His widened eyes locked on the beasts as a red aura billowed before flowing off of the ape, "Because, whatever it was, that thing, just ate it!"
"Wraith..:" Isaac spoke softly, his focus utterly captured by the sight before him.
"WRAITH WHAT? WHAT GRADE!?! WHAT CLASS!?!"
"Wraith bat… Grade 3… Mythic."
A powerful gust of wind burst forth, threatening to pick up Isaac along with the sands around him. The red ape cried out as its body slimed and thin membranes sprouted out, connecting to protruding thin, flexible bones that adhered to its sides, forming large bat-like wings.
Its fur thickened, turning an even deeper blood red, and the center of its chest shed before turning into thickened plates of skin and muscle. Its bone cracked and broke apart before reconstructing them and shifting around previous arrangements of its muscle and organs.
The entire process took less than ten seconds, but by the end of it, the creature was almost completely unrecognizable from its previous state.
BOOOM!
"ALERT! Grade 4 Mythic Beast detected. Less than 20 feet detected." Both Isaac and Lurk's fly simultaneously resounded, solidifying the worst of their fears.
SWOOOOSHHH!
Sharply inhaling, the newly transformed mythic beast sucked in massive amounts of air. "MOVE; IT'S GOT A POWER!"
Rushing towards Isaac, Lurk placed his hand on his chest, shoving him out the way, moments before the mythic beast screamed.
A bright red beam cut the space between the two, sinking deep within the sands. Isaac gazed at the hole as Lurk grabbed him by the arm, rushing him away from it. He watched as it glowed brilliantly before erupting into a massive ball of fire.
The shock wave of the blast took both cleaners off their feet, sending them flying before the flames had the chance to engulf them.
Recoiling from the blast, Lurk shot up and started shouting. The words escaped his lips, but Isaac couldn't hear what he said. The ringing in his ears was deafening.
The concern on Lurk's hardened face should've sent Isaac spirling in fear, but the only thing he could feel was utter calmness and excitement; he couldn't help but be enraptured by every second that passed him by.
"It honestly doesn't matter. Set the requirement and just keep that beacon active. I don't care who answers it until this beast is killed; nobody will ever be safe in these primal sands again."
Mhm!
"What are you doing," Turning, Lurk stood over Isaac, grabbing his collar, lifting him, "ARE YOU LAUGHING?"
"I DON'T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT'S HAPPENING. DUE TO YOUR RECKLESSNESS, THERE'S A MYTHIC BEAST IN THE PRIMAL ZONE."
WOOSHHH!
Behind Lurk, Isaac watched as the beast appeared in an instance before raising its arm over its shoulder. Then, striking Lurk, it batted him away as if he weighed nothing.
Standing over Isaac, the beast stared down at him before parting its lips, sucking in massive amounts of air. Then, in less than a second, the beast fired a bright yellow beam into Isaac's chest that ripped through him without any resistance.
Cra-koom! BOOOOM! ZIP!
.
As the beast continued drilling into the earth beneath Isaac, a series of attacks, each with varying strengths but all proving ineffective, just bearly managing to piercing into, burn at, or cutting through the creature.
Its breath weapon fizzled out as it quickly launched itself into the air, betting its hard wings it would try and avoid another sneak attack.
Isaac, however, remained motionless as his eyes blurred. Refusing to let them shut, he curled into himself and clutched at his wound. "No… Get up… Get up…I-I have to get up!"
Draining all seven of his inkwells, Isaac prayed they would be enough. Most of the damage was to the portions of his body made of organic clay, which meant he was able to heal the worst of the wound.
However, the remaining damage wouldn't be as easy to fix. Muscle and sinew made of clay began to bubble from the edges of the hole in his body. His organs began to take shape and reform, and bone and veins began to fill out his frame.
After the ink remade his structure, the remaining fluid poured into his arteries and empty circuitry, filling his veins and eventually turning into blood.
BOOOM!
Another explosion went off, sending fast and powerful wind carrying the bleached sands over and across Isaac. The ink wells may have healed his wound, but he still had to fight through the pain even to attempt to stand.
Once he'd managed the feat, he looked around, glazing over the battlefield. The red beast stood over a man, ready to rip him open, only for a massive volley of lightning arrows to throw it off of its prey.
For the majority, if not all of this battle, Isaac was completely useless, unable to do anything. The hope that the reinforcements could have handled this beast was now completely lost.
Trying to think of a solution, all possible options came up empty. Isaac had no weapon and was far too physically weak to injure the creature. He had no power to speak of, so he could not provide support.
Isaac's mind raced until an idea finally came to him. "Datasheet. Now!"
Isaac Hue: 19
Stage: Primal (Grade 5)
Innate Ability: Clay Body (Passive Mutation)
Inkwell Filled: 0/20
Occupation: Cleaner
Location: Bleached Sands
Credits: 1.109 (+0 Pending…)
Quickly glancing over his sheet, what he had hoped for was there, "Open the cleaner's shop. Filter through baits."
As the page began to load, Issac began trying to break into a sprint away from the battlefield and into the surrounding chaos.
Once the page had finally loaded, Isaac scanned through until he'd finally found what he was looking for.
Item: Primal Beast Tongue
Item Grade: 1
Type: Bait
Description: The Black tongue of a primal beast in the fruited swamps.
-Effect "Attract": Due to the location of the primal creature this tongue was harvested from, the baiting effects are amplified (Mythical Grade 5). This item creates an area of effect of 30x30 and will last until the tongue is consumed or destroyed.
Cost: 1,000 Credits
Buying the item, Isaac snatched it from the air and grabbed it tightly, preparing himself for what was about to occur. Then, running to the edge of a massive hoard of beasts, Isaac watched as they all paused before shifting their gaze onto him.
Growwelll!
Throwing himself to the ground, Isaac lunched forward into a roll as a creature that was seconds away from tearing into him. Bracing himself with his hands, he timed his attack and kicked upwards, striking the blur of a beast in its chest and launching it into the sky.
Jumping to his feet, Isaac wasted no time and spun on his heels, leading the charge of a massive hoard of beasts who were only Inches away from his heels.
Teeth snapped shut, saliva spray, and claws slashed outwards in attempts to slow him down, if not wholly cripple him. Isaac's body grew weak with fatigue, but there was nothing that slowed him down.
Soon the other cleaners began to notice, and Isaac feared that they would start preemptively attacking the hoard, weakening it and lowering its chances of having any effect against the red beast.
CRA-KOOM!
A giant lightning bolt ripped through the sky and exploded into three separate volleys before raining down on the red beast leading it into a series of choreographed moments that led it closer to Isaac.
Releasing what he was planning, Lurk began herding the red beast with arrow after arrow. As others began to understand what was taking place, more and more explosions, jets of wind, gusts of flames, and other powers fired off.
Isaac rushed towards the red beast until, through all the alerts, the only one he'd been listening out for resounded, "ALERT! Grade 4 Mythic Beast detected. Less than 30 feet detected."
Rearing back, Issac threw his body forward and swung his arm, launching the tongue towards the red beast that'd already focused its attention on the bait.
In the time it took him to release the bait, the hoard was now on top of him. Tackling him to the ground, multiple of the beasts trample over Isaac.
Clawed feet, sharpened hooves, and mangled hands stampeded over him, yet no teeth found their way into his flesh. Curling himself into a ball, he began to sink within the sands, ignoring him for the much more tempting bait.
WRAAUGHH!
Once the stamping stopped, Isaac glace towards the direction of the now colliding forces. The red beast tore through wave after wave of the creature before slowly being overwhelmed.
The tongue was nowhere to be seen and had either been completely destroyed or lost within the raging conflict. Behind Isaac, multiple sets of hands gripped him by his clothing and dragged him away from the edge of the field of carnage.