Kim didn't like having to drop down to the shelf, but she didn't feel like she had much option. It was either drop down and try to recover a little away from the creature or drop down with the creature right by her. For her, it was better to take a minute to collect herself away from certain immediate danger.
However as soon as she landed, she felt, more than saw, something move over her head, while she saw Jonas still with the creature land at least twenty feet away. Though it also looked like Jonas wouldn't have much room to maneuver between the creature and the cliff wall.
However, before she knew it, another magical volley hit the creature. While Elmo had been getting annoyed at Elmo's magical attacks, she couldn't really say anything about them. Especially now, given that it wasn't going to have a chance to turn its attention to Jonas and Kim.
Kim quickly brushed herself off and moved around the creature as it flickered. While she couldn't say more than that it was a dragon, given what little she could remember about Aquis. Though, she couldn't say if this dragon was Aquis or not.
When she was confident that she had a direct opening to her sword, she dashed in to pull it out of the dragon. Her sword released a lot of the creature's blood when it came free and she shifted her sword to swing to see how much of a strike she'd be able to make when she felt something practically 'kick' her away.
When she stopped, she was relieved that only her feet were hanging over the edge of the shelf on the cliff they were on. When she looked up, she could see Jonas jump to the side a moment before a plume of dust rose up from where he had been standing. Then Jonas began his assault on the dragon.
Kim quickly climbed to her feet and found herself flying through the air again, feeling something collide with her, sending her to land a distance a ways farther down the shelf. As she hit the ground, she bounced twice before she rolled several times.
When she finally came to a stop, she felt a little dizzy, and sore from where she felt whatever collide with her. She could only assume that it was the dragon's tail, but since she couldn't see it just yet.
Still, she quickly got back to her feet and began to charge towards the dragon, determined to do more than just accept the blows she'd been receiving from the dragon. She planned on dealing some serious damage on the dragon of her own. Nor was she willing to let the dragon prevent that altogether.
She swung her sword as soon as she felt like she was in range, hoping that her estimate was correct, since she didn't want to waste the momentum she had built up and was pleased when she felt resistance of her swing at about the middle of her swing. While her blade easily cut through the dragon's hide, she knew that it wasn't going to end that quickly. At least not when they still couldn't see the dragon.
Kim momentarily thought about retreating a little just so she could do another charge, but quickly dismissed the idea. She had a feeling that she'd need her stamina for this fight and that sort of tactic would merely be a waste of her stamina. Which wasn't something she was looking forward to.
The latest wound she'd inflicted on the dragon bled just as well as the others, but Kim doubted that it was as deep of a strike as she'd have liked. It was maddening with fighting an enemy she couldn't see. So she couldn't even tell if the bleeding was a good sign or not. That she was doing as much damage as she thought.
What she could be certain of was that the attacks coming her way from the dragon weren't slowing in the slightest. She wondered if this was what fighting an enemy blindfolded was like. She had a few times where she barely had dodged the dragon's strikes before she was hit again, this time a ways down the shelf, but not towards the edge.
Looking towards the dragon again, she couldn't understand how Jonas was still dodging the dragon. It felt unfair how Jonas seemed to be able to dodge every strike from the dragon while she was still getting sent flying every so often. Almost like she was not even moving when she fought. Like she had a big target on her that was hard to miss.
Still, she didn't plan on letting things stay that way. Even if this kept happening, until either she or the dragon went down and stayed down, she wasn't going to stop. This would only end until one or the other couldn't fight anymore. No matter what else happened.
+++
Elin clutched her skirt of her dress as she held it out of the way of her legs as she ran after Elmo. She was certain that he would have fallen if she hadn't pulled him back from leaning over the edge of the path they had been on. While she understood his reasons for doing so, she felt that there had to be a better way to go about it.
So, now they were running along, trying to find a better angle to resume casting spells. She planned on joining in this time. Now that she knew where the creature was exactly.
Before when it was still in the air, she worried that she'd miss. She didn't seem to have as much MP as Elmo, so she wasn't as confident that she'd be able to use her MP effectively and not waste it. She didn't want to spend it unless she felt more certain of the results. Not when she had so little MP to work with.
Plus, those MP potions were starting to taste rather disgusting.
They reached the other side of the canyon from where the fighting was and while Elin was certain that they could at least see the battle, they probably wouldn't be able to effectively see the fight. Not when their attacker still couldn't be seen.
Elin felt as if something had reached in and had her heart in its grasp when she saw Kim getting thrown through the air. No matter if she remained in this world with Kim or not, she didn't want anything to happen to Kim. Not while she could do something about it.
She followed Elmo as he started running down another natural stone bridge that led to a ledge along the edge of the rive. While it wouldn't lead to the one where the fight was, Elin could see that it would go right by it, so they'd be able to launch their spells easily enough from it. Where they'd be able to be close enough that they'd be able to be more reasonably certain of hitting something without risking their lives in the process.
Elin tried not to pay attention to what was happening with the fight, given she didn't want to see Kim get hurt, but she couldn't help glancing at it from time to time. She saw Elin charge right back in from where she'd been thrown and was surprised when something appeared out of the air. Not just blood, but it appeared to be almost like a toe of something.
Elin couldn't help but feeling a little jubilant that Kim had managed to amputate something of her opponent, even though she knew that it wasn't that big of an accomplishment. It wasn't going to end the creature they were fighting. However, for Elin, the fact was that she managed to do something like that when they couldn't see anything. Which meant that Kim had been able to land a decisive enough hit to have amputated something of that invisible enemy.
When Elmo reached about three quarters of the way across the stone bridge, he began his magical assault again. He was below the ledge where Jonas and Kim were still fighting the invisible opponent, but It was almost like they were just a little distance away. While Elmo looked like he was a little winded, Elin couldn't feel anything but admiration for him at that moment. She felt like he was an inspiration for having ran so far, so quickly just to continue his assault on their opponent.
As his first Brimstone Flare spell landed, Elin launched her own Sacred Flare. She couldn't say how effective their attack would be, but wasn't expecting that when their spells to land that the invisibility of their opponent almost seemed to shatter. Elin couldn't think of any other way to describe it. At first it looked like a spider web of lines appeared all over the invisible creature's body, before it felt like it burst apart. There wasn't anything flying that could harm them, but that's how it felt to Elin.
Not sparing another glance at their opponent, now that they could see it was a dragon, they launched another volley. Elin couldn't say if the dragon had realized that it's invisibility was gone, but she didn't care. If it didn't realize It, then that meant that they'd be able to had the advantage then.
However, a moment later she felt like they'd lost that advantage when the dragon burst into red and yellow flames. The body of the dragon took on a black silhouette kind of appearance as the dragon looked like it was suddenly made out of flames.
Even the toe that Kim had amputated was back. All the wound that had been inflicted on it seemed to have disappeared. Almost like everything they'd done up to this point had been in vain. Not that Elin was planning on letting that stop her. Elmo seemed to hesitate when they saw what happened, but Elin continued to launch her spells. When her third Sacred Flare hit the dragon, it staggered. Like it did more damage than before.
The dragon looked like it cast a glance in their direction with one of its fiery eyes before swinging its foreleg in a backhanded motion to collide with Jonas, sending him flying and into Elmo, just as Elmo launched another Brimstone Flare into the fiery dragon.
Elin heard both Elmo and Jonas hit the river with a splash before she even realized that Elmo had been knocked off the bridge next to her. While she wanted to find a way to help them, she knew that dealing with this dragon now was what she should be focusing on. Almost like her heart was being pulled in two directions, making her despair at what she should do.
Kim was still fighting the dragon and didn't seem to be undeterred by Jonas having been sent flying, and Elin used her to help pull her focus back on the dragon. While she knew she couldn't have done anything to help Elmo and Jonas, short of jumping in after them, and she doubted she'd have been able to do much more than that, she wasn't going to let Kim face this dragon on her own. Not when it was just her otherwise alone against the dragon.