Chapter 260 - Multi-faceted foes
The party sprang into action as the [Lava Hydra] loomed before them. One of its fiery heads lunged downward, flaming jaws agape, but Fynn was ready. He leaped into the air, his form wreathed in a swirling green tempest. Their clash sent a sweltering shockwave rippling through the chamber.
Shin charged forward, his sword held high, its blade gleaming with an otherworldly light. Meanwhile, Allyssa’s hands moved with practiced efficiency, retrieving a handful of vials from her bandolier.
The hydra’s remaining heads reared back, strange guttural roars echoing off the chamber walls. Before them, tiny motes of flame coalesced, growing rapidly into pulsing orbs of fire. Rosa’s music swelled just as six searing beams erupted from the hydra’s maws.
Shin brought his sword down in a smooth arc, unleashing a blast of argent light that collided with one of the beams. Allyssa’s vials sailed through the air, exploding into shimmering curtains of ice that partially deflected two more. Scarlett conjured three thick barriers of water, which met the remaining attacks head-on, bursting into billowing clouds of steam that momentarily obscured the battlefield.
“Rosa,” Allyssa grumbled, reaching for more flasks as her crossbow now bounced securely holstered against her hip, “I’m blaming you for this.”
The bard’s fingers danced across the keys of her klert, coaxing a blend of harmonising notes. “When I asked for ‘dramatic’, I didn’t mean this,” she replied. “I know the gods aren’t my biggest fans, but surely they wouldn’t go this far just to teach me a lesson.”
“I don’t know…” Allyssa’s words trailed off as she hurled another vial into the air. The steam parted, dispersed by a strong gale, revealing Fynn clinging to one of the hydra’s heads. Flames licked at his arms, but somehow his claws still found purchase on the creature’s immaterial form. Allyssa’s flask shattered beneath the beast, splintering into a rapidly expanding block of ice that Scarlett immediately set to converting into water.
Seemingly irritated by the pest on one of its heads, the [Lava Hydra] flung its neck upward. Fynn allowed the momentum to carry him, soaring dozens of meters into the air. As he plummeted back towards the boss again, three heads turned to meet him, jaws agape and brimming with flame. At the last moment, Fynn twisted in mid-air, moving and evading their attacks with impossible agility. His claws tore into one of the hydra’s necks as he fell, leaving a trail of ghostly green in his wake.
The remaining heads swiveled towards Scarlett and the others. Two began charging fiery attacks again while the others lunged forward. Scarlett shaped her water around them in a protective barrier, blocking the first attacks. One of the lunging heads also aimed directly at her and Rosa, but the bard cranked her instrument and cast another charm. The air before them shimmered as a minor illusion took shape, concealing their forms as they hurried to dodge to safety.
A wave of near-blistering heat washed over them as the hydra’s head slammed into the ground where they had stood moments before. Scarlett then gathered all the water at her command, shaping it into a colossal, shimmering blade. With a powerful downward sweep, she brought it crashing onto the hydra’s exposed neck like a scythe. Steam shot forth as liquid met flame, and Scarlett could feel the creature’s incorporeal body resist her magic. Gritting her teeth, she pushed through, cleaving the head clean off.
The wounded neck recoiled, a sound like burning brimstone filling the air. As the severed head began to lose cohesion, Scarlett seized control of the flames, funneling them towards the chamber’s entrance where the Emberling stood, motionless. The fire was absorbed into its tiny form, just as it had done with the elementals before.
It’d be a waste to simply let it disappear.