Ending of Battle

"Why won't my attack go through? THINK!" Aki yelled, striking his head with his palm, "I only have fifteen more minutes before Berserker Soul wears off, so think!" he opened his status window and verified his current level: fifty-one. 

Meanwhile, Ao continues its attack, releasing a torrent of water, poison & acid attacks, hoping to inhibit its movement. 

"How were the Hellhounds able to damage the Ice Hawk?" Aki recalls the beginning of the fight, "They were able to deal physical damage with claw and bite the wings, but when I tried to strike it, it didn't work," with the sounds of Ao's attack catching his attention. 

"That weird?" Aki muttered, noticing Ao's water attack was able to reach the Ice Hawk before freezing, but the poison & acid attacks were being diverged slightly. "Why is that happening?", closing his eyes for a brief second, and began to process all the things that had happened.

"THE MEISNNER EFFECT!" Aki muttered, "The naturally freezing air emitting from the Ice Hawk's body acts similarly to a superconductor that repels anything coming into contact with it."

The Meissner Effect refers to the expulsion of the magnetic field when a superconductor is cooled below a certain temperature, creating a phenomenon similar to levitation. 

"That's why the Hellhounds kept attacking with fireball first because they were trying to disperse the cold air." Aki deduced, "The only question is how to replicate it, or rather, how were the previous Adventurers able to deal damage to the Ice Hawk then?" 

Aki suddenly caught a glimpse of a sword with a red stone on the crossguard, still lodged in the Ice Hawk's nape.

"I see now!" Aki yelled, taking out a firestone from his item box, and began to enhance a sword, “My craftsman's title should allow me to enhance the sword with a fire attribute," he muttered, after receiving his title became: Apprentice Craftsman, after repairing so many weapons.

The sword began to glow bright red, and after a split second, the sword shattered with the firestone crumbling into the air.

"What just happened? Why didn’t it work?" Aki questioned, " Is it because I'm only an apprentice craftsman?" he realized, losing hope. 

Ao’s torrent of attack suddenly began to slow down as his stamina & mana reached their limit, with the Ice Hawk using that moment to swat Ao away into the distance. 

"AO, NO!" Aki yelled, “THINK!............. If I can’t enhance the entire sword, maybe I can enhance just the tip of the sword, or rather, a spear tip!" He took out a spear from his item box and began to infuse it with a firestone. "Come on, work!" He prayed, with his hands shaking.

The spear tip began to glow bright red before disappearing and leaving the spear tip with a small spherical dot in the center, with the metal around it showing fracture lines. 

"DAMN IT!" Aki yelled, throwing the spear directly at the Ice Hawk to discard it, landing a few inches away, followed by a fiery explosion. 

"It worked?" Aki questioned, watching the explosion engulf the Ice Hawk as it screeched in pain. "Let go with it for now," he quickly enhanced the remaining five spears inside his inventory. 

Aki quickly approached the Ice Hawk as it flapped its wings and finally extinguished the flames, before another spear landed in front of it, followed by another explosion. Aki proceeded to run up the body of the Ice Hawk as it lay on the ground, and proceeded to slice through multiple tendons on the right wing before retreating. 

"I only have a five to ten second interval before the cold air returns," Aki deduced, throwing another spear towards the Ice Hawk, * Javelin Throw* + *Critical Shot*

After taking repetitive attacks, the Ice Hawk began to screech loudly as it finally recovered from Ao's poison and began to take off. Aki quickly aimed his last spear at the body, but ended up striking the left wing, throwing its balance off, and allowed it to descend low enough for him to grab onto its talons. The Ice Hawk decided to use its remaining strength to shake off the persistent human and began to enter an ascending motion, followed by an imminent dive, with a High G-force of eighteen.

G-Force, or Gravitational Force, is a term used by pilots and racecar drivers to calculate the force of gravity they are experiencing upon extreme acceleration. 

Trained pilots can remain conscious during a G-force of nine, while most people will start to become unconscious between five and six. 

Aki began to climb up the Ice Hawk's back, with his hand slowly turning bluer as frostbite began to take place, finally reaching the sword that was stuck in the nape. He proceeded to grab hold of the sword and attempted to pull it out, sending a jolt of immense pain to the Ice Hawk's brain receptors. The Ice Hawk began to fly erratically, giving up its attempt to shake Aki off, and started to ascend back home, shattering the frozen Water Barrier that sealed the hole shut.

Due to the earlier attack from the Hellhounds, the Ice Hawk was finally able to regain full mobility of its wings that prevented it from flying home, and started to fly upwards, heading straight towards a white light in the sky. As it began to gain altitude and speed, the Ice Hawk suddenly collided with an invisible barrier and began to free-fall downward. 

"Why can’t I leave?” the Ice Hawk questioned, staring at the white light above, before feeling the pressure from its neck being released, followed by a human crawling on its chest. 

"I'm sorry, but it looks like you aren’t able to leave either," Aki apologized with his entire body shifting from blue to red, as he froze and unfroze rapidly. He proceeded to quickly complete his firestone enhancement to the sword, with the blade's color turning from silver to a dark red.

“This is it!!!!, Aki yelled, with the dark red flames engulfing the entire sword, as he plunged the sword downwards. "BURN!!" He yelled, with the sword piercing through the cold barrier, through the sky blue feather, and directly into the heart. 

The Ice Hawk began to cry in pain, trying to shake off the human that was present, holding onto the flaming sword as it engulfed his entire body. At this moment, the Ice Hawk saw a large shadowy figure with bright white eyes behind Aki and immediately froze in fear.

Aki continued to hold onto the sword for as long as he could, even when his entire hand was engulfed in flames, before finally letting go as his hand and arms were reduced to charred, landing on an ice shelf. 

The Ice Hawk, unable to muster the strength to fly, stared down at the ice-covered ground and felt that maybe death would release it from this prison, and accepted death as it crashed into the ground. 

As the frozen air cleared away, Ao began to look for Aki, bouncing around the Ice Hawk's body, and couldn't find him.

"Up Here!" Aki softly cried, with Ao quickly flying upwards by shooting a stream of water backwards, landing next to Aki on the ice shelf. 

Aki's entire upper torso was charred, with both his arms missing, and Berserker Soul reaching its final two minutes as it attempted to heal the immense damage. 

"I’m sorry, Ao," Aki apologized, "I promise you we will bring your master to see the Sun again, but I don’t think I would be able to," he cried, with a single tear falling from his white eye socket and his jaw dislocating. 

Ao attempted to heal Aki, but due to his current mana reserves, he couldn't use any skills other than Water Shot. Ao started to weep, upset that he was going to lose another master and, once again, be alone in the darkness.

Suddenly, the sound of Shrimpy chipping loudly could be heard as it echoed inside the frozen cavern, followed by the sounds of barking and panting. 

During the fight, Shrimpy was in charge of keeping any new Hellhounds that spawned asleep and inside the Boss's room. When Aki was farming levels by killing Hellhounds, Shrimpy was able to unlock a sleep & taunt skill. Shrimpy felt his bond with Aki was diminishing and immediately brought the pack towards them in hopes of extending Aki's life.

When a tamer's monster defeats another monster, a portion of the experience is given back to the master, which helps raise their levels. 

Ao immediately knew Shrimpy's intention and proceeded to jump down, engaging the pack of Hellhounds in hopes of extending Aki's Berserker Soul. 

After defeating the current pack of Hellhounds, Ao knew another pack was going to spawn in another three minutes and began to head towards the boss room. 

While Ao continued towards the boss room, Shrimpy began to fly up to Aki, carrying Aki's special jacket in its tiny talons, and finally arrived on the ice shelf. Shrimpy proceeded to carefully cover Aki's exposed charred torso and began to lie next to his head, hoping his tiny body would grant him a bit of warmth as he recovered.