Standing before Raive right now was a giant monster.
The kind that would appear in B-Rated horror stories. The one that eats everything but the main character pair, then gets burned to death by the end.
But that’s not really the problem.
WHOOSH!
The problem was that, using its long vines like a whip, it moved to attack Raive.
To make matters worse, the tip of a whip usually moves faster than the speed of sound. Meaning, dodging after seeing it swing was already too late.
"Hup!"
Raive saw the vine curl up, then, just as it tensed before coming down, he jumped aside.
BAM!
The vine hit the ground, cracking it.
Sharp stone fragments and moss, powdered by the incredible force, flew all around.
One of the fragments flew toward Raive and created a small cut as it flew past his cheek, where a single drop of blood fell.
’This is hopeless...!’ He lamented.
Just from seeing one attack, he already knew that he had no chance of winning. Even buying time seemed near-impossible. He was just lucky he dodged the first attack.
But if a second, or third, came in succession?
No way.
He couldn’t let the enemy out of his sight, so he couldn’t check Shymine’s state either. However, by his estimate, she still needed more time to recover.
Raive didn’t really want to do it, but only he could.
Even if he knew he would revive when killed, it’s not like that would erase the fear of death in him. Rather, he feels like the more he dies, the stronger his fear of death becomes.
"...!"
And just then, the vine moved again.
Two of them at the same time!
He couldn’t jump left or right unless he knew where those whips would target. Heck, it might even be assuming he’d dodge already, aiming where he’d land. But if he waited until he could figure out where it’d land, it would be too late to dodge.
He was in a dilemma!
All of a sudden, he got an inspiration, making him tense up the muscles in his leg.
"If I can’t go either side, then forward!" He shouted.
At the same time, he kicked off the ground, performing a low, forward roll. In the nick of time, the two vine whips struck on either side, a short distance behind him.
The monster really assumed he’d dodge either direction and attacked those spots!
If he didn’t jump forward, Raive would’ve died for sure!
Furthermore, his decision to come close was a genius idea too. Now that he’s much closer, the whip vines couldn’t reach him anymore!
In short, staying closer to the monster’s body is ironically the safest choice!
Well, relatively, at least.
"GRAAAA!"
Now that he’s closer, the giant mouth moved as if to take a bite.
Raive saw this and took a step back, dodging. The force from the jaw shutting was enough to produce a powerful gust that felt almost like a leaf blower. If that hit, he was sure he wouldn’t even have time to feel pain before dying.
The monster bit three times consecutively, and Raive jumped back one step three times too. He was handling the enemy quite well despite how weak he truly was.
"Raive, back away!"
Finally, the voice of the one he had been waiting for echoed.
Without delay, he jumped further away from the last bite, then hid at a pillar a short distance away. As soon as he did—
CRACKLE!
Ice crawled from one of his vines and encroached up to half of its body. The assailant, Shymine, was finally back on her feet!
Looking back, Raive found her standing with one hand over the frozen vine that had pinned her down previously.
It was even cut off already. Something Therese did with all her might to help Shymine out of her predicament. After all, none of them could really lift a few hundred kilograms of vine to save her. Cutting was the only choice.
"Stand back, leave the rest to me!"
She said with a voice filled with a mix of anger and confidence.
Well, she did almost die from that, after all. Getting angry was a given.
The giant rosebud monster turned its body, facing Shymine. Even though it didn’t have a brain, it figured out that she was the one to launch that freezing attack.
As if to retaliate, it swung its vines like whips again, aiming straight for Shymine.
However...
"TOO SLOW!"
She lowered her stance and jumped forward like a speeding bullet.
Looking closer, the ground beneath her had been frozen into a smooth surface, almost like a skating rink. She slid across it and closed the distance fast, dodging the vines perfectly.
But she didn’t stop there.
She placed her hand right at the "lips" of the monster and took a deep breath. A cold, misty white breath.
Then, the area around her palm began to freeze.
No, not just that. The frozen area quickly expanded, running across the monster’s gigantic body. In a split second, the entire monster completely froze, turning into a giant ice sculpture.
The monster no longer moved...
To Shymine, however, that still wasn’t enough to vent her anger and pain.
She folded her fingers, gathering all her energy into her thumb and middle fingers, before flicking the ice.
Right then, a small crack appeared on its surface where her nail struck.
So small that it was barely visible.
However, the crack began to run. It started spreading in all directions, becoming bigger, longer, and faster. And then, in just a couple of seconds, the whole monster’s body collapsed into smaller ice fragments.
"With this, it should be dead." She whispered with a sigh.
Then...
"Ugh."
Swayed to the floor.
Raive was fast enough to catch her body and realized how hot she was. No, not in the sexual sense, but rather, in the literal sense.
She was burning, almost as if she had a great fever!
"Is this the cost of your ability?"
Raive asked in a low voice, as if not to let the others hear.
They might be in the same a party, but they might still want to keep some secrets about their abilities, after all. Blabbering loudly about one’s personal info might not be a good choice.
"..."
Shymine averted her gaze, but she didn’t deny it.
That was answer enough for Raive.
"Hershey!"
The next moment, he called toward the little girl who was still busy healing Khamish. Luckily, although he was hit hard in the head, he was still alive. Therese, who was still conscious despite how painful her broken leg was, was pushed to be the last patient.
"After Therese, heal up Shymine again too." He added.
The danger had disappeared, so for a bit, they could lower their guard.
Though that wasn’t the main reason why Raive left Shymine to her care. The main reason was... the floating objects right where the large monster’s corpse was.
Items appearing after killing a large monster...
There were ten stat-up candies, three level 1 skill upgrade scrolls, one level 2 skill upgrade scroll, and a few more trinkets.
Seeing those, Raive was convinced that they had cleared the map successfully.
And then...
"Nom!"
He wasted no time grabbing all the candies and eating them all at once.