"Yeah, I was fighting him. But the weird thing is, even after I stabbed and cut off parts of his body, it just grew right back," Rondo replied.
Tira was shocked to hear that. Her eyes went wide, not believing what Rondo just said.
After a few minutes of Tira healing Rondo with her magic, Tira stood up. The wounds on Rondo's body were slowly starting to heal.
"I'm going to head over there now and help Kenta. You gonna follow later?" Tira asked Rondo.
"Yeah, I'll definitely catch up. Thanks for the help," Rondo answered, slowly trying to get up.
"Alright then, I'm heading out," Tira said, gripping her magic staff. She left Rondo behind.
Rondo's eyes scanned the area. He was trying to find his sword that he'd lost. Some leaves rustled. Rondo moved closer. The closer he got... the clearer the sound.
A shadow boar burst out from the bushes, almost jumping at his face. Rondo tried to punch it with his bare hands. The shadow boar stared hard at Rondo, and Rondo stared right back. A moment later, the shadow boar tried to attack Rondo, but Rondo kicked it and punched it so hard it went flying.
Rondo then ran, trying to get away from the shadow boar. The boar chased after Rondo pretty fast. Halfway through, Rondo tripped on something. His body slammed into the ground, and the sound of metal hitting the dirt was loud. Rondo coughed from the flying dust. He looked, and right in front of him was the sword he'd been looking for—Excalibur.
He grabbed the sword, holding it tight. Then, he ran back, chasing the shadow boar. The shadow boar ran for its life, scared of Rondo. But suddenly...
*Blast!
Rondo immediately turned his head toward the energy blast.
"You're healed, right? You should come help us now," Tira said from a short distance away.
"Alright," Rondo replied. Tira started running toward Giganoa. Rondo ran right behind her.
When Tira and Rondo arrived, Giganoa was raging at Kenta. Tira immediately called out to Kenta. Kenta glanced at her for a second, then his focus snapped back to Giganoa.
"Sorry, kinda busy!" Kenta yelled back, trying to shoot Giganoa's fingers with fire arrows. Giganoa's fingers burned and vanished for a moment. But, they grew back just a few seconds later.
Rondo watched Kenta fighting Giganoa, his focus intense.
If its body regenerates that fast and small attacks barely work... Then...
Rondo thought, his face serious as he watched Kenta's attacks.
"Tira, can you cover me from a distance?" Rondo asked, turning his head to her.
Tira looked at Rondo.
"I can, but what are you planning? Something reckless?" Tira asked.
"You could say that. But let's hope this works," Rondo said as he started running toward Giganoa.
"Hey, wai— ugh, he just ran off. He's alien. Hope his stupid idea works," Tira said, annoyed. Her eyes watched Rondo run off into the distance.
Rondo ran, jumping from one tree to another, getting higher and higher. His foot almost slipped because his armor was so heavy. But he refocused, running and jumping from one high tree to another.
The further Rondo ran and jumped, the closer he got to Giganoa. He stopped on a thick, high tree branch. He was panting. He looked ahead. No more branches, only Giganoa's shoulder. From there, he jumped, aiming for the shoulder.
While he was in the air with nothing to stand on, Rondo grabbed his sword from his right pocket. Then, he stabbed it right into Giganoa's shoulder. The giant roared in pain. It turned, trying to grab Rondo with its hand. But Tira immediately shot a blast of magic at Giganoa's hand with her staff, so its hand couldn't reach Rondo.
"Where do you think you're touching, huh?" Tira yelled cockily at Giganoa.
Kenta lowered his bow, then looked at Rondo standing on Giganoa's shoulder, pulling his embedded sword back out. He gave a small smile seeing Rondo.
A moment later, Rondo managed to pull his sword free.
"Kenta, the eye!" Rondo yelled, looking at Kenta from far away.
Kenta immediately raised his bow again. His eyes locked onto Giganoa's eye.
"Gotcha," Kenta said, releasing his flaming arrow. The arrow flew true and hit Giganoa right in the eye.
Giganoa shrieked in pain, trying to rub its eye with its hand. But Tira stopped the hand again, shooting it with more magic. Giganoa just screamed louder.
Rondo saw his chance. He immediately stabbed Giganoa's neck, then sliced it clean to the right. Giganoa's head fell, and the ground shook for a second when it hit the dirt. After cutting off the head, Rondo immediately jumped off Giganoa's body. He ran back to Tira as fast as he could.
When Rondo got to Tira, he was out of breath.
"Tira, quick, use your magic before its body regenerates again!" Rondo panted.
"Alright, I'll try," Tira replied, raising her staff. Tira closed her eyes. Her mouth moved, chanting a spell.
A few minutes later, she pointed her staff at Giganoa's body and head. Energy shot out from her staff toward the body parts. The light from the energy was so bright Rondo couldn't see. The heat was so intense Tira started to sweat.
After the energy slowly faded, they watched as Giganoa's body and head slowly vanished, like dust blowing in the wind.
[Wave 3 Objective Complete!]
[+600 Exp]
Tira looked weak and collapsed to her knees.
"We... did... it, huh?" Tira said, her legs giving out. She smiled weakly.
Kenta ran over to Tira and Rondo.
"Hey, tell me that trick worked," Kenta said, looking at Rondo.
"Yeah, looks like it worked," Rondo replied. His voice was a little muffled by his helmet.
Rondo held out his hand to Tira. Tira grabbed it and stood up again, holding her staff in her right hand. The three of them put their arms around each other's shoulders. They smiled and laughed for a few minutes.
After they broke the hug, they started to discuss things.
"We gotta focus. Still 6 more waves," Kenta said.
"Yeah, we shouldn't celebrate too much. But this little victory is worth a small party, right? It's all thanks to his crazy idea," Tira said, glancing at Rondo.
Rondo looked around, confused.
"Me?" Rondo asked, pointing at himself.
"Yeah, who else, alien?" Kenta laughed.
"Well... he's an alien, ahaha," Tira laughed.
"Y'know... 'alien' isn't a bad nickname, haha," Rondo said.
A few minutes later, they focused on finishing their mission.
[Next Objective: Defeat the shadow army wave 4/10]
[Wave 4 Objective Complete!]
[+450 Exp]
[Next Objective: Defeat the shadow army wave 5/10]
[Wave 5 Objective Complete!]
[+500 Exp]
[Next Objective: Defeat the shadow army wave 6/10]
[Wave 6 Objective Complete!]
[+800 Exp]
[Wave 7 Objective Complete!]
[+600 Exp]
[Wave 8 Objective Complete!]
[+700 Exp]
[Wave 9 Objective Complete!]
[+1000 Exp]
[Wave 10 Objective Complete!]
[+2000 Exp]
After a very long time and a very long fight, the three of them finally managed to work together perfectly, finishing the objectives smoothly and without any problems. Some of their equipment and skills had now upgraded significantly.
Like, Tira's magic staff was now lighter, and her magic effects were stronger. Rondo's sword was now a 'Sword of Bardian Himantium', his armor was lighter but super strong from Himantium iron, and Rondo now had a shield. Kenta's bow and arrows now had various new powers.
"Phew, finally done, haha. Time to go home, right?" Rondo said, handing an energy drink to Kenta, who was sitting down. Kenta took the drink and gulped it down.
"Yeah, but that was so much fun. It's a shame, these weapons are so cool, and the air here is so fresh and cool. Kinda wanna live here forever, man," Kenta said after finishing his drink.
"Haha, true... to be honest... this is the only place where I can be really happy, even if it was tiring fighting those shadow monsters, you know?" Rondo said with a small laugh. He also took a sip of his own energy drink.
"Yeah, I agree. But this world feels too real to be fake. It's a shame, right, that it's just fiction," Kenta said, looking at the floor and rubbing the wall.
"Well, what can you do? Fictional worlds are just more fun than the real world, right? But how long can we stay in this fantasy world?" Rondo said.
"Until... we lose everything?" Kenta said with a small laugh.
"You mean your money, right?" Rondo laughed back.
"RONDO! KENTA! HEEELP!!" Tira's scream, mixed with a shriek, came from the distance.
Rondo and Kenta instantly shot up and ran, trying to find Tira's voice. As they ran, the sky started to get darker. The darkness was now covering almost everything around them.
They finally saw Tira from far away, sprawled on the ground, stiff. Behind her was a tall shadow figure wearing armor just like Rondo's, holding a huge sword. It turned its head toward Rondo and Kenta. It walked slowly toward them.
A UI pop-up appeared in front of Rondo and Kenta.
[An unexpected boss has appeared! Defeat the Lord Shadow Master to save your comrade.]
The Lord Shadow Master walked closer to Rondo, getting right in his face. It stared hard at Rondo. Rondo stared right back, his hand ready to draw the sword at his side.