"Isn't the Imoogi…a nightmare class?" Ruby asked.
"Not just any nightmare class…it's a peak nightmare class beast on the verge of becoming a disaster class!" Noah said in a solemn voice.
The Imoogi hissed as it raised his head, almost one third of its body and its vertical pupils staring right into Luke and Adriana.
Just then it opened its mouth wide and a pillar of flame shout of its mouth. Luke's eyes opened wide and he picked Adriana up in his arms and moved instantly. The flames hit the wall of the cave, melting the rocks into liquid lava.
They appeared near the others and he put her down. Adriana's cheeks were burning up. This was her fist time coming so close to a man! She punched Luke in the face as he flew and fell a few meters away.
"D-d-don't you dare touch me again!"
Shane helped Luke get up as he had a weird expression on his face. He didn't know how to react. All he did was to save her.
"Women!! You can't reason man!" Shane shrugged his shoulders. He tapped on Luke's shoulders as if he knew what it felt like.
"Can we please focus here?" Noah said in a grave tone.
"Let's leave our differences aside and work together this time. Both of us can't defeat it alone!" Luke said looking at Adriana.
Silence stretched between them as Adriana was hesitant, her face twitching every second with doubt.
"He's right! Agree to this." Jane said. Adriana looked at her, surprised that she was suggesting to cooperate.
A sigh escaped her as she agreed. "Alright! The mages with the shield in front! Block the beast's attacks, while the wizards will deal damage from the back." She immediately started giving commands.
"And you…" she looked at Luke. "You and I will poke it from the sides." She said and pulled the sword out of her waist.
Luke nodded and everyone took their positions. Ruby released her mana as golden hue covered everyone, buffing them. Just then another pillar of fire came towards them, ready to annihilate.
Jordan and Noah stomped their shields and the hammer on the ground as they stood in front. Noah released his mana as a runic circle formed on the ground in front and a huge earthen wall came out of the ground, blocking the fire pillar.
Luke and Adriana moved, rushing from two ends towards the Imoogi. Shane prepared a shot on his cannon and Jane started chanting as a white runic circle formed in front of her.
The earthen wall melted from the heat and the Imoogi came rushing through the gap, its sharp and long fangs out.
Just then Shane fired the shot and three wind arrows zoomed out from Jane's magic circle towards the beast.
Both the shots hit it right on its face, making it close its eyes and wriggle its head.
Mana covered her boots and sword as she jumped towards the beast.
Her sword moved in an arc towards its eyes, but just then it opened its eyes and saw her coming, it moved away and the sword hit just below the eyes on the hard scales, as sparks flew out.
She clicked her tongue in annoyance as no damage was done from her sword. But Luke didn't miss the chance and his fists hit right on the jaw.
The gauntlets released a shockwave and the Imoogi flew away falling on the ground at a distance.
But before Luke could rejoice, the tail came rushing at him like a whip and being midair he couldn't evade and it hit right on his stomach.
His body bent from the force and he was blasted away near the tree, bouncing on the ground as he slid, breaking the floor and rocks flying around.
"Move!!" Noah shouted and rushed towards Luke.
He knew the Imoogi didn't suffer much damage, it had quite the hard scales, and not a peak nightmare class in name, and if it fired the flame pillar, Luke would have no means to protect himself.
Just as Noah feared, the Imoogi got up, it hissed in fury and opened its mouth wide again, exposing those huge sharp fangs to shoot the fire pillar, but surprisingly the fire didn't come out as it then moved fast, its fangs out to bite Luke into a mincemeat.
CLANG!!
Adriana stood in front of Luke, her body covered in with a layer of mana and her sword raised, stopping the Imoogi's Fangs with her sword.
Immediately a flurry of cannon shots and fireballs hit the Imoogi. It screeched and moved away wriggling its body.
"I paid you back once now!" Adriana said to Luke and extended her hand towards him.
Luke smiled as he took her hand and stood up.
Just then Noah and the others reached them and Noah moved towards Luke.
"The Imoogi opened its mouth wide to shoot the flame at you, but it immediately stopped and came rushing instead! Either it didn't want to or rather couldn't because…."
"Because it would damage the flower behind me!" Luke said in realization.
"Take your positions. Fight it within the range of the flower!" Adriana instructed as she took stance immediately upon realizing the fact too.
Golden mana flowed out of Ruby's hands as she kept chanting, it covered Luke and healed his injuries within seconds.
"Thanks!" Luke nodded at her.
"Look out!" Jordan yelled out and moved his shield forward. A transparent layer formed in front of his shield acting as the secondary protection.
The Imoogi rammed its head on the shield, pushing Jordan back, sliding a few steps. He used mana on his feet and stopped after some struggle as his feet sunk in the ground.
A runic circle formed on the ground below the Imoogi's head and pillars of stones jetted out of the ground hitting it on the underbelly as it went flying in the air
Luke flew in the air, his prana covered fist came flying from the back in a huge swing hitting squarely below the Imoogi jaw. But to his shock he couldn't move his fist further in as the Imoogi was covered in a layer of dense mana and blocked his punch with force.
Before he could recover from the shock, the Imoogi rammed its head on Luke's belly as he flew away in the opposite direction, hitting the wall hard and lost consciousness. It then opened its jaw wide and a ball of wind started forming in front of it.
"Look out!" Noah screamed but before they could react, infinite number of wind needles came flying towards them.
Ruby and Jane put up half baked shields in front of them and Jordan and Noah protected Adriana behind them with the shields up front.
Multiple needles hit their mana shield which made it unable to bear the burnt and burst into pieces as they pierced though and hit the three of them inside.
A fog of dust rose in the area and the state of those inside it unknown.