Countless shadows began emerging from the ground, surrounding both me and the monster. I gave the monster one final smirk before aiming my Genmochi at the monster's head.
"Go."
On my mark, all of my shadows rushed towards the monster, creating literal waves of shadows. Each wave forced the monster to keep their attention on my shadows instead of me, giving me all kinds of opportunities to strike.
One of my shadow wolves managed to break through and get close enough to the monster so it could bite down on its leg, forcing it to stay in place just long enough for me to slash the monster's side before retreating back behind my shadows. Admittedly, it was a dirty technique but a monster like this doesn't deserve any respect.
Two shadow hawks swooped down and slashed both the monster's shoulders with their talons, causing the monster to wobble for a moment. Seeing another opportunity, I jumped out from the horde of shadow rabbits I was behind and thrusted my spear towards the monster's chest.
The monster suddenly thrusted its polearm forward, revealing that it was just trying to bait me in. Before the monster could even land its attack though, one of my shadow rabbits hopped on the monster's arm and drop kicked the monster's head. The attack didn't do much damage but it gave me just enough time to finish my attack before retreating back behind my shadows again.
"That was way too close. I need to find a way to beat this guy before he either fully adapts to this spell or I run out of mana." I said to myself, still hiding behind my horde of shadows.
I looked over at John who was still dealing with all the monsters trying to rush in and help the monster leader. I knew John was fully capable of taking them all down but I didn't want to force him to do it all by himself. What kind of right-hand man would I be if I let that happen?
"I'll finish this now!"
As I jumped out from my horde of shadows, they soon followed and appeared all around me, doing everything in their power to stop the monster from hitting me. I thrusted my Genmochi towards the monster's lower half, easily getting smacked away and intentionally leaving myself open. One of my hawks swooped down and slashed the monster, causing it to flinch. Using the momentum created from having my attack redirected, I quickly spun around and slashed the monster's snout.
Keeping up the momentum, I thrusted my Genmochi towards the monster's head, just barely missing. Two of my shadow wolves jumped in and bit down on the monster's legs, bringing it to its knees. Using this chance, I retracted my Genmochi and thrusted once more at the monster's head.
What should've been a clean hit ended up being dodged by the monster bending its back backwards, causing my attack to go right above its head. The monster slammed its weapon and free hand into my shadow wolves to break free from their bite. Right as the monster jumped back to create some space, I lunged forward so I could deliver the finishing blow.
Despite the monster being faster, it didn't have the time to check its surroundings and realize what was rushing in from behind it. By the time the monster could hear the footsteps, it was already too late. The monster turned its head just in time to see my shadow bull slam right into it, sending it flying right into my piercing attack.
The monster's body fell lifelessly onto the cold stone ground. Mere moments later, all of my shadows disappeared leaving me standing there alone with the corpse of the monster.
"Guess I ran out of mana. Not that I should be surprised by that or anything." I let out a light laugh before collapsing onto the ground, breathing heavily as I stared at the ceiling of the cave. John's head suddenly appeared above me with an amazed expression on his face.
"Yo, Steven! Dude, that spell you used was awesome! Let's get you back to the village first and foremost! What's with that look you're giving me?" John's face went from excitement to confusion within an instant.
"I'm supposed to be your right-hand man and I couldn't even do much to help you." I said, using my forearm to hide my eyes.
John tilted his head, "what are you talking about? The moment you defeated that monster the rest of 'em fled. Also, what's this about you being my right-hand man?"
"You helped me save Emma's life and for that I owe you mine. What better way to express that than to help you accomplish your dream?" I explained, moving my arm so I could look John in the eyes.
John's eyes widened for a brief moment before returning back to normal, "I see… Well it's good to know I've got someone as reliable as you watching my back. Just don't push yourself too hard next time, alright partner?" John gave me a big grin before extending his arm towards me.
I let out a small laugh at his words before reaching out my hand and grabbing onto John's, allowing him to pull me back to my feet.
"Man I'm beat! Let's grab Bea and head to the village before it gets late." John said, stretching his arms out upwards.
"Let's hope it's an easy walk back to the village." I said, catching up to John as he was walking away.
"I hear ya-" An explosion rattling the entire cave cut John off.
"I should've kept my stupid mouth shut."