"Is everyone ready?" - Ian
"Ready." - Everyone
The slither of light left, paints the sky in an orangey-purple hue. The night approaches from one direction swallowing the light as the sun retreats below the horizon. I signal to Celine to get Belle ready to bait the monsters.
Our front line was ready, shield in arms and spears in hand, with the archers positioned at the crest of the hill. David is at the center with the rest of the shieldbearers to his left and right, with Kingston, Stellar, Solar, Ken, Kaede and myself directly behind him. Yor and Frank were with the archers watching over the battlefield. Gibing had already traversed down the hill making a detour to go to a position closer to the side of the hill, away from the monsters.
To my left, I see Belle rubbing her head against Razor and Dawn before giving a determined growl to the both of them as she turns to the bottom of the hill. She starts running down the slope, gaining speed with each step. It was like watching a bolt of lightning zigzag down a path and with an abrupt stop Belle reaches the bottom of the hill and enters the clearing.
She howls at the monsters as they got up on all fours, growling in return. They bare their fangs and aggressively chomp the air threatening and intimidating Belle, but she responds with a quick snap of her teeth, biting the space in front of the closest monster.
All of a sudden, all the monster's mane and stripes start to glow. The bright light is blinding at night and I had to squint to see what was happening. Fortunately, with the light, we were able to clearly see the movements of all the monsters, and with her golden fur reflecting the light, Belle shines brightly in the dark.
Each monster starts to move slowly, wandering towards Belle, with the 2 closer monsters attempting the attack Belle. They pounce towards Belle from two different directions. Swiping their large black claws at the air as Belle nimbly jumps backward out of their range but it wasn't over just yet. The 2 monsters leap off the ground faster than their initial pounce, baring their fangs at Belle.
Belle dodges to the right and retaliates, slamming her body at the closest monster's side but unexpectedly she gets electrocuted. The moment her body touches the monster she howls in pain as her body gets electrified. Her movements become sluggish as she attempts to leap backward only to be attacked by another monster, receiving another electric shock.
"She is getting too hurt. We need to help her, Ian." - Celine
"If we send Dawn and Razor who is even slower than Belle then they would just get attacked over and over again by those monsters." - Ian
"But-" Celine
"Just watch Celine. The monsters aren't all attacking Belle, it's just those 2." - Ian
Belle had recovered from the initial shock and started to avoid the attacks more and more frequently, dodging left and right while luring the 2 monsters slowly up the slope. I can see that the monsters were starting to become irritated at Belle. They started to spend up their attacks as well act more violently, to the point that they scratched each other when they missed an attack.
Belle notices the change in behavior and attempts to taunt the monsters, even more, growling and biting at the air. Her attempts prove successful as the monsters activate a new skill. Their bodies glow brighter and their mane stiffens becoming something like a shield. With a loud roar, both monsters' mane shoots out a ring of orange light towards Belle. The attack was faster than she had anticipated and Belle was hit on one of her lower legs by the attack. Once the attack had finished the light on the monsters' mane and stripes dim and their movement slows. However, that doesn't stop their attack. While slower than before, they run up the slope towards Belle.
Belle turns her head upwards and decides to retreat for real, knowing that if she is caught by the monsters then she might die, but with her leg injured she couldn't run properly. Instead, she has to limp up the slope, pushing off the ground with her front paws while stabilizing with her other back leg. Seeing their friend in danger, Dawn and Razor rush out from behind the shield wall, slamming their bodies into the 2 monsters that had just reached Belle's position.
The sheer force of both wolves catapulting their bodies down the slope knocks the monsters all the way down towards the clearing where the rest of the pack was located. Razor bites into Belle's back pulling her upwards while Dawn stands at the front howling to the moon. In response, the monsters howl back and start their ascent.
8 different rays of light travel upwards towards the wolves. Their speed created small afterimages in the night and before long they reached us, as Razor had successfully taken Belle towards Solar who was casting a healing spell on her injured leg.
"SHIELDS!" - Ian
With the monsters lit up like a carnival, reacting to them was easy and defending against the first wave of the attack proved to be easier than we had thought. Only for us to be mistaken greatly. The electrocution affected the front line, yells could be heard from every with a shield. David however, decides to strike back even after getting shocked. His ax comes down like a guillotine, slamming into the back of one of the monsters that had tried to retreat after slamming into the shields.
The blade draws blood and the monsters retreat away growling at David. The monster's light wanes as it proceeds to attack David again, in which it was only a normal strike with its claws. Taking advantage of David's tanking was Kingston. His spear slides right beside David's face, finding its mark in the middle of the monster's paw, spilling blood all over David's body.
"Attack now, while we can't be electrocuted." - Ian
A volley of arrows rain over our shields piercing the bodies of the monsters and making them howl in pain. Stellar commits to the attack as well, stabbing and cutting another monster that was harassing the left side of the defensive wall. She would occasionally dodge an attack from that monster and turn her attention to another monster, distracting two separate monsters by herself.
I appear below Stellar as she leaps upwards dodging a claw swipe, narrowly dodging the attack myself. I could feel the increase in agility playing so many roles in my movement as I swiftly dodge attacks. At the same time, my strength had increased, and my damage towards monsters had improved. My polearm pierces the monster's body deeply, ripping out its intestines as I pull my polearm out.
Compared to before, it was like night and day. I no longer was a person that worked solely behind the scenes but I was also someone who can stand up and fight effectively when necessary.
"CHARRRRRRRRRRGEEEEEEEEE" - Gibing
Gibing's shout rings in the battlefield as his ground comes and attacks from the right, ambushing the monsters on that side and causing their light to dim.
"The more their light dims, the less powerful they are. KEEP ATTACKING THEM." - Ian
As I finish my sentence I jump backward avoiding a monster pouncing on me. The moment it lands though, it gets attacked by Ken and Kaede. Ken wields an ax while Kaede wields a spear and the both of them together inflicted serious damage to the monster. With Ken blocking an attack from the mosnter, while Kaede jumps out and around Ken to pierce the monster's side created opportunities for me to attack the other side of the monster.
Ken dodges an attack and slices the monster's legs with his ax, cutting them clean off the bone and making the monster collapse onto the ground. In which, Kaede leaps high into the air and positions the point of the spear to land on the head of the monster. Using gravity she propels herself downwards piercing the monster's head and killing it in the process.
"Good job you two." - Ian
With a quick acknowledgment of their teamwork, we proceed to attack any of the monsters that came near until they repositioned themselves slightly further away. Much like their attack against Belle, their mane and stripes light up brightly. Without further ado, they launch a simultaneous attack on our shields with the ring of light.
In the nick of time, Solar casts shield on everyone in the front, depleting her MP but saving everyone in the process. With the monsters' sluggish movements after releasing a powerful attack, we start to aggressively attack them.
"ATTACK THEM WHILE THEY ARE WEAK!" - Ian
The archers moved forwards, spreading out to the sides before attacking the monsters with more arrows. Some penetrate the monster's eye and others penetrate through their skin and causing the monster to bleed.
With victory in our sights, we made one final push, killing the rest of the monsters. The battle was over before we knew it and it was one of the easier battles, considering we had just faced 3 boss-like monsters.
We gather the loot and saw that there was a range of loot. The loot we had acquired from this battle was 10 slices of meat, 4 sharp claws, 2 fangs, and 1 skill book. The skill book was dropped by the monster that I had killed while the fangs were dropped from monsters that I had damaged. Looking at the evidence, it seems like my luck stat is playing into this quite well. Higher luck brings higher-tier loot.
I pick up all the items in order to have a look at the system message describing them.
[ Tenderloin of the Crinzanna
A tender, juicy cut of a Crinzanna. ]
[ Crinzanna Claws
A jet black claw, capable of penetrating rocks. ]
[ Crinzanna Fang
A fang of the Crinzanna. Its pearl white color remains unsullied even though the Crinzanna rips prey to pieces with its sharp fangs. ]
[ Skill Book: Light Steps (Passive)
+5 Agility and the user's footsteps become quieter. ]
"MEAT! YES!" - Kingston
"Looks like we are having meat tonight! Celine, David, prepare the fire at the clearing. Everyone else, time to set up camp!" - Ian
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om