This was insane. It was the only thought in my head as we charged forward, my shots pouring into the backs of Shadow and Strong as we went, giving them all the boosts I'd thought they'd need, and swiftly emptying my SP meter down to only a few shots left that I was keeping in reserve. That meant I was completely dependent on the two of them to carve our way through the tide of monsters.
Of course, it made me feel a little better when I saw how good they were at it. Shadow, his hands flashing between the various signs, landed amidst the horde, and swung himself about, his hands and feet moving in ways I honestly hadn't seen them do before, as he took down one after another of our foes, never wasting a single motion, all the hits with just enough force to slay that enemy, and move on.
Meanwhile Strong was…well he was STRONG! He was literally picking up some of the skeletal things, and then tossing them forward, his body surging with muscles as he did, and creating whole broken lines through the horde, before he began to punch upwards, the vambraces on his fist creating a silvery song with each blast, which, despite what I'd pictured them doing, seemed to shotgun out, literally blowing away the enemy by the dozen.
I…was contributing very little beyond the initial setup, but that setup was what was allowing them to tear through the enemy, so I felt good enough about it, even getting to clock one of the wasps that got too close with a punch that did send it reeling, right into the path of one of Shadow's attacks. That accomplishment behind me, I kept just far enough back to not get in the way.
Luckily, the other two parties had only a small lead on us, and were having a slightly more difficult time of mowing through the enemy legion. Oh, they were doing damage to it, in fact, the lowest one there, the dancer, was still taking them out in one kick. However, they were moving slowly, and when we arrived, I took a moment to assess the situation, looking into each one of them, and soon crying out.
"Ren, Motoyasu! Get your people as close together as you can!" I shouted over the din of combat, as the pair, each separately, engaged some of the larger zombie creatures. They looked up, not sure what I was talking about, but then Strong and Shadow leapt down, and rather than argue, they ordered their groups into formation around themselves, the two beastmen holding off the horde as my Bow shifted into another form.
Taking aim, I dove down the side of the cliff, sliding into the dirt, and trying to hold myself steady, before letting loose a bubble from my weapon, one that shimmered in the red tinted sky for a moment, before I came to a rolling stop, and it burst above the gathering of warriors. That moment, a glowing mist fell amongst them, and you could literally see their power skyrocketing, as my energy suffused their bodies.
…okay, to be fair, it wasn't the full boost, spread out like this, if it had been, I could create whole armies of world destroyers, and the system was designed specifically to prevent that. Still, it was a good boost, and as they felt it, a few of the people smiled, as they dove into battle once more, their blows now more easily able to cave in the skulls of their foes, and take down the winged terrors of the skies.
I fell into the midst of the group, taking aim with my Bow, but not firing a shot. Mostly because I didn't have the stamina for it. My SP meter, once taking a whole night of rest to fill, was doing so faster, but simply put, it was best used elsewhere, and the moment it had enough, I loosed my (Sense) skill, instead of something damaging, my mind filling with the stats and some data on the enemies.
It took me a moment to process it all, to let it flow through my mind, but the moment it was, I was shocked at how easy it all was to work with. The enemies were 'minions'...not like working for someone, though technically there was a boss, but more in the 'summons' sense. They started with one HP as they fell, and slowly began to rise upwards from there, meaning the sooner you got to them, the easier they were to kill.
"Big Axe, Little Axe! North-west, hit the big guy as he drops! Shadow, cover them, the wasps are coming from behind that position!" I shouted, and despite my…nicknames for them, the two warriors moved as I directed, the larger man leaping into the air far higher than his bulk really should have allowed, his large swing smashing into the armored foe, as the smaller axe wielding man did the same from behind, the twin hits able to literally crush him between them, while Shadow used some kind of fireball to hit several wasps at once.
The immediate effect of this was that there was a huge hole in the lines of monsters around us, allowing the parties to surge into it, like a breach in the line of a bigger battle, and we soon moved almost half a mile forward, before the overwhelming numbers began to force us to slow again. By that point, I had another use of my own powers, and used them to give a magical attack boost to the man with the crystal rod, having him freeze a way forward.
And thus it went like that, moving forward, and then slowing, and moving forward again. The other two heroes even followed my orders when it came down to it, with Ren providing feedback through his own 'Minimap' that let him see things from an overhead view out of the corner of his eye. He routed us around a cluster of the large armored figures, forcing them to come to us, and allowing us to set up a killbox for them.
It was still slow going, and we were almost three hours past our arrival by the time we made it directly under the largest of the 'holes' in the sky. The others seemed to believe that was where we'd find the boss, and truth to tell, it did make sense, but we faced the harshest opposition too, forcing us to go even slower, and putting my own senses to the test trying to keep in mind everyone's health and mana.
We were running low on the latter, though the former was barely affected, thanks to us mostly keeping the minions at bay, rather than having to endure their blows. It was still not a fresh, hale, and hardy group that finally forced its way into the center of the enemy lines, finding as we did, a monster about the size of a large horse, with the body of a lion, and three heads on its front and one sticking out of its butt on a tail.
"A chimera!" I shouted, mostly in shock, as the thing's goat, lion, and dragon heads turned to me, only for the viper tail to be the one to attack, forcing us to dodge a spray of poisons that literally burned a black mark into the ground nearby, scattering us behind some trees, only to be forced forward as some of the skeletons came up from behind, no longer moving out from the storm's center, but inward.
"Dammit! Everyone! Cover us! The Heroes will take down the boss, but we need the space to do it in!" shouted Motoyasu, and I couldn't argue with that, as the parties, looking to Ren and myself, were sent off to engage the enemy army, while the three of us rushed the enemy in front, the chimera roaring in challenge, and then breathing out again, this time with fire from the dragon head.
"Shit!" cried Motoyasu, as we dove aside again, this time taking cover behind a rock, luckily, the monster, despite the 'boss' moniker it probably had, was not very strong, and so the flames were parting around the stone, rather than melting it…mind they should have been moving inwards towards us like fire really would, but I wasn't one to concern myself with that, as I shifted my bow back into the Bubble form.
"Okay, you two, I've got just enough Stamina to make this work once. You've got one minute of speed coming, make it count," I said, looking seriously at them, and they nodded in understanding as I took aim, and then let loose, the bubble bursting between them, infusing their bodies with the energy. It gave them both a sort of 'after-image' as they moved, and to their credit, they did not waste it.
The moment they had it, they charged in opposite directions out from behind the stone, and I got to watch as they went wide, getting the enemy to roar at them, as I climbed the rock…well more I stood up and hopped a bit, but still, it was enough for me to see as they came from both sides against the creature, hitting it with slashes that left it reeling backwards, roaring with frustration.
Motoyasu was good, honestly. His spear allowed him to dance around the enemy position, constantly sending small attacks its way, as the four heads would respond in kind, even shooting forward in some cases, but he was not slow enough to be caught like that, not with the speed flowing through him, and he dodged out of the way with aplomb, literally kicking off the dragon head when it tried to bite him, and raking the back of the thing with a fiery blow.
Ren was just as good, probably better, as while he was not quite as…showy as Motoyasu, in baiting the attacks out, that was because he never stayed still long enough for it to take aim with anything beyond a few swipes, and one whip of the serpentine tail. Otherwise, he was simply bouncing around, keeping the thing at bay with a dodge, as he moved forward, and slashed at its side, leaving deep gashes.
When the speed wore off, the thing was injured, its status showing the 'bloodied' trait, which reduced its overall ability to fight. It also increased its attack power, however, a fact that became obvious when it roared, and knocked over a tree, as well as blasting the three of us backwards, causing the other two to slam to the ground, losing small slivers of HP from the attack that already began recovering.
My own position, being what it was, was a greater fall. The fact that I hit with more force, and had lower stats showed that I was not quite the same specimen as the other two, my HP went down by a bit more, and was recovering slower, as I gained a few status effects myself, including the winded trait, which mean I was out of breath as I rolled out from behind the rock, just in time to watch the acidic breath from the snake tail melt it.
"Guys, rally!" I shouted as I forced breath back into my lungs, and they did just that, Motoyasu leaping back to his feet, and Ren actually doing a handspring, like some kind of gymnast, the chimera's eyes following us as we gave it some ground, and it growled, obviously preparing another attack, as we dove behind some trees.
"This thing is taking a lot more damage than I expected," said Ren, and I nodded, having looked at the things HP to find it was almost down to a quarter.
"An animal backed into a corner is at its most dangerous though. It's attack is almost twice what it was at the start, and that means one good hit, and you'll be gravely injured," I countered, as we moved, hearing a sound like an explosion, just in time to dodge a torrent of fire the thing breathed at us.
"I'll hit you with an offensive boost, get in close, its breath attacks leave it frozen for about four seconds every time it finishes one. I'll bait out one at me, and you two get in there and kill it," I said, and the two nodded as I shifted my bow back to (Precision), and gave them both a full shot of attack boosting power. The moment it settled, I surged forward, getting the dragon head to follow me, making me shout as I fired at it.
The shot was low power, doing little damage, but it was enough to bring all four heads to me, especially as the other two seemed to be running away. That forced me to keep running, as all four heads fired a whole cacophony of attacks behind me. Luckily, I wasn't stopping for it to take good aim, and so it exhausted that shot, leaving it standing there, as the other two seemed to materialize from the trees, and rush it.
"Let's end this! Crimson Blade!" shouted Ren as he slid to a stop in front of the creature, and repeated the move he'd used to break up the scuffle at the castle, his hand moving over his weapon, leaving it sparking with red lightning, before he loosed it at the creature, the bolt cutting into the already deeply lacerated skin from their first attacks, leaving the thing looking like it had lost a fight with a blender.
"And I'll finish it! Lightning Spear!" added Motoyasu as he drew back his weapon, and then thrust it forward, the monster charging at him, as he presented the largest threat. And it kept charging, as a funnel of wind, visible as it picked up dust and debris slammed into it, holding the monster in place as lightning struck it from the front, making it cry out once, before its HP bar dropped to zero, and it fell to the ground, dead.
The moment the thing hit the ground, there was a…pressure to the air, like a wave of force moving out from the body, pushing us all back, and forcing us to close our eyes against the grit in the air. Still, squinting, I saw a line of some kind, which extended into the sky for a brief moment, before vanishing into the vortex overhead. A lifeline, perhaps? Or like the rope tied to an anchor, one that was broken now? I was uncertain, but it would bear investigating.
Regardless, the moment the cord vanished, the holes in the sky began to glow, and then a ringing sound poured out of them, before finally they flashed golden, closing and instantly dispelling the red skies above us, and even destroying a few of the enemies still falling, as now they plummeted towards the ground, scattering into dust in the air before they could impact it, even as those on the ground began to scatter.
"The heroes have done it! Victory!" shouted the guy in knight armor, hefting his sword upwards, splitting a lesser zombie from navel to nose, and then pounding his palm into the flat of his blade. It made a nice sound, like a loud bell, and the others soon let out a cheer, even Shadow lifting his hands up and shaking them. We had won, and we heroes were all three smiling as we came together, the two, even Ren, hanging off me for a moment, before we moved to meet with our parties again.
