Tus slowly woke up and found himself in the tent. His body was covered scabs and his head felt woozy. He looked around with his half closed eyes at the surroundings. Gargoyle was at the side lazily picking his teeth with one of his claws. He stared at Tus with that weird fascination that these monsters have shown to carry.

“You’re awake. Sunrise is in another hour, but there haven’t been any more waves of those things.” He said, still picking at his teeth.

Tus closed his eyes to suppress the nauseousness that had a firm grip. “The reason is, is that the overseer is going to send a commander of those things.”

“Oh, the final boss.”

“The final what?” Tus asked, confused.

“You don’t know what a rodeo is or what a final boss stands for? You really are uncultured.” Gargoyle said disdainfully. “Anyway, it seems that the overseer has taken some kind of liking to you, or else you would’ve been torn apart when you were unconscious, but you still have to deal with something that is extremely strong. Lucky for you, I should be able to help you with this one, although I can only attack once, and my power will be decreased by sixty percent.”

‘Turned from helping once to attacking once, which is it? And only forty percent of your power? You are just becoming more and more unreliable. Soon, you will say that you can only cheerlead, but yet sit down to quietly have a cup of tea or something.’ Even though this is what Tus thought he didn’t say anything as to prevent that last prediction from happening.

“If you can only attack once, how will you be able to help?”

Gargoyle rolled his eyes underneath his hood, “Even though I will only be able to attack once with a small amount of my regular strength, it will serve the finishing blow quite well. All you need to do is avoid being hit and use that feather duster to exhaust its internal energy.”

‘Does he not like this feather more than I do? He keeps calling it names… Although I shouldn’t say I don’t like it. It has kept my life intact after all.’

“I’ll agree to your proposition.” Tus said.

“Damn right.” Gargoyle nodded in satisfaction.

………

The light of dawn was beginning to shine over the horizon of the world. The time before the sun could rise above the landscape was exactly thirty-one minutes.

Tus had half recovered from his injuries, or at least able to deal with them, and the nausea was gone, but he felt that his movements were a little too stiff.

‘Can’t help it now, though.’ He thought.

Gargoyle was flying in the sky with his robe fluttering in the wind. His wings made of stone carved with vague feathers, unrealistically carried him through the air.

A minute had passed when the loud sound of a horn seemed to have passed through the earth.

Tus turned his gaze to the south to see the commander rise up through the ground. The clumps of dirt fell off its body and revealed its appearance as well. It was a lot different than the previous captains, leaders, and regulars. Its eyes were a full golden color with no pupils. It had a golden band going around its head that had inch wide lines circling around the dog-like ears, woodpecker nose, and jawline. Its skin wasn’t red, but a deep purple. It had two legs and six arms, with each set of hands holding onto a broad axe. Its entire body was covered in chainmail except for the head. Lastly… its stature was over fifteen feet tall. After it rose from the ground, it activated its internal energy, and its body became completely covered in a dazzling radiance of purple and gold.

Tus thought to himself, ‘What the hell is that?’ He looked at the feather, then at the commander. ‘How am I supposed to harm that thing? Forget about weakening it, just surviving for five minutes will be a pain.’

The intimidating aura that the commander was releasing came to an end when it started moving forward. It took careful steps and moved at a snails’ pace to Tus. The commander looked like it was avoiding stepping on fallen branches and leaves, and each step took ten seconds to land.

“What are you waiting for? Hurry up and use that feather duster!” Gargoyles voice came from up above and it woke Tus up from his wide staring.

Tus moved forward to a distance of ten feet of the commander and did the usual waving of the feather as he closed in on his target. The wind blades hit the veils, but they didn’t make the slightest advance to the creatures’ skin. They simple bounced off to dissipate in the surroundings.

‘Ten feet won’t work, so I’ll move to seven.’ Tus approximated the distance between himself and the commander.

After two more barrages, there still was no change. The commander kept slowly moving forward with the presence of a statue, without making the slightest sign of rash emotions. The broad axes were still raised in the air, waiting for Tus to move within range.

‘I don’t want to move closer as I’m sure those arms are a lot faster than its legs. If I don’t move closer, the situation will remain the same until that yellow orb kills me.’ Tus glanced at the light that was gradually increasing in intensity from the horizon. ‘Maybe I can do this?’

Tus jumped forward within five feet and attacked with the feather once before jumping back. Just as he expected, the air stirred and screamed as the broad axes swung down at the same time, nearly chopping Tus into pieces.

‘That hurts!’ A couple scabs reopened on his legs and another shock went through his body.

Tus looked to see if his effort was worth it, just to realize that only a scratch was made on the commanders’ unprotected face. It facial expression didn’t show the least discomfort. Instead, there was a glint of contempt in its eyes.