Another kind of Pussy

Both of them froze as they heard the rumbling of the machines near them. As John looked up from his position, he saw the upside-down image of a big machine shaped like a big cat. In fact, he could see another three of those cats behind the first one.

Sawtooths... They had to be ‘ambushed’ by Sawtooths… Aloy slowly stood up from John, taking slow steps towards the spot where she had dropped her bow. John meanwhile re-equipped his armor and his spear, dropping a Mana Spike and as many traps from his Trapper’s Kit as he could before the machines decided to attack.

Now Playing: Horizon Zero Dawn: Battle Theme III

The giant robot cats decided to attack just before Aloy reached her bow, forcing her to dodge the other way. Two of them tried to flank John, who then quickly dodged both of them, countering one into its flank while also observing it:

Counter successful! Bonus Damage Applied!
Physical Armor Reduces Physical Damage by 20%
28 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 15 DMG (Fire) + 30 DMG (Spike) + 14 DMG (Counter) + 21 DMG (Mana Charge)
Elemental Weakness! Fire Damage Tripled, Chance to ignite Blaze Canister

Four of these were going to be tough with that physical resistance, but thankfully, John wasn’t alone in this fight, even if Aloy was having problems getting to the spot where she had dropped her bow. Two of the Sawtooths were pushing her farther and farther away from the bow.

The machine that had been struck by John was tumbling on the ground trying to gain footing again after being intercepted in the air while the second one had fallen into one of John’s pitfalls, keeping it fixed for two seconds. That was barely enough time to plant a Mana Dagger in the beast while John moved towards the bow before using Magic Rope to pull it towards himself.

47 DMG

It’s nice to see that the Mana Daggers apparently weren’t hindered by the physical resistance. Gripping the bow in his hands, he then used Flash Step to move towards Aloy, throwing the bow towards her. She had resorted to using her spear by now (John had no idea where she had gotten that one from, seeing how she was still topless), trying to override one of the Sawtooths, but she didn’t get enough time to do anything grand. One of the machines at least had some scratches on its side, meaning that it had been struck either by Aloy or its mate.

As the Bow sailed through the air, the ginger quickly rolled in its direction, picking it up in the process and materializing a quiver on her back, filled with arrows. So, she had some kind of inventory, just as John did… He didn’t have a lot of time to think about that though, as he saw a massive claw flying towards his head, which he could thankfully dodge at the last moment, using the momentum to strike the machine with a wide slash, hitting it in one eye.

**** Spot! X1.5 Damage! Physical Armor Ignored!
Counter Applied! Bonus Damage Added!
Physical Damage Multiplier: x1.5
45 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 15 DMG (Fire) + 23 DMG (Counter)

John hadn’t really read the message about Elemental Weakness before, it got kinda buried in the middle of the damage and the Observe sheet, so he was very surprised when the green canister on the back of the Sawtooth suddenly erupted in a fiery blaze, hitting both him and two of the other Sawtooths. Aloy was thankfully a few steps away, firing arrows into the fourth Sawtooth.

-24 HP (Fire)

New Status, Burning: Deals 1 Damage per second on fire, roll on the ground to have a chance to douse the flame or roll in water to immediately douse it

159 DMG (Fire)
159 DMG (Fire)
159 DMG (Fire)

Thankfully, John was directly next to the stream, so he could instantly put out the fire… hopefully this wouldn’t do damage to his armor… Maintenance was always the most annoying mechanic in RPGs…

He wasn’t the only one burning, though, and the Sawtooths apparently weren’t smart enough to do the same as John. They were wildly flailing around, hitting into trees, trying to kill the flames. He took the time they were distracted to bury another two Mana Daggers into two of them and dropping two Mana Spikes before charging the last burning Sawtooth with a charged Flurry Strike.

47 DMG

Mana Dagger, Lv. 6: Mana Dagger will now deal 50 Magic DMG, You can now throw two daggers at the same time.

50 DMG

Charge Applied! X1,75 Damage!
Enemy Unaware! X1.5 Damage!
Physical Damage Multiplier: x2.6
Physical Armor Reduces Physical Damage by 20%
63 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 15 DMG (Fire) + 39 DMG (Mana Charge)
72 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 15 DMG (Fire) + 45 DMG (Mana Charge)
59 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 15 DMG (Fire) + 38 DMG (Mana Charge)

Mana Charge, Lv.5: You can now spend up to 5 Mana to increase the power of a spell

That was a good hit, but it also took a good chunk out of his remaining Mana… seeing as how not a single machine was down yet, John decided that it was a good moment to pop the last Potion he still had from two days ago when he tried his Essential Alchemy with Astrid.

Potion of Rejuvenation used! Restored 60 HP and 130 MP!

That should keep him going for the remaining fight.

Drinking the potion this close to the Sawtooths was a tactical mistake though, as one of them finally had put out the fire and was now swiping towards John, who barely dodged, getting grazed by the claw in the process.

-33 HP (Armor and DR subtracted)

Getting hit wasn’t his biggest concern here, it was the fact that the thing took that much Health out of him with a simple grazing strike. He would very much not want to find out how much damage a full hit would deal…

Looking over to Aloy, he was pleasantly surprised to see her Sawtooth fixed to the ground by sticky webs as she jammed her spear into some exposed wiring in the neck of the beast, trying to override the programming of the machine and make it an ally, just like she does in the game. John was glad to see Gary help out Aloy, and he was just as glad to see that she didn’t shoot him again.

Now, the question was, where was Thorn in this whole situation? The little dragon was apparently close by, as John quickly looked through his eyes while dodging and countering the incoming attacks.

Apparently, Thorn was in some shrub close by the stream, waiting for one of the Sawtooths to be close to ****. That little fucker wanted to steal one of the kills…

Counter successful! Bonus Damage Applied!
Physical Armor Reduces Physical Damage by 20%
25 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 15 DMG (Fire) + 30 DMG (Spike) + 13 DMG (Counter)
19 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 15 DMG (Fire) + 10 DMG (Counter)

One of the machines had apparently stepped into one of the Mana Spikes John had laid before. As the third sawtooth tried to jump at John, it stepped into the second pitfall he had laid out as the battle began, immobilizing it for just enough time for Thorn to take the initiative.

The small dragon must’ve seen the green canister erupt on the other cats, because he dashed out of the bush, charged with electricity and jumped onto the back of the trapped cat to bite into the connectors of the canister, making it explode due to the electricity. The little guy had no protection against the blast.

And neither did John who was directly next to it.

-53 HP (Fire)

Burning

159 DMG (Fire)
159 DMG (Fire)
159 DMG (Fire)

God dammit, Thorn! was the only thought going through John’s mind as he quickly caught the little dragon that was sent flying by the explosion.

The small guy was littered with burn marks, but surprisingly, he didn’t have any serious wounds and looked happily, but exhausted, at John, who looked at the wolf in his arms incredulously.

How the hell did he not get any damage??

Apparently, dragon skin was pretty impervious to elemental damage… Or that was what John assumed to be the case at least… Quickly dropping off on a high branch of a tree, John resumed the fight from his elevated place, taking a big attack against one of the burning Sawtooths. The one in the pitfall actually seemed to be defeated, as it didn’t move anymore and despawned, leaving only some loot behind. That left two burning Sawtooths, one of which was getting mauled by the beast Aloy had hijacked, while she was firing at the other one.

Deciding to help the ginger, John used his Flash Step, Charge and Vault combo to deal out some big damage against the machine:

Vault Applied! x2.25 Damage!
Enemy Unaware! X1.5 Damage!
Physical Damage Multiplier: x3.4
Physical Armor Reduces Physical Damage by 20%
82 DMG + 15 DMG (Light) + 15 DMG (Fire) + 11 DMG (Vault)

As John landed on the cat, it immediately buckled under his attack, crashing into the ground, only leaving the two Sawtooths fighting each other, which was when John quickly threw his Mana Daggers into the hostile machine.

50 DMG
50 DMG

That machine had to be pretty damaged as well from Aloy’s arrows and the other Sawtooth, because after a last painful screech it also dropped to the ground.

Bonus Objective Complete: Defeat 3 Sawtooths
+250 XP
+5 Materials (2x Enhanced Metal, 1x Superior Electronics, 2x Carbon Fiber)
+50 RP with Aloy

The last Sawtooth seemingly destroyed itself now that no enemy was around anymore, leaving behind no materials.

Now that they were done with the attackers, Aloy pretty much instantly jumped John again, crashing her lips on his and pulling him to the ground. Gary grumbled with an annoyed tone in the background as he collected the remaining materials strewn around the clearing.

Seemed like John really overdid it with the Arouse if she jumped his bones like that after just having to deal with a pack of dangerous predators.