Kapitel 420: CHPT 420: Life In Undeath....
"NRAHHHHH!!"
Hearing the howls of an undead man full of bladed weapons coming from the mouth of a giant crocodilian lizard was about as bizzare as a Tangent could get. But not impossible when said Boss has the collective brain power of two snails. Maybe that was an understatement. Whatever the beast was that consumed it was one he'd never read about.
That was a first. No guiding memory of his father explaining any multimouthed beast. No photographically memorized entry out of a book stolen from his father's shelf. Nothing.
But if it was anything like its reptilian siblings, it moved on instinct. It was predictable-- when it wasn't spitting out swinging zombie arms. He'd use that to his advantage...
If he ever made a move.
Even Cassidy stopped shooting and watched as they leapt and dove out of the way of the creatures attacks.
"What's the call, Claude?!" Ursula yelled out.
That was the question. He could've just run his spear through the creature and had Ursula chop it's head off. But the Lizard was just there to survive. They'd come into it's territory. Sure, it was for the same reason, but that's what made it so complex. Claude's new standard of living seemed to make Tangents mentally strenuous in a whole new way. To put it simply, not all Monsters had to die. And as a Lupine of the animals, why wouldn't he try?
"Yea fuck this." Claude said.
"What?"
"Go for the arms, try not to hit the Lizard unless you have to. Cassidy hold your fire and scout for other Zombies." Claude announced.
"Got ya." The Hunter replied, seemingly unbothered by the change of events.
"Alright... let's save the Lizard." Ursula said just as the Lizard spun around and swung it's massive thick scaled tail at her.
FWWOO!!
She had just enough time to bring up her Aura shrouded arms to block the blow before being sent a dozen feet backward.
A growl erupted from the Berserker, "Son of a bitch..... we're here to save the lizard. Save it. Not decapitate." She told herself through gritted teeth.
Cassidy chuckled in the distance. Claude once again questioned his sanity.
"[What could you possibly be planning?]" Arne questioned.
"I don't know..... I'm kind of freestyling right now." Claude replied, dashing out of the way of the Lizards snapping jaws as it's tale smashed a whooshing wave through the deep pond at it's backside.
"[Oh, that's a brilliant thing to do inside a Tangent.]"
"I know right." Claude replied flatly before mentally ordering Frosty to distract the Lizard.
The VanaWarg took off from behind him and dashed past the Lizards snapping jaws before skirting to a halt to bark and snap at the creature at a deceptively safe distance.
In the Lizards distracted state, Claude closed in from the other side just as one of the Undead Bladefiends arms came out of a mouth in the Lizards midsection.
SWWSH!
Claude swung his spear in a power boosted blur and cleaved the arm off.
The Lizards jaws flew open as the Undead Boss within let out an enraged roar.
FWOO
Another tail swing. Claude jumped and landed on the Lizards back. Another mouth opened to try and bite him. The smell of rot and decay radiated from the hole.
SQLCH!
Claude slammed his spear through the mouth and felt his blade meet weathered Zombie flesh. The mouth bit down on his spear reflexively and the Lizard rolled.
Claude backflipped off the Lizards back and landed a safe distance away, hearing the sound of his low-quality stolen spear snapping with the Lizards death roll.
"Fuck."
There was still three limbs.
"Heads up." Ursula said from beside him.
Claude turned and caught one of her axes.
Nothing needed to be said as they took off.
For the next twenty minutes, they hopped and dodged around the Lizard, trying to play wack-a-mole with the Boss' swinging limbs as they appeared. It wasn't as easy since the Lizard didn't understand they were on it's side. It probably didn't help that Ursula knocked out a few of it's teeth in the process.
But no matter. One arm and leg left.
SNAP!
Claude jumped over another biting attack from the Lizard. Before it's jaw could land back on the ground, Frosty charged it from the side, stunning the creature to give Claude enough time to reposition himself. Which he did, only to find the arm emerge from the Lizards midsection on the other side.
He looked over at Ursula. She was already moving, blocking a blow from the Zombies blade arm with her Rage Guard as she came in with her axe.
FWOO!
CHOP!
A hand flew in the air. Fingers rotted and nails as black as night.
"Shit!"
The Zombie may have been smarter than he accounted for. The Lizard also may have been a little angrier than he thought.
"HSSSSSSS!!!"
It's tail came flying at Claude. Instead of dodging he cloaked himself in his Aura and lunged at the tail, grabbing it in a bear hug.
"Frosty!" He grunted as the PitWolf ran at his back like a bull and stabbed his tusks into the Zombie arm just as it emerged from the Lizards side to try and reach Claude.
"GrrRRrRr!" Frosty shook and ripped the arm free.
SHLCK!
At the same time, the Lizard swung it's tail and rolled, throwing Claude off across the pond behind it.
FWOO!
He cleared the pond as if he had wings and hit a half-severed tree, catching himself by sinking his claws into the dead bark to slowly slide down to the floor.
He turned around just in time to find the Lizard sliding into the pond, it's slitted yellow eyes watched him furiously.
Ursula and Frosty chased.
Claude threw up a hand, "Wait!"
"[Plan?]" Arne said in a panicked tone as the Lizard rippled through the waters like a reptillian torpedo.
"Plan." Claude confirmed before the familiar silver, black and green accented HellSlaying gauntlet bloomed to life on his wrist.
The Lizard began breaching the water and let out a deadly hissing roar.
Perfect.
Claude threw out his Malevolence Tether, the bladed end of the flaming chain heading straight into it's massive mouth. In a flash it disappeared into the blackness and just as quickly he could feel it bite into weak flesh.
As soon as he felt the blade sink into the Zombie within, he willed the shape of the weapon at the end of the Tether into a hook.
The faint sound of the Zombies flesh tearing in response to the weapon being reshapen within was nothing short of gruesome.
The Lizard bit down on the chain and shook. Claude fought against it's incredible strength before turning around to wrap the rest of the chain around the tree behind him like a crude attempt at a pulley. Crude or not, it was working... and grinding the tree to shreds.
"HOLD IT!" Claude yelled as the Lizard attempted to breach the pond.
Ursula leapt into the pond and climbed onto the Lizards back. Frosty barked at the edge of the pond as the Lizard began to roll, suffocating, drowning and flattening Ursula repeatedly. Everytime she appeared back above the water, her eyes stayed fully white for longer durations of time and her skin slowly covered itself in fur. But she never let go.
"GOD DAMMIT! CLaude..... HURRY up!" She snarled.
Claude leaned backward as he pulled the chain, trying to rip the Zombie inside out. The chain was now four inches into the tree and only going deeper as the Lizard rolled and twisted the chain.
"[You're running out of tree.]" Arne commented.
Claude let go of the chain with his left hand and reached out to the nature within. The tree thickened, it's bark brightened. He could feel the roots spiraling and stretching outward below ground as grass blades tickled and ripped beneath his bare feet.
[45% MP Remaining]
Now with a sturdier point of friction, Claude let loose. And with nothing for the Lizard to grip, he was the stronger pulling force. The chain gave. Giving him more and more room until he was nearly beside Ursula and the Lizard with the chain wrapped around the tree ahead of them both at the end of the pond.
Now they could hear the Zombie yelling and thrashing even through the Lizards closed mouth.
"COME OUT.....You half eaten bitch!" Ursula yelled while slapping the Lizards side and trying to pry it's jaws open.
They needed to open it's mouth. It was almost out.
"[Cancel one airway, it'll be forced to use the other.]"
"Arne, it has like eighteen mouths." Claude said
"[So get to work!]" Arne yelled.
"Ursula, put your fingers in it's nose holes!.... and try to ice the other mouths!"
In those moments, Cassidy fell on it's head and stuck two cloth pieces torn from his cloak into it's nose holes. He did the same for the other mouths. He got almost all of them that weren't being laid on. Before it could react, he jumped off and landed beside Frosty.
The Boss used the assumed waiting game to let off a final attack as it's leg burst through the Lizards upper midsection with a blade coming through it's heel, aimed straight at Ursula's side. Of course. The one spot.
Claude threw her axe, "Watch out!"
FWOOO!
The axe flipped over the Zombies leg and sunk into the earth on the other side of the pond. Without thinking, he used (Beast Boost) to try and give himself extra strength, hoping that if he pulled some more, it would shorten the Zombies range of motion and make up for his miss.
He didn't account for the fact that in using (Beast Boost) on the Lizard, he'd boosted it's own power.
CHOMP!!
The mouth on the Lizards side closed shut around the Zombies leg and bit it clean off. At the same time, Claude's skin transformed into thick black scales and his muscles expanded with reptilian power. He gripped his tether with a new level of strength, but without needing it, the Lizard opened it's jaws and without a second's hesitation, he ripped out the Boss.
"AHHHHCKKK!" The Zombie Boss yelled as it crawled after Claude. It's whole frontside was dissolved into brittle remains due to the Lizards stomach acids. And now without any arms or legs, it was nothing more than a squirming, biting punching bag. Even so, the creature was still large.
"Wel--"
"FUCK YOU!" Ursula yelled as she landed on the Boss with a Glacial Smash, she moved to do another... and who knew how many more.
"Stop." Claude said both in mind and body.
Ursula stood with her foot on the back of the freezing Boss. Steam blew from her flaring nostrils as she looked up at him.
"Breathe...."
Ursula growled.
"Do it." Claude persisted.
The Giant-Killer fought to quell her rage. She won the battle, but the war continued to rage within. That was fine. He just needed her to hear reason.
"This is perfect. Leave it as it is. Frozen and immovable. That way, the Tangent will stay closed, and we can rest here without worrying about being locked in forever. This way we also reduce our risk of entering the Tendread Sea at night." Claude explained.
Ursula slowly removed her foot before turning to face the Lizard. Claude joined her. It laid at the edge of the pond, breathing heavily but barely moving.
"It's dying....." Her eyes slowly regained their honey brown color.
"I know." Claude replied. An idea made it's way into his mind, "Maybe not."
He approached the Lizard, still reptilian in his own right, hoping it would help things as it did with Diamondback.
He stopped with his feet in the pond and squatted so he was seated behind it's jaws and out of eyesight.
"Hi.... I know you think we came here to kill you.... well, we did at first. Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody wants to survive. And I would like to do some good. Forgive me if it doesn't turn out that way."
Slowly, he placed his hand onto the grass surrounding the pond. The Druidic Markings covering his left arm began to glow as he soaked up the natural magics within.
Soon after, a bursting wave of green energy spread across the area falling on Ursula, Cassidy, Frosty and the Lizard.
He sent the healing wave a few more times until he was almost empty on Mana. The Lizard seemed to be waking up already, even so, it was still in bad condition. It needed time, and when the Tangent opened, it wouldn't have time. Not right away.
Before the Lizard could fully feel the effects of Claude's healing, he slowly pushed the heavy creature more into the pond. It swam below surface slowly.
"Ursula, come here." Claude said.
Ursula rushed over, "Yea?"
"Freeze it." He said calmly.
For a moment she thought Claude had been tainted by the sadism constantly swirling around him.
"Trust me."
Hesitantly, Ursula let her hand hover over the ponds surface and began freezing the water below.
As it solidified, the Lizard within swam to the surface, just able to allow its snout to emerge from the surface as it was frozen solid.
Claude stood up then, brushing his hands and rolling his shoulders as his skin regained it's normal human composition.
"What did we just do?" Ursula asked.
"Some reptiles can hibernate... sort of. It's called brumation I think. It'll give the Lizard time to take the healing effects and not ingest so much tainted water that can slow the healing process. The ice will thaw, and it'll wake up. In theory. Hopefully before the Tangent closes." Claude replied.
Cassidy clicked his teeth, "I'll be damned, that's some quick thinkin, partner."
"You thought of all this.....?" Ursula whispered.
"Hell no." Claude answered honestly, "I didn't know what I was doing at first, stuff kind of worked off one another along the way. The last idea is a hail marry more than an idea really....."
Ursula smiled, "Nahhh, I think you're a nerd." She punched him in the shoulder as they surveyed the Lizard in the ice.
Her smile was a nice way to end a Tangent he thought to himself.
"Damn straight." Cassidy agreed.
"They're being the haters wolfman, you did a wonderful job!" Ma complimented as she floated down to stand between him and Cassidy. "We should name this one Iceback."
"Ouu, maybe we should leave the naming of animals to me. You just stick to singing.... and being pretty, ok?" Cassidy said as he slung his arm around Ma.
"So you do like my voice, Hunter?" Ma questioned.
Cassidy pulled on his hood as he looked away from her, ".....Erhm. Yep."
Claude smiled and walked over to pick up the frozen Tangent Boss, "I wouldn't need a nose to smell your lies, Cassidy."
Frosty barked as he stepped out onto the ice and began sliding around while hesitantly sniffing and licking the Lizards nose. He knew which side Frosty was in support of that time.
"Let's go back to the boat and rest." Claude replied.
The others followed as they left the sight.
"Why are you thinking about training?" Ursula yelled out suddenly.
"Get out of my head." Claude replied.
DING!
[(Beast Boost) Skill Level Up!]
[(Beast Boost) is now Level 3 and has new Skill Properties!]
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
_Avatar0FFury_
_Avatar0FFury_ YO! Rescue team moment. LMK what you think! Trying to keep Tangent runs interesting and refreshing while also testing the characters in different ways. This scenario felt perfect considering Claude's mental and moral transformation as of late. Anyway thanks for reading and thanks for the powerstones Sonuis, Shazcam, TheLucidParagon, Alex99, train_master, Shadow_wolf1928, Black_Rabbit4378, Drachenk1nd, N0X3N, OSIRIS, Demosura, Ominous_Reader, krissch_, Deadra606, Amith_Sydney and Emerald_0438!
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