Feni was blown backward with force. The crystal mithril sword fell from her hands, clanking against the ground. She flew straight into Aang’s arms. He had to brace his feet to catch her without falling over.

  Rohan cried out, prompting the monster to immediately dash for him. It was a black-furred gnoll with long white hair and devilish teeth. Red ether wisps flowed within its black greatsword. The sword wasn’t purely ethereal—the disgusting black material seemed to be solid, strengthened from the inside by thousands of wisps of concentrated ether. The surface of the blade had cracks; it still leaked wisps, casting a misty aura.

  Chills ran down Vivi’s spine. The ominous feeling in the air finally became clear. The Elder Gnoll was seven feet tall, short compared to most bosses, yet its aura was nausea-inducing, as if the whole world was in its control.

  The black blade clashed with Rohan’s one-runed blade. Rohan’s footing slid backward, the veins inside his sword shining bright. “Aang!” he shouted.

  Aang laid Feni safely on the ground. The woman had fainted but seemed to be alive. She’d luckily raised her sword in time to block. Despite that, the Elder Gnoll’s attacks were strong enough to make a maxed out demon faint in one blow.

  The Elder Gnoll hit Rohan’s block a second time, preparing a heavy attack with both hands.

  Rohan countered, thrusting his sword at the Gnoll’s stomach.

  The Elder Gnoll jumped backward, hitting the ceiling with its back feet, before launching itself down at Rohan. It slashed wide as it flew down.

  Three demons stood side-by-side to deal with the attack. Aang and Rohan stood defensively to block, while Ven went into stance, ready to throw an attack, trusting the two others to block.

  The gnoll’s greatsword smashed into Aang’s sword. Vivi’s hair flared by the impact, dust particles flying off the ground. Aang held his ground. His body was coated in wisps, ascension skill enhancing him to the absolute maximum.

  With the Elder Gnoll’s weapon at a bind, Ven swiped from overhead. He had a free angle to cut down the boss.

  A shockwave erupted from the Elder Gnoll’s body.

  All of the Hollows were blown backwards by the force of the shockwave. The attack had appeared from nowhere; the gnoll just activated something, and a shockwave erupted from its body.

  “A skill!” Lucius said. “I’ve seen something like this before. It’s a pushback skill. When in a pinch, it allows the user to blow its opponents away.”

  That’s insane! Vivi thought. How could they beat something like that?

  All of the Hollows quickly stood, ready to attack the boss again. The Elder Gnoll took a moment to recover its strength.

  “That’s good,” Lydi said, watching beside Vivi. “We forced out its defensive skill early. It won’t be able to use that again.”

  A one-time use skill, then? Vivi thought.

  “We also repelled its ambush,” Lydi said. “It’s a fair fight now. Aang knows how to handle it.”

  The leader was doing exactly that. He readied his sword and faced the Elder Gnoll.

  The exchange of blades began. Aang and the gnoll flew from place to place, Aang on the offensive. The veins inside Aang’s green mithril sword shone bright, filled with insane amounts of ether. With each blow, the veins blinked, the ether inside working overtime to keep the sword in one piece.

  The gnoll’s weapon leaked red ether with thousands to spare. The wisps didn’t fall apart into mist. Rather, they floated in the air like pieces of sharp string. The loose wisps grazed Aang’s skin, drawing blood.

  Vivi watched, heart racing, as the two evenly matched warriors dueled it out. The gnoll’s weapon was insane, powerful enough to match a two-runed blade. But the gnoll was losing ether. The longer the fight went, the more Aang benefited from inside-carved swords. His weapon didn’t leak.

  Vivi, however, was terrified. She’d seen Grandpa stress-test their runeswords. When imbued with ether, inside carved weapons could withstand thousands upon thousands of pounds of force. But as with any weapon, there was a limit. Her swords could still fail.

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  The fight ahead was a true stress-test for her weapons. And Aang’s life was on the line.

  Ven joined Aang to the side. He didn’t have time to swing; he merely followed the battle wherever the battle went. With his presence, Ven forced the gnoll to be more cautious. If the gnoll tried to attack Aang too hard, Ven could throw a counter-attack.

  The Hollows had one huge disadvantage. They couldn’t kill the boss. They needed to immobilize it without killing it.

  Aang slashed wide, hitting the gnoll’s weapon head-on for the umpteenth time. A crack sounded from inside the black greatsword, and something began sizzling. The greatsword held, but wisps of ether began rapidly escaping from inside the weapon.

  It broke! Vivi called in her head. Aang did it!

  Beside her, Lydi wore a serious expression. She had her hands on the potion bag. Aang had a few in his pocket, but the demons wanted to shove as many as possible. Rohan readied himself.

  Where was Alisa? The assassin had disappeared.

  After a few more blows, Aang pushed the gnoll into the corner. Ven slashed at it with his katana, forcing the gnoll to block.

  Aang cut off the gnoll’s hand. The gnoll’s black greatsword fell on the ground.

  Rohan growled as he charged the gnoll. He tackled the beast, knocking it off of its footing. The gnoll was tackled against the wall, screaming, slashing wildly. Rohan’s armor withstood crack after crack.

  Aang grabbed the gnoll from the hair and its jaw. He forced the monster’s mouth open. “Ven, Lydi!” he called.

  Lydi threw the bag of potions to Ven, who immediately uncorked two. He poured the liquids into the boss’s mouth. With the two poured, he grabbed two more.

  The boss screamed. It struggled at first, but soon fell limp as the potion’s effects kicked in. The strings were cut.

  Then the ether started pouring in.

  Wisps flowed from the walls, sucked in from the environment, into the boss’s core. It felt as if a miniature surge was activated as the boss forcefully took in more ether. The screams started again, and the boss’s aura grew far more deafening.

  Rohan let go of his hold and ran, parts of his armor falling off, bloody claw-marks revealed beneath. All of the Hollows stood back and watched with their weapons lifted. Thousands of ether flowed into the boss.

  The gnoll opened its eyes. It picked up its greatsword and faced Aang.

  Then its aura exploded outward. Its white scraggly hair grew and glowed bright with ether, cloaking its back. The rest of its body grew devilish, red ether flowing within its veins. Thorns poked out from the black fur. Ether filled its teeth, and an aura of pure hatred surrounded its being.

  The greatsword regained its strength. The blade grew spikes. The blade was bright with hateful ether, yet it didn’t illuminate its surroundings.

  The enhanced Elder Gnoll dashed forward. In a flash, its sword hit Ven’s with explosive force.

  Ven flew back like Feni had earlier. His back hit the wall. Cracks formed on the stone. He coughed blood.

  Rohan’s eyes opened wide. He yelled out like mad, while ripping off the remaining pieces of his armor. He charged the Elder Gnoll with his blade. “Support me!” he shouted.

  “What’s he doing!” Lucius shouted. “Rohan ripped off his armor! And now he’s taking the main fighter’s place!”

  Vivi watched without blinking. Rohan has no armor, she thought. There’s nothing to hold him back.

  Rohan pushed forward with technique and anger. His one-runed mass sword clashed with the greatsword. The green mithril sword didn’t give him an advantage, but thanks to the mass rune, the sword didn’t break. Rohan was free to exchange blades and swing forcefully. Aang stayed as support, threatening the boss with his presence and looking for opportunities to counter.

  Vivi could barely follow the fight with her eyes. The gnoll’s ether count had grown to levels Lucius struggled to calculate. Its oppressive aura pushed pressure on Vivi’s skin. She was glued to her position with her sword up, defending Lydi and herself.

  The gnoll’s attacks appeared savage as it slashed its sword in all directions, swiping with its claws, yet each move it made was done with intent. It looked to destroy Rohan’s stance, hitting him in awkward angles.

  Simultaneously, the gnoll relocated to positions that were hard for Aang to follow. When Aang eventually reached a good position to the side of the gnoll, the boss relocated again, or pushed forth with such force that Aang and Rohan together couldn’t muster an attack.

  Miraculously, Rohan kept up the pace. His sword was always where it needed to be, and his lower body supported his stance. He defended against the gnoll expertly, but he struggled to create an opportunity for a counter-attack.

  Suddenly, Rohan growled. Vivi had never seen such an expression on his face. His eyes were almost entirely white with ether. “Get off of my friends!” he yelled.

  Rohan forced a reckless attack at the gnoll’s left shoulder. He abandoned his right side, leaving it solely for Aang to protect. The gnoll was forced into a decision. Attempt to trade its life with a counter-attack, or block Rohan’s attack.

  It chose to block, parrying Rohan’s attack.

  This left its defense wide open for Aang to counter-attack. Aang’s sword slashed at the gnoll faster than Vivi could see. The attack was certain to land. The gnoll couldn’t redirect its sword in time.

  Another shockwave shot forth from the gnoll’s core.

  Lydi gasped in surprise. “It recharged!”

  Rohan and Aang were both blown back. The enhanced gnoll, however, didn’t require time to recover. It dashed for Rohan’s immobile body immediately.

  Alisa’s dagger shot from the shadows, aimed at the gnoll’s head. It dodged by moving its head to the side. The dagger flew past, grazing the gnoll’s cheek. Immediately, the boss switched direction, dashing for Alisa.

  The rogue jumped back, hiding back in the shadows. Her aura disappeared, and the boss was left without a target.

  Its eyes moved to the next closest person. Vivi.