Lin and Armando, both exhausted and battered, glare at the wounded Devil Hound Leader, who glares back at them with it's now only operational eye. While the humans tighten their grips, the beast snarls and shows it's teeth.
All three know that this will be the final exchange: no matter what happens, only one side will come out victorious. A few seconds elapse, the three awaiting for the enemy to move first. Finally, the monster launches itself forward at immense speed, taking Armando and Lin a bit by surprise.
As it plants it's claws in the ground, the pair jumps in the air in opposing directions. Using this opportunity, the Leader projects two thunderbolts, one for each. But this time the duo is ready, both taking out throwing knives and shooting them at the attacks, nullifying them. They both land effortlessly, only to see the Leader once again charging an energy beam.
But it's now in between both Armando and Lin, so it has to choose a target. The monster decides on Armando, turning to him, ready to blast him like it did Silver. Except, with it's back now turned to Lin, he can easily slash at the beast's hind leg, distracting it enough for it to miss it's attack.
It turns around in fury, only for it's back to be stabbed by Armando's daggers. The Leader screams and tries to dislodge him from itself, only to be met by a powerful slash from a flaming sword.
As Armando liberates his daggers from the beast's flesh, it covers itself in electricity, but only for a moment as it soon starts to whimper in pain. Strange, this move should not hurt it. Both Armando and Lin look at each other confused before remembering: the dagger is still firmly planted in the monster's eye !
The electricity must be running up the metal of the blade and hurting the creature internally. That's why it was no longer covering it's surroundings in thunder; a slip up and it's a lightning bolt directly to the brain.
***
V struggles to keep the monsters at bay. She heard the Mercenaries proposed plan but could not participate in the conversation, her whole focus being on the Devil Hounds. She feels a moment of relief when she sees a monster finally being taken down for good, only for her to scream in horror the following instant as Silver is sent flying.
But she cannot let her concentration slip. She immediately sees that two of the Hounds rush towards Silver's body, and she cannot let them end him.
"I'm sorry," she says as she sprints towards her downed friend, leaving the Mercenaries to fend for themselves.
As one of the beasts jumps towards Silver's still fuming body, it hits a golden wall. V throws her coat towards the monsters, obscuring their views enough for them to not see the three golden spikes launched at full speed towards them.
One manages to dodge while the other is stabbed in the eye. It screams, but not for long as V appears in it's view, her hand covered in a golden gauntlet. She punches her spike in the monster's head so hard that it shoots out the other side.
The Devil Hound falls heavily on the ground while V tries desperately to catch her breath, not being used to fighting directly like that. The other monster howls before jumping at her, but it's stopped midair by a volley of bullets.
It falls on its side and tries desperately to get back up, but it's head is caved in by a jumping attack by a now operational Sarah.
"Phew, you're all right," says V as she falls on her knees, exhausted.
Sarah rushes towards Silver while two of the Mercenaries pick V up. She looks at her friend with worried eyes, only to see Sarah sigh.
"He's alive, no worries," informs Sarah as she starts the treatment. "Seems like his shirt protected him from the brunt of the attack."
In the distance, a howl resounds before seeing an immense flame and then hearing something extremely heavy falling to the ground. Following that, the Devil Hounds, still alive, start to whimper.
***
Lin and Armando continue their assault, staying on each side of the beast. It sometimes tries to shoot electricity at them, but they then immediately go in front of the Leader, forcing it to cancel the attack. For the first time, the humans have an advantage in this fight.
But a problem remains: Armando and Lin are fatigued and are getting more and more exhausted by the minute. If this fight isn't over soon, then it's game over. But, thankfully, the monster is even more exhausted than them and can now barely dodge attacks; it's body bloodied by all the attacks.
"I've got one big attack in me," says Lin as he tightens the grip on his sword. "What about you ?"
Armando looks at his arms and hands; he can barely close his right fist thanks to the bite from earlier, and his hands are shaking in exhaustion.
"You do that attack; I'll distract it," he finally answers.
They both nod at each other, and Armando rushes forward, slashing repeatedly the monster—not deep slashes, but painful enough for it to forget about Lin for a moment. The monster goes berserk, clawing and biting the air, trying to touch Armando. In the meantime, Lin grabs his sword with his two hands and starts to concentrate.
He needs a moment to visualize clearly his attack, as it's one he rarely ever uses. In his mind, the image of a dragon breathing fire down forms. But the fire is fired on a precise point: a sword. Yes, the image becomes clearer as he feels the heat of this powerful flame and smells it burning down the air around him.
There, he has it.
"Dragon Breath Catastrophe Slash !"
In an instant, a dark red flame engulfs his sword, first huge; it concentrates little by little to gain a more stable form. The Devil Hound Leader turns back to see what's happening, and it doesn't like it. It howls loudly before launching towards Lin, but it's to late.
In a graceful move, Lin ducks the attack and strikes the beast in it's mouth, cutting it in half as the flames burn the flesh and fur of the beats to a crisp. The monster ends its course by heavily crashing on the ground, followed shortly by the sound of Devil Hounds panicked howls.
Lin falls flat on his face, the attacking having fully drained him of every hint of Mana he had. Armando picks him up and places him on his shoulders; the fight is still not over.
As they both rejoin the group, they see, in shock, as Captain George finishes the last Hound. The Mernearies are injured, some heavily, but all alive. They look up to see V and Sarah drag the inert body of Silver.
"He's not dead, but he's knocked out cold," says Sarah as she notices her teammates. "But I won't be able to provide healing for everyone here."
The ladies throw Silver towards Armando's feet, who is able to notice faint breathing. He sighs in relief as he puts Lin on the ground and falls on his ass.
"Fuck, that was something !" he says as he sits up. "And we're not even there yet."
"No monsters will come bother us for the time being," remarks Captain George as he approaches the Dungeonauts with first aid kits. "If we display the Leader's corpse, we'll be okay for a while."
The following hours are spent healing, as everyone is in bad shape. When everything is ready, they start their descent once again, dragging behind them the Leader's dead body as a signal for any would-be aggressor.
As for Silver, he is put on one of the containers, not having regained consciousness yet. Thankfully, the display of power proves sufficient to keep monsters away, and they can finish their travel in the god-forsaken 7th floor. As they travel down the stairs, Silver starts to wake up.
"Fuck, am I still alive ?" he asks between heavy breaths, still hurting from the Leader's attack.
"Thankfully, you still are," responds Sarah. "In no small part, thanks to me."
"Yeah, thanks, girl. Ah damn, it still hurts. Yo, V, remind me to thank Miller for the shirt. Without it, I 100% would have been dead." he says weakly.
V simply laughs.
They have now reached floor 8, where there is apparently a monster horde roaming around. But, just like the other group of Dungeonauts they met, they see no such thing here. In fact, they don't see any monsters on the whole floor.
Even if nobody is going to complain about that, it's still really weird. Well, it allows them to pass the floor harmlessly and to finally reach floor 9—their destination. Only a few more minutes and they will have accomplished their mission.