While Darian and Kael were killing the bladekruk, Liro, Allocen, and Lara were fighting the huge monster.
The golem could barely hold its ground, Allocen had always believed it to be one of the toughest things ever, but it was being crushed with ease.
The enemy quickly figured out the golem was coming from Allocen and struck him with several massive stingers.
Lara, just behind him, rushed to heal him with magic.
"These stings might be poisoned… it's going to take a while," she said while working.
"Yeah… don't worry, my golem will help us," Allocen replied, forcing himself up with several two-foot-long stingers still lodged in his body.
Lara couldn't remove them, so she focused on neutralizing the poison instead.
Liro was creating illusions of dirt spikes shooting from the ground. At first, the monster flinched, wary of being impaled.
But then it noticed the spikes vanished right after appearing. Testing them, it passed its claws straight through. They were fake.
While Liro kept distracting it, Allocen made real spikes. The monster thought they were illusions too, until it was impaled.
By then, Darian and Kael had finished their fight and were running to help.
Darian created some ice shard, but the monster was able to destroy them easly with his hand.
"Shot another one..." Whispered Kael to Darian.
After Darian created a new shard Kael modified the gravity for it.
"Now shot a smaller one to move it" Said Kael poiting the shard.
Darian created a smal shard that moved it,
The shard kept moving, but the enemy couldn't see it anymore because it was distracted, it probably couldn't even defend it self!
When the shard was perfectly on top of the enemy, Kael removed the gravity and the shard fell on top of the enemy.
The monster was hit in surprise, but it let out a deep, echoing roar. Everyone heard it… and so did the krukins.
A second monster, identical to the first, joined the fight.
"GUYS, HOLD THE FORMATION!" Kael called out, trying to keep everyone calm.
Liro and Lara were the most shaken, while Darian and Kael faced the new threat head-on. Allocen still battled the first monster.
'Tch… guess I'll have to use it' Allocen thought, dodging stings as his golem parried.
Darian threw up an ice wall to protect himself and Kael.
"Everyone! Get away from the monsters!" Allocen shouted. No one knew why, but they obeyed, he clearly had a plan.
He sent his golem to block one krukin while the other attacked it. Kael increased gravity around the second, pinning it to the ground.
Kael knew exactly what Allocen was doing now.
I hope it works, Allocen, Kael thought as blood began dripping from his eyes. His vision blurred, he had reached the first stage of soul strain.
"Deeper Actonium," Allocen said.
The ground turned black, small jagged spikes emerging from it. The monsters began to weaken, their movements slowing.
Allocen bled too, but his vision stayed clear, his soul was incredibly resistant, letting him use much more magic before reaching the final stages. Differently than all the group.
"Allocen, remove the golem, it's weakening too! I'll finish this!" Kael shouted.
Allocen nodded and dispelled it.
"MASS BLADE!!!" Kael roared.
A giant invisible blade slammed everything down. Kael pushed it harder, the black spikes sapping the monsters' strength. Lara kept healing him as he bled heavily.
But Kael couldn't hold it. The blade faded before flinging them away, and the monsters, though weakened, took flight.
Kael collapsed, badly injured.
Allocen and Darian tried to push the attack, but Darian's stamina was almost gone.
Then Liro spoke.
"Guys… we can win this. Trust me!"
The monsters were moving again, they had to act fast.
"Run with me! Allocen, have your golem carry Kael!"
Allocen did so, and the group sprinted into the forest.
"LIRO, DO YOU EVEN HAVE A PLAN?!" Darian shouted.
"Yes, Darian… trust me," Liro answered, his voice steady even with sweat running down his face.
The monsters were just behind them, luckly for the group, the krukins had to break the trees to get there, so this was slowling them a bit.
He led them toward the old city ruins nearby. They soon reached a shallow river flowing under a worn-down bridge.
"Darian! Freeze the river and make something to move us faster!" Liro yelled.
Darian understood, ice skates.
"Allocen, can you bury Kael and have him pop up past the bridge? I've seen you do it before," Liro asked.
Allocen nodded. The golem swallowed Kael, sending him underground and up again beyond the bridge.
"Allocen, send your golem to slow them down! Everyone, lift one foot then the other!" Liro ordered.
They obeyed. Darian conjured skates under their feet and froze the river solid.
The krukins destroyed the golem but couldn't stop the group as they sped away. Allocen steadied Liro, and Darian caught Lara before she fell.
"I didn't know you could skate, Allocen," Darian joked.
"I didn't either," Allocen replied, struggling not to lose balance.
The monsters shooted their stings, Darian was lucky enough to create a ice wall without losing his balance.
The enemy totally destroyed it with a strong attack.
'Ehi it could work...' thaught Liro while getting another magic ready.
The enemies were getting closer, and Liro created an illusion of another ice wall.
The enemies charged to destroy it, but because it was an illusion they completely lost their balance after the hit.
"Woah good attack Liro!" Said Darian while trying to move faster.
The monsters mad, gained ground, but Kael was ready.
As the group passed, the enemies were just behind them... but then Kael shouted, "SINGULAR GRAVITY!"
The bridge collapsed, crushing both krukins beneath it.
"Did… we do it?" Darian asked as the ice vanished from their feet.
"Liro, where did y—" he began, but a krukin burst from the rubble, bleeding but still able to fight.
"Don't worry," Allocen said, raising a hand.
A massive stone hand erupted from the ground, the golem. It grabbed the krukin and pulled it under, swallowing it whole.
"It wasn't dead... in fact once we were enough far I dispelled it so that it could defend us again" Said Allocen while breathing deeply.
Everyone dropped to their knees. The second krukin never reappeared.
They had won.
Snowy emerged from Darian's arm, and he passed out.
Liro carried Darian, while Allocen and his golem dragged the krukin's corpse, a new, strange species they'd never seen.
They found a safe spot in the ruins and rested.
It was almost midnight. They had been fighting for hours. Exhaustion claimed them the moment they lay down.