Thor roared in rage as Karl called him out to prepare for the fight. He couldn’t see the enemy yet, but he could smell them, and every Cerro knew the smell of their natural predators.
“The scaly things are some sort of bipedal lizard.” Karl relayed as he tried to interpret Thor’s enraged thoughts.
His mind just called them enemies, and the Cerro packs didn’t have a name for them either, but there was no doubt that they were carnivorous and pack hunters. What he hadn’t expected was the size.
The first of them came crashing through the trees, standing three metres tall, but nearly seven metres long as it stood on two powerful legs with its tail extending behind it, and Karl could hear more of them coming.
Thor bugled a challenge at them, and the reptilian beasts turned to charge at their natural prey, forgetting about the small humans in favour of a real meal.
This Lightning Cerro was no pushover like his average pack kin, and Thor whipped his armour-plated tail ball at the first one to charge, sending it careening into a tree, where Karl was able to get a good swing at it.
His body surged with power as the two clerics both buffed him, and his blade shone with holy light under the fire as it cleaved down into the creature’s neck, leaving the Awakened Rank beast’s muscles severed, and the head tilted at an odd angle as it crashed to the ground and bled out on the mossy ground.
That curbed the enthusiasm of the other two monsters that had been incoming, but they had bigger problems than Karl and his sword.
The Clerics had also buffed Rae and her spider Golems, which had just jumped out of the trees and onto the back of one, while Alice’s Golem cut off the escape route for another.
Dana’s Golems were already surrounding the beast, and with the additional damage that they had gained when she learned [Destruction], which added damage to all her spells, the two stone Golems, who were now armed and armoured, were having no problems hacking through the thick hide.
It was a huge improvement from before they had found the System Stones, and even if the two mages hadn’t been casting anything else, the two Awakened Rank Golems would have easily defeated the beast.
The new weapons and armour were a real upgrade for the Golem, and the stacked improvements were quickly putting Dana near the top of the Awakened Rank for combat power.
[The smaller furry things are coming your way. Maybe dogs?] Hawk suggested.
The last of the reptiles hadn’t even finished twitching yet, and there were already more attackers, but if they were wolves, it wouldn’t be so bad. Wolves he could handle. But, of course, that wasn’t the case. Hawk knew what Wolves were, and these were not it.
They had a similar muzzle structure, but they were the size of a bear, and they had wings. Actual, leathery wings. But those were less concerning than the size of the claws on their feet as Karl parried an incoming attack.
The claws sparked like steel as they met the fire magic on his blade, but they didn’t appear to be damaged.
Karl stepped back to put himself into Thor’s [Circle of Protection], while remaining between the monsters and the rest of the group.
That retreat seemed to be a signal to the beasts, and they teamed up to grab one of the bodies and drag it away. The group decided to just let them go for the moment, until they could figure out what they had just been attacked by.
“Is anyone familiar with those?” Alice asked hopefully, looking at Lotus.
“I know countless monsters, but not that. I almost thought it was an overgrown hellhound, but there was no fire or brimstone smell.” Lotus replied.
“Their claws didn’t shatter against an Ascended Rank skill, so they’re at least that tough.” Karl added.
“Ask Hawk what else is in the area, and for a more detailed description. Something is really wrong here, and I hope that the other groups will be alright, since they went out in pairs, and the beasts here seem to operate in packs.” Alice replied.
That was a good point. The Awakened Spellblades would be a liability in a fight like that, and there was only one Commander with the boys. The Royal Rank Mage was a different story, he had enough power that nothing here would be a real concern to him, but if they saw the others, they should at least give them some warning.
[There are no more of the big lizards, they ran away when they saw the furry things. Those are taking the food they stole back toward a cave in the hills to your east.
There are smaller lizard men, and other furry things that stand upright.]
Hawk finished with a detailed list of where they all were, which Karl relayed to Alice, who plotted their course for the day.
“We don’t want to be fighting all day and night, but we do need to clear many of the monsters in this area if we are going to do any searching for hidden resources. So, I have set a course that will lead us to the first suspected anomaly point, which we will set up camp near and explore in the morning.
It is unlikely that we will have a peaceful night tonight, so I will ask Rae to return to her space and get some rest well before dark. She will be needed to keep every watch with us after it is too dark for Hawk to see well, but she will also need to help set up a safe fort for us tonight.”
Karl nodded in agreement. “Sleeping on the ground seems like a bad idea for tonight with those predators wandering the area. Do we know what the bipedal furry things might be? Some sort of monkey or ape that might chase us into the trees?”
Lotus frowned. “I don’t think so. It’s going to be close to freezing overnight and even worse further into the hills. I think that they will more likely be a species of Yeti than apes.”
Everyone else waited for Lotus to elaborate, as they weren’t familiar with the species. The level of intelligence and the type of magic that were innate to the species could make a significant difference to their plans.
“They’re about as smart as ape type monsters, which is to say more intelligent than most. They also have opposable thumbs, so they can use handheld weapons. They have a thick hide under dense fur that makes for durable armour, and they are virtually immune to water and wind type attacks.
Fire is their great bane, and they will usually run if there is fire involved, as they cannot survive long in the heat.
Full-grown they are Ascended Rank, usually on the low side, but they travel in packs of up to ten, plus any juveniles that haven’t moved on to form their own group yet.”
Alice nodded. “So, we’re looking at up to a dozen intelligent Ascended Rank monsters at a time? What does Hawk have to say on their numbers?”
Karl conferred with Hawk for a moment. “He counts five in this group, and two are smaller, juveniles at the Awakened Rank, but no females.”
Lotus frowned. “That means they’ll be extra aggressive. They’re not particularly protective of their females, but they get extremely violent when they don’t have any in the pack.”
Alice turned to Karl. “It looks like you’ll be at the front again, as fire magic is their weakness. Lead the way, and we will take them out before moving on.”
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