Head of the Devil

Even before the Scale Emblem Alliance began work on their extensive, tower-spanning rail project, the task of blazing a trail through and over the caldera surrounding the seventh-to-eighth floor transition was recognized as among the most difficult tasks ahead of them. Dealing with the labyrinthine walls of the sixth was easy by comparison-- at least on the sixth floor, the monsters were of fairly normal size. Here on the seventh, everything is outrageously overlarge, which is already a difficult enough challenge for the Scale's construction crews to surmount. Worse still were the monsters hiding below ground.

There were rumors to begin with, hints whispered by the Landers of the seventh floor, that as bad as the beasts on the surface were, the ones lurking below the mountain were far worse. And yet, nothing more than a few angry giant earthworms seemed to manifest, and those were dealt with handily by the Scale's many experienced raiders. It wasn't until recently that news has circulated of strange seismic activity and sightings of unusual beasts near the Scale Emblem's railway, where the alliance had cut a valley through the mountain range to lay their steel rails. Worryingly, none of the monsters seemed interested in attacking-- only running away as fast as their limbs (or lack thereof) could carry them.

Something was coming to the surface, and soon.

And so Prophylaxis of the Divine Dragons has sent out an alert not only to his Alliance members, but to anyone who might be interested in fighting a dangerous, unknown beast from deep beneath the earth. He stands on a wooden scaffold flanking the railway on either side, which serves as a makeshift station for those looking to challenge the caldera's giant monsters to disembark. Reinforcements have trickled in over the past few hours as seismic activity has reached a fever pitch, coming either by train or by foot. Even now, there are tremors every few minutes that grow stronger with each rumble of the earth.

It won't be long. Hopefully enough people arrive in time.

Schneider has joined Prophylaxis on the scaffold and watches the Land, also, though in one hand, he's got a revised airship sketch. "So, control was a problem during our test flight," he muses. Though, in fact, the major problem was a monster shredding the gas bag. "You know, if we could get fixed-wing flight working, I wonder if we could outrun or out-maneuver those anti-flying beasts?" It's all speculation at this point, of course. "What are we waiting on again?" he asks.

    Interested in fighting a dangerous, unknown beast from the deep beneath the earth!? That's Yuuki to a Y, U, U, K, and I!

    The energetic imp stands upon the wooden makeshift station, tapping her foot impatiently as she waits for the so-called giant beast to show up. Every now and then asking, "Is it here yet?" "Is it here yet?" "Is it here yet?"

SpritesHero is admirably calm. At least externally, for all that he's absurdly over-geared for any standard sort of Adventurer action.

He's found himself a rock to sit on, and is currently preoccupied with rubbing dust between his palms. Whenever the earth trembles he'll pause and look up, cocking an ear, as though to decipher any and all possible information. But then it's back to that incessant rubbing. And waiting. Always the waiting. His sword---its scabbard engraved with a half-hearted 'Prototype blade #16'--lies across his knees.

    Amalthea has been relatively quiet since the last Tower boss fight... The truth is, she's been hard at work, training herself and training hard to be a better tank...
    On the seventh floor of Aincrad no less.
    This means that when Prophylaxis puts out the call, Amalthea is one of the first people to arrive.
    Somehow, in the period of her training here on the seventh floor, she has encountered many creatures...
    Giant iguanas that can swallow you whole.
    Fire breathing tyrannosauruses.
    Giant fluffy white bats.
    Velociraptors with annoyingly bright and blinding headlights.
    Dinosaurs that scream at you really, really, loud...
    Amalthea has fought them all. Amalthea has killed many of them. The old paladin that approaches Prophylaxis looks like something of a wild woman right now, wearing the mishmash hodgepodge assorted pelts of no less than ten different things she has murdered with her trusted sword and shield.
    "Right, I've been hunting things here all week, why is the ground shaking so much and who pissed off whatever's shaking the ground?" Pause. "And do we get to kill it?"

    Setsuna was giddy, if it wasn't obvious by the smile that wouldn't seem to leave his face, even when he stubbed his toe. Why you may ask? Well because he had a new menagerie (that still needs painting) and he needed to fill the thing with monsters. All the monsters, but one that is from the seventh floor would be absolutely amazing. So even as the earth rumbled around him he was happily running to meet his Doom, which is obviously what he would name his new pet. His skeleton knight faithfully tagging behind, definately not having any internal thoughts of abandonment or frustration with his prison warden, or owner...which ever you prefer.

Truth be told Syx was pissed off he had missed the last tower fight. Sure he had taken his frustrations out by suplexing a giant bun bun covered in stone armor, but he wouldn't get his name emblazoned on a wall for all to see for all time that way.

He wouldn't get his name on any walls for this either, but it would help him work on something he'd been trying to do for a while. Someone had told him a while back to stop thinking about the game like a game and start thinking about how he could use the game to his advantage. So he's been trying to figure out how he can implement some of the stuff he can do with game mechanics into his own abilities. The fact he can slam boss sized monsters around is a start, but he knows there's more he can do. So he showed up when Proph called, hoping for another boss to throw himself at.

"I'm pretty sure the answer to all of our questions..." Including Yuuki being approximately as Yuuki-like as Prophylaxis remembers, reassuring him that there are still things in this world that do not change, "...Will be here shortly."

The ground rumbles underfoot, but this time, the tremor does not abate. Prophylaxis steadies himself with his staff, but even its assistance is almost insufficient. Stones begin to shift and tumble, loosened by the shuddering earth. Large rocks roll downhill and slam into the makeshift wooden platform like cannonballs, cracking lumber and snapping nails in two. "Everyone, it's here!" Prophylaxis shouts, "Get ready!"

The tremors...

...Stop.

...For a moment, everything seems to be tranquil and still. A false alarm? No, but...

The birds have gone silent...

Suddenly, the mountainside explodes in a rain of shrapnel and loose stone. A reptilian beast the size of an eighteen-wheeler leaps from the carved valley walls. Its head is crowned with a pair of brutal, devilishly sharp horns that flank a set of wicked tusks. A halo of dense scales like the frills of a triceratops' skull shield its armored neck. It lacks arms, but possesses a pair of powerful, winged appendages that seem more apt for shattering stone than soaring through the sky. Its thick, muscular tail terminates in an osseous, axe-like growth. Everything about this beast is dangerous, and made even moreso by its enormous size.

It roars, bellowing mightily as it spreads its wings and dive-bombs into the broken slope, racing downhill like a living landslide of monstrous wrath. Combat is entered, and a name appears, conning orange.

                             TWIN-HORNED WYVERN                            
                             'THE DEVIL'S HEAD'                            

The landsliding beast approaches at incredible speed. If it isn't stopped, it'll crash directly into the railway! But the only way that's happening is if something manages to stop its incredible advance...!

MODERATE HAZARD: At least three people must succeed with the shield concept as their defense against The Twin-Horned Wyvern, representing attemtps to block its charging landslide attack, or the railway will take damage! 1 player may sacrifice an HP in addition to whatever damage they may have taken to divert this attack in an emergency.

    The ground shakes. It's an ominous herald. But what's worse is when the shaking stops and the birds go quiet.
    "... I get the feeling this is bigger than a Tyrannosaur. ... I know. I fought a few that breathe fire." Amalthea mutters.
    And then it comes. Stone rains down, the mountain itself erupts and a big nasty flying lizard comes roaring down at them, bringing a landslide with it.
    Amalthea... Is there.
    It comes down and she puts herself directly in its path, shield raised as the ground comes with it, she meets both the landslide and the beast head on and immediately starts spamming her taunts before she...
    Charges up her swing and lashes out with a powerful swipe of her sword at the great wyvern.

    Setsuna wasn't crying...at least not on the outside. His smile is gone though at the sight of the wyvern, and why might that be one may wonder. It is because of the fine print on the inspect of the Wyvern, 'Can not be handled', just like every other seventh floor wyvern. The rest of the creatures in theory could be but they sucked your mana dry faster then , well one can probably imagine. So with the lack of gusto and excitement he had before Setsuna simply provides a wall of wind to shield the train and then lobs a ball of dark energy at it. " Just once ,just once I'd like to take the boss monster home. I'd treat it nice and feed it and give it plenty of attention. "

Schneider looks up, says, "Our guest of honor seems to have arrived." He puts his drawing away, then conjures a physical shield directly in the path of the monster. It's just a shield, sort of, but then again, not, and when the Wyvern plows into it, there's a thunder of impact and a moment of struggle. The shield is overrun, after a moment's pause, but the wyvern has lost considerable momentum. "Tai-to-to!" he chants. "Blow my enemy away! ANTHEM!" And with the shouted name of the spell, fire lances towards the wyvern, impacting its back and shoulder.

For all of this, he remains atop the platform. The visibility is good, here, and he has a commanding view of the area.

From where he was standing, Syx's eyes light up as he spots the massive dragon (okay not a dragon) emerge from the side of the mountain, "YES!" He throws his fists up in the air and leaps off of his perch, immediately running towards the boss monster with reckless abandon, "I'm going to punch that dragon in the face!"

Heedless of danger, and getting smashed with a rock for his trouble, Syx none the less presses on, leaping towards the wyvern when he's in range, balling up his right fist and putting all the force of his enhanced strength behind the massive haymaker that he throws, intent on hitting the creature with enough force to knock it off it's path towards the railway.

    The platform shakes more and more!

    And then... Nothing. Just silence.

    Yuuki mourns the fact that she doesn't have a pin to drop right now.

    And then BIG BOI comes crashing through the mountainside! Yuuki cries out, "It's here!" Yes, that's obvious. She shields her face from the initial shockwave of dust with an arm. But then she notices those rather larger boulders rolling and raining down towards the platform!

    In theory, Yuuki coooooould handle them. But she's no tank. She's DPS. They have tanks here. Surely they can handle it. So Yuuki leaves them to do so! She quickly darts forward in a dash towards the edge of the wooden platform. She then leaps off it!

    The nimble imp lands upon one of the tumbling boulders for just a moment, before leaping it off it and onto another. Then another. This quickly brings her into range of the large Wyvern, flames bursting to life around her sword as she spins toward it, unleashing a single blow against the creature!

Robert's arm lifts, shielding his eyes from flying debris before yanking Prototype Sword #16 from its sheath. At which point he takes a good look at his opponent. His gaze goes up. And up. And up. While he thankfully refrains from an appreciative whistle, one eye does squint half-shut in consideration. Any hesitation is brief, and then he too is off, aiming for melee range.

He closes slowly at first, then more quickly. The final ten feet are crossed in a quick burst of acceleration that sends him skidding right underneath his target, trailing flames in his wake. His hand lifts, giving its (hopefully softer) underbelly a good smack, at which point thorned vines extend outwards from the point of contact, coiling, digging their barbs in as best they can. He's evidently decided he's not going to make much headway against that armor, so he's aiming for sensitive, exposed areas.

Sadly (luckily) this is a Twin-Horned Wyvern, not a dragon. If it were a dragon, the chances of arresting its considerable momentum would be 'virtually impossible.' As is, they are merely 'extremely slim.' But this is what they have all come here to do, for better or for worse-- this kind of difficult content is exactly what these adventurers love to see.

Schneider acts first to slow the behemoth's seemingly inexorable charge. His barrier materializes directly in the wyvern's path, halting its progress for a singular, critical moment before shattering in a thunderous shower of dispersing light. But it's a critical step-- in that moment, Amalthea hurls herself into the beast and digs in her heels. The mountain gives way before she does, her greaves digging a trench of split earth as the creature pushes her down, down, down the slope, with each foot taking longer than the last to cross. But even with the monster stoppe, there is still but a wave of debris approaching the railway... Which smashes into Setsuna's barrier of wind and disperses harmlessly into so much dust.

Prophylaxis is not so lucky, having apparently taken a boulder to the shoulder. Unfortunately, mirror image spells are no good when the enemy is just hurling rocks like buckshot from the barrel of a shotgun. "Damnit, give me a minute," he mutters, hand glowing with healing energies.

While he's busy, the rest of the team presses the attack. Amalthea begins, knocking the creature's head up and away mere moments before it was poised to slam its powerful horns down into her shield. At the same moment, Yuuki's blazing blade traces across its hide-- but clatters and skitters and sparks against those same horns. Apparently bladed weapons are not the best for breaking those things away from the beast's skull...!

Bolts of fire and darkness slam into its hide, though the wyvern weathers the assault by taking cover beneath its mighty wings and roars defiantly before Syx skates underneath its guard and snaps a powerful blow directly into its (relatively more) vulnerable underbelly. The creature reels back as if stunned just as Robert's thorn bindings wrap around its limbs. It screeches wrathfully, barreling through the bonds to hurl its entire body weight, stone-crushing-wings-first, into Syx and Yuuki. It whips its neck like a club, aiming to smash Amalthea aside and launching a barrage of hurled boulders at Setsuna, Prophylaxis and Schneider, all three of whom kept their distance. Acting as a living counterweight, its tail arcs toward Robert like an executioner's axe, albeit one as wide across as he is tall.

But thanks to Robert's bindings and Amalthea keeping it taunted well away from the station, the monster hasn't had the opportunity to close the gap and approach the railway. Success...?

MELEE TARGETS - Amalthea, SpritesHero, Yuuki and Syx: Defense roll of 9
RANGED TARGETS - Prophylaxis, Setsuna, Schneider: Defense roll of 8
Twin-Horned Wyvern's defense this round: 9

SpritesHero is potentially guilty of tunnel-visioning. It's not at all graceful enough to be considered artistic, mind, but there's single-minded brutality to the way he zips to and fro, sword flashing as it repeatedly cuts over the wyvern's underbelly, triggering his previous thorns. But sooner rather than later the slashing stops along with his patience. He switches strategies, prioritizing thrust over slash. He tumbles, crouches, his form coiling before surging upwards in an attempt to bury the tip of his sword as deeply as possible into the wyvern's belly. No doubt it's because of moves like this that he's on prototype sword #16,

    Yuuki's sword sparks and bounces off the wyvern's horn. Yuuki herself falls away from her jump at the large beast, landing upon the roughed up terrain below. She looks annoyed at the lack of red that her sword has drawn across the boss's body. She's going to have to try aiming for a different part of its body.

    That or use a different weapon...

    ... Yeahno.

    But before Yuuki has a chance to pick out the spot she wants to attack, the boss suddenly flings itself at her! The imp's eyes go wide and she tries to run to avoid it, but avoiding something that big in just a few moments is clearly too difficult even for the speed demon imp! Yuuki suddenly disappears beneath the the wyvern's large mass.

    A few moments later the wyvern moves on, leaving a Yuuki behind, embedded in a Yuuki-sized hole in the ground. She coughs up a bit of dirt, before sitting up and examining the splotches of red spread across her. She chuckles a little, "Now I know what it's like to be squished like a bug!" Pause. "Although now that I think about it, I already knew that..."

    Yuuki gets up, wincing slightly at the pain of moving her recently squished body. But that'll fade too, along with the splotches of red. Though her HP bar won't recover quite so quickly.

    Turning her attention back to the wyvern, Yuuki charges once more, "Time for some pay back, Big Bird!" Yuuki leaps towards the beast, her sword glowing with light this time as she brings it down towards a point that is NOT its horns. A shockwave exploding outwards on impact from the force of the blow.

    Slowing- slowing- slowing- halted--! For now at least as Amalthea arrests the Wyvern's push for the moment. But when it swings that neck at her to try and bat her away her armor coats in a layer of frost.
    She takes the blow standing, barely even budging from the impact before she raises her shield up- and brings the heavy armor plate down against the side of the monster's ehad like a weighty slab of goddamn iron that it is, with all the force she can muster.
    "That's right. You stay focused on me. You look at ME. Because when I am done killing you I am going to WEAR you."

Schneider throws up a magic shield to ward off the barrage of boulders, the stones deflecting off his shield any old way, possibly endangering allies. It seems to be carelessness rather than malice. But with time to concentrate, he casts, "ZAKO DAMERO!" and hurls fire at the for-now halted wyvern. Smiling widely now as the breeze blows back his hair, his fires warming the winter air nicely, he looks over to see how everyone is doing. So far, so good. A few injuries, but nothing catastrophic? Tank is tanking, DPS is damaging, and all is right with the world. After a moment's consideration, this worries Scheider, and he looks around for where the other shoe is about to drop. There's always another shoe, right?

    Setsuna looks at the boulders and sighs, " You know what, it's ok. I wouldn't want a one trick wyvern. " With a large burst of dark energy enshrouding him he dashes away and would be making it scott free if the doctor didn't suddenly decide to let himelf almost be hit by rocks. So what does Setsuna do, he shoves the doctor out of the way and gets hit by a boulder. With a growl of annoyance he stabs the ground and raises a minion underneath his skull knight. That's right he provides it a skeleton horse to carry the skull knight into battle and face the Wyvern in a full gallop charge.

This time around Syx is more than ready for the attacks from the wyvern, as he slips under the creature, flames burning around him as he slides the attack, "You think you're all big and bad, but you're not even a floor boss!"

Taunting monsters really doesn't do much, but Syx can't help himself, because that's just how he is. Once he's out of the way of danger, at least for a brief moment, he uses the flames he's got burning to get behind himself, as he launches through the air, shifting around to deliver a kick with both of his legs, burning heat forcing through them and into the wyvern.

Look, sometimes rocks fall in places you're standing in, and sometimes rocks fall into places you're dodging to. Prophylaxis is just unlucky enough to suffer both simultaneously. It's only by Setsuna's daring rescue that he's shoved out of the way in time. "Setsuna!" He calls, "Are you okay?!" Clearly! Because he just his bodyguard away. The wyvern screeches as the skeletal knight drives its blade, quickened by its steed's speed, into the monster's thick hide.

It's a narrow gap in the creature's defenses, but one which Yuuki exploits to incredible effect. When the monster reels from the skeleton knight's strike, she comes down like a meteor into its spine, shattering the stone-like scales covering its back with the tip of her blade. Clearly, the creature's hide is not as impervious to slashing attacks as its belly.

But the force of the blow pushes the beast's body down, threatening to crush Robert as he carves into its abdomen, thorn bindings exploding into clouds of purple light all around him. His escape is a narrow one, aided by Amalthea's timely shield-bash. With a resounding clamor of steel against bone, the beast's left horn CRACKS and goes flying! The monster reels from the blow, staggering back as Schneider's fireballs send it staggering onto its haunches. Just then, Syx drives down from above, finishing a devastating multi-hit combo by sending the monster slamming into the ground amidst a swirling inferno of scattered flame. Smoke and dust mingle and mix in an impenetrable cloud, darkness falls across the battlefield. The creature hisses and snarls as the haze begins to clear, and ducks as if preparing another charge, when...

Something... is wrong.

There are boulders scattered around the monster that weren't there before. Boulders that, when the Twin-Horned Wyvern braces to barrel through the party...

...Begin to glow red hot.

BGM CHANGE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx2HVungUnw

The battlefield is rocked by a series of powerful explosions. Each one of those strange glowing rocks bursts in a catastrophic wave of flame and force. The Twin-Horned Wyvern screams as its body is riddled by bright red damage-starbursts.

A terrible, screeching roar reverberates from on high as a broad-winged shadow dives into the melee, grabbing the stunned wyvern by the throat and dragging it through the minefield of exploding boulders. The new addition to the melee is built like a living bomber plane, its compact frame covered in thick, rock-like scales that line both its tail and underbelly in great quantities. With a lion-like maw, it roars...

And a new HP bar appears, glowing red.

                          --==BOMBADIER WYVERN==--                          
                            THE INVADING TYRANT                            

Only by slamming its mighty wings into the new assailant's head is the Twin-Horned Wyvern able to free itself from the creature's clutches. It follows up by goring its remaining horn into the second wyvern's throat!

...Which loosens more of those strange, glowing rocks, causing many to explode immediately while others are scattered in clusters all throughout the area.

...Including near the train tracks.

"Damnit, are those bombs!?" (Yes, they are, Prophylaxis did not need to ask that question.) "We need to get them away from the rails before they blow!" All while trying to avoid a rolling globe of wyvern-on-wyvern violence that bounds across the valley. As if mere brutal contact isn't enough, the abundance of explosives left behind in their devastating passage makes weathering the assault even more difficult...!

MAJOR HAZARD!: Wandering Mob has wandered into combat! Second enemy is now available for attack.

Moderate Hazard: There are bomb-scales littered across railway! A successful earth or shield action on the party's turn can neutralize them. DC 9.

EVERYONE is getting attacked: Bomb Scale + Monster Fight Pinball, DC... 12, because 15 was way too damn high, goddamn.

TO HIT THE TWIN-HORNED WYVERN: DC 8
TO HIT THE BOMBARDIER WYVERN: DC 9

Each monster must be hit 3 times to deal damage to them!

Schneider drops down next to the tracks and puts up his magic shield between the track and the explosive, and he gathers his magic power with a look of intense concentration. When it explodes, though, his shield holds, the earth snowing a hemispherical blast mark on the other side of where his shield stood. Having defended the railway, Schneider takes one look at the pair of wyverns, takes one step forward, and falls on his face. Apparently he was a bit more stunned from the explosion than he'd thought, and he picks himself up as quickly as he can, shaking his head to clear it.

    Setsuna blinks at the second wyvern, " You know I should of seen this coming. Wyvern's tend to be pack animals. " It's all ok though as Setsuna isn't even standing where he appears to be standing. He already hid himself away, only to be smacked by a wyvern tail in the large game of pinball. A unpleasant experience as he flies across the air and hits with a thud. "Oooouch." Standing up slowly he looks at the new wyvern and growls eyes glowing with magic, " Damn things." With a slash in the air he unleashes dark energy to try to claw the bomadier wyvern.

SpritesHero just barely avoids being the second person sat on tonight. His sword....is not quite as lucky, and there's a distinct tinkling sound as it gets squished past what its durability will allow for. Robert grimaces, beating a hasty retreat out of melee range. He's quick enough to duck behind a boulder...a real boulder, not a bomb boulder...and throw up a quick defensive, shimmering coat of energy before everything goes sideways. The next few moments are lost to the roar of explosions, choking clouds of dust, and ringing ears. When things clear, Robert is on his feet if not a little disoriented, and well out of position. If there's such a thing as position when your target is two wrestling wyverns. He gives up on selecting targets, and sends a lacy, wafting haze of confusion-inducing darkness towards the rolling blob's center of mass. Maybe it'll hit one. Maybe it'll hit both. Hopefully it doesn't miss entirely. But he's not about to aim for precision casting in this situation.

    It was going so well.
    It was all going so well. Everyone was wailing on the Wyvern, and then... Something BIGGER swoops in, grabs it by the neck and tells it to sod off.
    "..."
    It cons as red.
    Amalthea is left stunned for a good moment at the mere sight of it, before she curls her fingers tighter around the hilt of her sword.
    "... Aren't you a pretty one. ... I'm going to wear you too."
    The seventh floor may have taken a small toll on her.

    "ANCHOR HOWL!"

    Making herself the biggest, angriest, target available seems like a bad idea in a situation like this. But when the bombs and boulders come into play she's already among them, and as soon as the Twin-Horned Wyvern lands she's behind one of the big nasty explosives.
    She's pushing it.
    Grunting and straining as hard as she can, using every ounce of strength and leverage she can exert, she starts pushing the biggest bomb scale she can find.
    Amalthea snarls as the bomb budges. She strains. It starts to roll, sweat beads on her brow as she...
    Punches the boulder.
    Hauling off and slugging it as hard as she can, the bomb-scale goes launched right at the wyvern before it explodes on impact, starting a chain reaction that sets the OTHERS rolling away from the rails and towards the wyvern before they blow up too.

    Another, bigger monster swoops in! Things start exploding left and right! It's like a scene out of some game... Battlefield, or something.

    Yuuki stumbles as the scales begin exploding. A soft light engulfs her and soon she's off and running at high speed. Zigging and zagging to avoid the bombs shortly before they explode.

    Unfortunately, all it takes is one.

    Yuuki gets caught on the edge of a blast and is sent flying. Right into another exploding bomb, which sends her flying in another direction. Right into a third bomb, which launches her into the air!

    Yuuki flails as she starts to fall. She realizes she's heading straight towards the two brawling monsters! But then she realizes, this isn't a problem. It's an opportunity!

    Yuuki prepares her Sword Arte, a dark wind rushing up around her to provide a boost to her attack speed. And as she plummets past the Bombardier she unleashes a multitude of blows against it!

    Until she hits the ground again with a groan, still a little red from the explosions, "Now I know what it's like to be a pinball... That one's new." Another groan.

Syx wasn't prepared for another fight to spring out while they were already having one, "Whoa what the hell, a run in?!" He yells out to nobody in particular, though one of the bombs goes off near him, throwing him for a loop. He lands hard, but rolls and gets back to his feet, "Alright. I'm not done with you yet!"

He rushes up, aiming for the Twin-Horn again, as he launches himself through the air once again, and aims to land on the back of the wyvern. So he moves to grab hold of those horns, and swing his weight around. To slam the wyvern into the ground with the force he can manage. This thing MIGHT be too big to suplex, at the moment, but he's absolutely still going to try for it.

You never know when a one-wyvern fight might turn into a two-wyvern fight. Clearly the Twin-Horn's appearance on the surface must have seemed like something of a territorial threat to the Bombardier... But that's neither here nor there. Prophylaxis narrowly dodges the barreling wyverns, but is immediately thereafter sent flying by an exploding scale...

The rest of the party does significantly better at rallying from their injuries. There is of course a direly pressing problem that they must sort out, in that a pair of angry wyverns are goring and biting and exploding at each other like a pair of ultraviolent Godzillas. The first step will need to be breaking the two apart.

...And Amalthea has the solution.

The landslide of exploding boulders rolls towards the pair of wyverns, glowing red, then orange, then white-hot before exploding in a rapid-fire firecracker of earth-shaking blasts. With a pair of angry screeches, the two wyverns are knocked free of one another. The Twin-Horn seems at first to have had the worst of it, its body pock-marked by blast-craters in two-dozen different spots... But then it becomes clear that its horn is missing.

...Because said horn is stuck to its broken base in the Bombardier's throat.

Just as the aggro ticks towards Amalthea, the wyverns are forced to endure waves of darkness from both Setsuna and Robert. The former carves bleeding gashes across the Bombardier's underbelly, setting off yet more of those bombs even as they begin to regenerate. The latter curses the pair with befuddling malaise, causing the Twin-Horn to abruptly terminate its counter-attack on Amalthea to instead shoulder-tackle the Bombardier. Unfortunately, its plans are interrupted again as Yuuki scythes through. Her high-speed assault on the Bombardier spins up a dark wind, each cut triggering more of those regenerating bombs until the lot go up in a great big explosion right in the Twin-Horn's face, causing it to hurt itself in its confusion!

Just as she lands, she finds herself next to Prophylaxis of all people. Prophylaxis, who seems to be both significantly injured... and presently on fire.

Curiously, the fire does not seem to be damaging him.

Instead, he produces a sound of tremendous exertion as he extends a hand toward the blossoming explosions surrounding the two wyverns. Suddenly, the roiling flame seems to surge and redouble, enhanced by the doctor's incendiary focus... "Ughhhh," he groans, "It's never easy, is it...?"

Then, just as it's reeling, Syx grabs hold of the stunned Twin-Horn and...

...Suplexes directly into the Bombardier.

Again, the two are surrounded by a great column of smoke and ash as the second Wyvern's explosives are detonated by the first. Syx is able to backflip out of the way...

...Just as the two wyverns emerge from the smoke, HP bars both nearly depleted, eyes blazing with hatred and the mutual understanding of a couple of giant monsters who just got used as bludgeons against one another by a bunch of upstart adventurers.

The Twin Horn begins the assault, diving underground as the land begins to shake and tremble underfoot. The Bombardier meanwhile leaps into the air, scattering clusters of bombs across the battlefield, aiming to cover the ground in explosive debris while the adventurers are stunned by its impromptu partner's subterrannean assault! Then, it comes crashing down, diving into a belly-flop from one end of the valley while the Twin-Horn erupts from underground and charges to meet it from the opposite direction...!

This is... A Wyvern Dual Arte!?

EVERYONE: DC 10 DEFENSE ROLL
DC to hit Twin-Horn: 8
DC to hit Bombardier: 8

Schneider's defense grows more desperate, but his shields continue to hold. After one is battered down, he's quick to conjure another. In this way, he survives under the assault as he begins casting /that spell/. Everyone can sense it when he does, there's a dark, uneasy feeling, and the chant -sounds- dangerous. Unholy. "Kaizard, aruzard, kisk! Hansay Glossik! Unleash total destruction! Sage of Hades use the seven keys to open the gates of Hell!" His gestures have been so far just gathering the dark, crackling energy between his hands, but when he chants the final syllable, "HALLOWEEN!" a beam like a laser of raw evil fire lances out, nailing the one wyvern dead center mass. The explosion is intense, and it takes a few moments to clear.

SpritesHero nearly gets nailed yet again, though this time it's because his concentration flickers. There's silent admiration for the wyvern's technique, coupled with a considering arch of one eyebrow. But that's before he clues in to the fact tha, yes, he'd probably best not be standing where he is.

He cuts it rather close, but there's a sudden 'whomp' as the earth itself launches him out of the way. Well, out of the way of the Bombardier wyvern, anyhow. It belts him straight past the twin horn, sending him hissing over its shoulder and sailing off into the distance. It's a near miracle that, en route, he manages to slap twin-horn in the back of the skull with an undulating, positlvely slime-esque bubble of oozing darkness. The orb slowly spreads over the wyvern, eating away at its defenses.

    "That's right, focus on me, you overgrown geckos." Amalthea nearly growls as the wyverns turn attention on her-- only for the Twin-Horn to shoulder check the other wyvern on the way while fire and darkness rain on in and---
    Syx suplexes the Twin-Horn like a boss.
    "..."
    Okay even she has to pause to admire that. But it's only brief as she rifles through her inventory.

    >Combine
        Dagger+Rope
            This will create CRAPPY GRAPPLING HOOK.
                Continue?
                    >Y/N

    Quickly tying a rope to the end of a spare dagger in her inventory she hurls the impromptu grapple at the Twin-Horn and latches onto it, yanking herself towards it and onto its back.
    Where she holds on for dear life and just starts wailing the everliving hell into it.

    Setsuna is doing his best to get out of the way of the twin horn dragon, but it wasn't enough enough. Until suddenly an old lady suddenly yanks the twin horn away enough for Setsuna to be avoided, that will probably leave the fair maiden with a sore shoulder or dislocated shoulder. Frowning he looks at the wyverns and sighs. " I guess we have to end this before someone dies, like myself." With a whistle and some tongue clicking the skull night begins to charge back around on it's skeleton horse and Setsuna summons a large spiked earth pillar that it grabs to use as a joust. Charging forward it aims to stab into the bombadier wyvern.

    Yuuki picks herself up from the ground next to Prophylaxis, dusting herself off as she laughs back at him, "If it was easy, it wouldn't be fun!" After all, it's the challenge of fighting a difficult boss that is the truest fun of a video game!

    Yuuki watches as Prophylaxis firebombs the hell out of the Wyverns, raising a thumbs up and saying, "Nice." But it turns out that the two monsters aren't going to just sit back and take the combined assault from the Adventurers, one rising up and another going under.

    As the bombs begin to rain from the sky, Yuuki is off and running again, this time managing to successfully navigate the resulting explosions. Though the rumbling under her feet wasn't making it easy...

    And thus Yuuki realizes how she's going to reach that one in the sky!

    Instead of doing the smart thing and running away from the source of the underground rumbling, Yuuki runs towards it. She then readies herself...

    The horned wyvern bursts out of the ground right below Yuuki! Amidst the shower of debris, she is launched upwards by its force. Right towards the diving Bombardier! Yuuki sweeps her sword out, the weapon glowing from a Sword Arte as she arcs towards her target. She hits it on the underside, a soft green light emanating from beneath her boots as she plunges her sword into the softer part of the wyvern and begins to run along its length, dragging her sword along with her.

    Finally Yuuki reaches the other end of the wyvern, leaping off it and beginning to fall back to the ground once more, watching the results of her handiwork.

Now Syx is not one to be outdone by himself. Suplexing the twin-horn into the bombadier was a sick move, he wishes that he had been streaming when he did it so he could have clipped it. It would have looked awesome on his entrance video.

Too late to worry about it now though. As he's backflipping through the air, flames begin to circle around him, "I'm not finished with you yet, you overgrown lizard! Time to catch these hands!"

Hands which are now burning with the fire of a thousand suns, or at least thats how Syx would describe it. He uses the flames to shoot himself back down towards the twin horn, aiming to slam into it with the full force of his burning form like a meteor come to life, and drive it into the ground.

And maybe also cause an explosion he can walk away from without looking at it.

    "True enough," Prophylaxis answers with a smile and a sigh like they've had this conversation no less than a dozen times before. "Go for the gold. I'll support you from here." His staff begins to glow, but this time not with fire or with ice or anything like that. Instead, a pulse of verdant energy ripples out from the doctor and into the Ultimate Sword. Yuuki immediately finds her wounds closing, her HP bar regenerating at breakneck speed.

Prophylaxis has picked up a few new tricks, it seems...!

Even when the bombs begin to fall, the doctor is able to keep up the spell. He darts between explosives astride a wave of surging, frigid surf, leaving trails of frosted bomb-scales in his wake as he chases Yuuki at channeling distance...!

The Wyverns won't know what hit them.

Almost literally, as it turns out, for the Bombardier. Schneider's spell catches it in the center of mass, a beam of impossibly- perhaps even malevolently- hot flame causing its explosive scales to flash-ignite mid-divebomb. The creature shrieks as its body catches fire, even as its bombing run is fatally terminated by Setsuna's stone-jousting summon. The earthen spike bites deep, slamming into the horn already embedded into the creature's body and lodging it even further. With the squelch of tearing flesh, the horn and lance pierce clean through to the other end of the wyvern's spine. It's sent hurtling into the air...

Which is when Yuuki sets upon it. As the Twin-Horn erupts from underground, the Zekken is there to exploit the force of its reemergence. She shoots through the air, a particularly lethal, blade-brandishing comet, and rakes her blade through its body. Green light carves the beast in two as she emerges from the other end, and lands just in time to watch her emerald slash cleave through the lingering embers of Schneider's Helloween...

...The Bombardier screeches as its bifurcated body slowly separates... and explodes...!

Meanwhile, down below, the Twin-Horn has just been leapfrogged off of. Adding insult to injury, Robert hops over its head /too./ But he doesn't just steal momentum, he donates a globe of corrosive darkness that soon spreads to cover the wyvern completely. It's thanks to the miracle of instant-duration effects that neither Syx nor Amalthea are subjected to the Nightmare Sphere. Instead, the latter is able to mount the now desperately screaming wyvern and begin slamming sword and shield alike into its hide, each blow knocking its HP bar down bit by bit, shedding gushing spurts of red pixel-fluid. She finishes by slamming her shield down into its skull, sending it stumbling...

...Right on time for Syx to come crashing down like a humanoid meteorite. Rocket-propelled fists slam into the monster's spine, shattering it like a bundle of reeds. It smashes into the ground-- atop a cluster of still-dormant Bombardier scales.

Syx leaps away just as they begin to glow, and manages to turn away from the catastrophic explosion just as it consumes the wyvern's broken form.

...As the last of the red pixels floats away on the rising thermals, the party finally drops out of battle mode...

...And is free to loot their kills.

    Setsuna watches the destruction of the wyverns and just sighs heavily as he waits, choosing to stand just far enough away from the explosions and retrieves a poton to keep his health steady as he begins to approach the drops for loot. The train ride would be nice back, maybe he would nap. A nap doesn't sound half bad.

Schneider peers around the slowly smouldering ruins of the battlesite. "Well," he says. "That seemed to work out. Hopefully there aren't too mnay of those sorts of critter around. Did anyone get cool drops?" he wonders. Not having the high-percentage-drop professions, he's often disappointed at the lack of drops, though in truth, he doesn't make good use of the ones he has.

Syx emerges from the fire and explosions looking, well, not unscathed, but at least alive, "I don't do this for the loot." He replies to Schneider, "I do it because it's fun."

Schneider shrugs to Syx. "So, I'm doing this," he gestures all around him, "to get home, and I swear I'll never look at a computer ever again. But right now, as far as I can tell, this is the way out. It's a bit cool, sure. But if I could go home tomorrow, it'd be adios to all of you. Nothing personal."