The creature stumbled as its right leg exploded outward again; half of the leg was completely gone, and the monster tilted before it got hold of itself. Water rushed to fill the leg, and it lashed out with its left hand instead.

Azaroth finally moved away, clutching his weapon. The only thing that saved him from broken bones was his body covered in essence.

He heard Alex laughing. "How do you like that? You big water doll!" he shouted, the aftermath of his skill still crackling in his hand, lightning flickering between his fingers.

The monster was having a hard time regenerating since it was far from the river now. Azaroth had an idea.

"Alex! Can you do that skill again? Target its left leg, and I’ll go for the right! We do it together at once!" Azaroth ran forward, sheathing his sword and aiming for the creature’s right leg from the back.

It was half regenerated already. Azaroth waited until Alex was in place, then, with a nod, they both launched their attacks on the monster at the same time.

Azaroth made his go upward this time, and his skill sent water flying to halve the monster’s waist. With the other leg removed from Alex’s end, the monster fell and now supported itself with two hands. "It’s not dead!" Stallus growled. It pained her that she couldn’t help with her skill. It’s not like there’s a crystal around that she could just manipulate.

"We have to find its heart!" Alex called from where he was avoiding the monster’s swiping hand, dancing between the monster’s regenerating legs and sending it stumbling. Alex’s skill was simple.

He sent out lightning in the shape of an arrow. But it’s a skill that takes a lot of essence, and right now, Alex didn’t have much. Add to that the fact that they were hungry and tired, his attacks were getting weaker.

"How do we locate the heart?" Azaroth called. He didn’t know what else to try. His essence could only allow him to use his skill, Fire Force, once at full power. He had to use it wisely. "I don’t know where the heart is!" Alex called back.

"Where should I hit?" Catena called. He was already done with the formation of his skill, gripping it firmly in his mind and running essence around it.

Azaroth heard and pointed at the creature’s chest, where the heart should be. "Go for there!" Catena nodded and closed the distance between him and the monster. He flung back his chain, and the metal head hit the ground behind him.

Green essence covered the chain, and the ball glowed. It was through it that Catena sent his skill essence into the ground and hardened the earth around it.

Then, with a heave, he tore out a piece of earth the size of a door as he pulled back his chain. The metal ball and the earth were fused together with essence, and Catena lifted it as if it were nothing.

He slammed it into the monster with all his hunger-filled strength. The earth passed through and blasted the water in the chest back, making the monster flinch and almost tilt over, but it used water from the rest of its body to replace it. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Azaroth narrowed his eyes, and Catena shrugged, scratching his head. He didn’t know what else to do. Catena had used two attacks at once with that stunt he pulled, and it had a massive pull on his essence reserve. Azaroth turned to the boy. "Can you throw me?"

Catena looked surprised but nodded quickly. The first skill he used was that of strength. It’s called Strength Borrow. When he activated it, his essence would be sent down into the ground and take from the earth’s strength before it was returned to him, thereby giving him more strength. The other was the one that made him tear out earth like bread.

Catena used Strength Borrow to make himself stronger, then he picked Azaroth up as if he weighed nothing more than a basket of feathers.

"Throw me up there with all your strength," Azaroth said. Catena did just so, almost making Azaroth forget what he wanted to do. He went flying straight at the monster’s face.

Stallus and Alex were distracting it. As soon as Azaroth got close, he brought out his sword with his left hand and covered it with his invisible chaos essence.

Then with his right hand, he used Force Fire on the monster’s face. Water splashed away from the face and revealed what Azaroth was really after: the heart. He brought up his sword and cut it in two as he flew by, and the monster screamed.

Azaroth plunged into the water and used his strength to swim to the surface, just in time to see the monster dissolve into a huge wave and slam him back in. He was wet and even more hungry when he came out. Azaroth was angry.

The monster was too powerful, and if it had only been Azaroth, then he would have run instead of getting killed. He knew it was because of the others that they were able to kill the monster.

At least they were useful for something. If he had mastery over fire, he would have dried himself with it. Right now, the best he could do was blast himself with fire.

"So what now?" Alex asked. "It was fun killing the monster. I get to use my skill! But now I’m about to faint from hunger. Not to talk of needing essence to fill my core completely."

Azaroth pointed to a spot in front of the river.

"We make camp here. Till we are ready to leave." With that said, Azaroth began walking to where they left their stuff earlier.

The others, with nothing to do and confused, followed him. It had been a long day. A day and a half? They couldn’t tell, but they knew it had been long.