Being deeper in the wasteland forced us to hide under spikes that offered shade to cool us down and take a rest. Heat waves were visible in the distance, rolling over the rocky ground and distorting our vision.
"Guh, this heat sure is getting me wet, and not in a good way." Jessie dragged herself from leaning on the spike and fell on all fours beside me. " At least at night, we could warm ourselves with a few activities."
"We are almost there," Briggs tried to console her. "We are getting there when the sun is fully hidden."
"Oh... shit."
"We will have to keep alert when we get close." He glanced at me, "Well more than normal."
I had let my guard down earlier this day and fell asleep during one of our rests in the shade, thanks to this a black stinger almost got in my sleep. Tifa had shielded me and got stung on one arm, thankfully she had an antidote in her bag but with my lull of awareness, she had been hit. Since then I have been on full alert and ready to snap at anything that directed any hostility towards any of us.
"It's ok." Tifa gave me an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder, "C'mon let's go."
I gave my canteen a quick sip before sealing and returning back to my pack. The merciless sun hit me with all the heat it cooked everything out here with.
"Bri-Bri, how can you be in METAL and not be charged with this heat?" Jessie asked in horror and wonder.
"The smith said they were magically enhanced always to keep cool, they are common out here in the wasteland."He lifted his armed hands to his cheeks. "Ahh, nice and cool." For a moment we all thought he lost himself in the 'cool' feeling his gauntlets emitted. "Also stop calling me bri-bri!"
"Give me one of your magically cooled meta; bits and I will." She threw herself at him like a zombie going for meat only in this case a zombie made by heat throwing herself at something cold.
"Why didn't you tell us that the heat out here was harsh enough for armor to be enchanted to be cool?" The temptation of stealing his armor and sharing it with the two girls started taking shape in my mind.
Slowly he started getting away from me after seeing the glint in my eyes. "Well you see it is our first time out here, so I thought it must have been the blacksmith being a worried ward over new adventurers going deeper into the wasteland or something like that." He scrambled to take the full armor covering his left arm off, unhooking the straps around his chest. "Look here, take this and use it to keep yourselves cool, yeah?" By the end of his little deal, he sounded unsure.
"Mine!!" Jessie jumped in and took the armor with a crazy look. Having sweaty wild hair that escaped the confines of her ponytail stuck to her face.
"No, we are all going to share it." Tifa walked up to a tug of war over the gauntlet with Jessie.
"Mine! My precious!" A brief struggle ensued over the gauntlet and I watched the sweaty women fight over a shiny piece of metal and cheered for one side to win. I didn't cheer for Tifa because I liked her but because she would share the spoils, unlike her greedy but sexy opponent.
Tifa managed to flip it and rotate it enough to where the gauntlet was in Jessie's hands and she held the shoulder.
The pulling strained the straps keppiing it together and the arm-armor broke into 3 parts. Tifa regained her balance first and rushed to get the 2nd part on the ground.
"There, you keep the gauntlet." She turned to me "And we keep these." Looking at the pieces of equipment in her hands she looked a bit conflicted.
"I'll take the forearm part off your hands," I reached out for it and she gladly pushed it into my hands.
"Thank you." She said under her breath and placed the pauldron on her arm. I helped her tighten the straps around her back and over her breasts tightening them in a buckle near the backside of her armpit.
For me, it was simply a matter of wrapping it around my forearm and tightening the belts. Jessie was busy running the gauntlet all over her body and giving everyone an erotic show without taking off her clothes.
We kept switching between fighting, resting, and bantering the rest of the day until we reached our destination.
"Let's make a plan for the upcoming fight. Do we go in and take the fight to it in its territory or take a rest and wait for it to come to us?" Donny who was between all the groups called us all and asked.
"Why not lure it out into a trap?"I wondered if it was so obvious no one proposed it or it did not even cross their minds.
A 'tsk' and Brutus started walking in the direction of the cave, his name wasn't Brutus but I kept forgetting his name so I called him Brutus cuz he's like a Brute from Halo... In the way he acts, he's got the looks of a supermodel like everyone else.
"Keep going, what do you have in mind?" Donny brought me back from my little trip down memory lane.
"The spike and stone over there could serve our long-range DPS as a high ground to shoot from, tank get in front and take most if not all of the damage while the healers do their thing from behind. Close-range DPS weave between the tanks and strike every chance they get." I got my mind into forming plans that I forgot they did not know gaming terms.
"What does all of that mean?" Donny asked the rest of my team, the confusion visible on his face.
"He starts spewing things that seem to be nonsense, but they are actually brilliant tactics. DPS are the people who deal the most damage, tanks are the front line protecting themselves and everyone else, also attract the enemies too." Briggs replied in a small voice, almost a whisper.
"Well ok,,,,,, but we need to lure the quarry out somehow." We all scratched our heads at that.
"Why not just send someone in to drag them out?" Someone in the group proposed.
"Maybe the highest level 'tank' could go in there and try to lure it out but their speed would play a huge role, If we just wait for it who knows how long we will have to wait for it?" Donny sunk the fang of his teeth the thumb of his left hand, his spear leaning on his shoulder and his hand lightly held the lower half of its handle.
"Couldn't we just lure it out with some fresh blood?" Jessie who was fiddling with her bow asked. "There is a type of blood they can't resist after all."
"And how do you know that?" Donny asked.
"Just heard it on a stop we made on our way to this desolate place." Relizing she might confuse him she added, "To the wasteland, not this quest."
"Grr, let's stop the talky talky and go for it!" Brutus walked up to Donny's spear and ran his palm on the blade, a cut from between his index and his thumb to the opposite side opened his palm and a veil of blood ran down his hand and his forearm. "Time's a tickin, so hurry and set yourselves up."
Everyone scrambled into position. We didn't voice it but apparently, we were going with my setup. Mages and archers ran back and those with shields and or heavy armor set themselves in front of us looking like the wall from Attack on Titan, or at least they did to me.
The liquid supposed to be able to hurt these creatures soaked our blades and or offensive melee weapon.
The pounding of my heart resounded in my ears. Sweat covered my palms but my breathing kept its calm, deep rhythm.
Tifa beside me kept switching her weight from one foot to the other, her shoulders rotating and her finger stretching out and clenching into a fist to warm herself up most likely.
Briggs was fidgeting with his sword, his eyes locked on the entrance of the cave.
Brutus came running out of the cave missing an arm. A spray of blood came out of his stump. Terror was written on his face. "Run!!!"
The healer of his party ran to his side but before she finished her second step we saw something break the roof of the cave and land on Brutus making a wet slap noise like a watermelon landing on the ground from an apartment on the fourth floor. The sound crisp and clean made our spines shudder in fear of the image it formed in our minds.
A small cloud of dust obscured our vision of what had caused it.
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Word Count 1522
If there are any grammatical errors let me with a comment on the paragraph.
Thank you guys. I appreciate your reading so far.