Cobliaths were certainly strong enough physically to merit the name. While I had been hit hard enough to temporarily pass out, there was no HP lost prompt, and no mention from a window prompt that I had been knocked unconscious. Instead, I saw a message declaring:

[[You have successfully made a saving throw against inflict sleep effect from Cobliath attack landed upon you. ]]

I stumbled to my feet and spat up blood as I did. If I had been hit with an effect like that, then it stood to reason that maybe the cobluchin were only allowing themselves to be so much ammunition because they had no choice. No assumptions though.

"Baloo, Bagheera, Bedevere? So charging in like a great warrior failed spectacularly. I know this isn’t a game.” I said while wiping the last of the blood and spittle from the corner of my mouth. “And it’s definitely not some story with a great powered hero. So we need to change our strategy."

Charles had told me that elemental techniques didn't work in some sort of weakness cycle and that was true - but it did not mean that the cycle did not lack meaning. These creatures followed at least some basic biological rules, even if they were creatures of magic.

Fire monsters preferred hot weather, to be fed things to burn to create heat, or to be cuddled up to their partners for warmth. Water-aligned monsters preferred to spend time in and around water, loved to fish and consume larger amounts of water, and loved the shade. Earth monsters could not help but want to dig or build, and loved eating foods found from digging. Air monsters did not like claustrophobic spaces, and enjoyed being up high or to perch near their partner’s head or shoulders.

Fae monsters, artifice monsters, and primal monsters were still a mystery to me even with some limited exposure and with having read books that the Darvilles had. But this Cobliath was not just a fae and artifice monster, it was a natural monster too, and as far as I knew natural monsters behaved a lot like natural plants and animals, at least in some way. This Cobliath was heavy and covered in so much fur it would make a heavy woolen sweater look like a hospital gown. It might be tough and it might be strong, but anything could be overheated.

I let out a heave and then eyed my sword where it had clattered to the ground on my impact. Picking it up, I sheathed it. Instead of using it, I had a different weapon in mind. I dropped my backpack to the ground and with Bagheera and Baloo providing security I rifled through my backpack until I got what I needed.

A worn red leather-bound book with four almost holographic images moving across its front. Each depicted an artistic rendition of a different monster and its partner providing a technique. Across its hekatondronan cover, it read ‘On Technique & Tactic’. It was the book I had gotten from my quest involving Jose and Gerald the Pelikvern, and as I looked at it a prompt window appeared with its name within the system. It read, “Beginner's Technique Manual Volume One. Activate this volume to allow yourself and one monster partner to learn a technique from the available lists.”

I had already looked over it before when practicing my reading of Hekatondronan. However, the options to teach Baloo or Bagheera were lackluster at the time - and the options list was meant to grow corresponding to their increase in level and power. On top of that; I had a new partner.

But this was the time to be decisive and to begin attempting to fight in a way that I was more naturally comfortable with. While this might not be a world with professional monster battling league-sanctioned battles and taking turns between attacks, I had to realize that I had to get older, larger, and stronger before I could partake in battle in the way this world wanted people to.

I had to fight with the method that I could at the moment. That meant fighting with strategy, and without running in wielding a sword.

So I flicked through the options the technique manual provided me. I skipped past the options it provided to teach Baloo or Bedevere and went directly to the options for Bagheera. I didn’t look over them all, instead looking for just the fire-aligned options. Why fire exactly for my plan?

I had a technique to summon water thanks to Baloo’s Salmon Leap. I had a technique to create and control wind thanks to Bedevere’s Breezecall. What I needed was something to interact with Bagheera’s fire elemental alignment.

With those limitations and the level of a technique manual, I was given two options for Bagheera that were fire elemental aligned. They were:

[[ Vulcan’s Crescent - An iconic fire technique associated primarily with the Ossicarn family of monsters. When using this technique the user uses fire elemental energy to add heat to sharp objects, teeth, or appendages. Vulcan’s Crescent provides a short-range fire attack with immense heat, that gains its strength from the fact it can be held over time to build up strength. This technique may warp or break non-specialized materials used to channel it in the event of being overcharged. ]]

[[ Fireball - The mage’s most iconic tool. Like a chef’s knife, it is excellent at what it is meant for; but has less utility than other fire techniques in situations that do not require fiery artillery. This technique is long-range and does considerable damage but requires at least five minutes. Additionally, it affects an area and not a single target. Higher charisma or intelligence stats may lower the cooldown on this skill.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

]]

I read over them a few times before making my decision. Fireball was iconic as it said, and when I found out that this world had magic that even humans could use; part of me dreamed of being able to summon fireballs. However, it was slow to reload and long range so was better to pick up at another time. We didn’t have a lot of room here,

While Fireball had some appeal, it was closer to having a high-powered and slow-to-reload artillery strike versus a pump-action shotgun. So long as Bagheera was utilizing it, Vulcan’s Crescent could be used as much as we needed to with little recharge in between. Further, it didn’t have as much collateral damage to worry about.

I wasn’t ready to shout Fuego just yet. So with a mental toggle, I chose the technique Vulcan’s Crescent, and Bagheera was suddenly alight with orange-colored energy snaking from its stomach up to its head. Swirling and stopping in places upon Bagheera’s body like a flow of lava cutting across the land, it soon pooled in places.

“Mrow.” My glorified housecat of a monster trumpeted, and it was followed by several more noises before it coughed up a furball of fire. The spark quickly went out, and when it was over Bagheera’s smilodon-like fangs looked less like the saber fangs of an ancient predator and more like actual sabers glowing with the heat of the forge. In alternating places, its spots went from chocolate brown to a burning ember then back again and before I could take the momentary changes all in, the same began to happen to me.

I felt a burning in the area between my stomach and my lungs which made the worst heartburn or pepper-eating contest regret I had ever been through instead feel like a cool breeze. As quickly as it built up and held itself in that core of my torso, the warmth flowed through my limbs and down to my fingertips and toes. If I could have mustered the control of my body to move, I would have thrown myself into a roll for fear of actually being on fire but soon the sensation went to the only extremity it had not yet gone through. My head. I don’t know if I screamed from the pain, or if I could have even done so, but soon the burning sensation rolled through me and left the faint warmth and taste of a cinnamon-flavored hard candy, but somehow as a sensation within my mind.

I let out a wild cough and was glad my mouth was opened as it was; because with the cough came a gout of flame.

Across my vision, I saw a prompt telling me I had learned the technique ‘Vulcan’s Crescent’. The burning resolved itself and I felt renewed and even stronger – despite the fact a quick glance at my stats showed me that was not the case. I had not even healed the HP I had lost from the landing.

Taking my position at the center of my monsters, I began to give commands. “Baloo, use salmon leap to create water bubbles, as many as you can. But don’t use the full technique. Bedevere, little buddy. When I say to use breezecall, do so and keep blowing the air towards the bubbles from Salmon Leap. Keep it up as long as you can, and I know this will be uncomfortable but I need you to trust me. Hold it as long as you can and not a moment longer, when you start to get too hot from the ambient heat, go back into your reliquary.” The bear let out a chuff and a grunt and despite being a bear gave me an expression that looked sour. I could almost intuit that he thought this plan of action was boring from the look.

Bedevere however? It simply hopped in place on the ground and let out several insectoid chants of ‘buzz bzzz bzzzzzaao’, then several ‘bbzzz bbzzz bzzzzaaooo’. If Baloo felt like he was bored with the idea of attack I had presented; then Bedevere felt like it was working itself up to for battle.

With instructions given to two of the three members of my monster partner trio, I looked to Bagheera. She paced excitedly and looked to me and then to the cobliath that had flung me. If Baloo was being a grumpy bear at the idea of not wading into battle, and Bedevere was being like a youngster getting ready to convince themselves they could do the hard thing ahead of them; then the feeling that I got from Bagheera was smug satisfaction. For the first time, it felt like the cat monster truly approved of me in a real sense. Her joy was so radiant as she paced, it was like she was purring - despite the fact she was not.

“Bagheera, you and I are going to hold Vulcan’s Crescent as long as we can, behind and in front of Bedevere. With hope, the heat we generate will be magnified over and over again and we’ll create enough heat to pop Baloo’s summoned salmon leap bubbles and create a wave of steam at the Cobliath. After it hits it, we’re all going to charge and attack. Do y’all understand?”

Bagheera meowed assent. Baloo grunted its own and with more vigor than before. Bedevere let out a buzzing assent that was almost a screech. Then we went to work.

Baloo began to do what almost looked like an impersonation of an earthworm, moving its body in waves and throwing itself to the right and then to the left. Seafoam blue energy began to build up around it and soon bubbles began to appear in the sky in front of us. They were not bubble wand creations either, instead large and strong enough to hold Baloo’s weight when it trampolined at a target in normal use of the technique.

Bedevere simply sat there and focused, with robin’s egg blue energy building up around it. It went from a touch of wind into the breeze of a box fan and then into that of an industrial fan or airplane propeller’s wind gust. I was surprised, but as it did so and dug into the ground to keep its place, Bagheera strode in front of it.

I stood behind, and as Bagheera let itself momentarily become a wash in orange energy, I soon pushed at that memory of cinnamon candy taste in my mind. With my beginner’s sword still in my hand, I focused and just as Bagheera’s fangs began to glow like the embers of a fire, my sword did as well. Heat washed from both of us, and within a minute it had grown and magnified enough that Bedevere fled from the ground to my shoulder, and then the water constructs Baloo had created were popped again and again. Bedevere clung to my shoulder as it sent another breezecall forward and the force was enough that my ear popped.

The humidity of the hot air and water combined and with the added fire turned into a steamy mist that rushed forward at the Cobliath.

We charged.