Everything had gone well to start. Three days in, the team had managed to track down a pack of the duduk menara and kill them. It had been a hard fight, the creatures faster than any Earth-based animal could ever have been, crossing dozens of feet in the blink of an eye. However, the team was stronger and faster too with a wide array of techniques, including some that rooted and blocked off the straight-line approach of the creatures.
Those that tried to flank were pinned or attacked, driven back by ranged attacks even as people like Jan or Mel hung back to watch their backs. Killing them had been tough, but no one picked up any major injuries. After that, it was only a matter of following the trail of the stampeded wilderbeests and running them down till they had slowed to a stop before they could fight and harvest that group.
Of course, those were the three major threats. There were other creatures too on the plains, smaller monsters and wildlife that attacked the group and could leave injuries if not found beforehand. Most were significantly weaker, only floor three or four level, some even down to floor one creatures and offered stones of the same equivalent strength. Tiny little stones, even compared to first floor stones, but packed with denser energy as befitted the floor.
The grass snake, small and lounging on the floor that had a venom that would kill. Arthur actually had one captured and tested on him, later that day, in hopes of leveling up his own Accelerated Healing resistance to such venoms. While he did manage to understand and improve on the techniques a little, he utterly refused to try again.
There was something incredibly painful and off-putting watching your own skin rot and melt as the venom destroyed the flesh around a wound, trying to combat it as searing agony ripped up your calf. Not fun at all. It didn't help that the looks he got from his team ranged from 'you're an idiot' to 'wow, you're a pervert masochist'.
Other smaller monsters, gophers, scorpion-like creatures and a snapping turtle were a lot easier to handle and kill. Though rarer in numbers.
No, everything had gone well for the first few days. Which was why, when calamity arrived, Arthur was entirely unsurprised.
***
The savannah tiger equivalent - and really, he should stop trying to relate these creatures to Earth animals so much - had six legs, a single coloured set of fur in varying shades of green to help it blend into the swaying grass and was just over twelve feet long from head to haunch. It also had a trio of tails, each of which moved independently and added again half its length to its body. Sharpened razor thorns on the tails spun through the air, striking at those who got too close even as claws lashed out and that huge mouth threatened to bite and chomp.
It came bursting out of the grasslands, a single leap that crossed nearly a dozen feet in a single motion, preceded only by a shouted warning by Uswah. Her shadow tendrils had reached outwards, gripping at the body only to break apart almost immediately as the monster's greater strength allowed it to power itself through the bindings.
No time to even think about it, Arthur ducked low and got his spear in place, braced as best he could against the ground. It tore into the side of the creature, releasing a gout of red blood into the air even as it bore itself down on its actual target, Yao Jing.
The big man had reacted by instinct, catching and getting his arms raked by those long claws as he gripped them as they came down at him. Arms wide and akimbo, he had skidded back across the ground, tearing it up but somehow managing not to fall under or beneath the creature.
Over-developed muscles bulged and twisted as he bore the two or three tons of weight, the monster's long legs coming out to slash at Yao Jing. Only the bodyguard's armour managed to keep him from leaving his insides on the ground, the enhanced carapace that they had purchased recently managing to handle - barely - the attacks.
Red and orange light flickered around Yao Jing as he triggered his own buff technique, increasing his overall strength and defences. Bark skin layered over him at the same time, and Arthur idly wandered how Yao Jing managed to get two buffs working before him. Frustrating...
Mostly though, Arthur was unleashing hell on the still creature. Shadow tendrils rose in the air, gripping lower legs and binding them tight, again and again. Flames licked against fur as a fiery aura reacted against the creature, smoke forming and rising from its fur. As Arthur knew, the flame aura actually reacted against other monstrous auras and targeted ones which was why the grassland wasn't necessarily burning.
Still dangerous to use, of course, but it wasn't Arthur's biggest concern.
The loud whumpf of a shotgun cried out, the slugs slamming into the monster. Blood burst from the wound, though it was less than you'd expect. Both because movies either showcased no blood or way too much from a shotgun spray - and also because the creature's own aura and innate toughness was defending against it.
Casey had fallen back, arrows following after Rick as she put arrow after arrow into the body. It struck deep, expanding on the wounded area as Rick pumped and fired. Arthur's own Refined Exploding Energy Dart also slammed into the same general area, adding to it.
Lam at the back, working with Uswah to help tie down those waggling tails. His shield catching blind attacks, his spear stabbing and cutting as they attempted to pin them down. Light ribbons, trailing behind the moving spearhead, helped to slow the attacks, bind them before they burst, the Tower energy formed bindings unable to do more than slow and hurt the tails.
All the while, Arthur was closed in. Stabbing with his spear to dig into the shoulder joint, trying to cripple the middle leg that kept attacking his friend. Bleeding Yin Energy into the creature, causing that same leg to move slower, jerkier with each moment. He could feel his Imbued Strike working, though he had to refresh it constantly as he hadn't figured out how to actually make it an aura as yet.
Others were looking at ways of crippling it. Mel had shifted away, thrown a hand up and a series of lights flowed out, hovering over the monster's face. It was a familiar technique, the ability to conjure distracting lights that flooded the surroundings both useful as a distraction and in the dark alike. It caused the monster to jerk itself around, its gaze hampered. Her other hand, wielding a parang took potshots at a tail that kept waving at her, right at the maximum of its range such that she was slowly crippling it.
More blows, more attacks raining down on it till Yao Jing's arm finally gave way and slipped. Big paw smashed him down one side, his body curling under. He rolled, directly towards Arthur, desperate to get out of there before the monster finished the job as it landed, body curling downwards.
Weakly, the leg that Arthur had been attacking swiped at Yao Jing. Struck and glanced off battered armor, tore a strip out of his hairline and back of the neck before the man finished to get out of under it, the creature shifting weight in response to not being able to see its prey properly.
Twisting the front of the body around, putting its head suddenly in Arthur's face.
Hot air washed over his face, slobber and warm saliva splattering him along with a rank stench that made him really wish there were monster dentists. He could see deep within, all the way into the trachea and throat, his enhanced eyesight picking out the shivering motions as it roared in anger.
A deep sniff, as it realised what was there.
Instinct had Arthur leaping away. He wasn't some crazed hero in a book, intending to shove his hand into the mouth and unleashing a barrage of magic to kill it. That might work in the books, but it was just as likely to end up with him losing his arm. So, instead, he retreated as he formed and released the Refined Exploding Energy Dart. He'd been building one since the start, not needing any of his other techniques, not just yet.
He missed, of course. The creature had clomped down where he was, blinded by the still spinning lights such that the Exploding Dart struck its hunched over lower shoulders and neck as it leaned forwards. The explosion tore off skin and fur, leaving the monster rearing back as Yao Jing, on his feet and rising threw a full power, Focused Strike uppercut into the side.
Bones crunched, the leg on that side completely sagging.
Arthur lunged in at an angle, using his spear to lead the way and sunk it into the side of the neck. He watched the Yin energy imbued in the strike slip deeper into the creature, tearing through its Yang energy, threatening its ability to function. More booms, and then silence as Rick reloaded, arrows still landing.
They were winning, which of course was when things went to hell.