"ALERT! Grade 4 Primal Beast less than 50 feet detected.", "ALERT! Grade 2 Primal Beast less than 70 Feet Detected."
"ALER-"
Panic quickly set within Isaac after multiple alerts continued to sound off without any sign of stopping. Crouching down, he forced all his strength in his legs and kicked up a small dust cloud as he jumped out of the sand's grasp.
Frantically looking around, Isaac debated using an ink well to enhance his vision. With no other choice, he used one of his seven filled ink wells as fuel and felt as the fluid coursed through his body, circulating through his veins for settling around his eyes.
As the heatwave became less and less stifling, he began to see what was taking place around him. From all angles, Issac was surrounded by a massive hoard of beasts that were slaughtering and devouring each other. He'd been transported directly in the altering of the bleached sands 0,0.
Growwelll!
Spinning on his heel, Issac came face to face with the maw of a creature that leaped on top of him. Its growing stomach was the only thing that alerted him to its presence as the endless string of alerts continued to sound off.
Pivoting to the side, Issac managed to step to the side as the creature's jaw slammed shut with an audio crack as its teeth clashed together. The lizard-like beast slid to a halt as it crashed into the sands.
Wearing around, the creature slung saliva and drool from its lion-like head, which quickly dried up in the sands. Underneath it hung a long beard-like mane that dragged behind it, and lining around its neck were its inkwells.
Isaac quickly called out towards his fly and canceled the alerts, and set its focus on the beast in front of him, "ALERT! Grade 5 primal beast less than 5 feet detected."
"I know that already; give me something useful on this thing!" Spinning his axe in his hand, Isaac prepared himself for combat only to be forced on the defensive. The creature spat at him, causing him to jump back, and in the short time he was airborne, the creature leaped towards his calves.
"Creature unknown. Subject class: Chimera."
Slashing downward, Isaac caught the creature on the back of its neck, driving it into the sand and shattering some of its inkwells. The movement had been reflexive and showed in the deep; however, less than fatal gash now present on the creature's body.
With this weapon, he should have been able to cleave through his nape, wholly decapitating it. Regardless, he would waste no time, giving it the chance to heal, and delivered a second strike to its neck, taking its head clean off its shoulders.
"Chimera, huh," looking over the creature's body, he quickly understood why it was classified as such. Chimeras were the most common and yet most unpredictable beasts. Constructed from whatever parts they'd managed to acquire, they made up the bulk of beasts.
Swinging the axe, Isaac slung off the thick blood soaking his weapon.
Growwelll!
Looking down he felt his stomach begin to rumble as he examined the fresh meal in front of him. "Primal Grade 5 Desert Beas-" The fly started to sound off Issac kill before it cut itself off and started back up again, "ALERT-"
BOOOOM!
The ground bounced beneath Isaac's feet, lifting him off the ground. Jumping to his feet, he began to turn towards the sound, but before he could, a violent force slammed into his back, launching him forward.
The power of the blow knocked the wind out of him and blurred his vision, yet he'd managed to brace himself enough from the initial hit to spin, landing on all fours, and face the creature. Gorging itself on his kill, a hulking ape-like beast bit down and began to devour the corpse with barely a breath in between.
He watched as the ape indistinctly ate every bit of the corpse, only showing change once it'd reach the inkwell encircling the ink. The general voracious hunger turned even more so as if the beast was desperate to consume the best part of the creature.
Feeling his hunger turn to anger, Isaac stood in a lower crouch and prepared to launch himself towards the creature. Tightening his fist, he only then realized his weapon was torn from his hands.
Frantically scanning the area, Isaac found the handle of his weapon. The problem being it was less than a foot away from the blond Ape which had just finished the meal that was once his.
Isaac's mind raced for solutions and his heart drummed as panic began to set in. The silvery blond ape turned towards him and quickly decided that he'd make a great snack.
Hulking forwarded the creature stepped on the handle of the axe, where Isaac's attention was fixated. Stopping its advance, Issac watched in horror as the beast lifted its foot to its head, lifting the weapon with it.
Sniffing and inspecting the axe, the creature grabbed it by its head and howled in pain, throwing the axe to the side as it danced around in shock and anguish. Seeing this as his only chance, Issac raced towards the weapon.
The sudden movement caught the beast's attention, and it quickly launched itself towards Issac, who was only a hand's length from the axe. Quickly, rolling to the side, he'd barely managed to dodge the hammering fists of the creature, which generated a large gust of wind that blew up the sands.
Isaac shielded his eyes until the dust settled; once it was cleared, he swallowed hard and unknowingly took a small step back. He and the creature locked eyes, and his blood ran cold as the beast, now wielding the mythic weapon, prepared to attack.
Crouching down, the ape forced its muscles to balloon before contracting them in one rapid motion, throwing itself into the sky above. Isaac was awestruck at the performance.
They watched as the beast reared back, holding the axe overhead before bringing it down in a wide arc as it slammed into the ground. Right before impact, Isaac rolled to the side and just barely managed to avoid the blow.
Spring to his feet, he faced the creature and watched it swing the weapon in another wide arc towards his head. Ducking the weapon, Issac watched as it shaved off a small portion of his hair.
The copper orange strains danced in the air as the force of the swing carried them high into the air. Isaac, however, was met with a strong kick that sent him skipping around the desert.
Unable to brace himself in time, Isaac felt his ribs nearly break from the attack. The momentum from the blow carried him several feet away from the beast and laid him out on his stomach.
Groaning, he lifted his head only to see the beast dancing in circles around the axe while slamming its fist on the ground as if it were celebrating its stolen treasure.
Beats usually developed some level of sentience within the first few hours of their existence, if not instantaneously, but still, to develop this level of intelligence was no small feat. "Issac. Permission to an active distress beacon."
"Access Granted." Though it was more than a devastating blow to his pride, the blood lined the back of his throat, and his fading consciousness gave him no other choice. Not only that, he was in an area restricted for his ranking. There was no telling the type of trouble he'd be in.
He couldn't teleport to safety as the cold down was likely still well above ten minutes, leaving him no other option. Struggling to his feet, Issac glared at the ape as it continued to dance around the mythic weapon, his rage causing him to bite down and tear a hole in his lip.
The blood slid down and dripped off of his chin, quickly drying up in the desert sand. "Beacon distress call answered. Calculating Coordinates."
DING!
"Now Transporting," Taking a step back, he prepared for the cleaner's arrival. Then, inwardly sighing as he watched the space in front of him flicker.
Strikes of blues cut through the scarlet red hue as the long coat of the primal hunter slowly drifted down, revealing the heavily styled and very overdressed cleaner, "Now, what sort of mess have you gotten yourself into? Bitten off more than we can chew, have we?"
The man faced away from Issac with his head turned to the side and tilted towards the sky. He stood in a flamboyant and vibrant pose and didn't even bother to open his eyes.
Isaac stared blankly at the man before preparing to speak, but before he could, the man spun and flared out his cape to finally face Isaac, "Do not be ashamed! Speak! For I am here to save you! Slowly as they might be, I spare no expense helping those lesser than I. Lurk."
Isaac showed his teeth and wrinkled up his nose in disgust, "What the fu-"
RRRAAAEEEE!
Cut off before he could finish his statement, the red ape seemed to finish its performance finally. It let out a roar before a heavy snort and picked up its weapon.
Dropping his flamboyant demeanor, Lurk finally turned to face the beast, "This is quite the mess you've gotten yourself into. A lost weapon in the hands of a beast, and within a 0,0 from its looks."
"I know that already; tell me something useful." Isaac stood as straight as he could so as to not feel completely overshadowed by the man and beast, who both were noticeably bigger than him.
"Good news; I'm here to fix your mess. Bad news; the things preparing for an evolution. If it gets a bite out of any stray beasts that attempt to join this battle, we'll both be in trouble."
Shifting his attention towards the beast, Isaac struggled to find its inkwells. He hadn't seen them the entire time he'd been battling the creature.
Still unable to locate them, he shifted his attention to the surrounding area. Beasts of all types ravaged and devoured each other before being devoured themselves.
The small pockets in between the carnage were soaked with dried blood that stained the bleached sands red and covered in shattered bits of bone and ivory scattered about the ground. There was no sign of any approaching beast, But Isaac wasn't sure for how long.
"STAY FOCUSED!" A heavy hand shoved Isaac out of the way, sending him into the sands.
BOOOM!
Scattered bites of sand and bone bounced off of Isaac's face. He'd just managed to jump to his feet, pushing and rolling out of the way as the beast began to spin, holding the axe out in a barbaric display of force.
Lurk, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. The beast stopped and focused on Isaac until an arrow bolt of lightning struck it directly in its side.
CRA-KOOM!
Blood and static sparks splattered across the sands. The ape howled in pain as it clutched its now scorched side, going on all fours and distancing itself for Isaac, who turned towards the direction of the bolt only for another zip past with the sound of thunder trailing behind it.
WRAAUGHH!
The apes howling told Isaac that the bolt had met its target, and the sight of Lurk with a large longbow aimed at the creature told him where the bolt had come from.
Flashing Isaac a smile, Lurk quickly returned his attention back to the beast, and quickly Isaac followed suit. The red ape, now crimson with blood, stood up straight and bared its fangs.
Its Ink wells that were once hidden by fur were now made visible, several of them showing varying levels of damage. One of which was completely shattered.
The ink flowed in a steady stream out of the shattered in vail before turning to a slow trickle. Gridding its teeth, Isaac watched as the beast began to drain two of its vails.
Its skin began to rapidly heal before being recoated in red fur. The blood acted as a heavy gel that slicked patches of it down.
"Huh, this will be harder than I'd thought." Rearing back, Lurk drew his bowstring and conjured a bolt of electricity that shuttered and sparked as he held it aimed directly at the beast's head.
Lurk held the arrow in place, and Isaac watched it violently expand in size. Small beads of static spidered off, striking Isaac raising every hair on his body.
Cra-Koom!
The bolt raced towards the beast, strains of lighting trailing behind and melting the sand behind it. Issac just managed to catch the racing bolt before it'd struck the beast.
Shifting its weight, the beast threw itself to the side. Rolling out of the way of the attack. Striking the ground, the bolt of lightning speared through the ground before exploding. Sending waves of magma and electricity gushing out from the afflicted area.
"Damn, missed." Lurk swore as he readied his bow and shot off three more consecutive bolts, each just nearly missing their target as the red ape continued its evasion.
Just as Lurk began to generate another arrow, the beast did something that shocked and stunned both him and Isaac. Bringing the axe up to its mouth, it bit through the handle and swallowed the blade head.
"What the hell is it doing?" Isaac watched as blood gushed from its mouth as it struggled to consume the head. Only when there was enough blood to wash it down did it finally succeed.
Lurk was frozen in disbelief and confusion until he began to come to a realization. Speaking in a soft voice, he fearfully asked Isaac, "What was that axe made from?"