[center][color=darkorchid][h2]Akemi[/h2][/color][/center]

Akemi weaved and ducked under the enormous fist that came crashing down on her several times, using the Monolith's strength against itself, and the other threats that tried to pounce on the hunters [color=darkorchid][b]"Come on! That's all you've got?"[/b][/color]

Soon enough, the Lake of Tears was in plain sight,the Monolith let out a guttural roar as it finally noticed its opponents' cunning trick. Its legs got stuck in the mud all the way up to the knees, each step it took was harder than the previous and just as Akemi planned, it became completely stuck a few meters away from the margin of a particularly deep pond. In matter of seconds the desolate mire was obscured by a thin cloud of fog spawned as the lava boiled the water, creating steam that would cool almost instantly in the unnaturally cold air.

Akemi used the impromptu cover to hide herself as she dashed between the Monolith's legs and slid her feet on the slick mud, spinning her body to gain momentum before trusting her right hand forth, summoning a lance of shadows that dwarfed anything Tatsumi had created until now to rip apart the Monolith's leg and force it to fall on the ice cold water. A shadow spell this strong was something that only experienced hunters could do without suffering a severe backlash, and even then, only once, but that was all that Akemi needed anyway.

A second latter a huge roar was heard all over the Lake of Tears area, as the molten stone giant fell on the pool and began to solidify, becoming hard and brittle [color=darkorchid][b]"It's all yours, now!"[/b][/color] Akemi shouted to Alto [color=darkorchid][b]"The rest of you, newbies! Stay sharp, this ain't over until we get back to Irede-"[/b][/color] she began to say, before being cut short by a set of slimy tentacles that curled around her body [color=darkorchid][b]"Why are..."[/b][/color] was all the fox woman could say before being paralyzed by the poison inlaid on them.

As if on cue several other monsters like the one who ambushed Akemi crawled out of the mud pools around the hunters. They looked like lobsters, but were as big as pony and their shells had a sickly spotted yellow hue, but that wasn't by far the most disturbing aspect about the beasts. The real threat came from its pincers, strong enough to reap through steel and the tentacles that came from inside them, that were coated in a paralyzing slime. Also, in place of the big beady eyes that lobsters have, the monsters had an orb filled with gaunt and sickening visages of human beings and... if the hunters paid close attention, they would even find their own tormented faces among the ones there.

The odds had swung all against the hunters now, it seems. Was it really all over? Or their mysterious stalker would be able to tip the scales again? All of this was yet to be seen...