9

Mitsuki slammed his hand on the table.

"If I encounter that monster again, I'm going to peel his armor off and slice him into little pieces!" Mitsuki exclaimed angrily.

We are currently treating each other's wounds because we all got injured during our encounter with the monster earlier.

I took some cotton and soaked it with Resca, then applied it to Mitsuki's arm wound, and the wound disappeared immediately. Mitsuki was the most injured among us because he showered the monster with bullets, and all those bullets came back to hit him.

"At least now we know that shooting the monster is not a good idea," I said, pulling down his robe sleeves.

"Thank you, Ame," he thanked me after I treated his wound.

"But what are we going to do? Our weapons don't seem to work on it," Noreen asked.

"And it seems that using our powers on it doesn't have any effect either," Jedd added.

I pondered for a moment because based on my observation earlier, only its eyes seemed vulnerable. I glanced at Kaiden, who was quietly staring at the glass of water in front of him. It looks like he have something to say but I'm too afraid to ask . Then, I looked at Mentor, who once again held the red book.

"There's a chant in the red book for summoning lightning that you can use to defeat it. But using the red book's chant is extremely dangerous, and now is not the right time to use it because you've just started practicing," Mentor said.

Lightning? The monster's armor is made of metal, so if it gets struck by lightning, it will surely be electrified! But as Mentor said, using the chant from the red book is too risky. We might just end up getting hurt, so it's better not to, for now, and instead, we'll find another way to defeat the monster.

"I'll do it."

We all looked at Kaiden.

"Kaiden, you can't! You might just get hurt, and you'll be even more defenseless if you get injured. Using the chant from that book requires much more energy!" Mentor objected to Kaiden's decision immediately.

Kaiden stood up and snatched the red book from Mentor's hand. He quickly walked towards the door but was stopped by Jedd.

"Captain, please don't make impulsive decisions. I know you just want to defeat the Gareya, but you might just get into more trouble because of that book," Jedd tried to convince him.

It seemed like Kaiden didn't hear anything, and he headed straight to the door, where Mitsuki pulled him into the house.

"Kaiden, stop being stubborn!" Mitsuki scolded him.

"Can you listen to us just this once?" Noreen also chimed in.

He turned to us. I thought he would return the book to Mentor.

"Why? Do you have any better ideas? Shall we keep getting hurt over and over again?" he calmly asked us.

None of us could answer his question. We all knew that finding the monster's weakness is difficult, and the chant in the book could give us a way to defeat it. But Kaiden's safety is at stake here!

We followed Kaiden as he exited the house.

"Captain..." I couldn't help but call him.

He stopped walking and looked back at me, waiting for whatever I wanted to say.

"Please don't get hurt. We are weaker without you." I could only say that.

He went to the backyard of the house and opened the book. He raised his index and middle fingers together, pointing at the apple tree in front of him.

He took a deep breath before closing his eyes.

"Furdon Unum!"

I waited for what could happen, but I didn't see any lightning. I was surprised when Kaiden suddenly fell to the ground and started coughing up blood.

"Captain!" I called out to him.

I was about to go to him, but Mentor stopped me. He shook his head when I looked at him.

"Don't go near him. It's too dangerous," it warned me.

I could only watch Kaiden. Mitsuki and Noreen's concern for Kaiden was evident on their faces. Jedd, on the other hand, clenched his fist while watching Kaiden.

Kaiden tried to stand up again and pointed to the apple tree.

"Clear you mind and feel your connection with the nature of lightning, Kaiden!" Mentor shouted.

Kaiden took a deep breath before closing his eyes.

"Furdon Unum!" Kaiden shouted for the second time.

He fell to the ground again, and more blood came out. Kaiden seemed extremely weak because he was gasping for breath.

Mentor didn't stop Jedd this time when he hurriedly ran towards Kaiden.

"Captain, don't give up now! Remember that we need to defeat the Gareya!" Jedd shouted to Kaiden.

I was a bit confused by what Jedd said because I thought he would convince Kaiden to stop what he was doing. But instead, he motivated him to not give up. Jedd was right; Kaiden started this, so it would be better if he finished it.

Jedd couldn't speak another word as Mitsuki pulled him away from Kaiden.

Kaiden's body was trembling, but he tried to stand up.

Captain, when are you going to stop?

I just closed my eyes because I couldn't bear to watch Kaiden in a such weak state. It felt like I was being hurt every time he coughed up blood and knelt on the ground.

"Furdon Unum!"

Just as I opened my eyes, lightning struck the apple tree. The tree turned to ashes immediately.

He did it!

"Kaiden, you did it!" Noreen shouted with a smile.

Our smiles disappeared when Kaiden suddenly collapsed on the ground. He lost consciousness! Suddenly, the water in the fountain turned black.

Come on, why now?!

We didn't know what to do.

"I'll take care of Kaiden! Go ahead!" Mentor shouted as he hurriedly approached Kaiden.

Jedd snap his fingers, and the portal opened again. I looked at Kaiden once again before entering the portal.

I hope he is alright.

When we entered, we were back in the forest, and in front of us was the Gareya from earlier. Kaiden managed to summon lightning, but he passed out in the process. So we're back to zero. 

"Noreen and Mitsuki, aim at his eyes. Amelia, let's attack!" Jedd gives us instructions.

We ran to attack him. Jedd and I could only defend because we couldn't harm it. We were just getting tired because it couldn't be defeated like this.

This must be what Kaiden was thinking, so he preferred to learn the lightning chant.

"AAAHHHHH!" when I looked up at the monster, it was holding its left eye.

"Bullseye!" Mitsuki shouted.

The monster started walking towards Mitsuki, so I immediately stopped it. I had no chance against it, but I managed to push it back a few times with my attacks. I forcefully pushed it to prevent it from getting closer to Mitsuki.

The monster released another loud scream when Noreen hit its other eye.

"Nice!" Noreen said and high-fived Mitsuki.

But even so, the monster remained unyielding. I looked at my teammates.

"What are we going to do? It's not affected even though we already blinded both of its eye!" I asked them.

"Let's just keep fighting. Don't give up even though it seems impossible to defeat it. Don't waste Captain's efforts!" Jedd shouted before attacking the monster again.

If Kaiden didn't give up when he was already struggling so much, then we shouldn't either. Kaiden did that to defeat the Gareya, so I won't disappoint him!

I was about to attack when Jedd suddenly flew off as he was hit in the shoulder by a sword. My eyes widened when I saw that the monster was about to stab him again.

"Watch out!" Noreen shouted and also ran towards Jedd's direction.

"Furdon Unum!"

A strong lightning struck the monster before it could stab Jedd again. The seemingly invincible monster turned into ashes instantly.

I looked at where that power came from and saw Kaiden approaching us, but because of his current state, he fell on the ground again.

We all hurriedly approached him. His face was pale, and he was still panting heavily like earlier. He endured all of that just to help us.

He looked at the ashes of the monster before taking a deep breath.

"It's over now."

***