shooting a hastily constructed net at its attacker. The beetle-like creature knocked Ren back into the forest as it charged him. A loud crash rang out as he collided with a tree and fell to the ground.
“Thank you X3-15,” the creature said, readying itself for the human's next attack.
Ren pushed himself back to his feet, wiping away a trickle of blood running down his face. He smiled wider than he had in a long time. He hadn't felt this feeling since he was young, when his father would throw him and his siblings into the wilderness for several days alone. Anticipation of what was to come over came to him. He had faced tough battles since he got his spark, but none of them came close to the feeling when you were one wrong move away from death, and Ren wanted more of it. He let out an almost primal roar, griping his ax with both hands and charging the pair of monsters. The large beetle-like creature called X3-15 by the leader stepped in front of his path and prepared to meet his charge. Ren moved and pushed all the stamina that he could into his legs, leaping into the air. He soured over the large monster before slamming his axe into its head with the sound of metal slicing into metal. A cry of pain escaped from the monster as it shook wildly, trying to throw him off, but he dug his axe in further, repeatedly driving his free stamina-empowered fist into its back.
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Chio, seeing his opportunity to try to escape, concentrated all the power he could muster into his left hand. He activated his cleave skill, slicing through the cage. The attack completely drained Chio's stamina, which was cut in half by his injuries, overwhelming him with vertigo, but he could not quit now. He pushed himself, picking up Nevala. Every step was agony, but he pushed on anyway, moving further into the forest. A web impacted a nearby tree as Chio ran with every ounce of strength that he could muster. His head screamed, but he would not let himself or the woman he loved die here.
Ren slammed his fist into the creature again and again, leaving a deepening dent in its armored plating. Midway through another punch, a piece of webbing forced him to drop his axe and push off the creature with all his strength. He laughed as he flew through the air and landed on his feet.
“What are you so happy about?” the chittering voice of the leader asked as the creature removed Ren’s axe from its companion and snapped the weapon in two.
“I was scared you'd make this fight dull by going after Chio and Nevala, so I'm glad you didn't,” Ren said as he prepared to lunch himself at the leader.
“Hmm, you're truly still going to fight after losing your weapon? I didn’t peg you as someone suicidal but I guess I can’t be right 100% of the time,” it taunted.
Ren played into the creature's taunts, letting his anger grow as he activated his rage skill. He let out an almost primal roar. He moved without thinking, channeling his reckless attack martial art into his legs as he pushed off the ground, flying at the creature with incredible speed. Ren's attack knocked the leader off the back of X3-15, as it failed to react in time. Not wasting a single moment, Ren then turned on the beast he was now standing on. This time, his rage-empowered attacks punched straight through the creature's armored plating. Black blood poured out of its wounds as it cried out in pain. Ren cocked his fist back, activating a reckless attack as he prepared to strike the death blow. A pointed limb slashed him across the back, the searing pain causing him to lose his grip on the large creature as he tumbled to the ground. He landed hard on his head and could barely make out the form of X3-15 moving towards him as the world faded to black.