The first problem with getting Dovgrey and Porta back to the village they just left was getting them over the minor landslide. Not a big problem - just arduous - except for the group of living peas that sat at the top, ready release their attacks whenever they crossed the fallen earth.
All of which meant that Arthur had to get to the top of the cliff that had fallen. It meant that Arthur had to dodge while climbing upwards, mostly via the usage of the clouds to get out of precarious position. Once he got high enough, it was just a matter of tearing into the plants with his spear.
After dealing with the peas and wincing at the new bruise, he slid down the landslide and helped move the cart across the fallen ground. It mostly consisted of the pair of them carrying the single-wheelbarrow like cart while Porta gingerly walked across the ground.
When they finished getting across, the sun was heading towards the horizon. The pair had to speed up, Porta thankfully taking on her job and Doygrey pushing the cart a little whenever it threatened to get stuck in the still muddy earth.
Arthur found himself ranging back and forth, dealing with traps or waiting wandering monsters. He could sense them arriving, in larger numbers than ever, forcing him to constantly be on the move. Once again, he groused to himself, wishing he had a gun or crossbow – not that he could use either well – to help with his ranged attacks. Or even spent some time learning the cheaper form of the Energy Dart.
Instead, he had to make use of the REED he formed with care, worried about running out of Refined Energy. He had thought he had come in with enough stores, but the constant need to move had drained his reserves down significantly especially his long and brutal healing session.
Now, he picked his attacks with care, sometimes even reverting to his trusty sling when there were only one or two monsters that he needed to startle close. Once they launched themselves at him, he would revert to his trusty spear.
Individual monsters – whether it was a babi ngepit, a jenglot, even the occasional harimau hitam or the weird flaming moose were killable. The problem was that the longer he took to take one down, the more would gather and then suddenly he was dealing with two, three, etc. Fighting them himself was – again – possible. That was the point of the spear, because it kept monsters at bay and allowed him to poke holes in them.
The problem was, more often than not, the monsters started circling and heading for Doygrey. Thankfully, unlike the stupid video games that sometimes the Tower seemed to model itself on, Doygrey actually knew how to protect himself and his pony. A single creature he could fight off and delay, long enough for Arthur to deal with them.
Sometimes, he even killed them. However, Arthur knew that the more he relied on Doygrey’s help, the more he had to do, the lower his eventual reward was going to be. Perfectly normal, after all. But frustrating.
Focused Strike came in clutch here. Which was just a weird saying, since no one used clutches anymore. Even the efficiencies for driving manual compared to automatic had disappeared, leaving only the racers and the enthusiasts as the only ones still learning how to use that old fashioned system. Nevermind the fact that many times, electric vehicles accelerated so much faster and better than even the most enthusiatic racer had to admit, there was something to be said. There were even entire rival competing racing gangs using gas or modified electric motors, boosting the amount of power and torque given to a vehicle.
Made making deliveries across Kuala Lumpur a pain and a half, especially late at night when they chose to block off routes so they could get a few races in. And you didn't really want to get on their bad side either, since they were just as likely to find and beat you, or chase you down if you broke their cordons and thrash your vehicle.
Focused Strike helped Arthur punch through defences with ease, gave him a chance to kill creatures long before they could make trouble. The fact that Imbued Strike - Yin Poison was a long-term game meant that he coudn't use it at all, but there were aspects of the Imbued Strike download that he began to see as a possibility to upgrade his own Focused Strike.
After all, they both foucsed on pushing Tower energy into another's body. Most creatures of the Tower had a natural resistance to that, the generic aura around the body and something deeper. Otherwise, without that barrier, one would constantly be cultivating and be overly flooded.
Imbued Strike's goal was to push a foreign energy pass that defense, Focused Strike pierced that defense and sharpened the attack one utilized, empowering the attack to pierce defences. Together, and guided properly, it might be possible to imbue a Focused Strike to pour sharpened energy straight into a body, bypassing the physical barrier.
In the best case scenario, Arthur would basically get to use a Dim Mak attack - a death touch - that punched through a body without even worrying about the external threat. Wasteful, of course, because it was always easier to penetrate a body's physical defences first and then dump energy within.
But possible.
Idle thoughts, quick thoughts, minor explorations as he fought.
A horde of monkey's, throwing rocks and poo once again. He had the pair run ahead, even as he loosened a REED into the surroundings, exploding the tree that the leader was on and bringing it down and sending twigs and other splinters into the back of a trio. They screamed, shouted, one going so far as to rush Arthur.
He didn't even bother with his spear to kill it, already spinning up a stone with his other hand. No, Arthur just kicked the creature right in the head as it arrived, trading a stone thrown right into his chest in turn. The crack and twisted angle of the head was good enough for him.
Of course, the biggest problem was that by the time he killed enough of the monkey's that they retreated, utilizing another REED and a few stones, he had no time to collect the stones. Instead, he had to sprint after the pair that had pulled off a good hundred plus meters away, barely in sight.
Only to come across a group of orc like creatures, all red skinned and nasty, hanging around the two. Four monsters, two of them harassing Dovgrey, another Porta in their attempts to drag them away and the last at the back, trying to pry open the cart.
Arthur ran forwards, pouring energy into the Mischief to give himself a boost in energy. Too slow though, for a shout from one of the other fighters had the one in the back turn around. A feint downwards had the creature shift its massive maul to block the low-line attack, which was why it was surprised when Arthur leapt upwards and did a spin kick instead.
He rarely leapt and kicked. While he had studied the methods - and for fun, the group often practised such kicks - it was not part of his fighting repertorie. Being off the ground was a bad idea, since you couldn't - normally - shift angles. And learning to leap up to eight feet in the air and kick had little practical uses unless your opponent was on a horse.
Or was a massive red orc that needed to be kicked in the head.
Empowered and Focused Strike heel thudded into temple, cracking the soft skull and sending bone shards spreading. The creature stumbled, but rather than dying immediately, swayed around drunkenly. Concussed, brain damaged, it stumbled around, disoriented as Arthur landed and swept it off its feet as one foot struck another's.
Then, he was on his feet, running around the cart, spear pulled back and shortened.
Dodge under the swinging hammer of the other, feeling the brush of air as it passed over him. Step forward and thrust, angling the attack upwards. Watch as the creature dodge the attack going for its throat and neck, nicking instead the jaw and curse. Twith the hand so that the back end of the spear switched angles, step in while grabbing with the other hand and slam the shaft between the legs.
When the haft bounced back, control the movement a little by twisting the hand at the same time and step sideways, getting you out of range of the other opponent while moving the shaft to catch the back of a leg.
Feel the impact of the spear along backleg, the trembling reaction, the push necessary to drop the other and onto the ground. Arthur stepped forward, kicked out and broke the hand trying to get the weapon back on line. Twisted and attacked, moving, moving always. Because he needed to end this fight, and crippling and knocking the orc down was not enough.
So. Throat, head, heart. One of the three, he took the one that opened itself when the creature moved and put the tip of his spear between the eyes with another Focused Strike.
Ended up having to leave his spear behind though, as it got stuck.
Kris came out, even as he hard-blocked a decending mace, shortening the swing by stepping in tight. It hurt like blazes, but it did mean he could grab and yank the creature sideways, opening up a gap in the arm and elbow to sink the weapon within. Continue sidestepping all the way through, dragging the kris along the inside. Tear open the body as he did so, just enough so that it would cut the various nerves and arteries and veins as he exited.
One more monster, which to his surprise, he found dead. Trampled underneath by the rather angry Porta and then finished off by Dovgrey.
Arthur hesitated, scanned around, found the last living red orc and then finished it. He bent low, stripping the creature of its stone and then moving to do the same with the others, noting their size and glow. No reason not to keep these, especially since Porta was throwing a fit.
Something about nearly being taken away had upset the creature.
"How much further?" Arthur asked, forcing the words out as he breathed deeply.
"Maybe another half hour," Dovgrey answered even as he stroked the pony, calming it. "Though, the monsters are getting feistier. When it turns full dark..."
"We'll be done by then," Arthur said, confidently. Under his breath, he added. "I hope."