My Servant System

"Well then... this is quite a fortuitous encounter for us, isn't it? Two separate tortoise monsters, rather large and quite strong... This would be two medium scale encounters mixed into one, no? Making it a large one. Now, do you wish to take one each, or are you going to work together?"

Rising from the rivers on either side of us were two enormous monsters resembling tortoises - they had leathery blue skin that was coursing with mana filled veins, a deeper, richer blue emitting from their flesh and letting us know from that alone that they were Water Mana attuned, which...

Well, besides being rather obvious, it was also a bit of a problem since Water Mana tended to mean a more resilient monster that had a high healing factor, so any damage we dealt had a good chance of being negated in a few moments if pressure wasn't being constantly applied; even then, if we weren't putting out enough damage, we could be here for a long time as the wounds heal faster than we can add to them.

Besides the blue skin, they had a pretty turquoise shell that rippled and had some pronounced bumps, which would let them blend in on the bottom of the rivers as they lounged around and did little besides rest and wait, though their large taloned feet and sharp, hooked beak made it abundantly clear that they were able to deal some serious damage as well.

"This is fortuitous to you?!"

Belian grinned as he nodded at Satanya's question, before he just hummed softly as I stepped forwards and unsheathed my Khopesh, shouting "Jahi, Anput, Leone; we're taking the right one!", which made Belian nod some more as he said "Well, that's an answer to my question, I guess..."

Growling, Satanya unsheathed her own sword and shouted "Intri, Liak, with me! Everyone on the left side, with me as well! Right side, go right!", earning another nod from Belian as the man remained standing in the center, his figure gradually fading from view as he continued to observe us, letting us have this practical experience to ourselves and guide us on where we went wrong afterwards.

With the monsters in the middle being just as surprised as we were, the Demons were able to put them down swiftly and efficiently, freeing themselves up to switch targets to the two large tortoises that were pulling themselves out of the rivers, their talons sinking into the soft riverbed and leaving behind long scores in the gravel as they did so, all while their beaks parted to reveal the rows of razor sharp teeth that lined their throats.

Hissing at us, the tortoises steadily made their way forwards, their heavy bodies not making them the quickest to move, but that flaw of theirs was supplemented by the mana that pulsed from their bodies as they walked forwards.

"Jahi, take point; Leone, intercept the magic it's about to cast! Everyone else, spread out and attack its legs!"

Keeping my orders as concise as I could manage, I took the ten or so Demons I had to work with and spread them out, while Leone stopped and was joined by two others as they began to trace out the runes for their spells, which the tortoise matched as it wrenched its hooked beak apart again and revealed its maw, where mana began to swirled around rapidly as it charged an attack of its own.

Leading the way was Jahi, her shield raised and covered in golden light as she took her place at the center of the formation, drawing the monster's attention as well as buying us the seconds we needed to spread out and begin closing in on the tortoise, aiming to reach its fleshy limbs and impair its movement as much as we could.

Mana continued to swirl around in its maw before the tortoise aimed the sphere at Jahi, preparing to shoot of the giant projectile of Water Mana straight into the charging Demoness, but before it could do so three fireballs exploded against its lower jaw, knocking its head back and causing the sphere to be shot out into the ceiling, where it blasted apart some of the stone above and showered down rock and water in equal measure.

A pained groan escaped its now charred throat as it's head fell down, level with us once more and revealing its angry red eyes, the blackened skin flaking to reveal a new patch of blue skin beneath, it's healing factor already making its appearance.

Smacking her shield into its beak, Jahi thrusted her great sword upwards, skewering its throat and showering her arm in thick blue blood, making the tortoise groan again as it's head snapped to the side.

Raising one of its large, taloned feet, the monster slammed its foot back down and pushed itself back, trying to return to the water and gain the environmental advantage, something that made me curse slightly as its other foot slammed into the earth on the other side, pushing some of the Demons back as they avoided the heavy blow.

With thick chitin protecting its body, the only available parts of its body to attack were its limbs, and even they were proving deadly as the tortoise lifted them once more and slammed them down, continuing to push itself backwards and submerge half of itself into the water, only to hiss again as another pair of fireballs exploded against its face, blowing off a chunk of flesh and burning the rest.

And yet, even as those fireballs tore away a piece of its flesh, now that it was in the water the tortoise covered itself in a thin layer of the water, which shone blue and rapidly healed the damage it had sustained.

Seeing that, I sent a discus hurtling towards its skull and made the tortoise hiss for a third time as the water on its flesh froze, halting its healing for just a moment before the ice cracked and fell away, the water beneath flowing over the burn and rejuvenating the flesh.

And then it lifted its head back and parted its jaws, another sphere of blue mana gathering between its beak and radiating power as it glared down at us.