Melody moved the moment the beasts lunged.
Three [Hex Shields] snapped into existence in front of her, each one catching a different attacker.
The two Zipper Bears hit the shields at full speed and bounced, their momentum reversed.
The Armored Crocodile slammed into the third shield, grinding against it with confidence. It was as if it had never needed to stop for anything in its life.
The shields held, holding them at bay and leaving the three scorpions for Lukas.
They came in low and fast, their tails already moving before they had fully closed the distance.
He watched them come, tracking all three stingers at once, and then threw himself into a spin.
The tails cut through the air where he had been standing, missing him entirely, and he landed in the middle of their formation with his sword already moving.
He slashed, his sword cutting through two of the tails and severing them.
Blood sprayed into the air from the stumps and he activated [Blood Armor], landing behind the scorpions.
The blood misted upwards off the ground and hardened around him, the shell sealing across his skin.
He turned to the third scorpion. Its tail was still intact, and the tip of it had already started to glow with an orange light as it began to build a beam of fire.
Lukas blurred towards it.
The scorpion's pincers snapped forward to catch him before he could close the distance.
He jumped over both of them, clearing the claws entirely, and for a half second he was directly above the creature. That was when its tail discharged the beam.
He grabbed the tail with both hands and wrenched it downwards.
The beam fired straight into the scorpion's own back.
The explosion of heat filled the air, the force of it pushing Lukas up even as he was already driving his sword down into the scorpion's torso.
He shredded through its exoskeleton on the way to the ground, his sword tearing a ragged line through the creature's body.
[You have killed a C-rank Deathstalker Scorpion.]
He landed, and in that instant, felt the air shift behind him.
He was already moving before his brain caught up with why.
He flipped into the air, tucking his legs up, and the pincers of the two tailless scorpions snapped shut on empty air a fraction of a second below his feet.
Without their tails, they had nothing left that could reach him.
He could see it in the way they were moving, compensating for the missing weapons with speed and aggression but lacking the tool that actually made them dangerous.
He came down on their backs with one foot on each carapace.
He slashed once, left to right, and both scorpions split apart, the two halves falling away in opposite directions.
[You have killed a C-rank Deathstalker Scorpion (x2).]
He flipped off the collapsing bodies and landed in open ground.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he threw himself into the air again, and Zipper Bear blurred through the space he had just vacated.
The wind from its passage brushed the side of his face. If he'd been slow by even half a second, it would have taken his head off.
He twisted in the air and brought his sword down across the bear's back as it passed beneath him.
The blade opened a long, deep wound from shoulder to hip. The bear roared and wheeled around, blood pouring from the gash.
Lukas was already on the ground and moving. He closed the gap before the bear could fully turn, driving his sword through its chest, and slamming his shoulder into its torso at the same time.
The bear staggered back from the hit, then its legs went out from under it as its heart stopped. A second later, it dropped to the ground, dead.
He looked up.
Melody was holding back the second Zipper Bear and the Armored Crocodile simultaneously, a [Hex Shield] in front of her at all times.
The beasts tried to get around the shields but the moment it looked like they were about to succeed, she raised another shield, blocking them.
She wasn't attacking. Instead, she was absorbing and deflecting their attacks, keeping both creatures focused entirely on her while they hammered against her defenses.
He understood immediately. If she was killing or attacking them, she was taking experience that should be going to him.
She was burning her own mana to be a wall so he could do the work.
He dashed forward, a feeling of appreciation welling up towards her. He was grateful that he had activated his system and drew her.
The bear had its full attention on Melody's shield, lunging against it with both paws, so it never even heard him coming.
He hit it from behind at full speed, his shoulder slamming into its spine, and drove it forward into the shield with enough force that a loud crack filled the air, the bear breaking a few bones.
The shield held, but the bear didn't.
It bounced off, dazed and stumbling, pain signals firing through its body faster than it could process them. Lukas was already above it.
He brought the sword down in a cleave that split the bear from the base of its neck down to its waist on the other side. The two halves separated with a wet sound and fell in opposite directions.
[You have killed a C-rank Zipper Bear.]
He landed and turned to find the Armored Crocodile already on him.
It moved faster than it looked like it should be able to, a creature built entirely out of armored plates closing the distance between them with a burst of speed that left no time to set his footing properly.
He snapped a kick at its snout, the only attack he had time to form, and it connected.
The crocodile's head rocked sideways from the force of it, then it straightened, undeterred.
His foot was stinging from the contact. The armored plating that covered the creature's body wasn't decorative.
It was genuine protection, thick enough that his kick had absorbed more of its own force than it had transferred. He might as well have kicked a wall.
He leapt back, buying himself two steps of distance, and drove his sword down into the creature's snout as it surged forward again.
The blade hit the plating and skidded sideways, leaving a shallow scrape and burying itself in the ground instead of the beast.
The crocodile didn't slow down and its jaws opened wide, before closing around his leg.