[center][@Zool][@Calle][@Saiyan][@Teyao][@Crusader Lord][@Zapdos][@Eviledd1984][/center] [center][@Calle][@Teyao][@Eviledd1984][/center] James, Arthur, Fenna and Joji's united offensive was enough to occupy Aurok the Maneater. This fact in of itself was astounding considering that between the four of them were three weapons and a single small blinding spell, and their enemy was monster of tremendous strength and magic. But it was their teamwork and natural sense of timing that made them effective. Aurok's fist broke the ground as it barely missed Fenna. Joji's quickness also got him in close as he dodged a swipe. James' blinding spell was enough to protect Fenna's falcon from being plucked out of the air as it headed north out of The Mazy Hillocks, taking the cube to safety. Arthur charged in, swinging his anchor up into a flash-freeze uppercut that broke through Aurok's magic resistance and wounded him. Joji and Fenna's combined attacks on the legs of the monster, was enough to pain Aurok and he began bucking and dancing, trying to kick the pesky adventurers with his mighty hooves. With a stroke of misfortune for Arthur was grabbed in one massive hand, anchor and all, then launched like a baseball into the sloping cliffside, bouncing off the rocky wall and going over the top. Such damage would have killed any of the others, but the Reaver of the Deep survived, his large tattoo rusting over as [i]Undaya's Gift[/i] resisted the deadly blow to save his life as it could once per day. But he was hurt and out of sight. Continuing to buck, dance and prance, to minimize damage until it could see again, Aurok still suffered from the sword and enchanted spear of Fenna and Joji. But it would take much more than these regular, fairly weak weapons to do any significant damage to Aurok. It backed away from them, starting to recover it's sight and then swept another gigantic arm to grab another body.......... [center][@Zool][@Saiyan][/center] [quote=A mighty bold weakling with a mighty bold claim] "I swear on god; if it is the last. Thing. I [i]Fucking[/i] do...!" then he turned to face him proper. "...I'm going to cut your fucking head off!" [/quote] [i]Fury. Vengeance. In their eyes. All over their face. Gone is their courage, for courage requires the presence of fear to exist. In place of it - fearless, reckless hate. They will gladly die if it means I die with them. Must be careful.[/i] [i]What a mess this has become.[/i] "Come try," were Zigmund's words as he pointed his sword toward the duo. The double-rush did not faze the assassin, nor did the speed of his opponents. Not the fluttering capes of blue and green as they attacked with all manner of movements. Not the combinations of high and low attacks from the varying angles. All of this, Zigmund was more than a match for. For all the fury and skill of Zell and MacKensie, they were still lacking in the Source required to provide significant difficulty to the powerful elemental ninja. However, what tipped the balance in their favour was that a portion of Zigmund's concentration had to stay on Aurok the Man Eater; who was going crazy behind him. Zigmund's sword parried Zell as he moved around, but everytime he pushed to stab the swordsman, MacKensie forced him to block her dagger attack. His head rocked to the side as a crossbow bolt pinged off his helmet, but he still managed to block a swordstrike, push Zell away with a foot and turn in time to meet MacKensie. He caught her daggerhand and raised the tip of his sword to the bridge of her nose. Before he could run her through, he was grabbed by Aurok the Man Eater, who he'd took his eye for one second and now paid the price. [center][@Zool][@Calle][@Saiyan][@Teyao][@Crusader Lord][@Zapdos][@Eviledd1984][/center] Zigmund slashed the centaur arm with his sword, causing great damage, but Aurok kept a grip of him and disarmed the ninja with a smash from his other giant hand. Up into the air Zigmund was raised, and Aurok took a bite out of the elemental ninja. Zigmund roared in pain as his arm, right up to the shoulder, was in the mouth of Aurok, but his armour stopped the assassin from losing his limb completely. Forced to use his most powerful attack, Zigmund, with his half-eaten arm, cast a giant explosion of Source, right in the throat of Aurok. It was loud, leaving all in the area with ringing in their ears. Zigmund was released and fell to the ground hard. He was hurt badly, and now he was out of energy. He put everything he had into that explosion. While everyone was reeling from the sound, Zigmund slipped away, climbed the cliffside and fled the battlefield, without his weapon, and almost without an arm. It wouldn't take long to recharge to full health and power. Some water and rest would do the trick. Next time he would face them without spending half of his magic sprinting through night and day. Next time he'd be at full strength. As for Aurok... The Man Eater was a dreadful sight. Zigmund's explosion had left the giant centaur with it's lower jaw hanging off by a hinge, aswell as a massive, gory opening in it's lower throat and chest. It was a wonder that the monster was still standing. It staggered around as it looked at the adventurers, blaming them for it's injury seeing as Zigmund was nowhere to be found. It knew it was eventually going to die, so it began casting one final attack - Earth magic in one of the most destructive spells. [i]Greater Tectonic Shift.[/i] It was a spell that caused explosive growth of giant spikes to blast out of all earth in the surrounding area. It was a nasty spell at the best of times. But here, in the labyrinth of earth and rock that was The Mazy Hillocks? With no [i]Greater Counter Spell[/i] or even [i]Lesser Counter Spell[/i] to shave off some of the power? No [i]Barrier[/i] or [i]Physical Damage Resistance[/i]? Death sentence. The ground was rumbling and as the Source gathered toward Aurok, a green swirling fizz in the air started to form a ball in front of the centaur. And then just before the final trigger, Arthur appeared atop the cliffside, bellowing a war cry as he ran and jumped off the precipice, his anchor once again covering up with permafrost, up the chain and up his forearms. He sailed through the air and lashed his anchor attack at Aurok, who caught him with one hand. But the length of the anchor's chain was too much and the anchor blasted right into Aurok's injured chest, reaching it's heart and killing the Man Eater right where it stood. The green energy orb disappeared and dispersed. The rumbling stopped. Arthur had saved them all. But he'd paid the ultimate price. For the razor sharp tail of Aurok had stabbed him through the heart in kind. Both the saviour and the monster had died in the same instant. The anchor dropped and clattered on the ground as Aurok backed up a step and fell with Arthur into the blackness of the gorge. Silence fell on The Mazy Hillocks. The battle was over. All that was left was for the battered and injured party to exit The Mazy Hillocks out north, and they would see the distant walls and towers of the city of Vahiem.