After fifteen minutes of intense fighting, Astaroth and his party had whittled the Manticore's health down by a quarter. Although this was already an accomplishment, it was far from enough.
The party's resources were running thin. Even with the mana breathing technique Astaroth had taught the casters, they were burning through their mana pool right now.
They were taking mana potions here and there, trying to keep steadily over half, but their stocks were thinning out. As for Athena's arrow supply, it was also beginning to run low from all the shooting.
They could not reasonably keep this pace until they brought it down, so Phoenix switched tactics.
"Astaroth! Can you keep it busy on your next melding?!" She shouted.
Astaroth, who's cooldown for Spirit Melding was almost over, looked over at Phoenix, and then the manticore. He grit his teeth and replied.
"I should be able to, yes!"
"But it won't be an easy feat!" He added.