Gargoyles

"Ready all?" I ask. I get the confirmation from everyone. The Bell Gargoyles have a pretty spectacular and full on entrance, so we've had to come up with a full sequence of moves to counter it properly.

"Let's go!" I call, leading the way into the fog gate.

Belle and I immediately sprint forward, reacting before the Bell Gargoyles even start their opening attacks.

Olivia transforms into her Tetramand form and times out her charge for the right moment.

The others scatter to the sides, sprinting along the rooftop to the other side to make sure that neither gargoyle can reach them with their opening attacks.

Olivia starts her charge forward as the first gargoyle flies down, impacting it just before it lands, and sending it flying backwards.

The second gargoyle hovers above the air, just about to bathe a sizable chunk of the rooftop in powerful flames. Before it can, I blast it with ice magic, stunning it for just a moment.

The moment is enough, and the first gargoyle crashes back into the second, and both of them sprawl backwards, completely disrupting their opening move.

"Now!" I shout, and Belle, Paige, Mia, and Skylar unleash a powerful blast of combined magic at the two temporarily grounded gargoyles. The magic hits its mark with a loud series of cracks on the brittle stone that makes up their bodies.

With the proper coordination, their opening attack is turned destructively back on the powerful boss enemies.

But it's not over yet, not by a long shot. These things are sturdy, as they prove when they get back up, shake themselves off, and let out a deafening roar.

Belle and I position ourselves in the right spot on each side of the rooftop, and the gargoyles lock onto us as the first targets they see, charging out towards us.

Belle and I lure them away from the others, sprinting back across the rooftop with Olivia sprinting close behind.

The gargoyles charge at us both, and while Olivia follows the one sprinting towards Belle, I prepare to let loose more frost magic.

Turns out enemies made of stone, magically animated or not, are weak to the cold. Who knew?

As we reach a predetermined point in our sprint, Belle and I turn as one, unleashing our magic at our respective gargoyles.

My frost magic works wonders on the fire breathing gargoyle, and it visibly slows down its charge towards me. I dodge towards it as it raises its head, spewing out fire towards me.

I manage to get in close and dive under it before the sinister flames burn away at my mana bar.

Mia tags in as she storms towards the gargoyle, utilising her speed and her magic to its fullest, slamming into the hulking creature with a blast of solid air, rocking it forwards off balance.

On the other side of the rooftop, Belle distracts her gargoyle by acting as bait for its massive halberd. It raises the weapon high, ready to swing down and cleave her in half.

Olivia smashes into the stone guardian again, and Belle dashes out of the way as it falls forwards.

Immediately, Olivia morphs into her Angelwitch form, and Belle whirls her chain around, discharging the magic within and stunning the gargoyle further with the kinetic blast.

Olivia finishes her transformation and blasts the stone creature with blindingly powerful light magic, scratching away at its magical exterior.

Paige and Skylar reinforce the two of them with earth and shadow, battering and slashing away at the halberd wielding gargoyle.

I blast away at my gargoyle with more ice magic, pouring more of my mana bar into doing as much damage as possible, building up the level of frost as icicles start to form along its body.

It lets out a pained sound and tries to take flight to breathe fire at Mia and I. We dodge behind it as it leaps backwards, keeping up with the sudden beating of its huge wings.

Across the rooftop, the other gargoyle suddenly slashes its halberd in a wide arc, catching both Belle and Olivia, knocking them backwards with nasty cuts opened up on both their stomachs.

Immediately, Ivy begins working her healing magic from plants she's been passively growing all across the boss arena, closing the wounds rapidly and healing the frontline duo.

The fire breathing gargoyle turns its scorching breath onto our remaining group, and Skylar quickly erects a barrier of shadow in an attempt at protecting them from the powerful flames.

I reinforce the barrier with ice as Paige, Skylar and Ivy scramble to move out of the danger zone. Mia storms up towards the gargoyle, smashing into it with another devastating blast of solid air.

Ivy concentrates easily on keeping herself safe and healing Olivia and Belle, thanks to her perks. But before the two of them can recover, the halberd wielding gargoyle charges forward and raises its dangerously sharp weapon high into the sky, the blade glinting in the sunlight.

Belle just manages to get out of the way, but Olivia can’t manage it quick enough. The halberd slams into her, reopening the cut that Ivy managed to close before, deepening the already bad looking wound and sending her flying backwards.

Olivia crashes into the ground, rolling over a few times from the sheer speed she’s sent flying. Her Angelwitch form is extremely dangerous offensively, but doesn’t have a lot of durability.

With no other choice, Belle and Mia charge back into the fight to try to keep the gargoyle’s attention off of our downed mentor.

The firebreathing gargoyle has other plans though. Disengaging from trying to damage our backline, it instead makes a beeline for Olivia.

Shit.

I sprint to intercept it, while Mia and Belle frantically keep the other gargoyle occupied. I charge up a blast of ice and let it loose at the fire breather, hitting it in the back as it storms towards Olivia.

The gargoyle whirls around in the air, poised to breathe fire. I'm relieved to have diverted its attention from my injured friend, but I have a more immediate problem to deal with now as it spews a powerful wave of fire towards me.

I let mana shield tank the blast, knowing my ice magic isn't very good at defending against flames. My mana bar is drained quickly, absorbing the damage of the attack.

I retreat and shadow reinforced rock slams into the gargoyle. As it whips its head around, distracted, I blast it with more ice.

It disregards my attack entirely, making a charge once more towards our backline, apparently determined to get rid of the annoyances. It flies towards them, drawing in another breath to spew out flames.

I give chase while Paige, Skylar and Ivy dive out of the way once more, but we're too late to stop the area they're standing in being bathed with scorching magical fire.

The fire sears their flesh, and in sheer desperation, Ivy uses her teleport to escape the dangerous inferno. I let loose a cooling wave, doing my best to counteract the gargoyle's magic.

But the damage is already done. Skylar and Paige disappear from the raid. Ivy's health regenerates rapidly, and she distances herself from me, so I can draw its attention again.

I hit it with yet another blast of ice, and it finally turns its head towards me. I spare a quick glance towards where Mia and Belle are fighting the halberd wielding gargoyle, and Olivia gets back up, having been healed enough by Ivy, morphing into her Petradon form.

I trust the 3 of them to handle that one and instead focus my attention entirely on the fire breathing gargoyle. I hit it with an arc bolt, enjoying the extra damage from the newly upgraded spell.

The gargoyle roars and flies towards me, diving down and swinging its tail towards me. I dive out of the way, firing another arc bolt, and another.

It spins immediately and dives back towards me again. I desperately fling myself to the side, avoiding its attack again. More arc bolts hiss towards it, each one finding its mark with a practiced precision.

With every spell that finds its mark, every hiss and arcane impact, the stacks of Arcane Torrent grow closer to their maximum.

In desperation, it spews more fire towards me, and I let my health tank the damage, throwing a gamble that I can kill it before it kills me.

As I move backward out of the fire and fire one last arc bolt, Torrent hits its limit of ten stacks. I activate the spell as Ivy heals the damage I've taken.

The fire breathing gargoyle is encased in a layer of arcane purple, rooted in place thanks to the machinations of the spell, and subjected to a magical burning. Try as it might, it can't break free from the arcane cage.

Ivy and I use the brief respite to heal up, as I steal a glance towards where Olivia, Belle and Mia are fighting the halberd wielder. They're holding their own, but only just.

I prepare a blast of ice as my spell nears its end, hoping I can finish it off with one last attack. The timer hits zero and the layer of arcane magic disappears.

I unleash the charged blast of ice, pouring as much mana as I dare into this one attack. The weakened gargoyle can't dodge quickly enough, and the hail of ice blasts it backward.

The storm of magic is too much for the stone creature, and it disappears into golden dust.

I whirl around to the remaining gargoyle, just in time to see Belle crashing into the wall of the bell tower, as the gargoyle slashes its massive weapon at Mia.

Having been previously injured, the attack is too much for the fragile aeromancer, and she disappears from the raid too.

Without a moment to lose, I charge into the fight, unleashing another powerful burst of ice magic. My mana bar dips below a quarter as my attack slams into the gargoyle.

It lets out a roar, while Olivia presses the advantage, blasting it with crystals. Ivy works her magic, healing up Belle from the backline. I conjure a mace of ice, hoping to save on mana, and nod to Olivia.

Olivia and I attack as one, getting in close together with the gargoyle. She goes left and I go right, smacking it from two different angles at the same time. It raises its halberd and we both dive forward as it swings, the silver blade whistling above us.

Belle sprints back in to help us, the gargoyle focusing its attention on her. The gargoyle slams its halberd down on the ground, but Belle dodges to the side, letting loose a powerful explosion of red mana.

The attack rocks the gargoyle, sending it staggering off balance. Olivia and I seize the moment and charge more of our magic, blasting the gargoyle again.

With a screech, the gargoyle whirls around and cleaves its halberd through the air towards Olivia and I. I'm not quick enough to dodge and I'm thrown to the side by the sheer impact of the attack, a massive gash opening up on my side.

I manage to catch myself before I roll off the roof, though I come dangerously close. Olivia managed to avoid the attack, and she jumps in to deliver a powerful counter blow.

It's at that moment, while its distracted by Olivia, that Belle unleashes the rest of her mana in a stunningly powerful blast of writhing red mana.

The brilliant attack ruptures the gargoyle's body with its force, and finally, the gargoyle throws its arms into the air and disintegrates into a golden dust.

I breathe a sigh of relief. We won. By the skin of our teeth, but we won.