"It is very wriggly isn't it?" Keiji said with a nod of agreement. He had a feeling he wouldn't get much from her, but it was worth a try. Keiji turned back to the trio as the next round began. This time the Barbarian, or Ryuji as he was referred to by the bard, managed to score a hit on the Shambling Mound. While it was a good hit, made even better by the accompanying Cloud of Daggers, the two hits the Mound sent back made the damage is received look like a mere scratch. Had it not been for the Relentless Endurance granted to the Barbarian by his orcish blood, that would have been it for the first of the trio. That almost didn't even matter though, as it seemed that the Mound was more than content to eat its victims alive. It seemed Ryuji wasn't done just yet though. He still had the strength necessary to free himself from the creature's grasp.

The Bard acted next, hurling a psychically charged insult at the Shambling Mound and sending a Healing Word Ryuji's way to help get the Barbarian back on his feet. His actions were negligible, the Mound recoiled only somewhat from the attack and only the smallest of the Barbarian's injuries were healed. Meanwhile, Akuma remained where he was and performed no further action, opting instead to concentrate on his spell.

As the battle continued, Keiji reclined against a nearby tree as he watched. The Shambling Mound was soundly thrashing the trio, so it seemed to Keiji that, unless they had the sense to try running, they wouldn't be the convenient lead straight to Princess Tsukiko that he had hoped they would be. Still at least Keiji was getting some free entertainment. While the fight went on, Keiji looked over at Yuki. "You know you can drop the act, right?" Keiji asked "I already know you're just pretending, the Mound won't care, and the three soon to be dead men fighting it won't really be able to do much about it if they find out before the end, so no one would fault you for taking a break while no one you wouldn't want finding out about your facade is around".