The Wind Lord's demeanor changed. They could feel its anger through its movements.

'Hurt by such lowly creatures! And by using my attacks against me!'

If it were able to speak, this would probably be what it would say.

The situation was now entirely different. It had its right hind leg cut in half and its lower part slit open, completely messed up.

At this point, even if it showed its weakness, there was no way it would lose.

It thought it would be able to kill the intruders using only a fraction of its power, but it turned against itself. It was in great pain, so it had to end this fast.

On the other side, Orion was having ideas after ideas on how to kill this bug quickly.

But eventually, he chose to wait, as rushing in now, not knowing how it would react, could be dangerous.

'I could snipe the two cores. No, I'm pretty sure it can counter it, the same way Amelia stops projectiles with her wind. My only choice is to send both Amelia and Karteira to destroy a core each. But how do I do that?'

With a frown, he stared at the beast.

During this moment, the bug began to fly around, watching their movements closely.

Without showing anything, the three did the same, and the two sides exchanged places.

The exit was now behind them.

'Let's see what it does, and then I'll think of something.'

Amelia stared at Orion, who was openly thinking in the middle of a fight. She looked at Karteira, who was tensed in front of them, but still acted as their shield.

'He trusts us a lot. He wouldn't be so lost in thought if he couldn't place his life in our hands. If something comes our way, would I be able to counter again?'

She looked at her trembling hands, which were gripping the daggers. She still hadn't recovered from the ten counters she managed to pull off.

For a moment, she did her best to loosen her grip, only to notice that her hands were bleeding.

She gripped the hilts so tightly that her skin came off at some point, and blood began to drip from them.

Seeing a red liquid drip in the corner of his eyes, Orion stopped thinking and looked at the liquid that caught his attention.

After tracing the fluid back to the source, worry began to fill his mind.

"Amelia, did you get hurt? Is it bad?"

He tried to look, but since she was still on his back, he was unable to clearly see.

"It hurt pretty bad. I just gripped the dagger too hard, and my hands now hurt. But I'm fine apart from that, I think."

She tried to look over her body for any other injuries, but she got stopped by Karteira.

"It's attacking again! Get ready!"

Orion and Amelia immediately switched back to their defensive stance, being reminded that they were still in the middle of an unfinished business.

'What is it going to do now?'

Watching carefully, particles of magic began to be absorbed by the 'Corrupted Lord'. Those particles appeared to come from all the corpses scattered around the room, and they clearly flew toward the bug's wings.

'This might be bad! We have to avoid this at all costs!'

Karteira's instinct kicked in, and within a split second, she turned to Orion and wrapped both of them with her tail before running toward the entrance of the room with all her might.

Luckily, she made it before the bug unleashed its attack, and she was expecting the two to growl at her for making such a decision by herself.

But instead, Orion kept looking inside the room for that attack. He already knew how bad this was going to be.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Karteira was right to flee this time.

From the cores on his wings, two green twisters shot in a straight line where they were standing a few seconds ago.

The twisters crashed and cracked the ground while bouncing strong winds that could pummel them down across the entire room. All bug corpses were instantly shredded to pieces as a result.

"This was a good call, Karteira. If not for you, I'm not sure whether we would have survived such a powerful strike."

Her eyes opened wide.

"Huh? You're not going to get angry?"

Still focused on watching over the corner of the entrance, he answered her.

"Why would I? You trust me in battle, so why wouldn't I do the same? If you think the situation is too dangerous, we will follow."

She was speechless.

Knowing that she was a part of the group and being accepted and recognized inside that group were two different things. She still thought they were cooperating with her out of obligation.

While letting Karteira bask in her internal turmoil, Orion glanced at the 'Wind Lord'. Its fly head kept looking creepily in every corner of the room for its prey. It needed to see their bodies before letting its guard down.

'We can use the charging phase of its attack against it. I just hope that strategy will work; if not... I don't want to think about it.'

The end of the battle was near. Orion was about to unleash everything on it, and the bug was going to do the same.

'The one to finish faster will be the victorious.'

He readied himself and began to explain his plan to the others.

...

"You do have some crazy ideas, you know that?"

Karteira's reaction was priceless. Her mouth almost dropped to the floor while listening to him.

"You get used to it. Alright, let me down."

Amelia tried to get down, but Orion stopped her.

"Not yet. I need to let you go at the last moment."

He grabbed her thighs tighter, embarrassing her.

"I get it, so stop gripping my legs!"

"Can you stop for a second, you two? You're making me jealous over here."

Darkness appeared in Karteira's eyes. Her clear intent spoke louder than any word.

'Not now! Do that later.'

With a guilty face, Amelia looked down.

"I'm sorry."

She stopped squirming as the group entered the room quickly while closing in on the bug.

It immediately recognized the intruders and attacked with wind blades while recovering from firing the newly discovered weapon, whirlwinds.

"Watch out for the wind blades, and dodge those tornadoes!"

Karteira remained close to Orion this time, instead of running further ahead.

"Ghh!"

A wind blade managed to scrape Karteira's left leg, ripping off a small part of the plates.

This was it for her; she had enough.

She was seething with fury. Being hit by the same opponent without a means to retaliate would do that to anyone.

"I'm done with your shit! I'll make you eat your own wind if I have to!"

Her anger showed on her plates. The blue-colored plates began to turn crimson-red.

Intense heat began to permeate through the room as her rage filled her with momentary strength.

The bug looked at them before deciding it was time to end this for once.

Power began to accumulate in the cores from the particles it had absorbed earlier.

"It's preparing to shoot those twisters again! Get ready, you two!"

Orion screamed, preparing himself physically and mentally.

"Yes!"

Both yelled at the same time. Amelia jumped off Orion's back, and Karteira closed the distance between them quickly.

Amelia walked in front of his right, and Karteira in front of his left side.

"I'm doing it, Orion."

The voice of the 'Key' echoed in their minds.

"Unlocking the 'Second Gear', in addition to the 'Arm Overdrive'."

Power began to flow through his muscles. When the flow stabilized, he crouched and picked up Amelia with his right hand.

He stood up, placed his right leg and arm behind him, activated Calm Analysis to get the angle, and threw Amelia toward the left core.

"First one!"

Amelia clenched her daggers, doing her best to resist the pressure at which she got thrown.

The moment Orion threw Amelia, he crouched once again and moved his left arm further away in front of him.

He placed his right arm on the floor behind him and began to lift his left leg in the air. He did the same as with Amelia, using 'Calm Analysis' to adjust the trajectory instantaneously.

Karteira immediately wrapped her tail around his arm and placed her right foot on his left foot.

"LET'S! GO!"

She unwrapped her scorpion tail, lifted her left foot from the ground, and got launched toward the right core, the same way as Amelia.

All of this roughly took seven seconds. Amelia was flying at high speed, and she closed in on the wing in three seconds after being launched.

Karteira was slightly faster, as he did not regulate his power like he did with Amelia. She got there in two seconds.

The bug saw two fast projectiles coming straight at its wings, but it couldn't do anything. It tried to shoot the twisters faster, but it was already too late.

Amelia pierced the core perfectly when she closed in. She made a hole with the momentum, throwing her at high speed toward the upper part of the wall behind the 'Wind Lord'.

It was almost the same for Karteira, except she used her tail to pierce the core. She grabbed her stinger segment with both hands and kept it in front of her to avoid being ripped by the air and the impact.

Karteira flawlessly went through, flying toward the same part as Amelia.

'I'll make it in time! Just you see!'

Orion, the moment Karteira got launched, stood up and ran using his 'Second Gear' with every bit of strength he had.

'Even if I have to lose my legs for it, I won't let those two get hurt!'

Picking up speed each second, he continued to run and arrived at the wall where they would be crashing.

He stepped on the inclination of the wall and ascended higher and higher. He caught Amelia with his right arm, as she was slower after passing through the 'Corrupted Lord'.

It was another story for Karteira. She went higher, and she was faster.

'Make it! I have to make it! MAKE IT!'

With one last push and with Amelia in his arm, he jumped.

His left arm caught Karteira right before she would crash, and with every last bit of his strength, he pushed the 'Arm Overdrive' to the limit.

His face cramped as he got pushed toward the wall with the two in his arms, managing to resist the tremendous force he himself used to throw her.

Still, the remaining force that pushed him was reduced by then; he simply bumped his back against the wall with little force.

With the two women getting their bearings together from the terrible plan that Orion came up with, they all slid toward the flat ground.

It was a good thing the walls were made by insects and not humans. If they were, the walls would be straight and impossible to step on.

Orion looked at the enemy to confirm its state.

'It can't have survived this.'

The bug's body came crashing forward on the floor, convulsing violently, blood flowing from its cores being destroyed.

"We've won..."

*Sigh*

With a sigh, Orion declared their group victorious.