As Hugo approached the huge python, it reared it's head back hissing before spinning in a circle whipping it's mutated tail towards Hugo.
*BAM!*
Pincer and tail connected as the sand beneath Hugo's legs was thrown up in the water.
"Raaaaghhhh!" Hugo yelled as the sand revealed the that part of the tail had pierced through Hugo's thick pincers.
However before the yellow snake could pull his tail away from the even angrier crab, Hugo used his other pincer to crush down on the base of the spike, right were the softer flesh met with the hard mutation.
"MnnnnGHHH!" The snake groaned as he felt the end of his tail being pinched and yelled out, "Attack!"
Just as elder Carn had suspected, roughly a dozen other snakes emerged from in front of them rushing at the Carak tribe.
3 of the snakes went for Carn himself, seemingly focused on distracted on him rather than hurting him.
Recognizing their strategy of wanting to let Hugo and the leader snake duke it out, Carn's eyes glowed green for a moment before discharging the light they had been accumulating.
"Thorns!"
Nearby plants such as seaweed and patches of moss and kelp suddenly elongated themselves into two long strands of greenery before numerous sharp thorns emerged from their sides and lauched themselves at two of the snakes respectively.
Luckily it would appear that the Synok tribe didn't bring another yellow ranked creature, or at least that creature was still in hiding if it really was here meaning that they would be able to fight back without revealing all of their power yet as well.
As the two strands of plants rushed forwards towards two of the snakes, one of them managed to dodge out of the way, slimly avoiding the bristles on them, however the other snake was not so lucky.
Attempting to pull off the same maneuver as the snake next to him, this smaller brown snake ended up accidentally rolling directly into one of the thorns on his other side resulting in it getting stuck on him for a moment before the plant pulled itself downwards.
"SCAAAAAA" The snake let loose a hideous sounding hiss as it now had a massive gash covering a portion of the left side of it's body.
The other two snakes quickly realized the difference in power between themselves and the crabs and opted for a different strategy instead of their previous one.
Now, instead of approaching Carn and attempting to get the first hit off on him, the snakes focused on blocking his path and using their superior mobility to dodge absolutely everything they could and not allow Carn to advance onwards to the boss battle.
Looking past them in frustration, elder Carn saw both Hugo and the snake bashing heads with one another as they furiously exchanged blows focusing completely on the offensive and neglecting their defense.
Getting anxious about the state of his fellow elder, Carn looked towards the other creature who had the best chance at helping out the crab.
Elder Carn briefly looked around the battlefield for a few moment's before spotting the large smooth turtle struggling against an especially quick snake who was dashing in and out of the turtles range taking small bites as it could.
'It looks like the Synok tribe was well prepared to fight against Jurn' Carn thought in dismay as he noticed that they had focused on speed over strength.
Jurn's own strength came from his especially hard shell which made him very hard to hurt against both piercing and crushing attacks.
Unfortunately, it would appear that the snake he was up against had absolutely no defensive properties. Normally this would be a good thing, but what's the point of having a strong defense if you're not going to be hit in the first place?
Carn also noticed how Jurn's movements appeared to be getting slower and slower as well, making the speed disparity between the two creatures even more discernable.
The snake wouldn't be able to kill Jurn, that's for sure. The turtle is only slightly behind Hugo in Carn's opinion and a snake of the orange tier wouldn't be able to take the turtle down in this battle.
However this snake would effectively be able to take Jurn out of the fight, which spelled bad news for the Carak tribe considering that they had now technically "lost" a yellow ranking creature to an orange rank.
Bringing up a patch of moss behind himself, elder Carn dissuaded another attack from landing on his backside as one of the two encircling snakes attempted to strike.
Unable to land a hit on the snake before it backed out of his range yet again, elder Carn looked around before spotting a potential route for their victory.
His eyes narrowed in on the smaller crab, as he continued to attempt to fight back against his own snakes while keeping an eye on the battle between the two orange ranked creatures battles.
...
(Shelton's POV)
*SMASH!*
I heard yet another loud crash as the two much larger predators brawled with one another in a seemingly torturous battle.
Holy Hell!
I'm not even that close to them and I feel like they're partially attacking me with the sound alone!
Elder Hugo and the Python's leader are clearly much larger than me, but it doesn't look like they're powerful enough for me to not be able to tell what's going on.
I can clearly see the movements of Elder Hugo as he slams his pincers against the snake's tail, body, and head, but the snake leader is a little harder to keep track of.
Either way, I stop my eyes from wandering back onto the major fight between this battle and turn my eyes back towards my own snake who approached me again.
To be honest I'm not 100% why this guy is still fighting me. He is a little bigger than me but at the same time, from the few blows we've traded so far, it's clear that this guy isn't a match for me.
The large blue python dashes at me again, as I once again, connect one of my pincers with his head, making a notable dent and gush of blood emerge from the snakes mouth.
I want to say that my blows have some serious power behind them, but being able to constantly listen to the exchange of moves between the creatures ahead of me, my modesty keeps my attitude in check.
I lunch forward with my pincers reaching for my opponent's head before I see it's body swirl towards me rapidly causing me to redirect my blow the stop the attack.
Successfully getting me to void my punch, the snake quickly retreats back to a distance away from me before staring at me again hatefully.
The only advantage this python has on me is his speed, which is only barely faster than mine. However, this kind of sucks for the snake as it's clear that it's a strength based creature, not speed, so it's not able to abuse it's advantage to it's fullest potential.
It's at moments like these when I find myself wishing that I had a pale octopus sitting atop my head, throwing out jokes which sometimes made absolutely no sense at all.
I have no doubt that if Oliver was to fight this python, that it would find itself dead before it could even blink, but unfortunately I can't seem to say the same, as I... just... can't... finish it!
Throwing another swing at the python who had begun to approach me once again. It quickly dashes out of my range as my mood begins to take the better of me.
"Fight me for crying out loud! Stop running away!" I yell at it, causing the snakes eyes to constrict even further into tighter slits.
'Oh?' Seems like I hit a sore spot for the python as I see itself launch at me with newfound speed faster than it was before.
A chance!
Seeing the approaching snake rush at me with seemingly no intent to back down this time, I spread out my pincers out as if going to give it a hug.
The snake only flinches for a second, no doubt in confusion at my actions before it eventually reaches me and quickly wraps itself around my body.
'OOOooooo, pythons really can squeeze quite tightly' I think to myself as I hear my joints creak and my muscles being squished.
I think I might've underestimated this snake a little bit as my carapace may have even been cracked from the sheer pressure the snake is using.
However, you made a mistake!
Reaching up with my pincers, I attach one to the neck of the coiling snake, and the other to a part of it's body before clamping down with all my might.
"RGGGGHHH!" The snake attempts to vocalize what I can only imagine is a scream before I squeeze down even tighter on it's neck.
It rapidly untangles itself from my body and attempts to flee from me but I grin in victory.
It's too late!
With my mutated pincer's I found that one aspect of them which had been upgraded the absolute most, was it's grip!
I continue to squeeze against the thrashing snake as parts of it's body begin to coil around me and uncoil in rapid, frenzied movements, struggling with all it's might to escape from me.
*Crack!*
I feel my pincer which was attached to the neck portion of the python suddenly clamp down even further, as a cracking sound accompanies the sudden movement.
Along with the sound, the movement of the python stops, and I look down at it's eyes to see them hollow and void.
Finally! About time it died!
As I through the coiled snake corpse off myself I hear my name get called out.
"Shelton!" I look over to see elder Carn entangled with two snakes who, while weren't as bulky as the snake I was fighting, were definitely much faster, or at least knew that their speed was one of their advantages.
'Does he need help?' I think to myself as I look at the elderly crab.
'No. He's fine? What does he wa-'
My thoughts we're cut off as I see elder Carn gesture over towards the sound of clashes and hear him once again, "Go and help Hugo!"