Chapter 11: Last Song

I started the battle with an explosion.

The moment I was sure Myrddin was safe behind me, I reached for a nearby stone, juggling it a bit with my right hand before throwing it into one of the eyes that made the monster before us.

Now, while I had found that my new Mana Explosion skill best worked with my staff as my mastery over it provided synergy, by the fact it heavily damaged my only weapon meant that option was out. Thus, limited as I was, I only managed to cover the stone with a scrupulous amount of mana before it had vibrated dangerously in my hands.

Still, it meant that now I had a way of making a ranged explosion.

625 Damage!

Mana Explosion has leveled up!

I made sure to jump away from the incoming debris.

Myrddin cried out fearfully behind me, "R-Rain!"

I held back a curse. While summoning dozens and dozens of Magelights, I kept my eyes on the boss monster as I replied.

"Myrddin, just look back and run!"

Myrddin opened his mouth to say something, but I didn't have time to talk as suddenly a large tentacle of flesh came from the smoke that still covered ???. I managed to parry it to the side with my staff, but my weapon visibly melted during the moments it touched the flesh.

"Myrddin." My voice was cold. "Run, NOW!"

I didn't have to look to know that he left at that point.

Instead, I placed the entirety of my focus on the monster before me. My staff, now once again crackling with blue energy, was the only thing before me and ???. Making sure to replenish the Magelights that were somehow being extinguished, I ran forward in attack.

I swung my staff from my left, before pulling it back at hitting the monster before me with the butt. Like so and fro, I attacked, striking ??? with basic combos that barely did indents on its health bar, much to my frustration.

At this rate, it would take forever to even halve the Boss monster's health!

Then, ??? gave out a bone-chilling roar.

I could only shake and watch as the ground around me became fertile land for the presence of new monsters.

??? has created its minions!

HAND: Lvl 28 x 24; EYE: Lvl 26 x 12

...I really am a Fool. There is no way I can win this!

But then, Myrddin's voice once again rang through the forest.

This guy... maybe, he's much more courageous than I thought? To actually come back...?

"Y-You monsters!" I spared a moment in between dodging three tentacles and several glancing bites to see him over the top of a tree. "Leave Rain alone!"

Instantly, most of the monsters that spawned aggro-ed on him. The eyes blinked, the arms curved - directly moving towards one shaking swordsman.

I, though, became reminded of his ability as I noticed a minute decrease in the monsters' health bars.

That's it!

"Myrddin!" I yelled on the top of my voice, sending another explosive stone over ???'s way. "SING!"

Myrddin quavered, but managed to calm down over his position. He opened his mouth, starting a song with a battlecry.

"♩Monsters of the Forest! Shake in fear! Hear your demise!♭

♩Face the ones that'll be your end! Die beneath our feet!♭

♩Monsters of the Forest, we will end you!♭"

His voice was forceful, his tone was terrifying, but most importantly to me, all monsters around us visibly lost health. Including the damn boss.

Invigorated, I turned back to ???, ignoring the dying minions around me.

??? sent in my way its tentacles, but I deftly dodged them. ??? expelled at me poisonous fluid and I deflected that back to its own flesh. ??? summoned more monsters, only for them to quickly die between me and Myrddin's vigorous singing.

Somehow, his song even affected me as well even without the game announcing any boosts. My strikes became stronger. My channeling became faster.

I was learning on my feet to create bombs from every stone that I touched. They were weak, but they provided me ample enough distraction and cover from incoming projectiles. Magelights became quick flashbombs for the eyes, allowing me to interrupt their attacks.

Together, somehow Myrddin and I reduced ???'s health by a quarter.

We can win like this!

Then, ???'s battle style suddenly changed.

"ARGHHH!"

Myrddin was struck.

I yelled something unprintable as I watched the swordsman fall from his perch after a stream of acidic blood hit him.

??? had learned to ignore me in priority of attacking the Syren, and I didn't even have the ability to help Myrddin as ??? had summoned FLESH instead of the weaker monsters. Effectively barricaded and surrounded, all I could do was watch as Myrddin tried and failed to evade attacks on his location.

FLESH: Lvl 30 x 6

"Leave him alone!" I growled at the meat walls surrounding me, only to be met by a large ring of acid that came from all directions. I tried to dodge, but my feet failed to move out of the way this time.

Again, I screamed in pain as the sensation of being burned alive lit from my feet and climbed up my legs.

Apparently as if attacking Myrddin wasn't enough, the FLESH had learned to attack with sync with the EYEs that had somehow survived through the swordsman's song. Instead of the previous sprays that I could easily dodge, the attack became omnidirectional - leaving me no choice but to try and take the path of least damage.

However, the feeling of having my limbs turned into mush wasn't enough to break me.

"I SAID..." I pulled myself up with my staff - which by that point had turned into a twig of what it used to be. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

My weapon was next to useless now? Fine.

Have it your way!

I swung it for the last time, dipping through more than half of my mana. All of that went through the wooden weapon like a river, leaving a glowing crescent that surrounded me from all directions like the monsters that had learned to strategize.

A skill window popped up, but I ignored it as the crescent exploded, leaving my staff into ashes along with my enemies. I also ignored the blast front in favor of running towards Myrddin's direction as fast as my feet could take me.

When I reached the swordsman, his life was in red, but thankfully I had enough mana left to heal him to full.

However, that left me on empty for the next minute, with no weapon. While in the presence of a Boss monster and its respawning minions no less.

"Are we..." Myrddin spoke to me as the first HANDs came closer again. "Going to die like this?"

Adventurers will die when they are killed.

Bile rose to my throat at the thought of the man before me being erased for real. No matter how I just met him, it didn't change the fact I had started to care for him just before ??? came.

"No." I replied harshly, causing him to shiver but somehow calm him down in the same time. "We won't. Now, give me your sword."

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Myrddin stared at me, but nevertheless handed me his only weapon - showing me a degree of trust I didn't know if I deserved or not.

However, the determination in his eyes quickly answered that. "I'll sing again, much louder this time."

I couldn't resist a smile. "I suppose I'll really would have to work on my level one Sword Mastery in exchange for that."

I offered my hand to help him up. He took it gratefully.

A Fool acting like a Magician acting like a Swordsman, together with his friend Swordsman acting like a Bard.

Sounds like a winning strategy for me.

As Myrddin stood his ground with me, I stood guard in front of him as he prepared to sing. I had no mana, had no shield, had no armor, but I had Sturdy working for me - that was enough for me to act as a tank for a while. Plus, the large size of Myrddin's sword and its surprisingly light weight would help me in that.

Thus, the moment the first minions reached our position, Myrddin was singing and I was cutting down everything I could reach.

Diagonal, from the left. Vertical from the right. Behind me is an eye - stab it through the pupil!

We worked as a team, like two machines that had somehow clicked with each other perfectly. Myrddin would sing, I would defend. He would warn me of attacks from my blind spots, and I would block and endure the sprays of acid for Myrddin before deflecting tentacles with Myrddin's sword.

Soon, the minions around us died - leaving ??? alone once again. It seemed that as long as you didn't directly attack ???, it wouldn't summon monsters - which was just perfectly fine for the two of us.

I viewed my MP bar at the corner of my eyes. It was back to half - all thanks to my high recovery rate.

I exchanged looks with Myrddin; he understood, shaking his head as I gestured for his sword.

It's better for you to hold it for now. I'll be singing, as always.

I smiled at his trust, once again holding out my hand to him.

We ran together towards the Boss monster.

"The previous strategy wouldn't work now!" Myrddin yelled as he ran with me, dodging a tentacle I couldn't deflect in time. "This... boss monster would just attack me again instead of you, and maybe next time it would outright kill me!"

I ducked, pulling Myrddin down with me as a spray of acid attempted to melt through our heads. In exchange, I kicked a rock towards ???, somehow managing to activate Mana Explosion on it as I did. The explosion was even weaker this time, but at least it gave us more time.

"Then I'll sing as well with you. It won't be as good as you do it, but it would hopefully reduce the aggro off you." If it were any other time, I would've felt horrified about singing in front of somebody else. But somehow, the thought of Myrddin hearing me sing didn't bother me anymore. "As for you, do you have a shield? A metal one, perhaps?"

Myrddin didn't blink or stutter this time. "I have one in my inventory, a steel kite shield that never felt right to me. Why, do you need it?"

It was amazing, how much he trusted me with his inventory. A flash of another man, another friend, entered my mind before I shook my head of the thought.

Myrddin wasn't Caelum; far from it.

"No, you use it this time." I replied quickly, watching as ??? once again gave out a roar that warned of new minions. "Use it to protect yourself, together with me as I attack it. You can probably use it as a bludgeon weapon as well, I think."

The swordsman-acting-bard blinked, and then I fondly remembered our first meeting just hours ago as a horrifying grin lit up his eyes like rubies. He took out his kite shield - one so large it covered more than three-fourths of his massive height.

"Then, let's go!"

I started the song as we ran the rest of the way to ???; words and lyrics were somehow writing themselves in my mind and escaping my mouth with tones I didn't know before.

A meaningful song, a ballad. A musical that had somehow forced itself in the battle, much to my inward amusement.

"♩I have once thought of being a solitary man. Now, I'm solitary no more.♭

♩Monsters of the forest, quake in fear. For I am not alone, not anymore.♭"

Myrddin was the one who attacked this time - bashing his shield over the closest EYE and squishing it into mush before planting the pointy bottom edge inside its accompanying HAND.

It was a scary sight, watching as the monsters' blood covered Myrddin. However, I smiled as Myrddin continued my song, deflecting acid back to the enemies with his shield as he sang.

"♩I have once thought he was a monster, a lone wolf in a forest of flesh. Now, I realize I am wrong.♭

♩Wolf he is not. Instead, he was a man looking for a friend - and a friend I shall be.♭"

The sword in my hands glowed brightly in blue as I channeled my mana into it. It was harder to wield than my staff, but unlike my staff it managed to completely pierce through ???'s leathery wet flesh.

My mana then lanced through the steel, focusing at its tip and edge.

I activated Mana Explosion.

I could only try to hold back a laugh of success as I watched the massive health bar above us lose an entire tenth in one go. Myrddin's sword, being a weapon far hardier than my handcrafted staff, easily went out of the wreck of red flesh it was in without looking worse for wear.

"♩We are not alone!♭" The two of us sang in chorus, Myrddin blocking all the tentacles heading for my way with his shield as I expended all but a tenth of my mana in streams of Magelights. "♩Nothing would stop us now!♭"

If anybody looked at the Darkling Woods then, they would've seen night turn into morning as thousands of Magelights coalesced into a miniaturized sun.

Monsters sizzled into nothingness in seconds.

"♩Enemies shall fear us, for we are not alone!♭

This, we continued, singing and cutting and clobbering our way to victory. Swarms of minions, from the HANDs to EYEs to even the tanky FLESH, fell before us. ???'s health bar, we continued to whittle down with song and steel all in a matter of minutes that felt like hours.

Then ???, having been left with less than a tenth of health, burst into a large mass of tentacles.

Like a geyser of flesh from the earth, the tentacles rose up and grew to fill the sky above us. In a matter of seconds, the forest would become the landing point of more than a thousand tentacles falling in tandem.

No words needed to be exchanged.

I rushed towards Myrddin. Myrddin met me in between.

He grabbed for his sword. I went for his shield.

We attacked ??? together, our hands supporting each other.

Both weapons went blue as I activated Mana Explosion with all of the energy I had.

Everything exploded.

6,900 damage! Critical Hit!

Your party has defeated the Boss Monster '???'!

Rain has gained ten levels! Rain is now level 59!

Myrddin has gained thirteen levels! Myrddin is now level 56!

I only had the time to grin victoriously with Myrddin before ??? burst into acid and poison.

It rained hell all over Darkling Woods.