“When I say sleep in your embrace I meant as in hug throughout the night, don’t expect anything more!” She hurriedly adds.
A wide grin erupts on my features, “you certainly know how to best motivate me, Ayame. You better remember your words because I won’t let you take them back even if you beg me to.”
“… Of course. I would never go back on my word.”
Of course she wouldn’t, she is a good girl after all.
I turn my head back towards my opponent. It’s time to give my undivided attention to this giant bird until it breathes its last.
If there’s one thing I can be certain of is that Ayame wouldn’t say such a thing if she didn’t believe that I have next to no chance at succeeding. This is for sure going to be an uphill battle, but a battle I’m absolutely refusing to back down from.
Now fully motivated and overflowing with determination, I activate [Lesser Evasion] before it even has the chance to attack me, and I walk forward cautiously, measuring up my opponent. It stays in place and similarly eyes me and Ayame. Then, suddenly, the crane spreads its wings and stands tall, and a guttural battle cry echoes through the boss chamber.
The sound reverberates off the walls, sending a shiver down my spine.
I don’t know if it can fly like the normal cranes on the floor, and I don’t wish to find out. Before it can flap its mighty wings and gain elevation I raise my spear and lunge at it with my full speed.
The King Crane seems surprised by my sudden charge right after its ferocious battle cry; it must’ve expected me to be shaken. I’ve taken the initiative, so now it has to go on the defensive unless it wants to find a spear lodged deep into its insides.
I aim for its thin limbs as I activate [Power Strike] and plunge my spear into its knee, only to find out that despite how frail it looks, I can’t penetrate through. The spear glances off its hardened scales, sending a strong jolt up my arms.
The crane kicks at me with lightning speed, its sharp talons aiming to tear my flesh apart, and I barely pull back, raising my spear in time to block the powerful blow. The force of the kick pushes me back, my feet sliding across the chamber floor. At first I thought that its long and thin limbs would be its weakness, but it turns out they are mighty weapons in reality.
I steady myself, but the King Crane is relentless. It spreads its wings once more, but instead of beating them up and down to gain elevation, it hurls them in my direction, creating authentic whirlwinds.
The powerful gusts catch me off guard, sending me crashing into the chamber wall. Pain radiates through my back as I slump to the ground. Those wings are mighty, but they shouldn’t be able to create such strong winds just based on their own strength. “Wind magic, huh?” I mutter, piecing it together. It must have some innate wind affinity.
My theory is proven when it opens its beak and shortly charges then hurls a concentrated wind attack my way. The swirling blast tears through the air with deadly precision. I roll to the side just in time, the force of the attack obliterating the spot where I had been standing moments before. The wall behind me cracks under the pressure, a testament to the destructive power of its magic.
I jump to my feet and dash at the crane. I have no long-range attacks, thus I have no other option but to charge at it. “I really need my fireballs, man…” I grumble under my breath, getting more and more convinced that I don’t wish to remain a pure melee fighter any longer than absolutely necessary.
It flaps its wings in my direction once more, but now I know what’s coming, and I manage to jump out of its way.
I switch up my approach and begin to zigzag towards the crane. I can see that doing so makes it harder for it to hit me because so far, all of its spells needed a brief period of charge-up time.
I take a brief moment to just appreciate how big of a game changer the existence of magic is; even if this crane is a giant of its species, it is still in the form of a crane, a bird that should be horrible at combat. Its mind should be focused on escaping from combat, not dominating it. But with its amazing spells, it easily thrives on the field of battle.
With my sudden eureka moment completed, I charge at it. Knowing that its legs are indestructible for the current me, I must aim for its upper body instead.
As I close the distance, the King Crane tries to anticipate my movement, its beak stabbing the air where it thinks I’ll be. I dodge to the left, then to the right, never giving it a clear target. Its frustration is palpable, a screech echoing through the chamber as it realizes I’m too close for another wind attack.
Its momentary inaction is rewarded by a thrust of my spear towards its chest as I succeed in getting into a close enough range. Since the bird monster is incredibly tall I have to greatly angle myself upwards to do so, with a [Power Strike] imbued attack I finally manage to reach and hurt my enemy, though it’s not a fatal injury just yet.
The bird screeches in pain and blood begins to gush out of the wound after I pull my spear back. It simultaneously kicks at me and flaps its wings to gain elevation at the same time, but I’m ahead of the crane this time. I slide between its legs like a footballer going for a tackle, though my aim is not its legs but the area behind the bird monster’s body.