As they rushed towards the monster, Darian gave out the orders.

“Marilia, you stay at the back and heal us continuously. Lakshman, stay with her and assist with your magic attack or defence spells. Ondine and Tetra, your job is to protect them while avoiding getting injured. You got that?”

“Yes!” they said in unison.

“What are the two of you going to do?” Lakshman asked as he indicated Darian and Rumble.

“We? It’s obvious!” Rumble said and laughed.

“We’ll fight!” Darian said and he flashed a grin at them.

With that, they rushed at the monster. The escort group, hearing the sounds of running footsteps from behind, quickly turned around with their weapons at the ready. They were prepared, just in case it turned out to be another assault from another monster.

“Rumble, you know what to do,” Darian said softly.

“Hell yeah!” Rumble yelled excitedly and he rushed directly at the monster.

The monster turned just in time to see Rumble reach it. Rumble, with a crazy expression on his face, came to a full stop and shouted “Fury Fists!”

In an instant, latent energy began gathering around him and his fists. The next moment, he leapt at the monster and began delivering powerful punches to the monster’s body. Most of his punches landed on the monster’s face since he was not aiming properly.

“Uragh!” Rumble shouted and he delivered a right uppercut to the monster’s jaw. As the monster flew a few meters back, Rumble triumphantly shouted “Take that, you freaking thing!”

“There’s nothing freakish about it, Rumble,” Darian said with an amused expression on his face.

“So what? It has horns, strong body and scaly tail. You’d think this thing might be a frigging dragon!” Rumble retorted furiously.

“But it isn’t!” Darian said firmly and Rumble conceded.

The monster got to its feet and turned its mad eyes on them. Then it roared and charged directly at them. Rumble patted Darian on the back which signalled that it was his turn to fight the monster.

Darian nodded and he moved forward with a shout of “Energy Blade!”

In an instant, his sword began to glow strongly as energy coursed through it. He brought the sword forward and began swinging at the monster. The monster roared in annoyance and breathed fire at him. He quickly got away before the flames could reach him.

“Damn! So many swings and all it did was scratch its body!” he said in an annoyed voice.

“It’s annoying this thing has a strong body to begin with!” Rumble said angrily.

At that moment, the monster roared in a fit of rage and swung its scaly tail at them.

Darian instantly shouted “Hit the deck!”

Both he and Rumble dropped to the ground and the tail soared safely above them. Once it passed, they immediately got to their feet. Darian faced Rumble looked at Darian with a raised expression of amusement.

“It’s not ‘hit the deck’. It’s ‘hit the ground’!” Rumble told him.

Darian gave him a severe look and said “Now isn’t the time for a language lesson, Rumble!”

“Yeah, but I won’t get the chance to say it afterwards!” Rumble said and he grinned at them.

“Honestly, you...!” Darian said, but he was distracted by the monster’s roar.

It bore down on them with its teeth exposed. There was blood dripping from its teeth as they smelled the scent of blood. Rumble recoiled slightly as he put his hand on his nose.

“Ooh, that’s nasty!”

“Oh, believe me! That is not nasty at all when compared with how you eat, Mr. Meat-eating-monkey-head!”

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“What can I say? I just like meat. Bacon is my favourite!” Rumble said and he grinned broadly.

Darian suddenly widened his eyes in shock. Then he looked at him and shouted “Goddammit, Rumble!  Now isn’t the time for food!”

While they were talking about food, the monster watched them. It was taken aback that they were happily ignoring it while bickering about the type of food they liked. It did not understand a thing they said, but ignoring it caused the monster to become very angry.

It roared madly and it hung its mouth open at them. The wind began to flow differently and, feeling it, they looked at it. Both of them raised voices of surprise at seeing what it had planned for them.

“Holy dolly! A Fire Blast! Are you ready, Rumble?” Darian said and he turned to look curiously at his friend.

“Yeah, but... Now it feels really like a dragon!” Rumble commented in amazement.

“Gah! Now isn’t the time for it!” Darian shouted at him angrily.

“Alright, alright! Just clam down!” Rumble said in an annoyed voice and he brought his fists up.

The monster glared at him fiercely as it charged its attack. Darian wondered if he could take a shot at it, but there was the chance the monster will fire at him. Realising he will be of no use this time, he got out of the way and let Rumble face it head on.

Rumble’s face contorted as he focused his energy. Wind began gathering around and started to swirl around him. Then he shouted “Power Up!”

A mighty energy was erupted around him as his body was pumped with power and strength. Then he focused it into his fists and yelled “Iron Fisted Force!”

The next instance, the skin on his arms began changing. Black metal began forming on his arm and he bumped his metallic fists together.

“Alright1 Bring it, you dragon freak!” Rumble shouted at the monster and he took a stance.

The monster roared and it released the gathered energy from its mouth. It went directly at him and he calmly brought his right fist forward and punched the fire ball.

For a moment, he struggled to push forward as it slowly pushed him back. Then, with a resounding roar, he pushed the attack back at the monster. The Fribaboros was caught off-guard and it faced its own attack full in the face which resulted in a small explosion.

“Ah ha!” Rumble said as he laughed at the smoking face of the monster.

The monster’s eyes suddenly reddened in madness and it roared at it. Rumble jumped looked coolly back and readied his metallic fists. Darian joined him and together they readied to fight the monster.

From the back, Marilia’s voice shouted “Healing Wind!”

The next moment, a blue coloured leaves began breezing around and everyone, within its range, began feeling better. The smell she cast was healing everyone in the vicinity while displaying lots of blue leaves made up of energy.

“Marilia... Did you just use Voiceless Incantation?” Lakshman asked Marilia curiously.

“That’s right,” Marilia said and she nodded her head at him.

“Mmm... You must be really good! I want to learn that as well,” Lakshman said wishfully.

Marilia chuckled and said “I’m not that good at it. A true Voiceless Incantation involves not having to shout the words aloud, but for some spells I still need to.”

“Oh...!” Lakshman said in amazement. Then, in a wondering voice, he said “I wonder if I can do it...”

Marilia smiled and she patted on his head as she said “It’s nighter easy nor difficult. It just requires a lot of concentration, coolness and focus. Believe me. I didn’t achieve this overnight. It took me several years before I achieved it.”

“Yes. Felix also said the same thing when I asked him about it,” Lakshman said as he nodded his head in understanding.

They smiled at each other, but they were suddenly interrupted by the voices of Ondine and Tetra.

“Master! A little help over here please!” Ondine called to him as she fought a large Triaboros.

“Master, please assist Tetra as well,” Tetra said as the Triaboros she fought was roaring in pain from the multiple wounds on its body.

“Yes, I’m helping!” Lakshman said cheerfully and he began assisting them with his magic.

“Spirits of water, become the frozen force and launch. Ice Bullets!”

The next moment, sharp looking ice materialised out of thin air and flew at the monsters. The attacks caused the monsters to roar in pain as the sharp ice penetrated their flesh. Blood came out and the monster began attacking everything in frenzy.

“Look what you did, Tetra! Now they are going out of control!” Ondine said angrily.

“How is that my fault?! You’re just lacking in skills to take them down, that’s all!” Tetra retorted angrily.

“Oh yeah?! Master! Please bind the monsters’ legs so I can show Tetra my skills!”

“Listen to yourself! Do you even realise what you just said?! You want master’s help in taking down something? If you got the courage and the skills to take them down, just do it already!”

“Fine! I’ll do it! I’ll prove that far better than Tetra!”

“Not even! You’re not even a powerful as me!”

“Is that a challenge?! Okay then! I challenge you to see how quickly we can defeat the monsters!” Ondine said as she challenged Tetra.

“You got it, Ondine! I’ll beat you and show master I’m more useful to him than you can ever be!”  Tetra said as she accepted the challenge.

They glared at each other for a moment. Then they shouted “Let’s do it!”

As they began attacking the monsters in their own style, Lakshman watched with an appalled expression on his face. He could not believe the girls were challenging each other like that when he treats them like they are his friends.

“Um... Ondine! Tetra! Calm down!” he tried shouting, but they could not hear him over the roaring of the monsters and explosions.

“What should I do...?” Lakshman said helplessly a few seconds later as he watched them attacking the monsters easily.

“Just leave them be. They are fierce rivals and they need this to cool off,” Marilia suggested.

“Cool off? Um... Fighting like that doesn’t look pretty cool to me,” Lakshman said as he pointed at them.

“It will be once it’s over. Let them take out all their anger and frustration at the monsters. Besides, the monsters don’t look like they care anyway. So just let it be,” Marilia said and she smiled at him.

“O-Okay...” he said and he sighed in resignation.

So he stood back, with Marilia and watched as Darian and Rumble fought Fribaboros monster while Ondine and Tetra fought against several of the Triaboros monsters.