"Is everyone alright over here?" Ayako asked as she, Issei, Shirou and Melissa teleported in, among the last group to go through the on the teleportation plate.
"Yeah, we're good." Elysha said standing cross armed in front of Misaki, who looked like she had just received a scolding for her carefree behavior while inside of a Labyrinth.
They were in a large tunnel that was closed off on one end, with some form of light coming from the floorboards lining the walls. The air was damp and had no flow to it, lending to a sense of claustrophobia, despite the relatively spacious area, as the tunnel was wide enough for the entire party to stand shoulder to shoulder in, excluding the chubby Fanged Orcs.
"Well, it is good to see that we have a little bit of breathing room." Rin said as she came in with Madoka, Sakura and the Gaze-Hounds. "It's a little after 1, so let's break out some lunch and plan our next move."
Madoka retrieved the picnic blankets and cooking supplies and Sakura got to work making them meals that would give them temporary buffs to their max HP, Shirou lending a hand, but understanding that if Sakura didn't complete the dish, it wouldn't have the desired effect.
"So, has anyone here ever actually used their Morale Burst before?" Rin asked as she sat down with some tea from a thermos. God she couldn't wait to get to District 7 and have real coffee. Why did District 8 have goods like tobacco, but no coffee?
There was a lot of shaking of heads from the rookies.
"I have, but it requires me to go into Berserk mode and isn't safe for anyone." Elysha admitted.
"I have as well, years back. And it seems that Melissa's Morale Burst is the same as mine." Leicarton said, glancing down at his daughter's idea. "It is a skill with a near one hundred percent guarantee to remove any limb or other body part that you hit with it."
"That sounds incredibly useful." Issei said.
Even if monsters could sustain a supernatural number of hits at a time, if you could cripple them by removing the legs they stand on, or the arms they need to attack, the threat from them becomes almost zero.
"In that case, everyone should do their best to save their Morale Bursts for Named Monsters. Once we determine the best use for your and Melissa's abilities, I want you to use yours on the first Named Monster we run into and we will keep Melissa's in reserve. Everyone else's will be treated on a case by case basis. If we find ourselves in need of momentum, we will pop one and see what it can do." Rin said, sounding like the leader she claimed she wasn't.
"Wait, Named Monsters? As in, plural?" Sophie said, sounding scared.
"I am only assuming the worst. For all we know, nothing is down here and we spent all this time preparing just to walk to the end of the tunnel and be rewarded for figuring out the secret of the key." Rin said, getting the others to calm down, as the idea of being prepared just to walk up on a vastly easier challenge than they were expecting was comforting to them. "Now, until we determine what kind of attack patterns and intelligence our enemies have, I want everyone to carry a shield and stick to mostly defensive movements. If it is conscious enough to aim for our backline, I don't want us to be caught with a bow out."
Rin went over various levels of strategy with the party, hoping to cover as many bases as possible.
In truth, they had gotten extraordinarily lucky thus far in their match ups.
Red Face and the Emerald Queen hadn't had enough HP to be a threat to someone with conceptual damage. Juggernaut, despite being a healthy boy, had been an easy target in a vast open field of play, letting them whittle him with arrows until he died. And Darksider, despite a rough start, had been a monster composed of multiple segments, and with a form of AOE chain lightning, jumping back and forth between all of its pieces, Rin had done tens of thousands of points of damage in a single attack.
She'd probably killed the thing ten times over, for its crimes of making her little sister cry.
This was to be a fight in an enclosed space, like when they were against Darksider, meaning ranged fighters lost their advantage. They also no longer had a small bomb sitting in their back pocket for emergency situations. If the monster was fast or strong enough to just muscle through to them, they were in for a tough fight.
They did have 1 emergency fall back. One that barely even was worth considering.
Rin tested it, and the traps from a treasure box could circumvent whatever force prevented them from getting out of the underground area.
They didn't have enough of them to evacuate their entire party, but if things looked really dire, they could perhaps teleport the Named Monster away. Of course, teleporting a monster strong enough that their party couldn't handle it into the middle of the open Labyrinth would likely result in the deaths of dozens of other Seekers, and maybe hundreds of people if it managed to work its way back out to Labyrinth City.
That was not an option. Whatever it was that they found down here, they would have to deal with it, one way or another.
With everyone fed and equipped, and with them split up into their assigned roles, the party continued to march forward until they reached a giant room, appearing to be a quarter of a mile wide and long, with a forty foot wide staircase leading upwards towards a large door at the top, lined with pillars that gave off the only light in the room. On either side of the stairs was a drop that seemed to last forever, as the pale light from the pillars didn't reach the bottom.
The steps themselves were inconveniently large, as if meant for someone more than twice the size of a normal person.
At the top of the stairs, right in front of the door, was a twenty foot tall giant, with steel-like feathered wings sprouting from its back. On its head was a helmet that looked like the head of an eagle, and in one hand it held a giant spear and in the other, a large round shield. From head to toe, it was armored in extremely tough, but light metal.
=Level 6 *Giant Eagle Headed Warrior=
"This is not going to be easy." Leicarton said, wincing as he saw the arena.
"Huh? But it's only level 6. Did you guys say you beat a Level 7 named monster to get the key?" Misaki asked as she stared at where the monster was kneeling at the top, awaiting the approach of challengers.
"It might be numerically weaker than what they had to deal with before, but this battlefield is not ideal." Ayako said, looking at the staircase. "Terrible footing for us, meaning blocking any close quarters attacks is going to be difficult. And if we mess up and get knocked off the side, we are goners."
"It can also use the pillars on either side of the staircase as cover against our ranged attacks, and as a vantage point for any ranged attacks of its own." Issei said, chipping in his two cents.
"Its level also doesn't take its armor into account. It's an alloy made with glowing gold sand and blacksilver. Light weight, durable, and dispels dark and lightning elemental attacks. It's somewhat resistant to conceptual damage, but not completely so." Shirou said, giving them a rundown of the monster's equipment.
Sakura and the spellcaster from Polaris wilted, hearing that their elements would be no use against the current threat. The members of Polaris barely even questioned how Shirou could know all that. At this point they'd accept just about anything out of these kids.
"You think it might be dumb enough to follow us into this tunnel?" Shinji asked, looking at the tunnel they were currently standing in, right at the edge of the room.
"It would barely fit, but maybe. It's worth a try." Rin said, agreeing that if they could force the monster to land in their with them then they would have a much easier time dealing with it. There wouldn't even be enough room for it to swing its spear properly. "Issei, your Shadow Track skill lets you jump in midair, correct?"
"That's right." Issei confirmed.
"Then once that thing starts moving, I want you to scout the other end of the room for us. See if the situation up there makes for a better battle ground, and if that door on the other side will open. If we can just walk straight past this thing without having to deal with it, I'd be open to that option." Rin said. Theresa could also do midair jumps, but her abilities as a scout were limited by her inability to report. "See what you can find and then head back and meet up with us in the tunnel. If the monster follows us in, we'll deal with him, if not… we'll figure something out."
"Alright then. Since this world is nonsense and likes its cliches, I'm betting that that thing won't stand up until we enter the room. We can get one clear shot at it as a preemptive attack. It might not be much, but let's use the big arrows." Rin said with a smirk.
Madoka retrieved the 'big arrows' from their storage, 5 arrows equipped with overcharged runes on their heads. Arrows that would hopefully knock off a few hundred, if not a few thousand, of that monster's hit points before the fight even started.
Those 5 arrows had taken a cumulative 150 magic stones in order to create, eating away at much of Rin's stash, and contained 15,000 units of her own MP, gained through the liberal use of magic potions. They were expensive, but should pack a mammoth sized punch.
Shirou, Sakura, Shinji, Ayako and Suzuna, each took an arrow and lined up, ready to fight. "Ready. Take aim." Rin said, enjoying herself as the five archers did as they were told. "FIRE!"
The arrows flew up into the air, flying across the large room towards their target at near supersonic speeds.
But in the single second between when the arrow was released and when it reached its mark, the monster rose from the ground and whipped out its wings.
Defying all logic, the arrows turned around in midair as they came in contact with the monster's wings, and went flying straight back where they came from.
"Oh shit!" Ayako swore, seeing their own warheads flying directly back at them, about to blow them to bits.
It was only a split second decision by Shirou, who opened up his Mystic Forge, right in front of the projectiles, that had saved them. The deadly missiles went into the Forge, and in the brief moment inside of it, Shirou removed the runic explosive from the arrow, disarming them, and rendering them normal attacks, rather than explosive ones. The stones containing the runes falling harmlessly to the ground underneath the giant black circle.
The arrows came out at the same speed they went in though, since Shirou couldn't seem to cancel the momentum, and nearly skewered the people who originally shot them.
They survived the counterattack, but before they could collect themselves, the giant eagle warrior took to the air and flew towards the gap in the wall they were standing in at unreal speeds, given its size.
In just 5 seconds, it had closed the distance between them from over 1000 feet to just a 100, before it cut upwards displaying its full body in front of them, before with a massive beating of its wings, sending several hundreds of razor sharp feathers raining down on them, each the size of a one handed sword.
Shirou discarded his bow and drew out his shield the moment the monster had reflected their arrows, and positioned himself between it and Sakura, who had been too stunned to do the same.
All around him, the stone flooring shattered from the power of the attack, and he received a few grazing hits from the monster that took off a little bit of his health, but the Shield held, and Sakura remained unharmed.
The giant monster slammed into the ground right in front of the tunnel entrance and started to attack with his spear, thrusting it in at the Seekers who had dared to try to take a cheap shot at it.
Shirou took one such thrust on the shield, and was lifted up, throwing him back into Sakura and sending them both further back into the tunnel.
Meanwhile, Elysha rushed forward to try to go on the offensive, dodging the monster's swing and attempting an attack of her own, only to be caught on its shield and almost parried straight off into the void for her efforts, only rescued by Theresa, who jumped off after her and used a double 'Accelerator Dash' in order to return them back up.
"Thanks." Elysha said before they both had to dive out of the way of a wide slash from the monster's spear.
But as it was turning toward them, a blue gem landed at its feet, exploding into a large chunk of ice that encased one of its legs. "Mr. Leicarton, now!" Rin shouted.
The older Butcher rushed forward, prepared to strike. "Morale Burst: Prime Cu…"
The man was cut off by a burst of wind from the monster's wings that knocked him backwards, right before the monster broke free of the ice and took off to the sky again, doing a lap around the nearest pillar before dive bombing the party members that had tried to go on the offensive at over 200 miles an hour, driving them back into the tunnel for shelter.
"Pull back for now!" Rin shouted as Issei returned back to them, having checked the opposite side of the field.
They did a slow retreat, hoping to lure the monster in, but the moment they were out of the range of its spear, it took off, returning to where it had started the fight.
"Well that didn't go to plan." Rin grunted. "Sakura, help me see to everyone's injuries."
It had been a brief exchange, with only a few hits taken, but they still took light damage through all of their defenses. The Gaze-Hounds and Fanged Orcs in particular were pretty beat up, not knowing how to dodge. One of her hounds had been lost to the void when the Monster had dive bombed the bridge, knocking it off.
It didn't seem like her monsters would be useful in this fight.
Issei reported on his findings. While there was a large ledge at the top they could fight on, there was no cover available to them up there, and the door was locked tight.
It was quickly decided against attempting to run up there, as both the journey up was dangerous, and they wouldn't have a position to fall back to if things went south.
"That was really scary." Madoka sniffed, wiping the tears from her eyes. She hadn't been expecting that large thing to move so quickly. That, along with nearly being blown to bits by their own secret weapon, had left her terrified.
She was going to have to use her 'hide' skill in order to change her underwear after that one.
"First that giant fatso with immunity-to-physical attacks, now this stupid bird brain that can return projectiles to sender and can just fly out of reach of our melee attack!" Ayako shouted angrily as she held a hand over her injured side. "Named Monsters are bullshit!"
"Its reflection ability wasn't a passive skill." Shirou said, having read the history of the arrows. "It did it as an activated effect connected to its wings, which means it likely requires MP to work. It might also have a cooldown or charge up timing to it."
"Something to test I suppose." Rin said as she tended to Ayako's side. "I don't relish the idea of trading with it until it runs out of MP, but that might just be our best option if we can't ground it."
"I'm afraid I used up all of my Morale on that failed attempt." Leicarton admitted weakly. He still had a skill called 'Lop Off', which gives increased damage to body parts, but it wouldn't be a guaranteed amputation in a single hit.
"Don't worry. We still have another shot at it." Rin said, looking at Melissa, who nodded her head. "If we can take out one of its wings, this will get a lot easier. The stairs aren't any better for it to be fighting on than they are for us if it loses the advantage of flight."
"That still means we need to find a way to ground it long enough for the little lady to get a clean cut." Georg said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Because of the monster's high speeds, he had been useless, and his trick skills that involved throwing his weapon were too dangerous to attempt if it could send it flying right back at him.
"That was just our first attempt. We have other methods." Rin said, glancing towards Madoka. "Looks like we are moving on to plan B."
"Right." Madoka said, nodding her head before bringing out the needed materials.
Some of the party paled when they saw the large number of wooden treasure boxes.
"Alright, so here is what we are going to do." Rin said with an evil grin.
The Giant Eagle Headed Warrior had returned to its guard post once again, kneeling on the ground before the gate, its head down, but its unblinking eyes open, and the moment the sound of a footfall echoed throughout the massive chamber, its head immediately snapped upwards.
The Seekers had returned once again and formed up a line in front of the entrance to the room. This time, the shields that they came with were much larger in size, leaving no body part exposed as they formed a moving wall.
The guardian did not know what the small human creatures thought this would accomplish, but it didn't matter. It would not suffer their presence in this sacred place. Not unless they proved themselves worthy.
So it opened up its wings once again and dove down towards the human creatures.
As he approached, he once against shot out his rain of feather-blades, only for them to not put so much as a dent in the new heavier shields.
It then did the same thing as before, attempting to land in a descending thrust at them, but before it could, large flasks of oil flew from behind the wall of shields, causing flames to jump out of the ground where the Named Monster had planned to land.
Its legs were singed by the flames, causing it to jump upwards to get away from the fire, circling back around the nearby pillar in order to do a dive bomb from their right flank, knocking them all off of the staircase into the pit.
But as it passed by the pillar, something caught its eyes. Dozens of tiny little wooden boxes attached to the pillar with some kind of sticky substance.
…Oh no.
"Theresa, now!" Rin shouted, and the lizard girl used her 'Activate Trap' skill to trigger all of the wooden treasure box traps that she had sneakily attached to the pillar before the battle, using her 'Silent Walking' to prevent the monster from even knowing she was there.
Dozens of traps containing small explosions and poison clouds of varying types went off, covering the monster in a thick mist of toxins.
The Named Monster continued to flap its wings a few more times before the paralyzing poison took full effect and it started to fall.
Whole seconds passed as the Seekers listened intently, before a distant crash could be heard echoing up from the depths below.
"Wow, it actually worked." Ayako said, looking over the edge down into the black void.
"Of course it worked." Rin said, puffing out her chest. "You may all feel free to call me a genius whenever you'd like." Sakura chuckled a bit at her sister's act.
"The materials." Melissa said, her bottom lip trembling slightly.
"S…Sorry." Issei said, feeling guilty at the sight of the usually expressionless girl so sad. "We'll do something to make it up to you. I promise."
"...Mm." She nodded weakly.
The party then continued their march up to the top of the stairs, an awkward climb for some, as the stairs were not made for human legs, but when they finally reached the top and got to the door, they made a terrible discovery.
"What do you mean the key doesn't go with that door!?" Rin shouted in dismay as Madoka had brought out the key, only for it to do nothing, her shouted of frustration causing Madoka to jump and tear up slightly, requiring her to be comforted back to a stable state.
There was a hole in the door that looked like a round peg that seemed to be what was supposed to open it, but the key that they had would not fit in that door.
"Shoot in the dark, but… you think that monster had the key to this door on it?" Shinji said, looking back towards the pit they had just crossed over.
Rin groaned. "Please. Please, for the love of God, tell me that we don't have to climb down there in order to get it."
Based on the amount of time it took them to hear the monster hit the ground, they were looking at a considerable distance to reach the bottom.
"Sorry Rin, but that is what it is looking like." Ayako said.
The party's momentary victory turned into a scene of embarrassment… until Shirou pointed something out. "Why hasn't the monster turned up as dead in our IDs?"
…
A scream of rage echoed from below as the paralysis wore off and the Giant Eagle Headed Warrior came flying out of the pit, rapidly beating its wings as it glared down at them in rage, its dark armor beat up from its massive fall. Its recent humiliation had clearly not been taken well. And now, the party was on the opposite side of the room, with no point to retreat to, even if they now had a large platform to stand on.
Rin groaned inwardly.
Why? Why couldn't any of her plans just work for once?
As per tradition, Rin has some really good plans. But nothing ever goes to plan and then things become a cluster fuck.
You all know what that means. Time for Shirou to become critically injured again.