"What in the hell is this?" One of the Cait Sith mages shouted. Leafa didn't have an answer. Staring up at the swirling mist which rose above them like a great wall, she swallowed. She'd seen what that stuff had done to the forest. What would it do to bare flesh?

"Leafa!" Klein called for her attention and the Sylph Swordswoman raced back to his side. KoKo, Silica, and Klein were gathered in tight formation with Gaius and the other Dragoons as they continued to circle near the heart of the gales being kicked up by Lhamthanc. High above, the serpent prowled like a reef shark, protected from direct attack by a trailing cloud of the same noxious vapor that had trapped them here.

"Okay, people, we need ideas." Gaius shouted.

"Wind magic, blow away the mist?" Tabitha offered in the loudest voice that Leafa had ever heard the girl make.

"We tried that already." One of the Dragon Knights announced, using his wand to amplify his voice. Leafa wondered why Tabitha didn't use the same technique. "This gale isn't just produced by the Serpent's wings, it's some sort of powerful wind magic in its own right."

"What about tunneling?" Klein asked, "We've got earth magic users."

Gaius pointed down to where the mist had already begun to roll in among the trees of the forest. "Not going to cut it, unfortunately. We're going to have to take turns riding piggyback with the Dragons to recharge our wings, no place to land. Looks like the only way out is up, through the teeth of that boss."

"You sound entirely too calm about this." KoKo grumbled with an out of character note of irritation.

Gaius shrugged, "Would you prefer I panic? At this rate we have, maybe, ten minutes until those walls crush us and we all get turns into puddles of Faerie goo on the forest floor. I'm open to options, but at the moment, a full frontal assault is looking like our best bet."

Leafa placed a hand against her chest to still her heart. She didn't know why, but Lhamthanc terrified her. Was it because it was a real monster? She had fought other mobs since arriving in Halkegenia, and she had fought a few bosses in ALO. But normal mobs were just dangerous animals, and in ALO the bosses had ultimately been meant to be fun. This was different though. Those cold blooded eyes . . . They had belonged to a living thing, a living thing that deeply wanted to kill her.

"Okay then everyone. You know the drill, spread the word, the plan hasn't changed, we just have to pick up the pace. Squads D, E, and F, I want that monster suppressed and kept under continuous debuff, slow it down and hammer it with mana debuffs to see if it'll affect that poison shroud it's got around itself. Dragon Knights, you've got legs on us, I want you to try and get above it."

"So, you'd like for us to bait it?" One of the Knights offered dubiously.

"Pretty much." Gaius agreed, "At least you've got decent odds of escaping, Lhamthanc shouldn't be much faster than a flying Dragon. Which reminds me. Louise?"

"W-what – Y-yes?" The pink haired mage stammered as if surprised to be addressed.

"You'll be on point with Kakazu." Gaius instructed.

Louise turned white as a sheet as she tried to comprehend what had just been said. "What?"

Gaius shrugged once more, his ears making that same motion that KoKo's did. "Those explosions of yours were chewing holes in the snake like nobody's business. Let's see if it holds true with this new form. If worse comes to worse, you become the bait and Kakazu can ditch his Dragon and get you to safety."

"Hey!" The Dragoon shouted gruffly. Louise nodded and clutched her wand close to her chest.

Far below, a tree fell with a loud crack as the mist ate through its trunk. "Well, that's all the time we've got for planning. Let's get to it."

Leafa found herself flying close to Klein and KoKo as they climbed towards the serpent. Lhamthanc hadn't bothered to chase them down into the vortex it had created. The boss knew that this was their only way out.

"Commence attack!" Gaius barked. All around them the mage teams cast, first debuffs, then offensive magic. Lhamthanc's motions begun to slow under the effects of a speed debuff. Fireballs and lightning spells punched into its mist shroud, temporarily revealing the monster beneath. Then came the breath attacks from the Dragons. For a brief instant, Leafa got a good look at the serpent before the clouds closed in again. Suddenly, Lhamthanc's circling grew faster and the figure eight it had been describing around the top of the vortex stretched and unwound into a circular track racing around the vortex rim. Lhamthanc arced up into the sky and came corkscrewing back down.
+++
Leafa paused in mid air and squinted. Something wasn't right. The air was twisting around Lhathanc's body, it was like she could see perfectly clear smoke tracing the wind streams and spiraling off. A new vortex was forming within the great barrier that had them trapped. Leafa frowned, was this some sort of holdover, a special indicator from ALO that had become part of the boss's spell?

"Leafa?" Klein noticed that she had grown distracted.

"Klein, we need to be careful. I think something is about to happen."

No sooner had she spoken then Lhamthanc's jaw's opened and more mist boiled out and was swept up by the new vortex, spiraling outward and filling the eye of the storm with deadly streamers of poison mist. Faeries and Dragons took evasive action, but a few unfortunate souls found their paths intersecting with the streamers. Leafa heard the screams as a Cait Sith struck the mist, plummeting downward, his armor smoking as it was burned to his skin. He was saved only at the last instant as Tabitha and Sylphied dove after him.

"Dragoons, spread out, give each other room to maneuver!" Gaius instructed.

"No, they need to stick close together along the outer rim" Leafa shook her head and pointed to the 'there but not there' wind stream indicator. "See, that's the clear path, they just have to stick to it."

Klein squinted to where she was pointing. "What are you talking about Leafa? I don't see anything."

"Look, it's right there! You can see it too . . . right?" Leafa blinked a few times, Klein had to be able to see it, right? It was just so obvious when you started looking for it.

The Salamander shook his head, "Well, Sylphs do have better vision." Klein frowned, thinking hard, and then nodded to himself, "Okay, I'm going to follow your lead on this, if you think you've got a good handle on it."

Leafa nodded. "Right."

Of course now, she wasn't confident at all. Was she seeing things? No, the mist was definitely spreading the way the air streams indicated.

Together they chased after the Dragoons, diverting them onto the safe path. Just as she had suggested, as the streamers formed a complicated web of hazards within the barrier vortex, a path remained open around the perimeter. Gradually, the entire raid group started to gather in the safe zone, Leafa racing up and down to corral the stragglers. They were safe from the mist, but were dangerously exposed flying like this, the Dragons couldn't maneuver to attack and Lhamthanc's mist barrier kept the melee fighters from doing anything but offering a few weak attack spells.

Spells and debuffs were shot upwards, Gaius directing each attack for maximum effect to bracket the serpent as it flew within its cloud of mist. Finally, one of Louise's explosions landed on the serpent and all hell broke loose. A roar erupted from within the mist cloud and suddenly Lhamthanc was screaming downwards, wings folded, body coiling through the air. There was no place to run as the Serpent crashed into the Dragon that Louise was riding and quickly constricted around the mount.

Leafa gasped as she heard the Dragon's final roar and then organic groans and cracks as the powerful mob was slowly crushed by its attacker. Louise and her Dragoon escort struggled clear but were struck by the serpents tail and sent flying apart. The Dragoon was staggered and sent swirling towards the inner vortex, Louise screamed as she plummeted towards the mist shrouded ground below.

"Leafa!" Klein shouted. They both entered powered dive at the same time, thinking the same thing. "I'll get Louise, you take care of the Dragoon!"

"On it!"

They split off, Leafa grabbing the Dragoon. "Are you alright?" She asked the man.

"Just leave me alone", The man groaned shaking his head stiffly. "Sorry, I'll be fine. I just feel like I was hit by a bus."

Leafa led the disoriented man to safety among his comrades, watching as Lhamthanc climbed back through its web of mist to cut off their escape. Leafa could see the path the serpent was following, ever changing and shifting, but it was like only she and the Serpent could see them. At this rate, the Lhamthanc's attacks were going to slowly wear them down, or pin them until the walls collapsed and they were all eaten alive by the poison mist.

"Oy, we need a new plan." Klein grunted as he came up beside her. Louise clung to him, trembling after her near death experience.

"M-mangy lizard!" Louise stuttered.

For some reason, Lhamthanc seemed to really hate Louise's explosions. The seed of a plan took root in Leafa's mind. "Klein, I think I have an idea."

"I'm all ears." The Salamander offered as Silica and KoKo approached.

"Listen." Leafa said, "Can anyone else see it? The paths in the air?" She asked. The blank expression on the faces of the gathered Faeries and Louise was all the answer she needed. She shook her head. "Okay, you're just going to have to trust me on this, but I think I can get us under the boss's mist shroud. There are . . . air currents all around the shroud. I guess Lhamthanc must use a lot of wind magic to keep it in place. There are gaps in the shroud at the front and the rear." Leafa bit her lip, "But you'll have to follow me close, the currents are constantly changing."

"What do we do then?" Silica asked. The others nodded and for a moment Leafa was taken aback by their trust.

Leafa continued. "Well then . . . Then Louise hits it with the biggest explosion she can. There has to be some reason it's going after you Louise, your attacks keep drawing its attention. I think something about your explosions are hurting it. Once we have it distracted, we can try to lead it up out of the Vortex and clear the way for the rest of the raid."

The others had agreed and they had raced back up to Gaius to explain their plan, tactfully not mentioning that the whole thing hinged on following invisible paths that only Leafa could see.

Lhamthanc began its next pass, sweeping down towards them. The boss was hidden in its mist cloud as it banked along the inner wall of the vortex towards the fleeing raid. Louise clung tighter to Klein as the monster approached.

Leafa squinted, the paths were like weird heat ripples, invisible if she didn't look for them, but easy to follow once she did. They raced out to meet the approaching Serpent and then banked to the side, KoKo, Klein, and Silica following her lead as they swung back around. Just as she had thought, the shroud thinned at the rear and a narrow gap existed where the shaping air flows converged, Lhamthanc keeping a bubble of fresh air around itself to protect against its own poison.
+++
The gap was tiny, barely wide enough for them to fly one after another. Racing along the narrow path past the serpent's twisting body. Their first target came into view. "Louise, aim for the wings, if we knock those out this will turn back into a ground fight!" KoKo advised.

Louise didn't need to be told twice, the girl aimed her first spell and fired. The mage must have taken Leafa's request to heart, because the resulting explosion was at least twice the size of her previous efforts. The serpent roared surprise as it suddenly found Faeries attacking inside the safety of its shroud. The wings beat angrily, the shroud beginning to come apart around them.

"This way!" Leafa shouted, leading the others along a dissipating current that lead clear of the dissolving shroud. As hoped, the serpent gave chase, intent on consuming its chief tormentor.

The walls were closing in visibly now, they needed to get above the vortex as fast as possible. Leafa felt her wings fold flush with her back as she followed the rippling and changing path. 'Faster.' She thought, they need to go faster! Klein, KoKo, and Silica stuck close as she lead them into the inner vortex, ducking and diving between the spinning coils and streamers of corrosive mist. 'Faster.' They couldn't afford to even be grazed. 'Faster!' The others could barely keep up.

Far below, the lowest sections of the outer vortex were stating to collapse inwards. The cylindrical eye of the storm was becoming an inverted cone. They had even less time left! Leafa thought.

Instead of trying to chase them along the same route, Lhamthanc twisted off along a different path, trying to reach the top of the vortex and trap them. They had to make it first!