Garden Of The Abyss

This time, as he swung his hammer, as large as himself, towards the oversized lacyrie, it was unable to repel the heavy slam of his blunt weapon as both of its cleavers were instead repelled, leaving the slobbering, abhorrent brute wide open.

After the first clash, sparks were still falling in the dank, clammy air of the cavern as he reared the hammer back once more. With both of his brown, leather gloves gripping the handle of the hammer as hard as he could, he summoned the strength of his miracle.

It was at this time, in this situation, surrounded by countless lacyrie, that memories of old were resurfaced in his mind.

"Felix, hurry up!"

"You alright, Felix?"

"Felix–!"

Their screams, and their smiles–both played in his mind in unison as behind his goggles, tears ran along the edges of his eyes as he began to bring his hammer down with words caught in his throat.

This time, I won't stand around frozen and let them have their way. Rest, Sophie, he thought.

Mustering all of the strength granted to his body, he brought the flat-end of his pure-white hammer down against the nose of the lacyrie that stood head-and-shoulders above him, bringing it down as the blunt weapon slammed the brute to the ground with a resounding tremor.

Leaving the head of the giant, skin-wearing lacyrie into a flattened, shattered mess, Felix lifted his hammer with a heavy breath, being greeted with more lacyrie that gathered around him with their unsavory grins.

"For a second, I forgot about you…" He said with a heavy breath.

For Iris, there was no trouble in a lacyrie itself, but rather their aggressive approach, and the numbers they came in.

"Hyperion: Repulse!" She shouted out.

As the three, charging lacyrie approached her, the spell she manifested emitted from the tip of her staff with a light-formed shockwave that pushed the lacyrie back, launching them against more of the horde.

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It only gave small cuts and bruises to those affected, but what she truly aimed for and gained from the spell was a window of opportunity after creating space for herself.

In a cavern like this, especially with others, my spells are limited…I have to be careful not to challenge the integrity of the cavern, she thought.

Bringing her staff forward again, she honed her focus, "Helios: Superior Exo-Bind!"

This time, a pillar of light stretched across the floor, reaching across where even the lacyrie stood and expanding before manifesting dozens of lengthy, swaying tendrils of light that took hold of whichever lacyrie were unable to escape its reach.

With sways of her staff like conducting an orchestra, she commanded the tentacles formed of coalesced light to wrap, bind, and crush the held lacyrie.

There were a dozen that had been caught in the grasps of the spell, and all were helpless to the binding as mere contact with the form of the light burned their flesh with an audible sizzle.

I'll finish these ones off, then–she thought.

–Before she could crush the bound lacyrie, she felt a chill run up her back. Glancing back, she witnessed one of the slobbering, gray-skinned brutes holding a spiky, blood-soaked club over its head as it howled with its tusks bore, intending to swing down atop her head.

Oh no…I wasn't watching my back–! She thought.

In that split-second, she didn't know whether to follow through with her current spell, or release it and confront the lacyrie behind her, but–a choice didn't have to be made.

A hand pierced through the solar-plexus of the lacyrie behind her; a familiar hand that was clad in draconic claws.

"Akanni…!" She let out.

As the hand slid out from the open cavity of the lacyrie, causing it to fall over dead on the floor, the draconic man didn't waste any time continuing to sweep through the brutes with his superior physicality.

It was a sight in itself to watch the black-scaled, draconic adventurer fight so swiftly, aggressively, yet elegantly as he even used his tail as a weapon, slamming it against lacyrie like a whip as it shattered the wooden handles of one of their axes.

Refocusing herself, she ushered the finality of her manifested spell as the tendrils crushed the held lacyrie; squeezing their limbs, necks, and splitting into two the ones held by their midsections.

She could tell the reason for the swift aggression of Akanni was that he was desperate to find Elena, prompting her to point her staff towards the group of lacyrie that seemed to be blocking a further tunnel into the cavern.

"Akanni! This way!" She shouted, "I think you'll be able to find her down there! I'll clear the path for you!"

The draconic man stopped just in his tracks, looking towards her as he nodded his head in silence as fresh blood from the lacyrie laid slick on his arms, beginning to race towards the hoarded tunnel.

She gathered her breath, focusing as winds of light carried around her.

"Hyperion: Ascendant Punishment of The Heavenly Stars!"

–It formed from the front of her staff, bringing in spiraling lights that twinkled before coalescing into a massive release of condensed, blinding light that let out as a burning beam towards the wall of brutes.

As it spiraled and illuminated the cavern completely with its iridescent form, it effortlessly reduced the lacyrie in its path to nothing but cinder carried by the winds, causing the entirety of the cavern to rumble from the magecraft.

"Woah…!" Felix let out in surprise, stabilizing his balance after having taken out a few lacyrie with his blood-slick warhammer.

Having his path cleared, Akanni raced down the narrow section of the cavern without hesitation.

A few lacyrie attempted to follow the draconic man, but were stopped as the hazel-haired priest showed up behind them with a slam of his hammer against both of their heads.

"Not happening…!" Felix gritted his teeth.

The blood from the impact stained the exterior of his goggles, causing him to wipe it clean with his sleeve as he gathered a breath, turning back towards the azure-haired woman.

"...There are a lot more than we thought, huh?" Felix caught his lost breath, glancing side-to-side as more lacyrie enclosed around them.

"Yeah," she breathed in, "but we'll make it."

"Sometimes…I envy optimism like yours," Felix adjusted his goggles, "I guess that's why I never really went far as a priest."