Southeast of the Slatewell Safe Zone

Granite City

The spectral mounts were awesome. That is, until the team learned more about them. Then the mystical beasts lost their attraction quickly. This was because of the many downsides they sported.

The mounts did not react to anything other than their reigns being moved. A horse can usually keep to a trail on their own, or will make adjustments to their own path to avoid obvious obstacles. This almost caused all of the Crusaders to almost run into each other multiple times. As their mounts were not truly solid, one time, Brick's stallion's head passed right through Diggy's elephant and the two men almost collided. They just would not move out of each other's way unless directed to do so.

Despite their size or stature, all of the mounts traveled at the exact same speed, somewhere between a trot and a run. It was impossible to catch another rider and pass them. The only time the mounts slowed down was if their rider made them or they made the beasts turn. Thinking about it, Jut could likely run faster than his mount. The only saving grace the mounts had in this area was their ability to continue moving without rest.

The last major flaw the creatures had as mounts was that they would not traverse a space their bodies could not fit through while walking straight. When the Crusaders made it to the tree line they would need to traverse to reach the river, the mounts just stopped. There was even a gap the beasts could maneuver their bodies through by either bending or leaning a bit. Yet, the mounts slowed down and stopped before getting too close.

While not a surprise, or really a flaw, the no personality part was a big disappointment. The mounts just stood still when not moving. They didn't make noise or react to anything around them. For lack of a better word, they moved like robots following programming. It made for a less than comfortable ride and made more than one Crusader feel creeped out.

The team had no choice but to dismiss their mounts and take to the trees on foot. The pets had kept up easily enough and the Crusaders had slowed down a bit a few times to allow them to get ahead.

Jut stowed his Kirin Horn away, the black rip in space disappearing behind the dragon horse mount as it retreated into the void. "I knew these mount whistles sounded too good to be true." He muttered to himself, feeling a little cheated.

A thump on his shoulder had him look at Diggy who had come up next to him. The others were still dismissing their mounts.

"It's like the new players' Mounts on Prime, dude. Remember how long it took to get through the different maps on those things? It was almost as bad as hoofing it. Pun totally intended." Diggy was slightly more animated than he had been the day before, shrugging his shoulders and tipping his head.

A delicate laugh carried on the breeze as Isabelle approached them next. "No kidding. Just getting from one major city to the next on those level forty mounts wasted a lot of play time until the devs dropped the teleport stations."

Diggy and Jut were both about to make an affirmative comment when Brick strode through the group, standing the closest to the trees, his shield already up. "Pfft, nerds. I'm just glad we didn't have to walk all the way here. We got to save our energy for the fighting." Brick's tone was teasing until the end when he was straight laced serious. "What's the play here, Jut?"

"Unless you have a better idea, I say we send the pets and Joy to scout in pairs. The rest of us head forward with you leading until we hit the river. Then we regroup and start to fill out the map on the way to the nearest way point." Jut had been considering what to do on the trek across the barren area. The nearest locations should be light on monsters with all the Adventurers exploring the day before.

No one had another suggestion that wasn't any different besides the direction they would take or which way point to go for. Joy was happy she was considered for scouting without having to ask. It was written all over her face as her and Nox disappeared into the trees. Lily and Gunther went the opposite way, spreading out their coverage.

"We need to keep the chatter to the minimum." Brick instructed. "Use the chat function, pet links, and your Guides. We don't want to get rushed."

The rest of the team took his words seriously. Jut was glad to see Brick's words appeared in the Crusaders team chat. Joy sent "Duh!" back to the group almost instantly.

As one, the remaining four moved into the trees. Passing the natural barrier was a little unsettling. The canopy was just thick enough to reduce the light slightly, casting the ground into a dancing cascade of shadow. The wind was strong, making the sensation worse. Add in the fact that a monster could lurk behind any tree or bush, and no one spoke.

Jut's eyes darted to the moderately heavy undergrowth. The swaying limbs and fluttering leaves had him feeling paranoid. He gripped his short sword and buckler a little tighter and a black and red energy spread over his body as he activated Consequence. It was only minutes later that he discovered his original hypothesis was wrong.

The area was covered in Monsters.

Joy sent "Heavy monster activity ahead" at the same time Jut and Isabelle both stopped. Jut was receiving a mental image of two large snake Monsters from Gunther. He suspected Isabelle was seeing the same thing or something similar from Lily. Then a huge beetle erupted from the bushes, flying right at Brick.

The incoming Monster reminded Jut of a stag beetle with two large horns and a thick carapace. It's wings made a humming sound that grated on his nerves while it clicked in frustration as it charged.

Isabelle had been ready and she fired blast after blast from her wand at the beast. The few that weren't dodged barely even scratched the Monster, it's carapace wing covers deflecting them.

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Brick raised his shield for impact and the thud echoed off the trees, a small dent bulging on the inside of the Stone metal shield. However, their Guardian did his job, catching the beetle Monster long enough for Diggy to slam his war axe into creature's body joint. A sickening crack rang out as the axe chopped through the Monster, bisecting it.

The Crusaders didn't get to celebrate its defeat, because three more beetles dropped from the canopy above, these ones smaller but faster.

Jut managed to dodge one and smack another with his wrist buckler. To his surprise and joy, he felt Consequence trigger. Windy Steps did not. He turned and followed the crashing beetle, skewering it with his sword.

Brick used his large club to bat one of the newcomers away, insect ichor spilling over all the trees nearby. The Monster had blown apart with the force of his strike.

"The smaller ones are Normal Rank." Diggy called out.

The discovery was a good one as the rest of the swarm caught up shortly after. The team was showered in small, fast Normal ranked beetles with a few Stone Rankers mixed in.

Isabelle's wand proved to be effective as long as she landed she shot. Jut watched a beetle right in front of him explode with an echo of blue magic dissipating before his eyes, the corpse popping. She flashed him a grin and unloaded another barrage. Jut estimated her accuracy rating was around eighty percent, which was impressive.

Jut smashed a beetle with his shield and sliced through another. As he did, he asked her about it. "Someone been putting in time at the shooting range?"

Isabelle smirked but never took her eyes off of her targets. "A bit, yeah. Not to mention I've been blasting human Monsters who were all charging at me for weeks now. I was bound to improve a little." She underscored her point by landing a shot under a Stone Ranked Beetle's wing covers, making its body crumple.

"Damn straight." Brick said gleefully, batting down beetle after beetle. He would use his shield to block them, push them back, then swing for the fences.

As the last Stone Rank beetle took a beating from all four of them, Jut sent a message to Joy and tried to reach out for Gunther. Joy returned an "All clear" while the response from Gunther wasn't as reassuring. The image was panicked and sloppy.

"A snake is on Gun. I'm going." Jut said softly to the others who had gathered around him, waiting for instruction.

"Lily's okay but shaky. I'm coming too." Isabelle said with a nod. "Let's go."

Jut took off into the trees as fast as felt comfortable with. He didn't run into any more Monsters following the feeling he had that told him where Gunther was, but their was plenty of signs. Trees were scratched, broken or knocked over. The underbrush was disturbed dramatically. A large stone protrusion was shattered.

It looks like a fight happened around here. He considered as he was about to make it to his Pet.

Something big too. You must not have caught the giant footprint. I'll show it to you once we're safe.

As always during tense or important moments, Alex's chat window appeared and disappeared quickly.

Just as Jut, Isabelle, Brick and Diggy broke through into a small clearing, Joy and Nox arrived coming from a different direction. The sight they saw made them all freeze for only a moment.

Gunther had one snake wrapped around him. Jut could feel his pain. The snakes coiling grip wasn't strong enough to crush him, but the Rottweiler was having a very hard time breathing. However, he was giving just as good as he got. His fangs were ripping chunks from the snake. Each moment the snake was around Gunther was another stack of Vulnerable, which made each successive bite deal more damage.

Jut was going to intervene anyway, but a shriek from Isabelle made him look over. Brick was holding her back and she was squirming to break free.

"Put me down! She's not going to win; Let me go!" Isabelle yelled at Brick, swinging her arms and body to get free.

"You said she was over thirty-five percent and that she wanted to do it on her own. You need to let her do it." Brick said back calmly. His major advantage in Body stats making it almost impossible for the healer to budge him.

Jut looked and saw Lily. She was looking the worse for wear. She was moving slowly, her leg appearing injured. Lily's black and brown fur was matted with blood, which had to be hers as her opponent was Stone Rank. While the snake was covered in red lines, showing the cat had gotten plenty of attacks in, it still felt one sided.

That's when Lily glowed. It was the soft blue of Isabelle's healing magic, which most of it was water magic based. Before the Crusader's eyes, Lily's leg straightened and she stood taller. This caused Isabelle to fight a little less, but she was still struggling hard.

The snake and Lily were staring each other down, their eyes locked. Jut pulled out his wand and took aim at the snake. Screw that, he was not going to let her get herself killed. However, Lily turned and stared Jut down, telling him to back off. The look made him lower his wand.

The snake, being an ambush predator, was not going to miss the opening. It lunged forward.

Lily, however, must have planned for this as she jumped straight up. The snake sailed right under her and her claws glowed white. When the tabby landed, she started hissing, biting and scratching the Monster right below its head.

The snake reared back, shook side to side, but couldn't get Lily off. It even tried to smash itself into a tree to crush the cat, but Lily just let go and hopped back on after, clear of any damage.

Jut blinked. He couldn't decide what was the best course of action. A wet nose thumping into his hand made him look down. Gunther was just looking at him. Jut nodded once and Gunther tipped his head towards the tree line then turned that direction and stared.

Jut had been so wrapped up in the fight, that he almost forgot. This fight and their scrap with the beetles very well could have attracted attention.

"Crusaders. Form a perimeter." He called out. The only two who didn't react immediately by turning different directions to watch the trees, was Brick and Isabelle.

The healer wasn't going to be able to think clearly until Lily was safe. Jut had felt the same about Gunther just before and when he watched him fight the Dog boss the day before. He knew Brick was right. They had to let the pets take risks. However, he sure as hell wasn't going to let the risk be uncontrolled. He focused his mind on watching for more Monsters while peaking over at the fight in case he needed to jump in anyway.

It was Brick cursing that made Jut turn. Isabelle had gotten free, her nails glowing white. Brick had a scratch on his hand. Isabelle darted over to Lily. The tabby was sitting next to a dead snake, licking her paws clean of her own blood.

"You silly girl. I shouldn't even heal you after that. What were you thinking?" Isabelle scolded.

As the healer reached for Lily, Lily, again, started to glow. She gave Isabelle that uncaring feline look as if to say she was perfectly fine healing herself. She still let Isabelle pick her up who immediately started casting her own healing magic.

Gunther caught Jut's eye as the Rottweiler pressed his nose into the snake he had killed and it broke down into loot. A huge fang was easily visible along with some scattered stones and other items. Then Gunther ran to Jut and shepherded him over to the pile. Jut laughed softly and began to scoop up the loot.

Lily, however, was gorging on the snake after she had kicked enough to make Isabelle set her down with only minor complaint on the healer's part.

"We don't have time to rest." Brick called. "There's more Monsters coming."

The message was clear and the entire team got up and fell into formation. Lily was the last to join them, her mouth covered in gore and her pristine fangs glinting in the sunlight. She was just in time for more Monsters to break into the clearing. The battle was quickly joined after that.