(Zack)

"Lord Zack!" Luca exclaims. "I can't fit anymore!"

"You can't?" I ask.

"No!" He squeals. "Stop!"

"Okay," I put the potion back into my Inventory. "You're all stocked-up, now?"

"Yeah," he nods. "You really got a ton of potions."

"Because I knew today would be a Mana-intense day for you," I tell him. "I'm expecting your Mana will shoot up once you really rest, with how much you've been doing."

Only a few minutes after Gavin began his rest did the rest of the team decide they were going to rest, too, so that they could prepare for the fight against the Candy Beast. They seem to think I'm watching Kylie's run with Gold against the one they're fighting.

Yeah, right.

It's bad enough for me to watch my team fight something so much stronger than them. Why the heck would I go and watch Kylie do it after this when I care for her just as much as I care for my team? Well, maybe not that much, but I do still like her. And Gold.

I'd stress myself out to the point that I'd end up stepping in and helping them, and with my current power, I could probably quickly kill it pretty easily. Yeah, only watching one group with people I care about fighting something this strong at their current abilities is enough for me for one day.

"You guys ready?" I ask, and they all confirm it vocally or with nods, with Max doing both. "Alright. I'll be watching from above."

I activate Eidolon Form, then fly straight up and over towards where they'll be fighting, moving around until I find myself with what I feel is the best spot to watch, for now. As my team starts to move towards the area I marked out with the pink ring, I catch Nathan's expressions.

"Stop making those faces!"

He jumps at my telepathic message, his face flushing as he wonders if he accidentally forgot to use Conceal or if I noticed because of my powers.

"I'll leave that for you to wonder," I tell him.

My team reaches the ring, and they huddle together for a moment to discuss their game plan again. Luca will buff Max and Braden with Blessing of Intellect as they use their spells and Gavin with Blessing of Strength as his attacks strike. Braden will be using Power Shot as well, for further attack increases.

This is their best bet for doing damage to it, and even with that, the team will be hard-pressed to kill it fast. In fact, I gave them all Mana Potions, because the fight will likely take a lot out of them. I just gave Luca the most because he will be healing a lot, and buffing a lot. Since I already reminded Gavin and Braden to use their Elementalist side only if necessary, there's nothing else for me to say to them.

With their battle plan ready, they step into the ring, and the Candy Beast turns and stares at them, its purple eyes watching with an intensity that makes all except for Max hesitate. As they hesitate, Max charges forward at top speed.

"Fireball fury!" He exclaims.

Fireballs form around him, shooting at the Candy Beast. Unlike his norm, however, he doesn't use up all of his Mana for it, casting only a dozen Fireballs. I should probably teach him Barrage at some point, huh? I still haven't learned it, though I do have it in my visions, including way back to my early ones here in the Boundary.

The difference between Barrage and casting spells manually is that Barrage summons multiple spells simultaneously, then launches them all at a set target. No control or aiming by the caster beyond that. While an Adventurer can imitate that, especially when faster, there's nothing like using Barrage for it, because Barrage requires aiming only a single spell, and all others will target the same spot. Barrage also has a cost-reduction on all spells after the first. At Level 10, the 20-Mana Fireball would only cost 2 Mana after the first one. They're able to cast ten Fireballs for the cost of one.

Well, technically, eleven Fireballs for the cost of two.

The main reason I never bothered with it is because as I am now, I've no reason for it and the cost-return isn't great at the start.

As Max attacks with his Fireballs, he changes directions that he's running in, standing up and jumping to evade rapidfire candy and-

Did he just catch a piece and pop it in his mouth? How did he even do that? It's faster than he is! Well, it's Max, so stuff like that should be expected.

While Max distracts the Candy Beast, Braden moves around to behind it and Gavin moves towards its side. As soon as Gavin is within twenty feet of the beast, Max still attacking with Fireballs and a random Flame Lance, the beast stops, then turns and looks at the warrior as his blade begins to swirl with a gentle flame.

Gavin takes a step back, slightly intimidated, then fills with resolve and begins to charge forward as the beast opens its maw once more. Before it can unleash its attack, however, Braden attacks from behind, shooting a Lightning Shot Power Shot Magic Arrow with maximum multiples, sending eleven arrows at it. A second wave is launched immediately after, and the Candy Beast recoils from the damage of the first wave, jumping away from the barrage, and right into the Flame Lance Max had unleashed.

While the beast is distracted, Gavin charges forward, swinging his blade. It connects with the side of the Candy Beast, barely cutting into it, and he strikes it once more before the beast paws at him, throwing the warrior back. Max strikes the beast in the side with another Flame Lance and Braden unleashes another barrage of attacks.

The warrior scrambles back to his feet as his wounds are healed, charging forward to make the most of his Blessing and Flame Blade. When the Candy Beast attempts to paw him away again, Gavin ducks under the arm, rolling a little. He scrambles back to his feet and raises his sword, bringing it down on the Candy Beast's arm, right before being struck with its tail, flying to the side.

As Gavin tumbles, the Candy Beast turns its head towards Max, only to take another Flame Lance to the face. Max is really obsessed with hitting it in the face with Flame Lances, isn't he? Well, I can't blame him. The mage is doing the most damage, and that's resulting in a slight melting of the beast, making it look kind of funny.

The Candy Beast inhales as soon as the flames fade, then exhales. Rather than candy pieces shooting out, a cloud of a sugary dust is exhaled, akin to a dragon's flame. Made of candy instead, though.

"Eek!" Max exclaims, dropping to his hands and knees to flee it.

Unfortunately, he's not fast enough, resulting in the dust touching him. It solidifies together into a shell on him where it touches, keeping him in place. Max wriggles as best he can as the Candy Beast starts shooting candy at Braden, the ranger running as fast as he can. Several pieces strike him in the chest, arms, and legs.

Gavin runs towards Max, using the pommel of his sword to break the candy prison Max found himself in, and as soon as Max's face is free, he snarls at the Candy Beast, several Flame Lances forming in rapid succession and flying at the thing. The breath attack damaged Max, and Luca heals him as Gavin helps him get free.

The battle continues much in the same manner, with Max using Flame Lances for most of it, though Lavaballs as well. If he gets close, he uses his sword and knife as well before quickly retreating or being swatted aside. Gavin continues to use Flame Blade, with the occasional Deflect when he can, and a few Battle Cries. Braden attacks from afar, sticking to purely rogue attacks. Luca, meanwhile, works his little ass off using Heals and Blessings.

Five minutes turn into ten, ten minutes turns into sixty. An hour turns into two, then into three. Slowly, little by little, the team deals damage to the Candy Beast, its regeneration not quite enough to recover all of the Health they take out in the same time frame. Most of that comes from Max's attacks, but it's still effective, since his Flame Lances take out over 1,000 Health with a direct hit. His Lava Balls take out around 200 Health less than that.

Meanwhile, Braden can only damage it with both Blessing of Intellect and Power Shot, and that's barely, which is why he's adding in Lightning Shot. He can manage around 200 Health to 250 Health per attack.

Poor Gavin, though. His regular attacks are ineffective against it, since its Endurance is around the same as its 250 Willpower, and with Flame Blade and Blessing of Strength, he can only take out around 20 Health with a single strike. And his Strength is higher than Braden's Intellect.

The reason for this is that Gavin has less bonuses stacked than Braden does. Braden's Power Shot and Lightning Shot both increase the damage dealt based on his Strength and Intellect at higher values than anything Gavin has.

He'd be better-suited to fighting something with a lower Endurance, but higher Willpower. There are a few Special Bosses like that, so I'm sure we can find something at some point, once we're exploring the Lost Territory.

After the third hour passes, the team is clearly exhausted, but the Candy Beast is also low on Health, covered in cuts from the blades of Max and Gavin, pits from Braden's attacks, and burns and melted spots from Max's attacks. Even as it heals from its natural regeneration, the wounds only get worse. While Gavin's attacks cauterize their wounds, sealing them shut, Max's weapon attacks don't, and from where it's been struck, liquid sugar leaks out like blood.

I notice the spike in mental images in Max a moment before he moves, acting the moment the idea came to him. He charges forward from behind Gavin, jumping onto the back of the warrior as Gavin is rolling on the ground from yet another attack by the beast. Max jumps into the air, using Gavin for added height, and lands on the other side of the Candy Beast, which is currently limping away from another barrage from Braden.

"Hi-yaa!" Max exclaims, performing a scissor-kick on one of the Candy Beast's legs.

He manages to grab the Candy Beast's leg with his feet, then yanks forward as he holds out his hands.

"Flame Lance!" He exclaims, and Luca immediately starts using Heal on Max before the attack even connects.

The spell strikes the Candy Beast's leg, dealing damage to both of them. The beast from the direct effect, Max from the flames that splash off, and only because Luca is healing him as it happens does Max survive. The beastborn rolls away, his pants on fire. He's back to a crouching position fast, though, and ignoring the flames, he kicks at the Candy Beast's leg with both feet.

Crack!

The leg snaps off, and the Candy Beast howls from the pain as it drops to the ground in that direction, Max quickly evading, rolling in the grass to put out his pants. As the Candy Beast recovers its balance on its other three legs, it uses its tail in an attempt to attack Max.

"Gavin! Flame Blade! Come! Now!"

Gavin reactivates Flame Blade, which had run out while Max was doing his thing, then runs around the Candy Beast, Deflecting the pieces of candy he can as Luca heals him from those which strike. As he rounds the beast, he quickly realizes what Max was doing.

When the Candy Beast lashed out at him with his tail, Max had jumped onto it, holding onto it with all four limbs. Due to the gouges and cuts delivered into the tail already, there's not enough strength for the Candy Beast to move its tail with the weight of Max, even if he's only thirteen and a little on the small side. He's ninety pounds of pure awesome.

The warrior raises his sword up, and hacks down on the tail. He hacks down several times as Braden assaults the beast's face and legs with more arrows, keeping it unbalanced and mostly in the same spot, so that it can't attack them or move too much. Just as it starts to tumble away from them, Gavin's manages to sever its tail.

"Braden!" Gavin calls. "Hind right leg! Three rounds!"

"Flame Lance!" Max shoots one at the beast's face for good measure as the archer changes targets.

Max draws his sword again, and he and Gavin hack at the beast, distracting it for a few seconds while Braden performs the requested attack. As soon as he finishes that, Max and Gavin return to the leg and drop their swords, falling to the ground with their hands behind them. As they land, they kick forward with their feet beside each other, striking the leg.

Crack!

The leg breaks off, and the beast falls to the side as the pair of them quickly pull their feet away to avoid being crushed.

I'm so proud of my team. Gavin got the idea from Max taking out the first leg, and Max understood immediately what Gavin wanted even without being told.

They pick their swords back up, Max stabbing the beast in the asscheeks as Gavin slashes down, Braden assaulting the Candy Beast's head as it attempts to use one of its spell attacks again.

"Launch me!" Max suddenly sheathes his sword.

"What?" Gavin asks as Max takes a couple of quick steps towards the warrior. "Launch?"

Max jumps up, and Gavin realizes what Max is asking. As Max comes back down, Gavin cups his hands and catches Max's right foot as he drops. Standing back straight up, Gavin lifts his hands up, throwing Max as high as he can.

The beastborn chugs as many Mana Potions as he can to restore his Mana as he flies up, then twists around.

"FLAME LANCE FURY!"

Gavin runs, and I don't blame him.

Max can cast up to twelve from full Mana, and he casts all twelve of those, throwing them down at the crippled Candy Beast. All twelve connect with the beast as the other three members of the team stare at the falling mage.

"WHEEEEEE!"

Max lands in a crouch that would probably make Kit proud.

As Gavin and Braden shake their head, Luca approaches the beast, poking it with his staff.

"Dead!" He declares.

As if the notices you guys received didn't confirm that.