Chapter 871 Chapter 870: Terracotta Grottos (24)
Watching as the various herds of monsters stamped towards us - some more aggressively than others - I began to use my free hand to trace out the runes for a spell, making use of the sparse few seconds we had to try and cut down as many of these monsters as I possibly could.
The ethereal cyan mana poured from my pointer finger as I swiftly created a Ritual Circle, and as the herd of tall, lithe deer monsters galloped closer, I tossed out a discus that was as tall as me and had it hover overhead, its flat surface producing dozens of icicles as the water rune inlaid into it began to create spouts of water that was instantly frozen into icicles.
Then, when the deer galloped far too close and far too fast to stop, those icicles began to snap off the bottom of the disc and slice down towards the ground, where the deer just so happened to be passing.
Thick, sharpened spears of ice crashed down onto the monsters, cutting into their thick hides and breaking their bones with frightening ease, and the disc continued to produce water, which was then frozen and turned into another set of icicles that crashed down to the ground a few moments later.
The 'lucky' few monsters who made it past the floating discus were met with a wall of sharpened metal wielded by bloodthirsty Demons hungering for both battle and for the meat that was leaping into their arms willingly.
I could already tell that most of the Demons were motivated more by the idea of a slab of juicy venison then they were at the idea of fighting, and it was something that made me roll my eyes as I raised my Khopesh and blocked the lowered antlers of the deer that tried to skewer me onto them.
Gnarled wood sprouted from their heads and were laden with flowers and vines, the defining feature of these monsters; otherwise, they just appeared to be rather large bucks that were eating really good and had little to fear from predators.
Though, when you were a walking barrel of flesh and muscle that easily weighed a couple hundred pounds, and two giant trees were sprouting from your head that ended in sharpened points, I imagine the fear of predators wasn't as large as it normally was...
I grunted as I blocked the stabbing antlers of the deer in front of me, the weight of its body adding a large amount of force to the blow that pushed me back a step, but that was both a boon and a bane for the large monster.
A boon because it made me go on the defensive, but a bane because it just slammed its head against a hard to move object, which caused all of that force to rebound off of me and travel back into its antlers, which were connected to its skull.
And inside that thick skull was a helping of pink noodles that were really sensitive, and currently they were being sloshed around thanks to the decision to head butt me, which gave me an opening.
With the monster stunned thanks to its own actions, I sent mana into my arms and activated the circlet enchantments on my wrists, creating a giant blade of ice that arced straight into the monsters meaty neck, startling it and making it take a step back, untangling my Khopesh from its antlers and allowing me to then lunge forwards with a followup attack.
Stabbing the twin Tonfa blades into the deer's neck again, I drove the ice blades deep before shattering them, stunning the monster again as a significant amount of damage was dealt in a swift second, only for it to let out a gargled cry as I buried the outer crescent of my Khopesh into its neck next, cutting through a large portion of its muscles and killing it with that swing of my blade.
It dropped to the ground with a heavy thud, and I looked up and caught sight of another deer charging at me, this one smaller and not leading with its antlers.
When it got within a foot of me, the deer bucked back and tried to punch its hooves at me, flailing its front legs wildly and let out a bleat as it stood on its back legs, only for it to fall to the ground as well when I ducked beneath its hooves and stabbed its stomach, using the serrated inner crescent to carve a jagged, rough line from its ribcage down to its pelvis.
Blood showered around me as I cut the deer open, but I sadly had little time to relish the burst of red liquid that I had created, the sight of an intriguing monster yanking my attention away from that beautiful sight.
Bounding forwards with an uneven gait, a top heavy bovine-
esque monster snorted as it charged at us, its bullish head sporting two bull horns and a third, serrated horn that grew from the center of its brow.
Its front limbs resembled gorilla arms that were thicker than I was, and the rippling muscle beneath the emerald green fur felt like they were threatening to tear through that fur with each movement of the monster.
That green fur covered its torso, and as it drew closer and pushed off the ground, I blinked as I saw the smaller, yet still incredibly muscular hoofed legs that it walked on as it raised its two fists, snorting again as it stared down at Jahi, deeming her the biggest threat in our entire group.
As soon as it approached her, Jahi hefted her heavy tortoise shell shield and braced herself, but the attack didn't land properly as the monster released a pained bellow thanks to the ice discus that slammed into its side.
Not cut...
Slammed and shattered.
Bringing its fists down like hammers, one of the giant hands skidded off of Jahi's shield in a glancing blow, but the other one landed perfectly in the center, making the Demoness grunt as she blocked the hit, her armor buckling for a moment whilst the shield barely remained solid after being struck like that.
Roaring, the monster landed back down on its hands and glared at Jahi, before leaping back as her great sword snaked forwards and tried to stab it in the skull.
With the other monsters rushing around it, the Minotaur-esque monster snorted and raked its large, red eyes over the line of Demons, before snorting again as it slapped the discus I had sent towards it out of the air, its giant arms moving far too quick as it shattered the ice discus and glared at me.
Something that was traveling really fast and had a razor sharp edge was just swatted out of the air like a fly, and there was no sign of its arm suffering any damage from being hit by said edge...
So it was resistant to slash damage, was quicker than it had any right to be, and it was immensely strong..?
My eyes traveled from the monster to Jahi, taking in the slight cracks in her shield and the way her legs remained planted where they were, suggesting she was winded and dealing with minor internal wounds...
When they returned to the monster, I could only curse as I saw it not running at me or Jahi, nor it charging up a magical attack, but instead the still alive, bleating body of a deer monster being hurled at my face like I had ordered it with express delivery.
My body moved before I could register that the deer was being hurled at me, and I threw myself to the side and rolled away as fast and as far as I could, only to have my eyes go wide when I heard and felt the monster crash into the earth just a few feet away, its neck and ribcage breaking upon impact as it skidded across the ground, leaving a small divot in its wake.
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