Civilization

The moment Casper finished his sentence, he opens his large mouth, revealing a sharp row of teeth. Orange flames flew out of his mouth, enveloping the golems in a fiery mess. However, Kronos's golems weren't going down without a fight. The 2 giant golems jump over their companions, forcing their palms out towards the breath attack. A blue circle appears in the air in front of their palms. Symbols and shapes start to form on the outer edges, as smaller circles appear in the middle. A singular 9 point star is drawn in the center, and it starts to rotate slowly as the circle shines brighter and brighter.

The moment Casper's attack touches the blue circle, a giant blue hemisphere appears around all the golems. The flames circle around the hemisphere, burning the ground black. The heat waves emitted from the attack blast into us, and I feel the hairs on my arms singe off.

"We need to move. We can't stay here." - Ian

"The crevice where we can escape to is on the other side of the fight." - Luke

"How much longer on your skill?" - Sylvia

"A minute left." - Ian

"That's not enough time." - Sylvia

"We can climb upwards, at least get as far away as we can. Everything there will kill us." - Luke

"Agreed, we just need to not be caught for an hour and I can use the skill again to get us through. Luke, how are you feeling? Can you run?" - Ian

"Yea… I'll be fine." - Luke

I nod at Luke and start to lead the way towards the mountainside. The battle going behind us erupts in a frenzy as Casper's breath attack fails to do any damage. The golem dragon takes to the skies as a magic circle appears in its open mouth. Several wolves dart out of the formation, running along the sides, approaching Casper's legs, while the angel-like figures create a magic circle on the ground. Lamias and nagas create magic circles in front of their hands as they point them towards Casper's large body.

Sensing the danger, Casper attempts to fly up, onto to be held to the ground by the breath attack from the golem dragon. Compared to the fiery hell that Casper created, the attack from the golem dragon was akin to a sound wave.

It blasts into Casper's head, forcing it close to the ground, where the golem wolves find the opportunity to scratch and bite at his face. Casper's wings start to flap loudly, picking up dust and dirt from the ground, but the magic circle from the angel-like beings finished forming.

A giant golden hand bell, with a bronze handle, appears above their heads. Seeing the bell, Casper starts to panic, he flaps his wings harder, and pushes against the ground with his large limbs, cracking the ground. The air vibrates when he roars, and he breaks free from the golem dragon's attack, flying upwards and grabbing the golem dragon by the neck with his right hand.

He opens his mouth and lets the red flames rush toward the golem dragon's head, melting it, before crushing the neck with his hand and letting the pile of rocks fall to the ground. He looks towards the bell and zooms towards it, but he was too late. The bell had rung.

The moment I heard that sound, my body collapsed to the ground. My heart beating erratically and my breathing becoming difficult. The world spins around me and similarly to me, Luke and Sylvia crash to the ground. Gasping for breath as it seemed like no air would come into my lung. I force myself to my back, catching a glimpse of Casper falling to the ground as well.

My vision fades and I feel light-headed, but in the next second, the bell rings again. Air rushes back into my lungs and my heartbeat stabilizes. I cough and grip my chest, looking at the other two, only to see them do the same. Saliva drools out of my mouth as I struggle to control my breathing. I grab onto the nearby rocks and pull myself around one. The skill had worn off, and we were merely at the base of the mountain, but with that attack affecting us so greatly, we couldn't move a single step.

"Are… You… Okay…?" - Ian

My cracked lips and dry throat tries their best to form words. Luke nods his head slowly as he slumps to the ground, lying face first and breathing on his side. Sylvia's deadpan eyes look at me as she tries to nod as well.

Noting that they were okay, I look towards the battle. Casper was on the ground getting surrounded by the giants, the wolves, the nagas, and the lamias. The giants were punching Casper's neck and body, while the wolves attack his face. The nagas and lamias were creating magic circle after magic circle in the air, as each one sent out an icicle the size of me.

However, no matter what attack hits Casper, his scales were too hard and not even a scratch could be seen. He uses his tail like a whip, swinging it around the right side of his body and slamming it into the golems. Some nagas and lamias that were unfortunately on that side were destroyed in a single hit and using the opportunity, he flaps his wings, lifting his body up once more.

Another breath attack comes out of Casper's mouth, eliminating the smaller golems before the giant golems could bring up the shield again. Ignoring them, he turns toward the bell. His body glows a light gray, while his eyes shine white. His body shimmers, disappearing on the spot and reappearing above the bell.

Once more, Casper breathes down fire on the bell, causing it to melt and disappear away.

"THIS CAN'T BE REAL!" - Deino

Deino's twisted expression shows his distress. He clenches his fists as he roars at the top of his lungs. Small rocks around him collect together, merging and fusing into one giant mass. A small flame is ignited, covering the massive rock in a layer of orange flames.

"DIE DRAGON!" - Deino

Deino launches the molten rock at the flying Casper. As he just finished destroying the bell, his flames were covering Deino's skill. Unaware, he scoffs at Deino's comment and starts to gather fire in his mouth once more.

Once the rock passes the flames and shows itself, Casper's eyes widen. The rock was flying at him too fast for him to dodge, instead, he releases his breath to attack the rock, blasting it with a flame hotter than the orange fire that covers the rock. His breath turns from red to blue as the flames get hotter and hotter.

I grab Luke and Sylvia and pull them up higher. I know the moment the rock shatters, the attack would not end and instead continue down to the ground. Seeing Casper's strength, I feel the attack will destroy more than just the ground.

Sensing the danger from the attack and the desperation in my eyes, Luke and Sylvia scramble up higher, grabbing every jutting rock and pulling themselves up higher. The temperature rises, despite us, climbing up higher.

I look back, and a wavy haze could see above the ground. Steam slowly climbed up higher into the atmosphere, and the rock that was flying towards Casper glowed red-hot as the top slowly melts and the bottom cracked.

I look ahead of me and saw that there was a small overhang. Signally to Luke and Sylvia to follow me, we head towards the overhang and to our luck, it was also a small cave. As we enter the cave, I hear a familiar sound. One I had gotten accustomed to recently, except this time it was louder than ever.

*CLANG*

I look over towards the fight, the rock melts and cracks, separating into small rocks that disintegrate in the heat. Casper's attack doesn't stop there, and instead slams the ground, melting it and burning the surrounding area. Heatwaves burst outwards, melting rocks and completely obliterating any fauna that happened to grow in this area.

I pull the two with me as far back as we can, pressing our backs against the cold rock behind us, but not long later, a wave of heat brushes past us. I leap forward, spreading my body out as much as I can to cover the entrance.

I take off my mask and toss it towards Luke as he looks at me with a confused face. I give him a smile as I nod to Sylvia. I know I would come back, but both of them do not, so there isn't much I can do other than smile and nod.

The heat rides up my back and I can feel my back gradually burning. The clothes on burning off and the hair on the back of my head burn in the heat. My HP depleted fast until, zero.

"I'll be back, take care of the mask for me, Luke." - Ian

The moment my HP goes to zero, the world around me becomes black, and a blue screen appears in front of me.

[ You have died. ]

I let out a small sigh. In my heart, I hope I was able to defend the attack long enough that the two would still be alive afterward. I close my eyes and once I open them again, I see the ceiling of my room.

I feel my bed only to notice that it was soaked with sweat dripping down my skin. My throat dry like a desert and my body was heavier than a building. My phone vibrates near me, but I ignore it. I feel tired. I feel so tired.