Siaxes loosed her arrow, the shaft slamming squarely into Little Blue's belly. The head detonated with a sharp crack, yet nothing happened. The hulking Sentinel kept striding forward as though the blast were no more than a pebble tossed at its hide.
She didn't even have time to be shocked before two purple globs of venom dropped from above. Fei rolled aside, dodging one, but the other splattered against Siaxes's heel with a hiss. Acrid smoke curled upward as the venom etched shallow burns into her armored boots.
"Don't move!" Sai leveled her clarinet at Siaxes's foot, pressing three keys in rapid succession before blowing hard. A powerful gust of air blasted the venom away, though not before leaving ugly scars across the boot's surface. "It can corrode even our armor… if that had stuck to your skin, you'd be in real trouble."
Fei, teeth clenched, raised his firearm. He slammed two enchanted bullets into the chamber and fired in quick succession. "Try my custom armor-piercers!"
Both rounds slammed into Little Blue, one to the forehead, one to the chest. The result was underwhelming: a fingernail-sized chip flaked off its brow, and a shallow dent marred its chest plate. Nothing more.
"This thing's hide is insane!" Fei muttered. Those rounds could pierce a fully armored knight clean through. For the Sentinel to shrug them off was absurd.
"More incoming!" Sai barked, whipping her clarinet upward. She blasted aside two more gobs of venom hurtling toward them.
Siaxes grimaced, yanked a special arrow from her quiver, and fired. Its spiraled arrowhead whirled as it flew, the fletching erupting into flame that boosted its speed even further. Little Blue raised its massive hand, intercepting the shot. The spiraled tip punched clean through its palm, yet the Sentinel calmly clenched its fist, snapping the arrow to pieces before casting the fragments aside.
"Everyone, focus on finding the summoner!" Foster bellowed. He had seen enough to know the rooftop crew couldn't hold this creature off alone. Selude's hammer and Frus's axe would have a better chance at cracking its body.
Five of the armored Knights surged forward. Foster and Selude went straight for Little Blue, while Sekende and Frus veered toward Little Red, the second hulking figure further back. Tess swung his saber at two Gromps bounding alongside the monsters.
The frogs leapt easily clear, throats swelling before spewing arcs of venom at Tess.
Siaxes and Frus finally realized the truth: it wasn't the purple golem spitting venom at all, but these revolting toads. They instantly raised bow and musket, loosing their shots. One bullet tore through a frog's belly, another arrow punched into its side. Both creatures shrieked, then retaliated with even greater ferocity, spitting twin streams of venom at Tess.
The saber-wielder dodged nimbly, but his bulk slowed him down. One blob splashed across his shoulder guard, another seared into his arm guard. Both plates hissed and smoked as the venom ate into the enchanted steel.
Tess snarled. Seeing his armor corrode lit a fire in his chest. Abandoning all hesitation, he charged. His saber telescoped outward, stretching to cleave at a frog's skull. The beast sprang aside, but the rooftop support was waiting. A bullet and an arrow struck it mid-air, detonating in tandem and blasting the frog.
The Gromp croaked, spat out one final mouthful of venom, and vanished into smoke.
Its companion met the same fate, after a few desperate exchanges under the coordinated assault of three armored Knights, it too was forced back into the canyon.
Tess was left battered. His left shoulder guard was eaten through, a piece of his battle boot had broken away, and even his breastplate and arm guards bore fresh scars.
On the rooftop, Sai cursed, "That idiot! Why didn't he use the sonic array built into his shoulder guard?"
Fei sighed, reloading his firearm. "You know Tess. That guy's head only has muscles and that oversized saber in it. Giving him enchanted armor is practically a waste."
While the rooftop trio dealt with the frogs, the other four were already locked in a brutal fight.
Selude hefted his great hammer and slammed it straight into Little Blue's chest. But the hulking Sentinel didn't even stagger. Without so much as a grunt, it swung a massive fist down at him.
Seeing the strike about to crush Selude, Forsite shoved him aside and raised his round shield. Magic circles flared on both his shield and helmet.
The blow landed with a deafening boom. Both arrays shattered instantly, and the shield shrieked under the impact.
Forsite's expression darkened. He poured strength-boosting Magic into his gauntlet, but even so, he couldn't halt the shield's retreat.
With a heavy crash, the shield drove into his chest, sending him skidding backwards. His boots dug twin furrows into the dirt, but the momentum carried him straight into the half-open fortress gate. The impact blew it wide, and his helmet rolled away with a metallic clatter.
"Boss!" Selude shouted, eyes wide.
Coughing blood, Forsite waved him off with one hand. "Don't look at me, watch the enemy!"
The warning came just in time. Selude heard the air split behind his head. He dropped into a roll, narrowly avoiding Little Blue's fist. The strike cratered the ground where he had stood, cracks racing outward until they nearly split the ground beneath him.
"Damn it!" Selude roared. Blue light pulsed along his arm guard. "Mountain Rock Shatter!"
The great hammer ignited with crimson light, the head whistling through the air as he swung with all his might.
Little Blue did not flinch. It met the blow head-on, slamming its fist forward.
The collision erupted in a thunderous explosion, blasting dust and smoke across the battlefield.
When the haze cleared, Selude stared in disbelief. Two of the Golem's finger joints lay on the ground, shattered like chunks of ordinary stone. But purple light swelled at the stump, and before his eyes the broken digits slowly regrew, piece by piece.
Selude's confidence cracked. That had been his ultimate strike, yet all it had done was break half a finger. Worse, the recoil numbed his arms so badly he could barely keep hold of his hammer.
"What kind of monster is this thing?" he muttered, shaking out his hands, face pale.
Meanwhile, Forsite staggered back into the fray, sword and shield in hand. His steps were heavy, but his will hadn't wavered. He had barely crossed the doorway when a black figure came hurtling past him, smashing through the furniture inside the fortress before slamming into the far wall with bone-jarring force.
Forsite's eyes widened. The man's armor was shattered, his weapon snapped clean in two. "That axe… Frus?!"
His stomach sank. "Does that mean… the four-legged beast is even worse than this stone giant?"