Van's group weren't the only ones struggling against terribly strong monsters, other small groups from Freya and Loki familia were scattered through the corridors of this false dungeon created by Antares. The egg sacks with their gooey pick center, had been tracked through the corridors by the very monsters it had spawned. It was a terribly slimy substance, and also… it stunk worse than a brothel with zero ventilation.
Outside this disgusting mess of Antares' making, Rivera & the fairy force, along with Hogni, and the Gulliver brothers, along with a small number of Freya familia armored warriors… finally finished culling the monsters in the area.
Hogni twisted and turned, in a truly cringe worthy manner, expressing his joy in the slaughter his blade had wrought. "Oh yes, this power, I can feel it."
"Shut up, we're to rendezvous with the others at once. Antares doesn't sound like a joke." Dvalinn grumbled at the unworthy dark elf.
"Awe come on, I can't bask in the blood? Fine, I guess we're going in." Hogni said, charging into the false dungeon without a second of waiting.
"Damn him!" Grer cursed. "All of you form a perimeter, and scour the land, there shouldn't be anything left outside. Even so, stay out here, you'll only get in our way against that monster." He gave an order to the weaker Freya familia members, then he and his brothers entered the dungeon.
Riveria had been the lone executive of the Tsugunai left outside. She looked around to see the Freya familia members following Grer's orders.
"Alright, you three, stay here and reinforce the Freya familia's members, your spells will be enough to deal with level 4 monsters. That should be enough…. The rest of you come with me to this Antares monster, from the sounds of it, our magic will be required for this."
It didn't take long before Riveria covered her nose as she and the fairy force members went through the dungeon. They were currently following the sounds of fighting in the distance when they'd happened upon a group of powerful monsters entangled with Rethusa.
"Kill the monsters. Rethusa can show us the way to the Antares."
A rain of magical bombardment pelted the horde of monsters attacking the Artemis familia. Felling them all in quick succession. Leaving only one left barely alive, quickly fixed with a swift strike of Rethusa's blade.
"Thanks for the assist, I take it the monsters outside have been finished off?" Rethusa spoke, wiping her mouth clean of the monster guts.
"Yes, though a sufficient force was left behind to cull any monsters that may have escaped our notice."
"Figures, you're the first ones to stop and help. If you're looking for Antares, take the path behind us, just follow the carnage and you'll eventually reach the room where they're currently fighting." She continued, showing the annoyance on her face, and worry in her tone.
"What's wrong?"
"Does the Tsugunai have a way to call for him?"
"Him?"
"You know, the hero boy, Origin Wolf? I've never seen a monster as strong as Antares before. Well, I don't think you can beat it."
Riveria's hand clenched around her staff a little harder now. She was the elven princess… She had already tarnished her people's image once before, she really didn't want to do it again. Her gaze turned to Artemis.
"Lady Artemis, in your opinion, how strong is that monster?"
"Honestly, you'd be lucky to win with the forces you have here now. It's grown stronger than I had expected…"
"This is why none of them stopped to help… We're on our way now. To kill that monster." Riveria said, then she and her force of elves started making their way down the corridor.
"Lady Artemis, do they have a chance at defeating him?"
"There is a chance, but it'll take everything they have."
Rethusa held her chin in thought. "I wonder what he would do in this situation?" She muttered under her breath.
"We should be there to help, even if it's only to help get them out of there after they kill it. Surely it would be an exhausting fight."
"We'll help cull the monsters so the Tsugunai familias can focus on Antares."
With Rethusa's order, and Artemis in agreement, the path was set… they would lend a hand in a more active role, closer to the fight. In other words, their hunt just got considerably harder.
In the giant boss room, the fight with Antares was in full swing, his tentacles swung around causing havoc across the battlefield with ease. His gigantic claws constantly snapped at Bara, Gareth, and Ottar, each time they'd narrowly avoided getting caught either by their own movement, or intervention of another.
"Ahaha! It's time to unleash my blade's will, it desires blood!" Hogni's laugh echoed in the room…
He was the first to arrive, and he'd already been in a frenzied state, so while leaping into the fray, his blade sliced in perfect parrying form against each and every tentacle.
"Ugh, disgusting. Tentacles are for sea creatures, not scorpions. You must bleed for this!" His frenzy continued. And just in time too because someone really needed to switch out for a few seconds to catch his breath.
"Heh, how the mighty Ottar has to cower from the enemy. Guess he really isn't all that." Berling said, coming in, landing a powerful attack at the start of combo.
"Which of you said that?" Ottar asked. All four of the brothers pointed at each other… "Good, I'll make sure to hit all of you harder." He glared, raising his blade as a slight healing glow covered him, and he entered the front once more.
"Ah, excellent timing Riveria." Finn said, recognizing the magic from afar.
"What's the plan Finn?"
"We're going to kill Antares. To do that, though, we're going to need something crazy. And a bit of a distraction. Ottar is our heaviest hitter, so the rest of us are going to open up a chance for him to envelop Antares in his fake afterglow."
The fairy force launched a barrage of magic to assist in harassing Antares… Finn smirked.