The Mountain Troll roared a challenge and Camila roared back, charging it head on. Even from where he was watching from off to the side, Allen could still feel her Berserker magic puling on his mind, making him want to smash something. It was very faint and completely ineffective since he was an ally and well above monster-level intelligence, but he could still feel the magic nonetheless.

“Power aspect mind magic,” Allen thought to himself as he darted between the debris at the edge of the pit.

The troll made the first move before Camila could reach it. It bounded forward and dropped a shoulder, whipping the boulder overhead by its chain. With a heavy thud and a crack, the rock slammed into the dirt and lodged itself halfway beneath the surface. Camila just barely had enough time to dive out of the way.

By the time she had rolled back to her feet, the troll was already upon her. It swiped a meaty hand at her and she slashed at it with her sword. The glancing blow barely broke the troll’s skin while nearly throwing Camila off balance.

The effects of Rage hadn’t built up by then, so Camila still had the presence of mind to jump backwards before the monster could grab her. It roared again, enraged as the Berserker danced out of its range, their speeds nearly even.

The troll’s chain when taut as it chased Camila, it growled and turned around just as Ty smashed into it at a full sprint. The Shield Bash skill activated, transferring the Defender’s momentum into the monster, throwing it back a few steps.

The troll stared defiantly at the armored man but was quickly distracted when Camila came flying at its face. She used Air Jump to change angles mid-attack, avoiding a vicious swat and thrusting her sword at the monster’s face.

Instead of attempting to block the attack, the troll caught the blade with its teeth. A wave of crimson miasma surged through Camila’s blade as she sent a magical attack though the weapon. The troll gurgled out a howl as blood shot out of its mouth and nose, yet it seemed unaffected by the pain.

With a growl, Camila jumped away from the monster. It reached after her but shining white balls of miasma slammed into it all over and wrapped themselves around its body, forming nearly a dozen glowing magical shackles. Allen watched curiously as the troll reached out to grab the retreating Berserker only to have its limbs caught by a crackling web of miasma that had formed between the shackles.

The troll was easily strong enough to rip apart the web of miasma, but that web was still enough to send it stumbling around while Camila landed safely near Ty. Allen looked behind the two to find Christopher forming yet another spell. The professor sent out a burst of miasma that formed into a short barrier at the troll’s feet.

The monster tore futility at its magical bindings, but without removing the shackles, new webbing formed almost instantly, tying its arms and legs together. It roared in anger, only to trip over the barrier and fall on its face when the miasma suddenly pulled its wrists towards its ankles.

Allen snorted. “Is he controlling that magic manually?” he thought, glancing back at the professor.

“GET BACK!” Ty shouted.

Allen’s attention snapped back to the battle just in time to see the troll fling its chain-boulder, still tangled up on the ground. The rock flew straight at Camila as she was charging back into the fight. There wasn’t enough time for her to dodge.

Ty suddenly sped up and launched himself between the Berserker and the incoming rock and caught it with his shield. Magic shot off of the Defender while a dull metallic thud echoed throughout the pit. He was still thrown back by the force of the impact, but not nearly as much as Allen had expected. He managed to crash through five of Christopher’s miasma barriers before tumbling to a stop on the ground near Amelia.

“Flashbang!” Christopher shouted over the enraged roars of the troll. There was already a white ball of miasma floating above his left hand while the right one seemed to be pulling on many unseen strings.

Allen watched the monster closely as it fumbled over the bindings that still greedily wrapped around its body. It was slow for its level, but it still matched Camila in speed. The troll’s biggest strength was its defense though, followed by burst strength and a natural regeneration factor. He would need to hit it very hard to deal any lasting damage.

The troll flailed its arms and madly chased after Camila. Then ball of miasma flew into its face and exploded in a small burst of bright light and piercing sound. Allen had ducked behind a rock to avoid the flash. When he could hear the troll’s pained howls through the ringing in his ears he jumped out of his hiding spot and activated all his stealth skills.

The troll might still smell him if he moved too slowly, but it wasn’t like it could pin-point his location that way.

In the span of a no more than a second, Allen had reached the monster’s back. He used Killer Instinct to jump at the perfect moment, then again with Expanded Awareness to test possible places to strike. Time seemed to slow just a little while Allen sailed towards the troll’s shoulders nearly three meters off the ground. In that short moment, he concluded that the best place to strike was just below the base of the troll’s skull.

He equipped his long spear-point dagger from his inventory and shrouded it in miasma just in time to jam it into the monster’s brain with the full effect of Break and Suppression multiplied by Assassinate and condensed by Damage Control. Blood shot out of every hole in the troll’s head while dark blue miasma surged out in a small shockwave. Crippling Blow didn’t trigger though, which meant he hadn’t taken more than eighty percent of the monster’s HP, as expected.

While the troll stumbled forward, its brain suddenly cut off, Allen reached around its head and stabbed two more random knives from his inventory though its blown out eye sockets. Yanking his dagger free, he summersaulted off the monster and stuck the landing just as the troll fell limply on top of its face.

Camila’s hammer splattered the remains of the troll’s head against the dirt a moment later. She left her weapon in the pile of gore and looked up at Allen with heavy breaths.

“It’s not dead yet!” Allen said, having gotten the feeling from Killer Instinct. “Maybe I can get the Assassinate bonus again if it doesn’t see me.”

Camila looked down intently at the motionless troll. Her face was pulled into a snarl, but she had only been fighting for a couple minutes. Rage had yet to turn her into a raving lunatic.

“How long until you can use that attack again?!” Christopher shouted from the edge of the battlefield with Amelia.

Allen quickly looked over the skill card for Break, already on his way over to the two supporters.

Skill: Break

Channel mana into a single attack to break your enemies and deal devastating destruction.

Category: Magic Channeling – Type: Active – Tier 5 Max

Effects: Charge an attack with mana to the base minimum to deal magic damage. Overcharge by any amount to deal additional equivalent physical damage; a portion of the physical damage is absorbed by you. Damage dealt is proportional to strength, intelligence, and the tier of this skill.

Cost: 50MP/min – 200MP Base – 400MP Max

“Four to Eight minutes!” Allen replied, stopping in front of Amelia and holding out his right arm. “It’s a mana channeling attack, but I can overcharge it by up to two times and deal additional physical damage proportional to the amount of mana that I overcharged it with. Problem is, the physical damage that gets resisted is then reflected back to me.”

“Ah, that explains why you always break your arms,” Amelia said.

Christopher grunted as he looked down at Allen’s swollen arm.

Allen snorted softly and glanced back at the professor. “Any ideas?”

“I can increase the charging rate of certain magic, but doing so causes it to become highly unstable,” the professor began. “Your skill already damages you, so that probably wouldn’t be wise.”

“I agree, in these circumstances. Shoam is here so we’ll be fine.”

Christopher grunted in ascent again, but his attention was quickly taken back by the briefly stalled battle. Allen spun around, pulling away from the Healer. The ground began to rumble while the troll’s body twitched and shook. Still headless, its arms started wildly flailing around.

Camila returned her hammer to her inventory and jumped back, only for the troll to grab her by the ankle. She screamed in pain for the brief moment before she was hurled straight into the dirt near Ty.

Barriers lit up around the monster as Ty scrambled to recover the Berserker. Allen sprinted to the edge of the scene, prepared to engage if he had to. The troll flopped onto its hands and knees as the ground underneath it rippled like a thick soup.

“Chaos aspect earth elementalism!” Christopher shouted.

Allen watched as the troll’s head reformed like an insect forcing its way out of cocoon. In a matter of moments, it roared again with unbridled rage, yellow eyes set on Ty. Camila was in his arms already, bloodied and covered in dust.

“Natural high-regen like that usually takes SP, I doubt it can do that again,” Allen thought.

The troll slammed its fists into the ground, causing a ripple of debris to shoot out at the Defender. He ducked behind his shield, but the troll had already followed up with a full-on charge. Its chained boulder flew back into its hand before it prepared for a heavy overhanded swing.

“Four minutes to go,” Allen thought.

The magic shackles on the troll came to life again, puling its wrists and ankles together. The troll stumbled miserably, yet it was able to continue its mad dash on all fours. Then a ball of miasma slammed into its face and wrapped around its eyes.

The spell came too late though, the had troll managed to swing its boulder at the retreating Defender. Ty raised his shield just before the rock crashed into him from above with unnatural accuracy. He was sent to his knees despite the skills and magic repelling the attack. He turned around just in time to get punted by the angry troll.

Both Ty and Camila were sent tumbling through the air. Christopher flexed his magic shackles, binding the troll’s legs together with enough force to actually send it to the ground. At the same time, he sent out a limb of crackling miasma that shot over to Camila, catching her before she hit the ground again.

Ty landed on his feet, while Christopher reeled in the unconscious Berserker. The troll smashed the ground again, sending more ripples of magic. Ty stood his ground and rushed at the monster, his steps accelerating nearly as fast as Allen could run without Heavy Accelerate.

“Two minutes.”

The troll was in the middle of ripping the magic shackles off its face and body when Ty slammed into it from the side. Shield bash sent the Defender tumbling away while the troll was only forced back a step. It roared defiantly and whirled its rock overhead. Each step it took sent tremors and cracks through the earth, putting strain on Ty’s balance. Christopher’s miasma bindings continued to slow its movements despite how fast the monster was able to tear through them.

Ty ducked under the next swing of the rock, then sprinted off to the side, trying desperately to stay out of the troll’s range. It was still too fast for him though; the Defender lacked the option of running away because that would leave the supporters open. He could only stall for time.

With a roar, the troll swung its chained boulder in a horizontal arc. Ty was much to slow to duck in time. He raised his shield at an angle and crouched low, only for the rock to veer upwards at the last moment. Miasma had formed around the troll’s rock, allowing the professor to control its movement just barely.

The monster growled as it pulled the weapon back into its hand with a its magic. Then, with all the menace and anger it could manage, it narrowed its eyes in Christopher’s direction and snarled.

“This is what happens when you can’t hold agro,” Allen thought with a sigh. “I still have thirty seconds left…”

The troll pulled back on its rock and threw it at Christopher. Magic surged around the professor, but instead of a barrier forming, a chain of miasma formed between the rock and the shackle on one of the troll’s legs. In less than an instant, the troll’s throw had pulled its own legs out from under it. The monster landed hard on its back while the boulder arced back around to land even harder on its crotch.

“Agh, Fs in the chat boys,” Allen thought, chuckling to himself as he ran at the howling troll, aiming for its head again.

Allen took his time, waiting for every second of his cool down to pass by. The troll rolled around on the ground, blinded again by another binding of miasma, and covered in a net crackling magic. The earth around it surged up in waves, but that was nothing that Allen couldn’t navigate with Expanded Awareness.

The arcane bindings tightened just before Allen jumped in for the kill. He struck the same place with his dagger, feeling all the same skills activate with the full brunt of his attack concentrated at the tip of his blade. The troll’s brains were pulped in an instant, bursting out of its eyes and mouth along with a surge of mana.

The troll went limp for the second time. Crippling Blow had activated, meaning that he had taken at least eighty percent of its remaining HP, and ten percent of its resistance was disabled.

Camila descended on the monster with her hammer. She broke through its ribcage on the third hit, at which point a roar echoed through the colosseum from the open gate at the other end. Barely a second had passed after the first troll finally died before another one charged out of the dark corridor below the gate.

Camila shot Allen a blank look, her face covered in spatters of blood and bits of gore.

“Yeah,” Allen began, returning the look. “There’s no rest in the Endless Gauntlet… or something like that.”

Camila grunted and raised her weapon, ready to charge next monster.