Chapter 44: Cold-blooded monsters

The raid team forded through the muddy waters onto another island not far away. Tyler snuck up on another pair of Lizardmen who were peacefully fishing and twisted their necks. With his increased strength and powerful aura, they fell to the ground dead without uttering a singly word.

They dragged the two corpses into the lone hut in order to remain unnoticed. While keeping their advantage the group moved onto another island closer to the crocodilians´ dwelling. There were many of these small pieces of land on which the monsters resided, so the hunters had to try their hardest to not arouse any unwanted attention.

However, trying their hardest wasn´t enough. As Tyler and Lucian handled another pair of reptilians they managed to overlook another one resting in the wooden cabin. The monster let out a loud hissing sound that sounded throughout the cave. Emma swiftly took care of the unexpected lizardman by puncturing its throat and skull with a strike from her rapier. It was too late, though. The roar already alerted the other reptilians nearby.

They swam over with concern and suspicion, but still without knowing about the hunters present who hid in the hut.

"Gina, make a path of ice towards the village." commanded Emma. "We´ll run quickly without tripping until we reach the land. Got it?"

The rest of the party nodded in agreement and Emma burst out of the dwelling accompanied by powerful winds pushing her forward. On the water surface, a coarse pathway made of ice appeared in the blink of an eye. They ran at great speed even on the slippery surface with Mark at the end struggling to keep up.

Of course, this also attracted attention from the villagers. The lizardmen who were curiously coming over followed the human intruders with violent intent.

As the rushing group arrived in the village they were met with an unpleasant welcoming. Some of the fishing reptilians managed to grab a spear or another tool nearby and surrounded the hunters who formed a defensive circle deflecting the incoming attacks away from their mages and supports.

"Keeping formation or...?" Tyler asked their leader with the crimson aura flickering around him.

"No, go full attack." replied Emma.

"Wait, before you go full caveman mode, here." Clark touched his shoulder and activated two of his buff spells. "[Rock Solid] [Vitality Booster] Now you can go."

"Great" said Tyler while clenching his teeth.

Gina tapped on the ground with her staff and muttered. [Bite of the Frost]

The warm air turned stingy cold in a second with snowflakes floating everywhere as far as their eyes could see. The muddy soil also quickly turned into rigid permafrost locking the lizardmen in their position.

With a thirst for battle, Tyler pounced on the nearest reptilian who was still recovering from the temperature shock and the pain in its feet. He then grabbed the monster by its arm and threw it like a ragdoll towards another scaly fellow.

[Mirage]

Lucian´s image started wobbling and bending in the eyes of his enemies. One of the crocodilians who calmed down and resisted the stingy air tried to strike the morphing figure, but his spear hit nothing but air.

*Swoosh*

Lucian´s sword slashed through its neck leaving the creature headless.

Tyler was jumping all over the battlefield like a maniac ripping heads off like there was no tomorrow, Lucian was massacring them with an uncaring attitude and Gina threw an icicle in there once in a while. Despite being the raid leader Emma took more of a defensive role in the battle and protected the supports.

"This would be just one big blur if it was on TV." Tristan commented on the brutality with which Tyler handled his opponents.

"Man, you didn´t see nothing. I took the lunch his wife made. The worst mistake of my life, for sure." said Clark.

After several minutes have passed and dozens of monsters were killed one lizardman appeared who was different from the rest. He had a thinner build and battered skin, but also a quarterstaff in his hand.

He crouched over one of his fallen kindred and placed his hand on top of the motionless body. Around the elder reptilian small green lights appeared. They flew around like bees and settled on the corpse.

The once dead crocodilian with a missing arm sprung back to life and joined his fighting brothers with vigor even against an overwhelming opponent.

Seeing the resurrection Tyler ran at the elder, making his way through the crowd of monsters.

When he was just a few meters from his goal the bloodthirsty hunter got launched back to his group by a tail slam.

"It´s a fucking velociraptor!" shouted Clark at the arrival of the elder´s pet.

"Close enough, that´s a drake." said Mark with a slight smile.

Without a moment of hesitation, the four-legged wingless dragon ran toward the team´s tank with opened mouth. Tyler however didn´t falter and caught the jaws in his hand.

Tristan watched the several times smaller human gradually overpower the dragon in awe.

"I´ll help out a bit, alright?" said Mark and threw the ever-so-familiar steel plate from his pocket.

'Page 14, Automaton, aggression: monsters'

The silver-blue knight transformed both of its hands into swords and started cutting the undying army, without much elegance but with strength comparable to Lucian´s.

While the hunters fought against the monster horde, the elder kept on reviving his tribesmen. The battle seemed to be never-ending, even with the additional help of the automaton.

"This is going nowhere." shouted Emme parrying another spear strike. "Tyler use [Provocation]!"

"I´m having enough trouble here already." he shouted back, pushing away the drake.

"Do it! And Gina, blow them away!"

"Come and get it!" he yelled.

All of the lizardmen lost all interest in fighting the rest of the group and instead ran at Tyler with enthusiasm.

Mark was ready with page 3, Automatic rock spikes, opened in case their plan didn´t work out and he had to interfere.

[Winter´s Grace]

A heavy snowstorm appeared out of nowhere and blew Tyler, the drake, and the reptilian army away with heavy winds.

The elder who managed to resist Tyler´s provocation was left with no army, no guards, no drakes, and also no head since Emma didn´t waste the opportunity and sliced through his neck in a second.