The wall of fire which burned for who knows how long finally subsided. Despite the conjured flames dying down, the scorching heat still remained, gnawing at my skin as if I'm standing inside a volcano. Small embers were left dancing around those burnt corpses of the two-hundred or so sack-elves.
The heat was one thing, but the smell of burnt corpses was another. It was utterly terrible. I had to pinch my nose so hard that the veins may have stopped flowing in blood just to not take a tiny waft of that unbreathable stench. Mason and Alessia had difficulties enduring such a pungent smell as well. The faster we get out of here, the better.
"This is absurd," groaned Alessia, though she spoke in a nasal voice as her nose was pinched. "We need to move, now."
"I agree," said Mason, voice also nasal, "this is literally unbearable."
"Then let's move," I said. Picking up my boomerangs and recuperating my mentality as much as possible, I linked my mana one last time to three of my weapons. Gesturing for Mason and Alessia to hop on, I flew them across the scorched battlefield, where underneath us lies a horde of sack-elves burnt to a crisp. Black ashes were littered everywhere.
"Wait," Alessia half-shouted, eyes focused on the ground.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Runae. It's down there." She pointed to a white gleaming blade blanketed by ashes and dark corpses. It was her specialized weapon, Runae, calling desperately to be picked back up again. I gasped as I realized a scene not too long ago: before being overwhelmed by the sack-elves, Alessia dropped Runae. And when I rescued her, I completely forgot about the weapon, thus leaving it there to be burnt by Mason's hellfire along with the hundreds of sack-elves caught in it.
Swooping down low, Alessia clinged tightly to the boomerang carrying her and stretched her hand to grab the burnt Runae. Unexpectedly, though, her hand stopped a small distance away. I raised an eyebrow at this weird showcase.
Even more unexpectedly, I felt a very faint mana link connecting the palm of her hand to the scorched hilt of her still in-tact crescent blade, which then acted as a "rope," telekinetically pulling Runae out of the graveyard of sack-elf souls and into her hand. Like some sort of clairvoyance magic, Alessia made Runae fly into her hands without even touching it.
"What the—?" I absentmindedly gasped upon witnessing this phenomenon.
"What?" Mason asked.
"How did she—?"
"Oh, you mean weapon calling?"
"Weapon calling?" I furrowed my brows at this. Such a thing existed?
"Yeah, weapon calling. It's when you telepathically summon your weapon into your hands."
"How do you do that?"
"Uh, just think of your weapon in your mind and call its name. Like Alessia, she just called out to Runae in her mind, which her weapon responded to by flying into her hands," Mason explained.
"Call its name... Hold up, I haven't named my weapons!"
Mason looked at me with an unreadable expression. Or, maybe, it was blank? I can't say—my brain is exhausted.
"You know," he said flatly, "you should've done that like, weeks ago when you got your boomerangs."
"I know that. Shut up."
Mincing my words with my fuzzy emotions, I flew the three of us out of the chamber where the sack-elves originally kept their stolen property. I wondered if we should take them back to their owners, but they're all burned to a point of no return now that whoever owns those stuff probably would rather throw it away than keep it.
Outside of the cavern, we are now back in the long, tunnel-like place, which branched off to many different paths and other cul-de-sacs. A few sack-elves lied here and there as well—mostly black corpses, but there were a few running around with their backs on fire. I threw a boomerang or two at them, quickly falling those that aren't dead yet. Better put them out of their misery quick than listen to their ear-splitting screeches.
I landed on the hard ground, followed by Mason and Alessia. Looking at the eerie cave, it felt like only the three of us were left. Like an empty husk, this place is now devoid of any life. Faint smells of burnt corpses wafted out here, but it's so much more breathable compared to inside that hellhole.
"Finally, fresh air," Mason inhaled with much exaggeration, spreading his arms wide as he took in the not-so-fresh air.
"At least we're not suffocating from the smell sack-elves," mused Alessia. "Now what do we do?"
"Uh, leave?" I suggested.
"And leave whatever remnants of the sack-elves that did not die?" Alessia looked at me as if my whole body was transparent. I felt like her eyes were staring daggers into me.
"What, you want to stay in this trash bin of a den? I say let's crumble this whole cave down from the ceiling. Not even the sack-elves will be able to escape from that," said Mason.
"Assuming you have the energy to do so, then go ahead," Alessia replied coolly. "But keep in mind this cave is right below a mountain. A landslide might occur if you're careless in your antiques."
Mason glowered. "Fine. Let's clean off the leftovers, manually."
Alessia shrugged nonchalantly. As I was about to follow the two further into the cave, I felt the ground shake.
"What was that?" I blurted out.
Again, the ground quaked, as if something heavy is pounding its weight onto the ground. Dust and small debris flaked off from the ceiling, gracelessly falling as bits and disappearing into the dark rocky ground. The walls shuddered, and I could be shaken off my feet at any moment.
"Woah, is there an earthquake nearby?" Mason joked, but his expression was clearly concerned.
"Not anytime soon, idiot," Alessia shot down Mason's jesting. "These feel like footsteps. Big footsteps."
Boom—
The ground shook again, even harder in magnitude this time. Something is approaching us, from deep inside this cavern. I unconsciously grasped the ring holding my boomerangs, preparing for whatever the thing is coming nearer and nearer to us. Similarly, Alessia and Mason tightened their grips on their respective weapons.
Boom—
Boom—
It's getting closer. I can feel its prescence now. It's definitely something gigantic. No sack-elf can possibly produce such powerful shockwaves. A chill ran down my spine at the thought of whatever monster is causing this. Not even the traiado I fought back then could rival the strength of this creature's mere footsteps.
"This is bad," Alessia mouthed, as another shockwave pulsed through the whole cave. "We need to run."
"Right back at ya'. We gotta get away from whatever that thing is," said Mason.
"Should we hide?" I muttered, trying to think of something. However, without the true identity of this monster as reference, I can't think up anything.
"Ernie, this isn't the time to be pla—"
Boom—
Boom—
Boom—
The excessive pounding grew incredibly loud. Alessia's plea for me to get away was drowned out by the sheer volume of the quaking. As if things can't get worse, it gets even worse.
With one last monstrous step, the monster in question showed itself. The thing was absolutely humongous, scraping the roof of the cave with his hunched back and bald head. As it slowly made its way towards us, its back scraped off the stalactites hanging low from the ceiling. My eyes widened dramatically as I realized this must be the monster that caused those stalactites to be carved off.
Observing the ugly monster under the darkness of the cave, I noticed its skin was dark green. It had a large, round stomach bloated like a balloon, with only the barest of cloth covering it up. Its eyes, despite the monster's large head, were tiny; its whole body had many wrinkles. I noticed that the ears on the monster's head looked awfully familiar... sharp, long and pointy like an elf's... a sack-elf's...
The monster looked around, noticing that its "comrades" were lying dead on the ground, burnt to a crisp. It roared furiously, batting the club in its right hand everywhere, hitting off chunks of rock and ores from the cavern walls. Its roar was not to be taken lightly either—it made my ears hurt, despite not being a high-pitched scream like the sack-elves.
"What is that?!" Mason shouted, jaw hung so low it could touch the ground.
"No... No way... How can I possibly forget...?" Alessia was dumbfounded, slapping her forehead as she realized something. She wore a nervous smile on her face.
"What is it, Alessia?" I asked in concern for her, trying my best to suppress the shakiness in my voice. It was hard to communicate when a booming roar is drowning out every possible sound we could hear.
"That thing... it's.... it's a crude-elf."
"A 'crude-elf?'" I repeated.
"Y-Yes. A crude-elf is directly related to sack-elves... in fact, it's merely a mutated sack-elf... supposedly, these things only pop up when there is a large number of sack-elves... How come I didn't notice it? The sheer number of sack-elves here... no way did a crude-elf not spawn here. It must've woke up from the immense shouting of its brethren. The more breeding that occurs, the higher the chance of a mutation in one of their offspring, and..."
"...and the higher the chance of a crude-elf birthing," I finished Alessia's explanation. I looked at the monster again, now knowing what it was to an extent. The crude-elf stopped roaring now, slowly approaching the mouth of the tunnel where we stood. By instinct, I took off running, with Alessia and Mason in tow. No signal was given—it was all pure intuition.
This monster is leagues beyond what we can fight. If I were to compare the crude-elf to the traiado I fought, which had been my previously most challenging opponent, then the monster in front of us right now must be two or three times higher in terms of strength. In fact, it might just be superior in everything except for its intellect.
There's no use fighting such a thing—I can feel it. We stand no chance against it, unless some sort of miracle happens. For that reason, we had no choice to run. To run away from all this mess, from this inevitable doom right in front of our faces.
KABOOM—
—However, those thoughts of running were quickly shut down. Another roar came from behind us, and I felt something woosh past above me at an indecipherably high speed. Not even a moment later, the crude-elf's club—which had been in its right hand a moment ago—was now chucked butt-first into the wall in front of us.
Debris flew everywhere, like a firework exploding out from a wall. Rocks, crystals, stalactites and stalagmites, ores, and even moss exploded from the impact point, rupturing out in a circle. Cracks formed on the wall, which then crumbled down and blocked our only escape path. We have nowhere left to run.
The crude-elf must've thrown its club at the sight of us running away. The speed at which it threw the club was impeccable—I couldn't even notice it flying past me. It flew so fast it was just a blur to my eyes.
I shuddered at the showcase of this monster's pure stength. If it manages to get its hands on us, then...
—No, let's not think about that. I'm already feeling enough things bubbling up inside my mind that I couldn't spare anymore space to think of certain death. I felt like my stomach was performing summersaults. Fear consumed me, at both the uncannily powerful monster in front of us, and also the uncertainties of this battle that we've already lost.
"We've got no way out..." Mason muttered with an incredibly shaky voice. Alessia was just speechless. This sudden turn of events... we completely and utterly miscalculated everything. At first, we thought sack-elves would be a breeze to fight, but their sheer numbers were a hundred too many for us to handle. And now, as if things aren't bad enough, a mutated sack-elf—a crude-elf—is about to crush us like tiny insects.
With one last ferocious battle cry, the crude-elf charged straight at us. Its speed was incredibly fast for its round body.
"RUN!" I yelped, dashing to the side to prevent myself from being squashed. A blink of an eye later, an enormous figure rushed past me, barely just out of distance from my feet. The charging crude-elf went straight into the wall, crushing and crumbling it even further, shaking the whole cavern as it went.
Due to the impact, the weaker stalactites hanging on the ceiling fell loose, rushing down at high speeds like a torrent of sharp rain. Without any time to recover, I had to roll out of the way to not get impaled. However, the crude-elf didn't share the same fate as me. Stalactites fell onto the monster's back, chucking deep into its hard skin. It roared with pain, louder than any of its previous cries.
I took a glance over at the two on ther other side of the tunnel, and—
I sat there, frozen. Alessia couldn't believe it either.
—Mason's left arm was impaled by a stalactite.
He was pinned to the ground, with the large pointy rock stabbed right where his elbow is. Blood was spilling everywhere. His arm is as good as gone.
A rising fury slowly consumed my whole body. The sight of my close friend being injured to this extent was unforgivable in my eyes. Adrenaline pumped throughout my veins; my head was full of negative thoughts of vengeance; my hands shook agonizingly as I reached for my boomerangs.
Without thinking, I charged in while bellowing furiously. My five boomerangs blurrily flew in a circle behind me, like a halo framing my figure. I ignored Alessia's "ERNIE! NO!" and head straight for the crude-elf. With things as it is, Mason is probably going to lose his entire arm, and I can't forgive this monster for doing such a thing.
For that, it'll repay with its life.
Bellowing like a maniac, I rushed to fight the still-confused crude-elf. I commanded all five of my weapons to fly straight at the hideous monster's back. They hit with boring thuds, riccocheting off the hard back of the crude-elf. The monster's back didn't even get a dent.
—Fine. If that's how it'll play, then I'll play its game.
I linked my mana to a nearby fallen stalactite, using a boomerang to knock some force into it before levitating it up high. Then, at bullet-speed, I shot it straight at the crude-elf's exposed back. It impaled the being's torso, but it didn't go in deep.
As if finally feeling as though something had attacked it, the crude-elf flinched, snapping back to reality from its screaming. It looked around to find the source of its pain, then finally noticing the rock chucked into its spine. Effortlessly, the monster grabbed it out of its body, throwing it away like a toy that's been reaped of all its fun, and was now nothing more than a heap of trash.
Turning around, the crude elf finally noticed me. It narrowed its already narrow eyes, focusing on my and my constantly spinning boomerangs.
I've done what I need to. I successfully drew in the attention of the crude-elf. Now, it'll be a fight to the death. Even though I know this is a lost cause, I still wanted to cling to my will to the very last moment. Dying while giving up is never an option.
"Come and get me, you baboon!" I provoked the monster, though I'm sure it couldn't understand what I'm saying. Serves the thing right—it's nothing more than an ape going wild. Or maybe I'm the ape going wild. Who cares anymore? What's done is done.
I assumed the thing couldn't understand my motives, so I took a moderately large piece of rock and threw it straight at its face. I used my Vector magic to accelerate the rock to the point of lethality, chucking it straight at the monster's forehead.
—Did I say "to the point of lethality?" Yeah, screw that. This is only but a scratch to the crude-elf.
As if to confirm my statement, the monster recovered quickly after stumbling back from the unexpected impact, brushing its forehead like some kind of dust had fallen onto it. Taking hold of its club again, which was previously chucked into the wall, it roared loudly and rushed at me.
It gave me little to no time to react. At the sight of the thing charging straight at me, I immediately hopped onto one of my boomerangs and took flight. However, I was quickly knocked down by the crude-elf's club.
—Boom.
I flew straight at the ground. My whole body contorted at the impact, and a rush of pain took over me. I cried out in agony at this unbearable pain. This must be what Mason is feeling right now on his left arm.
Using that newfound anger in me, I fought the pain which is trying to make my whole body scream, and charged at the monster again. My nose was bloody. My clothes were messed up. My whole body is in pain.
But that's not stopping me anytime soon. With my boomerangs, I continuously hit the crude-elf with a barrage of spinning weapons, using every exposed point I could find to my advantage. Even then, the crude-elf couldn't care less for my flimsy brass boomerangs. It shook them off, taking hold of one of them and crushing it to bits.
My mouth hung agape at the sight of one of my precious boomerangs crushed into a pile of scrap. However, no matter how much remorse I wanted to pay to that fallen weapon of mine, I can't possibly stave off my fury at this moment. This monster must fall. No matter what, it must fall.
To avoid any more of my boomerangs snapping in half, I called them back, and instead used rocks to attack the crude-elf. Adding prior force to the rocks using my four intact boomerangs, I flinged rocks upon rocks upon rocks like a catapult at the heinous being charging at me.
—My attempts were futile.
The crude-elf kept charging head-first at me, knocking away all the objects I'm flinging at its face. I couldn't run away in time. Along with the crude-elf's tackle, I was rushed into the hard wall of the cave. A new wave of pain coursed throughout my whole body, as if a load equivalent to ten trucks were piled on top of me.
I could feel my internal organs being crushed. I vomited blood from my mouth, with the taste of iron threatening to crush my tongue.
The crude-elf's humungous hands pinned me to the wall, while its other one—holding its wooden club—accelerated downwards right at my head. And then—
"Oi! Don't hurt Ernie, you pile of meat!"
—Alessia shouted as she threw Runae at the monster's neck, landing blade-first and getting stuck in the shallow cut it made. The sudden hit made the crude-elf's aim off, its club impacting the wall above me instead of my skull.
Phew, I subconsciously sighed, but I knew this isn't the time to be relieved. I'm still pinned to the wall by a large crude-elf. Even worse, Alessia is now the centre of attention for the monster holding me.
Changing its targets, the crude-elf tightened its hold of me with its left hand and turned to face Alessia. From up here, she looked small. This made me realize how disadvantaged I was from the start of the fight. My will wavered a small bit.
With an ear-splitting roar, the crude-elf punded its feet on the floor. Alessia was involuntarily caught in the quaking as she was forcefully bounced around.
"Alessia!" I shouted at the top of my lungs to be heard. "Alessia! How is Mason?!"
"He's fine!" Alessia shouted back, running around the monster and its club pounding the ground. Bits of rock flew up from each and every impact. "He — had to — make me — c—"
Alessia shouted in between close dodges, some even brushing dangerously close to her. However, I couldn't hear the rest of her sentence as she had to run further away to avoid getting hit.
I cursed under my breath. With me being so helplessly in the grasp of this monster, I can't do so much physically, not that I could to begin with. Being flailed around like this made me want to vomit.
Then, I noticed the crude-elf's club was hitting the ceiling, cracking off the sharp stalactites barely hanging on. As a last ditch idea, I waited for the stalactites to fall, and—
—with the use of my magic, I accelerated the falling rocks, with the additional help of the gravity, and chucked them straight into the back of the crude-elf yet again. With a flurry of sharp stones attacking its body, the crude-elf flinched backwards in pain, letting me go in the process. The monster fell on its butt as I landed on my feet.
"Alessia! Mason!" I shouted for the two, running as fast as I can to catch up to wherever they were. I could use my boomerangs to fly, but I'd rather not waste any more mana than I have to. I'm running dangerously low on that now.
"Where are you?!" I shouted into the darkness, with only my echoes answering back. I ran and ran as the ground shook from the crude-elf recovering, but immediately froze in my tracks when I saw.
I saw it. I couldn't believe my eyes.
Mason cut off his left arm.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He crouched there, holding a cloth to his bleeding arm, or remnants of his arm still attached to his body. It was only a sleeve's length now. The part starting from his elbow down to the tips of his fingers were gone. I looked around and managed to find it—Mason's amputated hand lifelessly pinned to the ground by a stalactite.
The sight of that thing made me vomit. I couldn't hold it in anymore. It was so disgusting. Not to mention the crimson red blood covering the flesh of the cut-off body part... it was a horrible sight. Mason might just die from blood loss if he doesn't handle it correctly.
Is this what Alessia was trying to say...? That Mason forced her to... to... use Runae to cut off his arm?
No...
This can't be...
I rushed to Mason's side, looking helplessly at the strange figure of his body. With one arm missing, he looked unbalanced.
"M-Mason, are... how are you...?" —I was about to ask if he was fine or not, but of course he isn't. Nobody would be fine with their whole arm being cut off.
"I'm faring with it... The pain's still there, but it's not terribly bad anymore..." He responded weakly.
"Wait, Mason, can you still use your Fire magic?" I asked, remembering something I've seen before when dealing with wounds. Burning, or scorching it, per se, will help it clot up faster. This will prevent blood loss from happening, even if it's just a little.
"I can... If I just use my mana reserves and not my energy..."
"Yes, do that. Burn your wound. It'll close it up."
"I'll try..."
Slowly, Mason flickered a fire alive on his palm, then bringing it close to his wound. I unwrapped the cloth covering it, which caused a rush of blood to flow out.
"Quick!" I advised, though I wasn't sure what I was doing either.
Mason brought the fire just a few inches away from his wound, letting the hot fire burn the surrounding of his skin. He flinched with pain at first, and I wanted to cringe away so bad, but he slowly got used to it. Soon, the wound was closed off. As a final touch, I tied the bloody cloth he used to stop the blood flow to the stump of his left "arm" for extra precautions.
"How are you feeling...?"
"I'll manage... it's not like I can do anything about it. Just... let me rest for a bit. You don't look any better either."
Feeling around my face and body, I felt scars and cuts and grazes all around, with blood covering a lot of my skin. I suddenly remembered the pain from these scars, and they came rushing back. I glowered at the sudden pain, but I tried to suppress it as much as I can. I have no time to be suffering when Mason and Alessia are probably feeling worse than me.
Speaking of Alessia, I took a look around to find her, and spotted a lone female figure dancing around a large club as it pounded the ground relentlessly. I'm surprised she still had the energy left in her to fight so rigorously, and that Runae is back in her hands. Must be the weapon calling ability I've learned just now.
Looking at Alessia's endeavors, I remembered that we had a battle to fight. The crude-elf may be somewhat damaged, but it isn't going down anytime soon.
With the sight of the fight between the hopelessly powerful monster against the tiny yet agile Alessia in front of me, a new fire rose in my body. A new determination to fight on was born, telling me not to give in.
I inhaled a deep breath, calming myself mentally before preparing to charge back in—this time, with an ally or two to help me.
"Mason, can you still fight?" I asked without looking at him.
"Yeah, I think so. It's only my left arm that's injured. My right arm is perfectly fine." As if to show that, Mason moved it around. I nodded.
"Then help Alessia and I when you're ready. Try not to charge in; use your magic to fight. Your amputated arm will put you off-balance."
"Gotcha. I'll be there with you two soon."
Without responding, I rushed in with my four boomerangs flying side-by-side. This monster flailing its club around—even though it's a tough opponent, a feeling inside me radiates powerfully, whispering to me that this monster may just be defeatable, as long as I play my cards right.
"Alessia!" I shouted to notify her of my arrival. She glanced back for a split moment, and I swear I could see a smile flickering onto her face. She couldn't stay long, though, as the club was accelerating down towards her. She just barely rolled away as the large weapon pounded the ground, shaking it as it went.
"Alessia, listen to me! I have a plan!"
"Of course you do!" Alessia shouted back in jest. "Stop standing there and help me already!"
"In a second!"
I ran to the other side of the crude elf, opposite of where Alessia is fighting it. Then, using my boomerangs, I lifted up a considerably heavy boulder, before shoving it straight at the monster's head. It collided with a loud whack, throwing the thing off-balance. This gave Alessia some time to recuperate and charge at the still-confused crude-elf, slicing its hard skin with her Runae.
However, it only brought her so much time, as the crude-elf regained its balance and went for the offensive again. It didn't need to go for the defensive—no, it couldn't, as the battles the monster have taken are all in its favor. It has no recollections of how to defend itself, as it had no need to this whole time. Its hard and thick skin served as his defense just as well.
For that, as long as we can keep the crude-elf pinned to a corner, we can defeat it. No matter how hopelessly overpowering the opponent is, there will always be a flaw that can be utilized in order to turn the tides. And this flaw—aside from it being a complete idiot—is that the crude-elf doesn't know how to defend itself.
Alessia and I stalled the battle for a while, toying and confusing it as the fight went on. Soon, Mason will join the fray. We're only buying time for him as he will be a crucial part to my plan.
Then, he came.
"I'm here!" Mason shouted, running empty-handed to the thick of the battle.
"Mason!" Alessia yelped in surprise at the sight of him running here so casually. However, she had to jump away from the club to avoid being hit before being able to continue her sentence. "Why are you here?!"
"I can still fight!" Mason bellowed back. Alessia couldn't respond to that, so she just focused on the battle at hand. I'll be picking up where she left off.
"Mason," I yelled at him, "stand in the middle there! With the wall behind the crude-elf, we're going to drive it to a corner with the three of us surrounding it!"
"Got it!" Mason ran to the middle of the perimeter, which formed a half-circle with me and Alessia at two other ends, and the wall behind the crude-elf serving as the base. With this, the crude-elf is pinned between the three of us.
"On my signal, use whatever mana you have left and shove spikes at the crude-elf from the ground up!" I relayed by instructions to Mason as he made his way.
"What's the signal?!"
"You'll know when you see it!"
"Uh, okay!" Mason didn't fully get it, but he obliged anyway, concentrating and incantating his spell.
With that, I also went to perform my part of the plan. I shot all my boomerangs up to the rest of the stalactites on the ceiling. Cracking them, I made the rocky shards fall onto the crude-elf, half-serving as a prison to stop its tracks.
"Alessia, move!" I shouted as loudly as I can to Alessia, who's been dancing around with the crude-elf while the stalactites were about to fall. She also noticed the crumbling rocks above her, so she dashed away, not before inflicting a few more slices at the crude-elf's legs.
The crude-elf was about to chase after Alessia, but stopped in its tracks as a stalactite fell in front of him. Then, following that first one, a flurry of other stalactites fell, both around and on the monster, hitting it mercilessly and trapping it in a makeshift prison.
Wasting no time, I flailed my hands at Mason to signal for him to perform his spell. He must've noticed, as he slammed his hands onto the ground, hands shining slightly from the excessive mana use.
Then, the ground shook aggresively, unlike any of the heavy footsteps of the crude-elf, but more like an actual earthquake about to crack open the ground below us. Then, out of nowhere, spikes shot up from the ground, shoving themselves straight into the crude-elf's whole body. Like multiple arrows attached to a warrior's body, the dozen-or-so rock spikes impaled the crude-elf from the bottom up, immobilizing it.
Dark red blood squirted out from every crevice of the monster's body. However, this is not enough. I know this from the numerous times I tried to attack this giant thing. That's why I called out to Alessia to let her do the final blow.
"Alessia! Go!" I bellowed at her, pointing at the monster's neck and gesturing with my other hand as if slicing off my own neck. Alessia nodded, then exploding off from where she stood.
"HIYAAAAAAAH!!" —Alessia bellowed ferociously, with Runae in her right hand, and jumped onto the monster's enormous immobilized body. Then, running as she sliced, Alessia brought Runae to the monster's neck, carving a deep cut into its throat. She continued slicing and dicing until the monster's pupils finally rolled upwards and disappeared. Alessia's tracker glowed green and chimed once, before echoing off into nothingness.
—The crude-elf has been defeated.
I couldn't believe it, even if it was through our own efforts that we killed this giant monster. It felt impossible at first, but this turn of events proved us wrong. We actually did it.
I wanted to shout and rejoice, but I had little to no energy left to do such a thing. I ran to Mason's side as he fell limp.
"Hey, great job there, Mason," I congratulated him for his efforts.
"Heh... I should be the one praising you." With all of his mana used up for that one spell, Mason was now too tired to even stand up properly.
"We did it...!" Alessia said as she joined us. Shaking off the blood on her weapon, she genuinely smiled at the two of us. I couldn't help but beam back as well. I'm sure Mason tried to smile too, but he could only do so much as lift the ends of his mouth up slightly.
With that, our quest comes to an end. Every single sack-elf has been exterminated, and a bonus mini boss was defeated in the process as well. Our job here is done.
"Let's get out of here," I offered. Alessia nodded, taking Mason by the shoulder as I picked up his weapons. Together, shoulder-by-shoulder, we limped out off that nightmarish cave, never looking back to see what destruction we caused to the cave. Off we went to the outside world yet again, and to the early morning sun rising from the far horizon to our left, where a new day has finally begun.