Ella was firing off arrows as fast as she could. Using her Arrow Rain ability whenever it came off cooldown, even using her cooldown reset ability. This wasn't their first Grim village to clear. Her group had made most of their progress by clearing monster nests or villages where the sheer number of monsters could net them a profit even once split. This one had already seemed strange before. The defensive wall and large numbers had triggered the party's danger sense. That was why they wanted to recruit some more fighters. Merc and his annoying little tag along had been the perfect fit.
Ella, Aero, and Gadget had invested all their resources into large scale attacks designed to wipe out weaklings in mass. Against tougher monsters, they ran into issues. Even the three eyed Grims were a problem for them. Ella actually had the strongest attack of her party but it took ages to use. The last time they had faced a four eyed Grim it had been another caster. That one used fire and was the only four eyed Grim. There had only been ten or so three eyes in the entire village then.
There had been many times that number of three eyes even if Ella hadn't been able to keep count of them all. Gadget would have had to reconfigure her larger drones to handle them. While Aero had only three offensive attacks in his entire kit. The rest were buffs and like Ella, his strongest attack took so long to cast it wasn't viable against the number of three eyed monsters they faced now.
As much as she didn't like the girl, every shot Cass fired killed one of the tanky three eyes. When not one but two four eyed Grims arrived, Ella still thought they had the situation under control. Until they watched as the shaman somehow deflected the bullet from the most oversized sniper rifle Ella had ever seen. Not once but twice even. Nor did Aero's lightning bolt seem effective, the shaman had redirected it with that strange staff.
There were still too many lesser Grims to deal with and the shaman had chosen just to stand there so the group ignored it. While trying to figure out what to do about the other one. Somehow it was able to vanish and reappear at will. It even avoided sniper fire with ease doing that. When Aero had hit it with his lightning bolt the thing seemed hardly damaged and shrugged off the paralysis effect too quickly. Then the next one barely even made it flinch.
Right now though the bigger problem was the shaman, it had finally made a move. Ella didn't know what it had done but the explosion in the distance and the sudden end of the sniper fire made her swear. She might not like the girl but she didn't want anything to happen to her, not while they still needed her in the fight.
She was trying to watch Jake's duel with the teleporting Grim while still mowing down the smaller ones when she felt all the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She glanced over and saw the shaman, still standing right outside the tunnel glaring right at her. She fired several quick shots off but they bounced off their unseen barrier doing no more than Cass's sniper fire.
She couldn't hear it but with her enhanced vision, she could see its mouth moving. That staff was raised up in the air and lots of those metallic crystals were starting to grow.
"Aero. Gadget. Creep alert. It's looking right at me and I think it's trying something." Ella glanced around for somewhere to take cover but the only thing around them was the short rock wall. That would mean running closer to it and the smaller Grims still trying to get to them.
"I've only got three of my babies left and my one use healer bots." Gadget's voice somehow sounded weepy and like a snarl at the same time.
"I got you." Aero fired off another lightning bolt that hit a group of Grims hopping over the wall. It danced between them briefly before vanishing, leaving charred and smoking corpses behind. Aero started chanting his own spell while his staff lit up.
The newly grown crystals glowed orange and then shot off from the tip of the shaman's staff straight toward Ella. She tensed up but held her ground, even managing to fire off another shot to drop a charging lesser Grim. A half sphere of whirling wind materialized in front of Ella. The streaking orange glowing crystals hit it. To Ella and Aero's horror, they punched through. Luckily instead of being solid, the crystals were now molten metal. It sprayed globs of the glowing metal all around Ella but managed to prevent any from hitting their mark. The globs still struck the hard ground with enough force to leave small impact craters that smoked as the metal cooled.
"Aero and Gadget. Clean up the small fries. Jake deal with that stupid blinking meat head. Cass, I see you are still alive. Get your big boobs back in the fight. We need to take down that things barrier. I've got its attention." The shaman still hadn't moved. It just smirked at them as if its attack being foiled was but a minor inconvenience. Ella fired a few arrows to keep its attention even as she started running. There was no other choice left. The only cover around was in the village. She would take her chances with the little ones and focus on her kiting abilities.
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Jake and the blinking Grim were still in a wild brawl. Jake almost gained the upper hand between Gadget's shield recharging drone and his vicious low blow. Using his recharging shield he could trade blows with the Grim and come out on top. The only problem was eventually the thing could start teleporting again. Vanishing and reappearing rapidly to launch a flurry of blows Jake couldn't defend against.
"Not fair. I have no skills and yours can be used defensively or offensively. It's not fair!" Jake knew he sounded like a child throwing a tantrum and didn't care. The Grim took the bait thinking Jake was distracted. When it lunged for him Jake stepped in and headbutt the monster combining their momentum. His mask shattered but right then he didn't need it. It absorbed enough of the damage to keep him from losing any health.
It stumbled back dazed and Jake went low for a second time intent on finishing the job of neutering the monster. When Jake uppercut it again the thing caught him by surprise. It dropped straight to its knees. Jake's fist still caught it in the chest instead of the groin. The angle of attack was wrong deflecting his arm high and away. Two meaty arms wrapped around Jake's body right at the bottom of his ribs. Instantly his breath was squeezed out of him as the thing stood up. With his left arm pinned to his side bent at the elbow his gauntlet helped shield him some from the crushing force. But also robbed him of his left arm, cutting his attacks in half. Still, he brought his elbow down on the monster's head. But it seemed to do little. The thing pushed its noseless face into Jake's chest to keep him from landing any solid blows.
Jake tried to punch it with his right arm but his oversized gauntlets actually hindered him in such a tight space. Still, he hammered away but any damage he dealt was minimum compared to the crushing damage he was now suffering. Jake couldn't breathe, his lungs were unable to draw in another breath. Worse the grip was so tight even his blood wasn't able to flow. His face started to turn red and then purple as darkness crept into his vision. Sparkles started to flash and he felt real fear for the first time.
"Never fear Gadget to the rescue!" Jake heard her over the voice chat but didn't know what she was doing. Only Gadget saw one of her Shock Drones zip towards the hugging pair. It raced past Jake's kicking legs and right into the Grim's loincloth. She giggled wildly into chat when she not only had it discharge its full battery but detonate afterwords.
The crushing pressure around his body lessoned for a brief moment. Just long enough for him to wrench his left arm free and suck in a shallow breath. His vision cleared slightly letting him see the monster bear hugging him tilt its head back. All four of its eyes crossed.
There still wasn't enough room for solid blows so Jake did the only thing he could think of staring into that face. He jabbed both his thumbs into eye sockets. One on each side of the face. The thing went wild. Instead of loosening its grip, it clamped down with sudden violence so much so that Jake tasted blood and bile. It felt as if something snapped in his body as the thing glared at him with both its remaining eyes. Jake just gritted his teeth and clamped his oversized hands onto the thing's head, digging his claws into the back of its skull.
They were locked in a wild race of sheer might now. Jake dug his claws in and felt them scrape against bone. Overhead Gadget's shield drone refilled tiny amounts of his shield that depleted instantly. Growling and spitting blood the Grim tightened its grip. Jake did the same until he felt his claws piercing the bone of the monster's skull. Try as he might he couldn't crush its skull. His vision was starting to fade again and with one final surge of defiance, he changed tactics. With his thumbs buried in its eyes, he pried the skull apart. There was the crack of bone and suddenly both his arms snapped out wide. A third of the Grim's skull flew free of each hand as cerebrum fluid and blood gushed down its back. To Jake's horror, it didn't let go or die. Its brain was exposed on the back half of its head and yet still the monster wouldn't die.
"JUST DIE!" Jake tried to scream but he had no breath to make even a squeak. Both of his oversized metal hands came together in a mightly clap. Brain splattered from between them to spray out behind the monster.