By this point, the Monster Rex Goliath was covered in dense clusters of wounds and broad patches of frostbite, and both legs from the knees down were "frozen" solid in heavy ice, completely robbed of the ability to move or kick. More precisely, it had lost entirely its ability to strike back at melee attackers. All it could do now was barely prop itself up on its knees, arms uselessly shielding its face, roaring as it endured wave after wave of ferocious attacks from Kureha, Laurier, and the others.
Clearly, after a few rounds of righteous group beatdown from Leon and the others, this was no longer a question of whether Goliath's health bar was showing. The bar had dropped clean below the execute threshold; the boss was in its final death throes, deep in the getting-rushed-down phase.
And that was exactly why Leon and the others had stepped out of the fight.
Only by leaving the "last hit" and the fat "Great Feat" that came with it to the lower-level members could they maximize the payout from this hunt.
After all, they had long since hit Lv.4. Even with a special Monster Rex as the opponent, hoping to fill a high-level Excelia bar off a single hunt, even for cheaters like them with the Beloved's Crest and its drastically reduced Excelia requirements, was nothing but a pipe dream.
...
...
Heavy booms rolled one after another. More than two hours had passed since Leon and the others withdrew, and the fierce battle inside the Monster Rex's room still had not stopped.
Laurier raced forward, swinging her beloved sword wreathed in flowing wind; several invisible, wind-wrapped slashes landed on the forearms Goliath shielded its face with, yet left only a few faint white marks.
Feeling the sting on its arm, Goliath swung back on pure instinct, and with a terrifying whoosh a single punch smashed the floor beneath it to pieces.
...
The little elf's blade rang as she batted aside the flying rubble, spun a full 720 degrees through the air, and came down in a heavy arc; even so the impact sent her feet skidding, grinding two straight lines into the ground before she finally, just barely, stopped herself.
She half-crouched, one hand braced against the ground, panting hard, sweat rolling off her forehead in beads.
She wiped the sweat from her face with the back of a gloved hand, her expression grim...
"Damn it, I can't break through its guard at all! And it's already on its last legs, you know..."
Comparing the feeble damage she herself dealt with the deep gashes Kureha cut with every Holy Sword strike, Laurier felt a wave of powerlessness.
Just then, Jeanne's cool, clear command cut through the howl of the battlefield:
"Iri, Margaret, Aura, Kureha, Laurier! The timing's about right. Get ready, hit it with your strongest move, and take it out in one go!"
At her words, their eyes swept quickly over Leon and the others guarding the two entrances. They drew a deep breath, and their expressions turned solemn all at once.
"Understood!"
With the reply given, the three rearguard Mages, Aura, Margaret, and Irisviel, immediately began chanting at the top of their voices, halos of magic rising around them.
Kureha broke off her assault at the same moment. A light tap of her toes, power snapping from waist to legs, and she sprang backward, a clean backflip in midair opening the distance in a heartbeat. On landing she braced one hand on the ground, body sunk low, right arm extended with her blade sweeping out at her side, the whole of her like a bowstring drawn to its limit. Long legs coiled behind her, waist pressed down, every line of her strung taut with startling tension, a cheetah poised to spring, radiating menace.
She let out a slow breath. As her breathing steadied, the light of the Holy Sword gradually drew inward, compressing... and across the blade, an aura that put a chill down the spine began to spread.
"Almost there..."
"Wait!"
Jeanne's warning rang out again:
"Laurier! Where's your head at? Stop daydreaming, pull back right now, and charge up for the finishing blow!"
"Ah... yes!"
Laurier snapped back to herself and quickly copied Kureha, dashing backward and touching down lightly a few dozen meters away. Then she drove the magic inside her to its limit...
Elven Hymn, activate!
Whispering Wind, activate!
Wind Fury Dance, activate!
Power rushed through her like a flood. Laurier stilled her mind and held her breath...
"Rampage!"
With a roar, a violent hurricane whirled up around her, then compressed entirely onto her blade at her will. The sword shuddered violently under the over-condensed magic, and she clenched her teeth, gripping it with everything she had.
The next second, her eyes met Kureha's across the distance.
"Go!"
The word had barely fallen when both of them shot out as streaking shadows...
"Tempest Bloom!"
"Holy Sword!"
"Hraaah!!!" the two roared in unison.
Sword light and wind blades tore the air, twining into a single deadly torrent that hurtled through the chamber at the kneeling giant!
Goliath bellowed. It sensed the lethal threat on instinct and wrenched its arms away from its face; from its gaping maw, the "Howling Shockwave" it had long held ready erupted!
"Not good!"
Kureha's and Laurier's faces changed, but they were midair in all-out thrusts, with nothing to push off and no way to change course.
Laurier at least had an out: abandon the strike, and her wind magic could save her life.
Just as her resolve wavered, teetering one way and the other...
"Laurier, don't stop! Push through!"
Aura's voice came from behind her.
Her friend's voice jolted her spirit. She bit down on her lip and compressed the magic a second time!
"Hraaaaaah!!!"
The Howling Shockwave was an instant from slamming point-blank into both girls; yet in the very last moment before it swallowed them...
The floor beneath Goliath's feet burst apart!
Countless roots thick as pythons tore up through the ice and cinched dead-tight around the giant's ankles. Far off, Aura took a step back, small fist balled, and wrenched hard!
"Ha!"
Goliath's massive body lost its balance and pitched forward in a stagger. The once-lethal howl wave skewed with it, slammed into the dome with a thunderous boom, and blasted loose a sky full of shattered rock!
"Now! Laurier, Kureha!"
"Understood!"
"Just die!"
Strike after strike after strike tore home! Azure windstorm and golden holy light interwove and ripped madly across the Monster Rex's upper body, swallowing it in moments.
"Not done yet!"
"Iri, Margaret, fire!!!!!"
Margaret's and Iri's expressions sharpened, and they decisively detonated the magic they had long held on standby!
"Karmic Flame Calamity: Inferno Paradise!"
"Angel's Poem!"
A piercing eagle screech rang out, and a searing, dazzling-white stream of flame, launched later yet arriving first, ripped through the frigid air.
With a deafening boom, the fire blazed, and blazed, and blazed!
In a single instant, the pure-white Winter Wonderland was dyed crimson...