Before being captured by the enemy, during our battle with the Paladins, Babu sent the signal and used a smoke bomb. The whole palace went up in smoke, as Hiroshi said, but the signal came later than expected. The girls and I tried to sneak out through the smoke, but we were caught just like the others. The Paladins were too strong for us to stop them. And we were tired of fighting.

To set their plan in motion, the enemies captured us and put us in the workshop as bait. Lokash had deliberately left a clue for his father to find this place. Thanks to that clue, he knew his father would come to the abandoned workshop with Ryuu and Babu to rescue us. Everything was going according to Lokash's plan until the epic gave him the axe. However, after receiving the axe and hearing what the epic was going to do, his face did not look happy.

The Fifth Epic gave Lokash his father's gun and ordered him to kill his father. But for some reason, Lokash's hand wouldn't raise. He could only stare into his father's eyes. Realizing Lokash couldn't do it, the Fifth Epic ordered his Knight: "Finish him."

The paladin then pulled his crystal sword from its hilt and plunged it into Ronk. Lokash watched in amazement as his father collapsed to the ground, looking at him as if this was the last thing he wanted. It all happened so suddenly.

The other paladins brought Ryuu and Babu with us and bound them to the magical chain like us. Then the fifth epic put his hand on Lokash's shoulder and spoke. "When I awaken the necklace, you will be reunited with your father, Ronk. Don't worry, this will all make sense when the world ends. But for now, stay with the prisoners and make sure they are defeated by the mountain monster."

The Fifth Epic took his paladins with him in a hasty manner, leaving us bound and waiting for the beast to come and eat us. Ryuu tried to scream and do something about Ronk's death, but the Fifth one put him next to us, and tied his mouth. So he just had to watch what was going on, just like us.

Lokash ran to his father, cradling his head in his lap and trying to talk to him with tears in his eyes. "Dad, I didn't mean it. I'm so sorry."

In his last moments, Ronk tried to talk to his son. "Son, it wasn't your fault. It was me who didn't give you what you wanted."

"No, Dad. You gave me enough. It was me who couldn't be what you wanted me to be."

Ronk interrupted Lokash and put his hand on his son's cheek. "You are the best thing that has happened to me since your mother. I have always been proud of you and believed that you are a good person. Don't let the forces of your lineage control you. You control them."

After Ronk's death, there was a brief silence. We could only see Lokash's gaze on his father. When his father closed his eyes, Lokash stood up angrily and turned towards us.

At first, we thought he was going to attack us, but Lokash freed us from our magical chains and captivity. Once we were free, Lokash spoke to us. "We need to hurry. The monster could wake up at any moment. If we stop the fifth one before he reaches home plate, we can stop what he's trying to do."

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After Lokash's suffering, we did not expect him to be hostile, otherwise what more could he have gained by being hostile to us?

Ryuu responded to Lokash's words by saying: "We'll stop him and put an end to this."

At that very moment, a tremendous shaking jolted us all. It was so intense that we struggled to even walk. When we emerged from the workshop, we saw that the large mountain before us had risen and revealed its head. We then realized that it was not a mountain at all, but rather a massive monster that had been slumbering there for ages.

The massive beast was slowly approaching us. In our haste, we thought that if we retreated, we could outrun it. However, Lokash warned us that it was a bad idea. "We have to defeat the monster. If we flee, it will follow us to the ends of the kingdom."

Wedan, who stood beside me, chimed in. "That's easier said than done. This monster doesn't look like it's going down easily."

Babu offered his own opinion in response to Wedan's words. "Perhaps we can find a weakness or something."

Hiroshi comically replied to Babu's suggestion. "Why not? I'm sure it has a weakness for talking pandas."

Then, with a different idea in mind, I proposed one of the things we could do. "Destroy it from the inside."

Rose disagreed with my suggestion because the monster wasn't what I thought it was. "I'm sure it's as rocky on the inside as it is on the outside. It won't do any good."

Lokash looked at us with a strange expression as he heard our ideas and said, "How did this team manage to defeat the epics? I'm amazed."

Ryuu took control of the conversation and knew we had to act. As a leader, he did what was necessary and began giving orders. "Focus! The beast may be quite large, but its legs are too small to counter our attacks."

"What's your plan?" someone asked.

"Wedan and Rose will target the legs together," Ryuu explained. "Lezlie and Mila will provide support from the sides as much as possible while the rest of us distract the monster by attacking its head."

Lokash was impressed by Ryuu's words and the plan made sense to him. "That's it! Let's go!"

To implement Ryuu's plan, we were separated from each other. While Wedan used his ice powers to freeze and lubricate the ground beneath the monster, Rose entangled its legs with her vines. Lezlie and I were planning to run to the right side of the monster, apply pressure from that side and knock it down.

The rest of our team focused their attacks on the monster's head, ensuring that it remained distracted. So much so that it didn't even realize we were moving away due to the damage it sustained. It only attacked those in front of it.

Although it couldn't breathe fire like other creatures, it was quite large. If we continued to be held captive in chains, our work would be finished quickly. But since we were numerous, the monster was attacked from all sides and struggled to fight back.

When Lezlie and I reached the right side of the monster, she used her earth powers while I used my water powers to apply as much pressure as possible. The beast, entangled by vines and unbalanced on the slippery ground, began to tip over to the left under our assault. Despite its resistance, our teammates' attacks on its head weakened it further. Hiroshi attacked from a distance, while Babu, Shou, Lokash, and Ryuu continued to attack the monster's head from a close-up.

So much so that the beast had closed one eye from the attacks.

When Ryuu and Lokash simultaneously punched the monster's head, it lost control and fell to the left under our pressure. After the beast fell, it never got up again, as we expected. When we worked together as a team, we were a very strong team. I realized that once again today.

We were elated to have won the fight, but we knew that the battle was far from over. We still had an epic to beat.