Eila regrouped with the others and stared in horror as the Devourer transformed. It rose into the air, each beat of its membranous wings sending gusts throughout the room. Thankfully, whatever it did with the crystal hadn’t healed it; its head still remained limp, dangling down at an awkward angle.

Genn swore. “What do we do?” he asked, turning to Duran.

Eila turned to the Guildmaster, who was getting healed by Marr. Duran grimaced, raising his arm against the billows of dirt kicked up by the Devourer’s wings. “It’s almost dead,” he said as Marr finished. “We need to finish separating the neck joint from the head. How is everyone’s casts looking?”

“I only have two casts of [Healing Ripples] left,” Marr said, wiping some sweat from her brow. “A few more buffs, but that’s it.”

“Same here,” Genn grunted. “I’m low.”

“I got enough firepower to end it, but we’ll need the right timing,” Duran said.

Eila still had a good amount of her casts left, but her cards were Novice and weak. She suddenly felt a sharp stab of embarrassment and anger at herself.

Tristan ran up then, and Eila shook herself out of it and met his eyes. She gave a nod of thanks; he nodded back and walked up to Duran.

“The rest of the fight is going to be tough with it in the air,” Tristan said, looking up at the monster. It flew around the room haphazardly. With its head dangling, it seemed disoriented, occasionally crashing into the walls with a shriek. He turned back to Duran. “Do you have a Trap that can hold it down?”

“I have [Fire Cage],” Duran said, “but we’ll need to get it on the ground first.”

“I’ll take care of that, with Marr’s help,” Tristan said. “The rest of you, get its attention. Once it’s down, I’ll use [Decaying Sap] and weaken it. Throw everything you got at it.”

Eila stepped forward. “[Decaying Sap]? You have it?”

He grinned at her, pulling the card and holding it up. “You were right. I really did a shit job inking Rommie. This is a masterpiece.”

Despite everything, Eila snorted in amusement.

“Alright,” Duran said, shaking his head. “Let’s save the flirting for later.”

Eila and Tristan both opened their mouths to protest when projectiles suddenly flew out of the opened up section on the Devourer’s back. The black-coated arcs, dozens of them, landed in the ground and lit up patches of the earth with an ominous glow.

“Marr, with me,” Tristan said, snapping into business. “Avoid stepping on the light. It’s definitely a Trap skill of some sort.”

He ran off, Marr following close behind. Duran quickly snapped off some orders to Eila and Genn. She and Genn layered some buffs on the Guildmaster as he took a deep breath and grabbed the monster’s attention with a [Fire Fist]. The strengthened Attack tore through the air and exploded against the Devourer’s head. It pivoted in the air, facing them, and its horn started to glow.

“Disperse!” Duran shouted, and the three of them split as a ray of Earth energy blasted forth from the horn, carving deep grooves into the ground. Eila [Dashed] away, focusing on avoiding the Traps littered throughout.

Further away, she watched as Tristan’s body started glowing from Marr’s buffs. He began skipping across the ground, clearing broad strides, angling towards the back of the Devourer.

The beetle’s mandibles crossed together, forming an X, then slashed outwards, sending razor-sharp blades of wind. Eila barely avoided one, but Genn got clipped on the leg; his Armor shattered, and the Attack cut deep into his thigh. He fell to the ground with a loud curse, and Eila maneuvered her way over to him as Duran led the beetle away, casting Attack after Attack.

***

Tristan loved having a dedicated Support user sticking to him. Marr’s [Ring of Water] swirled around him, granting him a shield, and her [Skipping Stones] turned his boots bright blue. Every step he took across the battlefield bounced him forward, and thanks to her {Current Pull} Perk, he had increased movement speed whenever she applied a Water Support card on someone else.

He tore across the ground, craning his head up at the beetle. It was high up, almost too high. Its attention was diverted towards Duran, who singlehandedly kept it at bay. Further away, it looked like Genn had gotten hit, and Eila was tending to him.

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He shouted for Marr to apply the Attack-boosting buff now, and a card flew on him, infusing with him coursing waves around his arms. [Hydroboost], he thought, his Attack cards on his deck glowing blue.

He skipped over to the backside of the beetle. The winds its wings kicked up buffeted him, but with its focus turned the other way, it wasn’t too bad.

Here goes nothing. Tristan bent down, pulled Rommie into his hand, and leapt into the air. Thanks to the movement speed buffs on him, he rose alarmingly high, but not enough.

This better work. He thrust his hand down and hand-cast Rommie; the Summon formed directly from his hand, and he immediately kicked off her back. Somehow, she knew what he intended and helped push him off.

[Skipping Stones]

activated, shooting him up even higher. He used his last cast of [Shadow Step], throwing the card toward the beetle’s back.

Shadow swallowed him up and spit him out close enough for him to latch a hand onto a section of its back carapace.

Far, far below him, he heard Marr gasp as he pulled himself up. An explosion of fire collided against the Devourer from Duran, rocking its body and nearly bucking him off. Tristan steadied himself and ran forward to its wings.

Rommie snapped into appearance beside him, having gotten too far away, and he directed her to the other wing.

Shit, I hope this works, he thought, pulling up beside the membranous wing. He shouted down for Duran to get his Trap ready, unsure if the man was able to hear over the deafening roar of the rushing air.

Taking a deep breath, Tristan scrambled onto the wing. With all the jerky movements of the enraged Devourer, he didn’t want to throw the card and have it accidentally miss.

The moment he stepped on, the beetle bucked like a bull. Tristan slid and almost plummeted to the ground.

At the last moment, he managed to grip the edge of the wing as it free-wheeled, trying to shake him off. Unfortunately, Rommie was flung away, leaving him alone atop the beetle’s back. He heard an explosion of stone rupture the ground beneath him, followed by Rommie’s presence fading; the poor Summon had likely landed on one of the Traps.

Growling, Tristan held on for dear life. A moment of stability came when Duran launched another Attack at it, and the beetle pivoted in that direction. He scrambled up onto the middle of the wing; he needed the effect to proc only on the wing and not spread to the main torso, which he worried would happen if he did it too close to the connecting joint.

Tristan cast [Darkstar] and [Shadow Spear] in quick succession. They barely dented the surprisingly tough membrane, but the beetle shrieked regardless, bucking even wilder. He stayed on, gripping for dear life.

He pulled [Bleeding Hamstring] in his other hand. Wind rushing madly around him, Tristan sent a message to whoever brought him into this world.

You brought me into this world because I was the best, right? A crazed grin spread across his face. You think a stupid fucking bug is going to stop me? Think again.

He slammed [Bleeding Hamstring] down and cast it, proccing {Sticking Shadows}

.

***

Eila watched as Tristan, a small speck compared to the monster, brought his hand down on its wing.

Arcs of Dark energy arced across the Devourer’s left wing, followed by two successive webs of darkness. A [Bleed] and two [Slows]?

“The crazy bastard’s clipping its wing,” Duran shouted. “Everyone, in position!”

The beetle shrieked as its left wing suddenly stopped beating. It tumbled through the air, arcing down to the ground.

“Everyone, get ready,” Duran shouted. He ran forward and cast a Trap card down, right in the middle of the beetle’s rapidly enlarging shadow.

It landed with a teeth-rattling thud. Tristan was bucked off in the crash and tumbled onto the ground.

[Fire Cage] activated, and lashes of fire whipped around the beast, locking it in place.

Somehow, Tristan had gotten to his feet. One arm hanging limp by his side, he pulled a glowing card from his deck and, almost dismissively, cast it at the beetle’s exposed neck joint.

The card activated, exploding in a massive cloud of corrosive liquid. Eila recognized it as her work, the same way a blacksmith recognizes the look of their blade amongst a score of others.

Green arcs of Earth energy rippled across his carapace, weakening it.

“Now!” Duran bellowed.

Everyone unleashed their attacks. Cards flew by, and Eila stacked [Strengthening Zone] and [Potency Aura], increasing their damage and effects. She was screaming, she realized belatedly; but so was everyone else. Even quiet, demure Marr was screeching for the monster to die at the top of her lungs.

Amidst the string of Attacks, a sound cut through it all. A sickening, wonderful tearing noise.

When the dust settled, the Devourer laid there, its head separated from its body.

Dead.

You have assisted in defeating the [Withering Roots Corrupted Devourer] and have successfully cleared the [Withering Roots] Dungeon.

8% participation allocated. You have acquired 10x. [Devourer’s Carapace], 5x. [Devourer’s Blood], 2x. [Earth Source], 1x. [ Dark Source], 1x. [Devourer’s Soul].

You are ineligible to acquire perkshards as you are too low Rank.