The abominable amalgamation was regenerating.

Extremely quickly, too, drawing up the lake's waters and recreating the hand it had lost within mere seconds. An impressive feat considering the hand alone was the size of a large building.

So, then, Li's theory was correct. The lake itself was a spawning pit, a mass of organic material with which Dark beasts could be easily created, or, in this case, used to regenerate this boss level creature.

The entity spurring this regeneration was basically part of the lake itself, so there also was no "core" to target as there traditionally would be in Elden World bosses that had annoying abilities like high speed regeneration that made them far harder to kill than normal.

And even if there was a single target he could hit, it was fused deep within the heart of the forest, and he could not damage the heart anymore than it had already been.

Li had somewhat considered a battle of attrition now that the adventurers had exceeded his expectations and managed to escape, but he would run out of mana before he could completely eviscerate the creature enough times over.

This was bad news, certainly, but it did not change anything. Li had scoped the creature out enough and now fully determined that there were no alternatives to destroying it in a single instant. He would stick to the plan of destroying the creature in one fell swoop, and by sending the adventurers away, he had also stalled enough time to make sure they were high enough in the air such that it was difficult for them to perceive anything on the ground.

Li knelt down, his hand nearing his heart again.

Bright, golden energy began to surround his palm as his skin melted around him, revealing the divine form of his bark. Like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, his sizable Elder Leshen form crawled out from the limited shell of his mortal disguise, and he did not waste any time in channeling his Ultima-class spell.

The golden energy surrounding his hand gathered in waves and waves of spheres that looked like miniature suns all coalescing into a single point. The light radiating outwards from that single point was overwhelmingly bright, as if the sun itself had touched into this swamp of utter, miserable darkness.

The Dark beast amalgamation screamed as it sensed the immense amounts of power gathering nearby, and it completely forgot about the adventurers. Its palm directed its multi eyed gaze down to Li, the bulbous, slimy yellow eyes squinting as they beheld light – horrid light that it was unused to, light that it loathed.

The ground shook and the lake waters surged as the Dark beast amalgamation began to move, the hand splaying its five giant fingers out as it cocked backwards, and then sailed forwards, aiming to swat down Li.

Li did not move. He could not, for he was channeling his spell. He remained kneeling, fully intending to take this blow. With [Heart of the Forest] enhancing his strength, agility, resistances, and health regeneration, he was confident he could withstand this attack.

Not to mention that Li was not actually too "squishy" a character, despite being a mage. He lacked the raw firepower of dedicated burst type mages, which spoke volumes about the massive devastation they could wreak upon this world were they to have been reincarnated here instead of Li, but in return, he had surprisingly high health and a repertoire of spells such as shapeshifting to help him survive.

The soft, unstable ground of the swamp-like forest began to rumble like shaken putty as the hand reached down to Li. Powerful gusts of wind squalled out from its arcing trajectory, completely uprooting and flattening the trees nearby Li, as if a raging typhoon were passing through, but he himself knelt there completely unmoved.

He focused entirely on the spell, on the warmth that began to grow in his hand, that warmth spreading to his heart. He focused on what he did best – growing life. For he was not only casting a spell but planting a seed.

The seed of the sun which gave life and light to all plants. The [Fusion Seed].

============

Launcelot squinted his eyes and coughed. Faye was holding him up by his arms, and he knew he was high up in the air, but he had no idea how far up. His sense of direction was totally lost, completely enveloped and obfuscated by the thick layers of black smoke that spread out all around him, making it hard to see, hard to even breathe.

From the moment that titanic hand monstrosity emerged from the primordial pool, the black smoke released from the area had grown exponentially, and when the hand began to move, the smoke gushed into the air in giant clouds.

And yet, he could hear the sounds of the raging battle below. He could hear the titan scream, its horrible ringing echoes reaching all the way up here. The rumble of the forests was also audible, and never before had he felt so useless in his life.

All his life, he had been a protector of others, a shieldbearer not just in class, but also in life philosophy. He felt a great relief that he was not the one on the ground bearing the brunt of the titan's blows, but at the same time, he felt an immense shame.

"Faye, how are you holding up?" said Launcelot.

"Fine," came Faye's voice, and that was what Launcelot focused on because the smog was so thick, he could not even see her despite her being right behind him. Faye's voice became worried. "And you? This smoke, we can bear, but it is of heroic origin, and I fear it may be hurting you."

"This much," said Launcelot as he held down a cough. "Is nothing. Ava and Celeste are by you still, yes?"

"That's right."

"How high are we?"

"Honestly, I cannot tell," said Faye. "But from how long we've flown, I have to say we should have far passed the dome of black smoke by now."

"The emergence of that horrible titan has increased the volume of smoke," noted Launcelot.

"You don't understand, Launce. It is not just the lake that is dark. We should be so high up that we could almost touch the clouds, if we wanted to. The entire sky has been shrouded."

"To think that the corrupted powers of but one hero are capable of this," said Launcelot, shaking his head in shock. For once in his life, he thought about running.

Of flying with Faye and Ava and Celeste, his dearest of friends, to somewhere else, to safety, because he knew that deep down in his heart, he would contribute nothing to the raging battle below, a battle that belonged in the realm of grand myths when gods shaped entire landscapes.

He felt so insignificant, just like he did when he wanted to investigate those dungeons further, to try and find answers to what happened to his first friend, his first love, when he found her encased in that horrible bag of flesh under the Noonspire but could not do anything when he felt that terrible presence in the dark forcing him away, making him realize how small he was in the grand scheme of things.

"Launce, if I'm being honest, we should just go," said Faye. Launcelot could feel her grip around his arms growing tighter. "What is happening down there, that is beyond our grasp. We should do what we can. Escape and call for help. Alert the guild outposts nearby and have every village here evacuate."

Launcelot knew this was the right thing to do. He nodded, but knowing that Faye could not see his head movements, he started to speak and voice his agreement.

Then, he beheld a great light shining from below. A light so bright that it appeared that the sun that had been blotted out under the choking darkness of smoke above had suddenly alighted upon the earth.

Light that did not belong in this utter, hopeless darkness. Light that meant that there was still one who was fighting.

Launcelot steeled himself. Resolve came to him. He took the strap of his bronze shield and fastened it tightly.

"No," he said. "I will not run. Not anymore."