Several more stumbling dodges bought enough time for her to finish off the first monster. That only left… Jake started counting but had to dodge after he got to five. He was pretty sure there were still seven more though. Another of the attacks clipped him, knocking off another quarter of his shield. For a moment he debated running away. Then a second one died in a single hit, her arrow catching it right above the half circle of eyes. "YES!" He heard her exclaim excitedly.
"Less cheering more killing!" He shouted as he wildly dodged the next volley. Jake wasn't thrilled with his role as bait and distraction. More than ever he found himself disliking his class. 'I should be hurling fireballs. Not acting like a rodeo clown.'
Angry at the game he decided playing the clown just wasn't his style. When he dodged the next volley, instead of moving in a circle he turned and charged straight for the monsters. He was pretty sure he had their timing down. There were several seconds between each shot and they seemed to be in surprisingly good sync. He didn't even bother watching for them to attack but more or less dodged based on the timing of their attacks as he rushed in.
Ella's attack rate picked up as if she was inspired by his reckless charge. Or desperately trying to kill as many as possible before her distraction got himself killed. Jake told himself it was the former but figured it was most likely the latter. That twenty yards shrank quickly in his rush even broken by wild dodging. 'After the next attack, I'll be in range to hit back before they can fire. I'll have to dodge the rest still but I can do this!' Jake hyped himself up as he dodged the last volley before lunging forward intent on smashing his giant metal fist on the closest monster.
Water smashed into him with force equal to a fire hose. He had just lunged, neither feet on the ground when it sprayed right into his chest. It actually knocked him back before he hit the ground. He awkwardly flailed his arms trying to keep from falling all the way, something that would probably be lethal as the next volley would be coming any second now.
Jake barely managed to dodge the next volley. Kicking hard to throw himself to the side and skidding to a stop. For a moment a self satisfied smile spread across his face. Until the one that had sprayed him shot him square in the chest with one of the walnut sized bullets. His shield shattered, the breaking of his shield giving an outward little burst that protected him from the breaking attack.
Now there was a problem. The one that had sprayed him was no longer in sync with the others. Firing off just a little bit after the others. His big advantage was now gone. Ella was still shooting away but now he had rotated around so the monsters were between them. She was shooting the others, not the one closest to him that was out of sync. He dodged the next volley of attacks and then tried to dodge the lone shooter.
He just couldn't recover in time. His feet were skidding across the red rocky dirt still when the lone attack came. It hit him in the shoulder this time. Jake barely even noticed the quarter of his health bar vanishing in an instant. He was too busy yelping in pain. That had actually hurt. Before he could ponder it much more before he was forced to dodge the next volley. Then get plinked with the lone attack again. His health dropped to half. Ella was frantically firing her bow, even moving closer some. Another one died. That made four. They were halfway there. But there was no way Jake would last long enough for her to kill the rest. Not with them set to finish him off in the next two attacks.
No time to think he dodged the next volley. He focused on the lone one, he could swear all five of its weird bug eyes were mocking him. It knew it had his ticket. It fired, Jake's footing still not recovered from his dodge. Angrily Jake swatted out at the incoming attack.
He was surprised when he felt an impact on his palm. It reminded him of catching a hard thrown pitch in a mitt. Somehow he had managed to catch the attack. Even better, it hadn't done him any damage. Jake started to mock the lone attacker before finding he had to dodge the next volley. As he did he dropped the hard object they had shot at him and tried to do the same thing. Again he focused on just the one out of sync attacker. His heart was pounding so much that he felt his ears tingling from the spiking adrenaline. His vision seemed to sharpen and… Thump. He caught the attack. Jake started to celebrate but instead forced himself to focus.
He dodge the next volley, even managing to make some forward movement with the dodge. Then up came his hand. As he got closer to the monster its attack's flight path was more straight and stable. It actually made it easier to catch them. Jake found his rhythm. He still couldn't dodge the second attack. But he was able to catch it. Not only that he was doing it easier and easier with each cycle. All while closing in.
Ella killed another just leaving two more besides the out of sync one. Now it was even easier. Finally within range again he lunged forward as he caught the newest attack. Barreling forward with his feet on the ground he intended to push through the water attack. Only it never came. His fist still holding the latest projectile came crashing down right on the monster's head. Its spider-like legs splayed out as it smashed into the muddy ground.
Despite its flabby body, he felt something crunch beneath his fist and the monster went still instantly.
[Dread Spitter added to beasteary]
Before he could celebrate he had to dodge the next volley. Now though he was so used to having to catch an attack after that it seemed like ages before he had to worry about the next attack. Charging forward he pushed through the sudden spray of water, using his left hand as a shield for his face. Slashing out with his right he sank his clawed hand right into the spongy flesh. Closing his fist he yanked hard dragging the monster towards him slightly before ripping a fist full of flesh out.
He dodged out of habit only for nothing to go sailing by. Ella was trotting towards him with a huge grin. The last monster having been killed while he fought the other.
"Wow. You are nuts. I can't believe you actually killed some. I figured you'd die." She stopped in front of him and slapped him on the shoulder. "Good job." Jake frowned at her when she admitted she expected him to die.
"Don't be a sour puss. Let's check out the loot!" Ella was already moving towards the closest one while drawing a knife he had never noticed from her boot.
**********
"Eight D ranked mana stones. We also got a monster essence from each of them! Nice." Ella was sitting cross legged not seeming bothered by the damp mud as she spread their haul out.
Jake was squatting across from the two piles not wanting to sit in the mud himself. "We can split it evenly. Even though I did most of the killing." When Jake glared at her she just laughed. "Hey, I said we could split it even. You helped."
Splitting the Power Cores as he corrected her was easy. They were all the same. The mutagen though weren't all the same. Five of them were a rather pretty blue. Three were a dark green. They took turns picking one. Only after they were done did he realize she had picked all three of the green ones.
"What do the green ones do?" Jake asked then added. "And the blue ones?"
"Dexterity for the green ones. Intelligence for the blue ones." Ella answered while putting her cores and mutagen in two pouches strapped to her belt. They looked like small drawstring bags, unlike his more sleek leg drop containers.
Jake grumbled to himself realizing he had been tricked again. Sure, as an archer dexterity was probably her primary attribute. The rust bucket robot trainer at the tech faction tutorial site had told him his primary attribute was strength. Secondary was speed. Dexterity would affect hand eye coordination. Something that would still prove useful. Intelligence on the other hand boosted memory and calculation ability. Not so important for a melee bruiser. He now had a bunch of useless mutagens. The robot wouldn't even buy them off him, all he could do is soak them up just to not waste them. Even saving them wasn't an option. Any still in his possession when he logged out would rot away apparently.
Ella grinned seeming almost pleased he had caught on. "Come on. Let's go get the ones that got away. Plus I know a few more watering holes we can farm!" She practically skipped off. Old bug goo dried on most of her and her backside was covered in mud yet she didn't seem to mind.
'Stupid tomboy girl.' Jake grumbled his thought but followed.