NOVPUB"Now THIS is a challenge!"
Mom was the most enthusiastic out of us by nearly a mile if her grin was anything to go off of, and then to balance our her energetic, over the top yearning to be unleashed against this gigantic monster in front of us there was Draka, who looked like she wanted to melt into a puddle.
There was a surplus of anxiety and fear on her face as she stared up at the mountain of powerful muscle in front of us, this fur covered and bone ridden chimeric beast exuding quite the aura that made it hard to blame her for being terrified.
So where Mom was rolling out her muscles and grinning from ear to ear as she watched this monster slowly stand up to its full, daunting height of nearly a fifteen feet, Draka was clutching the staff that she had summoned from seemingly nowhere and very content to just hang out behind us.
Again, couldn't really blame her since this cross between a gryphon and a wolf with a sprinkle of horse in there - to really guarantee it's already giant hind legs had even more power - was quite a daunting sight to see, especially when it was well over two and a half times my height...
And that was just its damn height, since it was definitely more than ten times my weight, if not twenty... it was just humongous, with the thick black fur absorbing all light and allowing those crystalline blue bones to stand out even more, especially as they crackled with electricity.
Then there was the obvious glow coming from its eyes and maw, which was an equally electric cerulean that promised quite the shock if it was allowed to get going, so we were dealing with a very dangerous monster here...
"This is what the tenth wave brings us... a single monster... which means this is going to be far harder than what we just went through, and that was already rather draining. Do we have enough potions?"
Before I could even take stock and give her a proper answer the older Demoness just chuckled and said "Probably not, but why bother with a drawn out fight when we can just kill it in a minute~? Go big or go home, right~?"
"How do you suppose we can bring down a beast like this in a mere minute? Have... Have you, perhaps, gone insane? We have been here for awhile now..."
Leone's dull tone was such a stark contrast from her normal self, and as she stared up at the monster I had to glance at her and see if it was still really her... only to be reminded that the red I was seeing was technically a different 'her', which... yeah.
I thought it was bad with my own 'split' personality, and now I have to take into account this red skinned baddy that gave Leone one hell of a boost in so many different ways?
Definitely not complaining though...
"All of us were already lacking in the sanity department the moment we decided to stay here, so... kind of. Anyways, you have that very strong Fire Magic from the Empress PLUS that crazy Blood Magic, which would work wonders if we got a single wound opened up, right? And we just so happen to have someone with a very~ sharp sword and a very~ powerful swing~!"
"As well as the Ice Mana of two separate mages, plus my Lust Mana which could probably create an opening... You know, the more I think about it the more I realize how broken group fighting is. Especially for us... kinda odd, no?"
The Vampire let out a sigh and replied "When you outnumber your opponents in not only quantity but also quality I suppose that happens regularly. Besides, what have we done in life besides fight things?" 𝚗ov𝚙𝚞𝚋.c𝚘m
Before I could give her the answer that was on the tip of my tongue - just like what had caused me to have that answer - the Vampire just glared back at me and made it clear I wasn't going to say that...
So instead Mom did it for me, snorting and saying "Just like me, most of your lives has been spent fighting, feasting and fucking~!", adding to her giddy, overly enthusiastic mood as she watched the monster slowly unfurl from its cocoon of mana.
"I... Please, be quiet. Both of you."
It would seem that there was still so much that was the same with the Vampire still, and being able to get embarrassed by excessive talk of that nature was one of those ways to get her all shy, which I found adorable.
What wasn't adorable was the electricity that began to ripple over that Gryphon-Wolf's fur, arcing between the jutted out bones like they were lightning rods and giving it a very obvious set of armor that was meant to repel physical attacks.
"Oh..."
Now Mom's enthusiasm was draining away as she watched more and more bolts crash across the monster's body, though it didn't diminish completely as she just stared at her sword for a moment before shrugging.
To match the monster's blue glow, she summoned her new flames and continued to loosen her body as she got into a stance, staring at it and observing how it acted; we were still in this tense, inactive part of the fight that was so fragile, and neither side wanted to break this inactivity just yet.
"So... Um... I can do support stuff, promise... like this..?"
Draka's voice was a bit smaller than normal, but as I felt the chill of her potent yet somewhat unruly mana wrap around me in a cocoon I was fine to let it be, the Dragonkin armoring us for this battle to come.
"Yeah... that's good... Kat, wanna give me some wings or something~? Bet we could get this done real~ quick..."
Rolling out her shoulders and grinning at the monster, Mom's eyes never left the glowing blue eyes of our foe, and as if sensing that the Demoness was the most likely to attack first the monster's eyes were trained on her, watching for a single twitch that would signify the beginning of this battle.
