Not All Beasts Are Easy to Tackle

The next morning, Loki woke up, forgetting where they were for a moment. He looked around before remembering where he was. As he got up, his screen updated.

[Daily Challenge 2 completed: +5 Xp]

[560/800 Xp]

He looked around and saw Seraphine at the fire, still on guard. He walked over, telling her that she could go back to sleep for awhile.

As Seraphine gratefully went back to sleep, Loki quickly stored the strips of meat into his Inventory.

He saw the pelt of the musk ox lying on the ground, and stored that as well.

[72 strips of Musk Ox meat have been stored into Inventory]

[Musk Ox pelt has been stored into Inventory]

[23 spaces remaining]

Loki looked around and decided to go downstream a bit to quickly bathe himself.

After he had bathed, changed back to his old clothes (because he didn't have any spare clothes on hand), and returned to the clearing, the rest of them had already began to stir.

"Where's the meat?" Saltavore said groggily. "I thought it was being smoked."

"I already kept it," Loki answered. "You guys should take a quick bathe downstream. Then, we can continue our journey for the mana crystals."

Once everyone had bathed and was feeling more energized, Loki took 6 pieces of the meat strips out of his Inventory, leaving 66 strips of the meat.

As they walked, Loki passed out the strips of meat, one strip per person.

They all slowly ate the meat as they continued upstream, walking for what seemed like forever. They only took breaks to drink some water, Loki's Xp going to 565/800.

"It's been hours," Saltavore complained. "I'm hungry. Can you please pass me some meat please?"

"Yeah," Terrence said, sitting on a nearby rock. "I'm exhausted too."

Loki took out another 6 strips, handing them out as he said, "Don't eat it to fast. Each person only has 12 strips, so we have ration it out. If we eat 3 strips a day, we only have enough food to for four days."

"Can't we just hunt again?" Seraphine asked, chewing on her strip of meat.

"By the looks of it," Nishan noted. "There aren't many beasts around here. We might not meet any for the next few days. In fact, it's kind of strange to meet a musk ox so deep in the forest. Didn't Mr. Joshua once say that musk oxen like to stay in open clearings?"

"Hmm..." Daphne thought as she ate. "Maybe something chased it out here?"

"It's speed was down by 10, and his strength was down by 15," Loki added. "Maybe something was chasing it? And maybe it had to fight that thing?"

"There weren't really any cuts on its pelt," Terrence mused. "There was just this smallest sort of hole? Like something poked it? It was really small, though."

"Maybe it was poisoned," Nishan said in a horrified tone. "Maybe we're poisoned as well!"

"Relax," Daphne rolled her eyes. "Mr. Joshua said that even if a musk ox is poisoned or drugged, its immune system would kick in and the poison would be cancelled. So, we aren't poisoned."

As they were discussing about the musk ox while resting, they heard a loud bellows that were silenced all too quickly.

The six of them shot to their feet and took out their weapons, Terrence and Seraphine picking up large sticks nearby.

As the sound got closer, they quickly moved aside, and not a second to soon. A stampede of musk ox rushed by them, bellowing loudly.

"What is spooking them so-" Saltavore stopped speaking as a shadow fell over them.

A beast that was about 8 feet tall was towering over them. It had a dragon-like head, with a gigantic body of an ape, large snake scales covering its entire body, 8 legs, and a large scorpion tail. It was charging after the herd of musk oxen, snapping up some in his jaws, temporarily poisoning and paralyzing others, and trampling the rest.

"What the hell is that?" Daphne whisper-yelled as they hurriedly backed into the woods to avoid being trampled.

[Name: Immanis Beluae]

[Strength: 89/90]

[Speed: 54/55]

[Its dragon head can breathe fire, its hide is two times thicker than a musk ox, its legs are strong and fast, and its tail can penetrate through thick hides and poison or paralyze its enemies]

[For anyone who doesn't have hides as thick as a musk ox, the stinger on the tail can pierce right through the body of the targeted]

[The only place that it can be penetrated is the junction between its tail and body, where there is a small break in its scales]

[Once the Immanis Beluae has been hurt there, its scales will slowly fall of]

[The fastest way to kill it is by stabbing it in its eyes]

[Stabbing his eyes will kill it within a minute]

[Combat Quest: Defeat the Immanis Beluae: +135 Xp]

[Combat Quest: Defeat the Immanis Beluae: +Mystery Reward]

Loki hurriedly told the others what he had just Inspected, letting Daphne know mentally know what will happen if they defeat the Immanis Beluae.

"How are we supposed to stab that thing, which is twice our height, in the eye?" Nishan exclaimed.

Terrence quickly clapped his hands over Nishan's mouth. "Don't be so loud! We haven't caught its attention yet, though once it's done with the musk ox, it'll probably hear, smell or see us. We should use our element of surprise to our advantage, as it's the only advantage we have."

Saltavore nodded. "So, lets decide two things. Who will stab it to make the scales fall of, and who will kill it?"