[center][h2]The Great Bole[/h2]
Lvl 9 Goldlewis (73/90), Sectonia, [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]Pit[/color], Lvl 7 [color=797979]Ganondorf[/color] 
[b]Word Count:[/b] 3870

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLtrM79xR2k [/youtube][/center]

Without hesitation, Goldlewis lifted his coffin and slammed it down. On contact with the ground, the high-tech casket emitted a radiant blue pulse that expanded to cover the whole team. It provided each Seeker with a hexagonal bubble shield that quickly faded to near-invisibility, but would negate a set amount of punishment before they started taking damage for real. Given their hardy constitutions he, Ganondorf, and Sectonia received only a 7.5% shield, good for maybe a single solid blow, but Pit would enjoy a buffer equal to 30% of his own vitality. And thanks to Hypereutectoid, everyone would be a whole twenty percent stronger, even if just for ten seconds. Given what they were up against, Goldlewis every little bit would count.

Rather than advance at once for a two-pronged attack, however, the Corruptor and its guardian split apart. While the former hung back beyond the edge of the makeshift arena, menacing but seemingly impassive, the latter pushed forward. The ancient automaton charged down the center lane toward the Seekers, giant blades at the ready. Goldlewis took the brief moment afforded to him to deploy a Thunderbird drone. Blinking orange as it whirred forward, it would help cover whoever sallied forth to confront the guardian head-on.

When he noticed that Primrose was no longer with him, it made Ganondorf realize how complex the web of xylem veins must have been. But he wasn’t alone either. He spotted the veteran Goldlewis, the angelic captain Pit, and fellow royal Queen Sectonia. Some kind of makeshift arena consisted of three narrow lanes and what could only be described as a seemingly bottomless pit below them. Watching their footing was going to be important, clearly. As the veteran deployed his drone, Ganondorf stepped forward, cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders.

[color=797979]”You don’t frighten me.”[/color] The warlord commented as he brandished his trident, summoning it to his hand with his dark magic. He indeed sallied forth alongside the drone, and after a moment used Bullet Jump to launch himself into a powerful sliding lunge against the approaching automaton, aiming to skewer the thing with his weapon.

Pit had expected another fight, so he'd entered the newest hollow prepared. From the way the Qliphoth's interior twisted and transformed with each level to the myriad of strange monstrous enemies they encountered, it really did feel like fighting through the Underworld all over again, if not more gross this time what with the weird plant-flesh and blood. It wasn't exactly a comforting comparison, but at the same time the steady ramping up in their adversaries' strength gave the ascent the feel of a boss rush, which made the whole thing a little exciting - and though disappointed to have been separated from Captain Falcon, the three he'd ended up with he all knew to be pretty powerful themselves. When Goldlewis' shield was bestowed on him and the Gerudo went for a head start, Pit gave the other Seekers a grin.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Looks like the fight is on! Let's go!"[/color]

Ganondorf’s trident pierced a narrow channel into the giant golem’s stone body, hairline cracks spreading out from the impact point, but it hardly penetrated. Immediately, the guardian’s lower arms closed in from either side as if to bash their fists together, with Ganondorf between them. The next moment its raised upper arms descended in a massive double overhead slash, its second move slower but much stronger than the first. At that point the Thunderbird finally caught up and exploded against the guardian’s leg without ceremony, doing minor damage. Goldlewis himself was charging up a stronger shield, but it would be another second or so before Ganondorf received a 25% barrier. If Ganondorf had anything going for him in this instance it was his monstrous strength. The Triforce glowed fiercely as he caught the lower arms attempting to close around him. And the upper arm attack was just slow enough for him to see it coming and proceed to Bullet Jump back a few steps to stay out of reach. But he didn’t look very happy.

Sectonia meanwhile decided that, to open this fight with so many of these being melee based, to cast Haste on her allies which also now buffed their damage for a short while. She’d stay more in the midline behind the physical brawlers, both to use them as shields, and to also catch one if they fell into the big pit below. Although considering how big these guys were, that might be an actual struggle and something she was not looking forward to. With that line of thinking though, she decided to summon a crystal platform near the corruptor to give her allies a bit more room to fight. Given that the guardian stood between the Seekers and the Corruptor at the far end of the lane, though, nobody could make use of said platform yet.

As the battle got underway, Pit had first turned to leap across the wide gap separating the lane they currently found themselves on, landing on the right hand stretch of ground. Even though his arrows could swoop right around his allies, fighting clustered together with the others would be a little rough. Like this he could more easily target both enemies, and get around to flank the guardian. With reliable bow in hand he began to fire, the streaks of blue light buzzing through the air and striking any glowy spot Pit could see. The automaton's head, the space where its arms would normally join to its body, the runes that were carved into it, and the sliver of red light that showed through the brambles on that big ugly thing. Surely one of them had to be a weak spot!

After a little testing, Pit’s efforts bore fruit. Unlike its rock-hard body, the guardian’s brightly glowing head seemed susceptible to physical damage.

Ganondorf brandished the trident, but didn’t actually attack with it. Instead he concentrated a moment and formed a blade of psychic energy from his offhand that he then launched forward at the giant golem. If a physical weapon like the trident wouldn’t break its defenses, then perhaps his Psycho Cut would.

The Psycho Cut struck the guardian unopposed, and while it left a mark, it was clear that this formidable foe had a hardy constitution. It plodded forward and swung its lower right arm, seemingly too far out of range to hit Ganondorf, only for the whole arm to detach and hurtle forward like an enormous boomerang. It flew fast enough to catch the Gerudo King off-guard and take a chunk out of his newly-applied shield, and a second after the first the guardian’s lower left arm whirled forth as well. Neither stopped at Ganondorf, though, but kept flying forward on a collision course with Goldlewis and Sectonia behind him. With a scoff, the veteran summoned Marduk to take a few explosive potshots at the guardian, then dodged right and then left in order to avoid the enormous buzzsaws. To his surprise, the detached arms ceased spinning and began to float nearby, independently hounding both him and Sectonia with repeated slashes.

“Got a situation back here!” he called, letting Ganondorf know he couldn’t be of any more immediate help against the guardian for a moment or two. He pivoted his attention to the floating arm and began to trade blows with it, first blocking its attack, then punishing it with a Behemoth Typhoon. The strategy seemed effective, but between the guardian and its arms three of the Seekers were so occupied that only Pit might notice as the Corruptor floated down to the far end of the center lane and began to gather power in its ‘eye’.

Clearly that shield was a timely effort, or the pair of whirling blades that were hurled right through Ganondorf would have been a lot more disastrous. At Goldlewis’ warning, Ganondorf nodded and muttered an inaudible response. Then he dismissed his trident and switched to his swords, brandishing both Litania and The Sword of the Six Sages. Time to see how this mechanical Guardian handled radiation - lots of radiation. The warlord went back on the approach toward the Guardian but did not charge or directly attack it. Instead he consecrated a section of the narrow lane in front of him and turned the following 8 meters worth of length into Hallowed Ground. He picked up 3 globs of energy restoration after having felled the Juggernauts in the previous room. That he could place Hallowed Ground up to two more times for stacked damage and radiation status chances - and Ganondorf did just that.

So far Pit had been focusing his efforts on the guardian. It was the more immediate problem, and the big floating monster had seemed both unphased by his arrows and unwilling to join in the fight. Maybe it wasn't alive, and instead was a transport ship of some kind since it had brought the automaton here? He didn't know, and figured it didn't matter at the moment. So while goading Ganondorf to [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"hit it in the brain pan!"[/color], Pit continued to shoot, steadily dealing damage.

When he did finally notice that the Corruptor was gathering energy, its core was already fairly bright. The surprise paused his attack, and he turned to look at the thing with wide eyes. Now he realized it definitely was joining the battle, just not up close - and in his opinion as a veteran adventurer, bad guy slayer, and hero, that light steadily growing in power could only mean one thing. It wasn't good.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"You guys gotta get off of the center platform [i]right now![/i]"[/color] Pit shouted. His voice took on the sharp commanding tone befitting his title as a captain, in contrast to the usual boyish one the Seekers were more familiar with. It spoke to the severity of Pit's warning.

To aid their escape the angel pulled his bowstring back hard, charging the light arrow to maximum strength. He fired it with Wild Shot, and though one of the now three arrows veered off toward the guardian directly, the other two smashed against the floating arms with enough strength to push them. Or at the very least send them off course, hopefully to give Goldlewis and Sectonia an opening to move.

At Pit’s uncharacteristically imperative yell, Goldlewis performed two quick backdashes to get well out of range of the golem arm’s swipes, then looked in the guardian's direction with furrowed brow. Despite the many differences between them, the old veteran and the young captain were equals on the battlefield. Goldlewis wasn’t about to ignore the warning, but he wanted to gauge the threat for himself as well. When the guardian didn’t betray any immediate causes for concern, Goldlewis adjusted his focus to look past the obstruction and spotted the Corruptor behind it. The worrisome light within its eye and the strange noise, both building by the second, were all proof he needed. “Hup!” Goldlewis ran a few steps, leaped out over the open air, then airdashed to land safely on the left-hand lane. Of course, the guardian’s arm followed him over, while the main body walked straight through the radiation zone toward Ganondorf, its upper section spinning in a continuous greatsword lariat.

Sectonia had an easier time getting out of the way thanks to Pit’s callout. A simple teleport out of the way to another lane was all it took, and what's better is that said teleport gave her allies a damage boost! She had been chipping away at the guardian with her own light beams, swords, and rings of Light but that didn’t seem to be doing much? Well, maybe it was more hurt than it let on, as Sectonia had been keeping it in her damaging auras.

So even constant radiation damage wasn’t slowing this damnable machine down? Ganondorf gritted his teeth and seethed as he backstepped to avoid the spinning lariat attack, now even more furious since he had ceded ground to the enemy. But the warning from Pit told him that he needed to get off that platform and to do it now. So much to his own chagrin, the Warlord made a powerful jump to the side, and used Bullet Jump to jump again in midair to ensure he would safely reach the other lane where Goldlewis had leaped to.

He left not a moment too soon, as the next second an immense laser of malevolent red energy blanketed the entire center lane, extended well over the edges. It lasted only a second, but in that moment it became crystal clear just who the real threat was here, and how much of a threat it posed. Unfortunately for the team, the Corruptor hadn’t caused any collateral damage. When that baleful light subsided, the guardian in its path seemed untouched. After a moment the golem turned toward the ranged fighters on its left, its intention to jump after them clear.

“Aw, hell.” Goldlewis and Ganondorf were about to be two lanes away from the guardian, separated not just by both bottomless pits, but the ever-watchful Corruptor and the arms the golem left behind. Still, the veteran’s enemies were wrong to think they had him handled–or that he was helpless at long range. As one of the arms floated toward him with a heavy slash, he used Faultless Defense to block the stone blade and push it back, then swung his coffin in an overhead Behemoth Typhoon. “Crumble!” His massive flail smashed the rogue limb to the ground, where it lay seemingly inert. “Hah!” Goldlewis quickly popped open his coffin to receive a Mothman railcannon. He lifted the huge weapon onto his shoulder and took careful aim as the guardian threw itself across the gap to the rightmost lane. “Let’s see whatcha got, partner!” His target landed near Pit and Sectonia, then went on the offensive, its arms dangerously fast for how much range and power they commanded. Goldlewis thought it only fitting to let loose as well, and open fire with magnetically accelerated slugs from afar.

Were he to peek over at the Corruptor, though, he would see it slowly floating over to follow action.

Ganondorf scowled in frustration, but didn’t let himself fly into a rage just yet. He may have been two lanes over but that didn’t mean the warlord had no way of rectifying this mistake. He summoned the steed of Phantom Ganon and mounted the pitch black horse. He paused momentarily to give Goldlewis a chance to jump on himself before he spurred the horse into galloping them across the lanes toward where the Guardian was engaged with their ranged allies. Goldlewis did not make any assumptions about Ganondorf’s intentions, however, and with Ganondorf gone the second guardian arm went after him.

Now that he knew sudden laser beams were going to be a thing, Pit's own attention flickered between the Corruptor and its guardian. He wanted to go after the former and get rid of the deadly interruptions, but with the latter in the way that would be difficult. The reason the arena was set up like it was and the distance between their duo of opponents fit together for Pit just then, and he narrowed his eyes slightly in thought. It would be difficult, but not impossible - he just needed to make an opening first.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Try me!"[/color] he dared as the guardian approached. He fired dash shots at the thing's glowing head as he moved, doing his best to duck or dodge the guardian as it lashed out. He sneaked a few arrows around it that headed for the Corruptor instead when it turned to try and strike Sectonia, but these small opportunities never lasted long at all. And though a smaller target than his allies, and a nimble one too, he couldn't get around everything. The shield Goldlewis had given him was chipped away at with even glancing blows, and was completely depleted when a quick, wide swipe made direct contact while he attempted to cross back over to the center lane. It struck his bracers as he blocked at the last moment, and though the damage was absorbed, the hit shoved Pit back and prevented him from changing areas.

He let out a huff. Clearly he was getting nowhere with his current strategy, so it was time for a new one. He summoned his own golem in the form of [url=https://i.imgur.com/r72nzLa.png]his striker[/url], which moved in to grapple with the guardian and provoke its attention onto itself alone.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Go for it rock guy!"[/color] Pit said, as for the next however long the striker lasted (he hadn't actually tested it before) it would be showing them who the better stone automaton was. Now free to move about, he left Eaton to deal with the guardian and jumped over a lane so he could focus as many light arrows as possible at the Corruptor.

Sectonia started to understand what was going on, the Guardian seemed to be something that you distracted, to deal with the thing behind it instead. Well, to aid with Pit’s distraction, she summoned a golden antler to assist his golem before swapping over to his lane and blasting the Corruptor with her light beam breath she had been charging through this and the previous fight. Though stronger than Pit’s arrows, even Ethereal Gleam did not punch through the Corruptor’s hard shell, so its effectiveness was greatly reduced.

Right around now was when Ganondorf came riding into the fray across the air on his summoned horse. He hefted the trident and gave a mighty throw at the Guardian. But this time Ganondorf made sure that strike was followed up by a blast of lighting from above to strike down on the Guardian, using the trident itself as a sort of lightning rod to ensure the accuracy of the blast in question.

Both Pit and Goldlewis managed to rack up a few headshots, with the veteran missing more but getting more bang for his buck, but at about the same time the guardian’s focus proved too much for Pit, its arm caught up with Goldlewis and demanded his attention. The angel’s striker and Sectonia’s golden antler were enough to hold the huge construct off temporarily, but it was Ganondorf who brought the thunder, and his magic was perfectly placed. On top of all the damage it had taken already, a lightning bolt to the head seemed to shut the guardian down, and as it buckled its detached arms lost power as well. Goldlewis turned his attention back toward the brawl just as the Corruptor began to float upward. It quickly accelerated in the direction of the guardian, and once it came to a stop overhead, its underside opened. A dozen or so [url=https://i.imgur.com/9Wnz1Pi.png]small fliers[/url] flew out to try and keep the Seekers busy with shots from their red eyes, strikes from their arms, or grabs followed by a drop over the arena’s edge. All the while red light streamed down from inside the Corruptor as it restored the guardian’s power. 

For his part, Goldlewis took action the moment he saw the Corruptor heading toward the Guardian. He activated Mothman and used it to jet across the lanes after Ganondorf. Upon landing he released another shield pulse, then traded the railcannon for a minigun and opened fire on the Corruptor’s underside. “Skyfish!” He paid no mind to the fliers as they shot and bashed him, knowing that they’d have about as much success trying to pick him up as they would trying to drop Sectonia. This fight wasn’t about distracting the guardian to deal with the Corruptor, but avoiding the Corruptor until the damage to the guardian forced its hand, and now was the team’s chance to cash out.

At the first opportunity Pit joined in with the attack, unleashing arrows of fire, electricity, and light both literal and elemental that swooped over and into the Corruptor's glowing opening. Though unlike the rest of the group of large, heavy Seekers, the angel's small size made getting snatched and dropped over the abyss more of a concern - especially one lane over from the rest of them. He had to swap between assaulting the Corruptor to swatting away the fliers that approached, though at least a flick of the wrist was all it took to transition from firing the bow to using it as a blade.

Meanwhile, Ganondorf had called his trident back to his hand. He spurred his Phantom Horse on and it galloped toward the Corruptor. The Guardian may have been a frustrating opponent, but it was easy to tell who the real target of this challenge was going to be. Ganondorf rode right through the fliers coming at him, even throwing his trident in a circular manner as he passed through to dispatch them and keep them off of him and his mount. Then once he was close enough he called the Trident back to his hand and leaped right off the horse to launch himself into a downward plunge right on top where the Corruptor was currently floating. Ganondorf charged the trident with lightning as well for good measure.

Sectonia, being the resident flier, dealt with all the other fliers that were being released as her priority. With her last attack doing very little damage as well, she figured she’d have to use her defense piercing attacks on the Guardian and Corruptor instead, but first she’d have to clear the field for the others. Good news is that was something she could do. Any of these fliers that went near her weren’t going to be around her for long with her death pulses, zaps from her coil, and her own lightning clearing out any that got close while her rings of Light zooming every which way with vague homing making the airspace full of dangers for these fliers meaning they had to focus on her and dodging or they would be sliced in half. And the rain of projectiles doing random stuff could also hit the big bosses as well from time to time, but they weren’t the main focus.

With blood pumping and hearts racing as the Seekers rushed to capitalize on the Corruptor’s moment of vulnerability, it barely felt like any time at all before the guardian began to rise once more, and its resurrector closed up to flee to safety. Its armored shell had shrugged off Ganondorf’s lightning from above, as well as Sectonia’s random projectiles, but Pit and Goldlewis had done some serious damage to its underside. As the guardian remotely recalled its missing limbs to arm itself for another round of battle, Goldlewis found himself feeling confident. The Corruptor’s laser had been a nasty surprise, and the golem itself was certainly formidable, but his team had managed, and Sectonia dealt with the reinforcements quite well. Unless his foes had more tricks up their sleeves, the Seekers were sitting pretty. Of course, given his luck so far, Goldlewis could only assume that the Corruptor had plenty more surprises in store.