NOVEL WEB Chapter 24 - Sacrifice
Dungeon Day 35 - Continues
Chomper wasn't going to strike, at least not yet, and neither was Jamole, who was also tunneling underneath the enemy. Instead, they were both waiting for the right opportunity. Meanwhile, the other beasts began to get closer to the giant scorpion bear, with Xinos quickly detaching from the boss party.
A few minutes passed, and his monsters finally saw the enemy directly aside from the birds and Kinetic, who had already been running around, slowly charging himself while eyeing the enemy squad, which had yet to make a move. At least until they saw Ingot, Fir, and Fur with Hawk and Eagle flying in circles above them. The birds were mostly out of mana but still wanted to contribute to the fight.
A fight was definitely going to be hard; just by looking at the enemy bear, Dan could tell it was definitely D rank. Though still in the early stages, it was still in D rank. Meaning it was stronger than his own bosses. Then, adding the fact that it was a monstrosity added an extra level of uncertainty and power to it.
Both groups of monsters stopped about 100 feet apart. His bosses were obviously sizing up the enemy, and the enemy sizing up his bosses. On one hand were Ingot, Fur, and Fir, with Hawk, Eagle, and Kinetic circling both groups. There was also Xinos, Chomp, and Jamole, but the enemy had yet to spot them. Meanwhile, the enemy's bear matched Ingot's size and sported a scorpion tail. Then, there were four raptors the size of bears who also wielded stingers.
The stare-down lasted about half a minute, and the whole fight began with a simple grunt from the scorpion bear. Hearing the grunt, the four raptors opened their stingers like blooming death flowers, and four spikes shot out, aiming straight for Ingot. Fur expertly summoned a wall of dirt that took on the four spikes.
And by the time the dirt wall came down the scorpion bear and raptors were already charging his monsters. In response, Ingot roared, and Dan felt the bear flood his body with power, enhancing his strength and resilience even more as he charged the enemy bear and its four raptors.
Both bears met first and clashed against each other, coming to a stop like two ramming bison. Meanwhile, the four raptors went around the clashing bears and headed straight towards Fur and Fir. The raptor charge didn't last long as two things smashed right into two of the raptors, disturbing them.
The first one to hit was Jamole, who burst out of the ground and pierced right through a raptor's stomach. Sadly, the attack didn't kill the raptor but did cause it to fall. A blur of yellow hit the second raptor as Kinetic finally decided to get into the battle and slammed into the monstrosity. Unlike with the wood boar the raptor did not die or explode. The charging cheetah did do damage as the raptor now had a large hole in its side. However, both the raptor and Kinetic were sent tumbling into the ground, and the cheetah was quickly stung. This disruption didn't matter too much to the other two raptors, who continued with their charge, ignoring their wounded brethren even as a giant worm came up from the ground, swallowing Jamole's victim entirely and disappearing soon after.
Back with Ingot, Dan could feel that the bear was only holding on against the enemy scorpion bear due to his enhanced body. However, that would only last for so long as Ingot’s mana was quickly dipping. Still, the bear needed to hold on for long enough so the rest of the raptors could be dealt with and everybody could converge on the scorpion bear. The two bears fought as they continued clawing and crashing into each other, with the scorpion bear thankfully having yet to use its stinger, which worried Dan.
Now, regarding Xinos, the jaguar was up in one of the trees about 50 feet from where the whole fight was going on. Not invisible, but still definitely in stealth and had yet to be noticed by the enemy. The jaguar had also already marked the bear and seemed to be waiting for the right moment to strike.
Looking back at the still-charging raptors, who were heading towards Fir and Fur, Dan saw his two birds fly towards one of them in an attempt to halt its march. Eagle was being an annoyance, flying around it, trying to scratch it with its talons, but wasn't doing much. It was worse when the small hawk finally got slammed with a tail swing from the raptor, sending her tumbling to the ground. Hawk the Eagle used the distraction to swoop in, grab the thing's tail with her talons, and lift it into the air. The raptor struggled to get out of the bird's grip, but it simply did not have the mobility to attack the bird. It was then that Dan learned something new about the raptor as it fell down towards the ground.
Hawk the Eagle hadn’t made it too high, but it was still a 50-foot drop, which the raptor surprisingly took without issue. However, now the raptor was bleeding out of its tail area with the limbing missing after detaching it, which was debilitating on its own.
As that had been going on, the other raptor kept running towards Fur, and the elk prepared to meet it. The raptor opened its tail again, sending another spike directly toward the elk, who deflected it with its antlers, though breaking a couple of them in the process. Not bothered by it, the monstrosity continued with its charge by jumping at the elk. It was quickly blocked as a semi-dome of stone appeared out of the ground, causing the raptor to land on it instead. The thing was surprised for a second but then jumped off and attempted to sting Fur. Thankfully, a small metal mole pierced out of the ground, piercing right through the tail and cutting it off. Surprising everyone again, the raptor did not care and lunged at Fur, clawing and biting into the elk.
Some distance from the tumbling elk and raptor was a tumbling cheetah and raptor. The raptor struck with its tail as they both came to a stop, sending the cat flying towards Fir. The cheetah was hurt and had been poisoned. Luckily, it had been sent in the right direction, and Fir began the healing process.
As that was going on, the fight between the two bears was still ongoing, and Ingot still managing to hold back the scorpion bear. However, things took a turn for the worse as the scorpion bear finally plunged its stinger into Ingot, causing him to roar in pain. Thankfully, Ingot had still done some damage to the bear but was nowhere near enough to kill it. Looking at his bear's mana, Dan saw it was reaching the halfway point, which was definitely not good.
All in all, Dan felt like the overall fight was going alright, but he was annoyed that Xinos had yet to join in and was very close to telling the jaguar to do so.
Moving on from the jaguar, Dan remembered that Eagle the Hawk had been struck hard and went to look for her. Thankfully, the small bird had recovered enough and was now flying above the battlefield, although she was heavily injured and was clearly not going to join back in anytime soon.
The fight continued as Hawk the Eagle perfectly timed another swoop against the raptor that had been tumbling with fur. The elk didn't look good and had taken large gashes on its body, but it was far from dead, especially once Fir activated her Healing Aura to heal both the cheetah and the elk. The aura also getting Eagle the Hawk to fly toward the healer.
Of course, now that the elk was doing its job, the other two raptors, who were still alive and on the ground, began to rush towards the healer. The two raptors didn't get far as Chomp appeared and quickly consumed one like it was a nice, delicious treat. Meanwhile, a piercing metal mole struck the second raptor in the head. Though unlike before, it didn't do much damage, but the attack definitely disoriented the beast. Looking at Jamoles mana, the mole was nearly out after having dealt a decent amount of damage during the whole fight. Thankfully, the disorientation caused by the mole’s strike was enough, and a spike of earth struck right through the raptor's body as Fur used the last of his mana to finish it.
Finally, the last raptor came to its splashy end as Hawk the Eagle dropped it from way up high in the sky, and the thing just splattered against the ground. With the raptors dead and his party heavily injured, they all headed towards Fir.
The problem was that the fight was over, and Ingot was still battling the scorpion bear.
Ingot was not looking good at all, and a lot of his fur was falling off as it was pumped with poison. His bear’s mana was also low, with only about 20 points left. It was then that the scorpion bear showed off its might as it clearly tugged into its purified mana.
Dan wasn't sure why it had been saving it this whole time, but Dan guessed the bear felt like its life was finally on the line. The scorpion bear then easily overpowered Ingot, throwing the bear to the side. Unable to move, Ingot lay there watching as the scorpion bear looked at Dan’s injured group near Fir.
The thing was even regenerating a little bit as its wounds visibly healed. Dan was about to yell at his jaguar to do something when he finally felt Xinos infusing himself with power. However, the bear was also planning to do something, and Dan felt its power rise even more as its stinger became three, and they quickly opened. Out of the three stingers flew three large spikes of tainted bone.
Right as the spikes flew out of the stingers, Xinos launched forward. The big cat had spent all his mana on Metal Slash, Metal Enhancement, and Necrosis Infusion, and his front claws were glowing with a dark power that glinted like polished metal.
Everything happened at once. First, one single pillar of stone appeared in the path of one of the spikes that was heading towards Fir. Meanwhile, the other two struck. One hit Eagle the Hawk and the other Kinetic.
As the spikes struck, so did Xinos, the jaguar, easily cleaved through the scorpion bear, almost completely severing the damn thing and killing it as the rest of its body rotted away due to the jaguar's death energy.
Sadly, the bear had managed to take its toll before Dan consumed it.