Leona watched as the mages following her lead prepared to engage the enemy that was lurking in the bushes. As the strongest mage in the group, it was her duty to be the first to fight the enemy and protect her fellow mages. As Aranea used a fiery spray of stars to attack whatever lurked in the interior of the island, Leona directed her eyes in the sky to take a closer look at whatever it was that just knocked down a couple of trees.
"
Go look where the trees fell and tell me what you see!" Leona telepathically directed her harpy sisters.
"
OK!" Sylvia said while flying towards the site. Daphne and Sandy followed close behind to do their mistress' bidding. Once the winged trio reached the approximate area where the trees fell they began circling overhead like vultures circling the carcass of a recently deceased animal... or a recently deceased human.
"
What do you see? Do you see anything?" Leona asked the trio. They continued to fly overhead.
"
Are you sure that something was even here? Cause like, I'm totally not seeing anything!" Daphne answered.
"
I see where the trees were knocked over, but I'm not seeing anything else." Sylvia chimed in.
"
Me neither. I thought that I saw a flash of white, but I'm not really sure." Sandy added her report.
"I'm looking into it, guys. Keep a safe distance while I send a summon in to check it out!" Leona warned everyone. While her harpies kept watch, she raised a hand into the sky and called upon the pharaoh owl that fancied itself an incomparable master of surveillance.
"PHARAOH OWL SUMMON!" Leona called out. A small tan owl flew down, landed on her right forearm, and turned its head towards her while stretching its wings.
"What would you ask of me?" Ramses inquired with a twist of his head.
"My harpies believe that they saw a flash of white in those woods. However, their wingspans are a bit too wide to fit in the forest canopy. Could you go in and check it out?" Leona asked the owl while pointing towards the woods with her left hand. It closed its eyes and emitted a small hooting laugh.
"Of course I can! I can fly where others cannot!" Ramses triumphantly declared. He stretched his wings and gave another small laugh. Leona was hoping that Ramses did not just bite off more than he could chew.
"OK. Good luck and if you run into trouble, don't hesitate to get out of there!" Leona advised the small owl. He flapped his wings and took to the sky, flying towards the circling harpies and diving down at the point they were circling. Leona waited for any information he could obtain.
"
I am seeing footprints on the ground near the fallen trees. They appear to be considerably bigger than those of a human." Ramses began an initial assessment of the site. Leona was starting to get a bit worried about what they would be up against. Tsak Ordahic had many mutated creatures that called the island home and this was the alliance's first encounter with them.
"
The footprints are forming a trail that leads deeper into the woods. I will follow them and inform you of what I find." He said to her. Leona waited for a new report from her diminutive eye in the sky and looked towards her harpies, who were still dutifully circling the area she had assigned them to keep an eye on.
"
This is like, so boring! There's nothing there!" Daphne complained. Leona ignored it and listened for Ramses to report back on what he was seeing.
"
I am following the trail of footprints and they end at a clearing. I have spotted a giant white beast with four arms, two of them normal and two of them shaped like tentacles." Ramses reported. Moments later she heard another note from the owl.
"It has spotted me and has begun pursuit. I fear I cannot outfly it in time!" Ramses reported. The harpy sisters stopped circling and began to dive down to protect the owl but were too late. Leona heard the owl give a panicked hoot before she felt it dissipate.
"
Like, no way! That thing just killed Ramses!" A distraught Daphne informed Leona. She and the other two harpies flew above the beast and stayed out of its reach. Leona saw more trees crashing down and felt the earth shake a little as something came stomping out of the woods. The blonde did not have words to describe the abomination that was facing them.
It looked like it had a split head that doubled as jaws. True to Ramses' word, the beast had two normal arms and two tentacle arms below the normal ones. It had an enormous tail that was almost as long as its body and thick legs that were comparable to telephone poles. What was that thing?
"THERE IT IS!" Leona called out. She pointed her right hand at it and fired a Wind Bullet, but the beast ducked down and the Wind Bullet hit the top of a tree and broke it. The beast roared at her before Aranea's attack hit; despite making a hit the spray of burning stars did not seem to have too much effect. Fighting this beast would be a team effort.
- Bone Chimera:
Perhaps the most ironic metaphor for humanity's unending greed, this terrifying monstrosity is what remains of a group of people fused together and mutated into a new, deadly shape by the pathogen, driven only by the desire to consume more and more. This being is bipedal, though bestial in shape, standing on it's hind legs to attack with it's 4 long, clawed arms. It's head is huge and burdened with an over-proportionate, gaping maw that is lined with row upon row of sharp, bone like spikes and teeth, held in balance by a long, fleshy tail. These monsters hunt on their own, are pretty fast for their size and will rush at the first living thing they encounter, trying to grab or slash it with their 4 arms before consuming it whole.
- Enemy Rank: Normal
- Enemy HP: 300 HP
- Enemy MP: -
- Enemy Melee Damage: 100 HP
- Enemy Spell Damage: -
- Enemy Speed: 40 m/s
Bone Chimera HP: 240/300 (-60 HP from Aranea's Starry Sunfire Spray spell)
[Word Count: 927]
[Total Word Count: 3,018/8,000]