Finishing Up.

“Gahaahahaha!” The monstrous creature bellowed, sending tremors throughout the dungeon.

“Tsk!” Astolat quickly runs to the monster’s backside, taking a wide stance and opening her arms wide.

In her hands, colorless energy, similar to lightning, forms a bow and arrow.

“Aaaaand- Fire~”

The white arrow quickly shoots toward the target, impaling onto the merged skin and scales.

“GRAAAAAAA!” The creature cries out in pain, but doesn’t sustain any substantial damage.

In return, the creature, whose body is similar to a Naga’s, a human's, and a snake-esque body, attempts to crush the purple-haired hero.

In an instant, Astolat disappears, then reappears beside Hiiro.

Hiiro had been joined by Eris and Nerissa. An unconscious Uda was tied up and dragged behind Eris.

“My attacks aren’t big enough to do any worthwhile damage… The longer we take, the more powerful it gets.”

“Miss Astolat? What is that crystal?” Hiiro asks.

“...Sorry, I can’t tell you… Just know that it produces a nearly infinite amount of mana, and could cause that ‘thing’ to become the next Spectre king!”

“What the hell is that!?” A new voice cut in.

Neia, Locke, Helia, and an unconscious Manako had arrived.

“It’s Absalon combined with that dragon.”

“Huh, gross!”

“Good to see you again, Miss Astolat!” Helia greets, doing her best to bow.

“Hello, Helia! I'm glad you’re… Okay… I'm sorry for all the trouble.” Astolat follows suit and bows her head.

“No, no, no! It’s not your fault! It’s that Osmond's fault!”

“Y-yeah! Let’s blame it on Osmond!”

“...” Neia looks on solemnly.

“Ah, I don’t believe we’ve met! I’m Astolat Anael, or Miss Astolat to you!”

“I-it’s a pleasure, I'm Neia Sampsa…”

“Ah! The Sampsa’s kid! I knew you looked familiar!”

“Um… Is now the right time for this?”

“Hm? Oh, uh, right!” Astolat turns towards the monster, who seems to be waiting in thought.

“We need to find a way to either separate Absalon and the dragon, or kill both of them.” Astolat looks back at the group. “Any suggestions?”

Silence falls over the group.

“My attacks could do it, but since he fused with the dragon, he's stopped that crystal from sending mana to us… If we were on the surface…”

“Hey, Brat! I’ve got a solution!”

“Is it to become its sword after it kills us?”

“No, no, I was joking! I’ve gotten enough mana now! We can do a flying slash with you, Kiru!”

“Eh? Isn’t that, like, overpowered?!”

“That’s what you get with a Living Artifact, and one that works best for you, too!”

“Hiiro, what are you muttering?” Eris asks him.

“I’ve got it!”

“Eh?”

“I have a way, you guys just have to give me an opening!”

“... Alright, let's do it!”

The group discusses their roles, deciding on a lineup of-

“Nerissa and I will focus on drawing its attention. Hiiro will hide using Locke’s smoke, and the rest will remain here with the captured and wounded!”

“LET'S HAVE SOME FUN!” The monster yelled as it suddenly escaped its state of thinking.

“Go!”
The four instantly spring into action.
A smoke cloud rolls in from up the path; luckily, Manako’s fight against Shaw produced plenty of smoke.

This smoke obscured the area surrounding the monster.

“What are you doing? It won’t work!”

ZZZT!

Colorless arrows shoot toward the monster from multiple points.

“Graaaah Enough!” The monster blocks the arrows with its long, writhing hand. In response, it shoots scalding hot water towards the final arrow.

From the steam dissipating the fog, the monster could see that its attack was ineffective.

Suddenly, the two Spirits spun around its head like tweeting birds. These were quickly dealt with by another tentacle-like hand.

Suddenly, a large, drill-shaped, colorless form appears overhead.

“GRAAAOR!” The monster attempts to smash the drill to bits, only to realize the construct had been a thing sheet.

“Now!”

“KIRU!”

The smoke dissipates as a slash travels towards the monster.

“NO!” The beast quickly identifies the attack. It only takes a moment to reach for its savior, one of the injured. Its tentacle-like limb attempts to grab Manako, but fails.

In its tentacles, a blond-haired, heterochromatic-eyed girl stares back at it.

“Hehahahaha!” The monster holds it up to the attack.

Shit! Astolat watches on in horror. The kids' attack will only cut one thing; by holding her up, it will negate the attack, shit!

Astolat begins to attempt to save her, but she sees a shocking scene.

In the monster's hand, Neia smiles at it just before the blade strikes.

“Hah!” Neia Samsa disintegrates into sludge just before the attack lands.

“NOOOOO!”

TSING!
The blade slices through the monster, separating the hummonoid half and the serpentine half.

“Y- YEAH!”

🕮🕮🕮🕮🕮🕮🕮

The body of the monster collapsed to the ground, slowly fading into dust and falling to the ground.

The group gathers around the injured.

“Miss Astolat?” Manako asks upon waking up.

“Manako! How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay…”

“I’m sorry you got caught up in this,” Astolat says, bowing at her waist.

“I-it's okay! Really! I-I’m happy I came!”

“Really?!”

“Y-yeah, I made a… Friend!” Manako’s eyes drift around, looking for the scary-eyed Neia. “W-where’s Neia?”

“O-oh, she’s around here somewhere!”

“Okay…”

The two continued their conversation until a large number of footsteps could be heard.

“They're here!”

Multiple dozen people in dark blue uniforms stormed down the dungeon.

“Miss Astolat!”

A man and a woman approach Astolat.

“Miss, we’ve found Anzo Bernard! He had already passed away.” The man reported.

“We’ve also Secured A dracoling, who had also deceased!” The woman explains.

“Very good, take the girl in black there into custody… Also, go secure the dragon's and Absalons' corpses and the Cargo that was stolen!”

“Yes, miss!”

The uniforms moved to the corpse of the monster.

Locke and Hiiro had kept an eye on the monster, watching for any movements.

After a few moments, voices call out.

“Miss, neither the Cargo nor the corpse of Absalon Ramorski are present!”

“What?!”

–

“Haah! Haah!” Absalon's heavy breathing echoed through the passage as he runs. The passage had been revealed once the monster, which was him, had collapsed. He then sneakily ran inside, attempting to run.

He had finally reached the exit, a sprawling forest spreading out before him. Rain trickles down, playing a song.

“Heh, Heh, Haahhaahhahaha!”

“What's so funny?”

Absalon freezes, turning to find a red and blue light approaching him from the darkness.