Fantasy The Last of Us Among the Cosmos

[Yaruzaru]

Yaru would cease the chatter momentarily on his side with the threat ahead of them. He makes a mental note of where his wheelbarrow is in any case, being pretty certain that he'd have to do a lot of running to avoid something of the size they were facing.

 

[Many Weapons Guy]

The thing seems to have fully turned to the team now.
Another growl. Another rumble.
The thing slowly comes into view, its eyes glowing brighter.
The silouhette starts to become clearer and looks to be an elephant now...
... An elephant with tree barks, leaves and vines piercing out of its body and covering outside it.
Its trunk is fused with the half-alive snake.
There are carnivorous trees that grow out of its back ; there is also another one where the elephant-like monster's tail would be.
Its legs, its hooves, have thorns shaped and sharpened into claws and talons.

Ragna 's eyes widen as the monster comes into view, but still partially surrounded in the fogs and darkness. But he stands prepared to throw some elemental nuke its way.
Jin prepares his hammer and gun, to throw some physical nuke too.

Galaxy_730 Yaruzaru

 

[Yaruzaru]

The monster was a riddle of grotesque inconsistencies that would likely see most running in the other direction. Which was all the more reason for Ragna and the others to actually take the small window between it noticing them as an opportunity to get a few shots in. Ideally, they'd all run away in fear and give Yaru the chance to capture the creature, but he figured they'd need a little more convincing to actually give up on their quest. Yaru appeared pretty calm otherwise, his expression settling on intrigue while he contemplates going against his better judgement and charging ahead, if only to spur the others into action.

 

[Galaxy_730]

Galaxy is quite disgusted by this thing, but shakes of that feeling and lunges to the side, spewing her thunder nebula

 

[Many Weapons Guy]

Galaxy's thunder nebula breaks through the dead silence and pitch-black darkness that has drowned the forest, as well as through the barks on the beast's body, cracking them apart. It lets out enraged bestial bellow, a mix of an elephant and a bull, as well as hissing of a snake, while rearing its head backwards.
For a brief moment, its mouth... or maw, is in Jin's flashlight. A circular mouth with teeth all around the edge !
Ragna is pretty disgusted by the looks of it too, and wastes no time bombarding it with his elemental blasts, raining down fire, frost and lightning in quick succession.
Jin adds in with his load of summoned weapons, ripping and tearing it apart through a series of swords, spears, pikes, axes and scythes, anything that immediately comes to his mind.
The monster lets out another roar and stomps its legs on the ground. It's getting furious !
Galaxy_730 Yaruzaru

 

[Yaruzaru]

Yaru only tilts his head in mild amusement to seeing the monster effectively throwing a tantrum in response to the series of attacks that were launched against it. His attention is easily drawn between the many clashing features the monster continues to show off, and the magic being hailed against it from the group. In both cases he opts to continue waiting on standby to see if the other three are able to do enough to take care of the creature before it has a mind to retaliate. As for himself, he gets in a readied crouching position, being prepared to dart in if an opportunity presents itself.

 

[Galaxy_730]

She counties her stream of thunder nebula, thought internally readies another attack if needed

 

[Many Weapons Guy]

After its "tantrum", the elephant-like monster crashes its legs on the ground with such force that sends shockwaves to its immediate surrounding, almost like a small earthquake, as it starts to charge at the party !

- Oh mother of NUT SACK.

Jin summons a fence of spears that burst out from the ground to impale the monster and hopefully keep it there for a bit, but it's already breaking through the spears with its monstrosity of weight and force. The sounds of the spears slowly cracking apart don't seem like a good sign.
Ragna tries his best to blast through the monster with his elemental power some more, but its enraged state now seems to make it be able to tank through all the damage without even flinching.
The snake that is its trunk, rears itself backward with a loud hiss. Jin's eyes widen as he signals everyone :

- Take cover ! Poison spit !

True to his warning, the snake lunges itself at the team, from its fangs a hail of putrid venom raining down on them !

Galaxy_730 Yaruzaru

 

[Galaxy_730]

In the nick of time, Galaxy hears her dad's orders and dodges sideways, using her nebula as a smokescreen

 

[Yaruzaru]

Yaru was already in a stance steady enough to weather the slight rumbling caused by the beast charging towards them, his focus being on the range of magic being thrown at the creature from the unlikely party that had been cobbled together. It was worrying that despite all their efforts the monster remained largely unhindered, still able to charge even past being skewered and blasted by the group. To counter the acid and the fact that the monster was running directly at them, Yaru would pat the ground lightly while still crouched, causing a puddle of blue slime to build up at the point of contact. In an impressively fast series of events, the slime would expand and stretch out, quickly creating a line of blue on the ground just ahead of him and the group.

The now thick line of slime would quickly shoot up to act as a wall for the incoming acid and more hopefully a net to halt the creature's advance on the group. He doesn't move from his spot otherwise, even though he was relatively certain given the display thus far, that the monster wouldn't be stopped by mere stalling tactics. His magic probably wouldn't hold against the acid, but his intention was simply to block the spray so it didn't hit anyone, his main goal being to use the remaining sticky slime from the wall to ensnare the beast long enough for everyone to hit it with a second volley.

 

[Many Weapons Guy]

The slime manages to block off the venom and saves everyone from such otherwise unavoidable AOE attack, but the slime itself quickly melts away after taking the full dose of venom, and the wall of slime is barely there anymore.
A loud snapping sound comes from the barricade of spears.
Almost immediately later, from all the rest of the spears.
The line is broken, as the monstrosity breaks through and rushes at the team !
Jin narrowly dodges the charging beast, while Ragna barely dodges a rock to the face as it's kicked at him by the monster's rampage.
The ground shakes repeatedly and violently, with every step of the beast in such dangerously close proximity !
Jin summons several sickles and links them together into chains, as he sends them at the beast's legs and head to try to hold it back again, but it still tries to break its way through again, as if it doesn't know or even care that there are chains trying to it down.

- Round two people ! Hit it, and hit it hard !
- It's melee time !

Ragna rushes in, claws flying, fire raging, frost freezing, thunder roaring !

Galaxy_730 Yaruzaru

 

[Yaruzaru]

Using the fact that Ragna was holding the beast in melee combat, Yaru creates another pool of slime by patting the ground lightly with his palm. This time it would create a long road of sticky blue slime as it stretches out across the ground like a carpet. It would be incredibly sticky for the beast if it attempted to walk on the slime, but it wouldn't have the same effect on Ragna, allowing the elemental fighter to continue his assault. Yaru would continue to hold his position in case the beast managed to get past Ragna, though he hoped he wouldn't need to do much more than slow the creature down.

 

[Galaxy_730]

Galaxy re-emerges from the smoke screen, and sees her father go for a melee offensive. She decides to follow suit, charging her claws with the electric nebula, and attacks the beast

 

[Many Weapons Guy]

While the monster is still busy with the sickles holding it down, the sticky gooey slime does quite the job in slowing it down more as its front legs are all in the slime, its rampage under control.
However, it still tries to resist ; the carnivorous trees on its back, and the one that replaces its tail, bite at Ragna and Galaxy relentlessly ! The "chomp !" sounds they make really spell a terribly graphic demise with more than just cracked bones and ripped flesh, should those plant mouths ever connect with their intended preys.
Thankfully, Ragna's elemental onslaught keep them off.

- Kid, you take it down ! Leave these goddamn VORE trees to me !

Ragna signals Galaxy as he swiftly maneuvers himself in between the trees while drawing attention, and leaps into the air, landing on the monster's head, to have at them some more.
Jin signals Yaru :

- Get in and help them, I'll hold it off !

As he says so, Jin summons more sickles to chain down the monster's back legs and crush it down, making sure it can't resist much anymore.

 

[Yaruzaru]

"I don't see what I'd be helping with outside of bashing it with my giant stick, Ragna seems like he's got that part handled."

Aside from that fact, maintaining his slime while running around would take a bit more effort than he was willing to put towards aiding the others in killing his catch. So he simply focuses on keeping the creature slowed, Ragna and Galaxy appearing to have more towards the amount of damage probably needed to actually defeat the beast.

 

[Galaxy_730]

"Got it!"
She focused her attacks to the core of the being, trying to inflict as much damage as possible.

 

[Many Weapons Guy]

(Welp, let's wrap this up because I think we need to move on, the fight's been dragging on for too long. Sorry.)

The wolf's full force smashes the elephant apart, bits of tree barks and pieces of flesh disintegrated as fast as they get shredded apart by Jin's sickles.
The carnivorous, parasitic trees that inhabit its back and tail, reduced to ashes with Ragna's elemental combo.
In all of this, Yaru's slime helps to contain the monster and keep it from spreading, so that it's certain to be destroyed completely with the team's attacks, and that there's not a single spore of it escaping.
When the atmosphere calms down, and the smokes clear off, the thing is no more.
Ragna lets out a sigh of relief, now that the thing is down on the count.

- That was a tough one... and a total freak too.

Jin wipes off the sweats on his forehead, and puts the hammer away.

- I'm kind of worn-out and hungry... anyone wants some snacks ? I have these... uh, chocolate bars. Should be alright for some quick snack before we move on.

The mammoth-minotaur takes out 4 bars of chocolate, each about as big as his 2 fingers, as he gives to the team.

Galaxy_730 Yaruzaru

 

[Yaruzaru]

Seemingly still full of vigour, Yaru gratefully takes a bar of chocolate after the monster stops moving, seizing the chance along with the others to rest after the ordeal. He looks toward the others with an inquisitive brow as he chews on the sugary treat, waiting at least until his mouth is relatively free before speaking on the current matter.

"So what now? You said you needed to clear the way? Not sure if that will help given how quickly more of them show up to replace the ones that are killed."

It was a genuine question as to what plans the group had beyond temporarily securing safe passage through the forest. Without a stationed guard of some kind to keep the area clear, it was unlikely to remain safe for very long. Though given the remains of previous adventurers, Yaru didn't believe too highly in the prospect of trying to defend the area for any solid period of time.

 

[Many Weapons Guy]

Jin scratches his chin a bit, trying to think of something else now that the original plan is pretty much compromised so badly right now.

- ... I guess we'll just scout the area and see the layout. Which path leads to where and all that. I honestly didn't expect them to be this much of a problem...

He sounds rather ashamed that he didn't think this through, and now having to think of an alternate solution. He looks back at the direction they're going through, and checks the supplies they have for the moment. Breads, butter, sausages and dry-cured ham packed in plastic boxes, some bottles of water, and a few slices of apples. Enough for a while more.
He then checks the map from his small PDA. The battery is still around 80% but it's as hot as if left near a heater or a fireplace. Obviously not a good sign for electronic devices.

- There's a clearing at the end of this way, and a path to the... right, near the entrance into the clearing. The path heads north-east... but it's blurred out. I think we'll uncover more if we keep going from there.

 

[Yaruzaru]

Yaru would merely gesture a nod of acknowledgement towards how bad things were, which made him all the more curious as to why Jin and Galaxy were so eager to trek out into the forest alone in the first place. He had a hard time believing it was something that one would just decide to suddenly do given the current state of the lands beyond the safety of town.

"Sure thing, I'm up for exploring if you need an extra tail. Hopefully down the line Ragna will remember he agreed to help me catch one of these things though, would be a shame to go back empty handed."

Yaru's tone teases on the fact, but otherwise he doesn't sound much like he had any expectations on any help with his project. He takes the pause as a chance to recover his cart, being prepared to move after everyone has had their fill of chocolate.

 

[Galaxy_730]

Galaxy follows the two as she eats her bar, still scanning with her ears in case she picks up something.

 

[Many Weapons Guy]

No signs of any gigantic monstrosities stalking the perimeter and preying on the team.
Quiet, for once... aside from the spine-chilling noises of the parasite fungi and flowers on the trees all around them.
Despite being just near noon, the area is as dark as night time. An unnatural darkness not caused by the leaves blocking the sunlight, but more so seemingly a malicious force in the forest.
As the team traverses along the narrow path, Ragna starts to feel something moving in between his toes... something linear, soft and cold. He looks down, feeling like he just steps on a worm :

- Argh, gross-

But he is cut short when he sees... whatever it is, about as big as his whole arm, and as long as an entire cobra. A fleshy, long, worm-like thing, motionless, but pulsing... like a beating heart ?
He yelps in terror, his ears and tail standing to no end, and almost jumps back :

- Holy shit what is that !?

A sensation of extreme disgust and fear washes over him, as he bares his teeth, looking at the thing... pulsing, beating, on the ground. It has to be the biggest and nastiest worm he's ever seen.
Jin stops on his track when Ragna jumps, and following the dragon's line of sight... also feels his stomach turn inside out and upside down. He doesn't that he's holding Galaxy's paw in fear. His gaze is affixed on the gun that he aims at the thing, readied to pull the trigger.

- Might wanna stand back... I don't know what the hell that is, but I'm not fucking budging until it's out of sight, and I feel like it's gonna be really messy...

 

[Galaxy_730]

“Jesus, what is that thing?” She stands closer to her dad, equally disgusted at the thing

 

[Yaruzaru]

"But I'm still enjoying my chocolate, have they no manners?"

Savouring the taste of sugar would apparently have to wait in favour of facing another problem. He again halts his cart, hoping he'd get some use out of the chains he procured before the end of the group's scouting task. A mischievous part of him feels that it may be best to use the chains simply to cart the team back to town and away from such foolishness, though. As he stops in the middle of his idle thoughts, he plucks his weapon out of the wheelbarrow and walks over toward the others, giving them a quizzical look.

"You can't keep gawking at every stray anomaly that crosses our path. Have you never been outside the walls before?"

While most probably couldn't help but gawk at the grotesque variety of creatures, Yaru seemed more concerned as to how easily caught off-guard everyone was. He makes a shooting gesture towards the creature using one of his fingers to indicate that they should begin their usual salvo of prodding attacks, unless they planned to actually allow him to catch it this time. It was likely the beast wouldn't fall immediately if past instances were any indication, but they had to start somewhere.

 

[Many Weapons Guy]

Jin points the gun at the thing for a while, but doesn't look like he's taking aim. It's disturbingly big and looks like the grossest worm ever existed, it'd be pretty hard for Jin to miss the shot.
He seems to be pondering something else. Then he lowers the gun and swaps out the ammo clip with a different one. The sounds of the clip sliding in and the gun being reloaded, are like candles in the depths of infinite darkness.
He pulls the trigger. A spark of flame escapes the muzzle of the barrel in a bright flash of fiery light, then a bolt of flame shoots out and pierces through the tube-like, half-living abomination in front of them. The thing is quickly engulfed in the flame and burns into ashes.
The usual disgusting and repulsive noises from the mass of mangled flesh being burned away, are soon replaced with quiet fire crackling.
However, they then see what looks like blood leaking out and soaking the ground wet.
Or, at least that's what it's supposed to be. The color is a terrible, putrid mix of purple and green.
Jin feels his fur stand on end, as he covers his mouth. Galaxy shivers at the sight. Ragna, almost throws up.

- Mistakes were made...

Jin subtly admits his fault, probably in response to Yaru's remark and advice earlier about just simply ignoring every single grotesque sight on their path.

- Let's go... I think my stomach is feeling pretty funny just from looking at it.

Galaxy urges everyone. She's too eager to press on, to get this over with, and for good reason too.