Not Imbued Strike, that wouldn't work. Not right now. Instead, he got ready to utilize Focused Strike, knowing he would only have a few attacks when they arrived. He'd need to make sure each of them actually was fatal. More importantly, he needed to open an opportunity for his attacks. Which was why when the first four closed in, he released the REED he had formed.
Watched as it struck and blew the first wolf back into the another, foulingup two others on his left. Leaving the one on the right to keep charging, alone.
Arthur lunged, hissed as his leg collapsed beneath him but Focused Strike helped him punch through the bones on the front of the wolf's body and embed the spear itself in lungs and torso. He rolled to the side, unable to stand as his body rebelled, pain washing over him as he extracted the weapon.
Another attack, swinging his spear to clip a wolf on the haft. Watched the wolf fall, bowl over another, messing up the charge. He managed to spin the spear around far enough to get his butt targeted and ready when the next monster lunged forward so that it took the blunt tip on its jaw, forcing it back.
Then, he was standing, swinging his weapon back around and down. Focused Strike to hammer the haft and blade in a downward strike onto the pair of wolves that were struggling back up, spear tip piercing skin a little but mostly, just intent on crushing bone. The already injured wolf that had taken his Energy Dart slumped, unable to get up.
Before he could rejoice, pain and pressure on his calf. The other standing wolf slamming into him, mouth clamping down, trying to pull him off his feet.
He let go of his spear with one hand, punched down with Focused Strike. Pounding the skull hard, crushing orbital lobe and contents before he extracted his hand and repeated the motion. The second attack pried the mouth off his leg, allowed him to stagger back and shorten his spear with a jerk and slide motion to catch a wolf as it leapt.
Cursing as the blade was nearly torn from his hand again.
Out of the corner of his eyes, his breathing coming short and fast as pain and exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him. Already overwhelmed his training, such that he wasn't breathing right. Out of the corner of his eyes, motion.
Six more wolves, all of them rushing at him. He waited, backing off now, waving his recovered spear before him. Debating if he should fight short spear and kris together, as the creatures grouped up. Cursing himself and his traitorous body for failing to take out more than two of the wolves. Heavily injure another, the poor thing still pawing at its face. So call it three.
Leaving seven. One hanging back, six spreading out.
Before they could spread too far, Arthur released the REED he'd stored in the Pocket Simpanan Tua. The attack took its target right on the snout as it began to lunge forward to threaten Arthur, causing jaw, teeth and brain matter to spray outwards. The explosion of the attack caught the others by surprise again, allowing a Focused Strike to finish off the injured one.
Then, Arthur retreated, out of tricks.
Five including the Alpha and two more coming in, circling wide.
***
Spear entered the head of the wolf, piercing through eye and lodging in brain. Before Arthur could yank the spear head out, he was struck from behind by a pair of wolves, each of them going for his hamstrings. Only crouched low and turning into the lung and extension as he was was Arthur able to dodge the crippling blow, even as the mouths of the creatures bit into his leg, compressing around his thigh and the leg armour there.
Falling to the ground, Arthur rolled to the side, trying to get his legs free. One leg ripped out, blood spraying into the air as a tooth was taken as his muscles contracted. He rolled onto his back, kris in hand, one hand blocking the lunging wolf going for his neck. The other, slipping into its chest, ripping downwards as he disemboweled it.
A shove, as hard as he could, popping tooth in his leg and blood into the sky. He sat up, only to get another mouth clamp down on his right arm, jerking it sideways. Leaving him open as another wolf bounced forwards.
A Refined Exploding Energy Dart took it in the face, blowing a chunk of flesh out of the body but leaving the majority of the creature’s mass to barrel into Wu Ying. It knocked him back a little, forcing him to pull against it only to find another wolf coming straight for his face.
Moving his head to the side, feeling teeth tearing at his face, ripping a portion of his scalp away. He felt blood run as blinding pain ran through him, and then it was just a mad scramble of free hand swiping, punching out, kicking as he was held and yanked from side to side by the monsters holding him still.
Wounds accumulated, on both sides. Arthur could never managed to get his feet under him, never manage to free his other arm before another grabbed him. Only the use of a Refined Energy Dart - no more explosions, not with the creatures so close - and the kris kept them from pinning him down and tearing him apart.
Even then, the creatures managed to wound him, strip a bracer away, the leg guard around one foot and even a boot. A chunk of flesh from his calf, a flap of skin and half his ear. He took wounds, once and again, but he dealt them too.
And unlike him, the wolves did not have a healing technique. One, then another of the creatures were wounded, some fatally until eventually, he managed to get a foot underneath him. Then, onto his feet again, the blade buried in a neck and ripping outwards, leaving the creature still gripping his arm to bleed to death.
The Alpha, lunging at him at the last did the most damage. It managed to get its large mouth around his neck, bite in around the gorget and fling him around a little. If not for gripping and sinking the enchanted kris into the side, a kris that slowly poisoned him, it would have been over.
But once the blade was planted, it was but a matter of holding on to the end.
Extracting his blade from the slowing, thrashing body and then replanting it, searching till he found the heart and piercing it. He tried to move the body away, but exhaustion left him unable to move his own body, forcing him to just lie there, half-pinned by the corpse as his healing technique worked.
Eventually, the technique gave him back sufficient strength and recovered him enough that he was able to push the body off him. He made sure to extract the creature’s monster core first and then hobble over to the Elemental’s ruined body, pulling out the core from the remains. To his surprise, he found something else, a hunk of twisted metal that just sat there, waiting for him to pick up. Once he did, the Tower sent a nudge, one that he pulled up fast.
Enhanced Magic Metal Ore
Usable to create enchanted items. Type and variety dependent upon skill of the crafter and additional materials utilized in creation.
Arthur sighed, carrying the hunk of metal over to where his backpack had been dropped, depositing the ore inside it next to the heart. He really wished he actually got an actual enchanted item like his kris, but also knew that crafted items were more powerful.
Still, it wasn’t useful at all to him right now.
Sitting down by the entrance, he began the process of pulling all his armour off, wincing as sticky blood tugged at his skin and open wounds. He grunted, stripping down to his underwear and then extracted his rag towel, wetting it down and began the process of cleaning himself off.
They never talked about this, but when you get beaten up a lot, with cuts, bites and even entire bits of yourself torn off, things got bloody. Very, very bloody. And wandering around, bloody and bleeding and with parts not exactly in the right place as they were healing was painful in the extreme.
Arthur sighed, pushing at the edge of his skin on his scalp, wincing as it shifted on his skull. He adjusted it a little, using the edge of his spear to make sure it was mostly in the right place before wrapping it around with a compression bandage. The entire thing was bloody and disgusting and needed a good wash too, but it would do well enough for now.
After all, the Tower and his own technique would pull the rest of the skin into place properly and remove minor scarring eventually. It wouldn’t, however, fix his biggest loss from the fight. A hand traced the missing part of the top of his ear, making him grateful that he didn’t wear glasses.
Cleanup, a change of clothing, washing down and then oiling the leather and using both brush, sandpaper and duct tape put his armor back into working order. It wasn’t perfect and he wished he had bought the self-repairing enchantments rather than a durability one, but it was what it was. He’d never expected the levels to be so damn difficult.
But he was done with the eighth floor.
Finally.
Now to deal with the ninth.