---

Tif almost died, Tessa thought to herself. In the back of her mind, she blamed herself for letting her guard down and not getting her spells back up in time. But it seems Rael had got there just in time, while Graves was capturing the creature's attention. He called out to the party to concentrate damage on the limb, but for someone who specialized in area control, concentrating damage was not her strong point. She did have one spell available though. Since all her spells were hemispheres centered around herself, she had one spell that required quite a casting period that converted all her spherical spells into cone spells. The spheres would split behind her and open up, angle by angle, much like Pac-Man's death animation. At this point, she had got all her spells up, so Arnaakus was being hit by period lightning strikes, slowed by a gravitational field, and slapped by chains; while a protective shield surrounded her allies, reducing their damage taken. if she converted her spells to cones, the damage and intensity would increase substantially, while the shield would block more damage, but was she willing to leave their backs exposed? Sure this brute looked like the boss, and often, for dramatic reasons, boss battles did not involve a random party of monsters suddenly coming in from behind. But did the game still work on such mechanical logic? And didn't Tiferet almost die partially because Tessa hadn't been paranoid enough? Yet the group seemed to be struggling.

"Hold on, I'm going to concentrate my spells!" Tessa called out, and began channeling her concentration spell. The hemispheres reached quarter-spheres (halfway to completion), lightning struck Arnaakus with higher frequency, the gravitational pull became more intense, and the chains started attempting to bind various parts of the creature, when suddenly it shot out exploding ice shards at the party. Tessa winced as the shrapnel hit her, feeling actual pain, and losing part of the channel. Fortunately, Tessa specialized in being able to muscle through interrupts, so instead of canceling her spell completely, it only set her back (to about 25% completion). "Give me just a little bit more time!"

---

"S-spread out?! Tessa called out in surprise, "NO! It's now or never! Concentrate!" Tessa, had, unfortunately, over-committed. By narrowing her spells forward into a 45 degree cone, she was unable to move, and leaving their backs wide open. Still, all the crowd-control now being piled onto the green skeletal being was having a marked effect. Electrified chains slapped at, and wrapped themselves around the boss' limbs, while intense gravity attempted to drag it down. Damage to allies in front of Tessa was also being significantly reduced thanks to concentrating her shield spells as well. She'd never done this before, holding such a behemoth in place for so long, and her mana had drained at such an alarming rate that she had gone through several mana potions just to maintain her hold. "Someone better kill that thing already...!" She called out, knowing that despite concentrating her spells, her damage output was only chipping away at the creature.

As Arnaakus covered the floor in icy spikes and brought its massive hand slamming towards her, Tiferet, still slightly out of it from her previous attack of... whatever that was, had the distinct impression that this dungeon was a bit out of their league. Rael was also jetting towards her incredibly quickly, probably to move her out of the way of the massive icy fist heading her way, but Tif wasn't too bothered by either of those things; she trusted Rael to save her again. It was good timing, too; just before Rael reached Tiferet, <Hestia> was completed. The fiery glow around her companions' weapons faded, but simultaneously, a ring of seven small fireballs sprang into existence around Tiferet. They parted to allow Rael through, and stayed in a ring around their controller as if they were anchored to her.

Tif's feet skidded slightly as she was deposited behind the back line, but she found her footing easily enough. Not wanting to waste any time, she quickly shouted "Cheers, Rael!" and began casting another buff spell. This one wouldn't be as effective as Hestia, perhaps, but she had a feeling the party in general - and Graves especially - would thank her for this.

Rather than the upbeat sound of a swing band, or the smooth chords of a violin, a drumbeat that sounded more at home in a club than a battle against a massive ice demon issued forth from Tif's instrument. Her allies might notice a shield made of interlocking triangles briefly shimmering into place around them, then disappearing, as Tiferet's spell granted the entire party a small reduction in damage. As she played, Tiferet fired off <Irondust> as quickly as she could, a stream of small pellets spraying out of her fiddle's end pin and striking Arnaakus. They didn't contribute much damage, truth be told, but it was better than nothing.

Graves was nearly taken off his feet when Arnaakus shook the dungeon interior like a child shaking his present on Christmas morning. The sheer force of the demon's rampage was enough to make him stumble, his halber'd butt jammed hard in the stone to keep him from tumbling onto his back. "God damn it!" He howled, his expression twisting in an ugly, angry snarl as he stared up at the towering titan that threatened to end them all. Their backline was hitting the thing with everything they had, but it had barely made a difference. There had to be something they were missing here; some weakness they hadn't exposed.

He wasn't given the time to think it over, though, as Arnaakus had started his next attack. A gargantuan arm of frozen ice as tough as steel and taller than Graves was beginning to sweep across the chamber with frightening rapidity. Rael had grabbed Tiferet and dragged her away from the incoming hand, but Graves felt his stomach sink as he realized he wouldn't be able to avoid it: too slow to go around, too heavy to go over, and likely unable to survive what was coming his way.

'Don't think about it.' He told himself, his eyes shifting to those around him. There had to be something he could do. Flower boy was closest, and though he looked a deal more agile than Graves, the Blood Knight wasn't taking any chances. He sprinted over to Ochre, a hand wrapping about the scruff of his neck. "Climb!" It was the only word Graves was able to get out before the sweeping limb was nearly atop them. He reeled back, tossing Ochre with all of the strength he could muster, watching for that brief second before impact as flower boy managed to scramble over top the arm and fall off the other side, safe and sound.

Graves and Vulcan weren't so lucky.

There was a sickeningly loud crunch like the sound of a beetle being crushed under a man's heel. Graves felt his breath catch in his throat, his lungs compressing as several bones began to snap and break in a concert of violence and cruelty. Something hot and sticky dripped down his face, and there was this...enormous pressure all over his body. He couldn't explain the sensations in any sort of meaningful language; his mind was too clouded by shock to properly grasp that he was inches away from having his organs flattened in a mass of gore and blood.

Then the pressure was abruptly brought off of him, and he felt himself fall away from the wall. Crumbling stone landed atop his back as his face slammed against the floor. He struggled to take air into his lungs with short, desperate gasps, the agony in his body amplifying with each passing second. The shock was beginning to wear off now. He was becoming more aware of his surroundings; more aware of the fact that half of his limbs refused to budge. Graves forced his only working arm backward, fumbling around for his potion belt. His fingers brushed through a great deal of broken glass before he managed to find one that had managed to survive the impact.

Even as he lifted the healing potion to his lips, he was keenly aware that he wasn't the only one lying on the floor- but he was the only one that had started moving.

Despite his condition and the pounding ache in his head, Graves was more than able to hear the explosion that rippled out like thunder from Arnaakus's head. Someone- maybe Landon, or the Pyromancer- had landed a lucky blow directly through the demon's eye, and the resulting explosion had blown a giant chunk out of Arnaakus's skull, revealing the glowing mass of what could only be assumed to be its brain. Realizing its predicament, the beast let out an agonized roar, lifting up one arm to protect it's exposed organ while the other began to smash into the ground in the vague direction of its attackers in the hopes of squashing them like the obnoxious little gnats that they were. Each blow caused the room to quake, sprays of broken cobblestone and dirt flying in every direction to make the scene even more chaotic than it already was.