Nightmare Realm Summoner

The pressure from the explosion drove into Alex's lungs to replace his breath. Intense heat seared his eyebrows and burgundy orange painted across the sky before him, crackling arcs of lightning tearing through the roiling flames in an angry roar. They swallowed the form of the Region Boss entirely, leaving behind only the shadow of the monster's body within the fire.

Heat prickled against the inside of his mouth and dried his tongue nearly instantly. For nearly a second, he could do nothing but watch in awe. Small pattering thuds rained down all around them as smoldering scales pelted down into the ground.

"Holy shit," Alex breathed. "What the fuck, Claire? That was incredible!"

Claire staggered. She dropped to one knee beside Alex, dragging in deep, desperate breaths. The black thorns tattooed onto her skin had made themselves known once more. They wound up her collar, reaching for her neck like the grasping hands of the undead.

The strain in Claire's features made it clear that she was nearly pushed to her limit. She'd revealed more than her Trial wanted her to — but the tattoos had stopped their advance. Even though she wasn't meant to reveal information about her class to anyone, she'd been fighting for her life. She hadn't exactly had the option to hold back against the Region Boss and the Trial had acknowledged that.

Somewhere in the back of Alex's mind, several dots connected. He was starting to piece together what her class's purpose was. Back during the fight against the members of the Great Families, she'd somehow blinded one of the men.

And now, against the Region Boss, she'd bound its mouths shut. There was a pretty clear pattern emerging. It was a pattern that fit just about everything Alex knew about Claire and her modus operandi as well.

He was pretty damn sure that her class took away senses.

Forcibly.

It was like information manipulation had been made into a physical weapon. And, given how good Claire was at controlling the narrative, that fit her perfectly. It was like a class perfected for someone who had spent their entire life playing the game of Court.

Alex was dimly aware that these thoughts were probably the result of shock. The explosion had been so violent and sudden that his ears were still ringing from it. His eyes stung from dust and debris, and fire was somehow still roaring in the air before him.

How much fucking magic did that thing have in its Soul Manifestation?

If the Gorgonaga had actually managed to unleash the power it was gathering… Mirrorwane would have been gone. They all would have been. This was the true might of a mid-ranked Adept creature. It was nearly incomprehensible.

Brittle leaves crunched as Mite stepped out from the trees, holding a hand out before his face and squinting at the flames. His puppet walked alongside him, pose mirroring its masters.

"Holy shit," Mite said. "That was sweet! But you ruined the body! What the hell? How am I supposed to loot anything now? It's all deep fried? Like a stray rat in a KFC! I mean, come on! What's the point of winning if we can't make anything from the corpse?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were going to handle it yourself," Claire said through clenched teeth. The thorns wrapping her neck had already started to recede, but their retreat was slow. The tattoos left angry red marks in their wake as if they'd been physically choking her.

Mite coughed into his fist. The sound was nearly completely swallowed by the crackle of the flames in the center of the clearing. The engineer glanced back to the still-burning monster, the firelight illuminating his features like he was standing a bit too close to an upturned flashlight. "I guess you did a pretty good job."

A smile started to tug at the corners of Alex's lips.

It froze before it could make it very far.

They'd just killed an enormously powerful monster. The strongest enemy they'd ever faced in a proper fight, and a Region Boss at that. This should have been one of the most massive payouts of energy that he'd ever gotten for winning a fight.

And yet, he hadn't received so much as a scrap of power.

Oh, shit.

Alex forced himself back to his feet. Exhaustion clawed at his muscles in attempt to bring him back down to the ground, but he forced it back. He couldn't rest. Not yet. "The fight isn't done. The Region Boss is still alive."

And within the flames, the shadow of the Region Boss shifted. The flames faltered, then split like a parting sea as the huge form of the Gorgonaga emerged from within them. Alex's breath caught in his chest as his eyes went wide.

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Alive it may have been, but uninjured was an entirely different question.

Five of the monsters eight heads hung like limp noodles at its side, their heads either completely destroyed and weeping blood or merely badly damaged. Jaws hung from bloodied fragments of muscle exposed to the air and scales were cracked and strewn everywhere.

The other three of the monster's heads weren't in much better shape. One of them was completely missing its lower jaw, while the other two were so badly charred and blackened from the explosion that they were barely recognizable.

Bones jutted out from within the monster's necks at odd angles, piercing through its own scales to let blood course from its body in rivers. The fact that the Gorgonaga could even move in such a state was a testament to its power.

Oddly enough, the back half of the monster was almost entirely uninjured. A few of its scales had been blackened and scorched, but for the most part, its back half was nearly entirely untouched.

Heavy, labored breathing came from the three mostly-whole heads still attached to the Gorgonaga's necks. Its eyes, blackened and melted to the point that many of them had to be largely blind, smoldered with immense hatred.

Its gaze — or what was left of it — locked onto Alex, Claire, and Mite. The monster didn't say a word. The time for talk had long since passed. Lightning popped and crackled across its body, but the stitching that Claire had used against the monster had clearly taught it not to try another breath attack.

The Gorgonaga charged.

It was not a fast monster. Each step the huge creature took shook the earth beneath it with the hydra's immense weight. The thing was practically a flying tank, and creatures like that weren't built to move fast.

That wasn't going to matter. The weariness binding Alex reached all the way down to his bones. He could tell that Claire was little better. They just didn't have the strength or speed to get out of the way in time.

Alex gritted his teeth.

Screw it. If I jump up and stick my hand down one of the bastard's throats, maybe I can deal the last little bit of damage to finish this thing off. I'll be damned if I die with my back turned.

Based on the way Claire lowered her stance, similar thoughts were passing through her own head.

Mite had a different idea.

"Help!" Mite screamed, spinning on his heel and sprinting in the opposite direction as fast as his legs could carry him.

Mite's puppet, however, remained solidly by them. Either he'd forgotten to call it after him or he'd left it behind to try and sway the fight in their favor.

Alex would have laughed if he had the time — but he didn't.

The Gorgonaga was upon them.

He tensed his weary muscles as he prepared to launch himself forward in one last attack. His chest was tight and his arms stiff. The air around him felt like it had dropped a dozen degrees.

This was —

Wait.

The air had gotten colder.

A loud crackle ripped past the side of his head as a wave of ice rolled over the ground and exploded in a wave before him and Claire. It slammed into the Region Boss with a deafening crash.

If the Gorgonaga had been in its prime, it probably would have barreled straight through the ice like nothing was there. But the monster was far from its strongest state. It slammed to a halt, its many necks whipping against the ice with enough force to crack it.

The Region Boss staggered back.

Orchid dragged herself out from the trees one ponderous step at a time. She leaned heavily on her staff, using it like a cane to keep herself from falling flat on her face, but determination creased her features in iron lines.

"The others have the village protected," Orchid said through gritted teeth. "I came to help."

Alex grinned despite the weariness clinging to his body. "Good timing."

"I was waiting," Orchid replied. "Once the last three of its heads go down, that thing is toast. Can't fight without a brain. We just have to finish this."

The Gorgonaga drove a massive leg through the wall of ice Orchid had erected. The ice shattered and it lurched forward, heads snapping down for them —

A crackle screamed through the air.

Not from the Gorgonaga, but from the air behind them.

A thin streak of lightning split the sky and drove into one of the Gorgonaga's injured heads. Without the scales to protect it from magic, the monster was unprotected. It let out a hiss that was borne more of surprise than pain. The magic hadn't been anywhere near strong enough to do significant damage, but it had gotten the monster's attention.

"I got it!" May yelled from the trees.

There was a hiss from beside her, followed by a heavy thump as a large snake monster dropped from where it had been in hiding, its skull caved in.

Aaron emerged beside her, rolling a coin along his knuckles. His features were pale with stress, but he held another stone in his other hand and gripped it like it were a hand grenade.

Looks like we've got a little backup.

Alex and Claire exchanged a glance. Then they both turned back to the Region Boss. Blood dripped from the monster's ravaged faces. The hatred in its eyes was so intense that it was practically palpable.

I don't think anyone left in this fight has the energy for more than one more blow.

Let's see who's still standing at the end, then.

"What are you waiting for?" Alex beckoned the Gorgonaga forward, his lips splitting into a grin. "Are you scared, hydra? Of a bunch of weak little Initiates? Scared of dying? Surely not."

The Region Boss let out a raspy, snarling roar. Blood sprayed from its wounded jaws and splattered across the ground. But, in spite of that, something flickered through its eyes — and Alex didn't miss it.

It was scared.

Probably not of him. Not of Claire, nor any of them as an individual. But the concept of dying… that scared it. Despite all of its arrogance, all the power it could bring to bear, for that flicker of a second, the monster felt fear.

And Alex did not.

The hydra charged with a hissing roar.

Alex and Claire did the same. But, even with the exhaustion dragging Alex's limbs down and his exhausted magic reserves, he knew one thing for certain.

They had already won.