Jeremy hits the monster with his shield, causing it to lose balance. The Battle Mage uses that opportunity to cast his spell. An orb of light appears and explodes right in front of the creature's eyes, temporarily blinding it. It's my turn to make use of this window to give the spellcasters a chance.
I run to the monster's neck and slam it with my open palm, casting the spell I was preparing. I remember how painful getting branded was, and while my own brand is far less powerful and also temporary, I still expect my target to feel it. As such, it doesn't surprise me when the monster suddenly tries to get away from me, but I move with it to make sure the spell isn't interrupted. Fortunately, this brand doesn't take as long to attach to a body as the one I have, so I quickly manage to shout to the casters:
"Now!"
A large number of projectiles immediately start flying in the direction of the monster. The magic-disrupting brand is already starting to fade, but I can tell it worked at temporarily removing the barrier protecting the beast. Large ice spikes and fiery explosions strike before the flow of magic in its body stabilizes back.
We all jump away from the column of steam the fire and ice created, waiting to see if our combined attack worked. We hear a loud growl as the monster's silhouette appears. It's still alive?
As it walks out of the steam and towards us, I notice that our assault was effective. Its right side is covered in large burns and bloody wounds. Its hind leg on that side appears to be broken, and chunks of its shell seem to have been blasted away.
"What now?"
Jeremy is still focused on the monster, but I can tell he expects me to take the lead again. However, I'm at a bit of a loss here. The Battle Mage asks:
"Can't we just repeat what we just did?"
The Healer shakes her head before responding:
"I don't have enough magic left. If I spend anything more, I won't be able to heal future injuries."
I can tell that the Elementalist is just as tired. He can afford to spend the rest of his power on more offensive spells, but he wouldn't be able to replicate his last attack.
It also seems very unlikely that the monster will allow us to blind and brand it again. However, due to its injuries, it doesn't seem to want to rush head-on towards us either. It's still growling while watching us from a distance.
Suddenly, the flow of energy within its body shifts, and almost all of it finds itself concentrated in its snout. It's going to throw something big at us!
But... That means that all of the energy normally used to maintain its defense is elsewhere right now. It's not completely vulnerable, that hide is still strong without magic, but one of my projectiles might be able to get through.
And so, just as the beast launches a beam of concentrated energy from the tip of its nose, I launch a crystalline projectile towards it. I can see Jeremy jumping in front of the beam next to me, but I'm focusing on my own attack. It penetrates, goes through the entire body, and comes out the other side. The monster screams, struggles to stay up for a bit, and then falls dead on the floor.
Immediately after, I hear a scream behind me. I turn and see Jeremy fall on the ground, a huge hole going through his chest and shield. Behind him, the healer also collapses, half of her head missing.
Shit, that's really bad! But I have to stay clam.
I see, the beam was aimed at the healer, so Jeremy tried to intercept it, but they both ended up getting hit. That attack had really impressive piercing power.
Speaking of monster, I can feel its magical power flowing into my body. It was higher level than me, so this is going to be a very nice boost to my power.
The Battle Mage grabs a device and screams into it:
"Our Healer and Defender are severely injured, requesting immediate support!"
The other healer is too far away. By the time he gets here, it'll be too late to save them. I don't know if I would have been able to heal these two before, but with all this power flowing into me, I'm more confident than ever. No matter what, I have to try to do something.
I raise one hand over each body and start focusing my energy. I already healed someone who had just been killed. While I didn't have to rebuild any of her organs, I'm powerful enough to pull even that off now.
The Elementalist's eyes open wide in surprise and the Battle Mage drops his communication device as the hole in Jeremy's chest and the missing part of the Healer's head slowly heal. This is a lot harder than I expected, but I need to do it. The creature we just killed gave me enough energy to manage this.
After around three minutes, Jeremy wakes back up while coughing. He starts by inspecting his body, and then his gear. His armor is ruined, but he seems grateful to still be alive. He talks a bit to the other two adventurers, but I'm too focused on my task to pay attention to what they're saying. The Healer's brain is a lot harder to repair, so I end up taking an additional two minutes or so for her.
When she finally wakes up, I fall on the ground, feeling exhausted. I grab my water bottle and take a long sip while the healer touches the half of her head I just healed, clearly confused.
The Battle Mage approaches and asks:
"How did you manage to heal them? Injuries like that often require multiple healers working together to heal. Not only were you alone, but you're not even a Healer! What is going on here?"
I smile and shrug before taking another sip from my bottle. I'm too tired to try to answer. This seems to make him angrier, but Jeremy intervenes:
"Calm down. We're alive thanks to him. He's just a guest, he doesn't have to explain everything to us."
This seems to work. He turns his attention away from me, and he walks towards the Healer to see how she's doing. I turn my attention towards Jeremy and immediately notice something: his brand is gone! The energy is flowing completely normally through his body. This is an extremely interesting development. The part of his body where the spell was attached got destroyed by the monster's attack, but I don't know if the attack itself or the temporary loss of that body part did the trick. Either way, while this doesn't give me a way to remove my own brand, it might just be what I need to remove it from everyone else. I can heal severe damage, after all, even if I happen to be the one who inflicted it.
I also notice that Jeremy seems to be preoccupied by something. If my understanding of the Architect's spell is correct, the brand doesn't alter a person's memories, it simply prevents them from questioning his orders. Now that he's free from that influence, he can think about the adventurers he was forced to kill and the orders he was made to follow.
I gently hit one of his pauldrons with my closed fist before saying:
"I want to get rid of the Architect, too."
He looks surprised for a second, but his expression then becomes serious as he nods.
The rest of the party finally arrives, responding to the Battle Mage's call from a few minutes earlier. I can tell from the state of their equipment that some of them were wounded, but looks like their healer took care of it. They see the large carcass of the monster we killed and seem surprised. Jeremy gets up and goes to meet the party's leader, who he exchanges a few words with. He seems to be explaining the situation.
Meanwhile, a few party members gathered around the dead monster, seemingly discussing how they would transport it. I guess now is a good time to show another one of my powers. I get up, approach the body, and start warping space around it. A few seconds later, everyone is panicking because of the sudden disappearance of their loot, so I grab the bead left behind and tell them:
"Worry not, everyone! The monster is currently inside of this small and portable container. I'll release it once we leave the dungeon."
Some of them start shouting angrily, saying that I can't be trusted and that I should leave this to company veterans, but the party leader walks forward and raises his hands before saying:
"If any of his actions cut into our profits, I'll make sure to have his master compensate us. For now, let's focus on clearing this dungeon."
I can tell some of them are still unhappy about this, but they don't dare go against their superior's decision. Having powers no one understands is convenient, but I'll probably have to work extra hard to become trusted.
After fully explaining what happened here to the rest of the party, and after making sure that there are no other Boss monsters in the area, we agree to split up again to defeat the imps that are still located in the buildings around us. As we're making our way towards our next destination, I spot a small, red piece of shell on the ground. Must be one of the bits that was blown away earlier. I grab it, making sure no one sees me doing so.
I know it's against the rules, but I don't think anyone is going to mind if I keep it for myself.
