193 Boss Figh (1/2)
In any case, Li had to scope out the situation a little more, possibly see if he could take it down without resorting to his Ultima-class spells, and to do that, he needed to ensure the adventurers were not in harm's way, not only to safely scope out the abomination's powers, but to get them out of range of any collateral damage in the case that he did decide to use an Ultima-class spell.
The surging crash of heavy waters rolling overhead began to simmer down, the constant, dim roar fading into a streaming trickle. Replacing that ruckus was instead the immense groaning of the Dark beast amalgamation in the distance as it began to move, its form fully stabilizing.
Soon enough, it would ready an attack.
”The waters have passed over us, and the abomination is slow to move, not yet steadying an attack against us,” said Li. ”Listen to me closely and follow my orders. I am going to take down this defense.”
”You are!?” said Faye.
”Yes, and the moment I do, all of you heroes that can fly, take Launcelot and carry him up and away from the fight. You can do that, can't you?”
”Well, yes,” said Faye as she bit her lip nervously. ”But the moment we do, countless flying Dark beasts will swarm us. Elsewise we would have flown in here to begin with.”
”I've made sure. Every single Dark beast presence that I could sense has merged into that amalgamation. There is no other way that it could have become as powerful as it is now without sparing any measure of strength.” Li began to prepare himself, going through the steps in his mind as to what he needed to do. Power began to crackle around him as he thought, crackling and coursing about him in sparks of electrical green.
”So, I will ask you again. Can you fly Launcelot out? Fast, too? Elsewise, I can summon a familiar for you, though if I do, its newborn life will be in your care.”
”My party can quite capably fly me,” said Launcelot. ”They have already done it more times than I can count in the many times I shouldered one too many attacks and knocked myself out.”
”A wonder your brains still function properly by now,” muttered Faye to Launcelot, and she nodded to Li. ”I am the fastest among all of us with my flame bursts, but with wind to fuel it from Ava and an explosive headstart from Celeste, we should be able to carry this heavy load high in the air within seconds.”
”Good,” said Li. ”And in the case that the Dark beast has some mean to attack you, I will ensure that you are adequately defended, so waste no necessary movement on trying to defend yourself.
Then, here we go.”
It was an ear splitting, chaotic frenzy of a sound created from the mouth parts of all of the creatures comprising its unnatural existence, and Li approached it. He could understand the language of creatures, even those that did not have the necessary mental capacity to vocalize words, and he knew that what he heard was not a battle roar, but a symphony of pain, of thousands upon thousands of existences all loosing out screams of eternal torment.
Li began to walk forwards, his boots trudging through the waterlogged swamp to meet the Dark beast. He resolved himself to end not only its misery, but the misery of the existence that still controlled it.
The adventurers moved quickly and efficiently, their training and experience with each other kicking in. Faye immediately grabbed Launcelot under his arms to get a hold of him. Surprisingly, she was rather easily capable of lifting him up.
Ava and Celeste were at Faye's side, focusing on her movements. Celeste furrowed her brows for an instant before she activated her power. She jumped up with Launcelot in her grasp, and as her feet left the rooted ground of the [Deeproot Bunker], twin jet bursts of flame erupted from her feet, glowing bright orange in the dark like tails of a comet.
Celeste then clapped her hands, and they glowed white for a split second before generating a massive explosion that sent all of them hurtling up to make an initial burst of distance.