CHPT 233: Combat in the Canyon.

The sun, it loomed over them as a giant beacon of light while Claude and his team jogged through the maze-like fortress of the canyon.

They hopped in and out of pockets of shadow whenever the cavernous walls split to show the ocean blue sky that spread over them with a calming beauty that contrasted strongly with everyone's current state of mind.

Claude and Frosty spearheaded the line, leading with both speed and their inhuman senses that they honed and focused to reach out across the rocky terrain in search of any nearby or oncoming threats.

During their travel, sounds of far away combat echoed over the jutting walls and traveled through the maze to reach his ears. Sounds of flesh tearing, rocks loudly clashing against each-other and students yelling in both celebration and desperation. Combat within the Tangents had begun for many.

Closer to them, all he heard where their own footsteps marching in a cluttered mess behind him and the skipping clicks of small rocks that rolled down the walls nearby like a legion of scuttling insects.

They pushed onward down the slim path, senses alert and running with an anxious gait until they found themselves at a sort of natural intersection.

Claude skidded to a halt at the exact same time as his wolven brother and they began sniffing around the crossroads intently. The only sounds among the group were their nostrils sucking in large portions of air and sifting through the many scents to try and zero in on whatever had stopped them.

The rest of the group understood the situation and unsheathed their weapons while letting their eyes wander and skim across every possible point of entry.

"Talk to us, Claude." Isaac yelled to his teammate behind him.

".....strong scent....nothing like the rocks or water i've been smelling....shit!" He replied between sniffs and snarls.

"W-Woah..why shit! Whats the problem?" Warren questioned from beside him partway through loading an arrow into his bow.

"..."

Claude and Frosty suddenly stopped sniffing, letting animalistic snarls take their place instead while they rose up to their full height and faced the portion of the path going left-- going deeper into the shadows.

The rest of the group soon caught on to their change in demeanor after the chitinous pitter patter of multiple small steps echoed from the depths of each pathway they faced at the heart of the crossroads.

"Insectoid Monsters are often a problem for Beast Tamers due to the simple fact that they tend to secrete foul smelling liquids if they feel threatened....I think thats what im smelling." Claude replied to Warren's earlier question.

"I really hate bugs.." Isaac commented as the sounds neared and the light of the sun above them suddenly felt a lot less comforting.

"It sounds like a lot are coming....can we take them all?" Warren questioned through frantically moving eyes.

"Of course we can, they're bugs." Maris replied.

"If we can't, we'll make a break for it and take them to open area. If its what I think it is, they have terrible mobility so in open areas where we can move....their greatest weakness can become our strength. Until then, we fight here."

As if putting a period on his speech, the first of their adversaries emerged from the shadows in a small pocket of sunlight further down the path ahead of him and Warren.

Representing the build and colors of varying kinds of their Earthen counterparts, the creature looked normal on that front. But everything else was taken up a notch to make it both monstrous and gross.

The bulk of them moved at a slow tempo, stomping over the rocky canyon ground on four long spiky legs encased in a shiny black shell. Their two other legs hovered above the ground menacingly, protruding digits that curved and sharpened like natural sickles-- only the sickles were covered in spikes that looked almost like hair. Only, hair couldn't slice through low grade armor like paper.

Much like their legs, their thick and oval shaped bodies were encased in a shining onyx shell. But they couldn't see that yet. The creature's massive heads adorned with a handful of horns got in the way. On each side of the biggest horn at the center that resembled an Old World Rhinoceros, each creature watched them through a pair of oily black eyes while the sword-like pincers around their mouths snapped hungrily, flinging fluids all over the dry ground in front of them as they closed in.

"Yep....Nightmare Beetles." Warren confirmed followed by the sound of his bowstring being pulled taut.

"You go high, i'll go low." Claude said to Warren.

"You got it....I would say don't do anything crazy, but your crazy stuff keeps us alive...so good luck."

"Isaac! All insectiod Monsters have a natural heat resistance so focus on physical attacks. Ursula your Ice will do well here so try to freeze as many as you can, they'll die instantly!" Claude yelled to them before leaving the loose circle they had formed to face all directions.

They all yelled a thanks in understanding at Claude's fleeting frame that subtly changed with every step he made towards the beetles under the cover of arrow fire.

With every new step of sunlight amidst the shadows that he entered, he looked different than before as he borrowed the traits of his PitWolf that ran with him.

Claws....teeth...fur...eyes. By the time he reached the first beetle, he looked more Beast than Tamer.

He dashed past the first Nightmare Beetle while arrow after arrow sunk into its eyes or legs and closed in on the next target.

Fwoo!

The two highspeed predators closed in on a stray Nightmare beetle, splitting last second to confuse it and ripped through its shell cased legs with precise ease.

SHWSH!.....SHWSH!

In a flash of teeth, metal and claws, the creature's legs were ripped off and left it to fall on the floor as a legless scurrying mess.

Frosty kept running down the path while Claude mounted the wild moving limbless beetle and slid his sword through the armorless space between its head and body, immediately executing the creature.

SHLK!

[+65 EXP]

In the distance, Frosty danced around another monstrous insectiod before eventually lunging and grabbing hold of its back leg. The deafening sound of his wolven jaws cracking through the shell and sinking into horrid flesh echoed down the path loudly.

Next target.

Claude made his way towards the recently amputated beetle, bounding through and dodging other creatures that littered the hallway with arrows sticking from their eyes and mouths like targets at the end of a training session.

During his journey towards his next opponent, the beetle let out a shrill of anger or pain and rose up unevenly on two legs in preparation for some sort of heavy attack.

SSHHRRRRRCKCCK!!!

Warren's glowing yellow eyes zeroed in on the-- now bipedal, beetle, "Claude! Heads up!...N- No, why are you attacking?!"

The Lupine decided to let his actions speak for him as he dropped to a slide-- timed near perfectly with the beetle's descent, causing his Aura shrouded claws to rip through its thorax and abdomen in a way his sword couldn't.

SHHHHLCK!

In a flash of dust and rubble, he rose from behind the beetle while its blood and guts fell all over the ground like spilled stew.

[+65 EXP]

While he continued to outmaneuver and overpower stray Beetles with Frosty and Warren as support, the rest of the team found themselves in similar advantageous positions due to his knowledge of Monsters.

Isaac, as the standalone Knight used his strength and speed to fend off the Nightmare Beetle's Rhino-like charges while returning the favor with a charge of his own with so much devastating power that it cracked their shells and left them open to attacks from his personally fashioned cutlass.

Ursula and Maris used their speed and strength in tandem with Ursula's ice, causing the Beetle's to randomly shutdown mid-charge in response to their internal temperatures facing the harsh cold of an ice wielding Berserker. Only, everytime one fell, there was no blood left behind...

Maris moved ahead of her, through the path of shadows and light like a ghost, letting her ethereal and fluid movements carry her to victory with every slash and strike.

***

The flow of combat continued steadily until the numbers shrunk from forty....thirty....fifteen..all the way to three Nightmare Beetle's left within the pathways, moving amongst the dead and shredded remains of their insectoid allies.

"Claude! The last one's running!" Warren yelled down the path of blood and guts.

Before he could even reply, his (Prey Drive) took over and sent him sprinting after the fleeing Nightmare Beetle taken completely by the thrill of the hunt.

In seconds he was on the creatures shell encased back snarling as he slashed and clawed at its head. For a few moments it stayed that way, animal vs. insect. Then, reason flooded back into him, resulting in his hands fastening around its main horn and pulling it until it ripped off with a sickening snap.

"rrRRRGGG!"

SNAP!

In a flash he spun the horn around and stabbed it into the Beetle's neck.

Woo!

SHlnk!

[+65 EXP!]

In an instant, the creature went limp and crashed into the floor sending him flying off its back and landing in a roll.

He stood up just in time to realize a few drops of liquid sat on his chest, smelling foul enough to make his nose burn and eyes water.

".....Fucking prey drive."

In his mindless pursuit, he charged the fleeing Beetle and didn't even consider the chemical release that was meant to throw of pursuers. Now he smelled like death soaked in fecal matter and alcohol.

"Yea, why don't you stay over there.....you know for our sake!?" Warren yelled down to him.

"Funny." Claude replied with a scowl before jogging back to the center with Frosty.

Once they reached the crossroads, the trio was met by Isaac-- who looked no worse for wear than before other than the blood and shell pieces that stuck to his armor and shield as if it were the face of a battering ram instead of a defensive object.

"Your side done?" Warren asked.

"You know i--...awg! Who smells like dogshit?" Isaac replied with a disgusted expression on his dark-skinned face.

"It was bound to happen to one of us...." Claude replied flatly before the sounds of combat drew them towards the path Ursula and Maris fought their way down.

The four of them reached their path within seconds and caught them in combat with the last two Nightmare Beetles. Nobody made a move to join since the two looked more than capable of removing the threats on their own. Evidence of their competence lined the walls and floors down the path for dozens of feet.

Frozen splotches of blood clung to walls, remains of other beetles lay across the floor in shattered remains like they were made of glass and others were simply frozen whole-- left to sit like statues with gaping wounds in their necks and faces dealt out by a longsword.

Deeper down the hall of madness, Claude could see Ursula swinging her axes wildly through a cracked and broken Beetle, each swing left trails of snow and frost that glimmered from the shadows.

"RRRRRAAAA!!"

SWOOP!

CRUNCH!

With a final whooping swing of her axes, she cut through its horned head and reached the brains beneath, killing it instantly.

Claude, Warren and Isaac flinched in disgust at the sound.

Further down, Maris let off swipe after swipe, followed by her opponent losing one leg at a time until it fell and was skewered by her sword in a flash.

"WOOO!!"

"Its lookin easy!"

Warren and Isaac jokingly commended them as they pulled their weapons free of the Monsters and headed towards them.

A sigh of relief for the first time escaped Claude's lips-- before being cut short by the menacing red glow of another Nightmare Beetle's eyes behind Maris.

"WAIT! MARIS BEHIND YOU!" Warren was the first to notify her with urgency lining his voice in every sense.

Claude was already moving down the tunnel, but stopped midway as she turned and raised her glowing blue hand.

The dead Beetle next to her shook and vibrated as its foul smelling green blood was sucked from its body and collected above Maris's hand.

They'd seen her do this before, but the next part was new.

Without hesitation, she moved her hand in a fluid motion to face her pursuer, the hovering ball of green blood followed and sharpened like a spike that lengthened and snaked into the beetles mouth in a flash.

What followed were sounds only Claude could hear. Sounds of ripping, popping and tearing. Meaning, she turned the blood that she sent into its mouth into sharp objects that ripped its insides to shreds. That type of control over ones element wasn't normal for someone who was Reborn less than two months ago.

The Beetle fell at her feet with blood leaking from every hole in its mangled body. A picture perfect image of strength and weakness. Power and the lack thereof. Dominance and submission.

"Can all water users do that?" Warren asked speculatively.

Isaac shook his head with an easy going smile as the two approached, "Hell no. But ours can, sounds like a win to me."

Claude agreed with Isaac's take for the moment, but he could feel Arne's silence that only came when he was deep in thought. He could only question what the mysterious guide was thinking after watching Maris implode a giant beetle with its sibling's blood.

"We didn't do half bad, huh?" Ursula said as she approached with her axes held out.

"Not bad at all. They're strong as hell, but equally as slow. This should be smooth sailing." Isaac replied.

"I don't enjoy easy. I would've preferred Goblins...lots of them." Maris added with a troubled look on her face and the remnants of blood spilling from her nose.

"I think we new that, you nutcase." Warren replied while he served her a look one would give to a diseased individual.

"Where too next?" Ursula asked, suddenly in Claude's face.

He was abruptly snatched from his thoughts on the recent events when he realized they were all looking at him, "Uhh...I like Maris's thinking. Easy doesn't do us any good. We'll go down the path with the most bodies. There will probably be more where they came from. Maybe even the Boss. We need that EXP."

They all nodded in understanding before heading down the right path, previously occupied by Maris and Ursula.

While Claude jogged at the front, he found his hand hovering over the pocket holding his Lunar Artifact with worry for the future inside this Tangent.

"[Hopefully, that won't be needed...]"

"Hopefully...."