The cursing lips were louder than all the other spell-reciting lips. Among the turbulent waves of meat lumps, those lips shouted and cried out curses like their corners would stretch apart, overwhelming the low murmurings of the other lips. The target of these resentful curses was obvious since all the ‘eyes’ were looking at Lyla.
However, the lips didn’t have time to ask her a question; their magic spells began to be completed one by one. Magic attacks poured out from all over the place in different varieties: property magic like fire, water, wind, earth, and lightning; there was even dark magic or magic formed only through mana. Each one of them was a high-level magic attack that wielded great power.
Snoc complained that a lump of meat used earth magic, but no one paid attention to him. It was literally a museum of magic in there. If an ordinary magician saw the scene the group was looking at, they would have expressed great admiration for the colorful display of magic—of course, if they were not the target of these attacks.
“Hans and Snoc, protect Leona!” Zich shouted and stood in front of Lyla. Following his command, Hans and Snoc stuck close to Leona’s side.
Craaaash!
Magic attacks poured out. In an instant, the ground they were on became scorched. As these attacks poured out thoughtlessly—without any thought or rule binding them—many of them collided and canceled each other out in the process. However, because of the sheer total number, the remaining number of magic attacks still had a significant impact on the group.
Zich swung Windur. The sword surging with mana sliced a magic attack flying his way. However, another magic attack immediately followed. When he sliced that magic attack, another one came, then another, and another after that. Hans and Snoc moved quickly. Snoc set up a mithril wall and Hans struck the magic attacks that penetrated through it with Estellade.
<<Kyaaaaaaaah!>>
<<Kuaaaaaah!>>
The lips near Zich and his companions screamed. The magic attacks that missed Zich and his companions struck the surrounding meat lumps. However, other arms and lips continued to shoot out magic attacks. It seemed like they were trying to kill Zich and his companions at all costs regardless of the sacrifices.
Whoosh!
After he annihilated one magic attack, Zich swung his Windur in the short time gap before another attack arrived. The sword flew like a flash of light, slicing a couple of the monster’s arms, and the surrounding lips stopped casting their spells to scream.
“Leona! Aim at an arm or a lip!”
Leona glanced around her surroundings and shot.
Push! An arrow shot through one arm. The lips around the arm screamed, but the arm continued to move even after an arrow pierced it. The lips also only screamed for a bit and began casting spells again.
“Tch!” Leona clicked her tongue once and took out an arrow again. She placed it on her bow and poured in a bit more of her mana.
Pop!
This time, the arrow cleanly cut off the arm. The lips shouted harder this time, but thankfully, the arm rolling on the floor was quiet. Leona shot arrows to her surroundings; amongst the magic attacks that poured out restlessly, her arrows almost miraculously broke through and broke off the monster’s arms. In comparison, Zich’s attacks were rougher and more powerful.
“Hmph!” Zich halted his breath and tensed up his muscles.
Exploding mana wrapped around him and Windur. Against the magic that came towards him from everywhere, he released his power.
Craaaaash!
A strong shockwave burst out. The flying magic attacks all flew away while lumps of meat were ripped into pieces, even though the goal was the arms and lips, eyes, other parts such as the nose, ears, and legs all broke apart along with them. Magic attacks which blocked their line of visions opened up, and Lyla didn’t miss her chance to use this opening.
Rumble!
The lightning she was preparing sparked around her staff. Before another magic attack flew towards her and influenced her magic, she quickly shot out her rumble attack.
Ruuuuuumble!
In the dark ruin, there was a flash of light. Pure white lightning struck their targets and the scorched arms spazzed out until they flopped down. The frequency of the magic attacks decreased, and it became easier for the group to move. However, it was too early to celebrate.
Spark!
New lightning struck down upon them, and Zich blocked the attack. It wasn’t what Lyla shot.
“Urgh!” He groaned and scowled at the lightning that flowed down Windur.
‘As expected, the magic attack that one makes is different from the others.’ What reflected in Zich’s eyes was the monster’s main body. The magic attacks that shot out from the main body held enough power to make even Zich struggle. If Hans or Snoc had received the attack, it would have been quite dangerous for them.
‘Thankfully, we can see its target clearly.’
Since all magic attacks were aimed at Lyla, the others received less damage. If the monster’s main body attacked the others besides Zich, they wouldn’t have survived with just a little bit of damage. Of course, this also meant that Zich had to endure the brunt of the monster’s attacks.
Pop! Pop!
The main body poured out magic attacks again. Unlike other arms that indiscriminately shot out magic attacks, the main body used different combinations. This time, it was water and lightning. Zich saw that the main body’s other ‘arms’ also tried to mix in fire, earth, and wind. However, Zich thoroughly blocked the main body’s attacks.
“Destroy the ‘arms’ and ‘mouths’ first!”
With Zich’s order, Hans, Snoc, and Leona began moving around to attack all the ‘mouths’ and ‘arms.’ As expected, the meat lumps’ goal was Lyla, so it focused most of its attacks on her and only attacked the others as a response. While Hans, Snoc, and Leona destroyed the ‘arms’ and ‘mouths’ around the ruins, Zich and Lyla faced the main body together.
Crassssh!
Ice particles that poured down like a storm were met by strings of mana. Lyla released her own magic. An eerie magic battle took place between the main body and Lyla. Even though Lyla had Zich next to her, the main body was able to use all kinds of magic at once. Moreover, all the ‘mouths’ and ‘arms’ that were scattered around the ruin all targeted Lyla.
Currently, the monster and Zich’s group fought neck to neck. Their magic clashed in the middle and made a loud din while also crushing their surroundings in the process.
‘Hmm.’ Zich looked down at his hand that held Windur. Since he had just blocked a magic attack, his hand was sore, but it was noticeably less sore than before.
‘He’s definitely getting weaker.’ Zich sliced another magic attack and assessed his surroundings. He sensed that the body parts were moving slightly slower than before.
Crasssh!
For the first time, Lyla’s magic pierced through the main body’s magic. Even though it was immediately met with another magic from the main body, this was enough evidence to indicate that the monster’s power was decreasing.
‘It’s running out of energy.’
The monster probably survived for thousands of years without food or any source of subsistence. In the first place, Zich thought it was surprising that the monster had enough energy to undergo an intense battle like this, and it was not surprising at all that the monster was starting to lose strength.
They continued to battle for a while.
Slice! Lyla shot out a wind sword that made a long cut in the monster’s main body.
<<Kyaahhhhhhh!>>
Everyone seemed to have sensed the main body’s pain, as all the ‘mouths’ screamed out loud. For a brief moment, all attacks from the monster stopped.
‘It’s now!’
Hans made a wide swing with Estellade. Snoc also moved the mithril he was wielding with great force. After finishing a quiver of arrows, Leona took out another quiver. Zich and Lyla also did not stand still. Even though their opponent was getting weaker, this was not a reason for them to dawdle around. Zich rushed towards the main body. The ‘mouths’ stopped screaming and began murmuring spells, but Zich was faster than they could finish their spells.
Bang! Bang!
‘Yeah, I expected this.’
A couple of ‘arms’ suddenly shot magic attacks at Zich, but Zich was not surprised. Since the monster could shoot out powerful magic attacks nonstop, it was not surprising to find out that it could also do silent incantation. However, Zich was not weak enough to be defeated by silent incantation magic attacks. Zich swung Windur a couple of times and sliced the magic attacks coming towards him. The main body began to prepare for another magic attack.
Tap!
Zich suddenly bent down while rushing towards the main body. Fire pillars flew past him from behind. The main body tried to block the red pillars with its magic, but Lyla poured a lot of magic into those pillars; they were also formed after a long spellcast. The fire pillars burned all too easily through the main body’s magic barrier.
Baaaang!
<<Kuaaaaaah!>>
The ‘mouths’ began to scream again. However, this scream was much more eerie and despondent than their previous screams. A large hole appeared on the main body’s side as if it was carved out with a pickaxe. The main body floundered around desperately, but it still did not die. Even though it had a hard time standing upright because of the giant hole on its side, it moved its arms around.
But by that time, Zich was already right in front of the main body.
Slice!
Windur slanted to the side and hit the left side of the monster. Another round of screams rang out in the tunnel, but even these screams soon lessened. It was because Hans, Snoc, and Leona were continuously ripping apart ‘arms’ and ‘mouths’.
With each movement from Windur, more flesh was cut off. Fortunately, the pieces of flesh that were cut off didn’t start moving around or attacking Zich; it just fell to the ground like normal pieces of flesh.
Swish!
As if the monster was giving one last desperate attempt, it raised all its hair on its body. The elongated hair tried to wrap itself around Zich and tie him down. The main body’s hair let out a menacing aura, and it seemed as if it wanted to do more than just tie him down. Zich avoided the attack by moving one step back and then sliced the hair into pieces.
Crack!
The hair was so tough that it looked as if the main body had torn it apart. Regardless of how it looked, Zich successfully immobilized the main body and moved towards it again. For the first time, an ‘eye’ moved away from Lyla to Zich.
[Ah…]
A ‘mouth’ opened while Zich raised his sword. The eye followed Windur’s movement.
[Ah, ah…]
A sound came from the ‘mouth.’ It sounded like a cry from a human who was meeting their end.
[Ahhhhhhh…]
As he moved Windur higher, the sound got longer and more pitiful.
Halt!
Windur stopped in the air.
[S-save me…!]
The ‘arms’ around the ‘mouth’ instantly moved to cover it up. The ‘eye’ that was following Windur’s movement now moved back to Zich. The ‘eye’ curved up; it looked as if the ‘eye’ was smiling.
[Ah, I can finally die—]
Pierce!
Windur crashed down and cut the main body vertically. Then Zich slammed Windur into all the meat pieces that were on the ground, but Zich’s attack did not end like this. He began infusing a huge amount of mana into Windur, condensing the mana into Windur to his very limit. Then he released it all at once without hesitation.
Bammmm!
A huge explosion shook the whole ruin.