"It can't be possible… I'm sure that attack would be powerful enough to kill it," whispered Syrmax, confused. As the gas created by the explosion disappeared, Syrmax understood how the creature had been able to survive that.
The turtle had retracted its body inside the shell, and as he looked at it coming back outside, Syrmax understood that it was definitely because of the hard shell on its back.
"Tch… how am I going to hit it?" Syrmax looked at the turtle while he charged up some energy, but as it was coming only from the sanctuary's light, it wasn't enough to make his body grow as big as before.
'I still have time… it isn't going very fast.' Syrmax noticed that the creature was moving really slowly. As he looked up near the ladder, he spotted that the trapdoor was locked and that no sunlight could enter inside the room.
"I'd better store as much energy as I can if I actually want to kill it…" With that, Syrmax returned to the top of the ladder and opened the entrance. As he moved his hand, some light began to enter and Syrmax could feel his body charging up.
'Now I just need to wai—' Suddenly the ladder began to shake. As Syrmax looked below, he realized that the turtle was moving it with its own body. 'I don't know how much longer it can hold…' Syrmax decided that it was better to head below, and he landed directly on top of the shell of the turtle, which was right where the sun was falling.
"I should speed up the charge of my body…" whispered Syrmax as he realized that, because of how little light he was receiving, it would take too long for him to charge enough to destroy the shell. "Photosynthetic Requiem."
Syrmax's body began to change. His skin started to glow and it felt as if all the light was coming directly towards him. His veins changed and became golden. 'For a minute I'll be able to charge enough light to destroy its body… but I'll have to remain under the sun or else it will not be possible…'
As Syrmax was still on top of the turtle's body, the plushie tried to hit him, but its paws were too short to reach the human, and so Syrmax remained there under the sunlight looking at them with his hands in his pockets.
"As if you would even be able to hit me… still, this shell surely is harder…" Syrmax kneeled down and began to knock on the shell. 'I didn't think the Seamstress would have been able to create something this hard… can these still be defined as plushies?' thought Syrmax as he smirked, when suddenly he felt the body of the plushie shaking.
'What's this?' Syrmax looked for a moment where it felt like something was about to change in the body of the creature, and soon enough, a huge arm appeared and tried to push Syrmax away from the side.
"Damn!" shouted he. With all his strength he blocked the arm, which kept pushing harder. 'They can even change shape?' Syrmax realized that below him, the body of the plushie was shaking once again.
"I won't block this too!" Syrmax jumped as high as he could, his head almost touching the roof while the other hand appeared. As the turtle no longer felt the presence of the human on top of its shell, it looked up and realized that the human was falling down.
'I'll have to resist another 40 seconds… at least until the transformation ends.' With that, Syrmax fell with his leg on the hand and completely smashed it. 'It's only the shell that's hard…' but he didn't have time to think about these things. The other hand was about to hit him from the side, and with just enough time, Syrmax jumped once again, with a smaller jump now, and landed back on the shell.
'I don't know how to fight with my hands… I'll just have to resist by dodging!!' Below the body of the turtle, some bigger legs appeared, and thanks to them, the plushie was able to move faster towards the wall.
Syrmax noticed the shaking under the turtle and was able to jump down just in time. 'Another 30 seconds… it isn't much.'
After these 30 seconds following the activation of this spell, his body, other than starting to glow, had become big once again, and it almost surpassed how muscular it had been before the fight against the turtle.
'My body will definitely become bigger… I can't force myself to surpass a certain amount.' Syrmax knew very well what would happen if he released too much energy all at once; his soul would shatter immediately and he would reach the last stage in an instant.
"And here it comes again!" The turtle, which had just crushed its head against the wall, turned back towards Syrmax, and still with the new legs under its body, it reached Syrmax immediately.
'Let's just say that I might need at least 15 seconds… I don't want to remain vulnerable after the spell.' Syrmax had just reached the peak thickness of his body before the turtle arrived, but using all the energy right now would mean arriving in his most vulnerable state, without any protection. If the creature didn't die or if another plushie arrived, it would be the end for him.
The turtle tried to bite Syrmax. As he tried to dodge by stepping behind, his body crashed against the ladder and the plushie was able to hit the human directly on his arm. "Leave it!!" shouted Syrmax as he tried to free his arm. The mouth of this plushie didn't have any teeth, but as Syrmax felt the body of the creature shaking, he realized that something would soon pierce his arm.
Extremely sharp teeth appeared inside the plushie's mouth. "Arghh!!" shouted Syrmax in pain. With all his strength, he was able to give a strong kick to the plushie, sending it away, but his arm was already pierced. As the turtle smashed against the wall, Syrmax was bleeding and breathing heavily. "And the… 15 seconds… have passed…" With his body still glowing, he walked slowly towards the plushie.
As he got away from the sunbeam, his body stopped growing, but it was big enough that if he were to release the whole hit, the entire town of Ardoris would get destroyed.
"I never enjoy using this spell… as it pushes my body to its limits." Syrmax, breathing heavily, stopped directly in front of the plushie, which, after it smashed against the wall, rotated with its body so that now it had its shell on the ground.
While it was trying to return to its normal form, Syrmax closed his arm. "Solar Cataclysm." A huge beam appeared directly on top of the plushie. As the attack struck the plushie, after the explosion that sent Syrmax flying away, the plushie was turned into ash.
"They should have brought some bandages…" Syrmax landed directly near Darian's backpack. As he opened it, he found some of the bandages they had brought from the base. "If I got attacked and I was just at the entrance… I'm scared for you other guys."
While the fight against the turtle had been happening, Vane and Orechin had already spent some minutes in the fight against the two plushies.
Both their bodies were bleeding, as they had already used tons of magic. "I… can't believe it… they can change shape too?" Vane, in the shape of a polar bear, had been fighting non-stop against the two plushies, which changed their appearances multiple times by making a new arm grow on their backs.
"I know… but we can't fall here yet!" Orechin launched another green crystal towards the bear plushie. As both the plushies tried to destroy it, Vane turned into an eagle, and by rushing at extreme speed towards the bear, he cut off the arm on its back.
"Still Prism!" Orechin raised his hand as a huge blue crystal appeared between the two plushies, who, caught off guard, turned their heads again towards the crystal. Vane turned mid-air and headed once again towards the plushies, now targeting the one in the shape of a rocket.
'I'll have to make the blue crystal resist…' Orechin fell to his knees, and right before the plushies were about to hit the blue crystal, he created a new, huge green crystal that gave protection to the blue one.
As both plushies hit the crystal, it shattered into countless pieces with just a single hit, but some strength returned to Orechin, who looked at Vane and shouted, "It's up to you, Vane!!!" With that, Vane started to spin mid-air and he shattered in half the body of the plushie in the shape of a rocket.
As Vane flew far enough away and reached Orechin, the bear smashed the blue crystal, and with that, even the red crystal right below it, which soon exploded.
"Ahh…" Vane turned human while breathing heavily, his body starting to bleed and his vision turning blurry. "At least we killed one; there's only one left for now," said he, smirking as he fell to his knee. The bear in front of them, after the explosion of the crystal, looked once again at the humans with anger in its eyes.
"Are you sure you can still fight?" asked Orechin, slightly worried.
"Who do you think you're talking to? It isn't the first time I've ended up in this condition and been able to come out alive." With that, Vane returned to his knees and was about to turn into an animal as the bear was rushing towards them again.
"Just resist… I'll cover him with as many green crystals as I can," whispered Orechin as he got ready to create green crystals that would fall directly on the creature's body.
Vane, understanding, turned into a buffalo and began to rush towards the plushie. As the plushie's claws and Vane's horns crashed against each other, a strong metallic sound could be heard from all over the place. The bear was trying to break Vane's defense, who was doing what he could to defend himself against the brute strength of the plushie.
"Vital Shard!" Suddenly multiple green crystals appeared directly on top of the bear, and while some of them fell to the ground, the others remained on its head, stealing its energy.
'He's becoming weaker… I can feel it.' As the seconds passed, the bear was losing a lot of its strength, and behind him, Orechin was gaining back a lot of strength.
'It should be enough… I can try to cut off his arm now!' Vane turned into an eagle, and as he hardened his body, he was able to completely cut off the plushie's arm.
"Now, VANE!!! EMBER CORE!" A huge red crystal appeared right near the plushie, and while it had lost its balance and fallen to the ground after Vane turned into an eagle, it couldn't move well. While the plushie was trying to get back to its feet, Vane started to dive extremely fast towards the crystal.
Vane remembered the entire discussion Darian had with Jaune about kinetic energy. 'He said that the faster you move, the more energy you gain…' and as he dived down, about to touch the crystal, he remembered how the red one worked too. 'Once it gains enough kinetic energy, it explodes.'
Right before hitting it, Vane turned into a polar bear, and with all the strength in his body, he slashed his claw towards the red crystal. After he turned into a polar bear, the kinetic energy had increased because he had gained more mass, but he would have never realized it since he hadn't heard that part.
Right before the crystal was about to explode, Vane turned into a human and ran away. Right before the bear was about to get back to its feet, Vane jumped on its head, and the plushie fell again to the ground while the crystal next to it completely exploded.
Vane rolled on the ground and landed exactly near Orechin while breathing heavily. "Did we kill him?" said he while breathing heavily. Orechin, looking at the explosion, nodded his head. "The green crystals aren't giving me any energy anymore; it's dead."
Hearing these words, Vane let out a sigh of relief. "Ahhhh… we can finally re—" He couldn't even finish his sentence before, in front of them, Darian and Tyel started running by, terrified.
"AHHH, SHE'LL REACH US!!" shouted Darian.
"KEEP RUNNING, WE'RE ALMOST THERE!!" shouted Tyel. Since neither of them had noticed Vane or Orechin, they kept running.
Orechin and Vane, both confused, took some steps forward when, in front of them, countless plushies started following behind. And right there with them was the Seamstress. Both Vane and Orechin remained speechless; as they exchanged a look, they laughed softly.
Orechin was the first one who turned serious. "Maybe… we should go and help them?" asked he. Vane, who soon turned serious too, nodded his head.
"Yeah… as much as I would love to rest, the mission isn't over yet." Vane took some steps and turned into a buffalo. "Come here, we're going to reach them really soon."
Orechin nodded his head and positioned himself on top of Vane, excited. "I've never ridden something like this…"
"Oh trust me, then it will be really exciting." With that, Vane started to run, and Orechin, while smiling, was ready to attack any plushie that would be in front of him.