How a skeleton, bovine or not, could roar loud enough to disrupt my balance with the sheer force of its voice was not something I wanted to contemplate. If the necrotic energies that animated it strengthened the other ‘muscles’ to the same extent, I knew I didn’t want to get hit by even the most glancing of blows, the force of it would be enough to send me flying through the roof. Silva let out a protesting whine at the sound before her entire form was shrouded in the golden glow of her divine magic, hopefully shielding her from harm.

And then the battle was on. The Moonotaur, a name that made me question whether it was named for the moon or the moo-ing sound a cow was supposed to make, started twirling its chain rapidly above its head, creating an area of danger that forced us to keep our distance. The only chance Lia or Silva had to get close would be to try leaping over, or crouching under, the twirling chain, likely having to dodge the length multiple times on their approach. Given that the chain was moving fast enough to produce perceivable air currents, even on the other side of the room, trying would be foolish, so I had to act.

Drawing out a simple formation of three runes, one of Darkness, and two of Confusion, I pulled on the darkness of the room, trying to push my magic into the boss. I could feel a feedback, as if the moonotaur was pushing back, trying to defend against my magic, but I forced more power into the link, even activating Overflow to slam it home. For a moment, I could see the beast’s head become shrouded in even deeper darkness than the gloom that filled the Dark Slaughterhouse and the twirling chain’s rhythm was disrupted to the point that it struck the ground in a shower of sparks.

Lia and Silva immediately used the opening, charging forward while I wrestled with the beast’s will, trying to keep its disorientation going. Especially if I had managed to blind its eyes, or whatever the skeleton used to perceive its environment, it would allow the others to strike critical blows without being in serious danger.

Sadly, just after they managed to strike their first blow before they could even try finding weaknesses or causing serious damage, the moonotaur moo-ed again and the air was vibrating with power. It was strong enough to stagger me once more, my concentration completely shot as I had to focus on staying on my feet. Moments after my concentration was disrupted, the magic I had put on the monster faded and with it, the confusion it had been under. Immediately, it started swinging the cleaver on its other arm, forcing Silva to leap back and even with that instant reaction, the attack was quick enough to graze her magical armour, causing her to tumble. Only her four legs allowed her to remain upright, a two-legged being would have fallen.

With its backswing, the moonotaur went for Lia. Luckily, she had more time to dodge and managed to get away, even landing a strike against its other arm in an attempt to keep it from swinging that chain. Both managed to retreat out of the chain’s reach before they were torn apart, bringing us back to our original situation. They couldn’t get close and I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to damage the boss with my Ice Magic.

Despite knowing that it was unlikely I’d be able to destroy a skeleton with nothing but attacks using my Frozen Shuttle, I tried anyway. The shuttle was nimble enough to thread through the whirling chain and strike against the moonotaur’s bones, only that I couldn’t see any actual damage. It might have caused a scratch, but if it did, the scratch was small enough to be invisible. The moonotaur didn’t even acknowledge the attack.

“Stay back, I’ll conjure some mist,” I told the others, hoping that the deprivation of sight, combined with a confusion and concealment aspect woven into the mist would be enough to hide us from the thing. That way, I’d be able to slowly whittle it down, maybe even conjure Water or Ice around it until it was immobilised.

My plan might have worked if I hadn’t forgotten one important part. Namely, the chain was whirling fast enough to produce air currents in the room quickly distributing my mist all around the area. The room was big enough to decrease the concentration to the point that it was mostly harmless, while the moonotaur made sure to move in my direction when I started conjuring, forcing me to abandon the attempt before I managed to fill the room, turning it into a waste of Astral Power and time.

With no better ideas coming up, I repeated the small success I had managed earlier, conjuring some Darkness in an attempt to confuse the thing, allowing Silva and Lia to get an attack in.

Again it worked, both attacks struck true before the two of them immediately retreated. Baby steps, but at least we were moving forward.

With a path forward, the battle continued. While my companions were dealing the damage, I was making sure that they actually could get to the thing, either by confusing it with a combination of Darkness and Mind Magic or by combining Water and Ice Magic, trying to freeze its joints or even encase its skull in ice. While I didn’t manage the last one, the other two methods worked, allowing us to get our strikes in. Sadly, it was slow going and I wasn’t sure who’d actually win the battle of attrition. We were damaging it, at least I hoped that the attacks of Lia and Silva damaged it, but the two of them were occasionally struck as well, and the repeated booming moos of it were starting to give m a pounding headache. It was only a question of time until one of the glancing blows would strike true and I had no illusion about the ability of my companions to withstand a blow that looked like it would shatter concrete.

Finally, after a dozen or so attacks of my two companions, Lia finally got lucky. She had abandoned trying to claw the moonotaur in favour of using the cleaver and, in a lucky strike, had managed to sever one of its legs at the knee. Deprived of its mobility, Silva and Lia pounced on the creature, while I was now able to focus my attempts to restrain it a lot better. The moonotaur defended itself with wild, mostly random, flails of its chain, trying to get one of my companions as they were darting in to finish it off, while it frantically struck out with the cleaver trying to keep them at a distance but ultimately, its attempts were futile.

By the time the thing stopped moving, I was starting to stumble from exhaustion and headaches, while my companions didn’t look much better. But the moonotaur finally fell apart into a pile of bones, while all three of us simply dropped, trying to calm our laboured breathing and regain some Astral Power before I healed my friends.

After watching once more how the remains of the boss dissolved into the environment, only to be replaced with a set of three items, I noticed a pattern there, I forced myself to my feet, planning to heal my companions before dealing with anything else.

Only, there was a problem I hadn’t quite kept in mind, namely that Lia had been using Astral Power the whole time, and by now, she was looking sweaty and had started to shake, making me think she was in bad shape. Not from wounds, from what I could see, so the cause was obvious.

Using my shuttle to pierce my hand, I focused on what little Astral Power I had managed to regain into the wound and the blood that was flowing out, before allowing her to drink. It was a slightly surreal experience, to stand straight while my daughter knelt before me in what I could only describe as submission, gently, yet urgently, licking my hand and taking in the blood. It felt utterly weird, and I wasn’t quite sure I was comfortable with the obvious submission she displayed, but given that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get back up if I made myself comfortable, there was nothing else I could do.

Looking at me, barely staying upright, and Lia, looking like she had been on a three-day bender, Silva pushed herself up, trotted over and let out a soft whine, shrouding us in the soft glow of divine magic. I could feel a strangely comfortable presence within the light, faint and distant, yet oddly familiar and instinctively welcome. My exhaustion lessened a little, and the few wounds I had sustained started to heal, though the magic wasn’t strong enough to heal the hole I had made in my hand. But it was enough to allow me to stop swaying, and even Lia managed to get back up.

Now, we just had to get our loot and see what came next - Or maybe go back through the Dark Slaughterhouse and leave. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to recover enough to win another battle.