Standing on the field of battle was the usual trio, waiting for the first wave of enemies that they would encounter. Each and every one of them had seen plenty of fights leading up to their own, so the knew how the game was played.
"Remember, the first wave of enemies will not be difficult to beat per say as they will be barely mutated normal animals. The problem is that they seem to be engineered in a way that will waste a large amount of our Will if we are not careful, so we must plan quick and efficiently," explained Cyrus as he took the lead with his sword drawn and his mask on his face.
With the sound of rising chains the portcullis raised slowly, letting in the first wave of foes that they would be fighting into their quarter of the arena.
Thunderous footsteps were heard immediately as well as loud wails of an unknown animal, the ground shook and the heavens along with it as a mass of brownish purple flesh spewed forth out of the gate and onto the field. With red eyes and perfect focus, the beasts locked onto their prey and surged forth like an unending tide.
Cyrus searched his memories of every animal he knew, but was unable to figure out what he was looking at.
"What type of beast is that?" asked Cyrus towards his two companions.
The knowledgeable Imran was the one to reply, "They are called hippopotamus if I recall. They are found in the western region at the foot of the mountainous zone, in a peculiar type of land known as a swamp. I remember my father teaching me about this, saying that its the worst place ever for transporting goods due to the terrible terrain that sometimes just swallows whole caravans into the ground."
"Aaaand? What traits do they have, weaknesses..." asked an impatient Cyrus who was putting a coil in each of his limbs.
"They are big, strong, have the jaw strength that is said to be impossible to escape from and they can hold their breath for awhile" recounted Imran from memory.
Sighing Cyrus concluded, "So nothing useful...well let me try something first. Imran prepare a blind, time it with my retreat. Minerva hold until I gain some information."
Without even waiting for a response Cyrus jumped forward and used three of his leg coils to close the distance at an impossible speed. Becoming one with the wind, Cyrus reached the front of the slow moving but massive pack of hippo's and tried to slice at one with his sword.
At first it went in with great effect, but the deeper he went the harder it was to continue the slice until his sword would go further no longer. The sword was lodged inside the natural blubber of the beast, forcing Cyrus to use his arm coil to free it. Then with a step back and forward, he thrusted his blade with immense force above the snapping jaw of the panicking hippo and through the eye socket all the way into its brain.
Down the hippo fell, felled by expert hands and was subsequently trampled upon by its brethren as they attempted to chase after Cyrus in their fit of madness and bloodlust.
Using the last of his coils to leap backwards, he threw small vial at the corpse and attached his sense to it while fleeing all the while.
'Trap Set' thought Cyrus a wave of sand blew past him and into the eyes of all the hippos rendering them temporarily blind.
Cyrus was about to re-engage when his sense picked up a powerful reaction in the air in front of him causing him to turn right back around and run.
His thinking turned out to be correct as a large block of ice formed high up in the sky and came crashing down, crushing the skull of one of the hippos and stunning quite a few more of them as shards of ice flew forth into the surrounding animals.
Not wanting to let a chance go, while also making a mental note to pay back Minerva for her little prank in full, Cyrus re-engaged and set a similar trap with the second corpse that had been presented to him.
Slowly preparing his finishing blow, Cyrus stood at the edge of the small pack of hippos and harassed them with projectiles that did no damage but still annoyed his foe nevertheless.
'What thick skin' remarked Cyrus, looking at the knife he threw right into the eye of a hippo but was actually stopped by the skin on its eyelid.
Some time passed, full of one man running around madly while his two allies were more than content to watch.
All the way until several shrieks of primal fear were let loose from the guts of the hippos, as they ran in fear and panic from the undead monstrosities that resembled their brethren...except the eerie white dim orbs for eyes and pure white bones told another story.
Such panic and fear was a perfect fit for Cyrus, even if the undead beasts were decaying even faster than normal so much so that he theorized they would only last minutes, as he signalled for Minerva and Imran to join him in picking off the now isolated hippos one by one.
Unending Hacking slashing, but mostly thrusting with one hand on the blade and the other on the pummel was had and a heaping helping of blood and gore littered the ground. The end result of their actions was thirteen carcasses on the ground. Well, it was technically eleven as two of them had been turned into undead.
Cleaning their weapons of choice with their own unique methods, the three stood with their backs facing one another in a triangle formation as they stood surrounded by all twelve of these carcasses.
"That wasn't so bad" said a cheery Imran
"No it was not, but I could have done without a sudden downpour of ice blocks," began Cyrus who paused his speech only to elbow Minerva in the back, "but besides that I think we managed to defeat them fairly quickly. Alas, not as fast as that one Gellert fellow did but it is obvious that hunting beasts like these is something he was born for."
"I heard that there is something called karma," said Minerva who elbowed back even harder than Cyrus had done it, "which is a concept that says all debts are repaid, both the good and the bad."
Before Cyrus could give a snarky, sarcastic, or perhaps demeaning response he was silenced by the marvel of Caligo snapping his fingers and causing a massive change on the battlefield in front of him. An all encompassing mist of ravenous death essence descending on every single corpse and skeletal structure all at the time time, turning them into dust that was swept away by the gentle breeze.
Then the massive amount of seemingly endless mist was condensed further and further, turning into a solid block of essence that fell to the ground with a thud.
The block was then transported up into the air with the aid of an Aero mage on standby, brought to a special holding area where a pile of other blocks were already waiting.
'The final form of the Mors domain, solidification. One day I will master such a form...hmm, now that I think about it, is that not how Caligo did that trick with his shadows. Using them to pick people up like they had physical form'
Pulling him from his thoughts was the rising sound of the next wave of enemies, as expected since the format of the battle was a never ending gauntlets of ever increasing difficult foes.
Thus the three stood at attention once more, preparing to meet and subsequently slaughter whatever stood in their path.