"Now what the fuck is that?!", cried Stephen as rocks rained down on them from the monster's body. Emma shielded the eight as rocks smashed her enchantment and turned to dust.
"Everybody, distract it, I'll hide behind a rock and figure out the hell that is.", cried Trent as he pulled out his mother's book.
"What's that?" asked Violet eyeing it.
"A book my mom left. Got information on all mythics.", he said as he rummaged through the pages.
"Not the time for small talk, you two! Everybody, I'm calling off the shield in a second, rush in all directions and distract it as Trent will figure out what to do.", cried Emma as the shield was withdrawn. The people scattered as they occupied different positions and readied an attack on the thing. The monster truly was one to fear, a tall humanoid rock golem made of thousands of rocks that made the base of the hill. It held them together by it's strong magic as the crevices in the rock were evidently visible. The team begun shooting their magic and weapons in its way as Trent took cover behind a rock.
"Trent?! Help us out here, quick!", cried Emma as she dodged a falling stone.
"Aha! Got something! It's called a Polylithus!", he cried.
"Who the fuck cares what it's called?! How do we defeat it?!", cried Stephen as he was nearly crushed under the thing's foot.
"It's said here that it was made to help the dragons erect the mountains of Pyrothos.", Trent continued.
"Trent, if the next words coming out of your mouth aren't it's weak spots I'll cook you over a flame!", said Stephen as he again ran across the monster's legs.
"The book reads that it's made of many rocks held together by magic! Strike the crevices and let the rocks dismantle, they're weakly held together and will come off with not much force. Go for the neck and blast it off, it'll collapse under it's own weight soon after!", cried Trent as he closed the book and pulled out his pistol as he emerged from behind the rock. Soon after he said this, Violet begun climbing and running vertically along the monster's legs as she tried making ground upwards. She reached the monster's waist as she dug her blade into it's crevices, which maddened the thing. The monster caught hold of Violet with it's fingers as it threw her across and sent her to a twenty foot drop. Luckily, Anneliese chanted a spell that caught Violet before she landed.
"Oi imp, let's do our thing!", cried Gavin as he picked Stephen on his shoulders. Her leaped high with his Troll legs as he landed on the thing's chest and propelled Stephen near its face.
"Emalf!", Stephen cried as fire rushed into the monster's eye sockets. The Polylithus cried and shook it's head as Stephen fell over and came hurling towards the ground.
"Sboob!", he yelled as two cushions emerged from the ground and caught Stephen as he rolled off them, landing safely. Gavin too jumped on the cushions and bounced to safety.
"Guys, we're unable to stay on the thing's body for long.", said Emma as she sent a few projectiles at the monster's legs, but they would just bounce off.
"Well, then let's flip the odds.", said Anneliese as she begun levitating with her staff in one hand. She used strong gusts to get near the monster's neck as she sent hot water into it's crevices. It squealed a horrible rocky sound as it's palm swatted Anneliese mid-air like a fly and sent her rushing towards the ground. Natasha caught her as she chanted a cushion with her mist.
"Violet, let's show this guy who's boss! I'll give you a gust at your feet, you stab at it as you always do!", said Natasha as mist surrounded her palms.
"You got it!", cried Violet as she readied her blade. A gust came beneath her feet as she was sent far into the air, she landed on the monster's neck. She struck her blade with great precision in the crevice that separated the head from the neck and dug deep inside. The monster cried as shook it's head, but Violet was determined not to move. Trent shot many pellets to aid her, which also struck it's neck, making it cry more. Finally it managed to shake off Violet as her blade detached and she came rushing down towards the ground, only to be caught by Anneliese's magic.
"Everybody, stop! We're fighting as if we're eight strangers, we don't stand a second against that thing if we do so. I know some of us don't know each other very well, but we're all skilled combats with battle training, we need to learn to work together.", said Emma to the seven.
"She has a point, guys, we need to function as a unit or we're toast. All for one and one for all!", cried Trent as the eight gathered together in a small circle as Emma enchanted a shield.
"What did you have in mind?", asked violet. Trent proceeded to explain the entire plan that he had thought of for the eight as they all eagerly waited. Dice were cast and plans were set, Trent gave Emma a signal as the shield was withdrawn and the eight were set loose.
"Alright, everybody, listen up! Mages to one side, brutes to another and ranges in the back! Go, go, go!", Trent cried as everybody assembled.
Anneliese and Emma stood at the foot of the monster as they prepared their magic spells, Gavin stood alongside Violet and Natasha, Trent was aided by Ann and Stephen.
"Brutes, harm it, mages, break it, we'll cover you!", Trent yelled as they all prepared an attack.
Gavin hoisted Violet on his shoulders as he used his Troll legs to leap high into the air, landing on the thing's chest. Violet let go of Gavin's shoulders as she ran along it's body and sent a beam of purple inside it's chest through the crevices of the rocks. The Polylithus tried smashing it's chest with its arm to squash Violet, but Natasha showed up levitating as she built a purple bubble around Violet and protected her.
"Gavin, go!", Natasha cried as Gavin pulled out his Crush and smashed the thing's chest repeatedly as it maddened and swatted it's arms. Rocks fell from near its neck as Gavin gracefully avoided them. Many more begun to fall and started catching Gavin in the shoulders as they bruised him a little.
"Don't you worry, oh Troll of ours!", cried Stephen as he chanted spells that exploded the rocks before they hit Gavin. Trent exploded them with his pistol, and Ann with her enchanted arrows. The brutes continued to deliver lethal blows to it's chest as the Polylithus cried hopelessly.
"Now, do it!", said Trent as he continued cover fire. Soon after he'd said this, Anneliese summoned a vine from the ground that shot itself far above and anchored onto the waist of the thing.
"Emma, go! Catch it on the top, and I'll follow!", she cried as Emma ran at great speeds up the vine and reach the monster's waist. She gripped the vine with enchanted strength as Anneliese too ran upwards and made way towards the waist, all while the monster's chest was being smashed by Gavin and Violet. Now the elementals chanted many hot water spells and they begun seeping into all the crevices in the waist of the monster, which left it pained horribly. Natasha now too joined the action as she sent out her mist into the crevices of the monster's chest alongside Gavin and Violet. The monster was ridiculed as it was being smashed in two places at once on the ground of it's giant body. It cried and swatted it's arms but the combined forces of the eight were too much to handle. The weakening continued as many more cracks were made in it's rocks.
"Everybody, go up, now!", cried Trent from down below.
Gavin, Violet and Natasha now begun rushing upwards from the monster's chest as they were covered by the crossfire of Trent, Stephen and Ann. Eventually they managed to reach the neck of the monster as no rock could harm them, thank the precision of the ranges.
"Here you go, Violet!", Gavin yelled as he pushed her far above the monster's neck, exactly on the crevice they saw was the weakest.
"Slash at it, Violet! Don't hold back!", Trent cried from below. Violet slashed her blade ruthlessly into the crevice of the monster as it squealed and cried, swatted and swayed but Violet had the strongest grip. The Troll and Natasha were dangling on the neck of the monster as either of them were too heavy to make their way up, which is why Violet was chosen for this. She slashed again and again as the monster continued to cry, but the head still didn't detach. Finally the monster, out of pain and discomfort, reached its hand near Violet and tried gripping her even after being hit by the crossfire.
"He'll catch Violet! Emma, do something!", cried Ann from below. Emma and Anneliese then chanted a strong spell that sent out two thick magical ropes and wrapped the monster's hand right before it managed to latch on to Violet.
"Don't worry, Stephen's coming for help! Epor Lacitsym!", Stephen yelled as his rope too was now latched strongly on the monster's arms. The monster again squealed as Violet continued digging, yet the outcome was the same.
"My blade won't be able to pierce through and none of the others have a clean shot! Trent, any more ideas?!", cried Violet as she continued stabbing with no avail.
"Ideas... Ideas... Ideas...", Trent thought to himself. "I got it! Oi, Gavin, didn't you have the knight's spear with you? It's strong enough to pierce dragonscales, I reckon it'll work!", he cried at Gavin.
"Oh wait, yes! Forgot about this one.", the Troll said as he reached into his hides and pulled out the spear as he uncovered the head.
"Here, Violet, catch!", he yelled as he tossed the spear. Violet caught the spear with her right hand as it shone brightly, even from up above. A simple spear it was, a wooden stick that hoisted a brilliant elven blade forged centuries back whose mines were only found in the dirt of Sylvanora.
"Good fight, rock monster, but you've met your match!", she cried as she smashed the spear deep inside the crevice. The spear made through as if it were butter and cut deep inside the monster. The Polylithus cried a last cry as it eventually became silent and stood there completely muted.
"What happened? Did we win?", asked Ann confused. Just then, the head begun to rumble as cracks ran all over the body of the Polylithus and dust begun flying everywhere.
"It's about to collapse! Everybody, out!", cried Emma from below. Just as Emma had predicted, the Polylithus began rumbling ever stronger as the cracks ran across the entire rock body and smaller rocks begun falling over. Finally the body begun to give out, the head toppled over at it smashed across the torso and sent boulders flying everywhere, and eventually the entire body of a mythic was dust. The dust and smoke filled the entire foothills and the five were nowhere to be seen.
"Emma! Gavin! Violet! Natasha! Anneliese!", cried Trent, Ann and Stephen as their voice echoed into the smoke but nothing was heard. The dust spread stronger and further as smoke grew everywhere, nothing was to be seen or heard. The three gasped as tears filled their eyes, but just as you must've predicted, a purple bubble emerged from the dusts as Emma emerged hoisting the rest.
"Oh thank God!", Ann cried as she ran towards them and hugged them all.
"Holy shit, that was cool! Damn team work rocks for real!", Ann cried as she jumped on Gavin's shoulders.
"Now, now, that was an easy one. The Polylithus is one of the weakest mythics ever made, it was merely a labourer to the almighty Dragons. Honestly, we got lucky this time, Polylithus are very tame, even after the curse they weren't able to show strong aggression.", Trent said as he read from his book.
"Cheer up, dude.", said Violet nudging him. "I still don't understand why that thing was awakened in the first place.", she continued.
"Well, as always I have the answer. The shockwave that Emma sent possibly triggered the rocks and rumbled them which awakened the once asleep Polylithus.", Trent said slyly.
"So, I'm at fault?", asked Emma, taken aback a little.
"No! God's sake, don't ever think that! It was merely a coincidence, there's no way you could've known. Regardless, what you've done by awakening that thing might actually have been positive.", Trent replied gripping her arm.
"What must you mean by that?", asked Emma confused.
"See for yourself.", Trent replied as he pointed at the base of the mountain.
What they saw amazed them. The rocks that had made the body of the Polylithus were previously assembled into the base of the mountain, in the ancient times that used to be the home of a Polylithus. Now, however, with the Polylithus turned to dust, the entire heart of the mountain was cleanly cut and showed a path across the first mountain that directly led the the base of the second.
"Holy crap! We've managed to reduce our entire journey by a whole mountain!", jumped Stephen as he hugged everyone.
"That's truly amazing! Good job, Emma!", said Violet as she clapped her hands.
"Right place and right time, literally.", she chuckled.
The eight hugged their differences out and cheered each other up as they gazed into the great sight, a strongly carved tunnel that cut itself into the heart of the first mountain and opened into the second almost making a passage, truly it was remarkable. They waited for no longer, for rocks can't be trusted, as they gathered their belongings, kissed each other's cheeks and headed to the foothills of the second mountain.
"Gold! Gold! Gold!", Stephen's voice echoed as they made way across the first mountain and headed to the foothills of the second, to begin a long trek.
