Giant Slava began attacking Kent. Luckily, it was slow enough that Kent could dodge the balls of lava it began launching at him.
I was panicking. What are we going to do?!
“This is thanks for carrying me,” Ifrit suddenly announced. “Defeat that foe, Tarte,” she commanded, singling out my apprentice.
Tarte yowled in surprise while Ifrit stood with her hands on her hips and gave Tarte a pointed stare. What are you waiting for? the Fire Spirit’s gaze seemed to ask.
“Wh-What do you mean?!” Tarte stammered.
I kind of wanted to panic along with my apprentice, but we couldn’t afford to do that right now. I’d never seen a monster like this in the game. Even if it had a 0.1 percent spawn rate like the normal Slava, I’d have heard about something this big. Is it because of Ifrit? She had said it was a token of her gratefulness to Tarte. What part of this is a thank-you gift, though?! Only one thing was clear—we had to take down that Giant Slava.
“I-I’m going to try attacking! Purrtion Throw!” Tarte landed a hit on Giant Slava, but the Molotov sank into its body and exploded inside of it. To be honest, it didn’t look like it had dealt too much damage.
“This doesn’t look easy.” I glanced over at Ifrit, who still watched us with a smirk on her face, like she knew Tarte could handle this. I didn’t think she could, though. From what I could see, we could barely hope to defeat the Giant Slava even working together as a party.
After applying the usual buffs to everyone, I cast Smiting Light on each of us. First and foremost, we needed to boost our Attack. While firing off attacks, Cocoa also sang debuffs at Giant Slava that would make this fight a little more manageable.
“Got Your Nose!” Kent stunned Giant Slava, giving the rest of us an opening to attack. The giant blob of lava screamed, showing that we were dealing more damage in this state. Our attacks are working...more than I thought!
Then, Giant Slava stretched high up, creating armlike appendages and bringing them down toward Kent—who narrowly avoided the pillars of lava. “This way!” Kent drew Giant Slava’s attention, creating another opening for our attackers.
“Smiting Light! Starlight! Moonlight!” I made sure to triple Kent’s Attack and cast passive healing on him. One hit, and Kent would take a massive amount of damage. Just in case I wasn’t available to heal him right away, I wanted to use those Skills preemptively.
“Purrtion Throw combo!” Tarte let out a long yowl, casting her Skill as many times as she could and throwing Molotov after Molotov that exploded violently on impact. Still, she wasn’t dealing all that much damage to the mountain of lava.
Tarte huffed out a breath, probably trying to think of a way to break through Giant Slava’s defenses.
At the same time, Cocoa and L’lyeh were attacking relentlessly...but Giant Slava didn’t go down. We were all panting by now, our bodies beginning to give out. Giant Slava had jacked up the heat in this place, making it far hotter than it had been before.
Out of breath, Tarte looked to Ifrit. “Can we really win against that thing...?” She’d asked the question we were all thinking.
“Of course,” Ifrit answered with unwavering confidence. She was convinced that we had what it took to defeat Giant Slava. She’d even called it a token of thanks. Maybe there was some outside-the-box strategy to defeat it. Like pouring water on it? No, that won’t do much good against lava. Or else, one of Tarte’s items or Skills could be the key to winning this fight. That seemed likely, since Ifrit had singled her out...but I couldn’t think of what that could be! I scratched my head, desperate for at least a hint.
“Taunt! Ow, that’s hot!” Kent had drawn Giant Slava’s attention but must have grazed hot lava—he jumped away in pain.
“Rainbow Rejuvenation!” I shouted. It wasn’t easy dealing with lava without much protection.
If only we could trap it between the boulders too... Could we? “Wait. I think we can. Kent, the boulders!” That should get my point across.
“Really?! I’ll try it!” Kent sprinted to the boulders where we’d trapped the regular Slava. Sweat trickled down his face, either from the heat or from the dread of what he’d have to do. “Bring it on! Taunt!” When Kent activated his Skill, Giant Slava turned and began sliding toward him. “How slowly does it move?!” Kent was taken aback for a second but quickly regained his focus and used Taunt again.
Sure enough, Giant Slava became stuck—or at least blocked by the boulders, which were much smaller than it.
“You’re up, Tarte. Give it all you got,” Kent said.
I immediately cast Smiting Light on Tarte and prepared to focus on supporting her. There was only one thing left to do.
“I will! Purrtion Throw!”
“Smiting Light!”
“Purrtion Throw! Purrtion Throw! And one more Purrtion Throw!”
“Smiting Light! Smiting Light! Smiting Light!”
I matched every Potion Throw with a Smiting Light. Even if each attack only dealt a little bit of damage, Giant Slava had to go down eventually. As long as Giant Slava was stuck in those boulders, Tarte just had to throw Molotovs at it until it went down. Easy.
“Purrtion Throw! Purrtion Throw!” She patiently kept up her attacks, and I made sure to cast Smiting Light each time, reapplying the usual buffs whenever I had the chance.
Cocoa and L’lyeh were standing by, allowing Tarte to deal as much damage as she could since this was apparently her reward to reap. We didn’t even know if anyone else was allowed to attack.
“You can do it, Tarte!” Cocoa cheered.
“I’ll give you a treat when you do,” L’lyeh added.
“You got this!” I shouted whenever I could spare a second.
“I’ll do my best, Meowster!” Tarte answered, throwing another Molotov.
We repeated this...over a hundred times at least.
“I really hope...it’ll go down soon! Purrtion Throw!” Tarte put all her strength behind yet another Potion Throw, her breath ragged from exertion. She couldn’t keep this up for much longer.
“Come on!” I shouted...and the final Molotov turned the Giant Slava into a burst of light. Great timing.
Tarte trilled in surprise too.
“You did it,” Kent said in relief.
At the same time, a loud clang came from where the Giant Slava had once been. I went over to see what had made the sound and found a large cauldron used for alchemy. Is this Ifrit’s token of gratitude?
With happy trills and tail twitches, Tarte carefully lifted the cauldron. “Ameowzing. It’s called...Ancient Emberglow Cauldron. It sounds impurressive.”
“I’ve never heard of that item...” I said. “It must be a more advanced cauldron for Formulation.”
“I think so.” Overcome with excitement, Tarte squeezed the cauldron in her little arms. “I can’t wait to try it out.”
I was looking forward to her using it, just as much as she was. That had been quite an ordeal, but getting our hands on a new item like this made it all worth it.