Chase took heavy breaths, still gazing down into the darkness below the rails he stood on.
Zephyr was quietly muttering something about Celestial force... Which made zero sense to the frightened boy.
His leg was still in pain, which didn't make sense because his leg hadn't been struck in battle anytime recently.
"Damnit all..."
He whispered, knowing full well that Zephyr would want him to try to fight the monster.
Worst case scenario, Chase would be about to lose and the dragon lord would step in and kill the beast swiftly.
However, Chase was human, and had his pride to worry about.
Last time he had fought such a creature, he had an army of hell hounds at his side, and zero regard for his own life.
Now, he had friends that he couldn't just abandon, he had a family now... Although it wasn't much of a family, but it was still his.
And he would rather not see his mother so early in his life.
Not that he wouldn't want to see her, but he figured that if he went and died foolishly, she would no doubt summon his soul into her castle and scold him for days.
That didn't sound fun.
"I- I want to fight it..."
Chase whispered, gaining a strangely confused look from Zephyr.
"You WANT to fight it?"
He couldn't believe that the boy who had complained about goblins was trying to fight a creature nine times stronger than a goblin.
"Hm..."
Zephyr said, stroking his tiny beard.
"I am not against letting you fight it, but as I said, that is not the source of energy that I feel. Which means something far stronger lies within these mines. So I fear I may have to fight soon as well, so if you can kill it without draining too much energy then by all means... Challenge the Hollow."
Chase stepped closer to the edge, wondering just how far down the beast was. He figured that it couldn't be more then fifty meters, which was definitely a survivable distance if he fell.
But he would need something to slow his fall somewhat significantly.
However, the idea that he was slowly forming would take a lot of concentration and a hell of a lot of energy.
Zephyr raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"Ah... Let's make this easier then."
Then Chase screamed as Zephyr shoved him into the darkness.
Thrashing around and cursing his mentor, he quickly tried to summon his flames.
Not on his hands... But his back.
'Come on!'
'Please work!'
His thoughts were scattered, but his concentration was not.
Just as he started to fear failing, the entire mineshaft lit up with vibrant orange light, and the wind knocking into his face started to weaken.
"No way! I did it"
Then he started to plummet again, and hit the cold dirt with a thud.
Groaning, he pushed himself up as quick as he could.
Looking directly up, he gazed into the confused eyes of the monster that stood six times taller than him.
"Uh..."
He summoned flames swiftly, and drew his sword from his catalyst.
A large black tendril shot at him, destroying the ground where he had once stood.
Dashing backwards he avoided several of the monster's limbs.
His heart was racing, but the battle had not even truly began just yet.
Using Axis Energy, he danced between the tendrils, gripping Hero's Fang tightly. Pressing his feet into the ground, he pushed forward, narrowly soaring underneath one of the monster's biggest tendrils.
Before he could react, another one shot in his path, nicking against his shoulder and drawing blood.
He cursed, and kept moving.
'Another one.'
He lifted his blade, and slashed at the tendril. He couldn't get more than a scratch on the beast, but he was able to deflect the attack out of his way.
Pushing forward between the hasty tendrils, he threw himself to the side as the ground exploded with fury from one of the monster's attacks.
'I'm just pissing it off...'
He thought with frustration.
Summoning Phoenix Flare, he launched the feathers at the monster's deformed skull, causing it to let out a bone rattling screech.
Chase took a deep breath, and dashed forward lifting his blade as he ran.
Using most of his strength, his eyes locked onto the belly of the monster, and as he ran underneath it he pulled the blade downward.
Blood spilled on the cold floor, and the monster screamed in terrible agony, as Chase came to a sliding stop behind the creature.
His breathing was ragged, but he had finally dealt a fair blow to the monster.
"Damn... this stupid... Hollow."
He said between pants.
Then before he could react, all of the tendrils shot at him twice as fast as before.
Deflecting and dodging simultaneously, he avoided all but one tendril.
It struck him terribly in the sternum, and he went flying backwards into what felt like a wooden pillar.
Dazed and in pain, he tried to push himself up; however, another tendril struck him, grabbing him by the ankle and hurling him toward the other end of the mineshaft.
With a crash, everything went black.