What happens when a figure doing an attack is defeated before the end of his attack ?

concrete cases :
- Monstrer with 1 life left, attacking an adjacent hero with un-exhuasted Deflecting Shield ?

- Lone Monster (no other monster within a range of 3) with 2 or less lives left and using the OL Reward card Splice to defeat an hero ?

- What if the Monster is a Master Blood Ape doing an Leap attack ?

In case the answer is : "the attack keeps on" ...
lets suppose now that the attacker and the defender have only one life left and whoever is defeated first loses the encounter / quest : what's the outcome ?

The attack is immediately terminated when the attacker is defeated.

1. Monster dead in step 2, no damage to hero
2. Monster dead in step 4, no damage to hero
3. Not different from the other cases. The Blood Ape would move, perform an attack up to the step it dies. If it dies before damage is dealt, the heroes do not suffer any damage.