Thankfully, the bandits didn’t immediately charge him, the boss having conveniently separated them. He was more surprised to see the boss remain motionless, it seemed to be observing them with an equal measure of curiosity. There was a strange lighting to the room, coming from a bluish green moss that lined the walls, and making the monster’s eyes shine as it stared down at him. Mash felt the connection from earlier and realized it was with the boss. Eating the flesh of the creatures from before must have done something to him, allowing him to feel the connection that they did.

“You have joined with me.”

There weren’t any words spoken, the message instead found its way into his mind. The sound was vaguely feminine, and he knew where the message had come from. There were no actual words spoken, yet he understood the voice perfectly. Either his inhumanity skill was working better now, or his connection to the creature was something else. The connection had solidified as the Ligar spoke, the gaze of one of its heads locking on him. For his part, he just stood there, unmoving like a statue. Unable to form a response, he didn’t even try to communicate with the monster. What would he even say? Glancing back at the Bandits, he realized that everyone but Luke vanished, probably becoming invisible. Luke seemed frozen in place, waiting patiently for something to change. At first, Mash thought he would have trouble finding the bandits, but knew he would be able to react to any attacks with his mana territory. Though, that seemed unnecessary as the monster’s other heads were tracing the movements of the bandits.

“Come here, your power is needed.”

The command strengthened the connection, the creature’s posture angling towards him. he almost took a step closer, the words having sounded oddly enchanting. He was able to resist the compulsion and stepped away from the creature as he tried sending back his own response.

“No.”

He didn’t know if thinking on his own response would be enough, but the creature’s agitated movements told him that it got the message. The other heads stopped following the bandits, instead locking onto him as well. Maybe, refusing the creature outright hadn’t been the best decision in this situation, but he guessed that it was too late now. Before the fight could explode, another entrance had opened, the stone wall breaking away to reveal Red and Jill. Red looked fine; her blood dress still formed around her. Jill’s armor was damaged and missing a section along one of her arms, revealing some of the struggles they must have undergone. He tried to call out to them but stopped as a projectile entered his mana territory.

He reacted by side stepping the obvious attack, a knife cloaked in shadows passing beside him. It might have cut him if he couldn’t see the full range of the mana within his territory. Even with the shadows obscuring the attack, he could easily make out it’s size and path. His dodge had been automatic but had left him in a worse situation as a beaked head swung towards him. He could see it entering his territory but was unable to dodge it. The swing was several times faster than the earlier monster, and with out any boosts he couldn’t keep up with it. The beak slammed into his armor, but he had thickened it well and it only managed to pierce the skin. It was a light wound, and he struck back reflexively. He tried cutting through its neck, but the blade stopped barely a few inches past its scales. He only managed a shallow cut, which started healing as soon as his blade left. He wasn’t so lucky, his armor getting stuck to its beak and throwing him off balance. Losing his footing he was dragged to the creature’s main body, an arrow whizzing by his head as he moved.

The Ligar prepared to use Mash like a club and swung at an invisible bandit. He could only barely catch him with his senses, but it was enough, and as the creature swung him around, he grew vicious jagged spikes from his armor. He was trying to pierce the creature and deal more damage to the bandit if he was going to be used this way. It worked like he intended, but not because of anything he had done. The boss had changed its motion, freeing Mash before suffering any of its own injuries. He was sent flying at the bandit, further than the swing would’ve been. The bandit stepped backwards, prepared to dodge a swing, but the throw had managed to hit him. Despite the bandit’s greater stats, he wasn’t able to react again, and spikes punched holes in his body, as they both slammed into the wall. The blow hadn’t left Mash undamaged though, and he stumbled from the wall seeing double. His brain had been shaken by the attack, and his reactions were coming more slowly.

He barely reacted as someone entered his vision, almost attacking instinctively but managed to stop as recognition dawned. Jill quickly grabbed hold of Mash teleporting him out of the way of several incoming attacks. She brought him to Red, who quickly broke something in her hand, a bubble growing around their group. Reacting quickly, faster than she would have before, she started healing Mash. Even if it wasn’t as strong as Luke’s it managed to close some of his wounds. He gave them a quick rundown of their situation. Within the temporary shield, he sat and started to meditate. He only managed it for a few seconds, but it cleared his mind like he hoped it would. The shield only blocked two of the boss’s swings, breaking in a flash of light, the distraction let Jill teleport them to a better position. It wasn’t a huge change in distance, but they had managed to avoid the boss’s attacks while being able to face down the remaining bandits and Luke.

Luke was charging at them, growing larger as he moved. His buffs shone faintly, but his movements were awkward. Red looked at the bandits before dashing towards Luke.

“I can handle him.”

That left Jill and Mash to face off against the boss and the two bandits, and he was pleased to see Leah having to dodge an attack from the boss. The boss obviously had a particular vendetta against Mash but was still attacking the others when it had the opportunity. Jill seemed eager to fight against the bandit who had cut her throat earlier and faced off against that one. She had some skill to spot the bandit and moved to intercept him. Mash stared down Leah, even if he wasn’t finding her with his eyes. This is the fight he wanted. Growing out additional limbs across his back, several of which ended in dragon-like mouths, he charged at Leah.

From their earlier fights, he gained a basic understanding of her skills and fighting styles and was unsurprised as she tried to slash at his neck again. He easily caught the blade with his own and struck at her with one of his additional limbs. It wasn’t a mouth; he was still reluctant about eating other humans, even if it was through one of his creations. Instead, he tried to slash her with a limb that ended in a blade, though as it passed through her body, it got stopped by a thin barrier of light. She hadn’t revealed this skill earlier and it caught him off guard, but not as much as she hoped. She followed up with a slash across his abdomen with her other hand, but his focus didn’t waver, his armor growing thicker to block the slash. It bounced off her armor, and they were both forced to dodge the boss’s next attack.

It hadn’t been aiming at them in particular, all but one of the boss’s heads was thrashing about wildly. Its final head was glowing vaguely blue along its neck, and he realized what was coming. He couldn’t alert the others without informing the bandits, but it seemed irrelevant as everyone turned to face the increased density of mana. It increased several times beyond what he felt in the air, the boss’s very body seeming to become a conduit for mana.

In under a second, the whole room flashed with a bright white light. The ground shaking from the sound of rumbling that chased the attack, and waves of energy shooting out in all directions from where the boss’s attack. It hadn’t aimed at any of them, simply striking the ground in front of it. The mana branched out from the point, hitting everyone in the room. Mash had been closest to the origin, and a fork of white light pierced through his side. He only realized it hit him when he felt pain spring up from his side. There was a small delay, from when he felt the pain to when he was sent flying in an explosion of force and heat. He slid across the floor; his armor torn apart where the attack had pierced him. Thankfully, the strike had been where his wooden skin was, and he was able to begin repairing even as he pushed himself to his feet.

It took a lot of effort to stand, and he guessed that some of his organs were damaged. Looking towards everyone else, he was glad to see his friends stirring. Jill was somehow unscathed, and he didn’t know how she managed that. The bigger issue was Red, her dress having completely lost its form. It must not have been able to block the lightning well, but it was still moving meaning that she was probably healing herself. Smoke was rising from Luke’s body as he slumped over onto the ground. He was twitching slightly, but his buffs were still shining. He would be able to heal, so Mash refocused on the bandits.

The bandits hadn’t fared any better than them, and he knew that they wouldn’t have the same healing capabilities. It was hard to tell what injuries the shadowy bandit had obtained, but his movements had slowed dramatically, and Mash thought that he was limping slightly. Since Jill had managed to avoid the attack somehow, she was at a huge advantage in her fight now. Leah had taken serious damage like he had, and he noticed that she had a deep black scar running across her abdomen. Her armor shredded in a cracked line along her chest, the skin underneath burnt. She was obviously in more pain than him, unable to do anything for the injuries.

He was glad to have already mixed the portion of his body where the attack had landed with wood and considered doing it to the rest of his body. The change protecting him from suffering a more serious injury. His inhumanity skill sent him a warning at the thought, and he realized that it was too dangerous to do something like that. Despite the control of wood that he had, he knew that the portions of his body that had been altered by his wood, functioned more poorly now. Honestly, he might want to consider getting them replaced by a high-level healer.

Leah grinned at him, a nasty look of overconfidence covering her face. She must believe that his injuries were worse, and looking down at himself, he realized that his armor was covered in black cracks originating from the wound on his side. Seeing the opportunity, he played up his injuries, limping towards her awkwardly while growing new limbs over his back. He only grew two limbs now, trying to make them as big as his full-grown wings. One ending in a spiked shield, the other in a dragon’s maw. He was burning through energy, trying to manipulate and grow his creation. Though, his energy reserves were larger now, and he could hopefully control the bigger wings. She started moving towards him, faster than he expected, considering her condition. Deciding to end this fight now, he focused on attacking now while he still had the advantage. The spell had done its damage, and he needed to finish the fight.

She closed the distance with confidence, stabbing at his chest with her dagger. Rather than blocking it, he let the dagger enter his armor, confident that it wouldn’t reach his heart. Instead, he tried smashing her with the spiked shield on her back, while using his hand to hold her in place. He grabbed the arm with the dagger in both of his hands but left himself vulnerable to the attack from behind. He saw the boss’s attack enter his mana territory and hoped that he could withstand it.

He brought the shield down on Leah, but she used her other hand to form a small shield of light, blocking the spikes from entering her head. Another skill he didn’t know about, though it was too small to block his entire attack. Spikes pierced her body along her arms and shoulders. The arm he was holding was torn off, and she took a deep wound, a wooden spike partially separating her shoulder from the rest of her body. She screamed in pain, but he couldn’t enjoy his victory, the Ligar’s mouth having opened wide enough to eat him. It had grown significantly larger and managed to chomp through his wooden creations, easily separating him from his additional limbs. He couldn’t even see if he managed to kill Leah, as he was swallowed by the boss.