Dust, Gunpowder, and Ashes (OPEN) [Challenge Hunt: Multiple Encounters]

There weren't only students on the small airship. Up inside the cockpit, Alex was standing behind the pilot with his arms crossed over his chest with a stern look on his face. Ever since he had gotten to the academy there had been a large number of Grimm he had run into, and not just in the forest either. A few had actually made it to the beach, but when Alex had followed their trails they all led to the Finnek Forest. If Alex didn't know better, he'd thought that someone was either herding the beasts out of the forest, or they were over breeding and needed more space. However no one could herd Grimm without loosing their life, and no one knew if Grimm even reproduced, so neither was the case. However one thing was for certain; Grimm population had grown and they needed to be cut down to size quickly or they'd overrun Bellmuse.

Glancing to his right, Alex closely examined the map of the forest and saw that they were heading towards one of the areas that he had predicted that the Grimm were coming from. When he had heard that a hunt to this area was being organized, he quickly jumped aboard after he finished the class he had today. After asking the pilot how much longer it would be to get to the drop off point and the answer was 'not long,' Alex turned on his heel and walked back to where the others going on this hunt were located.

He saw several students, but the first one that he noticed was Kei, the masked student from Syne. The young man was indeed skilled, but his move set puzzled Alex to no end. It was as if they guy wasn't much for fighting Grimm but was better at fighting people instead. The Survival Professor could only hope that Kei intended to go into law enforcement if that was the case. He could only hope because if he decided to become a criminal Alex could be forced to take him down. Still, such thoughts had to be put aside for now. He was going on a hunt and he needed to be focused on killing Grimm, but also keeping the students safe. Yeah most of them could look out for each other, but still he was a professor among students so it was his job to keep them safe. Heck he'd try to keep them all safe if he was a student like them. It was just the kind of person he was.

Having decided to get up, dressed, and take her daily injection, Akui was just slouching around the campus when she noticed yet another request for hunting Grimm. It would seem that they were having some sort of surge, and while Akui didn't really care about anything other than killing when it came to Grimm, killing them was exactly where the money was. This was this exact reason that she signed up for what seemed to be a rather strenuous Grimm hunting.

That's what wound up putting her on the ship that was flying towards what she heard was a denser area of the Finnek Forest, with chances that they may end up facing some very strong Grimm, but that didn't phase her in the slightest: even smart Grimm were still primal and relied heavily on instinct, there were little signs of reasoning...and she killed a lot of people who had said reasoning, so the only challenge that Grimm held where that they took a few more doses of hot lead before they too fell dead.

In her normal baggy clothing, she was sitting by herself...like she would normally choose, but it didn't help that she had only noticed three other people on this ride and that all three of them were male. She really didn't want to have to work with them, but she figured she would just avoid them until it was time to bust up some Grimm, and at that time she would just hang back let Agony and Infamy do the talking.

She looked out the window briefly, taking note to see if they were landing soon, but it seemed that the rig they were on hadn't even remotely descended yet. While she waited, she unclasped both Agony and Infamy and performed a last-minute check on the both of them, just to insure they were in tip-top shape.

As Alex glanced around the small airship, one of the students caught his eye for a moment. The student was a young female and had pink hair, and a rather unique look in her eyes. He gave her a casual nod before glancing away, not aware if she even saw it or not. There wasn't anything behind it, just basically him telling her that he knew she was there. It didn't take him long to realize who it was; Akui, one of the most infamous students on campus. He was well aware that she was a former gangster, and chances were that if he hadn't stopped hunting 5 and a half years ago he might of been sent to take her gang down. After all, it wasn't just Grimm he had to go hunting after. As seasoned warriors most hunters were half expected to help with law enforcement, though it wasn't demanded of them... and Alex was among the few that would stop and offer the police his aid. At the moment her intent on being here was slipping his mind, but he hoped that she intended to turn over a new leaf while here. And if she asked he'd help, but he wasn't going to force change on her. He had learned enough through his carrier that trying to force the issue just resulted in the person needing change to push back hard.

That was when the finally started to land, so Alex grabbed his weapon from his back and unfolded the heavy thing so the students could clearly see his weapon of choice; a wrecking ball on a chain. After Kei jumped out Alex was soon to follow and quickly started to survey the area, but stopped when Kei asked a rather interesting question. "Well for starters I'd suggest examining this area to get our barrings and make sure we didn't land in a hot zone. However keep in mind that this isn't a class session. No one here is required to do what I say." Alex stated calmly with a clear hint of respect in his tone. He knew that Kei was a capable huntsman from seeing him first hand... and Akui was infamous with those guns of hers.

Alex was about to say something else when he saw something on the ground near Akui's foot. "However I would advise that we keep an eye out for Grimm tracks. For example..." Alex began as he gestured with his left hand at the ground to Akui's left. In the soil there were several little cone shape pits in the ground, and they seemed to form two lines that stretched across the clearing. "... those are Deathstalker tracks. Looks like just one, not a juvenile but no where near full adulthood either judging by how far apart the track markings are." Alex walked over to the tracks, but politely kept his distance from Akui, and knelt down to pick up a leaf from one of the small pits. It had a hole punched through it, but other then that it looked like it had just fallen off a tree. The side that was on the ground was fairly dry while the side that was facing towards the sky was rather wet, indicating it had gotten flipped over recently. "And seeing that this leaf hasn't started to rot yet where it was damaged and is still fairly damp. That Deathstarker is still close. If it understands that our transportation is what brings humans to it's domain, it's most likely heading towards us now to make a meal out of us." Alex finished before standing up and dropping the leaf.

"We can wait here to see if it returns, or we can go after it. What do you all prefer?"

Akui was just minding herself and her guns, waiting for the ship to land and to just get it all over with already. She noted that the older-looking gentleman had acknowledge her presence with a nod, but she did not return any gesture. She had all but taken her guns completely apart when the pilot or whoever announced they were landing. Akui waiting for the men to leave the ship first before she got off. She locked and loaded both Agony and Infamy and was ready to go when the older gentleman noted Grimm tracks near her foot. She moved out of the way so that he could examine it, and noted that he was rather polite to her and respected her space, but that she still didn't trust the man as he was...well, a man.

It seemed that he had expert tracking skills, knowing the Grimm species, size, and it's distance from them just by a mark on the ground and the condition of a leaf. She found this rather impressive, and her opinion of the man improved a bit as he would be very useful in the field. The other man seemed useless as far as she could tell, hopefully he could hold his own because she wouldn't do it for him.

The tracker mentioned something about chasing after the Grimm or waiting for it. 'It will probably smell us and come out of curiosity alone, chasing the f***er will just put us at a disadvantage.' She backed behind the two men a little bit, then continued. 'If we stay and prepare, we'll be ready to kill the s*** out of the motherf***er,  so I think the choice is obvious.' Agony and Infamy were ready to destroy some Grimm, and so was Akui...she just hoped she didn't have to pick up anyone's slack again.

The sound of airship engine from a far roared through the silence of the forest and its inhabitants. This caught the attention of grimms in the surrounding area. A Deathstalker who had just passed the place sensed the familiar sound of the engine. It only meant one thing: humans. It decided to go back its tracks and observe from a distance as it made out the figure of three humans. There were two men and a woman. The grimm took its time positioning itself and planning its attack before finally deciding to charge head on. Its left clipper aimed to crush the woman between its claws, its right did the same to the older looking man beside her and its tail drove down to the guy with black clothes and a scarf. The scorpion's intention were simple, to pierce and crush them utilizing its mighty strength.

Hearing Akui finally talk made Alex realize just how much of a bad girl attitude she truly had. Sure he was surrounded by young adults but she was the first one to use such... colorful... language. However she was on the right track. "Correct. Ten bonus points on your next test if you decide to join my survival class. However I think it's safe to say that the sound of the airship dropping us off is just as big or even bigger give away then our scent." Alex replied to the gunslinging female that Alex guessed would take position behind him and Kei when the Grimm attacked. There wasn't any shame in falling back if you used a long range weapon, so Alex would respect her actions if she did so. Same went for Kei since all Alex knew he had was that armored coat and those cords that seemed to be used as grappling hooks.

Sure enough as soon as they stopped talking the Deathstalker charged into the clearing, intending to attack the 3 hunters. "What was that about 'speaking of the devil?'" Alex muttered as he jumped backwards from the kneeling position he was in, narrowly avoiding getting tagged by the Deathstalker's claw. If he had been standing Alex would've wrapped himself in his vines and then used Wrecker as a shield in an attempt to push the Deathstalker back... however he wasn't in a position to do that while kneeling so the most he could do was use his folded up legs as springs to jump. He was unharmed, but now he was so close to the big Grimm that he could easily spit into one of it's eyes.

Now it was true that Deathstalkers were well armored, but not every Grimm was coated in a hard shell and the ones that were always had a weak spot. The same was with the Deathstalker. In between it's legs were gaps in it's armor to allow it's legs to move and thus walk, along with on the back of the tail. However there was one area where the tank like Grimm was unarmored and would never expect an attack from; it's underbelly. Alex jumped backwards again while swinging his weapon to side to knock away the Grimm's claw, but that was a distraction while he used his other hand to toss two seeds under the Grimm.

Right after that Alex's body became enveloped by his emerald aura, which fluttered around him like a bunch of green leaves. The two seeds that he threw sprouted and rapidly grew into two branchless trees that had curved trunks. They were Tectona trees, the strongest trees on the planet to the point that it was almost impossible to chop them down. The impact of the trees from below would surely stun the monster, but the trees kept growing in their curved path, forming an arch.

Alex was trying to use his trees to flip the Deathstalker onto it's back and was hoping he could use the trees to hold the beast down so the other hunters could attack it's belly.

OOC:

When the Deathstalker reared up to attack the males down on the ground, whether involuntarily or not, it;s tail came crashing down into the tree that Akui was in. Fortunately, since she had taken aim and was eyeing the creature's movements, she was able to respond by half rolling and half jumping to the left, landing her on the next nearby tree. However, Akui decided this was the perfect time to engage: she jumped back and landed on the tail, and as it lifted up she slid down it to reach the action, jumping off a moment before she heard some sort of zapping noise behind her.

She landed on the ground right behind the older male, just as he screamed out a demand from her to fire at the beast, because he wasn't as macho as her though he was trying to hold up the giant scorpion...he wouldn't be the first man to hurt themselves trying to lift something heavy for no reason, wouldn't be the last.

Akui sighed and rolled her eyes before performing a front flip and landing in front of the older male, her guns ready to fire...and the back of her body a little closer to the man then she would have liked.

'Cop a feel old man, and you'll be deader than this motherf***ing door-nail right here, capiche?'

Then, she performed her 'signature': The Jester. She went full throttle with this particular one, unloading a total of four full clips from both glocks. The first juggle session targeted the upper-portion of the giant scorpion beast, the next two barrages in the mid-section, and the last targeting the lower portion of the beasts underbelly.

Akui reloaded both glocks and then caught and aimed them, ready to unleash another barrage if necessary. The only ones to notice her art most likely would be her and the older male, and this one was rather good, although not her best: the bullet holes on the upper portion formed an eye ball, while those in the middle formed a heart with and arrow piercing through it, and the bottom featured the typical 'Boy's Room' logo...the message this delivered was rather clear.

Damage:

The grimm missed all its attempts to crush the pesky humans but it didn't mind. They were never going to penetrate its hard shell. A sudden sharp pain on its eye however made the Deathstalker screech and scramble from side to side, destroying everything on its path. The following series of attacks connected against its body but its protective shell and motion lessened the severity of the blows. In pain and raging, the Deathstalker charged forward head on towards the two men just as the tree sprouted behind it. Its numerous powerful legs allowed it to avoid getting caught from the tree and the bullets aimed on its legs.

As it approached the men, the scorpion stood on its hind legs supported by the weight of its tail which it had slammed down towards the woman. Meanwhile, it was completely towering the two and would attempt to body slam them both.

A grumble escaped Alex's mouth as the trees that were meant to flip the beast over missed due to the Deathstalker charging forwards before the tree could sprout.  Apparently this battle wasn't going to be ended quickly.  Alex pulled his semblance out of the seeds that he had used to grow the trees, and as a result the trees quickly shrank back and  became seeds once again.  The professor was about to back pedal away from the charging beast when it reared up to squash him, and he saw Kei dart forwards.  It was a great idea to get behind it.  However there was one problem; Alex wasn't known for his speed. He wasn't slow, but still not fast enough to avoid getting hit.

So instead of trying to avoid the hit he instead tried to endure it. He withdrew his power from the emerald glowing trees, causing them to shrink back into their seeds, and his body became wrapped in vines that increased his strength. As the Deathstalker came down to crush him, Alex dropped Wrecker, held up both of his arms, and braced himself. The creature hit him hard enough to bring him down to a one knee kneeling position, but the creature hadn't succeeded in crushing him. His right need was going to have a bad bruise and that compressing feeling he was feeling in his spine was going to result in a back ache the next day, but he was fine. Instead he was holding it up off the ground. Alex then tightened his grip on the creature's under side with enough strength behind his fingers to crush rocks, and gave it a hard headbutt out of defiance. [color=green]"Akui! Now! Fire! I won't be able to hold this for long!"[color]

OOC:

When the Deathstalker reared up to attack the males down on the ground, whether involuntarily or not, it;s tail came crashing down into the tree that Akui was in. Fortunately, since she had taken aim and was eyeing the creature's movements, she was able to respond by half rolling and half jumping to the left, landing her on the next nearby tree. However, Akui decided this was the perfect time to engage: she jumped back and landed on the tail, and as it lifted up she slid down it to reach the action, jumping off a moment before she heard some sort of zapping noise behind her.

She landed on the ground right behind the older male, just as he screamed out a demand from her to fire at the beast, because he wasn't as macho as her though he was trying to hold up the giant scorpion...he wouldn't be the first man to hurt themselves trying to lift something heavy for no reason, wouldn't be the last.

Akui sighed and rolled her eyes before performing a front flip and landing in front of the older male, her guns ready to fire...and the back of her body a little closer to the man then she would have liked.

'Cop a feel old man, and you'll be deader than this motherf***ing door-nail right here, capiche?'

Then, she performed her 'signature': The Jester. She went full throttle with this particular one, unloading a total of four full clips from both glocks. The first juggle session targeted the upper-portion of the giant scorpion beast, the next two barrages in the mid-section, and the last targeting the lower portion of the beasts underbelly.

Akui reloaded both glocks and then caught and aimed them, ready to unleash another barrage if necessary. The only ones to notice her art most likely would be her and the older male, and this one was rather good, although not her best: the bullet holes on the upper portion formed an eye ball, while those in the middle formed a heart with and arrow piercing through it, and the bottom featured the typical 'Boy's Room' logo...the message this delivered was rather clear.

Damage:

The Deathstalker used its full body weight on its slam thus it was perplexed and could not understand how a mere human withstood its weight. The shock of electricity followed by the dirt on its eyes and the headbutt caused the grimm to let out a loud screech before rearing back on its hind legs. It slipped out of the human's hold and some of the bullet fire missed its underbelly but it still wasn't enough for the grimm to avoid its imminent demise. The scorpion-like creature crumbled down, its huge frame crashing onto the ground lifeless. Soon, just like every other grimm's death, its body disintegrated into dark ashes.

As he had hoped the female duel-wielding gunslinger had taken his cue and had attacked the deathstalker, aiming at one of it's weak spots... however he hadn't expected her to land so close.  He was so focused on the battle that her comment about cooping a feel hadn't even occurred to him.  However the idea of him doing such a thing to her was absurd.  He'd never do something like that to anyone, ever.  As a result on one hand he felt insulted that she'd expect such a thing from him but on the other hand, he did hear some interesting rumors about her.  "No argument here." was all that came out of his mouth as she started to unload her clip into the Deathstalker.

As she did Alex could see that she was trying to make some sort of artwork in the Grimm's stomach and only he would see it, but the creature had pulled itself out of his grip and away from the bullets before she could finish, so he never got her full message.  However it didn't matter since it was already dying and fading away.  The Professor took a few steps backwards to give Akui some space out of respect before he slapped his hands together, resulting in a dark cloud coming out from between his fingers.  He had parts of the Grimm stuck to his hands.  "Excellent follow-through." He complimented to Akui as the vines that were wrapped around his body retracted back into his magic belt.  However the emerald glow of his aura was still surrounding his body, showing that he was rebuilding his aura reserves.

He gave Kei a glance to see if he was alright, then gave him a nod to show that he was alright too... though he did take a hit that was gonna make his back ache later on.  Rolling his right shoulder to loosen it up, Alex glanced around the clearing and noticed a wavy pattern in the grass nearby.  What's more was that the grass was crushed to the ground and wasn't standing back up at all, but they were just as green as the grass around them so they had to be crushed recently.  "Over there.  Those are King Taijitu tracks.  Large enough to be almost fully mature.  Keep your guard up.  We all made a bit of a racket so that thing is bound to be heading our way soon." Alex stated as he pointed at the tracks with one hand while retrieving his weapon Obilvinator with the other.  They were in for the long haul for this one.

OOC:

Akui's makeshift bullet-hole-graffiti was indeed a work of art, and as with most things that were great and beautiful, it quickly faded as the giant scorpion Grimm faded into black dust that was carried away on the wind before it evaporated completely. It was truly a sight to behold, how such a mighty and vicious creature could pass on in such a humble and peaceful fashion...

The older man complimented her assault, which was whatever to Akui, as she knew that she performed well and could do her job in such a fashion that she could still fight these beasts with her personal flare. "Naturally. Good choice on your part, old man." was her only response, obviously referring to him not touching her, as trying to hold the beast had been a stupid idea...regardless of the end result.

The masked male congratulated the old man and herself like he was scoring them or something, and Akui just scowled at him as he rejoined them. Akui stretched her back a bit and shook her arms to make sure she wasn't tightening up, retaining her grip on Agony and Infamy. The moment that she was adjusted, the old man said something about a royal creature. She looked at where the man was pointing and saw for the grass was flatten down to the point that it looked permanently crippled in that area. Akui was no expert, but she had seen some animal documentaries in the past, and she knew that couldn't be a footstep...it seemed more like something was being dragged, maybe moving on it's belly like an alligator or a snake.

Akui aimed at the area, preparing for whatever would burst through the grassy area, ready to open fire when the timing was right.

Gunshots, sprouting giant trees and earth-shattering noises caught the attention of a particular grimm from a distance. Its two heads snapped to the source of the sound, tongues flicking out in a low hiss. Slowly it slithered and retraced its marks, cautiously masking its presence behind the trees with silent movements. It halted in its tracks as it spotted the three humans on the ground along with the dispersing remains of a fallen Deathstalker. How foolish. Something on the top of the food chain like the scorpion is a shame to its kind to be defeated by mere mortals. It was time to show these noobs how it's done - the royal way.

The almighty King Taijitu sprang forward, black head leading the front as it weaved and zigzagged its way to the the closest person from its position, the girl. However, instead of charging head on, it went to its right, the white head now following through in a whip like motion so both heads aimed to coil around the human's small frame. The two heads then separated with the white head opening its jaw wide to bite the man-in-black while the other did the same but this time directed towards the older-looking man in green.

Upon hearing Akui's reply and what he would call a sideways comment, he gave her a look that was half glare, half pout.  He hadn't even reached 30 years old and she was already calling him old.  And yet... he had actually expected more from her considering her colorful language.  "Old man?  That's all you got?  Seriously that's it?  You're not gonna take it one step further by calling me an 'old fart?'  Okay gunslinger, have it your way."  He retorted with a shrug before he took a combat stance, waiting for the Grimm to show up.  He knew how they preferred to attack; coiling around their prey, biting at them from two directions, or a combo of the two.  It was quite possible they would all get attacked at the same time so the chances of him being able to protect his fellow hunters might be really difficult.  They had been making a lot of noise during the Deathstalker battle, so it had to be soon.  He glanced over at Kei as he started to comment on how rare the snake Grimms were when the Grimm showed one of it's ugly heads.  "Just be glad they don't travel in packs!"

Alex's eyes were tracking the Grimm and he could see that it was going after Akui first, but he wasn't sure how to help her since he knew that any wooden object he used to protect her wouldn't last long.  Instead of putting a wall around her, he used his semblance to command one of the seeds in ground to move her instead.  As the king started to coil around her the ground under her started to glow with emerald light.  "Elevator up!" Alex said as a wooden column with a flat top grew out of the ground from under Akui to lift her above the coiling Grimm.  However right as the top of the wooden column was level with the top of the highest coil, the wood began to crack from the pressure of the King Taijitu's attack.  It wasn't going to last long so Akui had to move or it would simply vanish into splinters from underneath her.

However Alex didn't have a chance to tell her this when it did start to break.  He had his own problems from the black head.  As the beast rushed at him, Alex dove to his right while swinging Oblivinator straight at the Grimm from his left side.  If it worked the two and a half feet wide titanium ball would slam into the Grimm's mouth and hopefully break some of it's fangs off.  Alex then pulled the weapon to his left before striking the Grimm two more times with a figure 8 strike; he brought it up and struck the snake with a hit that was angled down and to the right, followed by him continuing to bring it up on his right side and struck the snake with an attack that was angled down and to the left.

Spoiler:

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The old man thought he would be cute and basically demanding more and better verbal punishment. Some kind of freak, this old man was, wanting to be harassed...Akui would make him regret that kind of behavior. "Shut the f*** up and track, geezer." ...that was the last thing she could say before a giant two-headed snake erupted from beyond and attempted to coil around her.

Now the Grimm did move rather fast but Akui was prepared for it to strike, and her fast perception back from her gang war days aided her in identifying the type of attack the snake was going for as it was charging at her: it created a bit of a whip effect with part of it's body, similar to the weapon of the same name or a rope or other type of weapon or tool which needed to be slung to wrap around something, so Akui knew it wanted to put the squeeze on her. What was it with these big ass creatures and wanting to crush her? You would think they would want to eat her, although she probably wouldn't be much of a meal.

She basically knew what she would do: a repeat of last time, she would simply jump straight up and out of the way, more than likely landing on the creature to which she would just let her instinct guide her from there...but something was different...

Akui felt something rumble beneath her feet, and it definitely wasn't the creature moving or growling, so she had no idea what was happening but she braced her haunches like she was going to jump...and that is when the ground reached it's climax and something shot up out of the ground, carrying Akui with it. Suprisingly Akui didn't fall over or off the pillar, but she maintained her balanced atop it until it reached it's maximum height, thus forcing Akui into her jump which she angled into a back flip. She wasn't too high up, unable to see over the trees, but she could see a fair distance past the bushes and she noticed lots of black and lots of movement.

She completed her backflip by landing atop the white head of the giant snake Grimm. She placed both thumbs onto the button on each her glocks and quickly released: the Fire Dust chambers were aligned and active. Akui felt the slightest tinge of nervousness, which made sense, as this would be her first actual field test of how her glocks handled Dust in any shape or form. She figured this bad boy right here was worth testing it out on, and just to make sure she really cooked through the scales of this creature, she made sure the muzzles of her glocks were lowered to be just above the creatures scaly hide so that it would not only get the maximum blast of the dust but also the heat that would naturally be produced from her firearms would also blast it's skin. She deduced this would give her the highest chance of actually inflicting burns onto the creature.

"Turning up the heat on ya, you scaly ass motherf***er." she antagonized the giant snake before unloading a barrage of Fire Dust-enhanced bullets into the back of it's dome. She then reloading both glocks and shifted her stance and weight so that she slid down the body of the beast, unloading both entire clips into the body of the beast while she maintain her glocks in the same position as before as she slid down it's slithery back and was actually carried up by momentum onto the black head of the beast. Then she reloaded and performed the same action as she did to the white head, relentlessly firing metal bullets covered in red powered into the back of the second snake head.

Once her clip was empty, she released both mags from her glocks. "Sorry asshole, but I don't play with snakes. Too slimy, disrespectful, and overall f***ing disgusting." She then jumped off the snake's head and performed a flip and spiral, tossing her guns at the snake and having them bounce of the snout of the beast as she detached two mags and tossed them up at an angle. The glocks and the mags met in the air, the mags sliding right in place as they should, and weighing the glocks down so they fell back down at angle and she caught them and gave them a twirl as she caught them to securely lock the mags in place. She then prepared to take aim and fire...but the old man was in the way trying to knock the teeth out of the beast...

She sighed and ran up to the old man...and jumped atop his head and jumped off it, landing once again on the black head of the snake and straddled it...then she bent over and looked it right in the eyes! She pointed her guns and fired off two more entire rounds of Fire-Dust enhanced bullets right down the gullet of the black-headed beast! Who knows what kinda of damage that could do, but Akui figured that scorching the insides of the beast could play to their advantage.

"Aww, what's wrong? Am I too hot to handle? Aww, my f***ing bad. You wouldn't be the first snake, won't be the last. she mocked the giant beast before she began to perform a rolling dismount off it's head.

Damage:

The white head felt smug for that split second of seeing its target seemingly neutralized by the pain. The fool had taken the brunt of the giant snake's attack and was suffering justly for it. That was until the human's fist came swinging to its eye. With the snake's reflexes it was able to angle the strike towards the side of its head, taking in the pain but saving its eye in the process. It reared almost immediately and slithered away from the man in black, not being stupid enough to stay and receive all its attack.

However, in the middle of recovering for another strike, the frail looking girl managed to land on its head, emptying bullets beneath its scales. The white head screamed in pain at the burning sensation on its skull and just as with any other snake, wriggled and thrashed around, aiming to throw the girl off its back and knocking over trees to fall against the two men in the process.

Meanwhile, the black head was just as unfortunate as its whitehead counterpart for the titanium ball smashed right through its mandibular fangs. It recoiled and reeled in pain in tandem with the whitehead's thrashing. Outraged and shocked, it immediately slammed it's head onto the man in green and into a tree, top first. Both the girl atop it and the man wielding the ball-and-chain would either have to jump or dodge or face serious injury.

The whitehead, right after having recovered from its pain stood tall from the middle of its length before lunging at the man in black, aiming to crush him underneath the force of its head.

CRACK!!

The corner's of Alex's mouth curved upwards when he saw Oblivinator strike the snake Grimm in the mouth and quite literally feed the beast it's own teeth. The sight of it was a very satisfying one, though it was a shame that his next two attacks missed. The beast might of lost it's head after that. Akui and Kei seemed to be doing a good job, though the Grimm wasn't done yet. Out of the corner of his eye Alex saw the tree falling towards him, and he quickly avoided it by back flipping out of the way, though instead of him stopping after the flip he continued to go backwards by somersaulting backwards the instant he landed, weapon still in hand. The tree came down, but Alex was out of harm's way.

That was when he realized he had rolled himself to where the black snake end was going to come down and try to crush him and Akui. As soon as he could Alex commanded the seed that was till in the ground to extend a large root underneath him, causing the ground under him to glow with emerald light. Next thing that happened was like something out of a horror game; six wooden spikes came out of the ground surrounding Alex, followed by them seemingly closing around him quickly as if Alex had just been swallowed by some large worm under the ground. The emerald glowing wooden construct then quickly sank into the ground as the snake came down on top of it. A bright emerald glow coming up through the ground and it was moving across the ground as the giant root that Alex was inside moved away from the Grimm.

The ground started to glow brighter and suddenly the root shot out of the ground and turned to face the direction of where the black head would've landed, the ground shaking slightly from it. The pointed tip of the root opens, and Alex jumps out, Oblivinator in hand as he charges towards the large snake. He then strikes the Grimm 3 times with his weapon, trying to finish it.

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