Uncorked Power

Musha and the rest of the giants surround Hilfa, joining up with the Queen after finally getting past the barrier Hilfa created. A club crashes into Hilfa's side, making her grimace before she chops off the giant's arm before finishing up with putting her left spike through her chest.

As Hilfa removes the spike from the giant's chest, she notices that the spike is a lot less prominent than before, and Hilfa's eyes narrow in annoyance as she remembers the drawback of using her power.

Another few swings of weapons **** Hilfa to step back to try and get a little bit of space, but it only ends up with Hilfa getting an axe embedded in her spine.

The giant mage falls to a knee as a large portion of the stone from her right arm scurries around her body, removing the axe whilst sealing the wound.

In the blink of an eye, Hilfa spins on her knee, disembowelling the foolish soul that dared to attack her. She quickly gets to her feet again, stumbling back a few more feet, getting herself away from the surrounding giants before raising her arms again, the stone obviously less thick than before.

"My Queen, are you alright?!" Musha worries, inspecting the Queen's broken nose.

The Queen gently pushes Musha's hands away. "I'm fine, Musha. I've had much worse than a broken nose. The blood is helping keep me focused."

"Get moving lard arses! We got a mage to slaughter!" Kira calls out to the two as she and the rest of the group rush past, going to join the remaining giants who are attacking Hilfa once again.

"I am going to devour her one of these days." Musha mutters, earning a muffled chuckle from the Queen before they head forth into the continued fray.

Hilfa kicks away a giant, giving herself a brief reprieve as she looks over at the oncoming Queen, Musha, and the group.

"Shit. They just keep on coming like damned pests! I can't keep up with just the arms alone." Hilfa thinks to herself, trying to think of a solution. Hilfa then takes plunge, and transfers the remaining stone from her right arm over to the left one, restoring it back to being fully covered while the right is bare once again.

"She's shedding stone! Go for the arm!" Kira calls out to the others as she leads the charge.

Hilfa looks at the oncoming group, and raises her hand, ready to wipe them out with some magic, but as she focuses in on Kira, a blast of magic smacks against the side of her face.

"Bull's-eye, ya cow! How'd ya like them apples?!" Karray calls out, very happy with her shot.

Hilfa's eyes snap over to Karray, and the giant begins focusing on the pixie. Karray sees Hilfa's gaze zeroing in on her, and it causes Karray's heart to stop for a moment.

A second later, Virra's arrow flies through the air before finding it's mark just above Hilfa's left eyebrow, causing the giant to react like a fly just flew in her face. Hilfa's fingers quickly find the arrow before yanking it out and breaking it with almost no effort whatsoever, but arrow wound is enough to draw some blood as it begins to drip down into her eye.

"Oi! That was my favourite arrow! You'll pay for that ya gigantic bitch!" Virra shouts as she quickly nocks another arrow before letting loose.

"You think you can hit her eye next time, dear sister?!" Terra jests as she tries to use her magic to trap Hilfa's legs.

"I'll take out your eye if you don't cut the cheek!" Virra responds with a smile as she refocuses on Hilfa's eyes.

Kira runs between Hilfa's leg, using her spear to cut into her left leg as she does, the cut itself isn't deep enough to really do anything, but it's just the beginning of chopping down the tree.

Following up from Kira's hit-and-run, Clarva charges into Hilfa's right leg with her shields, causing Hilfa's leg to wobble a little. This immediately gets Hilfa's attention as she tries to swing at the half-giant, but the height disadvantage actually works in Clarva's favour, allowing her to duck under the attack and hit the leg once again.

A club crashes into Hilfa's left side with so much **** that it breaks two ribs, and definitely cracks some more. A spike shoots up through the floor, completely shish-kebabing the giant responsible for the attack. Before Hilfa can even move an inch, the Queen's bloodied face comes into view, her teeth bared like a wild beast as she swings down, trying to decapitate Hilfa.

Hilfa manages to jerk her head back just in time, but loses a few inches of her braid in the process. "You never know when do quit, do you, your majesty?" Hilfa asks mockingly.

"When it comes to wanting a new head floor my mantelpiece, never!" The Queen retorts before swinging again, forcing Hilfa to duck under the blade as the others giants fall back for the moment.

Back at the Queen's left leg, Amilia, Kyuala, and John are there, ready to follow up with Kira's plan. Kyuala takes a big swing, digging her axe right into the meat of Hilfa's leg. Hilfa let's out a roar of pain before kicking her leg back, sending Kyuala flying back, taking her out of the fight for the moment.

Next up, Amilia runs towards John as he cups how hands, ready to launch Amilia upwards. The launch goes as planned, and Amilia lands right on the wound with her daggers, digging them into the edges and starts to rip it open even wider.

"Do it now!" Amilia calls out.

Finally, John is on Kira's back as she charges towards the leg once again. As they get close, John leaps up, aiming for the crimson target ahead of him. The momentum carries him exactly to where he needs to be, and he thrusts his sword into the wound, hitting the proverbial bull's-eye as the sword sinks deep into the wound. John's sword doesn't just pierce the tissue, but directly cuts into the muscle in her calf.

Hilfa's leg involuntarily collapses almost immediately as the mage roars in even more agony than before. She quickly sends some of the stone from her arm down to the wound, forcing John to disembark from the large leg before he gets trapped.

"Good work, humper! You been paying attention to my skills?!" Amilia jokes as the two run out from under Hilfa, heading towards the recovering Kyuala.

"You have skills that aren't sexual?!" John quickly quips before laughing, but luckily for him, Amilia finds it just as funny.

John and Amilia make it to Kyuala, and as they're helping the orc to her feet, Clarva and Kira rejoin the trio.
Clarva lets out a hearty chuckle. "The bitch is about to drop! We just need to keep getting shots in like that!"

"What do you suggest? She's going to be paying attention to her legs now." Kyuala asks.

"John! You all need to move now!" Terra calls through the communicator.

"Run!" John tells the others before they all begin making a mad dash away from the area.

A few seconds later, more stone spikes erupt from the ground which would have surely killed the group.

Clarva chuckles again, but with a little less gusto. "Guess it pays to have a mage, right?"

"We can't stay still for much longer. Let's go for her sides. If we can get a good wound there, she won't be able to hold on for much longer." Kira says before pointing her spear. "Clarva, take John and Amilia on the left, Kyuala and I will go right."

"Got it! Let's go shorties!" Clarva commands before rushing forward with John and Amilia in tow.

Back with the Queen, after one of her swings was blocked by Hilfa's arm, the mage goes for a right hook, but Musha pulls the Queen back, saving her from the definite jaw-breaker.

Without saying a word, Musha leaps forward, becoming the lead attacker for the Queen who is quickly becoming fatigued as she's unable to properly breathe through her nose.

"Finally grew a spine, Mushy?! I had heard the stories of you being a skilled warrior, but I thought those were just made up to disguise the fact that you're just the Queen's personal arse-licker!"

"Oh, and who says I can't be both?!" Musha response, sending her skull crashing into Hilfa's, which was a really bad idea on Musha's part as she stumbles back, holding her forehead.

The sickening crunch rings in Hilfa's ears along with a buzzing that sounds like there's a TV static at full volume in both of ears. Her skull also feels like it's been squashed between two of the mountains above them.

Hilfa continues to hobble backwards, trying to shake off the ringing in her ears, but it just keeps getting louder and louder. The noise becomes so loud that it feels like her skull is about to crack in half as she plants her hands of both sides of her head, trying to keep that from happening.

"Keep pushing! She's about to fall!" The Queen calls out as she rushes forward with the others as they all prepare to deliver the killing blow.

Hilfa is still grabbing at her head as magic crashes against her body, arrows pierce her skin like a pin cushion as the feeling of stomping feet gets closer and closer towards her. Hilfa's head hurts so much that just looking up at the group is the most agonizing pain that she's ever felt. Her eyes focus and fall out of focus on their own, unable to even form so much as a coherent thought.

Suddenly, a searing spot of pain is felt on her back, grabbing her attention for the moment. Hilfa recognizes the pain as the work of lava that must've jumped up, splashing on her back. The pain lingers, but it finally gives her a moment of clarity, the agony pushing away the ringing just long enough for Hilfa to form a quick plan.

Hilfa continues stepping back, keeping her eyes locked onto the group as they close in, but as they do, as the cloak of heat on her back gets warmer.

Moments later, Hilfa comes to a complete stop as her heel lands on nothing, signalling to Hilfa to halt for the moment.

"Your majesty! Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hold the power of Muprosyll?! To wield the power of Fucknowswhat itself?! I have dreamed of it! Yearned for just a taste from the teat of true power from the creators! But now?! I can drink from straight from the source!"

With those words, Hilfa leans back, falling into a hole she created by her geyser attack from earlier in the fight. She plummets down, and just as the group all look into hole, they see Hilfa's body become enveloped by the ocean of lava lying beneath.

The group just look on in absolute disbelief, wondering just what in the hell happened. The majority of them are completely lost for words, but it's Amilia who finally breaks the silence amongst the bubbling ocean of orange.

"She couldn't have done that fucking sooner? We wasted all that damn time just for the bitch to off herself. Talk about blue balls."

"Why would she do that?" Musha asks as she wipes the blood from her newly opened wound on her forehead.

The Queen hums for a moment. "I do not know, but I do not like it. Hilfa wouldn't have just given up that easy."

"She was backed into a corner. There's a chance that whatever possessed her was tricking her into thinking that this was her only course of action."

The Queen hums again after hearing Kyuala's theory. "You may have a point. However, we cannot afford to be at ease, something is... off about all of this."

"Was that before or after she turned grey and started trying to kill us?" Amilia jokes, but no one laughs.

"Hey!" Karray calls from afar. "Did we win?!"

John presses on his communicator. "Lani. Terra. Tell the others that Hilfa jumped in the lava."

Instead of getting a response, the group see Terra and Lani in the distance relaying the message to Karray and Virra who celebrate their sudden victory.

The group begin making their way back to the others as John asks. "So, can we actually consider this a victory?"

Upon asking, John notices that his question is met with unsure expressions, apart from Amilia's beaming face.

"Hells yeah! She gave herself an early cremation, that's a win in my books."

"If you remember correctly, we had that exact same thought about Imoga and the Darkcross, and look what ended up happening." Kyuala reminds her friend.

Amilia lets out a quick, sharp exhale. "That was different. That psycho bitch was a necromancer, but the dipshit who just took a **** bath only used stone. If she was as powerful as she was making herself out to be, we'd have been dead already."

Musha decides to join the conversation. "I am inclined to agree with the cat. She claimed to have the powers of the volcano, yet all she did was what any competent stone mage could do, along with having some lava shoot up. If that's the extent of our home's power... I fear for our progress."

"No matter if she was bluffing or not, we should get out of here as quickly as possible. I feel like the ground is going to collapse under us at any moment." Kira says before walking off towards the others, who have regrouped with the remaining giants.

The walk back to regroup with the others is draining to say the least. The sound of nothing, but bubbling lava is loud in each of their ears, and the sweltering heat has almost finished any remaining energy they had left. However, they all can't shake the feeling that something is very off.

A few minutes later, everyone has regrouped back to where they first fell, and are looking for a way back up. The giants are focused on looking for any poking rocks or footholds they can use to climb up while the others focus on healing for the moment.

As the magic users are healing those that are wounded, the Queen is facing towards the hole that Hilfa fell into. There's something in her mind that won't allow her to focus on anywhere else, and her hand is just as ready as her eyes.

"Your majesty, what's wrong?" Musha asks as she walks over.

"Something's wrong. I refuse to believe that Hilfa would just give up after all the theatricality. It just doesn't make any sense to me."

Musha looks out at the hole. "If I may speak freely, your highness? There's no chance in the hells that she survived being submerged in the hell lake below us."

"Stranger things have happened on this godsforsaken rock." The Queen simply responds as her grip on her sword gets a little tighter.

"My Queen! We've managed to secure a route!" One of the giants shouts.

"Begin climbing up! I will follow behind!"

Musha immediately moves in front of the Queen. "With all due respect, your majesty, you need to climb first. If Hilfa is still somehow alive, you need to be as far away as possible. It is you that she is after all."

"I have already been responsible for too many deaths on this day, by both my lead and hand. I will not allow any more, Musha."

Musha looks into the Queen's determined eyes, and lets out a defeated sigh. "I do not know which is harder to do, best you in combat, or best your stubbornness."

"I think we both know the answer to that." The Queen cheekily replies, making both herself and Musha chuckle.

A few seconds later, Musha looks at the giants, seeing them ascend the wall up to the opening with the smaller group clinging onto them. Musha sees that Kyuala, and Kira don't seem to be too fond of being the unable one's for a change, but Amilia seems to be absolutely loving it. She sees the cat's mouth move, and can only guess what flirtatious remarks she's coming out with to the poor giant who is hoisting her and Terra on her back.

Clarva is carefully ascending, making sure to not drop John or Virra who are holding onto the fur on the half-giant's back for dear life.

"How's it going back there? You two alright?" Clarva asks.
Virra is the one to answer. "Good so far, but can we hurry it up?! I don't want to find out how long I can hold on for just yet!"

Karray flies over to Virra and uses her magic to make a sort of seatbelt like apparition which fastens Virra to Clarva. "There! Now make sure to keep a firm grip on the fur cause I won't be able to hold it for long. I've got a similar thing going for the centaur, and she ain't too happy about it."

"Because I look like a helpless baby!" Kira shouts down.
"You pretty much are, four legs!" Karray shouts back up.
Clarva laughs. "Glad to see you're still great at making friends."

Down below, Musha has finally begun her climb. She's obviously very **** to do so, but there's no way Musha would be able to convince the Queen to climb before her.

The Queen quickly looks at Musha, confirming that her advisor is indeed climbing, but the Queen's eyes linger on a certain shapely part of Musha for longer than she intended. She soon tears her eyes away from Musha however, as a loud bubbling begins to echo out from the hole.

"Musha, pick up the pace! I'm going to check something out!" The Queen calls out as she begins walking back to the hole that Hilfa fell into.

The Queen pulls her sword out, preparing for anything that might happen as she continues forward. Each step she takes is filled with trepidation, feeling like the ground may break beneath her feet as she continues towards the hell-hole ahead of her.

About a hundred or so feet away from the hole above the lake from hell, the Queen hears the bubbling that originally caught her attention, but it's a lot louder, and much more violent.

The Queen's steps become slow and careful, as the continuing bubbling unnerves the Queen to the very core. Eventually, the bubbling becomes so loud and aggressive that the sound of the Queen's movements are completely masked by it.

The rocks on the walls around the hole begin falling down, and the ground begins to quake, wracking the Queen's body with worry, so much so that she comes to a complete standstill.

"Your majesty! Come back! It's not safe out there!" Musha shouts mid-climb.

The Queen looks back, seeing that Musha is about halfway up the wall. "I'll be there in a moment! I just wanted to-."

As the Queen is about to finish her sentence, lava cannons up from below, making a complete column that threads through the hole. The Queen instinctively jumps back to avoid any lava falling on her, but none does, in fact, the lava rapidly flows upward, yet not a drop spills past the circumference of the hole.

"What in the hells?" The Queen says as she stares at the strange occurrence ahead of her, utterly confused as to what is happening.

The Queen takes a step forward, but immediately stops as she sees the flow of lava in the middle of the column change from just flowing upwards to spinning around in an oval.

The oval grows larger and larger before stopping at a certain point, and the Queen readies her sword once again, ready to strike at a moments notice, but the Queen does have to push away the thought of feeling ridiculous because a column of lava is making her feel so threatened.

The Queen's train of thought is quickly broken as the oval shape in the column begins to shake independently of the flowing lava around it.

A few moments later, the oval opens up, splitting to the sides and reforming with the rest of the lava, leaving a hole right in the middle. The Queen's eyes focus for a second as she sees something in the middle of the new opening, and her eyes quickly widen as she realizes what it is, or rather, who it is.

The figure steps forward, walking out of the hole before stepping onto the stone. The figure doesn't much more than a few steps away from the column before they look the Queen dead in the eyes.

"Your majesty... let us finish our conversation, shall we?"