Diana immediately gave Hugo a regeneration buff so he could stay in top shape.

Murray, now stabilized, barked orders to the rest of the team.

"Schwartz, Hugo — keep its attention away from us. We’ll break through its blind spots. Diana, support."

"Yeah!" Diana replied with newfound fervor.

The squad repositioned in haste.

Schwartz kept the monster at bay with lightning-fast movements, building electricity inside its body. Hugo supported from behind with timely blocks, which opened up more space for Schwartz to operate.

However, the abomination didn’t slow down at all. Its arms might be long and awkward, but the balanced proportions of its upper arms and forearms allowed fluid, fast movements.

While it showered a barrage of slashing blows, Schwartz ducked and weaved, turning each near miss into another chance to spike the thing with crackling arcs.

Murray slipped around its flank and drove his sword into the back of its knee. The creature didn’t react, but the leg buckled slightly before its innards pulled the gash shut and firmed the joint again.

’Its regeneration speed is crazy!’

Even with Murray’s ability to target weak spots, he couldn’t keep up with how quickly the wounds sealed. The most anyone besides Schwartz and Hugo could do was interrupt the creature’s attack patterns so Schwartz could deal heavy damage.

Fortunately, the sinew-armored creature relied heavily on its regeneration speed, ignoring those around it.

The other cocoons were still far from closing in, so Nuri weaved behind the abomination and slashed at it several times, hoping the poison would take effect.

But his cuts were far too shallow. It was like striking iron, leaving only marks on its skin instead of drawing blood.

’This fucking piece of junk!’

After several more attempts, Nuri realized the gap in stats was simply too wide for him to overcome. Frowning, he retreated to Diana’s side and watched the fight instead.

Next came Art. After unleashing a blitz of wind arrows, she unsheathed her daggers, circled behind it, and slashed with the full force of wind.

The gust tore a long gash up its back. The meat hung open, and the organs under the armor laid bare.

Schwartz knocked the sharpened arm aside and veered to the back.

"Hugo, hold the line."

The spear plunged into the gash, past the sinew armor, and into the soft mass beneath.

The lightning ran straight into the organs. White light bloomed deep inside the creature and raced through the wet tangle of viscera before the silk could wall it off.

Its whole body went rigid with a wet shriek. Its arms flew wide.

For a second, Nuri thought that was the end of it. Then the gash started closing around the spear.

Schwartz pulled the spear free before it was completely lodged inside.

"...Haha. This guy’s real tough."

Nuri frowned.

’No, we need a finisher.’

He weighed the options. Since he couldn’t deal any significant damage himself, he had to be the team’s eyes, or he would become deadweight, something he would never let himself be.

As the organs swelled and folded over the wound, Nuri came up with an idea.

"Diana," he whispered.

"Nuri?"

"Prepare a ball of fire. Make it dense and compact."

Diana looked at him with uncertainty. Until now, she had only been buffing the others and avoiding casting because her spells had a wide area of effect.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Believe in me." Nuri looked her dead in the eye.

"...Alright."

At her response, Nuri refocused on the battlefield. The cocoons were only two arm-lengths away from the super soldier.

"Hugo!" Nuri barked. "Use your energy and turn its back toward us."

Hugo didn’t ask why. He set his feet and planted his shield, flared with stored energy.

He rammed it to the side of the creature and let the compressed energy go all at once. The pulse caught the abomination off its planted leg and wrenched it around, hauling its open back toward the rest of the party.

It was still paralyzed, but it would only be a matter of time before it moved again.

"Murray, go at it! Open the wound!"

Murray didn’t waste words. He charged and brought his sword up in one decisive arc. The blade lacerated the wound, halting its regeneration for a moment and opening another opportunity.

"Art! Compress the wind as much as possible and smash the blades in!"

Art launched off Murray’s shoulder. She blurred forward with twin daggers, driving both of them directly into the smoking, electrified wound.

Then she triggered a surge of highly compressed wind into the beast’s flesh. The pressure made the monster wail in pain as its back visibly bloated and swelled around the wound.

Art kicked off the creature’s back, flipping backward into safety.

"Everyone! Move out the fucking way!"

The others scrambled back from the swollen, twitching mass. Nuri was already clear, and he spun toward Diana.

This was the part he had built the whole thing around. On its own, fire just scorched the surface and the creature’s rapid regeneration would just seal off the wound.

But now it was open and full of elements, ripe for an explosion.

Schwartz had been driving lightning into the organs the entire fight. Art had packed the cavity full of compressed wind on top of that, pressurizing the whole mess.

All of it was trapped in there with nowhere to go.

Fire was only the match.

"Diana, now!"

She thrust both palms forward. The fireball shot from them, dense and tight as a fist. Electricity pulled in the plasma orb, and it snapped forward like a magnet to steel, correcting its trajectory as it dove straight into the open laceration.

The orb vanished into the monster’s swollen back, and for one agonizing second, there was absolute silence.

The battlefield seemed to lose its sound as the internal pressure reached its absolute peak. Inside the creature, Diana’s white-hot heat met the massive, trapped pocket of pure wind Art had just injected with her daggers.

Then, the air shattered.