Jax felt the crushing weight of the gorgon’s tail against his chest, even through his petrified state. The impact had been strong, like being struck by a falling tree. He was thankful for his Black Lead armor absorbing most of the impact. Without it, that blow would have most likely killed him just then.
He was thankful for Melayne creating such incredible armor.
He was on the ground, trying to move, but nothing he did could work. His body was frozen in place, only his senses and his thoughts working at the moment. He couldn’t even hear his own heartbeat.
Lucille arrived next to him, kneeling down to check his condition. Her hands moved quickly, searching for obvious injuries while keeping one eye on the ongoing battle. "You’re alright," she said, her voice steady. "You’ll unpetrify in a bit. Hang on."
She pulled out her bow and arrow, nocking it with great familiarity.
Jax wanted to ask if she had used a bow and arrow before this.
As the party leader, Lucille needed to coordinate their efforts while watching over Jax who recovered. Her mind was already calculating angles, timing, and the best way to support her teammates.
Ning was already engaged with the gorgon’s left head, his spear dancing in precise swings as he waited for an opening. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as he maintained constant motion, never staying in one spot for more than a second.
Melayne had taken position on the right, her runic sword trailing bright red and orange flames as she swung at the boss’s head on the right. The fire left behind a hissing sound with each strike on the gorgon’s body as she cut through its hide and into the flesh.
The gorgon was being steadily damaged.
Both fighters stayed in constant motions, their boots crushing the tall grass beneath them as they attacked and dodged. They were always watching for the devastating tail that had hit Jax. That thing was likely strong enough to kill them if it hit their unprotected head.
Lucille occasionally let out an arrow at the center head when she had a clear shot, but without any arrow-based spells or skills, her damage wasn’t significant. Still, every distraction helped, every damage added.
The gorgon’s three heads moved independently, each one a separate threat with its own mind. One would lunge forward with snapping jaws while another provided cover, forcing Ning and Melayne to constantly adjust their positioning. The creature’s intelligence was evident in how it coordinated these attacks.
This was worthy of being a boss of the 9th Carriage.
Ning noticed something.
"The neck!" he called out, spotting his opportunity. The left head tended to reach for its attackers in an attempt to bite them. In doing so, it exposed the first critical spot Ning needed to hit. "Melayne, distract this head.!"
Melayne immediately shifted her position, her boots crushing the thick grass as she moved to support Ning’s attack. Melayne took over for Ning, while Ning protected her from the other two heads.
For fighting together only just today, their coordination wasn’t bad at all. Melayne’s flaming sword was a bright thing for the gorgon to look at and focus on. Even the other two heads were sometimes distracted by the blazing blade.
"Now!" Ning shouted.
The left head came down toward Melayne like a striking snake, its fangs attempting to bite through her entire body. She spun on her heel, dodging the bite at the last second while bringing down her sword on the gorgon’s head.
One of the better ways to kill the gorgon was to slowly get rid of its head. It was difficult for her, but she could try.
Her blade landed on the side of the gorgon’s head, the blade immediately hissing as it jammed on the side of her. The smell of burnt flesh wafted onto her, making her choke. She nearly tasted it.
Ning dashed forward with incredible speed at the same time, his movement enhanced by one of his Spells. His legs were a blur as he closed the distance, spear held perfectly level. The critical spot was exposed for only a fraction of a second, but that was all he needed.
His spear lunged into the base of the left head’s neck, finding its mark, and striking the critical spot with perfect precision.
The gorgon’s painful shriek was deafening.
Melayne took a partial hit from the gorgon as it recoiled back in pain. She stumbled backward, feeling the impact through her entire shoulder. She stepped back a bit and steadied herself.
The gorgon suddenly began to change, and the transformation was disturbing to watch. Its body extended and elongated dramatically, bones cracking and reforming as it grew from twenty feet to nearly forty.
The creature’s proportions shifted, becoming more snake-like: a long and slender serpentine. Its three heads were thinner now, looking sharp like spears.
The grass around it was flattened in a much wider circle now, as the boss of the grassland entered its second form.
"So soon?" Ning said in quiet surprise. He had expected the beast to change phases after he hit the second spot, not just after the first. That meant that the beast had taken enough damage already that taking a single hit to one of its spots was enough for it to move on to the next phase.
’But we haven’t damaged it so much, have we?’ he thought. Jax had petrified right from the start, and Lucille’s arrows were more distraction than damage. Given his inability to hurt anything unless he hit one of the spots, it meant that all of the damage came entirely from Melayne.
But that didn’t make sense at all. Melayne hadn’t attacked enough to have damaged the boss to change its phase.
’What’s going on?’ he wondered. He was certainly missing something.
"It’s going to be faster now," Lucille warned. "Look out for its tail."
Ning turned toward the tail when he was warned. The tail was still docile, not coming to attack him.
The gorgon’s three heads turned toward Ning with killing intent at that same moment, its eyes beginning to glow that familiar dark yellow.
"Shit!"