Chapter 25: Monster Overhaul (3)
GRAWKK!
The dungeon itself seemed to quake under the monstrous roar, a wall of sound that vibrated through bone and marrow. Valencia clawed at her ears, her vision momentarily white from the shockwave. Jan flinched, reflexively reaching for his blade, his eyes flickering between the gaping cage, Louise seemingly stood there resisting the monster's screams and Rel's unnervingly calm face covered them not being pushed back by the winds it drew.
"We need to wrap this up and report to the academy," Valencia shouted, hands pressed firmly against her ears. With the creature now free from its cage, it surveyed the room before devouring the lifeless carcasses within other cages.
GWAK!
A faint purple glow enveloped its body as it consumed the five nearest cages. Rel stood unfazed, watching with a calm gaze, as if anticipating a significant development.
"Rel, are you okay?" Jan rushed to Rel's side, ready to shield him from potential danger. The looming threat of the unleashed monster now overshadowed the earlier spectacle of Rel's defensive maneuver.
Louise, without hesitation, positioned himself near the hole created by Valencia. The quartet, now in a battle-ready formation with three at the front and one at the back, braced themselves for an impending confrontation.
"I believe we should leave and report this immediately," Jan suggested, his gaze fixed on the approaching monster with a mix of caution and uncertainty.
DUN, DUN, DUN.
"It's no use; our communication has been cut off by some signal jammer," Rel remarked as he attempted to contact Kolek.
"If we let this monster roam freely in the cave, who knows if it will encounter our classmates? We need to try and stop it at all costs," Valencia said, her hands shaking with a hint of hesitation and fear.
As they began drawing out their weapons Louise snarked at the monster.
"That fucker is enormous, for sure. If the academy is associated with something like this, I'd get it shut down," Louise declared, drawing out his polearm.
And with that seemingly innocuous remark, the battle began.
The monster lashed out, a swipe of its claw aimed at Rel. Valencia threw herself into the path, deflecting the blow with a burst of lightning that parried the claw out of the way.
In the dimly lit cavern, the monstrous hybrid roared, unleashing a cacophony of abilities inherited from the creatures it had combined with. Flames erupted from its gaping maw, mirroring the ferocity of a lizard, while its haunting scream echoed the fear-inducing howl of a troll. Silken strands shot forth, ensnaring everything in their path like the webs of a giant spider, and the sheer force behind its blows mimicked the strength of an ogre.
The quartet faced the relentless onslaught, and Louise initiated the fight with a blazing assault. However, the demon's resistance to fire repelled his scorching onslaught, pushing him back with an unnatural resilience.
"Was he unaffected by my attack?" Louise was confused as the burn marks seemingly had no damage but the marks remained onto the monster.
Seizing the opportunity, Jan unsheathed his sword, dashing towards the monster,
"Horizontal sweep" massive arcs of cleaves that danced through the air hit the monster slicing the upper part of its body and creating x marks everywhere. Despite the precision of his strikes, the demonic entity seemed to be unfazed by the attack.
Valencia quickly followed up with a fluidity that belied her fierce determination, she engaged the monster with a display of swordsmanship. Each stroke of her blade was a masterful dance, aiming for the vulnerable spots that emerged during the creature's frenzied attacks.
The monster fired webs onto the ground with its hands and breathed fire simultaneously Yet Valencia's true power was in the unique ability she was born with, Chain Reaction.
Chain reaction was a unique ability that allowed Valencia to initiate a sequence of interconnected attacks against 2 targets or more. If there are no 'targets' for the reaction to hit the damage would double against the singular target.
As the half-demon sustained the onslaught, Valencia harnessed the lightning within her, each strike of her blade triggering a surge of energy. SHING, SHING, SHING.
The cavern crackled with electrifying tension as the monster, unable to evade her attacks, succumbed to the damage. The calculated strikes left the creature reeling, its monstrous form now visibly battered and scarred.
Desperation engulfed the monster as it unleashed a torrent of fire, a desperate attempt to halt Valencia's lightning-infused assault. Yet, Jan, ever adaptive, shifted his stance. Drawing from the otherworldly techniques he had mastered, he invoked the power of the wind, infusing it into his sword technique: Diagonal Slash: Sweeper.
In a breathtaking display, Jan swung his sword in a sweeping motion, arcs of wind blending with his azure aura. The resulting onslaught sliced through the air, creating a vortex of cutting force. With each pass, deep wounds manifested on the monster's body, revealing the potency of this technique. As Jan's wind-empowered strikes left an indelible mark on the once-mighty creature.
The fight raged on, an intricate dance of elemental prowess and relentless determination, as the quartet faced the half-demonic monster with a fervour that refused to waver.
***
Sitting there in surprise after parrying that attack I couldn't tell if the notification before my eyes was true. I was simply to stunned to speak.
FWANG
[Main Quest: Awakening Requires Sacrifice! help Jan awaken his Ultimate Skill. Rewards: 500 QP, Luck [Roll], Stamina: 5.00+, Archer Mastery: 1+]
Huh? Sacrifice? Is this system being serious? Does it expect me to die for the sake of Jan's awakening? Forget that.
It seems almost impossible for Jan to awaken Divine Conqueror. How the hell am I supposed to push him to gain an understanding of his purpose? Just how...
I value my life. sorry, Jan. I'm just going to pray that Valencia can make a difference in this fight since Louise can't damage demonised monsters with his purest flame...
[3 minutes into the fight...]
It looks like we're winning. Though the monster hybrid recovers after our attacks, we are finally breaking through.
Jan slashed the monster countless times with different techniques, from cleaving slash to spamming horizontal sweep afterwards.
Valencia complemented Jan by using her ability chain reactions to multiply the attack damage, creating a constant source of damage to the hybrid monster itself.
The only problem was that none of us had the attribute of light to execute this monstrosity, but there was one person in this room who could pull this off, and it was Jan.
Although I'm not entirely sure what it meant by sacrificing, I'm guessing I have to do something worthy of a sacrifice. I'm just praying that I don't lose a limb in the process.
"Rel, WATCH OUT," Jan warned me to move out of the way as the monster aimed a breath of fire at me, flames erupting out of its mouth. It was already too late for me to move.
Then suddenly, a tall figure popped in front of me.
Enveloping the flames that could not burn hotter than his, Louise stood there countering the demonic fire with his purest flame.
"Move, you gimp!" he warned me as I moved out of the way to position myself on the side of the cave.
Even though I'm not doing any real damage. I'm at least shooting the monster in any part of the body with all my crossbow's might. TAK, TAK, TAK. And even if the monster could launch anything at me, I could just block it, but I need to stay stationary to recover all that lost stamina and energy.
Haah, haah, haah,
My breathing felt quite off. I couldn't tell if it was the monster's demonic aura, but I was getting thrown off. I felt drowsy, tired, and weak; just lifting my crossbow and constantly shooting and imbuing fire into my attacks was already making me feel much more tired.
While the three of them were taking turns dealing damage and then dealing damage simultaneously, Valencia stopped for a moment as if she had some idea to beat this thing. Then energy began manifesting around her, charging up her elemental attribute as sparks of white lightning began emitting around her.
"Jan and Louise, try and catch the monster off guard. I'm going to try something," Valencia shouted as she stood still amid battle.
"Are you crazy? Who would be trying something in a time like this?" Louise replied to Valencia's historical idea with contorted face
GWARK
The monster screamed in agony as it took another round of countless attacks from Jan and Valencia. It began grabbing the pillars of stalactite and began throwing them recklessly at everyone.
As I saw the pillar heading towards Valencia, I froze up watching as years worth of developing her character flashed through my eyes.
My body wouldn't let me move at all.
Then a short gust of wind passed through my eyes.
SHING!
Jan's blade flashed, reducing the stalactite to harmless dust. Relief washed over me as my heart felt like it was going to explode from the torment this girl had put me through when it came to writing her character.
Ah, who am I kidding? Jan is here he would save anyone who is in danger.
As we stalled for Valencia, the sudden change in the air turned thick with anticipation, buzzing with an electric hum that danced across my skin. My breath hitched as Valencia raised her katana, her golden aura erupting into a corona of crackling lightning. Each spark arced and snapped, casting dancing shadows across her determined face. she stood poised to unleash her ultimate skill: Stormshroud.
If Valencia activated her ultimate skill this early into the fight, then she would be out for the entirety of the fight.
The lightning's dance mirrored the enchanting beauty of Valencia; it fit her description just as I thought. There was that certain spark of hope that I could see in her eyes, as if her body was saying, "I won't lose this no matter what."
Holding her katana with conviction, the blade emanated an extended golden aura, increasing her reach compared to before. Crackles of lightning danced around as electricity now permeated the entire room. The gamble for Valencia to win would have her fight at 100%.
______________
Author's Notes:
- Valencia's Ultimate Skill is called: Stormshroud.
- Fun fact: Valencia learned her ultimate skill at the age of 7 when she got angry at her parents for pranking her, pretending they forgot about her birthday. Suddenly, her anger affected her surroundings, causing lightning bursts.
- Stalactite is a mineral that hangs from the top of caves, forming in an icicle-like shape.
- Any archetype of demons possesses high resistance to fire, which explains Louise's ineffectiveness with his fire attacks against them.
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