Rick, Shila, and Benttotopotzki finally had arrived at, what they considered, their last hope and put plan B in motion. And with their last resort now in play, they had no option but to finally turn and face their enemies, the ones in front of them, the mauloos.

A battle had started near that strangely tall tree. On one side there were the humans, in the other the mauloos and in the sky, descending upon them at a fast pace, the humongous Great Socer.

As it fluttered its wings with violence, some feathers fell from the sky, some even as big as Benttotopotzki, who was around half the size of Rick. It was then that Benttotopotzki, for the first time since this escape had started, thought he could die, [If this thing chases us… I’m a death Pochi!]

And this was not an instinct foreign to the creatures inhabiting the forest, the many tiny and weak creatures that lived near the battle spot started migrating towards a safer area. In fact, the first instinct the mauloos had had was to run away too, to avoid a battle they might not be able to win. It was only the bigger mauloo, the boss, the one whose name Rick did not know, that stood its ground, not moving a single inch. And, following their alpha, the other two did not yield either and were ready to fight either side.

The Great Socer had started its attack, a fast swift of its wings that threw feathers as if they were darts, its aim indiscriminate. Although the attack was fast and deadly Rick and Benttotopotzki avoided it easily, the first one likely thanks to the small boost of energy he had received a couple of minutes ago, and the latter was used to avoiding death altogether. Shila had first taken a small rune out of a bag she carried, perhaps she was about to cast a spell, but she did not, and opted to avoid the feathery attack. Sadly her indecisiveness had cost her dearly, one of the feathers had hit her. It wasn’t a critical hit, actually, it had been just the tip of the feather that had connected and slightly cut through her leg.

Rick immediately saw Shila’s HP drop from 82 to 75, which wasn’t a huge drop in HP, so Rick didn’t worry too much. What had Rick worried though was that he had been unable to see the huge bird’s stats. Also time. Rick was terrified of time running out for him. [How much time has passed since [Energizia] was cast on me?!]

Rick tried to count the time that had passed since, but something interrupted his count, it was one mauloo and to Rick’s rejoice it was Turok, the weakest of the bunch. Turok’s appearance wasn’t the only thing that had delighted Rick, the other thing being that Turok had been damaged, probably by the feather rain. Rick didn’t even need to use his abilities to know just how weak this mauloo was at the moment. A mere glance would give you an estimate as the poor thing was bleeding heavily. Rick even felt bad for it, it was in a sorry state.

“So you were given instructions to fight me, huh?” Rick asked Turok, who was unable to understand him so Rick was speaking to a wall, “I guess you guys know the pecking order around here… So this is gonna be the weakest link vs weakest link battle… But, even though I’m probably the weakest around here, dude… You look terrible” Rick really didn’t want to give his enemy a throughout look, he would probably feel pity for it, but he just quickly looked at its stats, particularly at its current HP.

Seven HP. When Rick saw that number he felt immense comfort. That’s all the life Turok still had in it, and sadly Rick would have to lower it to zero. He knew he could do it, even if the only ability in his repertoire was the unremarkable [Basic Punch]. Rick had already gotten used to the menus he had navigated before, and looked at his abilities once more, he knew what awaited him, he just wanted to confirm something.

[[Basic Punch] deals my Strength times 1.5 of damage…] Rick checked his stats, the one he wanted to see was his strength so he could know the exact quantity of damage Turok would receive from a connecting [Basic Punch].

Of course, as Rick had been pondering all this the beast had been attacking Rick, but its attacks had been easily avoidable due to two reasons. The first being that Turok’s attacks were now slow and inaccurate, the wounds it had received were taking a toll on it, and secondly, because Rick had maintained his distance as he was planning his attack.

Rick had finished checking his stats and had now confirmed his current strength which was five. [Five times 1.5 should be more than enough!] Rick did the math quickly, “Ok, let’s take you out of your misery!”

The battle between Rick and Turok was not the only one taking place, there were other two occurring at the same time.

The strongest members of each team, Shila, the big mauloo, and the Great Socer had been facing each other in a clash of physical force and magic abilities. Currently, it was mostly a back and forth between the three, with Shila being the one that had sustained the most damage but also being the only one capable of healing them. It was unclear who had the highest chance of surviving at the moment, but Shila was already devising some escaping routes.

Meanwhile, Benttotopotzki had been fighting the other mauloo, Rosk. Though whether this could even be called a fight was open to interpretation, as the only thing the small critter had been doing for the duration of it had been what he knew to do best: Use his legs and run.

[If I just keep running this mauloo should get tired, I think… Mauloos rarely leave energy after their sprints, so this one must have used most of it during the chase!] Benttotopotzki thought as he continued running in circles near the tall tree. [Well, I just need to keep running and sooner or later he will run out of energy! Or maybe… Should I try to lure it towards the other fight?] Benttotopotzki gazed at the epic battle between the beautiful mage, the vicious beast, and the titanic bird and immediately forgot about that idea, [I guess I better stick to what I already know works for me!]

It was then that the running critter noticed a weird smell, it was the smell of smoke, it was coming from the top of the tall tree. Benttotopotzki didn’t have much time to pay attention to it though, he had to focus its everything in running.

The distance between the different battles was not too big, each of the party members would have been able to see each other, that is if they had time to pay attention to anything else than their respective fight. Shila’s had been taken place in the open field, Benttotopotzki’s was close to the tall tree which was now starting to burn, and Rick’s was also on the open field, but he was a bit closer to Benttotopotzki than he was to Shila.

Shila, who had been mostly saving her resources for when she needed them the most, was now in grave danger, [I… I guess I will have to use my magic now…]

She was worried about Rick, and strangely enough even the small Pochi, who Rick had nicknamed Benito. And although she had seen them battling their respective opponents she had not been able to get an accurate perception of how their battles were going. Both her enemies had proven to be of a higher caliber than she had anticipated and had planned to use her magic in a way that would let her escape the battle and, if possible, would also let the others escape this dangerous situation. She had had them in her thoughts, but it was now time to be selfish, after all, she had told Rick that he was on his own after casting [Energizia] and if she didn’t hurry her life would, most likely, end.

[I just hope you two are ready to run… I will create a distraction with my magic… I would have hoped to be certain of your situation… To know for sure you are capable of running when I cast this spell! Maratrustra knows of the mercy in my heart…! And yet I can not wait any more, it’s now or never!]