As much as I wanted to jump in the fight, fighting this monster without a plan was not an option. Until we had one, we stayed behind a corner and waited for the moment to strike.
The monster's skin looked to be resistant like metal, the blade on his horn and tail could leave an explosive liquid behind, and its size was enough to squish us without it knowing.
To beat this monster we needed to find its weak spot or brute strength enough force to break his skin. We had firepower, acid, toxin, claws, swords and bow, as long we could find a way to inflict damage, we would win.
“Do you know what monster this is?” I asked Phyralia.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen this monster. If I had to guess, I would say that this is a Tyrablast. They mostly live in deep dungeons and can occasionally be found on the surface. Classified A-rank by the guild.”
“Tyrablast?” Reran said. “I heard of them before when visiting an auction. They had a tamed one for sale, but I wasn’t interested. They are reputed for their highly damaging explosive acid.”
“Explosive acid!”
“Don’t talk too loud,” Reylia told me.
“Sorry.”
“If I remember correctly, the acid consumes what it touches until it has enough energy to explode. As you saw, being hit by it is a death sentence.”
That was a good thing to know, don’t get hit by the acid if I didn’t want to die, noted.
“Wait, they sell monsters like that at auctions?” I asked.
What twisted mind would have bought a monster this dangerous and powerful? Controlling and having it obey orders would be a nightmare.
“I have a few connections with private individuals who like auctions. I am not allowed to say much, but if you are so interested, you should come with me next time I visit one.” Well, that was a rich noble for you. I could almost smell his ego in all of this.
“I wonder what other monsters they have.” Such creature of destruction available to buy, I was almost salivating at the idea. I already had plenty of familiars, but it wasn’t like I had to form a bond with every monster near me.
Mizuko was already our mount, but she was a shared one. In the case that I potentially, maybe needed a monster to ride around on my own. Travelling landscapes, on a creature of death and explosion, wouldn’t have bothered me at all. Lendwrek and Mendry didn’t count, they were flyers.
“Emery, please stop making such a face. We can see your true colour.” What a mood-breaker, Reylia was. She didn’t even let me fantasize a little.
“Also,” She added. “Tyrablast are not monsters with a plague affinity. They have a fire one.”
“I wasn’t thinking about taking one as my familiar.”
“Oh, really? I’m not so sure about that.”
Something we said must have shocked Reran, because he looked at me confused.
“You know how to turn a monster into a familiar? You know the ritual?!” He asked me.
“Of co…” I was about to answer when a feeling of uneasiness washed through my body. It was like my elven instinct was screaming at me to shut up for some reason. Lavanda did mention that summoners and tamers were rare. I couldn’t think there was a lack of prospects, so it was probably more for secrecy reasons. Thinking about it, it wasn’t hard to guess why such practices would be well known but kept to a selected number of users. Probably be better if it stayed that way.
“No, not me, I don’t know it. I just know someone who does.”
He didn’t look entirely convinced. The uncomfortable feeling didn’t disappear at all.
“You are saying that that spider, dog and hydra aren’t your familiars, is that right? I looked at the guild mission data. It said that they are your familiars.”
“Silly me, I only registered them as such to avoid any commotion. Sorry to break your hope.”
Reran sighed, seeming to have lost a big fish. “My apologies for asking, but I would appreciate it if you could introduce me to the person who–”
“Humm, hey, the bandit fight with the monster is still going on. Can we go back to finding a weakness!” Phyralia is always there to save the day. Even if I didn’t expect him to give up that easily, the secret bonding ritual was safe for now.
At this point, the bandits were scrambling to survive. Three more of them had died, and one of the guys guarding the prisoners had joined the fight.
The monster was fine, no better than that he was in top shape. All the minor scratches his metal skin had could barely be classified as damage. Simply jumping in, taking the hostages with us and leaving wouldn’t work, the monster wasn’t the type to let his prey get away.
Poison was probably our best bet, as it didn’t require us to deal an insane amount of damage. There was a problem though, with the monster's size, the amount of poison or toxin needed to afflict it in a short amount of time was a lot. It wasn’t that I didn’t have enough mana, my reserves were looking good after all the exploration we did, it was that I doubted it would let us put anything into his mouth without a fight.
A better way to inject the toxin would be to create a breach in his skin and inject it there. As long as Gnash’s plague bites, Hybry's poison attacks or my own plague spells landed, we would win. But first, I needed my sword back.
With another bandit falling, leaving them to only three, we elaborated a quick plan and jumped into action.
Running out of the cover of the corner, Mizuko, Reran, Virinia and her werewolf would handle the hostages and the guard. With how delicate the situation was, we couldn’t risk them panicking.
Reylia and Phyralia would take care of the two bandits and switch to the monster afterward while Tara with Hybry on her back would slow the monster with as much webbing as she could make. This would give us the time to neutralize other threats before handling the monster.
Karcie would stay with Phyralia at the moment, with her heal at the ready if needed.
My part was similar. Gnash at my side and dagger in hand, I ran as quietly as I could to not alert the bandit woman before I was at her throat. Even if we were running in action, it wasn’t that we were screaming that we were there.
The monster saw us before the bandits, and the woman noticed that something was wrong and turned around. Gnash was almost on her when she dodged his bite.
Now on guard, she pointed my sword at me. “Who are you?”
“Just a little girl looking to get my sword back, if you don’t mind.” She didn’t lose sight of Gnash as he circled behind her. She was stuck between us and we wouldn’t let her get away.
“How about a truce? Now that your little group is here, the monster's attention is scattered, but it won’t last long. We could team up for the time of taking it down. I promise to turn against you.”
With the way their fight was going, it didn’t surprise that she wanted a way out. At this rate, she wouldn’t have lasted much longer. Her breath was tired from all the dodging and useless strikes she did. She had bruises and probably not enough mana to put up a real fight.
“Sorry, not sorry. I’m not looking into an alliance. We can take care of that monster on our own.”
Hearing screams, the two other bandits had fallen to the twin’s sword and arrow strikes. She was alone, and she knew it. Gnash Groaned behind her to let her know there was no way out of this.
After looking uncertain of what to do, she lowered her guard and threw Flashbang at my feet. Her hands were high and visible. “I surrender.”
“You’re not going to attack me by surprise, are you?” Picking up Flashbang, it felt great to have my trusty sword back. “Good to see you, buddy,” I whispered to myself.
Instead of answering, she unfastened her belt and threw it on the ground. I could hear and see the ringing of gold coins, glass vials and a dagger. “I don’t really have a choice here.” She looked around her. “You’re all adventurers, right? At least you all have some dignity, compared to these chumps. I value my life enough that I can recognize when I lost.”
She did not have much respect for bandits, and I respected that. Even if it was evident she didn’t stand a chance, accepting defeat was something more scums should have learned to do. Still, she was an enemy and I didn’t have much trust for these kinds of people, so I was on my guard.
Tara was occupied with the Tyrablast, so asking her for some webs in the middle of her showdown wasn’t smart. Instead, I used my plant affinity and controlled some solid plants that grew in the rock walls. Threading it into a vine rope, the result was not as solid as Tara web, but already better than any cheap rope you could find anywhere.
When I walked to her, Gnash stood on guard in case she tried something. She offered her hand and I tied them up behind her back as solidly as I could. I also tied up her feet, but only as much to allow her to walk, not run. Princess carrying someone taller than me was not something I wanted to do ever again.
I escorted her toward the hostage we just rescued and left her in the hands of Reran and Virinia. They didn’t waste a second and started interrogating her to get information about the dungeon we were in, in the chance she knew something we didn’t. I would have loved to join in, but we had a monster to kill.
The quality of the webs Tara was shooting was getting lower and lower. Whenever she drenched its web, it would take him only a few seconds to break free and try to attack her.
Helping her share the attention, Reylia used her sword at every opportunity. In the hope it would do some damage, she even enhanced all of her strikes with a thin, razor-sharp edge. Some of them did leave small cuts in the metal skin where Hybry acid weakened the flesh, but the wounds were too minor for me to abuse. To inject a sufficient amount of toxin, we needed a bigger wound.
Phyralia was observing the fight from a distance. It didn’t matter how accurate she was, her arrow wouldn’t pierce the skin. Instead, she waited for an opening and aimed at the monster's eyes, a universal weak spot. She already shot multiple times, but the monster's movements were too unpredictable for her to hit. With not much to do, Karcie just followed Phyralia around whenever she changed position.
It was a blessing that no one had been hit by the monster's explosive attacks. Each time the explosive acid hit something, it exploded into oblivion with a big bang. Rock, ground, bodies, it didn’t matter, the substance exploded it all. Sometimes going as far as causing ground tremors in the area.
In this fight, Gnash and I had the same role. Find a wound and put as much poison in it as possible. Until Gnash had a wound to work on, his teeth wouldn’t do much good on the skin surface, so he stayed with me at the moment.
Karcie's healing magic had worked great on my arm, putting it almost in peak condition. My previous injuries wouldn’t be a concern for this fight, but Tenta was still tired. It needed more rest before being able to save my ass again.
The monster charged at Reylia, I took this opportunity to get close and strike one of the skin areas where Hybry acid did its work. My strike bounced off the metal without leaving an inch. Granted, I only had my own weakened strength without Tenta. To do something in this fight, I needed to find another way.
Still recovering from the deflected strike, the monster's eye turned to me. He was about to crush and kick me. I saw the movement of his leg about to hit my face when Gnash pulled me down by my cape and dragged me a few feet away. I stood up, petted the dog and jumped away just in time to avoid a follow-up attack.
Understanding that I was not a real danger, the monster focused his attention on the one who was the most annoying of all of us, Tara. Hybry was also on her back, so that made two targets for the price of one.
At that point, Tara couldn’t create any webs that were sticky enough to have any effect on the monster. The monster horn blade charged at her, and I could see her legs getting unsteady with all the dodging she had been doing. Still, she wasn’t done for, before the monster hit her, she jumped on the wall and climbed it until she reached the ceiling. Hybry hung on her back, she made sure he didn’t fall, using what little web she had left to create a safety belt. The ceiling was high, seemingly enough to put her out of the Tyrablast range.
To get his attention on us, Reylia and I jumped on his back and attacked the weakened spots as much as we could. It didn’t matter that we could only do small cuts at most, pain was pain and ignoring us would be hard.
The monster tried to spin around to throw us off, but we held on. Not giving up on getting to Tara, the monster crouched for a second, before we realized what it was about to do.
“TARA, GET OUT OF HERE!”
With his powerful legs, the monster jumped straight at the cave roof. Reylia and I were both thrown off the monster's back. Tara’s legs moved as fast as they could to get away. The horn blade missed her by ten metres, creating a crater in the rock ceiling. The monster landing shook the ground, but it would take more than a little tremor to throw Tara off.
At that moment, I heard a sparkle sound going off. In the middle of the point of impact where his horn blade hit was a big accumulation of explosive acid. A second later, its colour turned bright green, turning the whole cave roof into a falling mess.
She tried to get away, but Tara was caught in the blast. I saw her falling between debris as she covered Hybry as much as her body could, protecting him from falling rocks. At the last moment, she fired webs where she was about to fall. It provided cushioning, but it wasn’t highly qualified and far from enough to negate the fall damage. I could hear a crack as she hit the ground.
I could barely see her. Hybry was squeaking and yelping at her, hoping she was still alive. From the small movements of her legs and exoskeleton. In the back of my mind, I could feel our bond telling me she was alive. I started running to her, but the monster wasn’t about to let that happen.
Eyeing Tara with rage, the Tyrablast lowered his head, pointed his horn blade in her direction and charged at full speed. Me, Reylia and even Gnash were too slow to catch up, there was no chance for us to make it in time.
On Tara's broken abdomen, Hybry stood tall. He let out a draconic-like bark at the charging monster to deter it away, but to no avail. Never giving her up, Hybry's throat loaded up with a bright acid. Until now, his acid could weaken the Tyrablast skin, not break it. Even a full blast would optimally do minimal damage. Hybry knew it and didn’t care. When the charge was full, he fired at the Tyrablast head-on.
The acid projectile was five times bigger than Hybry and hit the Tyrablast in the head. He tanked the hit without care and continued his relentless attack. All the grey skin across his face was now looking slightly rusty. The damage had been dealt, but it was more of a weakening shot.
I looked at what was about to happen and there was nothing I could do.
An arrow flew into the monster's left eye with perfect, impeccable precision. This caused it to lose its footing and crash into the wall, missing Tara and Hybry by three metres.
“As if!” Phyralia yelled. I owned her so much.
In pain from the loss of one eye, the monster tried to get his mind back on the fight. There was not a single world where I would let that bitch pose a threat to my familiars ever again. Reaching it, I jumped on the Tyrablast back and ran until I was on top of its head.
In my right hand, I concentrated all the mana I had. First, a flame of corrosive fire in the middle. Second, an unhealthy amount of plague acid as a layer around the fire. Third and last, confine all of it within a solid ball of water with nitroglycerin properties. If the fire and water came into contact, it would explode, but the acid separated both long enough for me to act on the bomb.
“STAY AWAY FROM MY DAMN SPIDER!!!”
Not wanting to miss the Tyrablast by a hair, I splashed the Inferno plague bomb straight in its face. Everything was silent for a moment, then the fire and water mixed. I was blasted away before I could even hear the sound of the explosion.
What I did hear was the Tyrablast's extremely satisfying scream of pain. Music to my ears.
My body felt tired, and my head was hurting because of the amount of mana I used, all of it.
I was about to hit the rock ground when my back landed on something soft. Slowly turning my head to see what served as my cushion, I saw Gnash's head meeting mine as my back rested on his side. He licked me until I was forced to look away. What a good boy.
I could also feel Tenta and cave vines pilling between me and Gnash. Tenta had used himself and some surrounding plants to soften my landing as much as it could. Lucky me, I wasn’t heavy.
The Tyrablast face was half missing. The metallic coating that had once protected it had been turned into shrapnel that dug into him when the explosion happened. Just in case, I asked Gnash to make sure the thing was dead. I wasn’t about to let myself die by surprise again.
Reylia joined Gnash to make sure the monster was dead. After a moment, she noticed some blood being pumped with small movements here and there. Without hesitation, she stabbed the monster in the middle of the destroyed face, striking its brain. The monster was dead for good.
Getting up was hard, but I was fine. I made the spell so that most of the explosion would concentrate toward the point of impact, not the opposite. As fast as I could limp, I ran to Tara.
All but one of her legs were broken or crushed, her abdomen was fractured and she was bleeding heavily. Hybry nuzzled her with tears as she comforted him using her only usable leg.
Karcie was already applying healing magic while Phyralia was petting the spider gently. Some of her wounds healed quickly, while others took their sweet time. The abdomen particularly was looking pretty bad, resembling a broken coconut.
According to Karcie, Tara would survive but needed a lot of rest and time to heal. Such wounds would take between a week or a month by her guess, as she wasn’t familiar with spider anatomy.
“You have done great, girl. Everything will be fine, take a little nap for us would you?” I told Tara. Her eyes focused on a worried Hybry. After a little time, even if her eyes were open, I knew she was asleep. Something she well deserved.
Note: No, she isn't dead.
https://pixai.art/artwork/1742753157956944185?utm_source=copy_web
