Infinitum Crystals - The Deadly Maidens [3]

Side Story 4.4 - Airi - Xuanwu Part 2

Looks like we were misinformed about a very particular information. We thought that The Black Tortoise would simply be only a giant tortoise. But apparently that's not the case with this one mythical creature. This one has a serpent acting as its tail. Quite unthinkable to say the least. I couldn't never imagine there would be that kind of creature to exist. But then again, these legendary creatures are ancient and they were known to be one of its kind so its fair for it to be unknown among many. However, Mei apparently forgot to tell us about this beforehand when she probably already knows about it.

"There's no time to falter. Get in position and get ready to strike everyone." Blax shouted orders to us.

Everyone began rounding up around the tortoise, that also include Mei who hasn't really shown us her ability before this. Blax initiated the attack by hurling up a devastating fire sphere toward the head of the tortoise. For context, the size of The Black Tortoise was as big as an iceberg. The fire did not left behind a lasting effect to the tortoise at all.

"That thing is huge..." said Hosuke.

Mei then told us, "Xuanwu is the largest among the 4 Symbols. Although its the slowest among the four. It's also the most durable of them all."

"You probably say that because of the shell it has right?" I asked her.

She then said, "Not exactly. Even its skin is hard to be penetrated. But still, we can at least know where to hit and making sure at least there's some damage to it."

"I see...So we just have to keep hitting them till it goes down. Just like any other enemy we faced before then." Hosuke assessed the situation.

He then rushed toward the tortoise and tried to give a flurry of slashes to the tortoise legs. Dark red blood exerted out of the skin of the tortoise as Hosuke continues his rush. However, The tortoise did not flinch at all. It remains in its position. The only thing the moves however was the serpent as it tried to gnaw Hosuke.

"Hosuke! Look out!" Mei called him out.

Hosuke didn't hear it at all as he continued to slash as many times as possible. With haste, Mei revealed a portion of her talent by showing off her prowess in wind magic as it allows her to quickly launch her self toward Hosuke's position like a catapult. The serpent's head was about 10 meters away from Hosuke but thankfully, a fiery explosion was combust in front of its head. It was Mei. She then forced Hosuke to stay back by using a wave water to push him away. It swept Hosuke a few meters back. Mei then proceeded to unleash a mini pillar that appear from the ground. From afar, it looked like she just did an uppercut to the serpent. In just a single sequence, we saw her using all four elemental magic to fight. She hasn't even shown her true ability but she has already proven herself to be very talented.

"She's strong..." said Rider as he was in awe of her skills.

"Come on guys. Help her out!" Blax rushed into the battlefield.

With my gravity controlling ability, I decided to use the rocks that was all over the place and begun spinning it around, turning it into a tornado of some kind. A tornado with stones. I sent the tornado toward Blax and Rider. Rider immediately transformed into his dragon armor and breathed out a barrage of fire while Blax casts his own fire toward the stone tornado. The tornado was now burning. I hurled it with all my strength to hit The Black Tortoise face. The tortoise was punished with a bunch of hard burning stones hitting directly to its face. We were hoping for that combination of attack to at least be effective but it turn out the tortoise did not flinch at all. It was enduring the whole attack.

"Impossible..." I said so in surprise.

Mei then told us, "I think I see the problem here..."

"What is it?" asked Blax.

She explained, "While all the battle was focused on the tortoise. The serpent was casting a healing spell. Which means that the tortoise pretty much has an infinite amount of regenerative healing. We have to take out the serpent first, guys!"

Everyone understood the situation and decided to target the serpent first. As we were targeting the serpent however, the tortoise finally decided to use its own ability. The tortoise looked up in the sky and released a beam of light towards the cloud. We didn't know what it was doing but we soon found out when a bunch of beams began to struck down to the ground like a meteor shower.

"Everyone, take cover!" Mei began creating a large earth golem to protect her as well as us who quickly made our way to her.

"This isn't going the way we wanted." shouted Hosuke.

Rider was getting worried, "This is impossible!"

"No!" I stopped him, "There must be a way to this. We just have to make sure to hit the serpent first."

"The serpent is pretty fast. It's going to be hard if we only use projectiles on it." explained Blax.

"Then how about I slice it's neck?" suggested Hosuke.

Everyone looked at each other until Blax told him, "Alright then, after this rain of beam starts to slow down, we'll cover for you as you make your way to the serpent."

"I'll do it in one slice. For now, cover me as I began buffing up my strength."

Mei then casts an ability to Hosuke and said, "Let me help with that as well. This is a buff the increases your strength, agility as well as endurance."

"Good. Remember everyone, as soon as the rain of beam slows down, we will Hosuke reach his destination." ordered Blax.

Everyone nodded as they prepared themselves for what's about to come next. This next move will be the decisive move to end this battle. Or that's what we wanted to believe. But that's not what happened...

TO BE CONTINUED