I shivered at the Troupe Master's words.
A burst of blue fire shot out of his hands, aimed at us. All of us except Kanata dodged. She just let the fire hit her.
[Kanata Renxandt]
HP: [0/65,000]
I was stunned at the sheer power of the Troupe Master. Even with Kanata's ridiculous HP pool and her high Def, the Troupe Master had destroyed all of her HP in a single hit.
"Kanata!" Shun said. She smiled as her HP refilled nearly instantly.
[Kanata Renxandt]
HP: [65,000/65,000]
"You think that's going to kill me?" She asked. "It won't."
"You're a tough one," The Troupe Master said. "I'll have to really try this time." He raised his hands to attack again and was stopped by an arrow shot by Arya and a small ice spell shot by Fei.
The Troupe Master's tone took on an angry tone.
"You're annoying little gnats," He said. He dashed backward. Then the dangling ends of his cloak drove themselves into the ground. Then they burst out of the ground at a ton of different angles.
They all looked wickedly sharp. I slashed several with my weapon to create space for me to be. The ones that made it past our weapons shattered when they hit Tiran's shield.
"So you've got a tough shell," The Troupe Master said. "Well then." He looked like he was about to attack again when Kanata did instead. Her strike pushed the Troupe Master backward, sending electricity around the clearing.
"You don't," She said, smirking.
[The Troupe Master]
HP: [650,000/700,000]
Shun followed up with an attack. His blade began to glow and sent a circle of energy flying through the air. The Troupe Master dodged for the most part, but a small part of his cloak was cut.
Leston slashed too, leaving a blazing trail behind him.
"Enough!" The Troupe Master shouted. A blast of sound knocked all of us backward. I looked up to see music notes forming in the air. They interlocked with each other and created a wall in front of the Troupe Master.
Ominous music began to play, growing louder and louder. Other, stranger instruments joined in, like a saxophone and electric guitar.
With a crashing finish to the music, hundreds upon hundreds of Grimmflies burst from the music notes. These ones were stronger than the previous ones.
[Grimmfly]
[Level X] [Lesser Vessel (Troupe Master)]
HP: [1,000/1,000]
MP: X
SP: X
[Spd: 30] [Str: 10] [Atk: 1,000] [Mag Atk: 650] [Def: 0]
These ones had concerning stats. Their Atk was really high. I could tell that they would kill me quickly if they swarmed.
Waves of electricity radiated from Kanata. When the Grimmflies got within a meter of her, visible bolts of lightning formed between her body and the Grimmflies.
They fell like, well, flies. I channeled my MP into my blade. I began slashing at the flying monsters, sending magical slashes of freezing air in all directions.
At last, the onslaught of Grimmflies stopped. Kanata began to condense electrical energy in her palms. She shot it forward and they slammed into the Troupe Master. He growled.
[The Troupe Master]
HP: [600,000/700,000]
Kanata smiled evilly. Her eyes began to glow with an electric blue color. I heard the crackling of lightning from above. I glanced up to see dark clouds forming underneath the tree canopy.
Then a bolt of lightning fell from the clouds above. It struck the Troupe Master's body with a clap of thunder.
[The Troupe Master]
HP: [500,000/700,000]
And then she rose into the air, electricity sparking everywhere. Her hair stood on end and electricity crackled all around her. The Troupe Master looked up in awe at her. Sparks spiraled around her, forming what looked a bit like a rune in front of her chest. Then a huge beam of electricity shot out of the rune.
It hit the ground with an impact that shook the ground. I nearly fell over from the shaking. The Troupe Master's HP melted away in an instant.
[The Troupe Master]
HP: [0/700,000]
And then his body began to crumble to ash. All that was left was a pile of ash with a small pebble. The pebble seemed to be painted with the pattern of a Dracibat's face.
Kanata picked it up and looked at it.
"Shun, you had a Dracibat at one point, right?" She asked.
"Yeah," Shun said. "It flew away." Kanata tossed him the pebble.
"In case it ever comes back," She said.
"Neat," He said. Then I saw something warm move in the bushes with my tail.
"Guys?" I asked. "There's something else here." And then three huge Grimmflies burst from the bushes. They were easily the size of a small horse and had viscous-looking claws. I swung my weapon and sliced it open, killing it. Shun and Leston both skewered the second and Kanata punched the third.
I felt power bubbling inside me. I could tell that this monster had triggered a level-up.
And then I promptly fell unconscious.
