Blades of grass sprang into the air with scattered waves as Hollow was thrown across the ground and sent into a roll. A horrific growl erupted from the monster responsible and took a step towards us.

  Veyra drew her bowstring behind me, while I readied my floating arms to attack.

  Hollow’s still not a match for the monsters of this area. Damn, I got a little excited after our practice match yesterday, but I guess he still has a long way to go.

  The monster we came across was a two-headed quadruped. Its entire body was made from the same firm floral matter the rest of the monsters we’ve faced have had, but it was covered in a coat of blue flowers. It would have actually been a beautiful creature if its vicious fangs didn’t snarl like that.

  {Visceria Moonflower Lv25}

  {Status: Enraged}

  {Both heads devour their prey with coordinated attacks. If one head is lost in a battle, the other functions less efficiently}

  “Atlas, you’re spacing out!” The sudden call came from Veyra’s telepathy.

  (R-right! Sorry.) I shook my head, hoping to clear my thoughts, and brought the floating claws at my side to attack positions. I can’t afford to be distracted, even here. They’re lives are in my hands, so I need to give it my all!

  On that thought, I charged forward and sent my arms to grab the beast. Once it was held in place, the two elongated heads thrashed around violently, trying to snap their teeth on whatever it could sink into. Luckily, I had enough distance to move freely.

  Oh no, you don’t! I channeled my mana into the earth around it and sank its body into the mud until only its heads were exposed.

  “Graaaaaagh!!!” It released a foul roar that shook the trees.

  (Veyra!) I called out, but Veyra had already released her arrow and pierced one of the heads.

  Blood gushed down its neck as it threw its head around in frantic motions. After a moment of writhing, Hollow ran up to it with his sword drawn and kept his body low to the ground. He brought his sword up in a wide arc and cut into its neck.

  A quick spurt of green blood rushed down the edge of his blade, but it was no longer than a second before it stopped. The blade hadn’t fully crossed the neck. In fact, it barely advanced a few inches before getting wedged.

  The injured head rose up, taking Hollow with it. He clung to his sword as his body rose off the ground and the second head honed in on him with its jaw open.

  Crap! He needs to get out of there! Panic drew me closer. Earth Manipulation!

  A small patch of dirt rose from the ground in the shape of a thin rod and crashed into the attacking head's jaw. It snapped shut on empty air, and Hollow used the chance to kick the head square in the side of its face.

  A gleaming side-eye met with Hollow, and suddenly the injured head tossed him into the air. He spun helplessly like a rag doll, all while the heads opened their mouths to catch him.

  (Veyra, finish that head off!) I called out desperately.

  I summoned magic circles over my shoulder and shot a burst of wind to push Hollow out of their course. At that same moment, two arrows engrossed in green energy cut into the injured head’s neck and tore the last strands of its flesh, cutting the head off completely.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Alright, its health dropped quite a bit from that. We just have to finish it off now! I looked back and saw Hollow rise to his feet. (Will you still be good to fight, Hollow?)

  Hollow nodded his head, supporting himself up with his sword like a crutch. He looked worse for wear, but I decided to trust him and stood back as he charged ahead.

  The Moonflower dug its claws into the dirt, gleaming eyes locked on the scrappy metal armour heading its way. It raised its head with a roar and charged in Hollow's direction. His pace quickened, sword at his side, gleaming with a faint white glow.

  Is that…? Surely he doesn’t plan to take it down on his own?

  Hollow weaved past the Moonflowers' snapping jaws and spun on his back heel. Just as he brought the sword around in a wide slash, one of the beast's claws came down on him and flattened Hollow to the ground. Pinned on his back, he could barely raise his arm.

  It lowered its teeth to the back of his helmet, and purple drool dripped over him. It opened its jaw, and right before it could snap down on him for good, it jerked its attention to Veyra. She ran in closer to draw its attention and fired another green-lit arrow at its body.

  “Riiiiiiiaaaaagh!!” It squealed in pain as the arrow wedged into its flowery chest. Scattered blue petals flew through the air as it stumbled back, still alive. Hollow was down to one HP and could barely move, so Veyra knocked her next arrow and fired at the head.

  Even if she fought from a distance, her arrows could only do so much damage against something so strong. With Hollow down for the count, she took on the load by herself.

  Veyra closed her eyes for a moment, and green rays of light circled her. Strands of her blue hair rose, as if floating around her, and a heavy trace of mana surrounded her. It was the same power she had used to channel those strong arrows, the one she called a skill.

  Her eyes opened to the charging Moonflower, and as she drew back her bowstring, the green light surrounded her with glowing designs that constructed behind her. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was looking at. For a moment, it looked as if something had overcome her bow and arrow, something very powerful.

  As the arrow left the bow, an explosion of wind followed, and it disappeared for a moment before completely passing through the Moonflower. A gaping hole was left in its neck, which left its head connected by only a few strands of flesh. Its health bar dropped to zero, and the last glimmer of life in its eyes faded to a dull, murky white before dropping to the ground, dead.

  I stood watching in awe as the green light rose from her body like a pillar and disappeared into the air, as if it were never there in the first place.

  {350 Exp gained}

  {Level Up}

  {Party Member has Leveled Up! Lv23 → Lv24}

  {Party Member has Leveled Up! Lv12 → Lv15}

  Whoa! We all leveled up. So the party function even lets me know when they get stronger, that’s good. Saves me the trouble of checking after every fight.

  “Atlas…” Veyra’s voice loomed through my thoughts with a concerning tone.

  (What is it? Did something happen? Are you okay?)

  “I’m fine. It’s Hollow that I’m worried about.”

  Hollow suffered a major loss of health in the last few moments of the battle and currently sat on only 1HP. His body was beaten up pretty badly, covered in dents and scratches all over. That being said, he stood there silent, as usual. His mind was somewhere else.

  He’s probably upset about being beaten at the end there. Should I say something? I’m not really good at that kind of thing, though… Do I have to?

  I noticed he had something in his hand. It was the hilt to his sword, only, there was no blade attached to it. After getting a little closer, I noticed broken shards of metal scattered in front of him, probably the only remains of what was his sword.

  No wonder he’s down. A sword is a swordsman's bread and butter! I’d feel pretty bad if I lost my magic after all. If that’s all it is, I’ll just make a new one.

  If I used Construct on the broken sword, I was sure I could bend and shape it back into a regular sword. If I focused enough, I could maybe repair it to an even better state, but my mind wandered to the corpse of the Moonflower.

  Could I use it on this thing? No, the skill doesn’t work on living things… Wait, now that it’s dead, it should work, right?

  Excitement grew the closer I drew to it, and once I stood over its flowery body, I activated the skill.

  Construct!