20 seconds. That's all the time I have now before Knight's Valour effect runs out and its Paralysis aftereffect starts. Until then, I should deal as much damage as I possibly can to the boss.

"You guys, to me!"

Sanae called her monsters back. It seems like she knows what's up and had them all retreat to not get caught up in the crossfire while also providing defenses to herself.

Then, I removed the Mirror Make on Bane and applied it to myself.

"Multi-Mirror Make."

 In addition to that...

"Magic Booster. Magic Amplification. Haste. High Wisdom."

"You're not getting away!"

The boss charged towards our way, as I then pulled out the grade A potion which I have been keeping in my inventory ever since I bought from the event shop from the first event.

Time to use the elixirs!

I chugged one down, replenishing my HP and MP back to full just as Pinocchio launched his deadly nose thrust attack again.

However, he missed as I merely tilted my head to the side.

I've already seen that move once. Don't think it will hit me a second time!

"""Multi-Explosion!"""

Together with my clones, we bombarded the boss with a bang! The damage was significant to be noticeable but not enough to make a dent.

In that case...

We bombard him with more explosions!

"""Multi-Explosion!"""

"""Multi-Explosion!"""

"""Multi-Explosion!"""

"""Multi-Explosion!"""

"""Multi-Explosion!"""

And now that's a dent in his HP. However, there is still a lot remaining though. Also, the boss is still smiling.

"That hurts! Just kidding~"

With the aggro now back onto me, the boss let out his battlecry and charged towards me while launching his nose attack simultaneously.

I dodged and prepared to counterattack, but instead of retracting his nose like before, the boss used it like a blade and dragged it through the wall it had penetrated to slash at me, sweeping me and my clones in one swift movement to a corner before finally retracting that long nose of his.

Then, his hands came.

"""Moon Walk!"""

We all avoided the grabbing hands and jumped onto the boss, riding on his ginormous head and back with our staves placed nicely on his body.

"""Multi-Explosion!"""

Another big kaboom was achieved. The boss's HP dropped further. But before another Multi-Explosion was casted, the boss suddenly rolled over and shook us all off his body, using that opportunity to grab some of my Mirror Make clones.

"Gotcha~!"

And in that moment, I had lost control of the clones that were caught.

"Let go of them!"

""Multi-Thunderbolt!""

With the efforts of the remaining clones in my control and me, we attacked the arms that were holding onto the captive clones with the fastest spell. But alas, it was to no avail as the boss simply continued with his move on my clones whereby he slowly and cruelly bends their bodies backwards.

Without a doubt, being grabbed by those hands will result in an instant death kill animation from the boss.

Tch. Dammit...

""Multi-Explosion!""

Unable to save the clones, I focused an all-out attack on the boss instead considering that he is likely stuck in that kill animation until it is complete. And with only five seconds left before Knight's Valour effect runs out, I must inflict as much damage as I can now in that five seconds.

Because forget trying to deplete the boss's HP down to the red, I have yet to even drop his HP down to half!

"Attack, you guys!"

It seems like Sanae got the same idea as I do, ordering all of her monsters to attack along with me regardless of the friendly-fire that may occur.

I need to drop his HP to half at least!

""Multi-Explosion!""

I launched my attack while Sanae buffed her monsters.

"Rally! Boosted Arms! Boosted Wall! Cry of Rage!"

And then, we went all-out for the probably the most intense five seconds in our gaming lives so far.

On one side of the boss, countless fiery explosions were occurring continuously. On the other side, numerous summoned monsters were gnawing away at his human-centipede flesh.

The boss's HP was dropping at a fluid pace. Slow but consistent.

Three seconds in, however, the boss was done with his kill move as those sounds amidst the explosions and monster cries were still audibly heard throughout the room.

Creak. Crack. Snap.

The captive clones were dead. They broke with a glass-shattering sound and disappeared into dust.

Then, the boss turned to me with his creepy horrid smile.

"You're not getting awaaayyy!"

"Is that so!"

With less than two seconds remaining, I, the real one, first evaded the boss when he tried to slam his large body down onto me. I had forsaken control over my clones at that moment, and so they got crushed under the weight. Then, I angled myself corrected and used one last Multi-Explosion on the boss after dodging his body slam. Not to damage it once more, but to propel myself all the way to where Sanae is.

And with less than a second left, while still in mid-air, I aimed my staff at Bane and used my last skill.

"Multi-Mirror Make!"

"SKRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

The Banes emerged once more just as Knight's Valour ended, prompting its Paralysis aftereffect to take place immediately which caused me to crash land next to Sanae.

"Oof!"

"Keep him busy, Bane!"

"SSKKKKRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

The Banes went to town with the boss as Sanae instructed. After which, she went to check on me who was on the ground.

"Are you alright, Yoru?"

"Y-Yeah..." I struggled to respond.

"C-C-Can't... move..."

"I can see that. So how long will it take before you can move again?"

"D-D-Don't... know..."

"Got it."

Sanae then stood and turned to face the boss who is still aggroed onto me.

"Don't worry. Leave the rest to your girlfriend, my love."

Managing to slither his way out of the Banes, the boss then charged towards me with the full intent to kill.

However, Sanae stood within his path at that moment. Unleashing her ultimate skill she had been saving for the occasion.

"Summoner's Might!"

An intense amount of bright red aura burst from her body. As the boss continued his charge at the speed of a bullet train, Sanae winds her arm up and proceeds to throw an incredible punch right at the charging boss's face, causing him to shift the trajectory of his charge and crash into the wall behind us.

"Don't think you can touch my beloved, you freak."

Oh my god! That was cool!

Summoner's Might: It is a Summoner-only skill that temporarily grants the caster the stats of the strongest monster they have in their party for 120 seconds, with a cooldown time of 1 day.

But basically with that skill, Sanae now got the same stats as Bane.

As for how she got that skill, it was when we were grinding our levels the day before. Because we were using Bane for that entire time, Sanae cleared the condition for acquiring Summoner's Might which was to attain 500 kills using at least one summoned monster.

We really achieved that much in such a short time.

Additionally, 200 kills with her summoned monsters was how she got Summoner's Aura.

Rally, Boosted Arms, Boosted Wall and Cry of Rage. Those were bought from the skill store when she bought Chimera Monster Creation.

But anyways, two whole minutes to essentially become another Bane. It's quite a broken skill, isn't it?

"Banes, with me!"

"SSSKKKKKRRRRREEEEEE!!"

The Banes lined up and stood together to face the boss with Sanae. At the same time, Sanae picked me up and threw me back to the rest of her summoned monsters where I proceeded to splash into the pool of blood they were in.

"The rest of you, protect my dearest. Understood?" She pointed, ordering them which they all replied by making a messy collaboration of noises while letting me float on the pool of blood since I can't move my body due to the Paralysis effect.

Ugh... I can feel the blood going into my ears. Could one of you all at least lift me up? Dammit...

Well, at least I'm not facing down. Pretty sure I would drown if that happened. If there's even a drowning mechanic in the game...

I cannot move and I cannot see the fight. And I can barely hear the action going on due to the blood in my ears. Yuck.

But even so, I should keep trying to move my body to know when the Paralysis effect will be over.

Until then, it's Sanae's turn to shine.