Solar and Celine retreat upstream, since Solar was out of mana and Celine was not much of a fighter. Them being close to the battle was more dangerous for all of us. From the last skirmish with the monster, we had found out that it can break the shield spell that solar cast on us easily, meaning the damage it can cause is above 55. Only the wolves can tank a hit like that if the attack hits them directly. Furthermore, its speed surpasses ours so the only advantage we have against this monster is our numbers and strategy.
"Archers, fire at will the moment it moves. Everyone else, slowly surround the monster. Keep the shields up. It will be dangerous to take 2 hits from the monster. David and Kingston will be the main damage dealers however, only move after the wolves have moved." - Ian
"Okay." - David
"Ian, if I take too much damage I don't know what will happen." - Kingston
"Then don't. Dodge as much as possible and use the shield buff to protect yourself from an attack you can't dodge." - Ian
"Fine." - Kingston
The alpha jackalope starts to attack again, swinging its huge antlers at Belle and Razor who nimbly jump backward to dodge the attack. Taking the opportunity, Dawn pounces on the back of the monster biting into its flesh before jumping off. Infuriated from the attack it immediately turns towards Dawn but gets attacked by the archers. Each arrow aims for its eyes or nose. Noticing the danger it blocks the arrows with its paw however, the arrows still penetrate through the skin stabbing the monster's paw.
"Move in." - Ian
Seeing the wolves attack and retreat swiftly as well as the goblins' annoying attacks from different directions I decide to push forward, slowly encircling the monster. However, it notices that we were on the move and the alpha jackalope does the unexpected. It tries to run.
"No. STOP IT! BELLE!" - Ian
The alpha jackalope does a small hop over the wolves but the moment it lands, Belle dashes in front of the jackalope, pouncing on its face and scratching its left eye. It stops the monster temporarily as it goes on its back legs and squeals loudly, screaming in agony. The attack might not have done a lot of damage to its HP but it was able to blind the monster in one eye. Following up on the attack was Razor who double slashes the left-back foot and Kingston who broke out of formation to attack the unmoving monster. His spear stabs the monster's right back foot two times before the monster flails around itself.
"MOVE UP! FASTER!" - Ian
I command the rest to rush in and finally we were able to surround the monster.
"STELLAR!" - Ian
"NOT YET! GIVE ME 5 MORE MINUTES!" - Stellar
Was it her cooldown? Damn, I should have asked that before. Nonetheless, we should be able to keep the monster here.
"SHIELDS UP AND ATTACK! FALL BACK IF THE MONSTER IS ABOUT TO ATTACK AND CALL OUT ANY UNUSUAL MOVEMENTS!" - Ian
With our shields in front of us, we start to swing our axes or stab with our spears. David stood at the front of the jackalope hitting the antlers every time the monster swings its head, blocking the attack from hitting the other sides. Likewise, Kingston was behind the monster ready to counterattack if the monster turns around. I stood on the left side, its blindspot, and attack with my spear, stabbing deep into the flesh of the monster. Its blood spurts out covering my shield and my arms with its blood but I do not stop.
"IAN! MOVE BACK!" - Kingston
Hearing Kingston's warning, I push my feet off the ground and launch myself back, landing on my back. At the same time, I see the tip of the antler stabbing into the ground where I once stood, only seconds after I leaped out of the way.
"Don't let up! Keep piling on the damage." - Ian
I quickly got up, off the ground and leap back into action. The alpha jackalope had turned its attention to the other side with Yor at the forefront. I can hear him grunt heavily after taking a direct hit from the antlers, luckily for him, the shield buff was able to prevent any damage.
"Yor! Switch with someone else." - Kingston
"On it!" - Yor
"Stellar! How much longer?" - Ian
"2 minutes." - Stellar
"KEEP IT UP, EVERYONE! ALMOST THERE!" - Ian
I dash in again stabbing the alpha as much as possible while paying attention to its movements. Sometimes, a paw would come sweeping my way but with a quick jump back to dodge it, I was back at it again attacking the monster. David was having a hard time being at the front but he was able to block most of the attacks with his ax and Frank supported him by blocking any attacks that David wasn't ready for. The two of them defended one of the escape routes the monster had while Kingston was busy dealing with the other side. I would yell to him to dodge an attack sometimes and he would do the same. Everyone else did their best to attack or to tank a hit when needed, making sure to not create a gap in the circle and before long she was ready.
"KEEP IT DISTRACTED! I'M GOING TO START CASTING!" - Stellar.
The monster had arrows stuck in various parts of its body but that didn't stop its rampage. Blood oozed out from stab wounds from spears, cuts from axes but still, it raged on.
"DAVID! KINGSTON! FRANK! YOR! COME WITH ME AND ATTACK ITS PAWS! BELLE, DAWN, RAZOR ATTACK ITS LEGS!" - Ian
All at once the 5 of us dash forward. The alpha jackalope unable to determine who was the threat momentarily hesitated, giving an opportunity to the wolves. Belle bit into the left leg, tearing off a chunk of flesh while Dawn and Razor created deep scratch marks in its right foot. The 5 of us attacked the paws with David creating a deep gash along the underside while Frank stabbed the paw with Yor following up. Kingston and I attacked the other paw with the both of us stabbing into it and through it, pinning the paw to its body.
"NOW! STELLAR!" - Ian
".??γd? ??? o?ni m??? ???b
wob??? ??? ????l?? nooM ,?O
.bn?? γm o?ni ?wob??? ??? ?ni?d
bn? ??woq ?m ?n??? nooM ??? γ?M
SHADOW BIND!" - Stellar
The 10 child-like hands appear from a dark shadow from the ground, grabbing onto the body of the alpha jackalope. Despite the amount of damage we have done, the alpha was still highly aggressive, it still shook its body around trying its best to throw of us.
"IAN! IT'S NOT GOING DOWN! WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING!" - Kingston
"I KNOW! BELLE, DAWN, RAZOR ATTACK ITS HEAD!" - Ian
The three wolves moved at my command, dashing towards the alpha jackalope's head. Seeing the threat, the monster starts to shake its head violently.
"DAVID! HOLD ONTO ONTO THE LONGER ANTLER! YOR, HELP HIM! FRANK, KINGSTON WE NEED TO HOLD ONTO THE OTHER ANTLER!" - Ian
"GOT IT!" - Frank, Yor, Kingston
"Okay!" - David
David dodges the antlers as they violently move around, grabbing onto them the moment it gets close. Yor dashes after David grabbing onto the antler once David secured it. Once David held onto one side, it became easier for Kingston, Frank, and I to hold onto the other side, allowing the wolves an easier time to reach to head. With the path free and the body of the monster being held down by Stellar, the wolves precede to hunt. Belle pounces on the top of the head biting down on the neck while Razor precedes to double slash the throat and Dawn scratches the other eye, blinding the monster. Belle bites down as hard as she can and rips off the flesh from the back of the neck at the same time, Razor was able to cut open the neck leading to a fountain of blood bursting out.
The monster's body grows limp and collapses to the ground creating a big splash. The once aquamarine river dyes red, making it look like the blood river of the Zulus. Everyone was quietly taking in the battle. Their breaths were slow and heavy, looking at the corpse of the alpha monster. A monster whose size was 3, no maybe even 4 times our size. Then a small voice escapes one of the demi-human shieldbearers.
"We did it…"
And with that, smiles appear on the rest of us and cheers fill the air.
"WE DID IT!" - Frank
Frank shouts out to the sky with a large grin on his face, and it wasn't just him. The rest of the shieldbearers yelled and hugged each other. David stood there dumbfounded while Frank and Yor were next to him laughing. I stood still near the body of the corpse waiting for it to burst into purple smoke so I could loot it, while Kingston and Stellar approaches me.
"Stellar, can you go get Solar and Celine? I told them to go somewhere safe." - Ian
"Okay, I'll be back." - Stellar
"Ian, how come the corpse isn't disappearing? Shouldn't we get the loot by now?" - Kingston
"I'm not sure too…Are we sure the alpha died?" - Ian
"Stab it again?" - Kingston
"Can't hurt right?" - Ian
"Alright, let's go." - Kingston
Kingston approaches the head of the alpha jackalope, carefully peering at the head in case it shows any movement but nothing. It stays still, bleeding from the injury from the fight. He looks back at me and shrugs his shoulders before stabbing his spear deep into the monster's eye, spurting blood all over his arm.
However, nothing happens…
The lifeless corpse stays well, lifeless.
"Is the whole body the loot then?" - Ian
"That wouldn't make sense. Even goblins killed by David and the others burst into purple smoke after a bit, leaving the loot behind." - Kingston
Kingston takes his spear out of the monster and walks back towards me but it was then I notice something in the corner of my eye. The monster's back seems to have bloated up like a small hill.
"Kingston, there's… Shit. EVERYONE! SHIELDS!" - Ian
Confused at my sudden order, everyone hesitated for a second, even Kingston but noticing my distress and frantic behavior he turns around and readied his shield in the direction I was looking. It looked like something was ready to burst out of the monster's body and whatever it was, we weren't ready for it yet.
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