Just as Lana asked about Logan's scanner, Mandy led the others to the area Lana was in. Biff stepped forward and pulled a big bag off his back and pulled the scanner from it.
"Are you looking for this?" he asked.
Lana's smile was bright, "You are a life saver!"
Biff smiled back, "What are your instructions madam…"
Lana chuckled, "well, in this area is a tunnel of some form. We don't know how deep it is to be able to use the earth ability to get to it. For now, I'd like to use the scanner to sweep the area and head out that direction in the desert, just a short distance, to see if this is what I'm looking for. I don't want to do the work to find a dead end."
Lana looked at the girls. "One of you will need to do the scanning. That desert is not a safe place to be."
Mandy said softly, "Isn't that the truth…"
Fiza walked up to Biff and took the machine without saying a word. She turned it on and immediately could see the tunnel below and its depth. "Lead the way."
Lana smiled at her initiative. Dobin insisted once again on taking point. They used the same formation as last time but this time behind Shalt was Duff, Bonnie, and Rene. Behind Lana was Alto and Biff. In the middle was Caser with the babies, Sil, Dawn, Mandy and Fiza. Sil was there for observation only. He did get abilities just in case he was needed considering where they were going.
Fiza was instructed to use a slow sweeping motion as much as possible. If she got tired, she was to hand the device to one of the other girls. It was fairly heavy so having them trade off would be best.
It didn't take long and they were attacked by a king-tier beast. The five top-rankers had been gaining experience fighting these and weren't so worried about them but Lana didn't get much play with all the things on her plate so they followed her lead.
This beast was similar to one they had fought before. It had a scorpion tail and pincher claws. Its feet were similar to a lobster and had a segmented body. The torso and head vaguely resembled a cyclops but seemed to be sand-based, while the rest was not.
The beast was approaching from the south, straight in front of them. It was huge yet the ground wasn't shaking. It was like the beast had a similar skill as that of her boots, to walk without a trace.
"Dobin, you're up. Shalt, flank. Alto, to the side. Rest fill in and stay safe."
The team prepared themselves while Lana observed. Do I use my sword for the first time or do I use my whip as normal? Let's go whip first….
Immediately she created her climbing rose whip and snapped it in the air. The beast was then upon them. Those she posted attacked before the beast had a chance to. Dobin hardened the sand on the torso. Lana cracked her Qi-infused whip at it the second it was hard. There was no visible damage.
Shalt transformed his forearms and a clang was heard as he impacted with the tail. Lana heard it and realized there were people here who didn't know he was a vampire so he was playing it safe again. With just one beast, she hoped it was okay.
Alto threw a water dagger at the segments on the beasts' back and black beast blood could be seen. It screeched in pain and swung its torso in Alto's direction to conduct a claw attack. Also saw the massive vice open and close in on him but then it was encased in mud as Dobin threw a mudball at it. Lana threw her whip around the other claw while Shalt kept the tail busy.
This tail was similar to the last one. Shalt didn't want to damage it. He wanted to harvest it for another weapon for the faction members.
Lana's whip dug into the claw and she swung herself up. She landed deftly on the top of the claw which caused the beast to pause for a second at the unexpected move. This gave Lana the opportunity to flip off the claw and land on its back. Alto and Dobin attacked the claw together and were able to remove it, one using a water blade, the other using an earth blade. They decided to work on the other one.
The beast howled in rage and pain. It started moving erratically to shake off its passenger. Lana smirked as she just now put on her armor and used her spikes to stay on the beasts back. Like with previous king-tiers on this planet, this one also had armor plating down the back of its spine. Alto had hit from the side which wasn't armored.
"Are you just going to stand there?" Shalt yelled from behind as he and the tail continued to be locked in combat.
Lana heard Dobin cry out in pain as the claw and felt his intense pain as the claw he was getting aiming at, slammed into him and sent him flying to the side. Lana decided there wasn't time to have fun with the beast because her brother was injured. She put extra Qi into her whip and removed its head in normal fashion.
While previous beasts simply fell when dead, this one had to release extra energy. It was preparing to release an attack and shook violently for a few seconds as that energy dissipated. Lana simply walked up its back, pushing the dying body to the ground.
She did this while looking for her brother. When she saw him, he was moving so he wasn't injured too badly and Rene was already on it. Lana ran to her brother to make sure everything was okay even though she wasn't feeling his pain anymore.
Sil had an unhappy expression on his face but he didn't say anything. Lana hugged her brother and looked him over once more.
Suddenly the ground started to shake violently.
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