Gem Bashing (The Hunter)

Minh was on the move as soon as the hunter and Emilia finished their exchange with him reaching for a large piece of rubble and hurling it at the hunter. The man in question was about to retaliate in response to Emilia's round of gunfire only to spot the projectile coming at him, and he redirected his energy into swinging his crystalline hammer into it, smashing it into shrapnel which still traveled quickly at him in a small shower that forced him to cover his eyes for a moment. This was more than enough time for Minh to cross the distance and engage in a grapple with the Gem Hunter who took on the brunt of the charge quite well except for the sudden smashing of Minh's knee into his chest. The force of the blow forced out a gasp from the hunter as the kinetic force punched through the armor and him, but he was still a strong fighter and stood his ground enough to land a headbutt into Minh while managing to form pillars to push the earthen monk away. However, Minh clamped down like a vice with his arms holding onto the other's.

While both men fought to get control or separate each other, Cheepie was finishing off the last rookie. The small avian creature turned its head to see the two mages in a death lock, and with not another moment wasted, took to the air in a streamlined path. Turning itself into a projectile, Cheepie crashed into the head of the hunter who let out another grunt to catch yellow fuzz from out of the corner of his eye as Cheepie plops off with a small cheep of pain before swooping off to avoid a counterattack.

While it was true the hunter could not attack back, he did keep in mind of the small bird while pumping more of his mana into the pillars before having them launch Minh away to smash into the ceiling. The dragon slayer falls down on both feet with a loud thud before noticing the deep cracks of where the pillars once were. Though they did not run deep, he was not going to test his foe's strength.

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Emilia ceased fire as Minh engaged the hunter in a grapple. Not wanting to risk shooting her ally, she planned to hold off until the two separated, but that didn't seem to be happening anytime soon. Emilia decided it would be best to cover the entrances while she was waiting. Having more reinforcements show up could be bad news. She quickly searched the slain treasure hunters for explosives. Finding some, she moved over to one of the entrances from which she was hearing the echoes of footsteps. A group of treasure hunters rounded a corner as she was about to hit the detonator. She grinned and waved at them before pressing the button, detonating the explosives and collapsing the tunnel. That should keep that group from interfering for a while.

Footsteps came from another entrance, revealing a group of rookie hunters running to the room. "Get the rock guy!" They started to charge towards Minh and the Hunter, but stopped short as Emilia stepped out in front of them with a grin on her face. She held a rifle in one hand and Trauma in the other. "Sorry to disappoint, but you're gonna have to get through me first."

She pulled the trigger, firing the rifle with one hand from the hip, which was actually rather easy for her given how her magic affected her body. The spray of lead easily cut down one of the novices and crippled the second, leaving him screaming, writhing on the floor in agony. Only one bullet struck the third before the gun ran out of ammunition. She threw the gun at him before charging him, smacking the sword out of the man's hand before shattering his arm, then slamming his knee with the mace, taking him down. One final stomp on the chest was enough to kill him.

Emilia would stand ready for more combat, or to rush in and help Minh should he need it.

Status:
Cooldowns- Ricochet- 4 posts
HP 65%
MP 85%
MP Regen- 0

The member 'Emilia Crohil' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Minh, on the other hand, was still locked in combat with the gem hunter who wished to turn his attention back over to Emilia only to once more have a boulder thrown at him. This time he took the brunt of the attack before sending up spikes of opaque crystal to tear into Minh, but that would've been the case if Minh had done so, instead, the hunter saw Minh making a circle before throwing two more fist-sized chunks of earth right at him. He was forced to raise another wall of hardened minerals to take the blow with visible cracks appearing through the structure from sheer force. At this point, the Crystal-Make mage was even more cautious now as he wondered what the next move was going to be, and Minh was also analyzing the capabilities of this foe of his.

With a sudden shout from Minh, Cheepie made a sweeping dive to strike against the hunter's side like a sledgehammer before ricocheting off with the mage throwing a flurry of small shards at the avian creature whose agility allowed him to flutter about the chamber with some degree of grace. This was not the main attack as another pair of earthen chunks smashes into the ceiling above him causing a hail of debris to rain down, obscuring his vision for a brief moment. In panic, he formed a small dome around himself, and Minh hoped this would be the case. "NOW" Another roar rushed from Minh as Cheepie let out a throng of cheeps before they progressively turned into bestial roars as an ancient hunter of old stomped down upon the ground with a rumble, standing over 10ft tall. Cheeptor charged at the dome before diving his gaping jaws down in a scooping motion down into the earth to catch his lower jaw on the dome. Then with some strong motion upwards, the predator threw the dome up. In a trance of alarm, the Gem Hunter threw his arm forward to conjure a crystalline spear to impale the beast before realizing that Minh wasn't in sight. The earthen monk was already rushing past the mage while throwing a momentous elbow strike straight into the back of his head. Cheeptor threw himself back as soon as the spear come forth but it still grazed against his body, leaving several bleeding cuts, mere flesh wounds. Minh, however, turned around to throw another elbow strike, connecting with the Gem Hunter's armored face who retaliated with a sudden uppercut into his torso at the same time. Both blow landed with sickening cracks while throwing each man back several feet.

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Emilia had finished off the rookies as Minh and the gem hunter hit each other and knocked each other back. Two more treasure hunters entered the room through one of the three unblocked entrances and opened fire on Minh, seeing him in direct conflict with their boss. As the hunter was going to rush back into the fight with Minh, hoping to catch him having to deal with him as well as the bullets, Emilia charged at him, propelling herself forward with a wave of pure force. "My turn!" Her shoulder made contact with his chest, throwing him back against a wall. "Block the entrances, there are more coming!" She called out to Minh during the momentary respite she had as the hunter recovered from the impact. He raised his hands, firing crystal spikes at Emilia. With precision timing, she cast a force pule to deflect the shards, sending them off course to stick into the wall behind her.

She charged forward, and with an expert swing of the arm and flick of the wrist, she threw Trauma's head out in front of her. The head glowed a soft blue as it was charged with magical power. The movement was something one wouldn't expect from a mace and caught the Gem Hunter off guard. He moved to try to avoid it, but the metal ball still struck his head. Under normal circumstances, the crystal helmet would have likely protected him fairly well, but the effects of Blunt Force still took their toll on the Hunter as the force was magically transferred directly to his skull and brain as though his helmet didn't even exist.

He staggered away from Emilia, dazed by the impact. His eyes darted around as he staggered about, unable to focus and barely able to stand. Emilia chuckled sadistically as the man fumbled, reduced from a powerful mage and fighter to nearly nothing as he was left unable to concentrate to cast any spells. "Not so outrageous now, are you?" She asked the gem hunter tauntingly before following up on her attack. With her opponent dazed, confused, and unable to cast spells, Emilia had little trouble in hitting him. Her flail came crashing down on the man's body repeatedly, shattering what was left of his armor. With that out of the way, she drew Valkyrie again and went in for the kill, slashing and smashing the hunter with everything she had now that he was vulnerable.

Cooldowns- Ricochet- 3 posts, Bullheaded- 4 posts, Force Pulse- 3 posts, Blunt Force (Trauma)- 7 posts
HP 65%
MP 65%
MP Regen- 1

Minh quickly saw Emilia's shift in attack and wanted to assist her if it were not for the two hunters letting loose automated fire on him in short burst. Several shots began chipping away at his earthen form before the man impacted one of the two of them with a powerful tackle with the other about to resume his fire upon Minh. However, such an attempt was thwarted by Cheepie who rams himself into the other one. The resulting crash left the man's splattered body in a crater formed in the wall of the chamber while the mage dispatched his ally with several quick blows to the head. Then the two of them turned around to see Emilia beginning to dispatch her target as well, but as expected, it was not wise to jump in just yet as the choice to do so will probably lead to more harm then good for the two of them. Cheepie and Minh then decided that while they fought, the best thing to do was to barricade off the entrance that the reinforcements were constantly pouring in from. The Cheeptor used its bulk and strength to smash the entrances just enough to cave it in just slightly to make things impossible for the others while also not being something of a permanent cave in. The monk, on the other hand began using his few seconds of free time to gather some rubble projectiles to use if given the chance to. At this point, all that was needed was to neutralize the threat and move on to find the artifacts that they are desperately looking for and proceed to return them to the council. Though, Minh had not the greatest outlook on the council as a force of good, it was still much better than in any of these smaller groups' hands. In fact, he didn't really care for this land in a way most do as it would be blind allegiance that one provides by doing so, and instead, he pledged his loyalty to the earth itself. At least in that view, he was not making a fool of himself.

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The Gemstone hunter, with his injuries, was barely able to defend himself. His lack of focus leaving him unable to make any more weapons or armor. He raised his hands in a futile attempt to protect himself. Trauma was brought down upon him, battering through the measly barriers aside with a sickening crunch to strike his face, breaking both his arms and his jaw, eliciting a howl of pain from the man. She swung again and again, each crushing blow shattering bone where it hit. With a few blows to the shoulders, upper arms, and torso, the hunter was brought to his knees, but Emilia's brutal onslaught continued until he toppled to the ground.

That wasn't enough for Emilia. There was cracking of bone and crushing of flesh, but so far, relatively little blood. It was time for her to change that. She extended Valkyrie's handle to a good length for conveniently eviscerating her helpless opponent before thrusting it into his stomach. She stabbed multiple times, enjoying finishing off the gemstone hunter and making sure the job was done. With one final thrust, she jabbed her spear into his stomach and pushed it upwards, leaving a deep gash running up his stomach to his chest, letting blood pour from the wound. She held his now limp body down to pull her spear free before stomping on his throat. Satisfied with her work. She walked over to Minh. "Well, there's one boss down. Let's see if we can't take out Mr. Goldenshine himself, eh?" She said with a grin. "Then we can take the loot and get out of this place." And later ditch this whole working for the council business. This Goldenshine guy had found the treasure, and Emilia and Minh were going to stop him. In her mind it should only be fair that they be able to claim all of it, unless someone else manages to steal it by force from them. If she could have things her way, she would collect a hefty finder's fee for all of these magical artifacts, still, she'd been hired by the council and would do her job... for now anyway. Wouldn't want to ruin her reputation by turning on them while in a legal guild.

Cooldowns- Ricochet- 2 posts, Bullheaded- 3 posts, Force Pulse- 2 posts, Blunt Force (Trauma)- 6 posts
HP 65%
MP 65%
MP Regen- 2

Minh looked over to Emilia as she finishes off their foe before taking note of the potential that these bastards had in them to be a major pain in his ass. Whatever the case, they had to progress and eliminate the mastermind of this faction with extreme prejudice as well as any other reinforcements heading their way. But, from what he has seen so far, it seemed like they were heading right into the hornet's nest with this suicidal approach. The sound of  shattering earth from where they had barricaded the entrance did not help in settling his nerves of how troublesome this was going to be for the three of them. Looking around the large chamber, he looks for a way to bypass having to charge through a hail of metal projectiles. What he did find was an adjacent tunnel that was collapsed but it led deep enough to put them parallel with whomever was chipping away at the barricade. At this point, heavier shells were busting through now. Not another second is lost as Minh and Cheeptor make their way to the end of this tunnel before turning to face the other one, and in one bulldozering motion, surged through the wall straight into several stationed gunners while others took off in retreat. The tunnel where the reinforcements were coming in seemed to lead into a different chamber where their camp must have been.

For now, the fight with the men with their propped weaponry was a joke only because they were so taken off guard that it was even a fight to begin with. What awaited them ahead was probably much more of a challenge, but Minh secretly hoped that this sustained combat and their casualties had thinned whatever force remaining up ahead. Though, he wasn't really going to see it being a thing anytime soon given his luck. Cheepie had a few more moments of his current form, and it'd be wise to churn up as much chaos as they could once they engage with the main force. Though Cheepie would do well in such a case, if the leader made his appearance, Minh would rather have Cheepie in a smaller form to make him a greater and harder to hit threat.

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The member 'RockyTheRockiestRock' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Emilia stopped to collect her things after the battle, making sure all of heir former opponents were dead before collecting more firearms and ammunition. Based on the sounds coming from the collapsed tunnels, they were going to need them. With Trauma and Valkyrie on her belt once more and her shield on her back. She slung two rifles over her back as well after making sure they had full magazines. She picked up two explosives of some sort. They seemed to be improvised grenades made from whatever blasting charges the tomb raiders were using to get deeper into the ruins. Still, in this enclosed of an environment, the shockwave from these bombs would bounce between the walls and prove quite lethal. She found a spot on her belt for them before picking up two more rifles, then following Minh. Even if the accuracy of dual-wielding rifles was horrendous, she was able to use them to sweep a room rather effectively. There wasn't much that wouldn't be stopped by a hail of high velocity lead.

Nodding to herself approvingly, Emilia followed behind Minh and his pet, reaching him as he was getting ready to break through the wall of the tunnel and ambush the enemy. "Ready to go. Let's waste 'em." She said matter-of-factly before Minh and Cheepie blasted their way through the wall, scaring away those they did not knock over. She wouldn't give them the chance to get up again, taking aim with one rifle and firing into each of their heads with one bullet before looking to her earthen ally. "You go first. They've gotten me good in a few places, so I ain't charging in. I'll provide covering fire after you draw their attention." She said. She did have quite a lot of blood on her armor, though not all of it was her own, there were a few spots where the bullets had clearly ripped straight through the plate and into her flesh. Still, she tolerated the pain just fine, then again, being killed several times when training with former mentors did help to increase one's pain tolerance significantly.

Cooldowns- Ricochet- 1 post, Bullheaded- 2 posts, Force Pulse- 1 post, Blunt Force (Trauma)- 5 posts
HP 65%
MP 75%
MP Regen- 0

Minh nodded at Emilia before moving over to the fallen raiders, also picking up their weapons to then begin making sure that he had two fully loaded rifles before hopping up onto Cheeptor's back. Said Cheeptor then began his dash through the hall towards the next central chamber where the main section of the treasurer hunters were at. The earthen monk was riding on the prospect of overwhelming awe and surprise giving them the upper hand needed to over come the much larger force that they were about to engage. As the two of them came close to entering the other chamber, Minh uttered a roaring battle cry followed by a piercing growl from Cheeptor which combined in a horrendous sound of death that thundered into the open chamber just before the two of them bursts through the barricades that were quickly thrown together. Minh stood upon the head of his companion with a surprising amount of balance considering his earthen form and fired off a volley of shots into the largest clump of foes that he could spot at that split second.

The initial charge and battle cry were more than enough strike fear into the hardened hunters who found themselves stopped dead in their tracks given that the pass fews days had been almost painfully uneventful, but now, some wished that their excitement did not come with the bonus of a bloody death. While Minh was not going to be purposely seeking their deaths, he could not let up at all in this attack because it was going to be complete devastation or complete bust depending on how these first few seconds played out for them all. For several hunters, they were effectively gunned down by the initial volley before Minh had better control as he unleashed the rest of the clips into those rushing for auto-cannon turrets that they had set up. Cheeptor would immediately rush off to attack them while Minh hopped off to engage the other hunters.

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The member 'RockyTheRockiestRock' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Not far behind Minh and Cheeptor would be Emilia, letting out a shout as she charged in behind him, spraying bullets at the side of the room Minh hadn't unleashed a hail of lead onto already, gunning down the stunned rookies before they could rush her with their swords. Still, a good 6 or 7 of the veterans remained and took cover under her and Minh's suppressive fire. She would make sure that none reached the cannons. However, there was one small issue, small being actually quite large. That issue was a man, the man, the boss, Harper McGlitterdustikens of Fabulocity III or whatever his name was, and in his hand, a detonator. Emilia tried to take aim and fire, but was too slow on the draw. With the press of a button, the tunnels behind Emi and Minh collapsed, destroyed by the enemy's charges. With more explosives being set off in the room, a dust cloud was kicked up. Nothing could be seen, and the ringing in Emilia's ears from the explosions left little to be heard.

"I thought I'd make this interesting." She heard called out from somewhere in the dust and sand. It certainly was interesting now, with bullets flying, men and women screaming as they were killed by her own rounds, Minh's or Cheepie's attacks, or friendly fire. "The hell are you doing? You're going to blow us all to hell, you lunatic!" Emi shouted through the cacophony of gunfire, explosions, roars, and scream. She fired blindly, moving closer to where she thought Goldenshine to be. Bullets collided and ricochet off nearby debris. Cannonfire sent her diving to the ground as the explosive rounds collided pillars, walls, and other things behind her, raining rocks and dust down on her. She grabbed one of the explosives she had taken with her and twisted what seemed to be an important part and then threw it in the direction of the cannon. A moment later there was an explosion and screaming followed by a series of smaller bursts as the initial explosive went off and detonated the ammo in the cannon.

More yelling rang out as she drew the attention of more hunters. Bullets whistled over her head as she returned fire from her prone position. She could no longer tell where she was in the room at this point, so she started crawling under the enemy fire, trying to find a wall. This was certainly interesting, but the question arose: where in this chaos had Goldenshine gone off to? "Minh! Take out the mooks! We can hunt Harper once they're all dead!" She tried to call out, though whether or not it could be heard above the din of battle remained to be seen.

Cooldowns- Ricochet- ready, Bullheaded- 1 post, Force Pulse- ready, Blunt Force (Trauma)- 4 posts
HP 65%
MP 75%
MP Regen- 1

Minh was neck deep in gunfire as Emilia had joined their attack with even more gunfire which was quite well-timed because he was out of ammunition, forced to toss away his two weapons before charging into a fallen pillar that served as cover for some hunters only to have the whole of the chamber go up in flames as Goldenshine had to go and make things even more complicated for the three of them. The earthen mage was unaffected by the shockwaves that rocked his body but was thrown around a bit from the force of the blasts. Though the dust cloud and cacophony of battle, he heard Emilia’s cries which he thought at first were those for help, but he then realized she called for him to rid of the remains of the underlings before making a beeline for the man himself. At that point, he was already battering three of the six or so veterans that retreated immediately after the explosive charges had detonated. Minh pursue the rest using the few sounds of commands and shouts he could gather from these men. Several large blasts still sounded near him probably due to one or two men actually getting to their gun emplacements, and all the while, he wondered where Cheepie was in all of this.

Cheeptor almost seemed to be having a ball of a time smashing his way into the enemy, goring them with his large toe claws while snapping away at limbs and heads that he could reach. Even through the blast, the bestial hunter was on a rampage of bloodlust, smashing through the makeshift battlements of these men while persevering through various shots that scratch and lodged itself into his near armored hide. Other unlucky men suffered swipes from the forelimbs as Cheeptor ran past, splattering their innards all over the floor if not slicing clean through them.

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As Minh, Cheeptor, and Emilia shot, punched, bashed and slashed their way through merc after merc, the amount of dust blocking their sight slowly began to settle. Emilia had run out of ammo and had to switch to melee combat. Her shield useless against bullets, she resorted to wielding Trauma and Valkyrie. At this point she didn't particularly care whether or not the hunters were dead, only that they were taken out of the fight. Often times, only one or two good hits was acceptable to bring one down. Sometimes though, simply gutting one with Valkyrie was the fastest way to make sure he was going down. The blood that now stained her hands made it difficult to wield her weapons, still, the mercs didn't have much for melee options. The cover provided by the dust and debris allowed her to move from group to group, following the sound of gunfire, without getting hit. Once the distance was closed, these guys weren't too tough.

As the last few hunters fell, so did the sound of gunfire. From somewhere near the middle of the room, masked by the dust, the sound of clapping could be heard. "Well done. Well done indeed." Goldenshine called out. "It's been a while since I've seen a duo fight so savagely. But still, I'm afraid it won't be enough." He said. With a snap of his finger, massive crystal spikes began to jut out from various surfaces throughout the room, ranging anywhere from one to three feet long and a half inch to two inches thick at the base. They went through nearly anything in their way, whether it be stone, debris, or flesh. Cries from some of the mercenaries could be heard as they were spiked by their own boss's attack. Emilia was barely able to avoid the spikes near her as she ran towards the source of the voice. Leaping off a piece of debris, she launched herself forward with an explosion of force. Harper Goldenshine quickly appeared in front of her, though she was slightly off in her aim, and didn't impact him directly, she was able to smack him with Trauma, scoring a good hit and sending the man staggering backwards. He quickly regained his footing, and grinning, raised his hands and sent forth a volly of crystal shards in Emilia's direction. The redhead was barely able to avoid them her armor taking a few glancing blows, yet with the hardness and sharpness of the crystals, they still left significant cuts in the plate.

Cooldowns- Bullheaded- 4 posts, Blunt Force (Trauma)- 3 posts
HP 65%
MP 65%
MP Regen- 2

Minh was fighting like a machine if one had to compare him to something as he moved from one target to the next. His body while transcended was still mortal, at least with how he would describe himself, and he pressed himself onward with his blows crashing through hunters as if they were air while a hail of solid metal rains upon him as cuts down their numbers with his fellow companions. Men and women alike were thrown like ragdolls or splatter across the ground in a bloody mess. Cheeptor did the same with his primal rampaging leaving nothing left of the battlements by the time that their true inquiry made his appearances within the chamber.

When the crystals started to sprout, Minh turned his head towards the source of the voice to see Emilia already making her way towards the more aged man who stood there almost passively. The earthen monk made his way towards him as well by taking a flank while Cheepie reverted back to his small birdie form forcibly to take flight to a more safer place to observe the fight. Many of the growing spikes were easy enough to avoid but he was still caught off-guard by some that were still rupturing from the ground with one or two grazing roughly across his form as he dashed toward Goldie. Emilia landed the first blow while glancing did enough to throw him back probably did no real damage to the experienced mage. Minh took it upon himself to follow suit as he came from the man's right with haste, and while the man did see him coming from the side, he was too slow to fully dodge Minh as the rocky man throw out his arm to slam into him rather than risking a full on punch. Minh, too, glanced the man but on his jaw as he passed him straight into a forming wall of crystal spikes.

Too close for comfort there, Emilia thought to herself as she narrowly avoided a volley of crystal spikes before Minh came charging in and attacking the Gem Hunter, who was able to somewhat sidestep the earthen mage's attack, sending the rocky man running past him and into a wall of crystal spikes. That would probably hurt... a lot, but Minh could take it. She took this chance to charge back into the fight, lunging forward with Valkyrie, only to have it blocked by Goldenshine forming a crystalline shield. She swung downwards now with Trauma, but he brought the shield up to deflect the blow. Still, Emilia was stronger than him, and as such, the heavy blow of her mace on his shield was able to batter through his defenses. She didn't hesitate to take full advantage of this, thrusting forth with Valkyrie once more, catching him in the side as he tried to move out of the way. While not as successful a stab as she had hoped, the spear still cut a painful gash in the hunter's side.

Her opponent formed a blade of crystal and swung it at Emilia, who was able to deflect it with Trauma and countered by rushing forward and driving her shoulder into his chest, pushing him closer to his own spikes as she thrust at him with her spear. Goldenshine acted quickly in response, utilizing his fastest crystal make spell, he fired tiny, but sharp dust-sized shards of crystal into Emilia's face as he fell to the ground. It didn't deal much damage, but the shards made thousands of tiny cuts all over her face. Emi continued onwards a few steps in her charge, stomping on Goldenshine with one of them before coming to a stop, growling in pain as small droplets of blood began oozing from the multitude of tiny lacerations across her face. At least she had closed her eyes as she saw the dust, sparing her vision. Goldenshine was back on his feet quickly, ready for more.

Cooldowns- Bullheaded- 3 posts, Blunt Force (Trauma)- 2 posts
HP 65%
MP 75%
MP Regen- 0

Minh was quick to throw his back against the wall of spikes that jutted out in front of him with a natural instinct that he was not aware of until he crashed into them feeling some of the spikes actually digging into him. He snaps back forward with a roar with some of the crystal pillars sticking out his back as he charged forward. By the time, he reached Goldenshine again, he was recovering from Emilia and did the same spell he done to her a moment ago startled by the insane recovery Minh made despite being struck by all of the crystal spears he formed. Unlike Emilia however, Minh was merely grazed by the shards which did nothing to stop the earthen warrior's left hook from smashing straight into his side. This threw the aged man back before he let out a growl with a palm smash the ground as several more pillars smashed into Minh straight back into the wall of spikes, shattering them with Minh lodged several feet in rock.

Cheepie did make a comeback in the form of flinging a large chunk of rubble right at the crystal mage who moved just enough to avoid having his head cracked, letting his back take the hit instead. He looked up immediately to spot the birdie, but Cheepie anticipated this and smash into the ceiling with enough force to fly through it somewhat and out, causing more debris to rain on him as Cheepie flapped back to safety. Minh let out another roar of sorts as he tried to dig himself out of the wall in a very livid manner. It would take him several seconds to get out, and once he did, he'd be in a more berserk state, wanting to end this farce of a fight as quickly as possible without having to expend anymore resources.

"Hrmph, what was that little bitch spell? Couldn't take the heat?" She taunted, giving him a bloody grin as she stepped closer during the brief respite. He turned and hurled another volley of crystal shards at her as she started to run at him once more. Without breaking pace, she deflected them with a Force Pulse. He may be a stronger mage than her, and be able to create crystals able to tear through most of her defenses, but once he launched them, they were out of his control, allowing her to deflect them no problem with her shockwave. "Not gonna happen!"

As she closed in, Goldenshine made his own mace and shield, though unlike hers, his mace had razor sharp edges to it. Even without a solid hit, it would be easily able to carve through flesh, and scar rock and steel. She certainly didn't want to get hit by that. She swung, her mace glowing with a soft sheen of blue as she did so, aiming for her opponent's weapon. She made contact with it, and there was a flash of blue as her the force of her spell and the impact weapon. Unable to shatter it, and thus unable to dissipate it traveled into Goldenshine's hand in the same instant that she hit his weapon, where it was able to easily shatter the bones in his right hand. For the first time, he let out a cry of pain as his hand was shattered, forcing him to drop his weapon. He was unable to block her spear strike as Valkyrie's blade lodged itself in his gut. Emilia didn't remove the spear, instead, with the press of a button, it fired the blade, pushing it farther into the hunter's body as it detached from the shaft. With a cry of fury and pain, Goldenshine assaulted Emilia with another blast of crystal dust, forcing her back before running off somewhere else in the ruins, probably trying to find another way out. Emilia quickly recovered, following hot on his heels.

Status:
Cooldowns- Bullheaded- 2 posts, Blunt Force (Trauma)- 1 post, Force Pulse- 3 posts, Unequalizer- 3 posts
HP 65%
MP 65%
MP Regen- 1

Valkyrie currently has no blade.

Cheepie was now a key part of this assault as soon the crystal mage decided to change his tactics into taking a retreat back into the ruins, but while he did stall both Minh and Emilia long enough to give him a significant head start against the two legal mages, the little birdie was unhampered and was much faster than his human counterparts. His tiny size made it easier for him to spread his wings and fly about the place, and because of that, his maneuvering was also unaffected for this mission as a while except for certain corridor sections that were arguably a bit claustrophobic. Goldenshine thought himself somewhat homefree before feeling a deep pain on his right leg as Cheepie smashed himself into the back of his thigh, leaving a messy laceration and gushing blood from a small crater in the flesh.. The small bird quickly bounded off and slammed itself right into his left knee from the side, throwing his leg outward to the side, helping int effectively tripping the man who fell upon the ground.

Minh, on the other hand, would by now have dug his way out and charged after Emilia as well with the intent to finish this as fast as possible. When he came into view of Goldenshine and a little Cheepie dodging to and fro from thrown spikes, Minh pushed himself onward with longer strides to overtake Emilia only to find the whole corridor filling up more crystalline obstacles. With one last charge, Minh threw himself right into it with a booming crash as he flew past the fallen mage, leaving a massive hole in the deathly wall for Emilia to pass through to hopefully finish the job. If that were not the case, Minh was already turning himself around to prepare a final strike as well.

Cheepie was doing well to slow Goldenshine down, which was necessary, as avoiding his various crystal attacks slowed Emilia down significantly, allowing Minh to overtake her. A wall was forming between the duo and their target now, but the earth mage would not allow that. Emilia continued onwards as Minh charged into the wall and smashed through it, clearing space for her to pass through with ease. Emi figured it was about time she do something else to slow Goldenshine down. Raising Valkyirie and commanding the blade to reform, she then took aim and fired. The blade was on the spear for less than a second before it was sent soaring through the air and directly into Goldenshine's leg. He stumbled a few steps, and that's when Emilia struck. He was at just the perfect range. She leap forward, and with a thunderous clap, a shockwave launched her forward faster. She dropped her weapons in the air and leaned back, flying feet first past the mage and grabbing onto him as she flew by, wrapping an arm around his neck. She dragged him along with her onto the ground in a sort of suplex, sending them both sliding along the hard ground. Emilia's armor protected her from the rough floor, but Goldenshine was dragged along with her, his skin scraped off by the floor.

She rose up quickly, and grabbed him, putting him into a standing submission hold. "You think you're just gonna pin me?" He growled out before creating a massive number of crystal spikes, shooting them out from all over his body, impaling Emilia on them. There was a sickening sound of crystal being driven through flesh mixed with the scrape of crystal on metal as it went straight through her armor and body. Emilia held fast, though, remaining standing. "That's the plan." She said before beginning to squeeze him, her superhuman strength allowing her to begin literally squeezing the life out of him. "Finish him, Minh." She said. For one who had been impaled in so many places at once, she was going quite strong.

Status:
Cooldowns- Bullheaded- 1 post, Blunt Force (Trauma)- ready, Force Pulse- 2 posts, Unequalizer- 2 posts, Ricochet- 5 posts, Valkyrie blade formation- 3 posts
HP 15%
MP 60%
MP Regen- 2

Minh saw Emilia make her final move in pinning the old bastard down to the ground finally and knew time was of the essence as he took a few strides forward at Goldenshine, who while pinned was not going to let himself be taken out like this just yet. He let out a shout which ended with several dozen crystal shards flying past the rocky fighter like artillery shells. Each step of his was accompanied by sheer numbers of projectiles coming at him blindly as the other mage was stuck between a rock and a hard place quite literally. Some of the shards cracked against him, causing Minh to tumble a bit as he closed in on Goldenshine, but just as he closed the distance to finish him off with a curbstomp, a shell formed around the man's head. It cracked but didn't shatter as the fractured pieces kept together impossibly tight, and the shards of crystals were still raining on Minh was well.

With a quick swipe, Minh snatched a thick, lengthened crystal before smashing it into the cracks of the protective dome keeping his head safe. He wedged it deep into Goldenshine's construct before pushing inwards with one arm keeping the piece steady while the other hammered on the other end to get it in. Each slam inched the piece in until the mage himself was screaming in defiance, and Minh caught this as a sign that he was close and with one last pound, sent the makeshift chisel straight through. The scream of defiance ended as the magical crystals around them dissipate into nothingness. Cheepie even arrived on the scene carrying a little med-kit that he probable salvaged during when the two had converged on their target. At the very least, Emilia could get patched up enough to not bleed to death.

All the crystals that Goldenshine had created crumbled away to nothingness as he was killed by Minh using one of his own creations. Unfortunately, the crystals that had impaled Emilia were among those that disappeared, leaving her wounds quite open. With nothing to curb the flow of blood from the multiple stab wounds she had received, a small medkit wasn't going to cut it. Emilia's eyelids fluttered and she wavered. "No, I ain't going down that easy." She said to herself, putting a hand on the wall to steady herself before beginning to walk. There would probably be some artifact or some such thing to heal her in here. She'd use that, then take something more appealing to her. She wiped her mouth with a bloodied hand and then... something seemed off. She had tasted her own blood before but something about it now was different. She felt like she needed more, like it would help... No, that wasn't right, how the hell would drinking blood heal her?

She pressed on through the room ravaged by the battle with Goldenshine and his men, into the vault, which the hunters had rather conveniently managed to open. She couldn't help but eye the corpses as she passed, feeling incredibly thirsty. It was a tough battle, so it made sense to want water, though, she had the feeling that water wouldn't quench her thirst.

She began her search, digging around through the artifacts, any mess or damage they sustained could easily be blamed on the treasure hunters they had killed. After a time, she had found what she was looking for, something that could heal her. It was, rather ironically, an enchanted crystal. Nevertheless, she gripped it in both hands and fell to her knees as she allowed the healing magic within it to close her wounds. Once she was no longer bleeding out, she dropped it on the ground and began looking for a more suitable piece of loot for herself. Her mind went back to her thirst as she looked, she remembered hearing stories about her father, his father before him, and others in their line. Stories of bloodlust, but more, not just killing, but drinking the opponent's blood: a red thirst. She had heard stories of that being the way her father fought as well as he did, though she never chose to believe it... perhaps that was the true nature he had mentioned to her. He had opened the door by killing her in the Time Gem, and now, nearly dying had allowed her to step through it. Her face twitched as a smirk slowly formed on it. Yes, it was true, the red thirst, the bloodlust. She realized now that she did have it, and sometime would need to learn to use it.


Job Completed.