Hili set the package down and said, “No way, you did something to my armor. Itching powder or something.”

“I didn't do that. No itching powder, no slime. I promise your armor is good armor. Really, you should be thanking me. You two ordered sets of armor, but I provided spider silk gambeson and underclothes as well. You should be thankful,” Hugo said.

“Go on, Hili, don’t be rude,” Shakra said.

Hesitantly, Hili used his claws to open the package. He jumped back when they contents spilled out. He used a single claw to sift through the armor and undergarments.

“Go on then, try it on. I need to know if it fits,” Hugo said.

It took some more convincing, but eventually, Hili had everything on. He stretched and jumped as he tested out the fit. While his back was turned, Hugo sniggered.

Hili turned around and gave him a suspicious look. “What was that for?”

“What do you mean?” Hugo said.

Shakra was standing behind him and giggled softly. Hili spun again and pointed at her, “That! That! What was that for? Do I have anything on my back?”

“No, no. Nothing on your back,” Shakra said.

Hili groaned and took everything off and inspected it again. While he was doing that, Hugo turned to Shakra and said, “What is the plan for tomorrow?”

“The surruss I mentioned earlier should still be out here, I want to take the terror birds out and track it down. It should get you rank sixty-four, and there is a chance it would have a mana core,” Shakra said.

“Sounds like a plan,” Hugo said happily.

Hili grumbled something about being ignored and walked over to James to see if he could find anything wrong with his armor.

The next day they were racing through the forest atop their terror birds. The trees in this section of the forest were even larger than the ones the riese lived on. They stretched hundreds of feet into the sky and cast dappled shadows on the forest floor below.

Hili was wearing his armor, but he was positive there was something wrong with it. He and James hadn’t found anything last night, but apparently Kgabu gave him a weird look this morning.

Hugo let himself smile every time he looked at Hili. There was nothing wrong with the armor. That was the prank. Hili would spend days trying to figure out what was so funny about the armor, only to find nothing.

“Well, shit,” Shakra said and pulled up on her bird.

Once they had all come to a stop, Hili said, “What’s wrong?”

“Big monster up there. We are going to have to go around. I bet our surruss got eaten too,” Shakra said. She continued to swear as she made a survey of the area around her. “Anything bigger than a troll is gone. We are going to have to give up on this part of the forest.”

“What kind of monster ate everything?” Hugo said.

“I can’t exactly tell from here,” Shakra said and squinted, “It’s big, whatever it is.”

“Why don’t we get close enough to find out? If it’s big enough to eat the surrass, it has a mana core, right?” Hugo said eagerly.

“Hugo, there is a reason we four are still alive after decades of hunting. We don’t take unnecessary chances. We go after the sure thing, not the insane risks,” Shakra said.

“You said you don’t know what it is yet. Let’s get a little closer, just close enough for you to identify it. Your perception is high enough for us to stay safe while you look, right?” Hugo said.

“Ugh. Fine. My perception is high, but so is my wisdom. If I say it’s too risky, we are leaving this entire forest, alright?” Shakra said.

“Of course. I am not stupid enough to ignore the advice of experts I am paying,” Hugo said.

“Let’s get this over with,” Shakra said as she spurred her terror bird into motion. “Hili, Kgabu, prepare distractions in case it sees us. If we have to cut and run, I want you both to deploy.”

“Understood,” Hili said.

“Yes, dear,” Kgabu said and reached into his pack.

The next half hour was a tense one as they crept forward at a slow jog. Everyone tried to be as quiet as possible. Eventually, Shakra stopped them and said in a normal voice, “It’s a dragon turtle. High tier five, or low tier six.”

“You guys can take that right?” Hugo said, “I know I can’t take it on my own, but we can work together and get a mana core out of this, right?”

“Nah, kid. We probably can’t,” Hili said, “Dragon turtles aren’t fast, so it wouldn’t be too dangerous to attack it. The problem is this bugger’s shell is impenetrable. We could get a few hits in, and if he felt threatened enough, slurp. He is in his shell, magically protected. Most people over 128 can’t break that thing. We wouldn’t have a chance.”

“Don’t forget, it’s a dragon type,” Shakra said, “It can breathe fire for sure. If it is tier six, it has access to a second element.”

“Meh, even two elements wouldn’t be that dangerous. James really is a virtuoso with his barriers. The problem is that we couldn’t kill it,” Hili said, “No point in trying with that guy’s crazy shell.”

Hugo wracked his mind. Was there anything he could do that could kill a beast that big? His crossbow was probably useless, his avians were even worse. He said, “What about poison? Could we attack all at once to get its health down and then hit it with some poison?”

Everyone turned to their alchemist. Kgabu said, “Maybe? I have one really powerful dose available. Not sure if that would be enough on its own. It was expensive to make, I wouldn’t want to waste it.”

Reluctantly, they all turned around and started heading out of the forest. Hugo kept mulling over the problem in his head, trying to come up with a solution. He really wanted that mana core. An hour later he stopped and yelled out, “Wait! I got it! We have to turn around. I know a way to kill it!”

...

“This better work,” Kgabu whispered and handed over a potion bottle.

Hugo affixed the bottle to his Hornet with a small barrier. He whispered back, “It will work, trust me. Besides, if we fail, I promised to pay you back for this.”

“Yeah, yeah, just don’t fail,” Kgabu said and handed over another potion.

Both of them looked down to the dragon turtle below them. Its shell was black with bits of red peeking through. The spikes on the shell were each as big as a house. It was sleeping, resting atop a small hill. Even laying down, it was four stories tall. Hugo knew that when it stood up, it would be at least sixty feet tall. The only reason they were looking down on it now was that they were in the upper branches of one of the larger trees nearby. Shakra insisted they both stay here during the fight. The dragon turtle’s breath attack couldn’t reach up this high.

James and Shakra were getting in place for their attack now. Hili had a ritual prepared, he would be attacking after they started. The tokoloshe only had one ritual attack that could hurt the massive monster, after which he would retreat into their hideout.

Hugo had to squint to see when James started his attack. A tiny blue barrier formed on the edge of the turtle’s eyelid. James had anchored that barrier to his hands and used his raw power to slowly lift the sleeping monster’s eyelid.

When there was a three foot gap, Shakra started charging up her attack. She was holding a large contraption full of mirrors and lenses. A point of light blossomed inside and quickly grew in intensity. It was almost as bright as the sun when she released it and sent a thick beam of light into the dragon turtle’s eye.

By the time the turtle fully woke up, its eye had popped. It started bleeding heavily from its empty socket. The monster roared in pain and anger. It quickly turned and blasted out a gout of flame at Shakra. The column of fire was so thick and wide that it obliterated everything in its path and made the trees nearby shake. The fire was so hot it only left ash and molten rock in its wake.

Shakra hadn’t stood still while the monster woke up, and was already attacking from its other side. She aimed for the other eye and blasted with everything she had. This attack didn’t have as much time to charge up. The dragon turtle slammed its eyelids shut and twisted it’s head to blast her again.

Just like last time, James used barriers to quickly yank her out of the way. She flew through the air to land well out of the monster’s range. As she dashed to get into position for the next attack, James went into action.

He used a deep blue barrier to slice open the skin on its upper hind leg. He sawed at the tendon underneath until the dragon turtle turned around and he had to dash out of the way. The underbrush was thick enough that the monster lost track of him quickly. Shakra took up the attack, hitting the same spot with her yellow lasers.

As the dragon turtle hesitated on who to attack, Hili took his shot. A green vine wrapped itself up its upper left leg, all the way up to the shell. Nine foot thorns shot out from the vine as it suddenly constricted.

Instinctively, the monster yanked its foot back, opening up dozens of long gashes along its leg. The vine only constricted further. The turtle continued to yank on the vine until it was uprooted and flung away. Hili ducked into their hideout and closed it up. He wouldn’t be coming back out until this was over. The dragon turtle tried to set its foot back down, but couldn’t put any weight on it. That leg was too injured now.

James and Shakra took advantage of the distraction and each got another strike at the turtle. Both were nearly hit, but managed to duck away as the other attacked. The monster only had three working legs now, but it continued to blast gouts of flame into the surrounding forest.

While they traded off attacks, Hugo sent his Hornet down to the hobbled leg. He sped it down as fast as he could, removing the blue barrier around the potion bottle at the last moment. It hit deep into one of the larger wounds and broke, spreading the potion into its bloodstream. This time, it was an anticoagulant, ensuring the leg would continue to bleed.

Hugo sent his other Hornet down to the opposite leg, repeating the process. The dragon turtle must have gotten frustrated with all the little things attacking it. It roared and pointed its head down. A blast of wind rocketed out, sending everything flying. Hugo’s two avians were pasted, the underbrush was shredded, James and Shakra were both hit. Hundreds of feet away, Hugo flinched as a piece of debris cut his forehead.

Shakra had Hugo’s shield and huddled behind it to deflect the hurricane force winds. James stood firm in the wind. The impetus runes on his armor glowed bright as they removed the wind’s kinetic energy. It wasn’t enough. He got knocked back and formed a barrier ball around himself as he rolled away. He was out of the fight for now.

The terrain around the dragon turtle was blasted flat. No one could hide from it now. Shakra stood up tall and aimed both hands at the monster’s injured leg. The beam of light grew brighter and brighter as the turtle turned on the only remaining combatant.

Instead of running away, Shakra kept up her attack. The beam of light continued to bear down on the turtle’s injured leg and the turtle was able to bring its head around in time to blast her with a fire tornado. Her form was completely obliterated.

Hugo sent four of his best bolts towards the empty eye socket, followed closely by a Hawk. Each explosive bolt hit the turtle head, widening the injury enough for Hugo to send the avian directly into its flesh. The potion bottle stuck to its side burst open, sending Kgabu’s best poison into the blood closest to its brain.

The sixty foot monster twitched in pain and retreated into its shell. A thick magical barrier formed over the entire shell, sealing off the monster entirely from the outside world.