Hector stepped up in front of Mallory, turning to the group.

“You heard the man. We have to buy him time.”

“What happens if that thing… moves? Hestatham asked.

“It won't. Genevieve, you keep the channel open between us and Mallory." Hector pointed to himself with his thumb. "Me, Mercy, and Hestatham will try to attack the thing wherever it hurts, figure out what we’re dealing with.

Mercy nodded. Jon looked at her and grimaced.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’m dangerous, remember?”

She let go of Jon’s hand and took her place at Hector’s side.

Jon saw that in her other hand was her small black tool that usually hung by her waist.

“Shouldn’t we try to attack the guys on top?” Hestatham asked.

“That’s pretty dangerous,” Mallory said. “I don’t know how much more magic the two guys up there are doing, but you have to consider that, and the mean sword guy. And I’m stuck here reading, so I'm not useful.”

“That’s fine,” Hector said. “I know if someone can find an answer, it’s you.”

“So if I can’t," Mallory explained, "we’re all doomed in some impossibly vague way. Probably eaten or trampled to death. Got it.”

“Jon, you protect Mallory with your life,” Hector said. “But… try not to do that.”

Jon nodded.

“Let’s go!” Hector cried. “Hestatham, you stay low!”

Hestatham grabbed Hector and sailed away. Genevieve grabbed Mercy’s hand.

“Hold on, love,” Genevieve told her before they flew off as well. Jon saw that as they got close to the creature, lightning started striking down from its back.

The two fliers each dodged before they split up, taking each side of the animal before they then threw their passengers towards it.

Both Mercy and Hector landed in a sprint and ran towards the legs.

Fire breathed from Hector’s sword as he swung at one of the three large legs on his side.

On her end, Mercy threw large attacks of concentrated light energy as well.

Hestatham flew near the top of the creature and sprayed flames over its back, attracting the lighting that he would have to dodge past.

“Here you go!” Mallory slammed a book into Jon’s chest, taking his attention from the battle.

Jon took it, surprised.

"That's for you to read! Page 35!” Mallory's eyes hadn't left the mass of books floating in front of him.

Jon frowned. He was concerned about his friends, and he didn’t want to miss out on the intense action that was happening not so far from there.

“They’ll be fine,” Mallory said. “Trust me. It’ll catch you up."

Jon nodded. He opened the book.

He saw the page numbers written delicately on the corner of the book. He quickly flipped through it.

Page 30.

He flipped backward.

Page 18.

“Jon, come here.”

Jon turned and saw that Mallory still hadn't removed his attention from the books.

Still, Jon approached him like he was told.

“Bring it here…”

Jon held the book out to Mallory. Mallory took a finger, licked it, stuck it into the pages of the book, and turned it to a new page.

Page 35.

Jon nodded quickly, but Mallory had made no acknowledgment of the fact.

He decided to start reading but found it hard to concentrate.

He picked up words like mana until he was interrupted by a loud roar, causing him to look up.

“Keep reading!” Mallory yelled.

Jon quickly put his eyes back on the book.

Summoned creatures are a curious type of creature, it read, if not for the idea that they are the rarest of all kinds.

If that caiman was a summoned creature, it didn’t seem very curious at all. Still, Jon kept reading.

These creatures are not, ‘summoned,’ as one thinks. They are often bound to a large spell that keeps them hibernated until it has found a new host. At this point, a creature is ‘summoned’ to the whims of the host. However, because most of these creatures are incredibly powerful forces of nature, it can be taxing on the mana, or, the living soul of the body.

Soul? His mana was his soul? Was he shooting his soul at people? Jon continued his reading.

As such, with many particular creatures, it is recommended that two or more mana users work in tandem to be able to tame such a beast, for if it were one alone, their body would surely be overtaken by the creature and havoc shall ensure.

Havoc ensuing sounded like it was already happening.

As such, take care not to break your seal. Granted, seals are a very powerful sort of spell, and it is near impossible to break the seal if a mana user does not dictate so, unlike other lower-tier spells. However, it still is a possibility one should be forewarned of. Sorcerers, keep your books close. Wizards, keep your hands close. Everyone else should stand very far back.

Jon looked up. Everyone was really close to the caiman but him and Mallory, but Jon understood the information the book provided.

If he could separate the mana users from the back of the creature, then it wouldn’t be in their control anymore. Would that be good?

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Genevieve sailed back to Jon and Mallory.

“How’s the reading?” Genevieve asked, “You learned any new recipes yet?”

“The one for large crocodile soup? Almost.” Mallory smiled, even though his eyes stayed on the book. “Can you bring the others?”

“Roger!” Genevieve flew away. Jon saw that by herself, Genevieve flew at a much faster speed, almost like a blast from his gun. She zoomed forward, collecting Hector and Mercy before bringing them back.

Hestahtham had caught a whiff on the regroup and followed after.

“Go knock the bad guys off of the back,” Mallory said. “Hector?”

“Right.” Hector nodded.

Mallory finally made eye contact with Jon.

“Jon, I’m gonna give you an upgrade,” Mallory said. “I can give your gun the power to dispel a sealing circle. But, you only get one shot. I need enough mana to seal the creature back.”

“Seal it?” Hector asked

“I’ll tell you later,” Mallory said. “Just cut their connections. One will do.”

Jon nodded.

“I’ll try to distract them from the ground,” Mercy said.

“It’s dangerous,” Hector said.

“Oh, boo-hoo.” Mercy quickly ran ahead.

“Hestatham!” Hector was lifted into the air again.

“Hector’s sword can cut through spells,” Mallory said. “So, only one of you guys has to get close enough. Okay?”

Jon nodded. Genevieve grabbed his shoulders.

“Ready?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Jon said.

Genevieve lifted him and they soared, following behind the purple trail towards the monster.

Jon could see Mercy underneath them, running by foot to the giant creature. She quickly dodged through the several streaks of lighting that headed towards her path.

Once she was near the creature, she jumped onto the side of a leg, and quickly traveled upward, leaping up the side of the creature until she was on its back where the three men were.

Bal drew his sword, and she immediately started to attack him.

Jon wanted to shoot Bal, but he knew that he couldn't waste his shot.

Once they were above the creature, both Genevieve and Hestatham dived forward.

Jon couldn’t do anything while Genevieve weaved through the blasts of lighting and fire that came their way.

“Throw me!” Hector yelled.

“Right!” Hestatham tried to lift Hector, but he was hit by lightning.

Both he and Hector screamed in pain.

Still, with an even louder roar, Hestatham turned in the air and threw Hector down.

As soon as he did, a fireball hit Hestatham in the air.

“Hestatham!” Genevieve called.

He sailed to the floor, a trail of smoke following him as he dropped.

Hector held his sword out as he raced it towards the back of the creature, ready to strike.

However, if Hector had kept going as he did, he would also eat a fireball to the face.

After racing through his options, Jon decided to go with the simplest and help Hector the best he could.

“Stop!” Jon yelled to Genevieve.

Genevieve stopped her movement instantly.

Jon aimed down the barrel and fired.

As Jon predicted, there was a fireball heading up towards Hector, but Jon’s wave of energy quickly accelerated Hector's dive and he plowed through the fireball, extinguishing it.

Jon thought that Hector was going too fast to use his sword.

Apparently, Hector knew this too, as instead of preparing for a swing, he held his arms wide open.

He dived into the wizard, and both of them toppled over the side of the caiman, leaving the wizard's book by itself in the middle of a circle.

Cass, who was standing in his own circle with a trail of energy connected to his arms, was suddenly brought to his knees.

Jon fired a second shot, knocking the book off as well. The circle disappeared.

Cass was now pulled completely to the floor.

Jon looked down and saw that Hestatham had been caught by several of Mallory’s tentacles, and was slowly being lowered to the ground. He was still smoking, but overall, he seemed okay.

“Take me to Mercy!” Jon said.

Genevieve nodded. She dived with Jon in tow.

Already, the monster's movements had become erratic. It moved side to side as it roared, even so much that even Bal and Mercy weren't able to continue their fight.

Jon began shooting at the swordsman, already knowing that it wouldn't hurt him, but hoping at least to help throw him off.

Bal still evaded Jon's energy blast, but instead of retaliating, he started to run towards his partner.

Jon stopped shooting. He figured Bal would try to save his friend and didn't want to get in the way of that.

Bal, having already put his sword away, knelt down and wrapped his arms around Cass' torso, pulling hard, but no matter how hard he pulled, the energy trail was keeping Cass' hands tied to the beast.

Genevieve dropped Jon next to Mercy and stumbled on her landing.

“I’m almost out of mana…” Genevieve said, catching her breath as she bent over on her knees.

Jon wanted to help Cass out. Maybe the men knew a way to stop the monster, now that it was out of control. They could probably come to an understanding.

“Help me!” Cass yelled.

“I am!” Bal yelled back. He let go of Cass, stood up, and drew his sword again.

Jon thought that maybe his sword was like Hector's, and it would be able to slice through mana,

Instead, Bal brought the sword down on Cass’ wrists.

Jon heard Cass' wails as Bal carried Cass away and jumped off the back of the caiman. His hands, which were left behind, had finally lost their connection to the creature.

Jon and Mercy turned to each other with pitiful looks.

“Come on!” Genevieve wrapped her hands around Jon and Mercy’s hips and lifted them off.

They landed hard next to Mallory, who finally let all the books settle on the ground.

“Good news, I think I can put him back,” Mallory said. “The seal stays in the same place, so I should be able to replicate the spell and seal him again.”

Jon looked at Genevieve. She was kneeling on the ground, breathing hard.

Hector had finally made his way over, carrying Hestatham on his shoulder. He dropped his ally on the floor next to Genevieve.

“Where’s the sorcerer?” Mallory asked.

“I punched him in the face,” Hector said. “He shouldn’t bother us for a while.” He turned to Genevieve.

“Genevieve, take Hestatham back to the farm,” Hector said. “You and him are in no state to continue.”

“That’s silly!” Genevieve said, through her tired breaths. “I’m not leaving you.”

“You can come back when you have enough energy,” Hector said. “But make sure you get him to safety.”

“...Right…” Genevieve nodded. “Away from the caiman.”

Jon suddenly felt a deadly presence and raised his blunderbuss towards the field in front of him.

Bal was walking towards them with his sword on his shoulder.

“Mallory, how long do you need to do the spell?” Hector asked.

“I don’t know. Never done it. I'm not thinking about it, and neither should you.”

With that said and done, Mallory grimaced. ”I can’t help you guys while I do this spell. Be careful.”

The circle that normally appeared under his feet became an entire symbol. The biggest blue energy tentacles Jon had ever seen erupted from the ground and wrapped themselves around the creature, pulling it down to the floor. It tried to struggle but failed to remove itself from the energy.

Genevieve put Hestatham on her shoulder.

“Be careful…” With that, she flew away with her ally in tow.

Jon, Mercy, and Hector made their way in front of Mallory, facing the approaching swordsman.

“You don’t have to fight us!” Mercy yelled. “Take your friends and leave!”

“Well, I could do that,” Bal said. “Or, I could leave here with a consolation prize!"

“He means you, doesn’t he…” Hector said through his gritted teeth.

“It’s always me…” Mercy said. She lifted her small tool, extending her energy blade.

Jon could see that both of them were trying to hide their heavy breathing. They both had to be exhausted.

“Jon, you know the deal,” Hector said. “Stay back, keep shooting, protect Mallory. And Mercy…”

He stopped to take a breath.

“Yeah?” She asked.

“Don’t get in my way,” he said.

“Isn’t that how we got into this mess?” Mallory asked.

Mallory received two death stares from both warriors.

“It’s a joke, guys, come on, I’m dying here…”

Mercy turned back to the approaching swordsman. “Just stay out of mine.”

"Deal!"

Before Jon even knew what was happening, the two of them had charged forward into battle.