Chapter 16 - On The Count Of Three

Jaspreth exchanged glances with Zera. The latter nodded her head and focused on the approaching beast. They watched it run towards them. Its heavy body made it difficult for the beast to move swiftly..

When it first crossed the spiked trees, one of its paws caught on and cut through the sharp edge of the bark they had cut. The enormous monster bellowed, shaking the ground with its painful howl while Jaspreth watched its health points depleting by a thousand.

"Holy moly! It actually worked Z!" He exclaimed. The big bear continued to howl in pain, wary of pursuing towards Zera and Jaspreth as of the moment.

Pursuing the beast while it took a step back, Jaspreth raised his axe and swung towards the bear's feet. It let out a deafening cry as he was able to deplete another set of its health points with Zera following him, slicing as much as she can through its thick skin.

"Dang." Zera muttered. "We need to lure it further. But now it's scared of pursuing us. How do we accomplish such a thing?"

Just as the question left Zera's mouth, a tumultuous array of bullets came raining on the still howling big bear.

Both Zera and Jaspreth watched as its health points lowered with every bullet that grazed through its skin.

Determined to finish the fight with the big boss sooner, they simultaneously attacked it where they could, dancing as it lashed at them angrily only to pierce its other paw in another one of their trap.

Zera could imagine how painful the wounds were. A minor cut could almost make her cry when she was little. How much more being pierced by a sharp tip with it cutting right through the skin?

She shivered at the thought, reminding herself that it wasn't real. What she was seeing was a trick of the eye, an illusion.

"It's not real." She muttered, convincing herself as she joined Jaspreth in continuously trying to blow an attack on the beast.

The rain of bullets only doubled.

[BorZ Gen4560; HP: 70,000]

"We're halfway there!" Jaspreth shouted. At the moment, he didn't even know who he was aiming that announcement for. It seems the other team had joined them in taking down the enormous monster, the array of bullets coming from both sides of where they had a brief stand-off with the other team earlier.

"Come on!" Zera heard the other team's leader screaming. Briefly, she looked at her surroundings and tried to assess what was happening.

Beatrix and Astherielle, together with Nayowmi, were attacking the big boss. The other team who had guns were doing the same. Those who weren't had mimicked what Jaspreth and Zera were doing.

With all of their attack points combined, they were making a vast difference on the beast's health points. It was decreasing at the expense of each of them getting more and more exhausted with every attack.

[BorZ Gen4560; HP: 35,000]

Zera wanted to dance for joy, but she knew it was still too early to celebrate. She would cheer with victory once the big boss had fallen on its death, its health bar turning to 0.

"Taunt it towards us, Z! Let's go!" Jaspreth screamed at Zera, his voice almost impossible to hear amidst the howls of pain and the firing of bullets.

She made a face, but knew what Jaspreth was thinking. They need to be the ones to kill the big boss.

From the other games they have played, Zera learned that being the one who defeats the stage boss gives the dealer more points.

She had yet to confirm this theory, but she was sure it should work the same way, too.

"Hey!" Zera called out, brandishing her sword towards the big bear, trying to get its attention but her efforts were in vain, the monstrous bear lashing at its other pursuers.

"HEY!" she screamed even louder. This time, the beasts turned its full attention on Zera, its red eyes narrowing towards her.

"Uh-oh, time to run." she muttered, heading towards the small maze of sharp edges she and Jaspreth had made. "Okay! Mission accomplished!"

She was close to singing, joining Jaspreth as they watched the beast pull out it's caught paw, sprinkling crimson blood against the snow. It zeroed in on Zera, its glare murderous.

"I'm going to be honest. I think I made the big mama so mad now."

Jaspreth wanted to laugh at her comment, but he couldn't. Zera was right. The monstrous boss had turned super angry that even its face had turned fury red.

"Crap." They both muttered, the beast howling for the last time before it trudged towards them. From time to time, its feet would get caught in one of the sharp trees, but unlike before, it walked on, ignoring the blood which had scattered more evenly on its path, coming closer towards the two.

"Um," Zera started. "I think this is the part where we start screaming." She gulped nervously, regretting part of the decision of calling out the beast towards them. However, looking at the health points depleting, Zera crossed her fingers with her heart thundering against her chest.

[BorZ Gen4560; HP: 7,000]

There were exactly ten sharp edges of the trees in front of her and Jaspreth. If the beast stepped on all of it, the big boss would have died before it could even reach them.

At the back of Zera's mind, she was hoping that it was what would happen.

[BorZ Gen4560; HP: 6,000]

Muttering a curse, Zera felt like she was waiting for a death sentence. The others had watched from their standpoint, their attacks seeming to have no effect, as the red-faced monster must have activated some sort of a shield.

"Dumb." Zera wanted to retort. It should have activated its shield from earlier.

But that would be a challenge on their part. If it had chosen to activate its shield, they would have had a hard time trying to finish the beast.

[BorZ Gen4560; HP: 4,000]

With no certainty, Jaspreth held his axe ready. Following his move, Zera gripped her sword as well. They stood side by side; the beast moving at a speed they could still consider moderately slow.

[BorZ Gen4560; HP: 2,000]

Eyeing each other, Zera and Jaspreth knew it was now or never.

"On the count of three." Jaspreth took a deep breath.. He fixed Zera with a determined gaze. "Three!"