'Woah.'
His senses had been sent into overdrive by his new charm. It was a bit of a shock but only for a moment as he quickly adjusted. He then flexed his hands several times and looked at his hand with a strange expression.
'Hm'
Gwin turned one finger into a hooked claw and ran it down his arm. A thin line of red sprouted from his skin.
'Sweet!'
That should have cut right throw and yet it hadn't. The second enchantment seemed to have made him more durable overall. He basked in his luck for a moment.
'I knew you hadn't forsaken me nightmare spell! The locust swarm was just a fluke!'
Elena watched his silent cheer with a flat expression.
"Pretty necklace. What does it do?"
{My senses are way stronger and my body is more durable!}
She let out an exasperated sigh.
"Wrong. The correct answer is that it's a secret. Your honesty is going to get you killed one day I swear."
She said, pinching her brow.
{Noted.}
'Why does she care?'
Gwin was still reveling in his new senses with a happy smile. As he did he noticed something. Out there nearly three hundred meters away there was something approaching them. It was coming from the direction of the castle and Gwin had paid enough attention during their meetings to know what lived in that direction.
{Get ready. We have guests}
He signed preparing himself for the fight to come. Elena tensed and summoned her jagged black saber.
"How many?"
{Four…ones bigger than the rest, probably a monster. It's the scorpions}
"I see…do you remember the lessons the academy taught you on teamfighting?"
{Yes.}
"Good."
By the time they had finished speaking the rumbling sound of sputtering legs was upon them. Something large crashed through the wall of the hall sending a cloud of dust flying. In that dust was the shape of three monstrous scorpions. Each was larger than a man and were covered in milky white charapaces. Oozing chunks of rotten meat seeped from between their charapaces dripping fetid fluids to the ground. The fourth was the largest of all with an adamantine black carapace and sported two sets of pincers.
Two more figures appeared in the dust as well. One floated above the ground slightly and the other was a hybrid of a panther and man lunging at the nearest scorpion.
All hell broke loose.
Grin and Elena each reaped a life. Gwin darted under one and dragged his claws down the length of its stomach tearing through the softer exoskeleton there while Elena's perfectly aimed strikes hit in the gaps between its charapace.
[You have slain an awakened beast: Son of the desert]
[You have taken your claim of blood]
In that way they had both taken a life before the scorpions knew what hit them. They pushed their momentum and darted towards the two remaining scorpions this time though they were quick to react. Gwin evaded both scorpions while Elena circled behind. He eyed their legs with cold calculation, he was familiar with these types of creatures as well after all.
'They rely on their legs for vibrations to tell where we are..'
In a way Elena was at an advantage here since her ability to hover just above the ground made her practically invisible to them. While she prepared to strike Gwin used what he knew of hand to hand combat to deflect and evade the attention of the scorpions. The small one was hardly a problem but the black one possessed more limbs and was much stronger than the other one. Its stinger dripped with a disgusting brown liquid. It struck occasionally, forcing Gwin to evade its great force all the while dancing around its many pincers.
He heard a hissing sound next to him and saw that Elena had slain the last son of the desert and already moved to help him.
'That just leaves the big one'
Gwin smiled and became more aggressive in his tactics. The added support greatly lessened the tension on himself allowing him to act more freely. He delivered several swipes to the joints of its legs causing it to stagger and slow. As he did Elena zipped and darted around its pincers and stinger. Sensing the threat of his actions the scorpion diverted its second set of pincers to attack Gwin.
'D-Damn!'
He was nearly impaled by one of its scythe-like legs before jumping upwards and grabbing another leg. He wrapped his winding tail around its joint and jumped, ripping and tearing the flesh as it unwrapped itself. Three of its eight legs were missing now. Gwin used this advantage to circle around to just below its tail where he attacked the joint that connected it to the rest of its body.
The scorpion hissed and recoiled as his claws tore into the gap and his winding tail snapped like a whip hitting the same spot and sending flesh flying, The scorpion spun faster than Gwin thought it could and caught him with a glancing blow of its pincers. Suddenly Gwin was the most important thing to it. Gwin winced before smiling.
'Nothings broken..'
He had just taken a direct hit from an awakened monster and failed to break a bone! Sure his body ached and he had barely managed to cover himself in viridian fur in time but he was mostly fine! He did not revel long as the scorpion's chelicerae shot out faster than its other limbs aiming to draw him into its dark maw. Gwin knocked the small pincers away; however he couldn't escape the weight of the scorpion as it barreled towards him.
Luckily he wasn't alone. Just before it could crush him a jagged black saber bit into a gap in its carapaced tail. The scorpion let out a resounding hiss and staggered. Like a red arrow she zipped down its length before bisecting the plate covering its head. Blue blood rained down on Gwin, stinging and burning his skin as the body of the scorpion collapsed to the ground.
There stood atop its corpse like a sculpture of a divine huntress was Elena. Not a single drop of blood marred her pale skin.
'DAMN THAT STINGS'
Gwin frantically whipped the azure blood from his skin which was now bubbling and sizzling.
"Ahh! Ahh!"
Gwin groaned frantically while holding his hand out. Elena tossed her waterskin down and Gwin quickly washed himself off. He sighed with relief after ridding himself completely of it. He took a gulp of the waterskin while looking at the scene around him.
'Looks like dinner came to us.'