Archy’s arrows were coated with a layer of his chi which not only sharpened his projectiles but also had the effect of slightly paralysing the target. Furthermore, the rope arrow had a mechanism which opened up the moment it ledged into the flesh, causing more pain for the underling since its spikes were entrenched into the muscles.
Compared to the Nian itself, the underling did not have dragon scales, thus allowing the Panda Archer to easily penetrate its flesh. Once hit, Bu Dong and Yue Han quickly tried to pull the ‘Sui Lion’ as it was called on their interface towards themselves while it cried out for help.
While most animals would naturally lie on the ground after being shot with such a sharp piercing arrow, the Sui Lion did not. It tried to move run away from while shouting for help. However, it did not realise that the arrow was attached to a rope and eventually, it got strung like a fish when the line tightened. And thus, its howls were getting louder and harsher when he saw movement from a distance near the trees.
“Gosh, my ears hurt, and it feels like someone’s hitting my brain! How can the cries of that stupid thing have such an annoying effect!” Yue Wen complained as she tried her best to ignore the persistent roaring from the Sui Lion. Its resistance was commendable as it not only continued to struggle against the rope arrow and even attempted to pull it out. Only when it found out that it was useless, it tried to gnarl on the rope and pull it instead so that the tension would not be present and caused it pain.
However, Archy seemed confident that it would not be able to do so. Still, he pulled out another arrow to make sure of it. The stun arrow was supposed to completely paralyse the lion monster by sending a shockwave of electricity through it.
As the arrow flew towards Sui Lion, it immediately tried to evade it, but Bu Dong and Yue Han were not going to let Archy waste his ammunition. They pulled the rope arrow as hard as they could, causing it to trip sidewards and the stun arrow barely impacted on its hind legs. It immediately released a loud electrical clap as if a thousand birds were chirping simultaneously forcing the Sui Lion to stay down on the ground.
Fortunately, the rope was insulated, which allowed the Pandawans to continue to pull the Sui Lion towards them. However, to the Pandawan’s dismay, the captured Sui Lion only got further enraged by it despite the brief paralysation, indicating that it actually possessed a resistance against stun effects or electricity in general.
In the meantime, Tanke had positioned himself to intercept any reinforcement which might come from the cave. True enough, more of those Sui Lions ran out in a pack to save their brethren in pain. Perhaps it was the environment and the light setting, but Yue Han could see the multitude of eyes emanating through the dark cave and out into the open.
While individually, they might seem like a prideful group of creatures, the Sui Lions possessed better teamwork than expected and those who tried methods of luring similar to Bu Dong’s party had already been bested by these beasts. Some of the Pandarens were even quick to complain about it on the forums with regards to this, hoping others will take it as a warning.
True enough, it only took a moment for Tanke to get surrounded by the pack of Lion Monsters, all eager to add the Panda Guardian to their next meal.
“Hah! If you think you have what it takes to eat me, fine! Go and take a bite! Fortress of Stone!” Tanke taunted them with his combat skill as his body slowly turned rock solid while fending off the first few strikes. This particular skill significantly increased the threat meter and caused all the Sui Lions to rush him first.
Bu Dong and Yue Han went into action the moment they heard Tanke announcing his skill. They might not have learned about all the Panda Guardian’s skills, but they had sufficient time to learn about the ones he most commonly used during the motorboat trip towards the village’s harbour.
This was because they believed it was best to learn how their Panda Mercenaries worked in order to make full use of them (And get their money’s worth). In the case of the Fortress of Stone, it allowed Tanke to enter an invulnerable statue in which he would receive no damage, allowing his companion to proceed to kill off the distracted enemies. The downside of the skill was that it lasted for about 30 seconds in which he was unable to do anything else, and it had a very long cooldown before he could use it again.
As the two Pandawans jumped into the fray, the first Sui Lion they tried to slaughter was no doubt the one closest to them who had called for reinforcements. With it visibly wounded from the initial attacks, they sent their blades flying into its chest. However, they had forgotten that Yue Wen was also around and the university student stole their kill by sending an arrow towards the head of the struggling Sui Lion.
Obviously, even a chi enhanced arrow was not enough to defeat it, but Yue Wen had something better. An arrow with a stick of dynamite attached to it. “Holy shit! TELL US EARLIER!” Bu Dong said as he quickly retracted his step and turned around, pulling his friend away with him.
The two close combat Pandawans immediately fled from the lion by desperately dashing ahead towards the Archy and Yue Wen, understanding that if they stayed around, they would be taken out along with the captured Sui Lion.
The fuse went off a little late because Yue Wen purposely pulled the fuse wire out a bit further to buy some time for the Pandawans to get out promptly. One could say she trusted their ability to stay away from the blast radius, but the two Pandawans could not help but wonder if it was some sort of revenge for all the little things they had done to annoy her in recent times. (Only Yue Wen knew and she found it rather pleasing.)
A Sui Lion somehow noticed that the arrow its brethren had been pierced with was different than usual and tried to remove it. Unfortunately, it was too late as the captured Sui Lion’s head exploded the same way the dynamite did, sending all its brain matter into various directions.
Archy let go of the rope and took out the crossbow from his back and laid down on his stomach. While he supposedly was advertised to use a longbow, Yue Wen had borrowed the weapon for a moment to fire off that dynamite attack.
Archy didn’t mind the opportunity to use his favourite crossbow since he could place it on his stomach and shoot, showing off the epitome of the laziness of a panda. Despite his posture, the Panda Archer was able to shoot accurately against the targets, providing support fire for Bu Dong and Yue Han while Yue Wen shoo off the Lions that came too close with more of Archy’s dynamite arrows. Some went off a little too close for comfort, but the Panda Archer did not seem to have any care, as if it knew whether the blasts would hurt them.
Meanwhile, the two Pandawans simultaneously launched their offensive techniques against the distracted Sui Lions, allowing them to ambush them from the back. But like every other new monster the Pandawans had encountered, it did not take long for the Sui Lions to move away and refocus their attention on the attackers.
The threat meter had shifted towards the Pandawans, but thankfully, it coincided with Tanke’s Fortress of Stone skill duration. Now that the Sui Lions had been ignoring him, the Guardian was free to act how he wanted.
Ten seconds after breaking out of its stone skin status, Tanke unleashed a wide area of effect skill by bashing the ground and causing rocks to erupt out of it. (The Pandawans would agree that it was frighteningly similar to Xiong Da’ Hungry Hippo techniques.) The ground shook because of the Quake Wave skill and in response, the Sui Lions were scattered around the place allowing the Pandawan group of fighters to pick them off one by one.
Oh the look on the Pandawan faces, they were simply ecstatic from this succession of skills.
