Antelligent Design

57. Don’t Mess with Momma

Slowly at first, then with increasing speed, the Garralosh Commander tilts to one side and crashes into the dirt.

BOOM!

The ground vibrates under the weight of its frame, rattling my legs and sending me scrambling to ensure I’m not crushed. Ha, ha! That’s how it’s done! I hope Tiny saw that. He’ll be irritated to no end that I managed to bring it to the ground before he did. Gwehehehehe!

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” someone screams.

Morrelia!

She’s finished off the chaff already? Focusing my near three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision, reveals it’s true. The broken and sliced remains of her foes litter the ground behind her as she charges toward us, her eyes burning with rage and her face twisted in a vicious snarl. Her two blades are held low and pointing directly at the croca-commander, her Dash Skill allowing her to move with unnatural speed.

You want to make your glorious entrance now? When the work is almost done? Well, I guess it doesn’t matter that much, help is certainly welcome when challenging a monster as powerful as this. Even wounded as it is.

And we have wounded it. Crinis has been biting and sawing away at two of the monster’s arms and shoulder for a while now, and her work has been rewarded. The scales have been penetrated and ichor is dripping from between her tentacles. It won’t be much longer and the croc is going to be down to half arms. Even if she doesn’t get that far, those two arms don’t look as though they’ll be much use in the near future. Not without some serious healing.

Tiny’s punches, on the other hand, have impressive destructive potential on their own, powered by his massive physique. And with him discharging bolts of electricity into the croc with each blow, he’s been savaging the inside of the monster just as badly as he has the outside. Of the three of us, the raw HP damage has been dealt by the ape, for sure.

My own contributions have been a bit more on the utility side. Slowing the monster, gumming it up with acid, weakening its defences and attacking it mentally in order to provide openings for my two pets to take advantage of. I don’t mind playing the support role for now, but I have to say I don’t feel it suits my temperament. I want to be right in the thick of things, slapping down the enemies of justice with my face-hands. Hopefully after my next evolution, I can address my current physical weakness.

All in good time. I still need to finish absorbing the rare core before I can even think of evolution.

Arriving as a storm of metal, Morrelia begins stabbing with incredible ferocity before the commander can even right itself. Her two blades don’t bite too deep, but the sheer weight of attacks is going to add up quick at the pace she’s going. She might even be the one to score the last hit.

W-wait a sec!

That experience is MIIIIIIIINE!

[Tiny! Hold down the handbag’s arms on your side. Jump on them if you have to! Crinis! Wrap up his jaws!]

[I might not be able to hold too long, Master! Holding its arms together is already stretching my limits!]

[Just do it! I only need you to hold for a little while. We can’t let Morrelia steal the experience!]

[What!] Crinis roars, appalled at the thought. [How dare this woman dream of stealing experience from Master? It won’t happen!]

As if possessed by a demon, Crinis lashes out with her tentacles, wrapping them around the croca-commander’s jaws and straining to hold them shut.

[Nice, Crinis!] I cheer.

Even as she moved, Tiny followed orders and leapt bodily onto the creature’s other side, landing heavily on its arms before simply throwing his whole body down on them, using his weight to pin the limbs to the ground. The croca-commander writhes and fights to resist the grip of the monsters wrestling it. Had it been at full strength, I doubt we would have been able to achieve this. The damn thing is simply too strong. But here and now, on the surface? This croc is running on fumes.

This is my chance!

With all four arms accounted for, the twin jaws sealed by the limbs of Crinis, and the tails pinned down by the creature’s own body, there will never be a better time to strike than now! Morrelia has continued her furious flurry of strikes, her arms and chest coated with the ichor that is now spraying from the deep wounds she’s beginning to inflict. I’m not even certain she’s trying to steal the last hit. I think she’s just deep in the depths of her rage, but I can’t give this up. I’ve gotta go fast!

Desperate to achieve the last hit, I draw out Mana from my core and direct it into my mandibles, launching myself onto the struggling monster’s chest. The croc struggles even more furiously when it realises it’s being stepped on by an ant, literally. There’s nothing it can do in the moment, as my mandibles begin to glow bright with the influx of raw Mana.

I’m going straight for the throat!

Shattering Bite!

With a ferocious crunch, my mandibles extend out, my energy manifesting itself in air, and come down with the satisfying sound of a symphony of smashed scales.

Not enough! Let’s keep this wagon rolling!

Bite! Bite! Bite!

With each chomp, I dig deeper and the croca’s struggles grow weaker, until finally…

[You have defeated a Level 46 Garralosh Praeceptorem.]

[You have gained XP.]

[You have reached Level 27. One Skill Point awarded.]

[You have reached Level 28. One Skill Point awarded.]

[You have reached Level 29. One Skill Point awarded.]

[You have reached Level 30. One Skill Point awarded.]

YASSS! That XP is MINE!

Take that, Morrelia! You poaching—

“GRRRRRROOOOOOOWL!”

What the heck was that!