Once he discovered the secret to the boss' attack patterns it was inevitable that the battle would be won. Scott weaved around the monster's strikes skillfully while doing his best to hit the creature with as many third stage fairy bolts as possible. Unlike the games that he played, attacks on the core did little damage to the creature.

Dozens of hard strikes flew its way, and the core shook each time. Yet, the beast did not fall. There was an effect, however. It grew slower over time and its movements became sluggish. It occurred to Scott that the main issue was the number of attacks that he could deliver before the beast recovered. He needed to maintain a good distance to be able to charge a fairy bolt to stage three, but he needed to get in close if he was to have any chance of regularly hitting the target. The bow would have been the perfect weapon to use in this battle in order to exploit the monster's weakness if he had any actual archery skill. His enhanced senses and agility certainly helped, but there was no accounting for his lack of experience with the weapon.

"Stand still, meat!" roared the giant.

"Feyah!" responded Scott intelligently.

The giant roared once more then leapt toward him again. A low-level boss of a trash-tier underworld dungeon, it had few options available to it. The wave of weakness that it used was not working on the sprightly hero wannabe, and it possessed no ranged attacks. All it could do was close the distance. An attempt to jog over to the hopping fool in order to skewer him merely left the giant open to arrow attacks far longer than a single diving attack.

Another few minutes passed as they played their little game of rabbit and leaping skeletal boss, and in that time serious headway was finally made. Massive cracks began to appear along the surface of the boss's spiritual core. Scott was soon certain that one more hit would bring the beast down for good.

The moment came. Scott fired off a stage three fairy bolt that seemed guided by the hand of fate herself. The giant roared in agony as its core was revealed by the blow.

Pulsing hotly with a fell red light, the core beckoned him. One final blow. At last he could finish this battle!

Scott rushed forward his bow stored and his sword drawn. His eyes alight with a dreadful joy at the idea of finally finishing the battle, he did not see the shadow that descended from above.

"Water Festival!" cried a strong feminine voice from on high. Dozens of twisting columns of water ripped down from the ceiling and tore into the monster. One tore into the core of the monster and ripped it apart in an artful display.

The giant screamed as its core was torn asunder and it dissolved into motes of light. The figure from on high dropped to the floor then placed her hands to her hips.

Scott stared at the steal killing woman for a moment, his eyes growing wide even as he became quite confused. Who was she?

Stark naked, and gloriously so, she was a beautiful blue-green skinned woman with gills on her neck and a fierce look in her eyes. She arched one eyebrow and looked in Scott's direction. "See. That's how it's done."

Scott snorted at her. "Feh."

She tossed her hair back over her shoulder then strode toward the monster's remains several large gemstones had appeared along with a shining spear made of bone. Scott's eyes narrowed. Did she truly intend to take the loot?

He trotted over to the pile even as she reached for a gemstone then thrust his sword down and growled. There was no way in hell she was taking any of his loot.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked him imperiously. "Are you trying to steal from me?"

Scott glared at the woman for a moment then narrowed his eyes. She had a lot of nerve.

"Wait! There's no need for such tension!" cried Etragar as he rushed over. The fairy fluttered in after him. "Prince Skhyaht, this is my daughter Luau' Ra."

"Stay out of this, father. This is between me and this bandit," said Luau' Ra. She thrust a finger toward him imperiously. "Back away from my spoils."

Scott did not give even the remotest of shits about her name or her parentage. Give some buxom kill stealing hussy his hard won loot? Hell no. Of course, he could not properly disagree with her given his speech limitations so he settled for a menacing growl.

"Daughter, be reasonable," said Etragar. "The good prince had that monster beat long before you struck it down with a finishing blow."

"So what? Who's fault is it that he is too weak to beat such a simple boss in under an hour?" she asked with a sneer.

Scott snorted at her, then did something that he had not bothered to do the entire time he had been in Etragar's company. He put his sword away then drew out a pad and pencil from his storage. He did not know if they would be able to read his hand writing, but they should be able to do so.

"What is it that you are writing, dear prince?" asked Etragar.

Scott tore off the sheet of paper then handed it to Etragar, and all while he looked Luau' Ra in the eyes. She was beautiful, but clearly the girl had a screw loose.

Etragar read the note then blinked. "Well, you do have a point my prince."

"What did the round-eared bandit say?" asked Luau' Ra.

"Uhm... Well," began Etragar.

Luau' Ra ripped the note from her father's hands then snorted. "If your daughter was so powerful, then why didn't she fight her way through that horde and beat the boss before we got here?"

Her eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared. "Why you miserable little! Do you know who I am, fool?"

Scott looked her in the eyes then wrote her another note. He handed it to Etragar, but she snatched it from her father's hands and immediately read it.

"You..." She said, her teeth grinding together. "How dare you!"

The note had read, 'A sexy naked thief.'

"Father! Why are you traveling with such a disreputable lout?" asked Luau' Ra hotly to her father.

"I had intended to introduce him to you at the fairy pond, but we discovered that you had left and entered this place," said Etragar.

"Why would I wish to know such a creature?" she asked imperiously.

Scott, though angered at her mannerisms, decided to try and defuse the situation but in a somewhat assholish manner. If he allowed himself to continue to escalate things it could become a problem, but he did not want to capitulate. Though, he refused to give up the loot. He wrote another note, a lengthy one by the looks of it. The others waited patiently while he did so.

Once again, she snatched it from her father's hands. Upon reading it, she blinked then looked at him. She then looked at the message he had written then coughed a little and looked away. "Such a boorish, lout."

"What did that message say?" asked Etragar.

She shook her head at her father then snorted once more. The fairy, however, had seen a chance for mischief. She sneakily yanked the paper from her friend's hands then laughed merrily as she flew away with it. All the while, she avoided the grasping hands of Etragar's daughter.

The fairy gasped as she read the contents. Her face turned bright red and she looked down at Scott. "Really? Can anyone get in on a little of that, my hero?"

"My prince... what exactly was in that missive?" asked Etragar, his fishy forehead beginning to sweat a little.

Luau' Ra's face darkened a little, and she looked down at the floor. A lot of the fire in her eyes had become confusion. "It is nothing of merit fa—" she began. The fairy had mischief on her mind, however.

The fairy read aloud, "I get it. You have your pride."

"Well, that's not so bad..." said Etragar.

The little mischief maker continued, however, "You were captured while trying to stop these idiots, and suffered humiliation. You struck that last blow because you wanted to be able to do something to strike back."

Luau' Ra snorted then looked to the side. Etragar glanced toward his daughter and nodded his head. It made sense, and that did sound like her. "My prince, you are quite observant I think..."

The fairy was not done, however. "You did not want to be beholden to someone you didn't know, and tried to salvage your pride by claiming the loot. I refuse to allow you to take the result of my hard work. So, instead, how about we call it a day then I give that sublimely erotic body of yours a hot oil massage and tell you a sexy bedtime story."

"M-my prince?" asked Etragar in surprise. His eyes widened incredulously. Just what sort of lascivious beast had he brought forth to meet his daughter?

Luau' Ra coughed into her hand but said nothing. She did glanced toward Scott briefly, her eyes seeming to rove along his perfectly sculpted musculature, then looked away again.

Scott shrugged. He sincerely doubted that she'd want to take him up on the offer. Plus, she was already pissed at him for having the audacity to save her captured ass in the first place. If he was a miserable lout, he might as well be a pervert also. Either way, he had offered a fair, if lecherous, trade for her supposed right to the loot. The shock value had been enough to trigger whatever maidenly sensibilities that she had, and reduced the tension in the atmosphere.

"Disreputable round-eared barbarian..." mumbled Luau' Ra. She then took a deep breath and sighed softly. "Fine, do whatever you want with these spoils. I'm bored of being here."

He gave her a look. Briefly, he recalled how the conversation had led to this point then nodded. At some point he might bother to actually ask her what she was doing on the ceiling in the first place. For now, he decided it was not worth the effort to ask.

Scott did exactly what he wanted. He collected his loot, searched the place for more, and then gestured toward the exit corridor. He was ready to get out of there as well.