Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)
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CHAPTER START---
Eyes locked onto her newly energized opponent, Ais tightens her grip on Desperate as she stares down the Rajang.
"ROARRRR!" The beast cries out, lightning bounces around the room, harmlessly leaping to the ground.
"Ariel," her response was immediate, wind armor swirls around her, "tempest," her armor becomes a blade around her sword, raising her offense to the strength of a low level 6.
Her anomalous super short chant that broke all the rules of magic, freakishly strong for a single word enchantment, nobody paid it any mind now, greatly overshadowed by a certain chantless magic-user, but it made her one of the strongest in the city.
"STOP!" Finn's desperate voice reaches her, completely ignored as both she and the monster charge each other.
Swinging her blade she forces all her wind into one devastating swing "Lil Rafaga!" she cries out, the pinnacle of her strength lashes out.
Rajang meets and far surpasses her ferocity, far surpasses her desire to overcome, meeting her strike with a fist cloaked in yellow lightning, her wind shatters once more.
All but Gareth, Riveria, and Finn are pushed to the edges of the room by the raging winds caused by the clash.
As the dust settles, they see Ais crumpled against the wall, her sword hand completely shattered with blood running down her face over her closed eyes, she didn't stand a chance.
"RAAAARRRGGG!" Rajang cries out triumphantly, a gash on its hand as it pounds on the ground to show off its dominance.
As everyone charges the monster, not trying to attack but simply distracting it from finishing Ais, Finn considers all their options.
Stronger than Ais, tougher than Gareth, unrelenting and uses lightning.
Their opponent had to be level 7.
If they lose the safe zone will be next, their familia will be wiped out, they can't back out now.
"Riveria, wake up Ais then start chanting again, everyone, we need to kill this, avoid the arms, and cut its head off!" Finn's orders light a fire in everyone.
"Veil Breath!" Riveria activates her mass buffing spell on everyone, raising their stats and providing some healing all at once while she runs over to Ais, potion already in hand for the girl.
With the boost from Riveria, the level five party members use their smaller size to dance around Rajang and distract it, they aren't dumb.
They know they can't hurt it properly, Ais was barely able to cut it, their attacks wouldn't work.
But what they did was keep it distracted for Finn and Gareth to get many hits in.
Every time it repositions or began a new attack Finn would predict it.
"Jump!" he would cry out whenever it swept the ground with lightning.
"Charge!" he ordered when it would expel balls of lightning, in an instant he noticed the balls would never be close to the monster itself and got everyone to the safe range.
His genius mind and calm demeanor in the face of death are what was keeping them alive. Only he could read and adjust to a monster like this in the same instant.
But even that wasn't enough.
*CRACK*
Urga shattered, for the second time on this expedition the weapon costed Tiona. By no means was it poorly made, they just simply hadn't been tested like this before.
Seizing the chance Rajang swung at her with full force as she was falling in mid-air. A muscled fist formed as it cracked its knuckles, closing the fingers one by one to loosen them and increase the impact force.
"AHH!" She yells out as something slams into her side, looking to her left, it was Bete.
The werewolf had leaped up and kicked her away, as their eyes met the monster's fist crashed into his side.
As if she could see the light leave his eyes, her level 5 eyes saw his body crumple under the force as he was sent like a rocket into the ground, carving out a trench all the way to the other side of the room.
"BETE!" Riveria cries out, Tiona was stunned for a moment by what just happened before she leaps back into the fight, she was an adventurer after all, she had to focus on the enemy.
It didn't take long for them to fall apart after that, they were doing their best but even with Tiona and Tione using their buff skill Berserker to make themselves stronger via anger and pain, with every punch and kick they landed their own bones cracked and ached.
Their bodies were crying out to stop but they just couldn't afford to rest.
Gareth wasn't faring much better, forced to have most of Rajang's attention to himself, but the man was an adamantite wall.
"Everyone scatter!" Finn called out as his spear barely scratched Rajang's skin, just in time for a pillar of flame to form around the monster.
"Rea Laevateinn!" Riveria's annihilation magic incinerates the grass in the special boss room, evaporating all the spring water they'd come to collect in an instant and forcing everyone to regroup on her position.
Placing Bete down behind them in the hallway leading to this room, Tione took a good look at him before casting a hateful glare at Ais, the blonde was chugging a potion at the moment, but they'd deal with her later.
Bete was, broken. Arms and legs mangled and shattered, his jaw cracked and dislocated. Bleeding from his head as he lays there... unconcious?
Before her fire attack can even end, Rivera turns to Bete and immediately begins chanting her healing magic again.
"AAARGH!" They can hear the monster roar in the flames, they can see its silhouette thrashing around in the flames, more confused than hurt.
"Its muscles are too much Finn," Gareth admits, normally he'd be hesitant to ever say that, but lives were at stake.
"Then we go for the brain, everyone else will focus on keeping it in place for Gareth to split its head in two," Finn forms a simple plan for a simple opponent, power was their only real problem.
"Veil Breath," Riveria gives everyone another round of buffs before immediately beginning another chant, they recognized her ice chant, recognized her intention.
"Alright, let's make this spell count!" Finn yells as he leads the charge into the ash-covered battlefield.
Riveria was using the last of her magic.
Watching her team fight, she felt sick at the sight of such a battle. The twins broke themselves more and more every time they landed a blow.
Ais... she didn't even want to think about Ais right now, the thought of Bete laying behind her sprung to mind every time she looked at the girl.
Finn was trying his best to pierce Rajang's eyes with his spear, but the monster was unnervingly fast for its size and bulk.
Every time Rajang would be moving to land a strike Gareth would be their saving grace. Unable to simply stop the force of such a strike, he'd divert it by striking the side of the fist with his own attack.
She diligently chants, using her unique magic, Connected Chanting, constantly stringing more and more words together from her nine potential spells to empower one selected effect, capable of removing and adding certain words to alter the power and effect of her spells, taking weaker short chant magic to mighty super-long chant magic if given the time.
For ninety seconds Riveria watched this horror show. Eventually, Tione's arm broke, she screamed and used the pain and anger to become even stronger.
Knowing where her limits are she lands one solid kick to the side of Rajang's head, the monster moves slightly, but just enough.
"GRRAAHH!" it cries out as Finn's spear pierces its left eyeball, the reinforced wood shaft of the weapon shatters as blood pours out of the eye.
The blade remains in its skull for a moment before it does a mad spin, flailing its arms around and knocking Tione aside, her skull slams against the wall with a sickening crunch.
Riveria internally prays the girl survives this as she winces.
"WYNN FIMBULVETR!" The great mage cries out as Rajang backs up, pain coursing through its body as it holds the bleeding eye socket.
Everyone jumps away as another row of powerful ice magic connects from Riveria to Rajang and up the wall behind the monster.
A large block of ice now stands where the monster was.
"We need to finish this fight," Riveria says as she leans forward, huffing as she supports herself using her staff.
They'd used everything, they only had Desperate, Gareth's greataxe, and Riveria's staff as main weapons, Finn's knife was currently in his hands, instinctively drawn when his spear shattered.
The Pallum furrowed his brows as he once more considered all possibilities.
They had all the tools they'd normally need, but what they lacked was power. He's been forced to read the enemy and help them avoid blows until now. They'd all be dead already if he hadn't, but this isn't getting them anywhere.
They have to either make one last plan, or he gets desperate and truly bet it all on his magic, but at that point, they won't have a battlefield commander, it'll be suicide.
They'd done some damage so far, it wasn't impossible at least.
"Alright, one last push, give it everything you've got people!" he rallied his remaining troops.
Large cracks began forming in the block of ice, then it began glowing bright yellow.
As Rajang erupted from within with a mad dash, it ran immediately to the closest target, Tiona.
Wildly flailing its arms at the girl, she was unable to avoid it, the battle had worn her down too much already, lost too much blood, broken too many bones, she was tired.
And Rajang was visibly stronger, faster, more energized.
Its arms were releasing red steam as if its blood was boiling beneath the skin.
"TIONA!" Ais cries out as she comes rushing in, sword in her off-hand, her only good hand currently, wind armor raging around her as both girls try to displace the massive arm swing.
Tiona's entire leg shatters as she kicks out, Ais feels every bone in her arm break as Rajang bats them both across the battlefield.
As they go flying, they catch a glimpse of Gareth and Finn crashing down onto the Rajang, Gareth aiming for the neck while Finn stabs toward the remaining eye with his knife.
Seeing them at the last moment Rajang glows bright yellow before an explosion of lighting washes over the room, everyone is knocked against the walls as the monster collapses, its muscles twitching from that defense technique as it struggles and drops to the floor, immediately trying to get up.
Rajang is riddled with scrapes and even some deep cuts from Gareth and Finn, but it simply wasn't enough, they needed more. Landing beside each other, Gareth takes a deep breath as he gathers his strength, observing the battlefield.
Riveria already gathered the younger members into the corridor leading to this room, until her magic was back or Ais was healed, it was just the two of them VS Rajang.
Tiona was completely unconscious and just like the others would take too much magic to heal, but Ais just needed one arm healed and she'd be fine to fight, whatever good that would do.
"It's just two of us now," Gareth says, looking at Rajang forcing itself up as he too digs himself out of the stone floor.
"Just like when our familia started huh..." Finn forces out, his voice sounding tired as he leans against the wall.
"The kids are away, they're hurt bad, but they're strong...and not on the battlefield anymore, that means you're useless here, damn Pallum," Gareth teases his captain, to anyone who didn't know, he would almost sound serious.
Giving him a forced laugh, Finn can't help but smile," obnoxious Dwarf, you saying you don't need your commander."
Giving him a light chuckle Gareth rises to his feet, holding his greataxe on his shoulder, "I'd trade you in for a level 7 right now, this is a live or die adventure now."
"Yeah... I suppose if it's just you and your sturdy body we don't need to worry about predicting attacks, no point in using our brains, not that you ever had much," Finn gives a light chuckle as he steps up beside Gareth, they both see Rajang finally rising to its feet as all three combatants gather their strength.
"Get out of here commander, this isn't your kind of fight, bring me a level 7," Gareth says once more as he raises his axe to get Rajang's attention onto them instead of their allies.
"One level 7, coming right up," Finn says as he raises a thumb to his forehead and focuses his magic...
END CHAPTER---
Almost feel guilty about that cliffhanger, almost :p
Really proud of my readers who read last chapter and didn't freak out that Ais wasn't perfect and on a pedestal like the main series, I appreciate you all :)