With the rain growing heavier, Erik and Jay split up. While Jay walked along the rooftop's left side, Erik walked along the right side. Their pace was slow, each stride taken with vigilance. Erik observed the monster's face that was following his movements, exposing its back to Jay.
Neither of the two exchanged a word or a glance, and yet they moved at the same moment. Erik rushed forward to the mutation that was awaiting him with open arms, whereas Jay targeted its large back.
"Why is it ignoring him...?" Scarlet murmured, confused that the monster only steered its attention toward Erik. It did not possess the ability to hear, smell, or see, so there must have been another way it detected enemies.
Erik jumped high up, raising his staff above his head and immediately swinging it vertically at the monster. However, with a sneering mouth, the black entity blocked the staff with its right forearm.
"Guess I've underestimated you." Erik sneered back, his confident smile still not changing.
In the meantime, Jay jumped on the thing's back and attempted to cut its right wing off—right where Alice tried to cut through back then. The wound had not finished healing up yet, thus it served as the right spot to strike. However, Jay failed to cut through even a quarter of the wing's root.
"Tch!" he clicked his tongue when the beast suddenly shook Jay off by spreading its wings and arching its back violently.
"Don't!" Erik yelled as the monster was about to turn around. He launched another attack, charging at it like a battering ram.
The monster tried to stop Erik and his staff with just one hand, but this time it severely underestimated Erik's strength, leading to Erik pressing through its grasp and landing a clean hit in its abdomen. Saliva shot from its mouth, and it let out a deafening growl as it hunched over. However, due to that attack, it forgot Jay, who charged up his sword with a cold aura.
It let out another painful scream when Jay's sword was thrown at its other unharmed wing. The coldness spread around its wing as the sword remained stuck there. The wing was not frozen whole, but a part of the roots was covered in ice, disrupting its wing movement. Now that both of its wings were damaged, the monster would avoid flying. Even if it could still fly, it would only hurt itself further.
Erik was about to attack the monster again, but to his surprise, the monster jumped. With its shadow looming over him, Erik could only stare dumbfounded.
"Argh!"
During its landing, it trapped Erik under its eagle-like foot, and was now facing the weaponless Jay before he could even react properly. The mutation slapped Jay to the fence with the back of its right long arm. The impact caused a great dent in the fence, but it still did not break.
The monster continued and kicked Erik into the air with its foot. Tensing up its arm, it wanted to land a fatal blow on Erik once he was almost touching the ground.
Erik, who was tossed into the air, smiled as if everything was still according to plan. When he started to lose altitude, Erik held his staff in front of him, hovering over the block-shaped end of his staff with his hand. The block illuminated, and it began to take on another shape. Suddenly, two long, half-crescent shapes appeared on each side of the staff's end, still glowing brightly. Erik cocked back his arm with the staff and gained speed during his fall. The light faded, revealing his newly shaped staff—an ax with two golden blades that were not connected to the staff and were instead, floating on each side.
Unfazed by the new weapon, the monster prepared to launch its heavy punch. Erik and the monster let out a battle cry as they were about to clash—with Erik ending up as the winner of it. The monster's arm was fully stretched out, but its hand was missing. Cut off cleanly, it fell to the ground.
The monster reached out to Erik with its claws out of rage, but its arm was flicked away by a kick from Jay.
"Ugh...!" Jay groaned. He kicked the monster without holding back, and yet, he felt probably as much—if not more—pain than the monster.
"Is it a mountain...?!" Jay grumbled.
"Don't let your guard down."
Pushed back, the mutation flung some of its blood from its wound at Erik and Jay, who protected their faces with their arms. Seizing that small time frame, it swung its claws once more at them.
Erik guarded Jay and himself by swinging his ax at the claws. Then, Jay launched another kick at its arm to flick it away from them. And without saying anything, Jay jumped back and landed on the ax's blades. Erik inhaled deeply before launching Jay at the monster. Jay shot toward the monster with his fist stretched out, trying to pierce through its thick and hard skin.
The mutation resisted the attack, but it could not help but roar in agony. Jay lost his momentum from Erik's launch, landed on the floor, and jumped up once more to deliver a punch to its chin.
"Four strikes..." Jay muttered sternly.
However, he was instantly caught up in its spiky antlers when it suddenly shook its head wildly. Jay's clothes and armor were shredded, and splatters of blood blended in with the rain, falling down together.
A loud bang echoed across the rooftop when the mutation punched Jay, sending him crashing near the entrance, where Scarlet and the others were still spectating.
Erik let his guard down for just a short moment, but that was enough for the monster to act. It grabbed Erik with its foot and threw him right to Jay, too.
"You still alive, Erik...?" Jay asked, his breath ragged. He was crawling his way out of the rubble that was burying him.
"Compared to you, I am..." Erik replied, coughing a few times as he lifted his upper body.
It was then that a shadow loomed over Erik.
"Do you need help?" Scarlet asked, her tone both annoyed and reluctant.
"We're good." Erik declined casually.
"How many hits do you still need, Jay?"
With a trembling hand, Jay showed Erik two fingers.
"Then, let's get to it." Erik stated, feeling a burst of motivation. He was the first to rush ahead. With the monster approaching him as well, he swung his ax.
The attack was dodged, but Erik followed up instantly as he jumped with his ax above him, targeting its head this time. Responding to that, the mutation jumped back, but betraying its expectations, Erik threw the ax purposely at its feet. The ax changed back to the staff and was caught by Jay, who managed to catch up to them.
Glaring at the monster, Jay swung the staff, to which the monster reacted by forming a vertical barricade with its arms. However, it was fooled again. Jay pretended to swing it at the mutation, but in reality, the staff was used like a pole, launching Jay up to let him kick the monster in its face.
"Five hits...!"
Now, Jay had successfully landed five physical blows consecutively, meaning that his exclusive skill [Hexacution] was about to activate.
But because all his blows did not deal much damage against that monster, it was able to counter quickly and landed a ferocious punch on Jay. And this time, Jay crashed into a fence—breaking it—and fell from the rooftop like a meteor.
"Jay!" Erik shouted worriedly. However, he, too, was hit by the enemy as its sharp claws left deep cuts on his body.
Erik quickly recovered from the surprise attack and painfully got on his feet again. Picking up his weapon, he analyzed his current situation. The duo was one blow away from a guaranteed win, but his partner was unfortunately sent down by a punch. Even if Jay arrived on the rooftop again, it would take a long time considering his state. In other words, Erik could either stall for time until Jay returned or he could finish it on his own.
"Looks like it's just us now." Erik huffed with a weak smile. Although it could be risky and tiresome, Erik decided to finish the monster on his own.
But as soon as he made up his mind, a helicopter appeared above them, its lights directed at the monster. A rope was let down from the helicopter, with a person using it to get down. And with wobbly feet, the person, who had just descended, greeted Erik with a tired smile.
"I'm back..." Jay stated, his body on the verge of breaking down. With each step he took toward Erik, he left behind a trail of blood. Looking at him, even a breeze was enough to make him fold on the spot.
"You could have rested down there, you know?" Erik sighed, his previous tension fading away in an instant.
"Can't let you hog all the glory..." Jay chuckled, his voice coarse.
Despite Jay being barely able to move, Erik was still happy to have him there.
"One hit left, right?" Erik said, glancing at Jay confidently.
"Do I look like I can deliver a blow...?" Jay retorted, laughing and bleeding out of his mouth at the same time.
Indeed. Jay could not land a blow that would register as painful by the monster, hence his skill would not activate.
"You're practically useless then..." Erik sighed again, shaking his head in disappointment.
The dark clouds in the sky lit up for a moment, followed by the roar of thunder.
"Just sit back and enjoy the show." Jay stated, smiling at the monster, whose attention was completely on the two.
"What show?"
And in a heartbeat, a lightning-charged spear landed right in front of their feet, causing cracks in the ground. That sparking spear came from far away, unnoticed by everyone. But most importantly, it left behind a clear trail.
It pierced right through the monster's left shoulder, tearing off its arm.
"This is what I call teamwork." Jay murmured proudly.