For a moment, TJ thought it was himself that they were worrying over, but it only took him a second to realize that there was, in fact, something else coming through the bushes towards the teenagers. He rushed through the swamp towards them, calling out to ensure they didn't attack him as well, "It's me, TJ, coming for you from over here! I'll keep an eye and bail you out if you need the help, stay focused and show me what you can do!"
A chorus of cries filled the air as the teenagers all acknowledged his approach as they worked together to deal with whatever approached. After a mere ten seconds or so, TJ was close enough to see that the group of teens were standing together, Molly as a Lightning Dog in front of the rest. Sam and Mimi stepped up to protect her flanks, his body covered in the armor granted by his class while Mimi brandished her spear that TJ had made for her as well as a shield her brother made, ready to fight as the Amazon she was. Despite himself, TJ felt a surge of pride while looking at the four teenagers ready to engage in deadly battle. He still wished that they hadn't had to be in this situation, wished he hadn't had to hear conversations just like the one they just had about being broken, but they were adapting well. Despite all the horrors of war and the pains of the apocalypse, these were four children who were, in all honesty, no longer children. These were four warriors, fighting to carve out some measure of livable lands for themselves and their families when everything else in the world had gone to hell.
As the sounds approached, TJ realized that this was a small pack of bunyips that were approaching instead of a single individual. Again, he wondered how it was that they were able to swim through the marshes, given that the water wasn't anywhere near deep enough to cover their bodies, but that wasn't his real concern. As he Appraised them, he saw that the three monsters ranged in level from 29 to 31, and the four youths prepared for battle were notably of lower levels, with Molly being the highest level at 28.
As their leader, perhaps, Molly rushed the battle first, her body flashing with electricity as her jaws sought for the head of a bunyip. It pulled every one of its limbs and head into the mud below, Molly's attack being deflected by the monster's natural terrain. She dug into the mud as best as she could, but was unable to catch anything, her face coming up quickly covered with mud.
"Molly!" Tessie's voice called out as an arrow flew towards the second bunyip as it attempted to drag Molly under the mud. The arrow stuck into the beast's long neck, the leather flesh being pierced by the Acolyte's quick shot. Even so, the creature continued to attack and carved deep into Molly's ribs. The thick fur and flesh that covered her there immediately bled to crimson with her blood, but before the bunyip could escape, Sam was there. With a roar, he smashed his shield into the monster's reptilian head and cracked through one of the horns as he stunned it just long enough to then carve a large ribbon of flesh from the beast's neck. He continued to press the attack while commanding, "Mimi, watch the other side! Molly, you OK?"
"Fine." Came the grumbled answer as Molly stood tall and disregarded her own blood flowing freely from her side. Instead, her eyes remain focused on the ground all around them, looking for any movement. There didn't seem to be any at first, but TJ saw the ripples just before Molly did as they approached her front leg. He fought against his every instinct to say something, but she reacted. Yes, this time, she was ready, and leapt up into the air at the last possible moment as the bunyip burst out from the mud underneath her.
Molly snarled a wordless cry of challenge as she twisted her body and caught the base of the monster's skull in her jaws. It writhed and screamed an unholy screech, but Molly continued to twist as she wrapped the bunyip's 15 foot-long neck around her body. Bones crunched as lightning coursed over her body and into the monster's, and then, with the creature tied up and struggling, Molly adjusted her mouth's grip, and, with a single bite of her jaws that extended out of her face with an ethereal light, decapitated the monster. TJ saw a quick flash of a Vargr in the Skill that his fellow Neophyte used, and for a brief moment, he considered his own position, had he followed the same path that Molly evidently was. She was taking full advantage of the physical bonuses that her Divine Transformation offered, and she ripped through the corpse of the bunyip as she rushed to support Mimi in her fight against the third while Sam held off the second.
"Let me!" Mimi demanded as, somehow, she grew several inches in every direction, every pound she gained pure muscle as her skin darkened from a light tan to the tan of someone who worked outside every day. For the first time, TJ really understood what the term "Amazonian" meant as Mimi raised her spear and shield and began her duel against the bunyip. With what TJ termed as her semi-Divine Transformation, TJ witnessed as the girl struggled her best against the monster. As a testament to the girl's dedication, she'd allow herself to sustain small wound to strike back herself, using her Cure Wounds Skill to heal herself. Before long, Tessie turned her attention from assisting Sam to peppering Muti's enemy with her arrows. Before too long, the bunyip had sustained sufficient injuries to start being more cautious with its attacking pattern. Sam still hadn't dealt with his own monster, and Molly remained between the two fights, looking to support whoever needed it. TJ couldn't help but chuckle a little to himself as he watched the young woman do what he was doing for the little group as a whole.
About another minute passed, and both of the still-living foes still drew breath, though covered in arrows and wounds from whichever one of the two siblings was fighting against them. They seemed to come to a decision as one, strangely hissing to each other before they whipped their bodies around. As they turned to escape, both dipping beneath the mud, each of the siblings decided to use one of their own Skills beyond those that'd seen use so far. Mimi simply pushed the resources into the Geirr necessary to make it extend further, and as she threw it into the ground towards the body of her prey, the spear extended to twice its length and the bunyip's body immediately began thrashing in involuntary death throes. On Sam's side of the fight, he drew his sword in a circle above his head through the air, leaving a series of illusory-looking blades in the air above him. When he swung down with a roar, each one of the blades followed his movement. The monster's flashing jaws blocked his physical blade, but the other five smashed into the back of his sword one after the other until the bunyip's teeth went flying in every direction and his blade chopped through the bottom of the monster's jaw.
"Damn." TJ grinned as he watched the two least experienced Participants kill the Copper tier monsters. Sure, they weren't particularly impressive and they outnumbered the enemy, but Sam and Mimi had come a long way from cowering and begging for help from some weak Sobeck's Devotees. These were two kids who were ready to set foot into divinity. Of course, Molly and Tessie were as impressive as always, though Tessie had taken more of a background role in this particular fight. The Acolyte kept her eyes out and watched for any monsters to approach while her companions pulled the bunyip corpses out of the mud. As soon as they died, their bodies stopped being so magically capable of slipping through the sediment, and TJ realized he hadn't even tried to pull the rest of the one he'd killed free after he'd finished with it.
"We did pretty good, huh?" Molly asked as she yanked the tail of the bunyip out of the mud with a slurping sound. "These things are pretty weird. Kind of like dinosaurs mixed with demons or something."
"Maybe the original bunyip, whatever that is," Sam guessed, "was some sort of plesiosaur or something. That's kind of what they look like, don't they?"
"I have no idea what that is." Tessie answered with a shrug.
"The swimming dinosaur things, like Nessie?" Mimi offered.
"And who is Nessie?" Tessie asked, even more confused.
"She's talking about the Loch Ness monster." Sam said. "And technically, plesiosaurs weren't dinosaurs. Completely different because—"
"Nobody cares, Sam." Mimi said, though not meanly. Instead, once her monster's corpse was out of the mud, she turned her attention to TJ while she deactivated whatever Skill was making her taller and stronger. "What do we have to do to improve?"
TJ, as he deactivated Divine Transformation and settled into a human form, felt his eyebrows climb up his head. "I don't know if I have a lot, if I'm honest. I mean, you did good. Worked together, and I don't think you fought any of those before, have you?"
As he asked the four kids, though he tried not to think of them that way, shrugged. "So, if this is a totally new enemy, you're doing well. I mean, they're dangerous, quick, and they're coming after you, but none of you sustained any real injuries. Right, Molly?"
"I mean, it was less than 1,000 HP, so I wouldn't call it too serious." She shrugged as she said as much, though TJ could see that there was something in her face that seemed… upset as she said it. He decided not to push on that right then, and instead he nodded twice.
"So, all things considered, that wasn't so bad. Now, take what you can carry, and let's get back to the settlement, or wherever there is to show for it."
"Do we really have to?" Mimi asked."We've only been out for what, an hour?"
"About that." TJ agreed with the timeline while he hedged. "However, we're not settling down down here under the freeway. We decided to move up top, and it'll be better to have everybody to gather as we get everything set up. Having more fire power available will make sure that, if anything goes the wrong way, we're able to face any enemies with our full strength."
"Even if he didn't say this," Sam encouraged as he looked at the others, "we'd be supporting him. After all, you know, he's the Nascent Storm Serpent, the god that we've thrown our support behind?"
"I ain't no god." TJ said with an affectation of Stanton's voice. He couldn't help that smile a little bit when Tessie and Molly both reacted to the familiar timbre. "At least not yet. I appreciate y'all's support, but let's not be calling me a god willy-nilly. Don't want to be calling any negative attention our way when there's only 30 of us and we don't even have a single building to live in."
"We'll be fine!" Molly insisted. "I mean, I bet you're going to have a storm always going on nearby so that way all of us are constantly getting all of our Attributes boosted, so we don't even really need houses, do we?"
TJ laughed as he gathered the will-o'-the-wisp's lantern in his hand and turned to lead the little group out of the marsh. "I mean, if you wanna sleep in the mud and grass, be my guest. I think I'm gonna try to get a bed, if it's all the same to you."
"Well, if you put it that way…" Molly said with a grin. "I guess I could be convinced to help make sure we get some beds."
The small group of people walked for several minutes, and then, TJ felt something he recognized. Something he felt once in a dark forest. Something that whispered of deceit and confusion. He asked the System a question and got a quick answer.
"Oh, fuck me."
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