With the gorf dispatched, the rest formed a ring around Lana to keep her safe, which annoyed her, and stood a small distance from the battle as they watched Shalt battle the duodenile.
Shalt had gone to the right side of the beast to evade the acid attack. The duodenile went for a bite attack before Shalt turned around but he saw the movement. He transformed his left hand into a dagger and hit the beast, connecting with the side of its teeth. With his right hand, he went in to stab the neck. The beast leaned forward on its front four legs and swung its back end around for a tail attack. Shalt jumped in the air just in time and stabbed the tail instead, bringing the other dagger-hand around and stabbed it again. The beast was bleeding but not seriously injured. They were able to match each other's speed.
Shalt had landed right up against the beast when he jumped. Now the beast decided to roll like a crocodile toward Shalt. Shalt felt the shift and placed his hands on its back and flipped over as the beast rolled toward him. Lana was proud of him for pulling off this move.
The beast went back on its front fours and tried the same tail attack once more. This time Shalt was more prepared and turned both his whole forearms into blades and he crossed them, caught the end of the tail and scissored them. The tail was still very much there but the end was no longer.
The beast howled in pain and turned around really fast, ready to bite the insect that was Shalt. Its teeth closed around the blade on Shalt's left arm while his right tried to stab from underneath. He did get purchase and was able to make the beast bleed more but he hit it at the wrong angle causing the blade to come out its neck just behind the jaws.
The beast then dipped its head and flipped Shalt over its head but his arm was still in the beast's mouth in the form of a blade. He was lucky the blade was a transformation ability or it would have been far more painful. He simply adjusted how the blade was in its transformed state. What he could do nothing about was the acid on the head of the beast that he was now laying in. He started screaming as the acid started to burn the back of his head.
With his free hand, he started randomly stabbing hoping to hit something vital until the beast finally sank to the ground and released Shalt's other arm. Lana ran in immediately and noticed two things. Shalt was seriously hurt from the acid but not dying. The other was his body was seized up.
Lana dragged him to the side and put up an 8-foot wall of bamboo around the two of them. She then began the process of healing the acid then sliced her hand on a spike on her armor and squeezed it over his mouth, providing him fresh blood. His screaming died down but didn't stop.
The others all came running. Lana heard them all expressing concern. She called over the bamboo that Shalt asked to defeat the beast on his own and, though he won, his muscles seized up. He was going to be okay. Everyone waited for her to finish taking care of him to make sure he was okay.
About 15 minutes later, Lana withered the bamboo and a slightly taller and more handsome Shalt stood up. His clothing was damaged from sliding through the acid when he was tossed. His armor and acid scars on it but all the other evidence of combat had been washed away.
Quinn stood forward to shake his hand with a smile on his face, "You did good! How about no more stunts like that?"
Shalt chuckled, "I can agree to that. I just needed to know if I could in case Miss Lana got herself into trouble."
Lan softly asked Quinn, "how many did you kill?"
"Both," he replied quietly yet cheekily.
Lana looked at the others. "Paul, it looks like we both have a bit of work to do. Let's rest, eat for those who are hungry. We can fight more after."
While they ate, Paul healed the poison in Alto who had gotten bitten while distracting the beast. It didn't get to bite down all the way or the damage would have been worse but poison was poison.
Lana did a bit of healing on those who needed it then ate quite a bit. She needed the energy after using her ability and sharing her blood. Shalt hated it because of her situation but she refused to bring in another as a blood donor.
They exchanged stories of the tactics used by the beasts they had fought to get a better idea of beating them efficiently. By the end of the day, they had killed 14 beast combinations. Quinn gave her all the advanced tier crystals to help her get B. He wanted her out of combat.
Back at the shelter, she ate again then went to sleep. The next two days they went to the same place and did the same thing. Almin and Kattie went the first day and Dobin and Duff went the second. They got 18 beasts then 16. Lana worried that Quinn wasn't getting enough intermediate beasts to gain his strength but he seemed happy.
That evening they met up in Blip's office with the eight volunteers. Lana paid Blip the money he would need to pay them in their absence. Lana gave them instructions on what to bring and to meet them in their apartment. They were needed to carry rugs.
Quinn insisted on seeing them off and decided to handle the goods himself with his shadow, placing them all in the cargo hold while everyone was getting settled in their seats. Since the ship was traveling in stealth mode, Lana had no problem with Kattie sitting in Almin's lap to accommodate all the people. She lay in bed and slept the whole way.
Nate was particularly excited. He was strapped to the desk these days which was something he hated. Now he was going to a different planet to perform security work. It sounded like perfection to him. Lana had filled the bag with snacks again before leaving. Half of it was glazed carrots.