The battle suddenly changed when an enormous beast appeared out of the Frigoria Plains.


    It was so massive it was to wonder if there was more than this one out there.


    As the Shield of Triazils, Eric''s army returned to its duty to defend against the now small amount of normal corrupted beasts, the sudden alliance of Eric and Orion against the bull took place.


    "Amelia, unlock everything. I won''t go easy on this thing."


    "Fine, but try to avoid destroying the wall."


    Orion felt the power of the Third Gear and the Arm Overdrive flow freely inside him. He closed his eyes for a second, the wind blowing his hair left and right.


    "I''m ready. Time to kill this thing."


    The moment he opened his eyes, Taygeta appeared in his other hand.


    "Wait, Orion! Look!"


    Karteira pointed at the knee that they attacked a minute ago.


    "It''s regenerating... Which means that what we have here is a Corrupted Lord."


    "A Corrupted Lord?"


    Eric asked, ignorant of this type of corrupted beast.


    "We don''t have much time, so I''ll explain rapidly. A Corrupted Lord is a stronger beasts that can use magic. It possesses dark cores on and in its body that we need to destroy, or else it will remain alive and regenerate forever. All cores need to be destroyed around the same time too."


    Eric, Caroline, and May all understood.


    "Then first, we have to find the cores if we want to win. Caroline, bring it down. May, support us from afar. If you see any signs of magic being used, retaliate immediately."


    "I''m on it."


    Caroline nodded, readying her fists.


    "I will do that, Lord Eric."


    May walked away, followed by Amelia.


    "Why are you following me?"


    She looked a little tense to be around someone she didn''t know.


    "I will act as support this time around. I''ve already had my moment with a giant corrupted, I will let this one to other."


    Amelia flipped her hand up, sending Vesta in the air. It vanished, and Amelia returned to normal. Instead, she made Ceres appear to replace Vesta.


    With Ceres and Leima in hands, she was ready to support them.


    "How many elements can you use?!"


    Seeing that Amelia could use three elements, May fell in shock but couldn''t help to ask.


    "All five of them. It is too bad I only have two hands though."


    Immediately after that, Amelia prepared herself.


    "It''s not the time to be stunned. Get ready, or you will die."


    With a single glare, Amelia brought back May''s serious side.


    ''She''s right, I can''t fail in my duties now. We need to stop this giant!''


    Powerful, unfiltered fire magic covered her body, as if she became fire itself.


    "We''re good to go!"


    Said Amelia, letting Orion know that the back row was ready.


    During that whole moment, one of the hind leg of the bull and rhinoceros hybrid got over the wall and shook the ground when it landed.


    Now, it''s full size was on display.


    "That''s massive. Do you think we can manage to bring it down?"


    Caroline asked Karteira. She stared at the peculiar attributes that made Karteira a fairy, her scorpion tail, and her plated armor.


    "That is for us to see. Even if we can''t, we will have to find a way, isn''t it."


    Karteira''s plate changed from the Armor type to the Storm type. She decided to use her speed to find the cores. She looked toward Orion.


    "I''m going to look for the cores, until I found them all, try to make it stay in place."


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "Don''t forget about your surroundings. We''re not repeating the last battle."


    Nodding, she warmed up before running toward Amelia. When she walked past, Amelia pointed Leima at her, and once empowered, she used her steam to lift her body from the ground with her steam.


    Like a hawk, she began to look all around the beast.


    "I''ll look under it. I''ll also need to be useful!"


    Caroline followed Karteira''s idea, and ran under the giant to find the dark cores.


    "Be careful!"


    Eric couldn''t help but be worried, though he placed his whole trust in her. She made a thumbs up, and began to search under the twenty meters long beast while avoiding getting stomped on.


    "Our job is to stop it in its track. Are you ready?"


    "I am. This will be my second time against a giant."


    "First was Monolavir, right?"


    "How did yo- No, I''ll ask for the details later. Let''s focus on the task at hand."


    Orion readied himself. First, he shot a slowing arrow at the beast''s leg, which seemed to work as it looked way slower than it already was.


    "Let''s go. Show me the power of the Lord of Turric."


    Eric gripped his weapons strongly, and rushed alongside Orion.


    ''First, making it fall to the ground. We''ll break one of its leg to immobilize it.''


    Faster than Eric with his Third Gear, Orion arrived first and gave a kick with all of his strength behind it.


    *CRACK*


    ''That easy, huh?''


    With just one hit, the bone shattered in half, and the bull fell to the ground.


    But that also seemed to make the beast realize that he couldn''t ignore the little flies around it. As if it was a natural for the beast using earth magic, it began to create protections around its legs. But compared to the centipede that Orion fought alone in the underground area right under Tiohr-nam, it was quite different.


    It wasn''t simple refined dirt, or anything close to rocks. It was a stronger element. Still, it was weaken than Julian''s shield ability. Yet, it was a rock capable of withstanding Orion''s strongest kicks.


    "My turn!"


    Eric ran past Orion with his axe in hand. He pointed Balmung at the rock formation, changing the type of effect he wanted from the bullet.


    Once shot, the bullet hit the aimed spot, freezing a good chunk of it. Eric swung his axe with all his strength, making a big exploding noise.


    He got pushed by the recoil, while managing to break the frozen portion of rock.


    "We can still do it!"


    "I have a better idea."


    Orion stopped Eric from sliding further away, and turned to Amelia and May, as the beast hybrid healed its broken leg and was about to stand back up.


    "You! The fire girl!"


    "Y-Yes!"


    May stuttered, but listened to his order.


    "Heat up the rocks! A big fireball should be enough, like you did earlier!"


    Nodding, she immediately went to work on it. After a few seconds, she fired a fireball of medium size toward the rocks.


    "Fire your icy bullets where the fire landed!"


    Eric followed his words. He aimed, and fired. Once the bullet made contact, Orion ran toward the leg that was completely healed, and kicked it again.


    *CRACK*


    His kick managed to break the rock and the leg at the same time, rendering the giant unable to stand again.


    ''Mixing fire and ice can brittle anything, even the toughest of steel, or so that was what was written in those books. I''m glad it worked.''


    "Repeat that until the cores are found! Karteira, how it-"


    But Orion couldn''t finish his sentence. The giant bull, with its wide side horns, scraped the ground in Orion and Eric''s direction.


    "Dodge!"


    Eric felt the ground shake, making it hard for him to run away.


    ''Tch! No choice!''


    Making an instant decision, Orion warped behind Eric and kicked his back, making him fly through another portal that dropped him in front of Amelia and May.


    "T-Thank you."


    "I won''t do it again."


    This was still an Apostle he had next to him. If he was unable to defend himself, then why as he holding that status.


    ''Something''s strange about him.''


    This was his honest thoughts.


    ''How can a man that managed to fight Monolavir and survive, look this out of it? Is it still tired? Or did he lost his touch?''


    ''It''s been twenty years, I get it, but Florian too fought this battle.''


    Karteira dropped to the ground with a slide, stopping a few meters away from Orion in a cloud of steam. Caroline also returned.


    "There''s no cores on its back. There is one behind the frontal horn though. That''s all I''ve managed to see from above."


    "I''ve found what looked like a dark rock between the interior of the right hind leg, and the stomach. There is also a purple like color on his torso, so I thought it would be interesting to bring it up."


    Caroline managed to find more than Karteira, making a total of three cores.


    "Three cores? For such a massive creature?"


    Amelia couldn''t believe it.


    "Depends on their size. What about that Karteira?"


    "It''s boulder size near the horn."


    "It was the same under."


    ''Then we''ve got an idea of where to strike. If it doesn''t die when the cores are busted, then there will be more hidden.''


    Just then, Orion looked at the bull stand up again.


    "Shit! We''ve wasted time talking! Let''s make it fall again!"


    Taking by surprise, May and Eric twitched, before immediately going for the rocks so that Orion could break its leg.


    But this time, it wouldn''t happen the same, as the beast wasn''t stupid enough to let them try again. Launching a terrifying glare, it created multiple boulders that were hurled at them.


    "No you won''t!"


    Amelia, with the help of Ceres, created multiple metal walls in front of them to defend. The power of one boulder was enough to create a huge dent and even bend the metal.


    "I''ll defend, you guys bring it down!"


    Eric and May ran on the side of the walls to put one attack on the leg, before retreating, while Orion continued past the attacks to kick the brittled protection.


    *CRACK*


    Once again, the beast remained on the same spot. Now, its attention turned fully to the pests stopping its progression.


    "I''ll deal with the cores behind the front horn. You deal with the one you''ve found."


    Karteira gave an order to Caroline without caring about her status, which she didn''t mind in this situation.


    "Sure! Tell me when you attack. We need to coordinate our strike isn''t it?"


    "Orion will give you the go, listen for his voice."


    With a burst of steam, Karteira flew in the air. The beast noticed her and tried to hit her with boulders, but she managed to dodge them with ease.


    ''I don''t have much steam left. There will be only one attack, and only one, unless I ask Amelia for help.''


    Caroline got in position, Karteira was ready to strike, and Orion stopped under the purple spot on the chest area.


    ''One, two, three...''


    "NOW!"


    Karteira punched the dark core with the last of her steam used as propellant, Caroline used her own ability mixed with her incredible physical strength to send a shockwave at the core on its hind leg, and Orion fired a rotating arrow with Alcyone.


    Orion warped away to avoid the purple liquid from covering him.


    The boulder throws stopped, and the beast crashed to the ground.


    "Did we make it?"


    Everyone turned to look at Caroline, who said this, a single thought on their mind.


    ''Don''t say that!''


    And as if to confirm everyone''s thought, the giant opened its eyes again, and stood up strong once again.


    "There was another core..."


    This was the first time they did not manage to kill a Corrupted Lord in a single coordinated attack.