Kara should be good. Every time Luna turned off the lights the Tengus climbing the trees fell. He wasn’t worried about her, but he was worried about the Tengus. There were too many of them. Every lap Luna’s injuries increased.

It wasn’t just a matter of physical health. A few minutes might not seem much, but the sheer amount of mental processing the brain needed to do every second would wear out the best of the best, much less a novice like Luna.

He angled back towards her. Before he reached her something big climbed onto the summit. It charged straight for her, swinging its humongous arms out and leaving Tengus split into threes. Luna was running towards it.

When he realized why it was swinging its arms out Nico pointed his Bone Skewer at it and fired. It struck its shoulder. He Retracted towards it as fast as he could, tossing a Kinetic Shell below his feet to get over the lines of Tengus in between them.

(Boss) Glint-Crown ★★★

Class: Enhancer-Emitter

Energy: 9/10 (+1/Minute)

Shields: ****

Boss Trait:

Transfers 50% of Strength from legs to arms. Arms gain moderate resistance to all damage.

Grants +6 Energy Storage.

1st Skill: Howl (Uncommon II)

2nd Skill: Resistant Life Shield (Common III)

Consumes 1 Energy to provide 4 Shield with moderate resistance to slash damage and minor resistance to thermal damage.

Cast-time: 3 seconds

Duration: 1 minute

Cooldown: 1 minute

3rd Skill: Exploding Pinatas (Rare III)

Consumes 1 Energy to infuse a corpse with an explosion. Radius and damage is dependent on the corpse.

Cast-time: 1 second

The Glint-Crown caught something. It dragged its shoulder back and swung it faster than Nico’s Life sense could follow. An orange-yellow explosion rung at the edge of his sight.

He screamed at it. His voice was muffled by the rain, then the Glint-Crown as it swung its giant claws towards him and Howled so loud he felt the wet air swish against his face, and finally all went still and black as he felt a blanket of heavy water crash into him from the side.

The sudden silence of a world beaming with noise was disorienting. For a short moment he lost track of where his body went. He healed with the intent of healing his ears first, and focused on his Life Sense. He’d fallen to the ground and rolled behind the Glint-Crown . His axe was still in his hand. His eyes were still out.

It roared mutely in blind rage, striking the ground around it just like last time. It must have felt the Bone Skewer pressing against is shoulder, as it turned towards him with a raised claw.

Nico crawled backwards and spread his legs apart. It struck the ground, creating a dent at the end of each nail. He set his feet against its nails and pushed off, rolling backwards to his head. He caught the ground with his hand and pulled, swinging his leg down for more momentum. The Glint-Crown pushed up its claws and swiped up. A wave of sparks struck him. Its nails left two marks on Nico’s back, but it had missed his spine.

Nico retracted. The Bone Skewer dragged him forward against the ground just as the Glint-Crown raised its other claw. His ears hadn’t recovered, prohibiting him from standing. He was barely able to crawl in between its tiny legs. Behind him the Glint-Crown struck the ground and jumped forward, lifting its entire body on its arm and fell to its back, thrashing randomly for him.

Nico crawled away from it on all fours. His ears hadn’t regenerated, but his balance returned, letting him get to his feet. His eyes followed. He glanced at where Luna was before and saw nothing but fog. I won’t find her. All the Tengus dropped to the ground, wailing. They masked wherever Luna had fallen. Without the height difference, he couldn’t distinguish her. He took off running towards the tree. She has to drink her potion and find us.

He jumped down to the ground and launched his Skewer with his last remaining Energy. It went through three of them before it activated. He Siphoned them as he ran towards Kara, making a kinetic shell. The Glint-Crown chased Nico, tossing Tengus at him. It’s using its Life Sense. They exploded around him in flashes of yellow, tearing his flesh off and splashing him with monster entrails. Badly. He used a heal and ignored it.

Or every bone in her body could be broken. Tengus riddled the ground like carpet. He tossed a kinetic shell below him that sent him flying towards the tree. His ears fully recovered midflight, but he couldn’t hear anything but the pained Howling of the Tengus dying around him.

No…I think I hear something. There was a slow, low drum in the background. He thought it was his heart, but it was becoming louder with each beat. The movement of the fog also changed. It pushed for a while, then it started pulling down the mountain.

Nico landed on a Tengu’s chest. He flattened it against the ground and leaped forward, stepping on another Tengu. They covered the ground like carpet, shaking and Howling. None of them could stand. They still crawled towards the tree. As he neared their bodies began staking up on each other. There were floors to them.

He sensed Kara swinging on her stomach on one of the branches around 6 meters up on the other side. There were no monsters left around her. If only you were closer. Unfortunately, the lowest branches were too thin to hold her weight.

He Bone Skewered some of the Tengu’s around him, bringing him back to full Energy. He crouched, placing a Kinetic Shell under his toes, and his other foot on top of it. He stood up and pressed down. The shell exploded, sending him up in her general direction. The silver branches appeared out of the fog and disappeared just as quickly. Before he knew it he struck something hard. He fell before he could grab it, but he’d kept track of the other branches he went by and caught one of them.

Kara was in his life sense, just a few branches above him. He pulled himself up to the branch he held on. There was barely enough space for one foot, much less two. He walked as quickly one foot after the other and his hands besides him for balance. He bent his knees, swaying with and against the fog.

There was a pattern to it. It pulled for four to six seconds, paused for two to three, then pushed for three to five. The longer the pull, the stronger and longer the push that followed it. Nico accounted for it, tipping his body towards the right when it pushed, and tipping his body to the left when it pulled. As he moved down the branch he noticed that the pushing and pulling gradually became stronger.

The Deep must be a colossal monster. The drumming was its heartbeat, and the movement of the fog was it inhaling and exhaling. The fog’s movement sped up because it was getting closer to them. But if it’s that large, why aren’t I hearing footsteps? Why wasn’t the ground shaking?

Nico sensed something flying towards him. He jumped down and wrapped his arm and legs around the branch. Something brown flew out of the fog and struck the branches above him, exploding into a combination of red and yellow. Silver and blood rained down on him. It’s getting better. Nico got to his feet and walked faster. The corpses struck the branches before they got close close to him, but the explosion blast followed the trajectory of its projectile regardless.

Another Tengu flew towards him. Nico took a gamble and didn’t go prone. It exploded above the first time. Its aim was almost perfect, but its senses were not. It’s not going to throw at the same spot. If it tossed one Tengu slightly above the first place it threw towards, then it was probably going to throw slightly below, which was right where Nico was. He glanced around him but couldn’t see far enough to spot any branches. With no option, he jumped down and stretched his limbs vertically. His ankles got something and he swung with it, reaching with his hands to catch it.

An explosion resounded above him before he reached. He fell and the back of his head hit something. He fell forward, arms and legs extended in hopes he would catch something. He landed on his chest and bounced off, but he caught the branch from below and wrapped himself around it. It was too thin to walk on. Just holding on to it with his weight caused it to bend down dangerously. With panic he began moving towards the trunk using his hands. It wasn’t far but it still took precious time.

Fuck me. He was barely three meters away from the ground at the lowest branches. He could feel the Glint-Crown charging towards him, trampling Tengus under its foot without a care. Fuck me a thousand times.

Nico finally reached the trunk. By the time he lifted himself the Glint-Crown reached the tree. It crashed into the trunk, shaking the thing back and forth. Kara swung on her branch but she didn’t slip off. The Glint-Crown got up and with a Howl it sank its claws into the metal, causing sparks so bright he saw them through the fog. It pulled down, but its nails weren’t sharp enough to pierce the trunk. It Howled and tried again, this time striking the tree from its side. It caught it and threw itself up. The thin branches bent and crashed around it. It caught the tree again and slid down, but it was able to hold.

It’s too fast. If Nico had trained his Life Sense enough, then he might have been able to Bone Skewer Kara towards him.

The Glint-Crown threw itself up again. The moment its nails left the tree a flaming ball struck it in a roaring explosion of orange. It dug its nails back onto the side of the tree, but it slid down to around two meters away from the ground.

Luna had run so low to the ground he hadn’t sensed her, and neither did the Glint-Crown .

It turned its head to the side and Howled at her, but it ignored her and chased after Nico, still aflame. Nico turned upwards and kept climbing.

It’s not chasing after me. Like most monsters, they were chasing after Kara. It didn’t blow Kara even though it could have.

Luna jumped towards the Glint-Crown. She caught the fur at its hips and pulled herself up to its neck, yelling wildly into its ears as she reached around to stick her hands into its already broken eyes. The Glint-Crown Howled, shaking its body in hopes to throwing Luna off. It tossed itself up, breaking and bending the branches as it landed below Nico. It close enough for him to see it and Luna’s face. It prepped for the final jump it needed to get to Kara.

She was just above him. Nico stepped back, throwing a health shell at her as he tipped backwards. Without seeing whether it landed or not, Nico turned towards the Glint-Crown and kicked off the tree towards it.

Mid-fall he swung his axe down with both hands and every muscle in his body, from his legs to his hips, to his back. It landed across its nose, making a noticeable dent in its face, but it wasn’t enough to knock it down. He crouched and screamed into its face. It Howled back, spitting out red saliva and causing its loose lips to flap.

Nico stuck the Locust inside its mouth, muffling its incessant crying for once.

The Kinetic Shell exploded, causing a bright red liquid to squirt out of its ears and eyes. With a confused yelp its claws slipped.

Nico jumped off it, landing on a nearby branch. Luna, blind to the cold branches, jumped towards him. He felt her fingertips touch his before she started falling.

He fired his Skewer, piercing through her shoulders. He pressed his feet firmly against the branch, tilting himself slightly back, and began Retracting. Through all the bleeding and the bruises on his body, Nico felt every muscle, from his shoulder to his back to his thighs budge as it took the brunt of Luna’s entire weight. She stopped falling but swung in the wind, causing tearing throughout his body.

The Glint-Crown fell on top of the crying Tengus below. Suddenly aware, the Tengus crawled away, pushing each other away in their escape. The Glint-Crown stayed still for a few moments before staggering up. It reached around for cannon fodder. It got a Tengu into its grasp, but before it could crush it, the Tengu stabbed its claw. That gave the Glint-Crown a small pause. It brought the Tengu to its face and Howled.

Instead of a mighty roar, a squeaky, high pitch cry resounded. With a growl, the Glint-Crown crushed the Tengu it held into mincemeat and tossed the remains aside. It reached for a different Tengu.

But something changed. The blind Tengus that were pushing each other back to get away stopped.

They can’t hear the Howl, and they can’t see the brutality.

One ran in, stabbing the Glint-Crown through the back. Slowly, the Glint-Crown turned and flattened it against the ground. It took a step towards all the other Tengus and Howled so loud Nico felt his eyes water.

The Tengus Howled back and charged down the Glint-Crown with claws and teeth, swarming it from head to toe under their weight.

Luna yelled something he couldn’t hear.

I can’t do it. He wasn’t strong enough. He thought about jumping back and using the branch as an anchor, but he didn’t know whether it would hold. The pushing of the fog swung Luna away from the trunk. She couldn’t climb up, and he couldn’t toss her away from the swarm below her. He looked up at Kara. We’ll all die if I don’t heal her. She was still collapsed where he left her. The health shell didn’t reach. The rain must have pushed it away.

When Nico looked down, he saw Luna holding a fireball. The Locust’s heat was at zero.