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  Asahi stares at the monster before him, this creature is solely responsible from turning what should have been the easy suppression of a demonicursion into a phyrric victory at best, his allies slowly fan out to cover a rger area. The monster ighem for now, and reaches int, Larielle thinks of shooting her, but with that helmet she doubts she could deal signifit damage. Nalia is magically appraising the enviro, looking for any traps oeammates, she doesn't find any, whily worries her more. Xyrashi has already disappeared from view, no doubt looking for her moment to strike. Tolbert takes point, if he 't take a hit from that monster, no one . The team moves as one, prepared for anything the mermaid might throw at them.

  Right up until she grabs a blood cem from her bag, and holds it close to her helmet.

  "Get to the captain, inform Cathy, and take the barrel beled special provisions. My gift to you, make sure to eat it all." The monster uhe gem in the dire of the camp using her blood magic, the stream of blood leaves a fre-like effect.

  Xyrashi unches out of the foliage, aiming to strike at the monster as she's distracted, Esstrey strikes at the rogue, easily identifying where she was. Larielle uses the opening to pin a few arrows in the spine of the mermaid, while Tolbert charges, unstoppable force meeting moveable object. Esstrey back off from the charging dwarf, wanting nothing to do with that bundle of metal. She rips moisture from the nearby trees, and slips the dwarf on it. Before she capitalize oal boulder rolling over, Asahi es from behind him and swings wide, Esstrey barely dodges the swing, only to get hit by a bolt of lightning fired from Nalia, the lightning courses through her nerves as the veins refuse its entry. The arrows embedded in her spionate as they react to the lightning, some kind of alchemical co having been hidden in them. Xyrashi strikes from the shadows again, seeing an opening as the monsters lets out a scream of pain while beirocuted, the heft of a crossbow meets her as Esstrey pushes her blood to move her body instead, crushing a few ribs on the wolfgirl. She gets unched back to her team limp, and a smile grows orey's lips, she win this, she outst.

  Then a bright light envelops Xyrashi, a master's usage of light and life magic. A tall woman wearing a nun's habit is unveiled from invisibility at that moment, having been cautiously hiding from bat until she was needed. Xyrashi gets back up in a gasp, as her ribs re-locate to make room for the reversion of the crushing of the lungs. Xyrashi doesn't look well, but she's moving again.

  "Thanks Fadunia, I owe you a quality trophy after this." A healer, and a good ooo, has revealed herself as an a the hole. Esstrey swallows nervously, perhaps she won't be outsting, not today.

  The offensives tiolbert blocks Esstrey, while Asahi covers him. Everytime Esstrey tries to terattack she gets hit with magic, every opening is reward with alchemically enhanced arrows, while every time Esstrey punishes her attackers they are healed by Fadunia. Everey's tough body 't stand uhe onsught of elements and attacks, at this point the only thing keeping her in one piece is pure magic. She gets colder as death is near, she won't survive the offensive.

  "You will disappear!" Asahi moves orey, clearly knowing her immi demise as well.

  "BUT I WILL NEVER FALL!" Esstrey charges, determio burn bright. Tolbert moves to block, and is rewards by a head on collision with Esstrey's crossbow. Nothing that deals perma damage, but certainly enough to cause a cussion. Asahi sshes at Esstrey, and his ssh strikes true. It bisects Esstrey, but rather than back off from the damage she ighe attack, keeping her midriff attached to herself the magical way. A shovel finds its way to Asahi's hands while he's still rec from his attack, and chops his hands off. Nothihal with Fadunia nearby or their massive stock of potions, but enough to make him back off instead. Esstrey fires her crossbow betweerees, ly pinning Larielle to a tree as the bolt goes through her shoulder. Before Esstrey move on the bae, she gets carved into her tail by Xyrashi, who holds on to her rear tight, ting on the fact that the massive mermaid should have trouble reag so low. Or at least, she wouldn't be able to if she wasn't currently a bisected blood mage, turning her upper body oy degrees Xyrashi gets a whole sed tret the life choices that brought her there. Esstrey headbutts the girl with the full force of her helmet, the wolfgirls face has been turned unreizable as an imprint of the Alty s where her face used to be.

  "I'M SO CLOSE TO THE EDGE!" Tolbert recovered from his cussion, and a feeling of horror overes the stoic dwarf for a moment. He resists the urge to flee, and stands between the ohing that would recover them. Esstrey sms into him with the crossbow, and his shield buckles. She sms again, and the shield falls. Just as she aims to crush his helmet , Asahi stands in front of her fully recovered again, and she sees that the mage somehht everyone over to the nun quickly for healing. A ref frontline, arey is running on fumes.

  "Katerina! I offer you an accord! Work with me, fight with me, share this blood with me. I offer you symbiosis, be a parasite no more, and together we will reach greatness as rades!" Katerina responds, joining the fight and lifting a literal burden off Esstrey's ba the form of supp the annihited remnants of her spine more actively.

  [A facade breaks under pressure! [High-ranking Mermaid] Esstrey is revealed to be [Esstrey, Extradimensional Horror]!]

  [Weak childre night, and strong men shudder on their walls! [The Nightmare] has arrived on [Brynya] t fear to all!]

  Name:Esstrey, Extradimensional HorrorRace:Mazurian Royal Mermaid ParagonTerrifying PresenceBallistic PerfeExtradimensional SymbioteExpert Aqua MageExpert Blood Mage A small boost of strength from [The tral Governor], and a cartload of future problems to go with it. The party recoils in fear for a sed, before light ing from Fadunia and Nalia dispels the unnatural fear. It bought a mere sed, but that sed was worth its weight in gold, as the real threat takes a bat position now. Katerina's profane legs emerge from Esstrey's back, and sshes in front of her. The air shimmers and fragments, while attacks unched seem to utterly disie, pieana and arrows beio extradimensional space. Asahi tries to move around the broken air, but Katerina sshes again, blog him off. In a small gap betweeroyed spaalia mao cast a spell, and hits Esstrey's crossbow with it. The crossbow suddenly bees many times heavier, arey is forced to drop it. The moment of fusion is enough for Tolbert to force Esstrey away from her boxed position of destroyed spaalia casts the spell again while aiming for the helmet, seeking to break the monster's neck. Esstrey mao take off the helmet just in time, and her face is properly revealed to the party.

  Beh the helmet is radimensional horror, merely a tired woman doing her best to live with her ideals. There might have beey beh that helmet onow is merely the face of someohhly beaten aed. Asahi points his sword at Esstrey, wordlessly demanding a surrender.

  "I didn't hear no bell." Esstrey spits out one of her teeth into the ground, not hard sidering she's falling apart as is. Tolbert and Nalia were both the wariest and most ready to attack at the refusal, Nalia unches another heavy metal spell, while Tolbert charges to cim his trophy. Esstrey charges to meet Tolbert, and as the spell collides with her shovel she strikes it downward on the dwarf, the shovel goes through the metal, but Esstrey's aim is sloppy this far into the fight. Instead of cleaving into his skull, she only mao remove the right side of the dwarf's body. The dwarf screams as Esstrey looks around drunkenly, all of her equipment is gone, her clothes are pletely shredded, and most of her is spttered about the pce, yet she doesn't fall.

  Suddenly, Tolbert's half-body gets spped aside by a thick whip of metal, Fadunia is already on the dwarf, who looks too out of it to scream anymore. A massive slime made of adamantine emerges from arourey, who is no listering anything happening, she currently only think of fighting the enemies in front of her. The [Adamantine Slime] pushes Asahi back, and before Nalia get a spell to support him, she gets terspelled by a thiing from a portal. A being of tar eyes and mouths in the crude shape of a maid.

  "Retreat! We are too te!" Asahi might not have been able to predict this oute, but it doesn't take an oracle to know the tides have turned against them.

  Cathy allows the Hero's party to retreat as she rushes to Esstrey's side, who is currently leaking a lot of blood for a blood mage. Sofia simply makes some shapes as she tests her new metal body, she had been forced to manipute the iron in blood to act like a blood slime the eime, so being able to use metal feels like she just took off some major weights.

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