Radich struggled to open his eyes. He wondered why his face and body were hugging rough floor. A giant statue came from the ceiling, he remembered. How long was he asleep, he then asked himself. His vision was muffled, and his hearing was blurry. Every thought was a punch to his head. He wanted to keep lying down, but he knew the rest were fighting. His arms were limp as a cooked noodle, but he mustered whatever strength he had to lift his torso from the ground.

  He looked to his right. "Ari?" He said wearily as he sluggishly crawled towards the motionless Ari. A violent wind blew towards him as he braced himself. His vision was slowly getting better. The ring in his ear was disappearing. He squinted and saw the half-lion, half-eagle granite beast's beak wrapped around Borgis' iron shield. Pin came from the side and punched the griffin on its torso with his shining Moonfists, causing the giant statue to sway to the side.

  Radich covered himself in front of Ari, protecting her from whatever comes with his sluggish body and looked at the fight ahead.

  Pin retreated but faintly limped because of his injured foot. The griffin shrieked as it rebounded from the punch

  "How are you handling your injury, Pin." Borgis asked with eyes deadlocked on the griffin.

  "I'm getting used to it, now,"" Pin replied with confidence. "These fists are something else," he said with wonder. "They are as light as a feather but pack a destructive force with every punch."

  "The higher the reward, the higher the price!" said Azeri with ice spikes forming in her hand.

  "Let's draw it away from Radich and Ari!" Izik rallied as the emerald on the griffin sparkled as it amassed a compressed tornado in its on Borgis and Pin.

  The rest nodded in agreement as they stood on the opposite side of the fallen two.

  Izik stood in front of the two as the vortex grew larger and more intense before launching at them. Izik's arms were engulfed in violent winds and created a tornado to counter the griffin's, but his could only soften the wind as he flew backwards and caught by Borgis.

  The animated statue could do nothing but shriek. Ice spikes the size of short swords hit its head but could not pierce it. "Tch," Azeri's brows furrowed in frustration. "He is too tough!"

  The griffin turned towards Azeri and charged on all fours. Azeri used created some distance by creating a wall of spiked ice, but it broke like glass and the griffin kept charging. Borgis tackled it with his shield shaped like a bull with massive horns, and then struck it with a mace of hardened steel. The griffin shrieked but there was barely scraped by the hit. The statue turned quickly to Borgis and bit his side.

  "Borgis!" Izik yelled as he pulled out his dagger from its sheath.

  "Don't worry," Borgis smirked, his side was covered in hard stone. "I am Borgis the Golem, or did you forget?" His shield and mace retreated into his arm as the griffin's sharp peak dug into the stone, struggling to pull out. Borgis wrapped his arms around the neck of the statue and held it in its place. "Now! Hit him with everything you have!"

  "Nice one, Borgis!" Azeri 's hand seemed frozen as she placed them on the ground, a streak of ice spread towards the griffin's legs, freezing them in their place.

  Pin launched a barrage of body shots on the same place he has hit the griffin before, a shimmer of glowing moonlight radiating with each hit. The griffin shrieked as part of its side crumbled to the ground and left a cavity in its place.

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  Izik gathered flame on his dagger. The flame raged as it grew in size and then compressed to the shape of an ignited greatsword. He dashed to the tail of the statue and scorched the tail right off it, turning the sliced ends into sizzling glass.

  The griffin shook violently and lifted Borgis from his position and flung it to the other side of the chamber. It spread its wings as the emerald glowed brightly, and flew into the air, blowing the other three away.

  Pin tripped and fell to the ground, Azeri used water to soften the blow to the wall, and Izik used wind to find his footing.

  The griffin dived towards Izik and readied its talons. Izik tried to dodge, but his balance betrayed him. He screamed in pain as the talons gashed his left arm.

  "Izik!" The group called to him, but they were too far to do anything.

  In a fit of panic, he threw a fireball on it, landing on the statue's right hind leg. On contact, an explosion of steam broke its leg off, spreading rubble everywhere.

  The griffin fell to the ground and screeched, as if it was a cornered living animal. It clicked to Izik and looked at Borgis, who appeared to have the same conclusion.

  "Azeri," Izik yelled. "I have an idea!"

  "What is it?" Azeri ran towards him. "How did you take off its leg like that?"

  "I want you to freeze the hole on his side." Izik told Azeri. "I'll hit the frozen hole with fire, the sudden change in temperature will create an explosion."

  Azeri was abashed. "Of course. Why didn't we think of this sooner?" She cracked her fingers and covered her hand with ice. "Okay, leave it to me," she said with a smirk.

  The air turned frigid around Azeri as ice spikes floated around her arms. The griffin stumbled as it looked at her with its stony eyes, as if it was challenging Azeri. She launched the spikes towards the griffin, but it deflected them with violent winds as it flew into the air.

  "I will not let you get away!" Borgis roared as he struck the wall next to him, creating ripples in the wall. The ripple crossed to the ceiling on top of the unaware griffin and boulders rained on it, making fall to the ground.

  The griffin desperately tried to get up, but Pin was already near it. His hand glowed like the moon itself as he punched the same hole on its body, deepening the hole and made the granite beast fall again.

  "Thank you, Pin!" Azeri said as she launched the spikes again. They shattered on impact, freezing the cavity to sub-zero temperatures.

  "This is the end," Izik said, aiming his finger with compressed ball of blaze. It launched at an incredible speed as disappeared into the icy hole. In an instant, steam rushed in every direction, obliterating the griffin from within. The limbs flew into crumbles, and the head slammed into the ground. The stone-creature weakly shrieked, as the emerald lost it hue.

  "Is it over?" Izik breathed deeply, holding his bloody arm.

  The door opened to the group. "I guess it is," Azeri panted as she sat on the ground.

  Pin ran to check on Radich and Ari, who were still lying on the ground.

  Borgis huffed and went to Izik. "Let's check on Ari so she can help you with your arm."

  Ari was up, her hands glowing with bright green aura and placed on Izik's wound. Three cuts to the arm. The gashes close slowly, but the scar was still there. "It will still hurt for a while. I cannot fully heal large wounds," she said with dismay.

  "This is still great, Ari" Izik said with a smile." Thank you."

  Ari smiled back with a blush as she continued healing his arm.

  "You all fought gloriously," said Borgis with a thumb's up.

  "I can't believe I slept through all of that," Radich nervously chuckled.

  "I saw you moving at first," Azeri said flatly before talking a sip from her esper.

  "You were imagining it!" he screeched as the rest laughed.

  "Now, we should all eat to recover!" Borgis said as he pulled out pieces of jerky and bread that looked like a brick.

  "This esper is recovery enough," Azeri said while shaking her bottle.

  "You should not count on it so much, young Azeri." Borgis munched on the jerky. "It helps from time to time but taking too much too often can make you tired faster. Food, drink, and rest are the best remedies to fatigue!"

  "Thanks for the tip," she said with a half-smile. "But I'm not hungry."

  "Suit yourself. What about you, young’uns?"

  "I'll have some of the jerky, please." Pin said.

  "And I'll have some of the bread!" Radich added. He munched on the bread, and the bread remained stiff as a boulder, almost cracking his teeth. The rest stayed away from the food.

  "I have cheese and milk," Ari offered quietly.

  Are the chapters too short?