Kamao

The light beads put holes all around the Anino's body. Seeing the entity seemingly flailing about as if its body was about to fall apart, Roselia curiously inquired,

"Did you get 'em?"

"No, not yet!"

Following Linah's response, the holes visible around the Anino's body closed shut all at once. The Anino just stood there and looked at them as if nothing happened. Roselia was petrified.

"Do not falter!" The red-haired young man shouted. "We knew this isn't going to be easy. We will do this just like we always do with our quests!"

The young man dashed forward courageously. "We will finish the Anino together!" Activating his Liksi, the young man picked up speed the moment his body flickered with green light. And upon reaching up to the entity, his body gleamed with red light.

"Lakas!"

He clenched his left fist. And right as he was about to throw a punch at the Anino's face...

Shling!!

Quelch!

Everyone who saw what happened had their eyes wide open, their jaws dropped in utter shock.

"Finish, you say? Are you saying you're gonna finish me? That's a funny joke, you fools."

With his razor-sharp claws, the Anino ripped the red-haired man's whole left arm off. Even Linah, who did not believe in what Roselia saw in her vision until now, was shaken at the sight of the red-haired man's left arm lying on the ground.

"What's wrong? Falling apart already? Weren't you all going to finish me?" The Anino mockingly gestured at the rest of the adventurers, telling them to come forward.

When no words would come out of their mouths, their bodies failing to respond to their thoughts, the red-haired fellow uttered.

"I haven't yielded!" Using the fabric from his clothes, the young man covered the exposed wound to temporarily stop the bleeding. "Losing an arm will not determine our defeat!" He declared while beaming a confident smile.

His will to keep on fighting spread with Roselia, Linah, and the others like disease. But a good one at that.

"Yeah!"

"Right!"

Without even trying, the young man raised everyone's morale.

"Let's go, everyone!"

Now leading the party like he always has, the true beginning of their battle against the indomitable Anino has started. This young man who lead the adventurers that put a stop to the Anino that day was given the title "Fist of Iron Will". His name is Kamao.

***

The Anino's black fire was ravaging its way into Lyrica and Roselia.

"Not on my watch!"

The red-haired man came right in front of the woman and Lyrica before dashing straight to the black fire. And before it could hit him, he stomped the ground and let the dirt intercept the flames.

"You smartass!" The Anino growled at the man. "I'm gonna rip that other arm off!"

Slam!!

"No, you won't!"

"Keh!"

Noticing it at the very last second, the hefty man came from the side and tackled the Anino. While the Anino's attention is on the bulky fellow, Lyrica used the chance to talk to Roselia and Kamao.

"We have to draw that thing's attention away from her first."

Lyrica's words directed Kamao's eyes on Roselia. He then averted his gaze and replied to Lyrica: "You got an idea?"

The girl nodded in response to the red-haired man. "But it depends on what move that thing is going to make, and whether or not I can survive."

...

The overwhelming advance of the fellow with Tibay was soon put to a stop as the Anino started pushing back.

"Damn you...!"

Once again, the two were forced to jump away from each other.

"Soaring Fire!"

A fire arrow split into three rays of fire as it started chasing after the Anino.

"You pest!" The Anino shouted as it avoided the persistent rays of fire. "Ha!"

The entity intercepted all three with its own flames. Without it knowing, the man with the ponytail fired another arrow.

Triiiiiriiiiiii~!!

A whistling sound resonated. And then...

"Hm?"

Pierce!

The Anino was suddenly hit from behind. What struck the entity appeared to be a spiraling gust of wind.

"Whistling Gust."

"Y-You and your petty elemental arrows!"

In a fit of rage, the Anino flew straight toward the bowman.

"I'll open another hole in your lung!"

The man remained still to where he was standing, allowing the entity to come closer. Until...

Crack!

"Wha?!"

To the Anino's surprise, the bowman whipped out another light bead, creating a giant light arrow he used as a spear to pierce the Anino right in its chest.

"You... You said you don't have light beads anymore...!" The Anino uttered in agony. The entity truly felt the damage the light arrow did to it.

"This is truly the last."

Crack!

The fellow crushed another light bead to create another light arrow. He used it just like the first one with his hand and tried to pierce the entity's head. Though it's hurting the entity itself, the Anino would rather reshape its body to avoid the attack rather than receive it.

The bowman followed after the entity until the light arrow dispersed on its own. Right after that, the entity started following him with its rampaging claws.

"Graahh!!"

The Anino found the right moment to strike the man. But the moment its claws reached for the bow man's eyes, the bald fellow came right on time and pounded the Anino on the ground.

Crash!!

"Kurh...!"

"I'm gonna tell you over and over if I have to," He used his bulky physique and the power of Tibay to keep the Anino on the ground. "I won't let you harm anyone again!"

"I'll crush you just like I did back then!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

The Anino reshaped its body to escape the bulky fellow's mighty hold. After getting itself back up after being pinned on the ground, the Anino enlarged its claws and started a frenzied assault.

Shling! Shling! Shling! Kling!

"Raaaaaghhh!!!"

Shling! Shling! Shling! Kling!

After an endless assault, the Anino started to realize:

'My claws could no longer hit him through that barrier like I used to back then!'

The Anino stopped its futile attacks and backed away to create a distance between the entity itself and the man.

'I've gotten weaker after receiving that light arrow and after reshaping my body one after another.'

The man released his Tibay and looked at the Anino as if it was standing right below him.

"What's wrong? Aren't you going to crush me?!"

***

The fight between the Anino and the five adventurers went on for the whole night. The first few hours of their clash made it clear that the five adventurers' strengths combined are just on par with the Anino who wasn't even taking them seriously. And as destruction and blood spilled all over the outskirts of Karna, the Anino made the adventurers realize the big difference between the entity and all five of them.

"Everyone, are you all right?"

"I... I can still fight..." Kamao panted.

The others answered the same thing to Roselia.

"W-We can't..." Blood started running down Linah's forehead to her left eye. "...We can't kill it."

"A-Are you saying we can't win?" Kamao continued to gasp for air.

"We can't kill it, but we can still win."

"How?"

Linah looked at her sister and replied:

"I'll use myself to seal the Anino."