*Bang!* *Bang!*

*Bam!* *Bam!*

The sounds of Eloise battling the Martial-Roo were in the background as Aylin began to retrieve materials required for the Mana-Disrupting Potion and began to synthesize the solution.

Much as she dreaded the thought of Eloise facing the Martial-Roo alone, Aylin was well aware that the potion was far too vital. The Martial-Roo was already ahead of them by a Magic Circle equivalent which was troublesome enough without the layer of Demonic energy that made it impervious to all attacks.

The Martial-Roo's battle strategy was all about getting close which meant this was the time to especially embrace Professor Kragsten's teachings and keep distance at all times. For this purpose, Kaya stretched her vines out, wrapping around Marianne, Doran, and the unconscious third member of the team, pulling them far away from where Eloise battled the Corrupted Beast.

While she pulled, she infused them with Nature Motes, filling them with life energy and healing a good bit of their injuries. Marianne's healing came easily as she hadn't suffered as many injuries as the others.

The unconscious third required the most healing. Or at least, she took the longest time to finally stir and blink her way back to consciousness, looking around confused like she was surprised they were in the Lochxen Forest before her eyes went wide weakly as the memory of the situation seemed to come flooding back in.

"Dana!" Marianne cried and threw her arms around her friend the moment Kaya's vines had fallen off her body.

"Marianne," Dana said in a weak voice.

"Try not to strain yourself," Kaya said though her back was turned to them as she kept her eyes on the battle between Eloise and the Martial-Roo.

In a bid to take the trio out of the way of danger, she had placed them behind her back. Inadvertently getting them closer to the veil that bordered the Forest.

"Huh?" Doran asked with a hand on his head.

"I tried my best but it's really not an in-depth healing," Kaya said, "You'll need actual Healers to do a check-up for that."

"I see," Doran said in a low voice. Then with a groan, he stood to his feet.

"Doran!" Marianne said, looking up to see what he was doing. She reached out to grab him but he had already walked out of range.

Still, he looked back and smiled at her while his brown eyes twinkled with a semblance of his usual awkward nature even though his face had a seriousness he had adopted since this whole corrupted-Beasts situation began and he took the lead in combat.

"It'll be alright," Doran comforted her and then took more steps forward until he was standing by Kaya's side.

"I told you to stay back," Kaya said with a frown.

Both her hands were thrust out as she commanded Vines to strike at the Martial-Roo but it was ripping through them with fists coated with Demonic energy. Demonic energy that sizzled with a hellish sort of heat.

"I can help," Doran insisted.

Even walking, he was in pain. But he clenched his hands and spell circles appeared.

Kaya was about to voice more protests when Eloise cried out.

"Ahhh!" Eloise yelled as a particularly forceful strike against her defensive spell sent her flying.

While she was in the air, the Martial-Roo struck its strong tail against the ground and leaped, catching up to her with a Demonic energy-coated kick aimed at her head.

A green spell circle appeared on the ground as Kaya borrowed energy from Nature to further boost her spell so the vines that she conjured could move fast enough to wrap around Eloise and pull her fast but gently to the ground, causing the Martial-Roo's attack to miss.

The Beast hit the ground and Aylin yelled as she held up a vial,

"I got it!"

"Hand it here!" Eloise said as Kaya's vines released her.

Aylin tossed the vial, Eloise caught it and her form vanished. With a Sound magic movement spell as a boost, she dashed at the Martial-Roo. If they threw the vial, there was a very solid chance of missing. Especially since they were dealing with a Beast capable of moving faster than any of them could throw.

No, they had to deliver the vial at close range. Fortunately, Eloise was already a primary target of the Beast. As she charged at it, it didn't run. It just held its arms out in a pose like some kind of martial artist. Awaiting her arrival.

Once she was within a foot of the Beast's arm's length, Eloise hoped she had timed things right and she didn't throw the vial. She just let it go.

The contents of the vial were volatile. It didn't have to be made to shatter…

*bang*

… It'd do that on its own.

The Martial-Roo's eyes narrowed as the orange fumes of the Mana-disrupting Potion began to spread.

Eloise came to a dead stop, and casting a wind spell to contain the fumes to the vicinity of the Martial-Roo, she began to take many quick steps back to put distance between herself and the Beast as well as the fumes that could also disrupt her Mana.

But then, the Martial-Roo charged out of the cloud of orange fumes.

At first, Eloise's eyes went wide in horror but then, she noticed the flickering of the layer of demonic energy around its body.

"It worked!" She yelled.

The Beast's fist came at her and got blocked by a shield of magical musical notes. The force of its attack broke the shield but then the sound of its attack was arrested by Eloise's magic, turning into musical notes that were driven right into the Beast's arm.

"Argh!" The Martial-Roo cried out as a sharp pain hit it within.

The cry of pain said one thing;

It was now vulnerable.

And to such an advantage, Kaya and Aylin didn't waste any time joining Eloise in attacking it.

Icy pillars struck down. Thorns with enough sturdiness to withstand the normal Fourth Circle level of strength went piercing through the Martial-Roo's skin, sinking deeper and siphoning its Mana.

The Martial-Roo was a Beast of physicality more than magic. But the reason it was so formidable as a Four-Star Beast was due to its Mana which, instead of fueling some elemental affinity, merely augmented already incredible physical attributes such as Strength, Speed, Endurance, and Stamina.

With its Mana disrupted, that Augmentation was paused at the moment. Plus, without a stable Mana to latch on to as a foundation, there was no longer a layer of Demonic energy protection around the Beast.

Attacks could actually hit now.

And no matter how formidable it still was, so long as it could be harmed, it could be killed.

Somehow though, despite how much the situation had turned for the better, the trio of Kaya, Aylin, and Eloise faced the battle still with trepidation. That trepidation was proven right when, despite it no longer having access to Mana-Augmentation or Demonic Energy protection, the Martial-Roo remained a difficult challenge. Finally going all out and truly showing out.

Kaya's vines still occasionally got ripped up.

Aylin's Icy structures still got shattered. Her chill still got shaken off.

And Eloise still got hit so hard through her shield spells that she was faceplanted a couple of times.

And Doran's earthen fists—because he still insisted on helping—got shattered with ease. But he was never dismayed. He just always conjured others. He also used his Earth Magic to manipulate the terrain, succeeding a few times to trip the Martial-Roo up, setting up attacks for the trio of ladies.

With Kaya's thorns sapping the Beast of its Mana while the disruption was still on and with Aylin landing enough strikes to break through its tough hide, Eloise's Sound Magic—fed right into the Beast to rupture it from the inside—put the finishing touches to the attacks.

And finally, though it did require three Fourth Circle Mages—admittedly new to the Circle—and one Third Circle Mage providing support, the Martial-Roo finally hit its knees.

Its dead eyes gained some life like it was taking in just how much 'fun' it had gleaned from this battle. Or maybe it was just confused about what was happening as the Demonic energy that corrupted it finally went away.

Either way, it keeled over the side, landed with a thud, and stopped breathing.

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