"Explosions, eh?" Gaius rubbed his chin. One of the Tristanian Dragon Knights leaned in and exchanged a few words with Gaius. The Cait Sith's ears twitching as he thought about what was said.

"I know." Louise bit out angrily. She was a failure at magic, but even a failure ought to be able to do something, right?

"Wait, is she disappointed that she can cast explosions?" A voice among the Faeries asked. "You need a magic skill of at least five hundred for that!"

"It's not about numbers any more, idiot." Someone else shouted back.

"I'm just saying! Giant snake. Another magic user can't hurt right?"

Gaius raised a hand to silence the remarks among his men and gave a small nod to the Dragon Knight. "You say you're sixteen?" The Cait Sith shook his head. "Not that it matters, I'm sure there are people in this squadron who are lying about their age. Kakazu, do you mind taking a passenger?"

"It's fine with me." A black haired Dragoon with faintly striped ears replied in a rasping voice.

"Then welcome to the raid group Miss Valliere." Gaius decided, and then shrugged. "Try not to die. Alright everyone let's move out, Squads A, B, and C, then on through the alphabet, staggered flight from here on."

Louise found herself being helped aboard Kakazu's Dragon, the creature spitting and hissing the whole time like some of the more aggressive specimens found on the Valliere estate. "Get yourself comfortable." The Faerie advised before taking up the reins. Louise did as suggested, taking her goggles from her pocket and pulling them over her eyes. She'd need to be able to see well once they were up in the sky.

"If this is where we part ways, I wish you and your allies luck Miss Valliere." Roseau called from the roadside.

Louise waved back as Kakazu made a clicking noise with his tongue. His Dragon spread its wings and began to run forward in a clumsy gate, picking up speed, jumping, once, twice, and then taking to the sky.

'Just when will this end?' Klein wondered as he grabbed hold of Tabitha's offered hand to steady himself before landing atop Sylphied to rest his wings. The wings were magical constructs, there were no muscles or joints to get sore or tired, but even so, Klein's back burned from hours spent in the air. He felt completely drained, like someone had pulled the plug and emptied his liquid insides.

The fighting had gone on through the night, hit and run raids by the pixies as they tried to stop Klein and the others from kiting Lhamthanc away from Tarbes. The Pixies had been partially successful. The three Faeries and their mage ally had come on strong, driving away first one attack, and then another, while diverting every attempt by the pixies to lure the serpent westward. But as time wore on, first KoKo exhausted her supply of arrows, then one after another, all three Faeries had completely depleted their mana reserves and the handful of regenerative potions that they had brought along.

They were forced to wait as their mana recharged at a tiny trickle. Even Tabitha had exhausted herself. Though the little wind mage didn't say anything, she had grown steadily more conservative with her spells. Looking at the girl, Klein didn't think she had much left in her, either physically or magically. In the mean time, Lhamthanc had been driven all over the northern part of the forest, finally turning back towards Tarbes some time in the early hours of the morning.

As the sun had risen, Lhamthanc's white carapace had been revealed once more, glistening in the dawn light, slowly winding its way through the forest. The snacks were coming less frequently now. The Pixies must have thinned a good chunk of the local fauna. Deer, boar, mobs, everything had simply been swallowed by that tunnel of razor teeth that the serpent called a mouth.

"Heads up." KoKo panted as she came up beside Klein. "We've got more incoming." To their rear, another group of Willow Wasps were approaching. Klein was really starting to wish the programmers had remembered to code the spell Bug Zapper when they had compiled ALO's spell list.

"Oy, Leafa?" Klein called.

"I think I've got enough left for one more Wind Shrike ." The Sylph offered tiredly. Superhuman bodies or not, they were dying up here, Klein thought.

"Here, take your sword back." Klein returned his borrowed blade. "You need it more, and my wings have to recharge."

"Exhausted." Tabitha said, "Withdraw?" Even Sylphied seemed just about ready to give out and fall from the sky.

"Hate to agree with her." KoKo said, "But I think we've done all we can. Hopefully we've bought enough time for the evacuation."

"Hey, what are they doing?" Leafa pointed. The willow wasps were breaking off, retreating back into the forest.

"They're here." Tabitha announced.

Craning his neck, Klein squinted to the west and then let out a bark of laughter. Closing in from the direction of Tarbes were dozens of Faeries. It looked like an over strength raid group. Silica definitely hadn't let them down.

"Hey, Tabitha, think you can swing us over that way?" Klein asked.

The small mage gave a nod of compliance and guided her familiar westward, circling around to come into formation with the lead Dragoon.

"Klein-san! Leafa-Chan!" Silica waved from her place on the back of one of the Dragons. The cat girl jumped free, extending her wings and racing out to meet them. Silica didn't look as ragged as Klein felt, but it was clear she'd been up the whole night just by looking at her.

"Oy, you guys are late!" Klein shouted accusingly.

"Don't be so picky when the Cavalry comes to pull your ass out of the fire!" The lead Dragoon shouted back.

"That you Gaius?" KoKo called, "Klein's right, you're a real piece of work! You could have at least sent someone ahead to warn us you were getting close. We've been up all night kiting this thing! And Louise? What are you doing up here!"

The strawberry blonde mage road upon the back of the Dragon to the Left of Gaius, clinging to a dark haired Dragoon. "I couldn't leave you all up here alone!" Louise shouted, "I'm here to help."

"Enough chitchat." Gaius said. "That's Lhamthanc?" The raid leader asked.

"Un." KoKo nodded.

"He's even uglier IRL." Gaius shook his head. "Okay, KoKo, the rest of you, you've done good. Must've been hell for you. Now just sit back, take a nap, and enjoy the little dream we're going to give you."

Then roaring at the top of his lungs, Gaius belted out orders to the rest of his squadron. "A, B, C squads, scatter and encircle, I want sustained attack spells leveled on that monster naow! Puca team, cast attack and magic buffs then debuff that its defenses. Dragoons! Breath weapon attacks volley after the debuff! Squads G, H, I, ready to switch in."

Cries of "Sir!" and "Affirmative!" rose from the Faeries as they began to spread out. On the ground bellow, Lhamthanc was still paying little mind to the circling Fae. That was, until the music started. Behind the main raid formation, a Puca ensemble had set up in midair. Klein thought it must have been a trick of the morning light, but as the Puca played, the strings of their instruments appeared to glow a soft silver, as if they were made of nothing but light. Soft chords began to fill the air, somehow reaching him even over the shouting and the roar of the wind. As high pitched as the sound was, Klein felt his whole body vibrating as if he was at ground zero of a bass concert.

The music wasn't the only thing that Klen felt. He had tried a quad shot espresso once when he was in high school. It was like that, but without the feeling that his heart was about to explode. He wasn't any less tired, but his body ached less, and he felt lighter, like he could actually move and fight. A confidence grew within him, that for at least a little while, he could hit harder, and fly faster. Even Tabitha was sitting a bit taller. "So this must be Puca support magic." Klein said aloud.

"Yeah, pretty useful, isn't it?" KoKo agreed, some of her normal energy returning to her. The hunter had retrieved a fresh quiver full of arrows from one of the Dragoons before catching back up with Sylphied.

"Leafa, here!" The Cait Sith hunter tossed the Sylph a small blue vial. Leafa popped off the silver cap and sucked at the contents as Klein caught another vial and did the same. The drink was sweet and tasted faintly of blue berries. The Salamander felt the drained, empty feeling dulling just a little as his mana started to refill. He gave KoKo a thumbs up.

Suddenly the notes of the Puca song began to change, becoming deeper and more trembling. An agitated hiss rose from Lhamthanc as the boss mob registered the debuff and raised its head above the trees to look about. A faint redness rippled along the length of the serpent, the visual effect of the debuff.

That was the Dragon team's cue. A dozen Dragons, half of them Cait Sith flying Dragons and half of them the more nimble Halkegenian fire and wind drakes, dove downward. Lhamthanc saw them growing nearer and opened its mouth wide in anticipation.

The lead Dragons let loose with their breath attacks, short bursts of flame from the Tristanian Knights and longer, heavier jets from the Dragoons. Lhamthanc was engulfed in fire as the mage teams joined in with flame and lightning magic. The serpent hissed and twisted in pain, as the earth smoldered around it, before beginning to fight back. Immense body coiling up protectively, Lhamthanc's head rose above the trees, short sprays of poison shot from the serpent's open mouth, aimed for the leading Dragons. Riders threw their mounts into evasive flight.

One Dragoon was grazed, rider and mount roaring in pain as the caustic slime burned skin and scales. The stricken mount broke off, skirting along the treetops. Klein thought they would be lucky if that was their worst casualty.

Gaius' troops turned out to be tougher than Klein expected. The injury of one of their own didn't cause the others to hesitate. The extermination task force was probably made up of Fae who had already proven themselves in tough situations, like Ainrcrad's early clearing guilds, while they weren't yet an elite force, they wouldn't break easily.

"Mage support squads!" Gaius called as his Dragon completed its own pass. "Earth magic now! Erect a firebreak!"

It wouldn't do them any good to save Tarbes and then destroy it with a fire of their own making. Trees snapped and crashed to the ground as the reserve mages chanted. Tall stone slabs rose from the forest floor. Shear walls of granite encircling the smoldering debris.

The remaining Dragons circled around for another pass, this time coming in from all sides. The serpent's eyes spun about, three to a side, tracking each rider before selecting its next target. A fire Dragon took a poison blast almost directly to the chest, shrieking in agony as soft belly scales were burned away and tender flesh was scarred. Dragon and Knight crashed to the forest floor below, within reach of Lhamthanc. The stricken Dragon's master, leaped down from his mount and made to flee on foot as the serpent lashed all around him. The unlucky man was struck by the serpent's uncoiling tail. His broken form was sent hurtling through the air, clipping a tree, and then crashing to the ground in a still heap.

The serpent released a hissing roar, only to be cut short as an explosion erupted along its jaw. Like a tree swaying in the wind, Lhamthanc leaned away and then slowly into the direction of the attack. It had come from one of the Dragons. Clinging to the Dragoon, Louise had her wand out and pointed towards Lhamthanc. It was the first time Klein had ever seen the girl cast.

"Oy, not bad!" Klein commented. It hadn't been a particularly big explosion, but then, it had gotten Lhamthanc's attention more than any of the concentrated fire blasts.

Lhamthanc hissed again, only to be caught off guard by another explosion, and another. Louise was waving her wand about furiously, the explosions proving oddly effective against the Serpent. The smaller scales began to flake from its head and sides. Gaius saw his chance and waved for the other Dragoons to make another pass. One after another, the Dragons struck and Lhamthanc's roars of pain grew as unprotected skin was exposed and seared.

Another explosion struck the behemoth across the jaw, and this time, Lhamthanc went down like a felled tree, slamming into the ground with an echoing rumble that shook the earth. The Serpent's body grew suddenly still. Mages and Faeries pulled back, watching cautiously.

"Damn, did they get it already?" Klein asked. Had they managed to hit something vital? The mobs, like the Fae, were living creatures now. They were tough, but they had the same weaknesses as any animal. Damage something important, and they'd die in seconds. Instinct told Klein that it probably wasn't over and he found himself reaching for his empty scabbard.

As if to prove Klein's intuitions correct, Lhamthanc sprang back to life almost as suddenly as it had fallen, writhing violently as it roared once more, but the roar was changing even mid call, becoming more high pitched, more piercing. A thick, vicious green mist began to spill from its mouth. Wherever the mist touched, the ground smoked and leaves shriveled, trees popped and cracked their bark eaten away and almost ignited.

"Klein, sweety", KoKo observed. "You have terrible timing!"

The serpent convulsed, muscles rippling down its wake in waves. Scales rose up and were torn free as the boss dragged itself across the ground. Mouth opened wider, wider. Lhamthanc's jaw dislocated like a snake's, and then kept on getting wider still.

"It's changing!" Klein shouted.

The raid force was already reacting, their leader coordinating his troops with hoarse shouts. "Mages, sustained barrage! Dragoons, breath attacks before it can recover! Remember, it's not protected by immortal object status during the transformation!"

By now the serpent's jaws weren't just dislocated, they were practically pulling apart, like invisible hands had grabbed the upper and lower jaws and were simply going to tear Lamthanc in two lengthwise. With one final convulsion, something began to emerge from the sides of the serpent's mouth. From beneath the skin, pulling the scaly carcass back around the jaws, brilliant white feathers erupted forward and then spread to either side, peeling away the old skin from the boss's flanks and head. The conical whale-snake shaped head was mostly unchanged, but was now covered in a coat of white feathers. Large feathered fronds emerged near the back of the jaw, folded back like sleek ears.

The wings continued to stretch until Lhamthanc's new form lay half exposed. And then, with a violent shake, the rest of the serpent squirmed free, the wings sweeping wide as it rose. The boss beat its new wings clumsily a few times, rising to let out a piercing scream.

"A Dragon! Its second form is a Dragon?!" Klein shouted. A dragon the size of a jetliner Sure, he knew it could fly, but that was just unfair!

"Well, technically it's more of a Quetzalcoatl," KoKo offered.

"Now is not the time!" Klein groaned. Placing a hand on Tabitha's shoulder. "Hey, Tabi-chan, did the Puca spell do anything for you and Sylphied?" Supposedly the really powerful magic buffs were area affect and that was what Puca's were supposed to be best at, but it was anyone guess if those spells would work on a human. The girl nodded her head in confirmation.

Klein crouched down on Sylphied's back. "Then it looks like the cavalry needs a hand. KoKo-san? Leafa . . . Leafa?" To Klein's right, Leafa was staring at Lhamthanc as it rose upward, climbing above the Dragons as they attacked. The Serpent seemed to swim through the air almost effortlessly. Some of the fear from the day before had entered her eyes. Up in the skies, she had been in her element, she'd been safe. But not anymore.

"Oy, Leafa, snap out of it!" Klein shouted.

"R-right." The Sylph nodded and drew her sword, forcing a mask of concentration.

Klein took a breath. Time to get stuck back in it.

No sooner had he thought that then Lhamthanc began to beat its wings harder, rising almost vertically into the sky. The winds around them began to pick up, changing direction and growing stronger with each beat of the flying serpent's wings. Soon, even the Dragon's were struggling to stay on course. The poison mist from earlier poured from Lhamthanc mouth like a fountain.

"KoKo?" Klein asked.

"Don't ask me." The Cait Syth's face contorted in a grimace. "This is new!"

New? Klein felt alarms going off in his head. Not good!

Above them, the cloud began to spread, catching on the wind whipped up by Lhamthanc and swirling outward until the whole raid group was surrounded by an impenetrable barrier of the mist. It was like the eye of hurricane, Klein thought, and the only way out, was up, past Steel Toothed himself. The Serpent climbed higher, twisting and corkscrewing through the air, surrounding itself in a second cloud of noxious mist that swirled about its body, masking it from view. They were going to have a hell of time getting close to it, much less hitting it, as long as it was surrounded by that.

And then it got worse. The eye of the storm, and the wall of acidic mist, began to shrink inwards.