In the depths of the jungle trees and earth shook. A large kobold squared off against an almost titanic reptile. The large beast and the kobold launched themselves at each other, Xing Lei darting around the deceptively quick snapping jaws scored slash after slash on the armor like hide. The beast was breathing hard, its thick hide bleeding from a dozen savage wounds, but Xing Lei wasn't much better, the kobold was gingerly favoring his left leg, one of his near misses had seen the beast smarten up long enough to swat his trailing leg with its thick head.
The two combatants slammed into each other with vicious tenacity. This beast owned this region, freshly taken from the dire tiger and yet now it was bleeding heavily from this insignificant prey. Its pained roars echo'd around the region as it continued snapping at this foe with its infuriating pointed stick, always closing its bloody maw just shy of gobbling up the tiny morsel. Xing Lei fared slightly better, bruised and aching he faced against the impressive reptile without flinching but immensely thankful for his tempering.
Xing Lei finally felt a touch of normalcy returning as he darted around the lumbering giant, while it was true his attacks were doing very little damage to the reptile, the fact it was lasting at all against him was so refreshing to the kobold. Any others witnessing the five foot kobold darting around the ankles of what most would know as a dinosaur, most notably a tyrannosaurus rex at that, would think the kobold touched in the head, this was a child fighting a mountain of killing potential!
For Xing Lei this was what he came to this god forsaken jungle for. Pushing himself against odds that not only challenged him but by all rights surpassed his cultivation by at least a tier, this was a taste of his old life. The only draw back he could see was that unlike most spirit beasts of his old world, this one was all brute force. It appeared to lack any budding intelligence that many spirit beasts would display at this rank. It simply lunged and chomped, lunged and chomped, regardless of the fact that that plan was not catching him at all.
To be fair his own attacks were like mosquito bites to the giant beast, while it was true he had made several slashes along the beasts ankles, none were overly deep or crippling, the reptiles thick hide made Xing Lei's early success [Spirit Foundation] seem vastly weak compared to how he usually found beasts, often wiping out whole packs by himself, yet this creature took some of his strongest attacks and shrugged it off. In fact, his dodging around was tiring it out more do than his spear was ever capable of killing it...
If his face was capable of smiling it would be said to be taking in his ears at this point. A typically unsurpassable mountain towered above him, throwing him back to his old early days where he was not the apex of anything, here he was struggling against a foe that was practically laughing at his weakness. Xing Lei had only felt something similar when he had riled Destorianaxe or confronted Tyrix, overwhelming entities that could smash him like a bug.
This level of danger only pushed him to fight harder, to move faster, to throw himself whole heartedly at his foe. His bloodlust was almost a tangible aura at this point, his fingers clenching the mithril spear tightly as he slashed more precisely, stabbed more deeply. Xing Lei's attacks on the beasts legs increased in fervor as he dashed in a circle around the giant beast. His yellow eyes narrowed as he threw himself backward, his tail helping to support a dangerous limbo pose as the thick tail of the dinosaur roared over his bent back form, almost clipping his muzzle as it whooshed over him with all the unbridled force of a wild stampede.
Planting his spear, Xing Lei rolled back off his feet using the butt of the spear to launch him after that thick tail. Landing against the thick leathery hide he started to climb the bucking back. The beast turned back and forth, fighting to dislodge its unwanted rider, yet like a spider, Xing Lei held his grip scaling the muscled back one hand hold at a time. It was very much like trying to climb a tree in a wind storm, every movement threatened to throw him to the ground or against any of the more dangerous things that littered the jungle floor. Colliding with a tree trunk or rock would surely stun him giving the beast ample time to snap him up.
The great beast roared and flailed about, hurtling itself against one of the massive trees trying to crush the roach so stubbornly clinging to it's back where it could not bite or stomp. This vexed its tiny brain, driving it into wilder more frenzied motions to dislodge the insect that had dared bite its ankles. Still Xing Lei clung to the rough leather of the beasts back flesh, his sharp claws and toes finding purchase where most fingers and toes would find none. To the very crown of the beasts head he climbed, standing shakily as the thing shook its head violently to dislodge this pest.
Looking over the area from high above, Xing Lei used his sharp toe claws to keep hold of the leather like flesh, feeling the world spin as the beast charge recklessly through the trees, smashing everything in its path trying to get the kobold off its scalp. Some distance from where the fight began a small patrol of halflings were watering their mounts, preparing to continue their patrol when the ground began to shake violently, loud, pained roars echo'd around the jungle as not far from them a large sword tooth burst through the area flailing about and causing all sorts of noise.
What struck them the most absurd was the small reptilian figure squatting on the titans head. From this distance it was hard to tell what was going on, but one of the more eagle eyed scouts watched slack jawed before informing its fellows what it had seen. A rather large, for its species, kobold was squat atop the sword toothsome head and was punching it. Yes, Xing Lei was doing just that, with fist curled he slammed his knuckles against the unyielding skull of the great beast, slamming his fist violently against the thick bone beneath the taut rough flesh.
The halflings watched the embattled duo disappear into the jungle, the destruction caused by the raging titan left a wide trail to follow but none were eager to rush after that sight. Glancing agape at each other at the absurdity of something so small actually gaining advantage over the horrifying giant shook the scouts. Half mounted quickly rushing off into the thick foliage while the remainder watched the shrinking beast dance off into the distance. Just what had they seen?! Sure they saw it, but understanding just what the hell was going on left the trailing scouts rather absent minded.
Xing Lei had paid the patrol little mind. Gripping the head of the dinosaur, not losing his hold and continuing to attack was taking a great deal of his concentration. He had made a cursory note of the halflings but focused on the more immediate problem. While his strikes were like a baby punching an adult, he had been putting more and more spirit into his strikes. The frenzied motions of the titanic beast was a good indication that they were shaking up its brain, but rather than stunning or knocking it out, the tyrannosaur just seemed to lapse into a drunken rage, smashing everything in its path...
This situation could not continue. Only the end result was outside Xing Lei's expectations. Rather than exiting the jungle or bursting into a halfling village, the frenzied motions of the dinosaur had carried them into the territory of another monstrous beast. The giant beast, who Xing Lei glimpsed as likely being some sort of Lightningfury Ape, had been turning to see what the commotion was about when the dinosaur the kobold was riding had burst into the clearing and directly into the ape's unreadied body. Lightningfury Apes were much like their name suggested, basically a big black gorilla with four powerful arms and a distinct lightning like pattern in its hide, while generally calm enough, anyone foolish enough to disturb their nesting grounds quite soon learned where the fury in their name came from.
This one though had the misfortune of being run over by a maddened t-rex.
Yes, Xing Lei's mount burst into the nest bowling the unready ape over and proceeded to stomp over the big hairy gorilla like a huge shaggy rug before tearing into the nest itself. The kobold had a birds eye view of the Lightningfury Ape picking itself off the ground, covered in dino foot prints and dirt. Its eyes blazing red as the fury took it, small arcs of lightning coursed over his shaggy hide as it roared and gave chase. The dinosaur had a very aggrieved look on its monstrous muzzle as its pesky rider now decided to abandon its scalp. Just in time for the titanic ape to slam four of its powerful fists into that face.
Xing Lei had wisely abandoned his ride, while free falling into the canopy of thick jungle vines and leaves was no picnic, the thunderous crunch as ape fosts colluded with dinosaur face told the tale had he stayed he would have become kobold paste. Loud screeches surrounded him as he hung from a thick branch. Female and baby Lightningfury Apes darted in various directions as the lesser males roared and converged on his tree.
Abandoning the branch, Xing Lei dropped down the side of the trunk, his claws scraping the bark to slow his descent, throwing himself away from the nesting grounds. Still the beta and omega apes weren't just going to forgive and forget. Like a murderous mob, a handful of four armed gorillas charged after the kobold who sprinted into the undergrowth. Behind the angry mob a pair of giant creatures were punching and biting at each other, the dino had locked its jaws on one of the we's arms but the other three hammered blows on the giant beast like roiling crashes of thunder.
Xing Lei took not time to watch the titanic grudge match, he was too busy fleeing back the way he had come, using every trick and technique he could think of to stay ahead of the four armed gorillas that chased after in a murderous rage. While they were only rank two monstrous beasts, there were enough of the brutes that should Xing Lei get surrounded it would be a one sided beat down. Darting around the next tree the kobold came face to face with one of the pursuing halfling scouts, the short demi-human had dismounted to relieve himself in the bushes when the kobold flew past him.
Wasting no time, Xing Lei had alighted atop the tribals mount, the reptilian raptor bucked savagely as it's own fumbled with his hide breeches. As the trio fought for some semblance of normal the bushes shook again. The halfling turned and barely had time to scream as five hundred pounds of four armed gorilla fury came crashing down atop the short humanoid. Those meaty fists rising and falling in savage tandem that proceeded to crush the halfling into a fine red paste.
As the gorilla raged and further compacted the halfling into a substance that could seep into the jungle floor the dinosaur beneath Xing Lei finally decided to stop being stubborn letting the kobold guide it away from the rampaging gorilla just as the scouts fellows burst through the bushes ahead. One of which had his bow raised and notched letting fly a razor arrow that sliced along Xing Lei's shoulder. The vicious arrow found no purchase on the kobolds flesh but continued on behind causing a loud angry roar. One of the omega apes stumbled through the bushes behind this confrontation, the arrow quivering in its throat briefly before it fell dead to the jungle floor.
Kicking his mount Xing Lei charged between the halflings who suddenly had bigger concerns. The bloodied leader of the mob burst through the bushes, took one look at its felled companion and launched itself at the mounted archer. As Xing Lei vanished into the jungle the cries of battle joined ring out behind as apes and halflings laid into each other while the instigator clung to his new mount and darted off into the distance...