This was it! The opening they had been clawing for! Hope stirred on the battlefield as the companions watched the monster buckle again and again under the relentless storm of attacks from Ethan and Samantha.
The damage was no longer something that required them to guesswork. It was visible to their naked eyes. Bone shattered, the blackened flesh tore and not closing anymore. The oppressive aura flickered weakly instead of crushing down without resistance like before. The monster looked overwhelmed.
The barrage was still ongoing, bullets and arrows ripping through the air in blinding streaks and for that moment the others could only stare in stunned awe.
They hadn't known Ethan and Samantha were capable of something like this. They hadn't imagined such overwhelming ranged power was waiting behind them all this time.
Victor used the opening to disengage. He forced the bone blade aside and leapt back toward Nadine and positioned himself between her and the monster again out of pure instinct.
"You alright?" He checked her quickly. His hands were hovering, ready to catch her if she fell.
"I'm fine. Don't worry." Nadine stayed on her feet with teeth clenched, one hand pressed hard against her wounded shoulder. The pain was clear on her face but she remained standing.
Behind them, Ethan and Samantha finally allowed themselves to breathe.
They glanced at each other with relieved smiles. They had done it. They had forced the monster to stagger. They had broken its momentum.
But even as that relief settled in, the grim reality followed close behind.
Ethan's arms trembled violently as he kept firing, the pistols screaming louder with broken sounds. His Ether reserves were almost gone, burned down by the overdrive.
"My MP is almost empty," he growled through clenched teeth. "I can't keep this up much longer."
Samantha felt the same thing. A deep hollowness spread through her body, the familiar exhaustion of having poured out far too much of her MP at once. She forced her body to steadied her stance.
"Me too," she said tightly. "I'm running low. This skill will be stopped soon."
The bow in her hands vibrated weakly, the glow around it flickering.
"Our skills pushed us past the limit and manage to give that fucking monster this much damage, that's good. But…" Ethan said, voice strained as another volley tore free. "Once this ends…"
"We're done," Samantha finished for him.
Neither of them looked away from the battlefield. They both knew it. When their barrage stopped, they wouldn't be able to help again for a while.
"GROAAAAHHH!!!"
At that moment, the monster roared again.
This time, there was no renewed healing surge or frantic knitting of flesh, or attempt to restore what was broken in his body. The wounds remained open, black blood spilling freely as the mist thinned and scattered unevenly.
The reason was obvious. The monster had stopped caring. Consumed entirely by rage, he abandoned recovery and poured everything into full offense instead.
The Ether from the mysterious Source surged through him without restraint, raw and unstable. It was warping his movements to become more violent and unpredictable. The aura around him twisted sharply, no longer just suppressive but explosive.
Fear and grim realization rippled through the companions again.
Myles felt it too. His chest tightened as he tried to move faster to step forward. But pain tore through his body the instant he moved slightly faster, dragging him back down, forcing him to grit his teeth and endure as precious seconds slipped away.
The monster moved through the chaotic barrage that was still going. The bullets and arrows rained on his body, destroying chunks from his blackened flesh but he didn't slow. He didn't flinch. The monster just let the damage happen.
His eyes locked forward, driven by nothing but fury.
Then he vanished from where he stood.
The next instant, Daniel took the hit.
"Urgh!"
The monster appeared in front of him without warning and drove a brutal punch straight into his chest.
The impact let out terrifying sounds. Daniel was launched backward, his body skidding violently across the cracked street before slamming into debris of a building.
The monster didn't stop. He turned and lunged again, chaining his movement into Clara.
He twisted and slammed his bone-coated arm into Clara before she could fully react.
The blow caught her across her body and crushed the air from her lungs. Her spear slipped from her grasp, shards of ice scattering as she was hurled across the ground and rolled hard before coming to a stop.
George stepped in immediately. He raised his hammer on instinct alone. But he didn't get the chance to swing and blocked instead.
The monster crashed into him with incredible speed. Bone and flesh met the rune-etched metal of the hammer with a thunderous impact.
George skidded backward, his legs carving deep lines into the street as his hammer was torn from alignment.
He barely stayed upright before a follow-up strike smashed into his shoulder and sent him crashing down to one knee, the runes on his weapon flickering erratically.
Ryan and Kade moved together, trying to intercept from opposite sides.
The monster turned with inhuman speed. His elbow smashed into Ryan's spear shaft and shattered the light construct in a burst of fractured brilliance.
The backlash threw Ryan off his feet, his body spinning before he slammed into a fallen lamppost with a painful thud.
Kade roared and charged anyway. His gauntlets flared as he drove a burning punch into the monster's ribs. The hit landed. The monster's flesh ruptured and Kade could feel his bone cracked.
The monster didn't care.
He answered with a brutal backhand that smashed into Kade's chest and sent him flying across the street.
Kade tumbled end over end before skidding to a stop, embers sputtering weakly from his gauntlets.
Then the monster stopped. He stood amid shattered and broken ground, his chest heaving as black blood dripped freely from wounds that no longer closed.
Pain coursed through him in violent waves, sharp enough to force a snarl from his throat. In front of him stood Nadine and Victor.
They hadn't moved yet because they were still in shock that held them frozen as they stared at the carnage left in seconds.
The monster's gaze locked onto them. Fury burning so intensely it drowned out everything else.
The street fell into a brief, terrible stillness.
Then black shadows like tentacles emerged from the ground under the monster.
"KHAAAA!!!"
The monster screamed in pain. His blood spurted out violently.