"Hyah!"
Roland slashed one of the monsters with his sword. The monster reeled back and became eerily still, "D-Did I get em?!"
The monster shuddered with a high pitched screech before it lunged back forward, forcing Roland to block it with his shield, "Dammit! These things are creepy!"
Roko drew the sword he had managed to grab at the police station. Out of the five creatures, two were being handled by Roland and even Helena was managing to stave off two more with just her ice magic. In comparison, Roko felt wholly inadequate as he faced the one remaining monster. That said, having only one target was a bit of a boon as well.
"Scan."
Roko parried the monster's next attack as information floated into this head. Unfortunately his attempt still returned only unknown values with ??? over all the stats. Roko wasn't sure if he's been able to make his Scan any more powerful like Edea suggested but he had managed to gain one new trick since then.
"Analyze."
Roko kicked the monster away as new information entered his brain and, thankfully, this time the spell worked properly.
Entity
Health: 96%
Mana: 100%
Attack: 77
Defense: 58
Curiously, the description that Analyze usually supplied only returned a familiar ??? but at least one of his spells was working. Roko slashed again at the monster, dealing 7% of damage to the monster. The monster stumbled back and fell to the ground, still. Completely unconvinced, Roko took the opening to stab the monster in the ground, causing it to trash about in pain as his health dropped a full 10%.
"Augh, these things!" Roland cried as the two monsters he was fighting began to push him down, "I can't tell if these things are dead or not!"
"They sure do like playing dead." Helena grimaced as she dodged another swipe from the creatures, "They're so unnatural that it's hard to tell if any of them are dead or not."
"They're all still healthy." Roko said as he kicked one of the monsters off of Roland's shield, "None of them are even half health yet so don't assume they're out for even a second."
"You can tell?!"
"My new spell tells me how much health they have. Among other things."
"Does it tell you what their weaknesses are?!" Roland asked.
"No such luck." Roko replied as he sliced down the monster he was originally fighting, "Maybe if the description was still working but getting information on these creatures is hard enough."
"Your scan doesn't work on them?" Helena asked, "These are different than the ones from the forest though."
"My scan doesn't work on any of them. Not on the ones in the forest, the ones in Cordis or the ones here."
"Wait there were monsters in Cordis?!"
"I should not have said that..."
"Let's deal with this before we deal with that." Roland cried as he shoved one of the creatures back and slashed into another.
Roko was about to return to fighting the monster in front of him when a thought occurred and he glanced towards Helena.
"Analyze."
Helena's status came up in Roko's mind. Helena had managed to avoid any damage to her health which was impressive for a princess who was fighting two abominations. However, her mana was starting to run low at 46%. The next ice spell depleted her mana by another 3%. Roko frowned as he returned to his target, refocusing his Analyze on it. The creature still had 70% health left and his slashes was doing a steady amount of damage though it would take awhile to take down the one monster. Roko needed to land a critical blow or find some way to deal a lot of damage at once. With a roar, Roko charged at the monster, grazing the grotesque limbs the monster tried to attack him with and ran his sword through the monster's body, dealing 20% to the monster's health. As the monster screeched and slammed and slashed it's malformed limbs against him, Roko pushed up, lifting the monster in the air with his sword before slamming it down into the ground, dealing another good piece of damage against the monster. Grabbing the top of the monster's body, Roko dragged his sword across the monster's body. The monster screamed and smashed its limbs against Roko's body, slashing wounds into Roko's body with it's claws but Roko continued to drag his sword through it's body. Blood, or rather, something like blood spurted out of the creature's body, splattering Roko in its red tinted black. The health of the monster began to drop rapidly until it finally reached zero and its arms fell to the ground, unmoving. Roko pulled the sword out of the monster's body, taking a moment to catch his breath and checking how much damage he had accumulated. Thankfully, he had managed to avoid any serious wounds so Roko jumped into Helena's fight, kicking one of the monster into the other.
"Helena's mana is almost spent!" Roko called over to Roland, "Hurry up with yours already!"
"Wait what?!" Roland cried as he slashed one of the monsters away from him, "I got it! Uhh...Here!"
Roland tossed his shield over to Roko who barely managed to catch it in his surprise. Roland look his sword in two hands and began to attack the monster with increased intensity.
"Cover me." Roko said as he blocked one of the monsters attacking Helena and stepped in between them.
"How did you know I was running out of mana?" Helena gasped.
"If I can see the monster's health and mana, I can see yours."
"I was trying to hide it a bit but I guess I can't hide anything from you." Helena smiled, "Thanks."
"Thank me once this is over."
With the shield, Roko managed to make more strategic attacks, landing his own attacks at the same time as he blocked an opponent's. Helena took a more reserved role, saving her spent mana to interrupt an attack or to dislodge a monster from Roko. Thankfully, despite having the number of monsters he had to fight doubled, they were also already damaged from Helena's spells. Roko even managed to kill one of them before Roland stepped in to take on and swiftly kill the last remaining monster.
"There!" Roland crowed, "That's the last of them!"
One of the bodies of the monsters Roland was fighting jerked and shuddered as it quickly pulled itself off the ground and lunge at Roland's exposed back. Roko quickly stepped in, smashing the shield into it's body. The monster latched onto the shield, trying to reach past it at Roko's face until Roko smashed it against the ground. As the monster gurgled weakly, Roko slid his sword around the side of the shield and stabbed it into the monster, dealing the last bit of damage to it before it finally laid dead.
"Whoa." Rolan gasped, "I thought I finished killing that. I even stabbed it just in case."
"They're all dead now." Roko said as he surveyed the corpses around them, "That only leaves..."
Everyone turned to look at the cultist who had just stood there in the center of the room, watching their struggle.
"If that's all you got, I'll say you're in big trouble now, mister." Roland smirked, "Now why don't you come quietly and we'll be sure to treat you with some dignity."
The cultist just quietly stared at them before they removed their hood, revealing the face of an exhausted looking woman.
"Wait, you're a girl?!" Roland cried.
"Were you one of the ones kidnapped?!" Helena gasped, "If you're okay, please come with us! Your family must be worried!"
"I was indeed kidnapped." The woman replied blankly, "But it's too late for me. As it is too late for any of you. The head priest is more powerful than you think and there is nothing you can do."
"I won't let him do anything to this city." Helena said, "I promise that as the Crown Princess of Aporia."
"Not even you can do anything princess." The woman clutched her body, "Aporia is only a stepping stone in the grand plans of our cult. The head priest will not stop until the great god, Gnasci is born."
"You've been brainwashed." Roland said, "Come with us. We won't let the cult harm you anymore."
"I said it's already too late for me!" The woman cried as tears came to her eyes, "As...it is to late...for any of you."
The woman's body began to convulse and deform before the woman's body was ripped apart completely and a gigantic monster burst out, dripping in blood and towering over the three of them.
"Wh-whoa." Roko took a step back, "This isn't good."
"How do we take down something like that?!" Roland cried.
"Run!" Helena yelped.
The three of them rushed out of the church as the monster charged towards them. Helena fired off a few spells at the hulking beast while she pulled out her phone and began to call someone over it. As they reached the barred up entrance of the church, Roland slammed his armored body against the blockage, breaking it apart and opening it up for everyone to escape.
"Hello?!" Helena gasped as the monster stepped out of the church and into the church yard, "We're in the Banach-Tarski District! Send help! Send the army if you can!"
The monster roared as it stepped on the church's fence, crushing it beneath its size as it began to enter the city.
"Help is coming!" Helena cried as she hung up her phone, "Just hold out as long as you can!"
"What the hell do you want us to do against that?!" Roland cried, pointing his sword at the monster.
"Scan doesn't turn up anything." Roko scowled, "Analyze works. It's attack and defense is much higher but considering it's size..."
The monster lifted its foot and began to take its first step into the city. Roko grabbed Roland by the collar and threw him in the path of the foot. Roland yelped and covered his head as the foot slammed down on top of him.
"Roland?!" Helena cried.
As the dust settled, Roko and Helena could see Roland still alive, struggling to push the monster's foot up.
"A little help here?!" Roland huffed.
"Ice!"
Helena fired a blast of ice at the top of the creature's body, hitting it and forcing it to stumble back, lifting its foot off of Roland.
"You okay?!" Helena cried as she and Roko ran up to him.
"What the hell was that?!" Roland grabbed Roko by the collar and pulled him up.
"It's attack is high." Roko explained, "But not high enough considering its size. Comparing it to the stats of a weapon or the smaller monsters, its attack is only marginally higher than the small monsters. And considering how the monsters were too weak to deal a major blow against me without any armor, it couldn't possibly put enough of its power in a single step to overwhelm someone in armor."
"So you just threw me in front of it?!"
"It was either that or let the monster start stepping on houses. We have to keep it contained, don't we?"
"Now now." Helena tapped on Roland's shoulder, "It's fine alright? You're still alive and we have a way of keeping it at bay. Come on. I'll help."
Roland scowled but let go of Roko.
"Here." Roko tossed Roland his shield back.
"What's this for?"
"The more defense you have the better."
Roland grumbled something before turning back to the monster in front of them. The monster reached out to take another step forward only for Roland to run forward get in its path. The monster's leg slammed down on Roland who let out a grunt of tremendous effort but otherwise managed to hold it off until Helena blasted the creature with another ice spell, dislodging it. Roko watched their efforts, trying to think of someway to kill or otherwise hold the creature off.
"AAAAAAHHHHH! What is that?!"
Roko turned around as he heard someone's screams. On the side of the road was a lantern lighting wagon, like the one Roko had seen when he first arrived in Aporia. An idea sparked in his head and he immediately ran over.
"I'm borrowing this." Roko said as he grabbed one of their lit lamps and ran back towards the church, "Regroup!"
"Huh?!" Helena turned around as she heard Roko's order, "O-Okay! Roland! Get back here!"
Roland shoved the monster backwards one more time before retreating. Roko ran past him and opened the door to the lamp. With a grunt, Roko threw the lamp over the fence and into the overgrown lawn which immediately burst into flames. The giant monster's screeches was sharp enough to force everyone to cover their ear as it quickly retreated back into the church, destroying more of it as the fire spread across the outside, trapping the monster in a ring of fire.
"That should hold it for a bit." Roko said as he returned to Helena and Roland.
"Wow! Nice." Helena grinned, "Wow at least we know that it's weak to fire."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Roko said as he watched the monster attempt to step past the fire only to get singed back, "It may react to it but its health hasn't gone down at all."
"Oh. Well at least it isn't going anywhere."
The monster made one step over the fire, raising it over the less overgrown path to the entrance and making a solid step onto the city beyond.
"Me and my big mouth." Helena moaned.
"I'll stop him." Roland said as he picked up his shield again and began to step forward until Roko grabbed him by the collar and jerked him back, "What now?"
"It's Attack and Defense is rising. If I had to guess it was just 'born' a few minutes ago so it wasn't properly adapted. At this point, you won't be able to push it back anymore."
"Well then what do you suggest we do?!"
"Lady Helena!"
Everyone turned around as the clatter of a dozen carts announced the arrival of a large swarm of soldiers, all of them armed and stunned at the monster in front of them.
"We're here to help!" The police chief cried.
"About time."