“Think we can find anyone to clear those salamanders for us?” Arthur asked, staring down into the distance where a trio of salamanders lay. Mini-boss monsters, all of them, meant to stop individuals from crossing over to the third platform. Not that they had to fight them; they’d just have to make it to the right or left of their current position and they’d find someplace to ascend. Even if it was harder, Arthur’s Seven Cloud Stepping technique was quite useful for that.
“And let someone else take the stones?” Rick snorted. “Don’t even think about it. I can handle one.” He patted the stock of the shotgun he’d slung over his shoulder. “Though I’m running out of slugs.”
“Use your pistols then.”
“Too many bullets, it’ll take quite a bit before they die," Rick objected. "Better to use a few slugs."
"What happens when you run out of bullets?" Lam asked, from the side.
"I won't. Seventh floor, there's someone waiting for me with reloads." Rick tapped his chest. "I planned ahead, you know."
"If they aren't there?" Lam asked.
"I'll figure it out," Rick replied, sweeping a hand through his floppy hair. "We ready?"
Mel, standing to the side, brusquely said, "Uswah, Jan, and I on the right."
"Rick, you're on the left." A breath, and then Arthur pointed. "Everyone else, middle. We take them down fast and help the others. Be careful of their breath attacks."
Earth, fire, and metal in respective order. Arthur started forming the Refined Exploding Energy Dart in his third eye, confident enough by now that he wouldn't blow his own head up. Casey, on the other side, was pulling back the bow, empty of an arrow. As she did so though, an arrow formed of energy.
"What is that?" Arthur said, surprised.
"Arrow of Seeking," Casey said. "Variation on the Dart of Seeking we used." Arthur could recall that it had a similar starting point to his own Refined Energy Dart. But it was more refined in terms of having the advantage of actually tracking the opponents to some degree, though it could not chase them around.
"You learnt that recently?" Leia asked, curiously.
"Recent enough," Casey said. "Wasn't confident in it till now." Even as she spoke, the arrow's form wavered a little, as though she was struggling to keep it contained. "You going to talk or...?"
The others had begun their own ranged attacks. In Jan and Mel's case, of course, that meant using slings and spinning up the stones to such speed that when they were unleashed, they'd strike and break open scales and wounds alike. Of course, after all this time, the group had found ways to spice up their attacks. In Mel's case, she went with the simple, infusing Focused Strike into the stone so that it could pierce and damage the creature easier. For Jan, she'd infused a portion of explosive fire energy within her stone.
Of them all, Yao Jing was the only one without a ranged attack.
Arthur counted the group down from three, all of them releasing an attack on the “loose.” A part of Arthur noted that they probably should figure out timing, since certain attacks—physical stones and arrows—were slower by noticeable levels compared to more magical and explosive attacks.
The only person who hadn't fired was Rick, though by now, even Arthur knew why. Range on a shotgun was a lot shorter than their own, so Rick would be waiting till the Metal Salamander was close. It was for the same reason the Fire Salamander hadn't been picked for him—no one wanted that creature anywhere close to them. Burning energy dancing all across its body, the flames hot enough to leave ash behind, and small flames in the clearing were testament to the danger involved.
The hiss and grunt of pain, the staggered movement of the blinded Fire Salamander as the first arrow went into its eye, closely followed moments later by the explosion of the Dart that tore scales off the body all echoed through the clearing. Then, the impact of stones, the first with an exploding flame that consumed scale and skin, and then after that, Mel’s that pierced the body with the power of Focused Strike.
More arrows, a spear of darkness shooting up from beneath the salamander to dig into its flesh and tear at hamstrings and slow the monster down. Yao Jing, crouched low and waiting, the spear he was holding shifted towards the back. Arthur knew he was going to try to throw it, rather than actually engage with the Fire Salamander, though it'd be best to end it before it came close enough to be speared.
Certainly, the Metal Salamander was the slowest, trundling forward ever so slowly, even as Rick shifted sideways so he could potentially run out to deal with it.
"Again! On your own mark." Arthur was already forming another Exploding Energy Dart, his own sling spinning up now that he could see it doing some damage. Not much, maybe bruising, maybe even crack a bone at best. But something was better than nothing, he figured. It didn't take much effort at all or slow down his formation of the darts.
Though, surprisingly, Casey was faster even than him. She had her arrow fitted and loosed by the time he was ready to send out his own. This time around, it curved and struck the other eye - or tried to. A last minute twist of the head sent the arrow skirting along the face, tearing a furrow and causing the salamander to hiss.
As Arthur released his own Energy Dart, he was surprised to notice that the creature had changed colour. The flames seemed to darken around the body, brighten and focus around its forehead. Intuition had him screaming, even as he threw himself down beneath a small rise.
Moments later, a gout of superheated air washed overhead, crisping his eyebrows and his hair. He cursed, patting at his head to make sure nothing was on fire even as the crackle of newly born flames behind him in the trees and the hiss and snap of branches breaking spoke to him from behind, telling a tale of overheated woe.
"Move, move, move!" Arthur said, scrambling to his feet. "Don't stick close together."
He checked around, made sure everyone was still alive and not cooked. Only to be caught by surprise moments later as the earth rumbled and his footing went haywire. He automatically hopped upwards, standing on a cloud as he tried to get away, even as the team on the right were thrown around—and in Jan's case, impaled in the upper thigh.
"Tiu!" she cried, twisting in agony and screaming louder as the stone refused to give way. Yao Jing bounced over, his body darkening as he hardened his body and shattered his way through the spikes.
In the meantime, the remaining two not injured were attacking the Earth Salamander. Uswah scrambled away, her only hand waving as she formed and wrapped a giant shadow tentacle around the creature's head, blinding the monster. At the same time, Mel ran forward, unslinging the spear from behind her back as she charged. Her sling was gone, lost somewhere in the mad scramble.
"Keep attacking!" Leia cried, releasing another ball of uncompressed energy. Arthur knew that attack, since it was the basic ranged attack one could purchase that did not utilise Refined Energy. It had the advantage of making use of basic Tower energy, which was easier to cultivate, but it was not compressed or as damaging.
Eric on the other hand was waiting, charging up the throwing knives he worked with. They were small and didn't have quite the same range, but he could still get a good fifty or so feet with them, between his increased cultivator strength and the technique he utilised. It pierced all the way through the Fire Salamander’s body, the trio of knives forcing the monster to duck to the side and still get stabbed in the middle of its eye. Not particularly nice, but effective.
Popping upwards, Arthur waited. He saw the tic, the motion he had been expecting and he released his attack, aimed at where he judged it would move its mouth. Timed nearly perfectly, the flashing dart went into its open mouth and exploded within upon contact with the tongue, causing a gout of blood and skin to flood from its body.
Rather than face continued attacks, the Fire Salamander turned tail and ran, no longer content to be attacked or take further injuries. That didn’t stop Casey from sending an arrow into a leg or Lam sending an arc of energy from his swung spear. It tore into the back leg, crippling the creature and leaving the others to continue their attacks.
"Switch!" Arthur roared, waving Yao Jing away to deal with the Earth Salamander. It had finally freed itself from the shadow tendril, and Uswah fell back panting as her energy stores ran out. The rest of the group turned to attacking it, except Rick who finally engaged the Metal Salamander. The heavy thump and roar of shotgun shells being fired at close range into the side of the Metal Salamander was interspersed with ringing, meaty explosions as the shells impacted the creature.
"Focus on the open wounds," Arthur called out to Casey, pointing towards the fleeing Fire salamander. "Bleed it out, don't try for an outright kill."
She and Lam nodded, taking the cue to keep attacking rather than give up. Not that Arthur figured it would matter, as he switched out for his spear and rushed the Earth Salamander.
Outside of the surprising ranged attacks from the salamanders, they'd managed this fight relatively well. Even as his friends were thrown off balance—a leg broke with a snap as Eric had his foot caught between two split pieces of stone that then twisted—Arthur knew they still had this in the bag.
The real question was how much they'd be slowed. And what the third platform had in wait for them.