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The world seemed to slow down as I stared out at Shizu\'s floating form in front of us. Behind her, this [Taenia]\'s tentacles undulated with a sense of foreboding, its tendrils snaking up and around the princess\'s body in ways that would probably be illegal in a few places around the world.

Then again, that was the least of our concerns at the moment.

After our first wipe, my three companions proceeded to have some kind of emotional breakdown on their deaths. Shade was pensive, Maruki was uncharacteristically down on the dumps, and funnily enough, Shen was the best performing one of them all as she simply stood by and put on a brave face in front of Shizu. Meanwhile, I was too busy looking for answers, thinking up ways to somehow get through the first few seconds of the fight without dying instantly.

"There\'s got to be a way," I murmured out, my eyes trained solely at the tentacles holding Shizu hostage. "Surely the game wouldn\'t let us take this fight if we couldn\'t even beat it."

Or maybe the game just bugged out again and let us enter the raid despite being horribly underprepared anyway. The portal into the instance was practically screaming \'bad idea\' back then, but I still went ahead and went in.

"W-When are we gonna try again?" Shen asked, her bravado obviously wavering despite the way she puffed her chest out.

Taking a glance at our other two party members, I promptly replied, "Once we\'re all ready."

It was understandable. Death was something that one wouldn\'t get over so easily unless they were already at peace with the concept in the first place. I was fine with it since I knew my tropes and, well, I didn\'t get the time to actually process the fact, but I could see others struggling through the fact that they just died. It was a learning experience; one that functions more as an eliminator of hubris for those that might\'ve seen themselves as invincible.

And knowing Shade and Maruki, they were probably too overconfident, which was why they\'re taking their deaths so hard right now.

"Hmm... At least Shizu isn\'t talking," I muttered out, watching the princess hover in front of us unmoving. "Or maybe it was a bad thing?"

I didn\'t know what was happening in Shizu\'s head right now. For all I knew, she was fighting for her very soul even as we stood right in front of her sort of ready to help her...

Okay, I kind of feel bad now.

Still, what was there for us to do? One hit killed Maruki, and that wasn\'t even talking about the mechanics. We could maybe cheese the raid-wide, but surely we\'ll just get destroyed by the next mechanic anyway. Wait... Why was I thinking negatively about all this?

"Hey, you two ready for another round?"

Clicking my tongue as I took a glance at my party members. Maruki was still sulking, but it wasn\'t as bad as when we first respawned, his light starting to get more consistent again. Shen was waiting, as usual, while Shade looked at me with a frown upon hearing my question.

"As ready as I\'ll ever be," Shade grumbled. "We just died, and yet we have to keep moving forward for the Princess."

"Indeed!" Maruki shouted out, his tone forcing out his conviction as he raised his shield. "We shall continue! If not for the Princess, then for the Empire!"

"Well, that\'s good enough, I suppose," I let out a chuckle. "Shen?"

"R-Ready!" the girl declared, her wrench already glowing in intrepid anticipation.

"Okay then!" I called out. "Let\'s do another pull!"

With that, Maruki charged forward, his shield raised up in anticipation this time as he engaged Shizu.

[FUTILE]

Like last time, one of the tentacles controlling Shizu lashed out, hitting Maruki square in the shield with a force that almost knocked our tank out.

"NGGHH!"

Not this time, "Shen!"

"W-Wha-!"

"Heal him!" I called out.

"R-Right!"

I watched as Shen began running to Maruki\'s side. Wielding her wrench, she raised it high up before hitting our tank right on his back.

"[Fix]!"

[*WHACK!*]

"W-Whoa!"

Uncharacteristically, Maruki let out a yelp as he was promptly launched right at Shizu. I didn\'t think that would work like that, but at least our tank was topped up on health again.

"M-my thanks!" Maruki yelled out. He then quickly reoriented himself in an attempt to hit Shizu. "[SHOUT!]"

By the sidelines, Shade and I began to work, aiming our sights onto the tentacles holding Shizu aloft. Aiming my shot, I gave out a hopeful click as pulled the trigger.

"[Blood Shot]"

[*BANG!*]

[HP: 260]

[MP: 220]

My bars ticked down, my [Move] taking their dues as the blob of blood shot straight for one of the more larger tentacles behind the princess. I blinked as my attack did... something, I suppose, one of its tentacles breaking free as it retreated back to its main body on the wall.

[ELDRITCH WAVE: 12%]

My eyes widened. We won\'t be caught off-guard this time! "Maruki! Stun!"

"[BASH!]"

[ELDRITCH WAVE: INTERRUPTED!]

I almost did a fist pump as Shizu\'s cast bar disappeared. We were still alive, and Maruki was somehow tanking his way through a boss that was over fifty levels above him. Meanwhile, Shen was doing her best to heal him through every hit, even if each time she did it meant that he got launched right at Shizu\'s doorstep.

[ENOUGH]

[LORE OF WITHER: 13%]

My eyes widened. A new mechanic?

As soon as the cast bar appeared, the walls around the room suddenly seemed to come alive. Books from the shelves seemed to vibrate with energy, markers on the ground- Markers! "Move to the sides!"

"Wha-"

"Of course!"

"Gotcha!"

[*ZOOM!*]

After the cast bar filled up, an explosion of lasers came out from the sides, engulfing the center of the room with red shafts of light as they destroyed all that was available. I couldn\'t see what happened, but I could only hope that all of us got through that unharmed.

"Is everyone alright!"

"Here!" Maruki called out.

"I-I\'m fine!" Shen shakily replied.

....

Well then... I guess Shade didn\'t make it out of the AoE quickly enough.

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