"Remember, scirps have better reflexes the closer you are to them, so as long as you keep your distance, you should be safe!" Adam called out to me from across the tunnel, "We have time to think up a plan, so don't rush in, okay?"

"Yeah!" I nodded fervently, "Damn, should've brought a bow and arrow or something then...! Not that I'd know how to use it."

"Instead of thinking what you could have and should have done, how about hitting it with what you CAN use?" Anna tried handing me her shield, "If you ever get put in a position where you need to come close to it, this'll help-"

"No!" I shoved it back to her, "It's meant for you, not me. These guys can pierce most anything, but it might just save you if you're lucky enough. I don't need it."

"Edward!" Adam warned me in the nick of time, "Its shooting stingers! Dodge!"

"Whoa, hup!" I jumped to push Anna away, saving us both for now, "Phew, thanks for that, Adam!"

"Anything for my Boy!" He gave me a flashy thumbs up as he inspected the stinger lodged into the dirt wall right next to him, "Do you think we could use these to our advantage? The scirp seems to have plenty of these left to throw at us, and if we dodge, we could possibly throw them at his Eyes!"

Oooh, I think you might be onto something there! Right, it's a long shot, but it's good to spitball ideas for now! In these situations, we need to use everything at our disposal. You never know what might just be the key to solving this problem!

"Nice thinking! Though it's gonna be tough to toss it at him expecting to deal any damage." I remained a realist, "I have no doubt in my throwing arm, and that goes double for you, but it's definitely not enough strength to hit the thing from a distance."

"Hmm... Oh, then how about Adam's sword?" Anna raised her hand in a Eureka gesture.

"We can't get close." I reminded her.

"Watch out, another round incoming!" Adam once again warned us to duck away from the scirp's venomous stingers.

"Hup! No, not use it for melee, but as a bat!" She gestured swinging a baseball bat immediately after dodging the stingers, "What if you tossed the stingers to Adam, and he swung a homerun directly at that thing's Eyes! Hyah!"

She kept trying to pitch (no pun intended) her strategy to us by repeatedly shadow swinging her imaginary bat around to demonstrate, which was cute, don't get me wrong, but I still remained a bit skeptical. It's certainly a strategy that Grim would have come up with in this situation, but I'm afraid it requires Meil's level of precision. There's just no way we can accomplish it a total of 12 times before tiring out or, Gods forbid, the scirp actually lands a stinger on us.

"I-" I went to shoot that idea down as well, but Adam stopped me.

"I like it!" He agreed wholeheartedly as he unsheathed his family's heirloom sword, "Then, Edward, you claim you have no doubts about your throwing arm, so why don't we prove it with a little game of baseball?"

"Shit, you can't be serious..." I thought out loud.

"It's our best shot, so come on!" He pointed to the countless scirp stingers lodged in the wall next to me, "Take those out and get ready to pitch!"

Sigh, dammit Anna, you should've known by now that this guy agrees to almost any crazy idea you throw at him. Shit, why didn't I bring Issei with us? His gadgets would've gotten this done in a jiff! Well, I wouldn't even have to worry about Issei if Cecily tagged along. She'd shoot out all 12 Eyes with just a single arrow somehow, I just know it. Dammit, dammit...

"Argh!" I shouted all of my frustrations out as I took the stingers and got into position, "No use thinking about regrets now! Let's batter it up, alright!?"

"Haha! Now you're talking!" Adam sounded ecstatic to finally see me join in on the madness, "Ready when you are, my Boy!"

And so, I put all my might into this one single stinger in my hands, tossing it straight into Adam's sword-turned-bat. Thing is, I didn't wanna toss it too hard at him, since he was actually holding his sword not by the hilt, but by the tip so that he could get more power from his swing. Usually, gripping the sword so tightly would have sliced up your palms immensely, but it's either because of his immense body strength or just the chainmail gloves he was wearing that he was mostly fine from the swing. Hitting it with all his might, everyone in the room including the scirp itself got completely surprised by the sheer speed at which it flew past the tunnel. Making a straight beeline for our foe's face, Adam had actually managed to take out two left-side Eyes at the same time.

"Whoo! I am on fire!" He celebrated a bit as the loud screeches of the scirp echoed out, "Though one of us isn't here currently, The Boys still remain invincible!"

"Whatever, dude!" I started getting a bit more into it as well once I saw we might actually have a chance, "Call it beginner's luck and don't get too cocky! Oh, but first, duck!"

"Oop!" He dodged the scirps stinger attacks just in time by hitting one of them back, "Thanks for the heads up! And you, beast, don't you know you're only giving us more ammunition to work with? Haha, what fun!"

"I know I was the one who suggested it, but..." Anna looked on as she hid behind her large full-body shield, "You boys really do turn everything into a game."

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"There! Take the shot, Adam!" I pitched another beautiful throw.

"Hyup!" He swung with all his might, "Gotcha! Another Eye down! That's 9 more left, Edward!"

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Oh come on, you say that as if it didn't take us 10 shots to actually hit that one. I didn't wanna believe it, but it really does feel like beginner's luck when we got two Eyes on our first shot. In truth, it's already been twenty minutes of non-stop pitching, swinging and dodging, and I'm afraid our accuracy's only gonna get worse the longer this goes on. Shit, I'm already relying on Anna to take out and hand me the stingers because of my fatigue, but if we don't get this over with quick, then we're just not gonna make it no matter what.

"Dammit, where's that damned Water Goddess brat when you need her!?" I glanced back for just a second once I made sure I could safely do so, "I get she's fighting a literal God, but she's a Goddess too, goddammit! It shouldn't be taking her this long, just wash him out of the room and make your way to help us!"

"No use thinking about her now." Anna tossed me the next stinger, "Just focus on pitching, I believe in you!"

Right, right, I have Anna to protect right now. Just thinking about it like that makes all the fatigue seem so insignificant. Right, focus all your energy into calming down first. Count to ten, though speed it up a bit since we don't have the time right now. Okay, 12345678910, got it. Now, hoo, deep breaths...

"Adam!" I shouted as I tossed him the best ball I could muster, "Get another crit, will ya'?"

"Will do!" He struck with all his might, "I won't let you down!"

And so, the stinger flew in a completely straight trajectory towards the scirp. It was straighter than an arrow, and maybe even stronger than a speeding bullet once you take into account the poison damage. Then again, I doubt a scirp is susceptible to poison... In any case, the stinger flew and flew until...!

"GRAAAA!" The scirp violently began thrashing about on the far side of the tunnel, its face spewing out green blood before it opened all of its remaining Eyes... All 6 of its remaining Eyes.

"We..." I could hardly believe it, "We did it! We actually got three whole Eyes in one shot! Fuck yeah!"

"Haha! Nothing less was to be expected of The Boys!" Adam proudly proclaimed.

"Guys...!" Anna put her shield in front of me as she gave me a reward hug, "There, that should boost your spirits. But you're not done yet! Just a few more and it'll go completely blind!"

Yeah, we shouldn't celebrate too early. We got most of its left-side Eyes, but the right side still has like 5 left. We mustn't get complacent now, and especially when it can still kill us even when we do blind it. Remember Edward, this is only to help us sneak past it easier. Don't rush and you'll be fine...

"Another round incoming!" Adam gave us a friendly warning.

"Gotcha... Whoa!?" Anna slipped on a small rock, tripping back and falling, leaving her defenseless and without her shield's protection.

"Shit, Anna!" I jumped in front of her, getting just barely grazed by the stinger's sharp edge, "Fuck!"

"Edward!" Anna immediately inspected the wound, "Nonono... It's turning black! Your shoulder is...!"

"Don't worry. Nothing Aru can't fix later." I calmed her down with a kiss on the forehead, "What's important is that you're safe, and this isn't my dominant hand either. We can still go on, right Adam?!"

"R-Right!" Adam looked worried of course, but heard I was fine with continuing so he raised his sword again, "Let's go, this is just a minor setback!"

"Yeah!" I tossed the stinger that grazed me to Adam, who in turn brought it back to the scirp, "Gotcha, bitch! Dig a hole for another, fall in it yourself!"

This time it was only one Eye gouged out, but it was still a hit nonetheless. And if we could still hit one Eye, then we could hit the remaining five! Owowow...! Heh, though I guess my arm is kinda feeling numb...

"Ed! I know it's difficult, but hang in there for just a bit more!" Adam motivated me, "I won't miss a single shot from now on, I promise, so just keep pitching! Rapid fire if you need to, I'll take them all!"

"Right...!" I weakly shouted as I took a handful of the stingers from the ground next to me, "One rapid fire barrage of death, coming right up!"

I didn't care to aim this time, I had no strength left in me to even keep my posture still. The only thing I tried focusing on as my vision grew blurry was to throw the stingers somewhat close to the direction of Adam's glimmering sword. As I threw the final stinger I had in my hands, I stammered a bit, leading to Anna helping to prop me back up.

"Ed..." She looked at my ill face, "You're burning up."

"Nothing Aru can't fix..." I chuckled, "Did I get that thing?"

"Have no fear!" Adam shouted extremely loud that I could hear him, "The beast is completely blinded! It will be difficult for it to hit us, so focus on staying alive for now!"

"Heh, cool..." I almost went to close my Eyes as the adrenaline left my body, only to hear the Water Goddess' voice pop up in my head.

"Don't sleep..." She quietly muttered before suddenly raising her voice, "Get up!"

"Shit!" I shoved Anna away, not even sure myself of why I did it at first, until I felt a sharp pain in my chest, "Ah, so that's why... Looks like beginner's luck applied to you too, hah. Tch, damned... scirp..."

As it were, the scirp was indeed blinded, but that didn't stop it from randomly spewing poison and tossing its leftover stingers in all directions. The chances of it hitting Anna were small, given how far away it was from us, but not zero. And had I not gotten that message from Aru, that call to spring forth to action, I would've lost her just like that. Heh, dammit Aru, you're late...

"Edward!" Anna immediately perched my head on her lap as she propped the shield in front of us, with Adam running to my side soon after, "No, no...! Please don't be the chest...! Please don't... No!"