Wrenching his skimmer around to the side, Christoph saw Emilia take hold of the steering bars a moment before he was launched off the craft and into the air. Wards pulsing, the ship was catapulted over the hillside by the Elemental’s attack, a crater forming under the massive creature as it stood. The earth shook under the weight of the blow, a shockwave blowing away the boulders nearby.

“Christoph!” Emilia clung to the skimmer as it jerked erratically, wing-like protrusions digging into the soft earth with each tilt. The dome-shaped shields flickered as the cat-girl tried to take control of the craft, but Christoph doubted that it would withstand another blow without his aid.

“Just fly!” Producing one of his swords, he moved to draw the Elemental’s attention away from his companion. They’d moved towards the creature as soon as he’d spotted it, but neither of them were expecting its sudden leap. Christoph shuddered to think of what a direct hit might have meant.

Taking a stance as the Elemental turned away from the skimmer’s receding form, Christoph tried to recall any additional information that Liam had left him. Earth magic was obviously a no, but that was hardly relevant to Christoph in any case. A giant clump of stone that didn’t really have any physical weaknesses, the creature’s only vulnerability lay in its fragile crystal core. If he could pierce that, it’d be game over.

“As if!” Christoph said aloud. “How am I supposed to do that?”

Dodging the monster’s ball-like fist, he took a practice swing at the fingerless cluster of boulders. The hand was almost as tall as he was, and even with a thickened blade he did little more than chip one of the outer stones. Re-forming his weapon into an axe, his second swing did little more damage than his first. Before he could move on to testing a two-handed weapon, the Elemental swung out at him horizontally, a barrage of dirt and stones knocking him away.

“This isn’t a crystal monster at all!” Christoph’s complaint was drowned out by the grinding rumble of the Earth Elemental, Emilia’s panicked screams barely audible in the distance. If the monster had been formed from the delicious crystals he’d come to expect, this would have been a short fight indeed. Instead, all of its mana seemed to be concentrated in the single gem at its heart.

Shaking the dirt from his hair, Christoph formed his axe into a halberd, knocking the creature’s arm aside with considerable effort. Even just deflecting an attack was enough to shove him a good foot or so to the side. If he tried to take a blow head-on, he’d no doubt find himself airborne once again. Taking advantage of the monster’s sudden pause, he circled around and struck out at its relatively smaller legs. He was rewarded with a satisfying crack as his heavier weapon split several large boulders in two, but there was no sign that the Elemental felt any pain. The stone simply shifted slightly, stubbornly remaining in place.

“Goddamn headless gorilla.” Realizing the uselessness of his actions, Christoph was at least thankful that the creature hadn’t decided to go after Emilia and the skimmer just yet. The cat-girl’s poisoned dagger wouldn’t be of much use this time, and the skimmer was much too valuable to risk on something like this. No eyes, no ears, the craggy giant’s only weak spot was buried deep within several tons of solid rock. If the monster decided to make a move, he wasn’t confident that he could stop it.

Absorbing the crystal halberd, he urged the liquid gemstone to flow up around his hands. Lunging at the Elemental’s hip, he dug his clawed gauntlets into the creature and began to climb. If the surface had been smooth such a maneuver would have been impossible, but the monster’s body was thankfully more akin to humanoid stack of rocks than a purposefully carved statue. Swing wildly as the giant turned, Christoph made his way up onto the creature’s back. It wasn’t without risk, but if he could worm his crystal through the natural gaps in the Elemental’s torso, he might be able to drain it like some sort of grotesque parasite.

It wasn’t until he was tilted almost forty-five degrees backwards that Christoph realized something was wrong. Yanking the sliver of crystal from the monster’s torso, he leaped down to the dirt below, bracing himself as the Elemental’s massive hand smashed into him from the side. Leaning backwards, the creature had bent its arms and legs until its back had become the front instead. Feeling his mana drain away into his pulped flesh, Christoph rolled to his feet as the giant loped towards him. As it was, he had no way to end this battle. If it had been composed as the dragon had, he’d at least be able to sustain his healing during the fight, but this was different entirely. His final option, then, was to flee.

“Emilia!” Calling out to the beast-woman, he sprinted away from the gargantuan creature behind him. “Stay still for a moment!”

Leaping towards the skimmer, Christoph sheathed his swords and was promptly repelled by the craft’s glimmering shields. Landing on his feet, he tapped his palms against the wards, pushing back as the ship tried to move past him.

“Emilia,” he repeated. “Let me in.”

“Christoph?” Emilia asked, head lolling to the side. “How do I drive…”

Swearing silently, he saw her mana growing faint. It wouldn’t be long before the craft powered down by itself, he could just distract the Elemental until then. Looking back, he saw the monster leap into the air, the giant mass of stones hurtling through the sky towards them.

“Sorry,” Christoph said, drawing his sword. Shattering through the shields, he mounted the skimmer and caught Emilia as she began to fall. The ship’s engine sputtered for a moment, barely avoiding the Elemental’s attack as Christoph pumped his energy into the crystal studded handles.

Checking that Emilia was firmly seated and merely unconscious, he glanced back just in time to see the creature rise up off the ground once more. Turning to the side, he avoided the monster’s attack. The behemoth paid no heed, launching itself into the air again and again without showing any signs of giving up the chase. Did Elementals suffer from fatigue or boredom in the first place? Of course not. There was no way he could take it back to the town with him either, so his options were limited. In the end, there only one thing he had not yet tried.

Gathering his mana, Christoph struggled to maintain the skimmer’s current speed. He didn’t even want to contemplate what would happen if he slipped up and fed all his energy into the ship at once. At the very least, he vowed to try to route it towards the shields and not the thrust if such a situation was unavoidable. Pulling a rope from one of the compartments at his side, he rolled up a blanket and used it as padding before tying himself and Emilia together.

What had those two twins said about using enchantments? First, draw the runes. Producing a sword, Christoph watched the letters form in the surface of the blade. A converter array with scaling magnitudes, leading into the spellform itself, and finished with a focusing chamber at the end. Second, channel the energy. Christoph’s blade glowed with warmth, and the Elemental paused its leaping attacks as he brought the skimmer around to face it.

Third, conceptualize the attack. During his fight with Cliff, Christoph had splashed his mana around wastefully, keeping the knight at bay until the match was brought to an end. This time, though, he needed one powerful blow. His crystal sword flowed out in response to his thoughts, runes shifting as the blade lengthened into a lance. Aiming the skimmer at the Elemental’s heart, Christoph began his final charge.

…

“That golem is really giving them trouble,” Coin said, peering down over the rocky ridge. “We aren’t going to help them, then?”

“No we aren’t,” Lily replied. “It isn’t a golem, either.”

“It’s an Elemental,” Regal said, before Coin could ask his next question. “Golems are basically moving statues, but Elementals are alive.”

“It’s hardly the time for lessons.” Resting a hand on his axe, Ruth scanned their surroundings. “Let’s backtrack for now. We should try take down the second target before the light falls too low.”

“So much walking,” Coin replied with a grimace. “Why can’t we fly around on something like-”

“He’s going to charge it,” Quester said, ignoring his words. “Look.”

Pushing his way back through the party, Ruth gazed down at the scene below. Because of the distance, it took him a moment to process what was going on. “He’s using the ship?” he asked. “Where’d he learn how to joust, anyway?”

There was a dull thump as the two combatants collided. A flash of mana signified that the Elemental’s core had been pierced, the rocky figure crumbling away as the forces that held it together began to dissolve. Sliding out beneath the falling stones, Christoph’s skimmer slowed to a halt, the wards flickering back into existence.

“It’s over,” Ruth said. “Let’s go. If he uses that ship to overtake us, we won’t have any claim to the reward at all.”

“Ah!” Regal’s cry drew the party’s full attention, four heads swivelling towards the mage at once. Tilting her hat back, she raised a hand to point around the hill. “The second mark is coming.”

“Prepare for battle!” Unclipping his axe, Ruth swung his shield down from the front of his backpack. “Target is one Earth Elemental, large and slow-moving, also immune to earth magic and most physical attacks. Regal, we’re counting on you to immobilize the beast until we can dig out the core.”

“Yes, sir!” Regal replied. “Target will be visible soon.”

Gripping her staff in both hands, Regal began to gather her mana. Instead of her usual ice spear, she’d open the fight with a water stream attack, freezing the Elemental solid at the joints. It’d be easy to catch the monster in a ball of ice, but that would make destroying the core near impossible. On the other hand, a rain-type attack would only serve to armor the creature with layers of ice, so she had to be precise.

“Oi,” Coin said, swinging his spear around to loosen his limbs. “Target is incorrect.”

“New targets,” Ruth said, checking their surrounding once again. Rather than the expected enemy, the entire hillside seemed to be shifting towards them. “Earth Elemental golems. Destroy the cores, or they’ll put each other back together. Protect Regal while she channels an area-based ice spell. Priority is in neutralizing the creatures, even if we can’t destroy them right away. Understand?”

“Here you go,” Lily said, waving her hand over the approaching horde. The dwarf-sized creatures before them were constructs an ancient Earth Elemental would summon as guards. If they were allowed to reach the core, the creature would be born anew. “You wanted to see some golems, didn’t you dear?”

…

“Ugh.” Spitting out a mouthful of hair, Christoph fumbled with the rope for a moment before simply cutting it free. Throwing the blanket aside, he checked Emilia’s torso for wounds as the skimmer strained to move. The impact hadn’t been that hard in the end, but even with how quickly he’d reactivated the shields they’d been half-buried under a pile of rubble as the Elemental lost its form.

“Nnngh.” Emilia’s face contorted as the ship broke free, and Christoph set the craft down nearby, carrying the cat-girl down to the soft earth as she stirred.

“You okay?” he asked, picking yet another gray hair from his tongue. “Wait a moment, I’ll be back.”

Lifting the rock aside, he snatched the Elemental’s core from the pile of stones, feeling its pleasant warmth in his palm. As delicious as it seemed, he’d since learned his lesson about quests. First, provide proof to the guild, and then he could eat. Tossing the crystal into a saddlebag, he turned back towards his companion just as she rolled over and threw up over the monster’s remains.

“Ah.” Seeing her plight, Christoph knelt down to pat her on the back. Was it mana drain, or just motion sickness? “I’m still not trading it out for a horse, you know.”