"That one next."

Levi pointed to where Stunner, still wrapped around his target, had dragged the harpy almost to the ground. Obligingly, the watery eqralne shifted his body around to leave an open spot for targeting.

'Jayke', Gordon's new harpy minion, obligingly began firing steel-bladed feathers from his wings into his no-longer-ally. Said former-ally returned the gesture with gusto, abandoning its attempts to stay aloft and dropping heavily to the floor, but dropping Jayke's health by 3% in the process.

Jayke's attacks were doing marginally better, bringing the harpy down to 72%, then 71%.

But that was about the only bright spot in the increasingly desperate fight. Pierce's health dropped all the way to zero without him ever getting a chance to stand back up and defend himself. Cen and Centoo were still holding on to their last few dozen health, but even if they deflected more attacks than landed, they weren't going to last much longer.

Without Lash or Iris or even Pierce, Levi wasn't sure there was any way to utilize Skarm and Two against the harpies. There was a chance Skarm's Leap power could get him up there, but it was still at its base level and he'd never seen the gremlin go much more than eight feet up at a time.

Tink had 35 of his 50 health remaining, and despite having run his mana to empty from all his illusions earlier, he'd already regained enough to cast something minor. Unfortunately, Levi couldn't think of anything minor that would be enough to tip the balance.

Levi really missed Becca. Having a teleporting panther to swat these birds out of the air would make things so much easier. In fact, having Irene around to heal them without the debilitating side effects of drinking restoratives... Drok and Greg to toss the gremlins up...

He missed having the whole team together.

But there was no time for wishing. His body moved smoothly now, its physical capabilities and his mental perception thereof finally synchronized through weeks of near-constant battle. He swatted away attacks without conscious thought, but he was burning through his stamina at a rapid pace to sustain his deflection. The harpies fired too many feathers too quickly to fully block.

Maggie hissed and slithered past Levi, dropping down to the ground floor with a heavy plop, Shadevine perched on her head as she swiftly crossed to Stunner's struggling harpy and wrapped it up snugly in her coils, biting down on its head.

This time, however, instead of being safely tucked back under the ledge, Maggie was exposed in full view of everyone. Including the bosses, who'd finished with Pierce and were ready to take down someone else.

Alas, for all her size, Maggie was not the sturdiest of snakes. Her 155 max health had already been severely depleted during the early salvos before she could do more than wait around with the centipedes on the ground, and though she'd recovered some, it wasn't nearly enough.

She dragged its health down to just under 20% before the combination of her victim's blade-winged struggles and the external attacks from above ended her crusade of vengeance.

Just as Levi thought they'd lose their chance, Flomper surged up over this harpy's ankles as well, trapping it even as it raised its wings to escape. Furious, it slashed down with one bladed wing, skewering the cynomis before she could escape back into the floor.

It raised her over its head, bringing both wings together to stab her plump furry body between them.

There was nothing anyone could do. Flomper bit and squirmed, but the harpy had her completely controlled, no way out. Levi watched her health drop to 45%, then 28%, then 9%.

Jayke resumed focusing his attacks on the harpy, while Levi acted as guardian, deflecting away any attacks aimed the harpy's direction. Right now, he was their best chance at getting out of this alive. Levi didn't like their odds if they lost Jayke, but the harpy's health was incredibly slow to recover. It took an entire minute to go up 1%.

The deflated remains of Iris shifted as Skarm and Two finally came out of their stun. Levi glanced between them, then to the harpy alternating between pecking and clawing at its stone-locked feet or firing rapid sweeping attacks up at Levi and his allies. "Go get 'em."

But any time Levi had to strategize was gone. The bosses, having finished with Maggie, turned their attention to him and Jayke, and it was all Levi could do to intercept half the attacks. The boss salvos were far faster than their standard allies'. Even surging stamina enough to rapidly deplete his last remaining stores wasn't close to enough.

There was nothing more he could do, so he did the only thing he could. With a silent prayer, he snatched out a pale shimmering green Stamina restorative and downed it in a single gulp. Stamina being the only restorative that didn't have deadly side-effects during combat, with its only effect being to channel all standard regens into stamina. So instead of Levi recovering 5 health, 8 mana, and 7 stamina per minute, he'd have +20 stamina per minute for the duration of the elixir's effect, or one every three seconds.

One stamina point didn't last long, but the bosses were limited by their stamina regeneration as well. They fired their focused feather volleys every five to seven seconds, alternating with one another, slightly off sync. He just had to subsume the rhythm of their attacks, and then he'd be able to predict and block them all.

Easier said than done.

Cen took one too many hits, his last few health vanishing. Centoo wasn't far behind him. Levi growled softly. It was looking like this would be another full-party loss, and perhaps more than that. They hadn't even gotten started on the bosses, and were already down to a bare handful of minions.

"Jayke, here," Gordon called, and the newly-tamed harpy disappeared from Levi's side. Leaving him completely exposed, and the sole target for the five flying harpies' ire.

"Gordon! What are you doing? I need help out here!" Without Jayke to draw their fire and return his own attacks, there was nothing preventing the flock of harpies above them from firing on Levi at a constant pace.

"Give me a minute. This is important."

Levi swatted away another dozen feathers, only for another volley from another direction to slip past his defence and thud into his armor. Its durability was getting low, no longer able to completely block, and the feathers sliced halfway through and into his body beneath. He winced at the necessity as his health dropped, but he couldn't afford distractions right now. The other three harpies were throwing off his internal rhythm as he tried to match his movements to the bosses, but he was getting close.

His health was also dropping. Too fast. 200 didn't go very far when using five to ten of it every second.

"GORDON!"

"Go."

Jayke flew out in front of Levi, wings spread wide, his health bar all the way to 80%.

Levi gasped out a relieved laugh as the harpy knocked away another few volleys of feathers before returning his own.

His attention no longer fully consumed by not-dying, Levi glanced down to the bottom floor, where Two and Skarm were engaged in a hit-and-run battle with the stone-trapped harpy.

They were doing impressively well. As long as the flying swarm left them alone, they might have a chance at taming a second harpy. Seeing how slowly Jayke's health fell in comparison to Levi's own, or those of his minions, gradually converting their enemies into allies may be their only way to survive this.