Chapter 65: Godspeed

"Yan, get ready for your part," Aria was standing beside Yan, preparing for the last event as they watched the other members perform.

"En," Yan replied, having the same stoic countenance he had.

However, faint traces of anguish could be seen in his psyche. He hasn't completely recovered after Ha-young's incident yet, which was understandable.

In fact, the way the likes of Aria and Elgin reacted was the abnormal one in this situation. Reina was in denial, so she continued to persevere to keep her life intact. She was someone who prized herself above others and would not take any dirt.

Aria worried how much Yan would be affected by this incident. What happened was unfortunate, but when you delve into the world of Hunters, you couldn't expect no deaths to be made. Yan must understand this as well.

Assisted by Dianthe, her wound was cleaned and soothed. Her arm was starting to turn numb because of the injury.

Her attention was one more brought to the cluster.

The chains began to start penetrating the cluster's flesh upon detecting the crease Elgin's daggers created swiftly.

However, just like the previous attempts in harming the creature, the wound soon began regenerating.

It was then that Rallaka entered the scene. He hurled stones at the wound Elgin created.

Thanks to Rallaka embedding the sharp magic stones, the hole that was about to close reopened again.

The chains continued to dig deeper, but the flesh soon started to close once more as the stones were quickly absorbed into its constitution.

Rallaka, having been told about how this would go, continued supplying stones at a pace in which Reina's chains would be able to dig further and ultimately reach the point.

Everything had been calculated. If all goes well, then this arduous battle would soon end. The pointless chase and battles.

Elgin's daggers did not only act for opening the crease, but also as restraints to the monster.

He continued to throw his weapons whenever the monster struggled too much, keeping it in place.

Reina, Elgin, and Rallaka continued their efforts in trying to pry open the monster. Switching around just like the previous process.

It was indeed working, with progress being made every so often. Anticipation began to appear.

The eventual success.

Lo and behold, it finally worked once they reached the five minutes mark.

The chains reached the dots Reina connected them to, which ultimately made the monster's movements halt.

"We.. we did it!!" Reina jumped even though she was wearing heels

Although Elgin did not show vivid expressions, one could tell that the temporary victory had made him brighten up.

"Bravo!!" Aria shouted from the sidelines, watching as the monster struggle even more after having all the chains inserted in place.

The effects of Reina's chains began taking part after she cast her next magic, which was the binding constituent. With all the chains inserted, she gained confidence.

"It actually worked, oh God, oh God!" Reina exclaimed, fumbling around with her spells and activating all the dangerous effects. "As expected of me, my decision making skills, and my superb skills~!" she praised herself without batting an eyelid.

Excited, Reina picked up her pace and strengthened her mentality- a well needed ability for the spells.

The mage was made to cast several powerful spells at the same time, which took a heavy toll on her as a whole.

The mood was gradually cheering up as success began to appear in front of them. Now that everything inside the plan worked according to Aria's predictions, the team members actually began to have faith.

However, one thing that they did not know was that Aria omitted the important part. The actual destruction part.

Naturally, just restraining the creature would not deal significant damages to the creature.

Aria would be the one to take charge in that department.

"Ohhh? This thing is not dying.. Aria, what to do now?" Reina asked, looking over to where Aria was at since she had no idea of the continuation.

"The rest is on me and Yan," Aria smirked, giving a peace sign at the confused woman.

Aria looked at the troubled cluster, the catalyst of their current problem. The sight of it was irksome.

"This damned pudding, just wait until I finish slicing it all up.." Aria's sanity was steadily dropping as she cracked her knuckles, preparing for the final showdown where she would be the main star for. She cackled and snickered in a low voice, drawing weird stares from Yan.

"..Did you say something?" Yan questioned, worrying for Aria's wellbeing.

"Hm? No," Aria turned to face Yan once more, flashing him a brilliant smile.

It was a comical scene in such a devastating battlefield.

Yan's emotional stability was at the rocks after all that has happened, so he did not bother pursuing the matter further.

He just knew that Aria had repeated the word 'disgusting' multiple times, leading him to wonder what she truly meant.

"You ready?" Aria asked the man.

Yan hummed in approval, which was a sign for Aria to start moving around.

She picked up Yan in a princess carry. The man was heavy, but her strength was more than enough to run around even with the man in tow.

One thing had to be noted about Yan. His speed was not all that exceptional, especially since he wielded a large claymore. It was hard for him to keep up with a high speed and swing his weapon at the same time.

Aria, however, needed a high amount of power in order to take down the cluster. And between all of them, the only one who was a viable candidate for this process was undoubtedly Yan.

As such, Aria's method of carrying would compensate for the loss in speed.

Currently, they were heading towards the cluster's way with high velocity.

Upon reaching a checkpoint they had discussed together, Aria threw Yan up in the air with all her might.

Seeing the man almost hit the ceilings of the sealed area, Aria whistled. It was close. A little bit more and Yan's head would've been flattened.

"..Godspeed," Aria wished even though no one would hear it, glancing to the man who was in the air with his claymore pointed at the monster.

She had marked the monster previously and asked Yan to aim at the pointer.

Now that he was high above, a plunge from this height in addition to the momentum Yan will build up would certainly deal massive amounts of damage, which was what Aria had in mind.

They just needed to aim it right.

Dianthe had a hand in this as she created platforms made out of water resembling a staircase in order for Yan to balance out his steps and increase the chance of hitting the target.

Once in the perfect position, one that could reach the target, all of them knew that this was the turning point.

"YAN! DO IT NOW!!" Aria shouted with all her might, her thundering voice resounding all over the sealed area.

Yan jumped, his whole body in a stabbing position meant to pierce the location Aria had noted down.

His claymore hit the monster's flesh and penetrated deeply. The amount of force applied in his hit was undeniably overpowered due to the conditions.

As a result, the cluster was torn apart. A huge crack was made in the place Yan aimed at.

Yan held on to his claymore's handle, before swinging about to gain enough momentum to reach a safe platform.

From this point on, it wasn't his turn anymore.

The last contender, Aria.

To successfully end off this cursed chain project.

Aria did not have somebody to throw her up in the air, so she asked Dianthe to make similar platforms as she did with Yan.

Dianthe's mana was about to fully deplete, but the Water Spirit kept holding on.

Aria internally expressed her utmost gratitude for the spirit and began hiking up the room. It was a similar procedure, but still different.

Her job was not to do the same thing as Yan, but rather to be a miner.

She jumped down like Yan, but her sword was not used yet. Since Yan's claymore had a rather thick handle, Aria was able to regain her footing on said sword.

Because the wound Yan made was too large for the monster to recover immediately, Aria had bits of time to work with.

"I haven't done surgery for a long time.. Aah, to Hell with all of this. Pudding, you're dying today," Aria cracked her neck brandishing [Halvargg] and preparing for her strike as well. "I'm sorry, my sword. You will be missed,"

"Here... we.." Aria took a deep breath in and out, before narrowing her eyes to reach a steadier aim. "GO!"

Wielding her sword, she aimed it at a spot she had estimated. She stabbed the flesh once. Twice. Thrice.

The blade was pulled in and out, with Aria in an awkward position situated over the site.

Repeatedly stabbing further and further, Aria perfectly knew what she was aiming for.

Since the cluster was able to retain its slime abilities, that must mean that the slime's body- particularly the core was still inside the cluster somewhere.

A slime's core.