"Professor... you don't mean—?" Rosaline understood his intent instantly. But using her staff as the primary source of the attack—wasn't that too dangerous? "It's true my staff possesses immense power, but this place is saturated with gas."
"I have a way to handle the gas. But tell me, since this isn't a plant-element De-von, wouldn't that 'Finishing Move' of yours be incredibly effective?" Charlwind asked.
Rosaline went silent, glancing toward Alka. She saw him twirling his staff to maintain a continuous gale, while on the other side, the water spirit summoned waves to flash-freeze the incoming insects.
"Managing two artifacts and controlling them simultaneously is already pushing him to his limit," Charlwind noted. "If he exerts any more power, we have no guarantee we can stop the swarm once his mana is depleted."
Rosaline nodded in agreement. "So, you want me to be the one to deal with the Queen myself?"
"Even if the gas has thinned, using metal is still a risk," Charlwind explained. "We will be your shield until your preparations are complete."
"But if I do that, I'll have to deactivate my Domain!" Rosaline countered sharply. "This place will plunge into darkness again, and they will swarm us... Can we handle it then? And has everyone else even agreed to this plan?!"
Charlwind remained silent.
Rosaline looked at the others; they were battered, exhausted, and their desperate expressions showed they weren't entirely sure about the plan either.
"You haven't told them, have you?" she asked. "If we fail, the whole group is finished."
"They're going to swarm us regardless," Charlwind stated. "And right now, the only ones capable of truly changing the tide are you and Alka."
Rosaline fell silent. Charlwind continued, "As for your skill requirements, don't worry. Just focus on what you need to do, okay?"
The Hunter girl knew Charlwind didn't take words lightly. In the two years they had worked together, he had never joked about matters of life and death. 'I'm a Support Hunter, but when it's down to the wire, it's hard to keep a cool head,' she thought.
"Fine... but for safety, I suggest everyone hold their shields. At the very least, I can protect you with other skills," she said, her voice tight with tension.
"Yahoo! Finally, you're letting me be the tank!" Charlwind chirped, patting Rosaline's shoulder heartily.
"If you get injured, I'll never hear the end of it from Commander Drake," Rosaline remarked, making the Professor burst into laughter.
"Understood, understood. Now, do you know what needs to be done?" Charlwind asked. "On my signal, deactivate the Domain."
"Copy that."
"And me?" Eugene asked. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Your skills are for tracking. But if you want to help... when this staff starts to vibrate, help me hold it steady," Rosaline told him, offering a small smile to ease his nerves.
Though Eugene didn't fully understand, he nodded.
Rosaline took a deep breath. She could feel the gas thinning. She held her staff horizontally with both hands, nodding for him to grip the end. "No matter what happens... stay focused. If I tell you to let go, you let go. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Eugene replied firmly, gripping the end of the staff.
"Now then..." Charlwind pulled something from his inventory—a massive shield made of thick ice.
Rosaline watched in awe, as did Amalin, who also equipped an ice shield. They poured clean water over their hands as they gripped the handles; as the water froze, it acted like a powerful adhesive, anchoring the shields to their hands.
"As long as the shields don't break, you can still save us, right, Rosaline?" Charlwind asked.
"...It's reckless," she whispered. Beneath her mask, her face was grim, but she knew that in this situation, running only made things worse.
Charlwind stepped forward with Amalin and signaled Alka. "Construct as many ice wedges as you can!"
Immediately, the wind intensified, creating a barrier the insects couldn't penetrate. Alka used Valaris's power to push the creation of a massive number of ice wedges. The water coalesced and was flash-frozen by the gale into hundreds of sharp, knife-like projectiles.
Valaris was a support-type artifact that amplified water and wind skills. Alka alone couldn't have made this many in such a short time, but by draining every drop of his mana, he shaped the water into wedges of various sizes, all with razor-sharp tips. In less than seven minutes, nearly fifty ice wedges hovered in the air.
"More, Mr. Alka!" Charlwind shouted.
Seeing the threat, Algeda strained her abdomen, extruding larvae from her tail. The thread-like parasites clumped together, forming long, writhing masses that looked like giant serpents. One after another, these "snakes" lunged toward Rosaline's group.
[Domain Exclusive Skill: 'The Fool' - Inactive. The enemy currently possesses higher Intelligence than the user.]
"Watch out!" Rosaline warned.
The water spirit splashed water at the encroaching parasites, which the wind froze instantly. However, the parasites sacrificed their outer layers, shedding the ice to maintain their speed. Conversely, the frozen heads of the clumps acted like aerodynamic drills, allowing them to pierce through the gale!
Amalin raised her shield. "Shield Bash!"
The impact shattered the ice on the parasite snake's head with a loud crack. Amalin was forced back a step, but she lunged forward again. "Shield Bash!"
Charlwind also charged into the fray with his ice shield. Despite being nearly eighty, his body held firm, his arm muscles taut under the impact. "Let's have a chemistry lesson for another hour, shall we, my dear De-von?"
He pulled out a glass bottle labeled 'Boric Acid' in messy handwriting. "Do you know why insects fear this so much? I'll show you right now."
He smashed the bottle against his ice shield. The clear liquid splashed over the parasitic snakes. Moments later, the giant "snakes" began to unravel, falling to the floor even as they tried to cling together. Yellow fluid leaked everywhere as their bodies separated, unable to maintain their form. The thread-like parasites writhed for a few seconds before dying.
"Osmosis," Charlwind explained. "It's the violent extraction of water from cells. The concentrated boric acid causes your bodies to shrink, distort, and wither instantly. Congratulations... you've just been killed by athlete's foot medication!"
He threw another bottle at the head of a parasitic clump, causing it to thrash in agony. "I only brought one nitrogen grenade because I rarely use them. But boric acid? I always have that for fungus and as an insecticide."
"If they're dead over there, throw some over here!" Amalin barked, still fending off three parasitic snakes.
"Coming right up!" Charlwind yelled, tossing the bottles to shatter against the heads of the "snakes" near Amalin.
"Are we just going to stand here?" Eugene asked, looking at the chaos. He could only watch as Edgar guarded the three wounded men inside a protective water dome.
"We're waiting for the signal," Rosaline answered. "Eugene... I know waiting is hard, but waiting is the most critical part of the plan."
Eugene bit his lip. He was restless, yet the woman before him was as calm as a frozen lake.
"Professor..." Alka called out. He was hovering high in the air to avoid the ground-based parasites.
Charlwind looked at the hundreds of ice wedges floating in the air and roared, "Hermit! Deactivate the Domain!"
"Everyone, close your eyes!" Rosaline screamed, canceling the skill immediately.
The Lighthouse of Light vanished. Silence and darkness reclaimed the cavern. In that instant, the insects and parasites launched a full-scale assault.
"Leeching Edge"
Faint red flames flickered onto the tips of the floating ice wedges. Alka used his remaining strength to propel them forward with a blast of wind. In the absolute darkness, the ice wedges impaled countless enemies. The shrieks of the parasites were unending, but the Hunters could hear only the pounding of their own hearts in this final gamble.
One.
Two.
Three.
...
... Seven.
"Amber Reign," Rosaline whispered as the seventh mana orb materialized.
Suddenly, the amber atop her staff began to glow, and the head of the staff itself began to change...