God damn asshole.

Zoey gritted her teeth as she was swatted across the cavern once more, for the umpteenth time.

Barely collecting herself, she found her world a blur of motion and color as the Queen snatched her by the feet, teeth struggling to punch more than an inch or two into her legs as it shook her around, slamming her side to side on the ground.

Damn thing has lost its fucking mind!

On one hand, whatever Rory was doing was working; its body was re-solidifying, and even occasionally it would shriek out in pain.

The downside was that it had gone fucking berserk.

The golems she had been fighting alongside had long been reduced to rubble, leaving Zoey to take the brunt of the Queen's rage lest it pursue Rory. Without the upgrade of her crystal skin skill into Sword-Steel Skin, she would have been murdered by now.

Even with the improvement, it was doing an absolute number on her. Her left arm was broken, her ribs were shattered, and gods knew how much else she had suffered through. It was only because her body had been fused with metal that she was able to keep moving, the sturdy 'organic metal' flesh acting as a brace for her broken bones and shredded body. The minute she dropped the skill, she reckoned she wouldn't be moving again for quite some time.

It was their fault, really. In video game terms, it was like facing a raid boss with two people. Sure, they were some of the best of the best, but God damn did it not make it any easier.

Fuck!

Raising her shield in time, a lance of hyper-concentrated napalm slammed into her, even her heavy promethium shield wavering against such a concentrated attack.

It was Zoey's turn to take on the monster, and she wasn't having fun.

God damn it. I just wanted to explore some cool and strange places. How the hell did I end up the chew toy for a dinosaur?

The only reason she had to believe that they were gaining ground was that their molten form was scaling over, slowly morphing into an entirely new form. Its fins were gradually reshaping into what looked like legs; its neck thickened and shortened, and its face reshaped into something less angular.

Or so she hoped that it was a good sign.

God damn it, Rory, please hurry up.

As fast as Rory was about sprinting throughout the cavern to each pillar, the process of setting up interlocking bound circles to safely funnel oblivion energies into the pillars was not quick. Aside from the first attempt at modulating an oblivion injection system – a more science-y sounding term than what was actually happening – Rory had opted not to activate the rest of the bound rituals. He planned to have them all activate at the same time, preventing any reinforcements from occurring one after another as they each were neutralized simultaneously.

Plus, the feedback of even one pillar being neutralized from the oblivion energies was enough to send the Queen into a frenzy, as evidenced by Zoey being tossed about like a ragdoll. If he didn't activate them in tandem, Rory was afraid the monster would tear her apart even with her metal body.

As annoying as it was to be forced to take his time, at last Rory managed to set up the series of bound circles around each pillar. Nodding to himself, he slammed his staff down on the ground as glowing tendrils of energy shot off in six different directions, interacting with the six pillars that remained.

Having taken care of that, Rory turned to squint at the Queen as it 'fought' Zoey.

Ah fuck, my golems! God damn, those took forever to make.

Aside from the fact that his golems had been reduced to scrap, Zoey wasn't faring well. He couldn't really blame her; compared to when he had been forced to face it solo, it was faster and stronger, and she was facing it alone. The few golems that had remained were destroyed in short order. Hell, the fact that she was still even in one piece was rather remarkable, given she was fighting an enraged tier eight monster. About to rejoin the battle, Rory paused as he had a sudden idea.

Huh. You know… I could probably do it myself now.

Rory wasn't sure exactly what triggered it, perhaps the thought of a tier eight monster. Still, he was suddenly reminded of his once-reliable railguns. Back when he had first utilized them, he could barely manage even to throw a fireball on his own.

Now?

Etching a single bound circle around him with his staff, Rory then pointed it forward as he locked onto the Queen. From all around him, what looked like tiny little metallic scraps were drawn toward him, spinning and fusing into what looked like an elongated spike, floating just above his staff like a round ready to be chambered into a sniper rifle.

Or a rail into a railgun.

Earth Soul to draw in metal dust and scraps, forming them into a projectile.

Arcs of electricity began to flare up, then even out, creating static in the air.

Manipulation of electricity to enable electromagnetic propulsion.

Golden circles appeared running down the length of the staff, like a tunnel formed of golden light.

Magic circles with runes to accelerate.

Finally, what looked like guardrails of crystal flickered into existence.

And projections imbued with my lattice affinity to absorb the excess and 'direct' it all.

Taking a deep breath, Rory imagined himself mentally pulling a trigger, as a titanic boom rang out, shoving him back a step as the floating metal spike was launched forward, accelerating as it passed through each magic circle, reaching hypersonic speeds by the time it reached the end of his staff.

Hundreds of meters away, the rail reached the Queen all but instantly, slamming into the hardening stone 'skull' that had been reforming around its head. Only moments from whipping Zoey around once more like a chew toy, its head snapped to the side as it lost its balance from the force of the projectile, the stone skull shattering as it roared out its displeasure.

"Hot damn, it worked," Rory grinned as he prepared the next strike. He still wasn't capable of firing off rounds as fast as his most advanced railguns, but the proof was in the pudding; he could otherwise match his former weapons all on his own.

Giving Zoey the reprieve she so desperately needed, Rory laid down covering fire, hypersonic metal spikes slamming into the beast. With each impact, the rate at which its body was reforming accelerated, now looking like a weird fusion of Pliosaurus and some ancient mammal predator he'd seen in some documentary or another.

"Enough!"

The Queen, having been at the mercy of Rory's faux railgun, slammed its paws –because its fins had now definitely crossed the threshold from fin into proper legs – onto the ground. All at once, the pillars, which had been losing their energy, exploded as they were prematurely drawn back into her. Her energies reclaimed, her body underwent the remainder of its transformation. No longer did she look like an ancient aquatic animal; it was undeniably an ancient 'mammal' ancestor, except made of reforged stone and scales.

Attempting to continue firing upon the reforged Queen, Rory frowned as the rails burnt up before reaching her, a shimmer of heat and primeval energies destroying the projectiles.

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Some missile nullification skill?

Whatever it was, it was clear that it was time for Rory to rejoin Zoey. Jogging over, Rory was next to Zoey only a handful of seconds later.

"Andrewsarchus."

"Huh?" Rory raised his eyebrows at Zoey, who shrugged one shoulder.

"It's a transformation. It looks like an Andrewsarchus."

"And you know that…why?"

"I like dinosaurs and ancient animals."

"Right," Rory muttered. "How are you doing?"

"Not great," Zoey answered honestly as they turned their gaze back toward the Queen, who was still slamming her paws onto the ground, like a child throwing a tantrum. "Remind me not to fight any more tier eights until we're tier eight."

"Time to finish this, then?"

"I'd say so," Zoey said, surprisingly nonchalant given her overall state.

"Oh, quick question."

"Yeah?'

"Does that hurt?" Rory vaguely waved at her, his meaning clear.

"Oh, ungodly amounts, yeah."

"Good to know."

Short lull over, the Queen finally turned her attention back to the duo.

"You. Rats. Must. Die."

"Real way with her words," Rory snorted.

"Yeah, quite the charmer," Zoey agreed as she shot forward, catching an overhand smash from the monster. While it apparently resembled an 'Andrewsarchus' as Zoey had mentioned, Rory had doubts that the gorilla-esque paws would have been found on whatever dinosaur she'd been referring to, its ability to rear up on its hind legs like that of a bear or perhaps a gorilla.

With Zoey doing her best to hold back the rampaging monster, Rory summoned an oversized maul from his inventory. If he couldn't rely on ranged attacks, he would do it the old-fashioned way.

Slipping to the side and doing his best to remain undetected thanks to a careful manipulation of the light around him in tandem with a room gem, Rory managed to sneak behind the rampaging monster. Aiming, Rory swung the hammer with as much power as he could, the heavy hammer head crunching into one of its knees.

The Queen attempted to swipe at him, but he was already moving out of the way, Zoey taking his place and catching the strike on her shield, grimacing as she did.

Probably shouldn't drag this out, Zoey doesn't look like she can hold up for much longer.

Preparing another swing, Rory flinched. For just a brief moment, it was as if he heard a buzzing in his ear, like something demanding his attention.

Not right now.

Assuming it was just something Eon-related or some notification or another – perhaps he'd gained some basic weapon handling skill that really didn't do anything – Rory returned his focus to crushing another joint.

Or so he tried. The Queen was still far from helpless as her back leg kicked out, catching Rory in the chest and launching him backward like someone skipping a stone.

Fuck that hurt.

Lying on his back, Rory could feel that something had cracked inside him, though what exactly was unknown, nor did Rory care much for the moment.

Jerking back to his feet, Rory thought for a brief instant before several golden circles appeared, his projected boomerangs appearing.

"Go."

It was difficult to determine whether they would be considered projectiles or not, but it was worth a try. Racing forward, Rory was back in an instant as he swung an empty grip down toward one of its paws. Just before impact, his maul reappeared in his hand, crushing its stone toes and claws into dust.

Again, the Queen attempted to spin around, this time trying to catch him between her wickedly sharp fangs, but rather than find Rory, a swarm of razor-blade boomerangs swept through the air, striking her face. The boomerangs had no effect, but the subsequent explosions did, temporarily blinding her as Rory brought the maul down again, aiming precisely for its joints and vulnerable spots.

Whatever boundless vital energies it had possessed before, which allowed it to push through injuries and even resist damage, had been worn out after the prolonged harassment during the battle. Its attempt at utilizing an empowering domain skill had backfired when Rory had effectively neutralized it, cutting the energy it had even further.

Only a little more.

They were winning. Rory felt confident about that. They just had to push a little more, hold out a little longer. The cost had been bloody insane, burning through gems and, most importantly, his golems, but they were nearing the end.

Just a little more.

"I. Will. Not. Go. Alone."

Turning her hateful gaze to focus entirely on Zoey, Rory felt a chill.

Oh. That's bad.

Previously, it had been trying to win, but it was as if something had changed; its internal calculus indicated it would die regardless.

Facing death, rather than wasting her time on the ever-slippery Rory, it seemed intent to bring Zoey with her, already severely damaged and unable to call upon her attribute inversion this late into the battle.

Turning up its ferocity to an eleven, the Queen ignored Rory entirely as she began to rain down a barrage of smashing strikes upon Zoey, her shield little more than a mangled mass of metal, her metal body covered in stress fractures and even bubbled up in some places like a burn blister.

"God damn it, hey, over here!" Rory shouted as he tried to split its attention back on him. Zoey could take a lot of punishment, but for the first time ever, Rory could tell she was reaching the end of her rope, panting and wavering in a way he had never seen before. Grabbing a gem from her own inventory, Rory saw Zoey pop it into her mouth, which must have been a gem to restore some small trickle of vital energy. Yet she'd taken enough throughout the battle that Rory knew its effectiveness would be minimal.

And he wasn't the only one.

Rory swore he saw the Queen grinning maliciously, a tongue of lava swiping over its jowls.

At last, the worst occurred. Unable to maintain her metal body skill any longer, Zoey collapsed to her knees, blood instantly pouring down her body from every orifice and spurting from her skin itself. That alone would have been a terrible sight. It was made worse when the Queen literally pounced on the opportunity, with a single lunge, her jaws snapped closed.

Right over Zoey's head.

"No!" Rory shouted, slamming his hammer upon its body with a frantic energy, but it was too late. With her defenses dropped, Zoey was left vulnerable; all that would remain would be a headless corpse that-

Boom.

Rocked by an explosion from within, the Queen reeled, its eyes wide in surprise. Releasing Zoey's corpse, what surprised Rory first was that her corpse still had its head attached. The next most surprising aspect was the fact that Zoey wasn't a corpse, haggard breaths escaping her, her gaze as resolved as ever before.

"Move, you idiot!" Zoey half panted, half yelled at Rory from her spot, unable to move.

Whatever she had done to survive had left Rory with an opportunity; the Queen was still reeling from whatever explosive had gone off within its mouth. Moving with purpose, Rory set upon the dazed monster with frenzied adrenaline, a single purpose crystallized in his mind.

To kill the damn thing.

As his maul streaked through the air in a blur, Rory set upon dismantling the monster, filled with a burst of energy that surprised even himself, almost like he had his own cheering squad calling his name out.

I'm losing it.

Giving little thought to whatever weird buzzing and faint whispers of his title his mind was conjuring up, Rory instead chose to capitalize on the wave of relief it brought him, each strike feeling like it was multiplied twice over.

"Die, you damn son of a bitch," Rory growled, smashing the hammer down on the badly wounded Queen again and again. Joints crushed, it struggled to even swat at Rory, a cornered animal.

Finally, feeling like the time was ripe, Rory stood over its head, raising the maul high overhead. Dust and stone began to rise and circulate the hammer head like a dust cloud before melding atop it, until the already oversized hammer looked more like a giant boulder on a stick.

No final lines, no quips or one-liners, all that was left was the path of his egregiously oversized hammer crashing down upon the vulnerable Queen, crushing her head in one final titanic blow.

For several seconds, there was nothing but the sound of ragged breathing, the ringing of the massive hammer dying out as Rory stood above the unmoving body of the tier eight monster.

When nothing happened for nearly a full minute, Rory finally relaxed.

It was dead. They had done it. They had killed a tier eight.

"You alive?" Rory finally turned around to look at the blood-drenched Zoey.

"Barely," Zoey croaked.

"How?"

"Calculated move."

"Meaning?"

"Damage nullification skill. I knew I was on the verge of collapse. Dropped the skill ahead of time, made it think I was completely exhausted."

"And you aren't?"

"Running on one percent," Zoey snorted. "But not zero."

"So you made it think you were out of steam. What was that explosion?"

"One of your unstable gems. Stuck it in my mouth. I knew it would seize the chance to kill me after I spent the entire fight frustrating it. When it chomped down on me, I activated my damage nullification and spat out the gem. It spared me from having my head bit off, then, with what remained of my durability, I managed to withstand the explosion."

"Face first?"

"My damage nullification has a bleed-off period. For a single instant, it prevents all damage, and for ten seconds after, it reduces damage by a dwindling degree."

"Truthfully, in the heat of things, I sort of forgot you had a damage nullification skill," Rory answered honestly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I don't usually need to use it, but with a one-day cooldown, I've used it every single day, just to improve my skill level. When I first got it, it only had the single instant of damage nullification."

"So, lure the Queen in with an attack you could nullify, then in the next second, when your damage reduction is still at its highest, blow a gem up in your own face. That sounds about right?"

"Yeah," Zoey coughed, a splatter of blood splashing on the ground.

"You're not dying, are you?" Rory asked, eyebrows raised.

"Ehh, not fast enough to matter," Zoey said, shockingly nonchalant. "I'm not a fragile flower, and I'm not an idiot. I knew my limit."

"Still a pretty big risk, if you ask me," Rory countered.

"Sure, but in the end, I trusted you to close things off."

It was a surprisingly touching statement coming from Zoey, one that Rory appreciated.

Opening his mouth to respond, he slowly closed it, looking puzzled.

"What's wrong with you?" Zoey asked.

"You're one to ask," Rory said, giving her a once-over.

In response, she stared at him, unimpressed.

"It's nothing," Rory finally said. "Or I think it's nothing."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well…. Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Exactly," Rory said, snapping his fingers. "So, I'm either having a mental breakdown, or something weird is going on."

"And why do you say that?" Zoey asked.

"Because," Rory's frown deepened. "I'm pretty sure I can hear a bunch of people calling out to me."

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