"Over there," whispered Farid, pointing. Even though TJ knew what he was looking for, it was insanely hard to keep an eye on Seth while he was using Stealth. His silhouette was broken by the smoke, and he faded into the background as soon as he tried to. That paired with his Avenger Occupation's penchant for seeking out his enemies allowed Seth to quickly locate whatever they wanted to hunt, regardless of the prey's desire to stay hidden.
He didn't need to keep an eye on Seth to understand what Farid was telling him, though. A small group of pukwudgies was stirring up in the trees, hoping to avoid notice. They were better hidden from this perspective than they must have been from Seth's since they were effectively impossible for TJ to have reasonably found without being guided on where to look.
"Firing in three, two, one." Farid commanded, and on one, the three Acolytes loosed their shots. Javelins, crossbow bolts, and smaller caliber bullets tore the pukwudgies apart. As soon as the attack began, a bush nearby rustled, and a large snake TJ had forgotten about appeared. The rattlesnake did flick the tip of its tail back and forth, but instead of the segmented rattle, it now had a scorpion's stinger. TJ recognized the blessing from Serket, and shifted to his coatl form as he closed in with the inferior serpent and Appraised it to see its level.
Serket-blessed Rattlesnake, 16
It had reached a high level, much higher than most things they found. That the inhabitants of Pine hadn't seen any other reptiles at all, the only exception being the single rattlesnake TJ'd killed for his Class Quest. That there was one here, and it'd been blessed by the same Egyptian goddess that the other was put TJ on edge. Even so, the snake was something TJ needed to take care of personally.
The venom from the rattlesnake's bite wasn't something that TJ worried about, and he was more than twice the size of the other reptile, but he'd been warned by the System long ago that the stinger was where its most potent venom lay. As such, TJ prepared a blade of wind over two feet long, just to be sure. He pumped it full of a probably excessive amount of MP as he engaged in strafing blows with the rattler. Different from before, TJ didn't rush in. He needed to ensure that neither he nor anyone else got hit by that tail, because a single hit might end up being deadly.
"Stay back!" TJ commanded as Sarah and Connor jogged forward to put themselves in combat with the rattler. "It's venomous, and I'm immune to at least some of it."
"Ain't no way!" Sarah replied, but she was cut off by Connor's curse.
"Over here. Holy shit, what the hell are they?"
TJ didn't care to pay attention to what was happening on the other side of the fight, instead focusing on making sure the scorpion tail stayed far far away from him. As he'd grown larger and stronger, TJ had also taken the Shredding Bite Skill, and his face was now much different from that of a regular snake, instead much more draconic and sturdy. When the rattlesnake snapped out at him, TJ feinted forward, just to pull his head back when the tail struck for his eyes. As soon as that tail missed him, TJ knew he'd won.
The prepared blade of wind whipped forward and sliced deeply into the rattlesnake's spine just above where it transitioned to a foot-long scorpion's tail. Blood spurted from the wound as the wind whipped it everywhere, while the rattlesnake tried to turn and escape. Now that the sole dangerous part of the creature was mostly immobilized, TJ lunged and caught the snake's tail just below the deadly appendage in his mouth. With a triumphant snap of his jaws, TJ ripped the rattlesnake's tail off and tossed it to the side. His attempt at grandstanding was just as well, since the tail continued thrashing and attempting to pierce and envenom after being ripped free. The rattlesnake hissed in a combination of fear and anger, but TJ didn't care. It was entirely unthreatening to him now, and in a few short bites, he'd paralyzed and consumed the creature.
Looking back at Sarah and Connor, they fought against a pair of truly massive gila monsters. The yellow and black patterned lizards snapped at the two Zealots like crocodiles, but larger, wider, and meaner, as if a pony were coated in scales and rage then dipped in another 200 pounds of muscle. Their jaws' teeth dripped with more venom than the ordinary lizards could produce before the Integration. Behind him, TJ heard Stanton squeezing off more shots at the pukwudgies above. Several of the goblin corpses fell to the ground around them as TJ Appraised the newest threats.
Gila Monstrosity, 18
Gila Monstrosity, 17
"Have either of you been bitten?" TJ asked as he hurried to join them on the front lines.
"Nope." Sarah grunted in response as she smashed her shield down onto the top of one of the Monstrosities' heads. Knowing how hard she could hit, TJ was amazed that the beast was largely unhurt by her action. It roared a hissing protest and continued its attack against her, though she kept her legs clear of its massive maw and angrily thrashing forelegs.
"At least they're not Elites." TJ called back as he tried to find where he could fit into the fight. Connor and Sarah each focused on one of the reptiles, their threatening hisses seeming to be more bark than bite. Farid and Stanton stayed away, throwing spears and bullets at the beady little eyes. Stanton struck true and one eye exploded in a mist of blood and viscera. Unfortunately, the creature didn't seem like it'd been hurt so much as simply blinded. Worse, as it roared in pain from its wound, it charged past Sarah and into Connor.
Sarah rushed to try to interpose herself, but she and Connor were just too close for her to get there in time. The half-blind Gila Monstrosity's jaws wrapped around Connor's knee. He grunted in pain as he was surrounded with the glowing activation of his protective Skill. With his leg caught, though, Connor couldn't keep his feet and was wrenched back and forth like a dog with a favorite chew toy.
"Help! Me!" Connor screamed as he was slammed three times against the ground. Sarah's hatchet glowed with sparkling light and she swung down and cut deep into the reptile's back. It hissed in outrage, but didn't care about the wounds that the attack caused, instead continuing to focus on mauling Connor. Farid followed suit, running closer and throwing three javelins in quick succession, though they only managed to do a little damage and cause lightly bleeding injuries.
TJ had an idea occur to him, and, without thinking more about it, he deactivated Divine Transformation and pulled his Wendigo Blade out of its sheath. Then, ensuring he was out of the reach of the two creatures, he leapt onto the wounded Gila Monstrosity's back and plunged the Wendigo Blade deep into the deepest wound on its back. Before it could react, he sent a jet of wind through the blade and into the monster's flesh. The creature's body resisted being pumped full of air, but TJ forced more of his will and MP into it and was rewarded. With a sickening explosion of blood and scales, TJ's attack was successful.
He had to close his eyes to the spray of blood that threatened to blind him, but when TJ opened his eyes, he saw the cavernous wound he'd inflicted on the monster. A hole the size of a softball had replaced the flesh where he'd stabbed, and the creature's blood struggled to pool enough to fill the hole. Fortunately, with the massive wound it had sustained, the Gila Monstrosity released Connor. Wounded, it tried to retreat while the other fought to dispatch him as well, but Connor was able to get his shield between himself and the monster. It scrabbled madly at him, its blunt claws seeking to rip through his flesh.
"Hold on for just another second." TJ grunted as he shifted back into a coatl and, with his Copper tier of Wind Manipulation, began sawing into the monster's exposed spine.
"Outta the way!" Sarah shouted and TJ pulled himself back as quickly as he could manage. Just in time to watch Sarah's hatchet, glimmering with divine power, cut through the monster's spine. It went limp immediately, and though it didn't die, it was out of the fight. TJ looked behind himself, wondering what Stanton had been doing, but saw him guarding Rebekkah, who seemed to be struggling to keep herself from rushing onto the front lines to help Connor. Stanton's eyes were focused on everything around them, and he continued to take shots at anything that appeared nearby, from pukwudgies to other rustles in the bushes.
Refocusing, TJ threw himself at the Gila Monstrosity, wrapping himself around its torso four times and crushing down with all the force he could muster. He felt its ribs creak and crack, but TJ was far from done. He opened his mouth as widely as he could manage and set to tearing into its front right leg. His jaws and fangs, changed to do this now, wrenched the creature's shoulder up and back, its hand unable to support itself. The beast left off on tearing into Connor, instead rolling over on TJ and trying to crush him into submission, but it couldn't reach him with its jaws. As it rolled over on him, TJ felt his ribs creak, but he was fine. With its throat exposed, Sarah went to finish it.
"No." Connor growled. "This one's mine."
Sarah backed off as Connor activated the other part of his Skill and made the edge of his shield shine with a silver light. Then, with a roar of rage, Connor slammed the magically sharpened edge of his shield into the soft throat of the Gila Monstrosity. In one fell attack, the shield cleaved through the monster's neck and its head sagged back, neatly amputated. TJ slithered out from under the beast, his ribs complaining a little, but altogether none the worse for wear.
As soon as the melee died down, Rebekkah jogged forward to Connor, whose right leg was basically mangled, even though he continued to stand on it without much difficulty.
"How bad is the affliction?" TJ asked as he transformed back to human, keeping his eyes on the trees above. Stanton seemed unworried as he kept his eyes up, pet pistol Suzie at the ready.
"Minor Copper. 40 HP a minute until it clears. Doesn't give me a timeline, but–actually, now that I say it, says my body will fight it off in thirty minutes. That's more HP than I've got, but not by much. Just a bit of healing and maybe some Meditation and I'll be good to go."
"Not as bad as I guessed it would be." TJ said, shrugging. "With my Vitality as a coatl, I heal over 200 an hour, so that'd help a little in keeping it from killing me."
"Well, it says it slows natural regeneration of HP by 100%, and reduces Stamina and MP regeneration by 10%."
"That's no bueno." Sarah said as she hauled the massive lizard over her shoulder. "Didn't you say you could use Meditation to heal it off?"
"Yeah. It slows regen by 100%. With Meditation doubling it, I'd regen like usual."
"Makes sense." Sarah responded. "We ready to go?"
"I'll top you up right now," Rebekkah interrupted, shooting glances in both directions, daring them to stop her, "then we'll get moving."
"I don't mind that." Connor grunted. "Feels like I'm going to puke, sneeze, sneeze puke, and maybe just collapse and die on the side. A little pick me up would do me some good."
Rebekkah didn't quite scowl as she looked at Connor and his blase attitude. The younger man merely grinned as the matronly woman shook her head, laid her hand with the Raven Mocker's Remnant on it on Connor's head, and healed him. TJ hadn't realized until just that moment how much Connor's complexion had greened, and the sallow look flew away as Connor groaned in relief and rolled his shoulders back.
"Awesome. Thanks, Rebekkah."
They didn't talk any more as they began their journey back to town. It was morning, just before lunch on the second to last day of the Tutorial. And TJ had just gained three levels.