Astaroth, Athena, Gulnur, I'die, and Phoenix all looked toward the ceiling at the same time. The reason they stopped fighting and looked up was plain.
Five minutes after the timer had reached zero for the penalty, the ceiling of the cave they were in started opening up. A giant hole was forming in the ceiling.
He could see sunlight peering into the dark cave, from above. Astaroth then understood what the penalties applied were going to be.
The cave they were in currently, and all the other caverns they had passed through, were now opening to the upper level. The penalties were the monster hordes.
Normally, for parties of pro players, these hordes were not much of a menace. But the current situation brought another element to it.
Since they were in a tournament, everyone considered the others as enemies. The party that had formed here was an anomaly, more than anything else.
No player on the upper level would team up to survive under these circumstances, as they were more likely to try to take advantage of the beasts to get more kills.
Astaroth and his party were under different circumstances since they had all dived here willingly. They also knew that none of them would survive if they didn't cooperate.
That was the basis of their party, and the reason they had all played fair and square. In any other situation, the party would not have formed, and they would have fought.
But with the ceiling opening, came another problem. The Manticore's focus was wavering from them to the hole in the ceiling.
Like its instincts were telling it to fly out. And Astaroth figured it wouldn't be long before it acted on those instincts.
"We need to keep it down here! Otherwise, our efforts will be wasted!" He yelled out.
They all snapped out of their initial shock at the shouting. Athena and Phoenix were the first ones to understand what he meant.
Both women started shooting arrows and spells at the Manticore's wings, trying to damage them, and make them flight unworthy.
If the monster took flight, they would have wasted all their resources for naught.
The Manticore finally opted out and started flapping its wings. The wind gusts from the wings blew away Athena's arrows and extinguished the fire Phoenix had just lit on the leathery part of the wings.
The Manticore roared at the skies, as it started gaining height. But the group wouldn't let it escape that easily.
I'die started chanting in a low voice, his hands slapped against the ground. As he finished, a low pulse of magic reverberated in the ground.
It was like a water drop that had fallen on the surface of a lake. Slow ripples started moving outwards, I'die at their center.
pαпdα-ňᴏνêι·сóМ They travelled through the floor, and up the walls, reaching the hole in the ceiling within seconds. The mouth of the hole then began shaking slightly, as the rocks reformed into a full wall.
But the process was slow, and it would not be completed in time, judging by the speed the Manticore was now flying toward the ceiling.
Gulnur was the next one to make a move.
"Everyone! Cover your ears!"
As soon as the dwarf shouted this, all the other players swiftly put their hands over their ears. As soon as they did, a loud sound boomed.
It was like a thunderclap had happened right before them. Or if someone had detonated a flashbang grenade.
"Sonic Wave." Gulnur said, as he violently smacked his hammer on his tower shield.
When the two items collided, the air visibly warped from the point of impact and outward, rippling in the air, as sound carried through the whole cave and deafened anything that wasn't protecting their ears.
Even though his allies had covered their ears, the resounding clap still had their heads spinning slightly and their ears ringing.
The Manticore, which had not protected its ears, was affected. And with its acute sense of hearing, it affected it even more.
The sound wave hit it, and it froze. Its wings stopped beating for three seconds, stopping its upward momentum and sending it hurtling toward the ground again.
The stun wore out as it was still some distance away from the floor, so it caught itself from smashing into the ground. But it had lost most of its height and all of its momentum.
This was enough for Astaroth to run up the ramp, in his half-dizzied state, and jump onto the Manticore's back. As soon as he landed there, he got to work.
He ran towards the nearest wing base and started hacking away at it with his war axe. It would not snap that easily, and he had not yet recuperated his new skill either.
All he could do was damage it as much as possible before the beast eventually shrugged him off. The Manticore ignored him at first, focusing on climbing back up to the closing hole.
But as the hits kept happening, eventually the pain became unbearable, and it got rid of its unwanted passenger.
The Manticore flapped its right wing strongly, before closing both of them close to its abdomen. This had for effect, the Manticore spun in the air, sending the unprepared Astaroth plummeting.
As he fell, he saw the base of the left wing he had been hacking at, was badly wounded, and the bone was exposed and riddled with micro-fractures. He acted on it.
"Shoot the base of the left wing!" He yelled, pulling out his own bow.
He focused deeply, shutting out his fear of falling, and breathing deeply. The surrounding time seemed to slow, as his brain started working much faster.
He pulled his bowstring to the maximum, with an arrow at the ready, and waited for his body to align where it needed to be on its own. After twisting for three seconds, which seemed like an eternity for him, he loosed the arrow.
It flew off from the bowstring, in his still slowed state of mind, as he kept spinning in the air, his body now facing the ground.
'Let's hope that was good enough.' He thought, as he closed his eyes.
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