Battle preparations.

My classmates weren't entirely sure this would work.
But no one had any other ideas.

Alejandro: Even if everything goes, mostly, according to your plan, the kind of nara he might summon against us can potentially affect our chances of success. 

Xiomara: And let's not forget that there is still a chance he might have other weapons that we don't know about.

Leonel: True, but this is the best we can do.

Gabriela: Are we really going to be okay inside the wagon?

Leonel: You will be at risk going away and being alone. Technically speaking, you are safer if you are close to us.

Alejandro: I just hope I can do everything properly from inside the wagon. I've never really used my ability since we came to this world. 

Maria: Leo, even if you succeed, it would mean you would have killed a human being. Surely you are prepared to deal with the psychological burden that you will then carry for the rest of your life.

Leonel: I'll do it anyway. It's not like we have a choice.

A psychological burden was the least of my worries...

Alejandro: Leo is right. And if we don't win, the souls of Mateo, Agustin, and Marcus might just vanish forever. 

Faylinn: Heeeeyyy, aren't we all forgetting something?

Leonel: What is it?

Faylinn: We only have two regeneration amulets left. But Astra and I are not back to full health. Should we use the amulets or should we save them for when the battle ends?

Leonel: For now, we should keep relying on Astra's regeneration spell. With only two amulets and no healers in town, we might need to save the amulets for more serious wounds.

Astra: That sounds like a smart decision.

Leonel: Astra, you make sure to always carry the bow we modified, and make sure the copper wires are in your backpack.

Astra: I'll do it. Don't worry.

I was talking about the only weapon Astra would use, but only during emergencies, as she only had one shot. 

Gabriela: Uhm... I have a question. I know this might sound horrible, but... what will happen... if the bad person kills one of us? Should we stay in the wagon or should we run? 

Astra: Considering the positioning of everyone in Leo's plan, the one at highest risk of dying is Leo. And if he dies, then, for you, either running away or staying in the wagon won't make any difference. If Leo dies, our chances of defeating that person will vanish.

Astra was right. We could not afford to lose any of our members during the battle. 

Leonel: Guys, if no one has any further questions, then we should get ready to sleep. I know it's not night time yet, but this is the only time we know for sure he can't use his fire spell because it's probably still on cooldown. 

Astra: I will stand guard with Faylinn for now, since I have to stay awake to keep casting my regeneration spell. 

We prepared to sleep, while watching the townspeople slowly return to town. 

Six small campfires surrounded our wagon. They would be used once night fell, but for now, the sun was still out.

At some point, I woke up because I heard something.
Actually, it was more like I felt something. 

Alejandro was on guard duty when I woke up. I heard his voice: "Everyone, get up!" 

I left the wagon, but I saw nothing outside.
But I felt something like a small tremor. It wasn't quite an earthquake, but it was unsettling.

We had dealt with enemies that came out of the ground before, so this could be more of the same.

Leonel: Everyone! Stay in the wagon for now! Astra, Faylinn, you come with me! 

We joined Alejandro outside the wagon and looked around, but found nothing suspicious. It was already night time, but the campfires provided enough illumination.
If there was no one around, then our only potential enemy was beneath the ground.

Leonel: Girls, any idea on where the enemy will come from? 

Astra: If they had been targeting me and Faylinn the whole time, then I assume they will come out right behind us.

Leonel: Alejandro, let's keep our distance. We will wait until the enemy comes out. 

Faylinn: Astra, you are a mountain draconer, aren't you? Can't you feel the movements of the enemy beneath the ground? 

Astra: I'm sorry, but I don't have such an ability. If I did at some point, then I probably forgot about it. Amnesia can be a serious problem sometimes... 

Faylinn: Then can we force the enemy to come out?

Astra: That might be possible. This enemy seems to be adept at moving beneath the ground, but it probably has no experience swimming in lava.

Faylinn: Ohhhh, that's a good idea.

Faylinn and Astra held hands again and used their lava magic to turn a big area around us into lava, but they made sure to leave small parts of the ground intact so we could still move around. With large patches of lava everywhere, the enemy had no choice but to come out.

The tremors stopped, and a huge snake nara came out of a lava patch. 
It must have been at least twenty meters long, and its thickness was almost that of an average standing human. 

Faylinn: Uhm... Astra... how do we deal with this thing...? 

Faylinn was caught off guard after witnessing the unusual size of this enemy. 

Astra: Well, this is certainly something I've never seen before...

The creature decided to go after Faylinn, but Astra pushed her aside. As soon as the nara opened its mouth and tried to swallow Astra, she raised her arms, probably strengthened by magic, and prevented the nara from closing its mouth. 

Astra was now trapped inside the open mouth of this huge nara, using all of her strength to keep the creature's mouth open. 

Faylinn then tried shooting a large fireball directly into the creature's mouth but made sure she avoided hitting Astra with it.

I'm not sure what happened to the fireball, but the snake nara didn't seem to take any damage.

I tried to come up with some kind of strategy to deal with this creature; it didn't seem to have any known weakness. 
Only brute force would probably work on it.

Leonel: Faylinn! Punch the creature's head until you crack the skull, and then burn its brain! That's the only thing that might work! 

Faylinn jumped onto the creature's head while Astra was still struggling to avoid being swallowed.
She tried to punch the creature's head, but right before she could attack, the nara started shaking, causing Faylinn to fall. 
Astra jumped away from the creature's mouth, and then the nara tried to escape... or that's what we thought. 
It made a U-turn and then came back again. 
It seemed as if using brute force alone was not going to be enough.
Without any other options, we had no choice but to sacrifice one of the things we had prepared to defeat the bald bastard.