Stone spears growing out of the elemental's chest, giant hand that had reformed from three-fingered fist into a giant putty hand that was flowing around his body and locking him in place, Arthur stared at his impending doom. His mind raced for options, but his body knew what to do.
Refined Exploding Energy Dart already ready for release when he needed it exploded from his third eye, targeting the chest and upper arm section. Not the armpit, though close enough that it didn't matter. Even as it flew forwards, crossing the couple of feet, his body was twisting, his free right shoulder pulling backwards as his spear and arm moved backwards.
Focused Strike formed, fast, embedded in the tip of the spear. His oldest technique, the one he had the greatest experience with. He could conjure and utilize it within microseconds, which was good, because that was all the time he had.
Explosion of Refined Energy buffeted his face, exposed skin and eyes. Rock shards sent flying everywhere, his eyes tearing up as he tried to keep focused on the attack, his arm and spear rocketing forwards into the newly created gap.
It slammed into weakened stone and earth, a hole twice the size of his fist formed from the explosion. The creature was crumbling, assaulted by his Yin Aura already. The Focused Strike pierced all the way through, shattering rocks and bonds of magical energy. One spear, all too close to the explosion and attack stopped forming, the sharpened bulge halting.
Arm, levered upwards, cracked under the combined weight of its own and Arthur. Freed, Arthur was pulling his spear back, even as that second spear fired.
It caught him high up on the chest as he fell. His leather armour, bought and paid for and enchanted for greater protection held out. Barely. The spear itself didn't pierce the armour, but the force of impact broke his collarbone and probably a rib, leaving his arm to hang, helpless.
The armor also didn't do a damn thing about the momentum throwing him backwards as he fell to the ground. A leg, flailing about, kicking rough fur as the remaining wolf charged back in, grabbing at his numbed right arm and yanking it sideways, eliciting a scream from Arthur.
He twisted, fought, tried to get some control back. He managed to do two things, even as he dodged a series of erupting spears. The first, holding onto his Yin Aura so that it kept robbing his opponents of vitality, the energy pulsing out of his body constantly. The second, grabbing his kris out of its sheath with his other hand.
Thrashed around like a rag doll, it took Arthur longer than he'd like to get the blade into the wolf. It skimmed off the skull, managed to slide into the side of the mouth and open it wide. It was enough to make the creature open up, hop away into a moving leg at which point it got booted to the side.
Not that Arthur did much better, because the foot was on the way to him too.
Again, flying through the air. This time, he managed to keep hold of his weapon, tumbling off the trail into the undergrowth. Pain filling him as he bounced off a tree and then another before he ended up crashing to a stop against the crumbled remains of another, ivy draping all across him. Yin Aura snuffed out, exhausted and in agony.
Thankfully, being bounced away and around far enough that he was out of direct line of sight meant there were no more attacks coming. Not so thankfully, he was certain half the bones in his body were cracked or broken. That thing hit like a truck, which made sense. It probably weighed as much.
Or at least a very large SUV, the kind that Americans who rolled coal even now when climate change was all too real because it was their God given right drove. The kind that was so tall you couldn't see a person walking in front of you from.
Accelerated Healing (II) wrapped around him, pulling energy from his core at a rapid rate to patch together his body. Crushed and bruised muscles wanting to inflame and liquid to fill, damaged nerves and veins and arteries causing deep bruises. Cracked bones filled in, reinforcing themselves even as overactive nerves subsided in strength and intensity.
Eventually, he pulled himself to his feet. He wasn't sure how much time he had lost, just lying there, letting his body fix itself and his mind to relax sufficiently that he wasn't entirely overwhelmed. No wolf coming for him, thank the gods, but he had no idea how much more time he had left before the rest of the pack arrived.
Instead, he began to inch forward, hissing with each breath. No way to use Yin Aura, not when he was healing himself so he focused on the REED. He popped his head outwards, let loose the attack and then hid back behind the tree as a cannon struck it. To his surprise, the creature was half its initial size, barely larger than him and significantly thinner.
All that fighting, all the energy from his Yin Aura must be affecting it. He could see how each moment as it shifted, its body crumbled a bit as the poison continued its assault on it. When his dart struck, it exploded and tore off the arm that got in the way, the hand falling to the ground moments later. Almost immediately, the hand began to reform but the body thinned further.
Arthur, pushing forwards after the creature had launched its attack, knew he had to get in. Even if he only had his kris, he would have to kill it and take it down. He would not abandon the fight now. A glance to the side noted the whimpering, broken body of the second wolf, the creature still attempting to crawl forwards.
Time to finish this.
***
Slip to the right, strike. He smashed the pommel of his weapon into the arm, watched as Imbued Strike pour Yin energy into the body. A single pulse, hard and fast before he had to rebuild the technique. It infiltrated the body, causing the arm to slump and portions of it shatter as it tried to move.
Leg turning, a kick straight into the leg. It felt like kicking a steel rod, or almost worse. Incredibly painful even after numerous years of training doing much the same. Incredibly stupid if not for the fact that his shin was covered with armor, blunting the impact somewhat.
That and the fact that his Imbued Strike and the Yin poison was making the body more fragile. Rather than unyielding stone, it cracked and shattered, leaving the creature tottering. Even as Arthur pulled back, the elemental tried to step forwards with the other leg, putting its weight entirely on the damaged side.
A bad choice, as it crumbled and broke beneath the weight.
The elemental fell, body crashing into the ground. More of its body cracked and shattered and Arthur hobbled over, exhaustion running through him as he grabbed for his spear. He desperately wanted to use Yin Aura again, take the creature all the way apart, but he had noted the other problem.
The rest of the pack were here. Second wave in front of first, four and then six and then two, all of them streaming in.
He'd run out of time, damn it.