[center]<> <> <> Nuts collected: 7/10 [/center] Shattered glass was all around the area. In the center of it was a tired Apollo, with the Tattered Gloves equipped. He was tired from throwing around the elemental vials that weapon used. It was harder than the cannon due to the fact that he needed to throw with the right amount of force to land a hit, whereas with the cannon, all he had to do was aim and fire. Deciding that the other 2 weapons weren't cut out for him, he switched back to the Cannon in his quick-swap. Immediately afterwards, he spotted a squirrel run up a nearby tree. Reflexively firing the gun, he managed to knock one of the branches off. The squirrel wasn't hit directly, but it caused it to fall off and take fall damage. After the cooldown of shot finished up, he fired one more killing blow, and collected his spoils from the puff of smoke. [i]Nuts collected: 8/10[/i] It was at this moment that he unwittingly wandered into the aggro area of two other squirrels. Being attacked from two different directions caused him trouble to identify which target to deal with first. As such, instead of picking a target and blasting away, Apollo did the worst thing he could possibly do at that time: he stood still and considered his situation. In those few seconds of contemplation, he was bitten and scratched by both squirrels, making his HP bar drop to 63% (As it was already weakened from previous battles). Feeling the numbness in the wounded area, and seeing his Health drop, Apollo decided to fallback. Thankfully, the squirrels didn't pursue him immediately, gving him enough time to think of a quick strategy: He intended to blast in the middle of the squirrels to knock them away, and then retreat as he waited for the cool down. Once they were both back on their feet, he would kite them close to each other again to land the next shot. Rinse and repeat until they were dead. [i]"I hope I can pull this off..."/I] he thought as he aimed the cannon at the two approaching enemies. Lining the ironsights right in the middle of them, he fired. The shot exploded dead center, knocking both of them apart. [i]"Perfect shot!"[/i] He thought happily as he retreated further back. After recovering from the blast, the squirrels gave chase again. Apollo ran in a circle around them, hoping to somehow bring them closer to each other. After only a few seconds, it worked. The Cannoneer took aim again at their middle, and blasted the final shot. The two squirrels were launched into nearby trees, and turned into smoke the moment they hit the wood. Happy with his recovery from being taken by surprise (and failing to act immediately), he collected the last few nuts he needed and called out. "Elizea, I'm all finished here! Do you need help? Or should I just wait for you at the edge of the combat area?" He said to the female Veni Yan player in the distance. He asked before actually going to help because, while he wished to help her get it done faster, he didn't want it to seem like he was underestimating her combat abilities by not letting her finish on her own.